Kang Guru radio program wins laurels

Kang Guru radio program wins laurels

By Greg Clough

JAKARTA (JP): Stepping on toes is a good way to improve your
English. That is the opinion of Kang Guru from the land of the
kangaroo, here in Jakarta to help Indonesians leap the
international language barrier.

Kang Guru is the popular English language teaching program on
Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI).

Funded by AusAID, Australia's foreign aid agency, the Kang
Guru project is part of the Australian government's development
cooperation program with Indonesia. Recognizing the importance of
English in national development, AusAID set up Kang Guru in 1991
to help Indonesians study English while learning about their
country's neighborly relations with Australia.

Forty-two RRI stations now broadcast Kang Guru across the
archipelago.

Kang Guru also publishes a free English study magazine and has
sent 400,000 copies of the magazine to registered listeners,
community centers, schools and libraries throughout Indonesia.
Kang Guru will continue into 1997 with a fifth grant from AusAID
to the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation to produce 40 new
programs and four more magazines.

Pronounced like its national symbol namesake, the words Kang
Guru come from two of Indonesia's many languages.

Guru means teacher in Indonesian, the national language. Kang
is a Sundanese word from west Java and means brother. This
brotherly teacher ethos is seen in Kang Guru's emphasis on cross-
cultural awareness in language learning.

As was often remarked by former Australian foreign affairs
minister Gareth Evans, there are perhaps no two neighboring
countries in the world as culturally different as Australia and
Indonesia.

Culturally aware communication is, therefore, vital.

Evans's successor, Alexander Downer, echoes this sentiment in
Kang Guru's most recent newsletter.

"It is important the people and governments of both nations
learn more about each other. I commend Kang Guru and RRI for
assisting Indonesians to develop their English while learning
more about the relationship between Australia and Indonesia,"
says Downer.

Other government figures appearing on Kang Guru include
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, former prime
minister Paul Keating, Indonesian Minister of Information Harmoko
and Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
Djojonegoro.

Kang Guru features not only politicians, but also stories with
artists, entertainers, diplomats and language specialists. These
have included entertainer Berlian Hutauruk, folk singer John
Schumman, artist Jerry Tung, ambassador Alan Taylor and novelist
Glenda Adams.

The focus on both Australian and Indonesian guests reflects
the program's increasingly bilateral outlook. The program has
changed since it was first established to promote Australia.

Kang Guru was set up by AusAID to provide information about
Australia and to teach English. This was considered too parochial
and the program tended to talk about jolly swagmen and redback
spiders. Now the focus is more bilateral, looking at bilateral
cooperation in the arts, science, defense, tourism, education and
trade.

The change is made in line with the future of good neighborly
relations. Over 200,000 Australians visit Indonesia each year and
the number of Indonesians visiting Australia is increasing.

Stories at the people-level of the relationship are very
popular and Kang Guru often gets letters from Indonesians telling
of meeting an Australian tourist and practicing their English, or
of stories about small scale cultural exchanges. Such stories
never appear in big media, but they are happening everyday
between Australians and Indonesians.

Letters

Since 1991, 40,000 Indonesians have sent 35,000 letters. All
letter writers become registered members and receive the free
Kang Guru magazine.

Letters come not only from all over the archipelago but also
from all over the world. RRI's short wave stations throughout
Indonesia are heard as far way as Germany, Bangladesh, the United
States, Japan and Malaysia.

A listener in Louisiana, America, recently wrote to say he
enjoyed the show because he was both a short-wave radio
enthusiast and an English teacher.

Kang Guru's teaching approach is different from traditional
radio teaching methods. The BBC and Radio Australia use a more
teacher-based approach. They use "repeat after me" drills and
tend to focus on beginner levels.

Repetition drills are fine for the teacher-monitored class
room. But by radio, the listeners could be saying the drills
incorrectly, which reinforces bad pronunciation.

Teaching beginners by radio is unproductive. Beginners need
close supervision. Besides, at that level the language is slow
and unnatural and not suited to FM and AM radio programming.

And Kang Guru has an obligation to provide information about
Indonesia-Australia relations. This would be too difficult using
a basic level of English. It aims for the listener who has about
1,000 words as well as some basic English listening ability
gained at high school.

Even at this level the language has to be carefully scripted.
Lots of translation and repetition of key phrases are used to
ensure listeners grasp the general meaning.

As well as presenting stories about the two close neighbors in
the form of vocabulary and grammar exercises, Kang Guru also
gives listeners language learning tips. Often these are
suggestions from the listeners themselves, including such
original advice as stepping on people's toes.

One listener wrote in to say she had found a foolproof way to
practice her English. Simple, she wrote, just find a queue with
some tourists in it, look for a white foot and accidentally step
on it. It is a great way to practice making apologies and
starting a conversation!

So, Aussie expats, next time an Indonesian stands on your
toes, don't get angry. Be a brother teacher and with a big smile,
ask: "Can I help you with your English?"