Teachers make studying fun with creative lessons

Teachers make studying fun with creative lessons

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As students become more and more burdened with schoolwork,
teachers face the challenge of coming up with lesson plans that
make school fun by encouraging the students to be active and
creative learners.

A teacher at State Senior High School 32 (SMUN 32), A.
Fatkhurrohman, for example, has come up with a lesson called
Pelangi Sepanjang Hari (A rainbow every day) to introduce his
students to multiculturalism.

"In this program, two students from different ethnic or
cultural backgrounds are paired together, then each week they are
to spend a night at each other's house, just to see and learn
about each other's family background," Fatkhurrohman, a history
and sociology teacher, said on Wednesday.

The idea, he said, is to open his students' eyes and minds to
different cultures, races and ethnic groups, to teach them how to
live together in harmony.

"With this program, students get to learn about different
cultures and history in a more active and fun way than in the
classroom," he said.

Esti Nurhidayat, a teacher at YPPI Surabaya High School, said
that by coming up with creative teaching methods that encouraged
students to play active roles, learning could be an easy and fun
process.

She has created a program called Permainan Cash Flow Quadrant
(Cash flow quadrant game), which is a kind of board game in which
students learn to buy bonds and stocks. The game is played
entirely in English.

"The purpose of the game is to encourage students to learn
English and economics in a more fun and creative way," said Esti.

Fatkhurrohman and Esti's ideas drew the attention of Citibank
Peka, which selected on Wednesday 133 teachers -- including
Fatkhurrohman and Esti -- and will give them the opportunity to
implement their programs.

Through its CitiSuccess Fund 2004 program, the U.S.-based
banking group awarded Rp 665 million (US$72,282) to the 133
teachers from Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya.

Each teacher will receive Rp 5 million, which is to be used to
cover the operational costs for implementing their lessons.

The process of selecting the 133 teachers began with the
submission of proposals. Eight jurors, including education
experts, journalists and representatives of Citibank and the Hope
Indonesia Foundation, then selected the best proposals.

Dewi Dewo, one of the jurors, said the 133 teachers were
selected because their proposals were deemed feasible, fun,
creative, clear, unique, enriching, connected to the country's
curriculum and student-oriented.

The teachers are expected to implement their programs, in
collaboration with a Citibank Peka volunteer, for 35 students
each.

Ten of the teachers will then be selected in February 2005 and
awarded Rp 5 million each by Citibank Peka for their efforts. In
addition, Citibank will donate Rp 10 million to the teachers'
schools.