Mojokerto Friday

Friday I have been thinking about my sense of place because my ability to connect with home has been so hit and miss. But today, we had Internet and I reset my compass and am good to go after talking to my husband for a while. Our 35th anniversary will be spent apart on exact opposite sides of the world, yet he fully supports my endeavors. He is a good man.  Off to class with Bella. She is the newest English teacher and this morning we have seniors boys. The lesson centers around simple past tense. I am happy that rather than teacher/lecture, she puts the students in small group activities as a competition among the groups. This really motivates the students.  One concern I have that I believe is related to the fact that this is a madrasa school is that the students learn no literary reading, no poems (poesy as they call it), no short stories, no essays...these are key tools in my classroom, a way for me to teach students about the human condition. The English skills taught here are speaking standard English, listening in order to comprehend, writing standard English, and reading. When I ask what they read, I learn they refer to reading their workbooks which includes simple grammar exercises.  When I spoke to our host teacher prior to coming, she told me she taught English literature so I totally misunderstood what that meant. And it saddens me. This evening Arlis and I ventured out for our first public meal. We returned to the mom and pop store where we have made friends with the owners. They were expecting us and had n.managed to find someone to write in English, "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?"  We wrote our names for them and they practiced pronouncing them and we returned the lesson by learning their names were Sriani and Pak Yan. Their two children that were there were Deni and Yeti and Yeti's husband.  The meal was meatballs served in broth with rice noodles and a bowl of rice, a very good, authentic Indonesian meal. And of course, she gave us our "usual" coffee and coke.  Students came by to purchase food or say hello and wanted us to take their pictures. I have found the Indonesian people to be very friendly, kind and generous.