English Club: Everybody's Doing It

There was a stir of Banksy-like excitement last week when stylish new posters began mysteriously appearing all over school. The message: “English club. First meeting. Next Thursday. Be there.” And so it came to pass that thirty students piled into ruang XC this week to attend the brand new club’s inaugural meeting, and at least one exit pollster, me, is already calling the event a runaway success. I sat down for a self-interview just after the meeting, and here’s a copy of the conversation.

Reporter: First off, tell me more about this “English Club?” What is it and what is its purpose?
Me: I think the club’s motto says it best: Bersenang-senang sementara berbicara bahasa Inggris… Having fun while speaking English. English Club is an opportunity for madrassah students to reinforce their language skills outside of the classroom in a comfortable, encouraging environment. We meet from 14:00 until 15:30 every Thursday in ruang XC, and all students in classes X,XI, and XII are welcome to attend. Although attendance isn't required, more active members will be awarded prizes at the semester’s end.

So who’s in charge?
That’s a tough one. Although I’m the Club’s official head, I don’t have a teacher’s traditional roles and responsibilities. At Club meetings, I’m not pouring my native expertise to rows of obediently seated students. Students already get enough of that during the day, and can't stomach any more. And because English Club is an extracurricular, they’re at liberty to leave as soon as they’re bored with my lectures. So no, I can’t be a traditional teacher if I want attendance numbers to remain healthy. Instead, I have to become more like a facilitator, someone who brings organization, supplies, and game plans to the table but is ever receptive to students’ feedback and needs. If they want fun and games (and oh, they do), then fun and games they shall get. Looking forward to the future, I hope students will eventually become committed enough to the point where they're willing to assume administrative roles and responsibilities themselves without my constant oversight. Ideally, I'd like to hold elections for more formalized positions to help make this transition happen.

Wait, Wait… “fun and games?” You said these kids would be learning English, so why are they goofing around?
But fun and games is learning. Kids aren’t motivated unless they have a basis for caring, and games certainly create intense environments where palpable stakes (candy!) demand their total engagement. On top of that, though, Indonesian students already feel beaten down by long, less-than-engaging lectures, the average school day being a of mind-numbing blur ninety minute lectures. So in contrast to the norm, the games played in English club will hopefully provide a necessary break from dull routine in a way that enlivens learning. But even then, we aren't limited to just these activities. Groups discussions (Islam in America, Western vs. Eastern families, etc.), crafting (carving pumpkins for Halloween), and film watching are examples of other activities that will be included in club programming.

So your telling me fun is more important than learning?
Yes.

You call this first meeting "awesome." That sounds a little ambitious. Tell me, what made it so good?
First off, I came into the meeting rushed and almost completely gameplan-less (explanation below). To put it quantitatively, total preparation time didn’t exceed fifteen minutes. And during that small window, I had just enough time to SMS an experienced volunteer, get quick inspiration for an activity (props to Samantha in Mageton), buy supplies from across the street, and warm the kids up with thumping, motivational music. I really think the combination of Bieber’s “One Time,” Foster the People’s “Helena Beat,” and Mulan’s “I’ll Make a Man out of You” helped set a tone of excellence because, in reality, I didn’t think my haphazardly planned program was all that good. After a quick warm-up game outside, I divided the kids into groups, handed them construction paper, and asked them to make two-hundred tiny, scrabble-tile squares representing different letters. The repetitive work took each group about thirty minutes, and by the end, we only had fifteen minutes left to actually use the letters for a game… I’d write a category (e.g., “jobs”) on the board, and students would race to make as many examples as they could (e.g., “doctor,” “farmer,” lain-lain). But after the fifteen minutes came the pivotal point at which okay unexpectedly evolved into awesome. The kids loved the game… so much so that we passed a unanimous vote to stay 20 minutes late and keep playing. I didn’t even need to coerce them with candy. And that’s why I feel comfortable labeling our first meeting an awesome “sukses.”

...Only thirty students showed up to this meeting. Don't you think that number is, well, a little sub-awesome?
Thursday didn’t get off to a promising start. Before getting to school, I knew my first class would be cut short for OSIS elections. OSIS exists in every Indonesian high school, and it’s probably best described as an Asianized student council. Some volunteers hardly notice the organization's existence at their schools; however, at my madrassah, it’s a major extracurricular that attracts a large following—20% of students—and exercises serious sway over school affairs (more on this in a future post). So what was initially planned as a quick, two hour election ultimately stretched into a whole day event, and as the hours dragged on, I saw students’ interest in English club gradually slip through my fingers amid all the election hype. Hope was then nearly abandoned at noon when administrator’s suddenly announced an early, half day dismissal. As the kids surged to the motorcycle barn, I had just two choices: (1) make a spontaneous PA announcement that English Club would be held immediately and accept sub-par attendance—many kids had already left—or (2) forget the meeting, preserve my dignity, and live to meet another week. I chose option 1, and given the circumstances described, I think 30 students is a pretty solid turnout.

So what sort of work can we expect from English club in the future?
I don’t know yet, but I hope it’s good. I’ve tried my best to stress to the kids early on that English club can be whatever they’re willing to make of it. In other countries, PCV's English clubs have accomplished all sorts of tremendous projects: publishing school newspapers to promote self-expression, painting world murals to improve geographic literacy, and hosting English camps to reach wider communities among others. I’ve already thrown these ideas out there, hoping to expand whatever the kids perceive to be the club’s assumed boundaries, but I won’t force things beyond that... it's up to them to take it from here if they want to make English club more meaningful.

And this week in photos, here are some shots from the paddy. My family just bought two new birds, so at least two afternoons a week, I get to join my host cousin and his friends to catch grashoppers (i.e., bird food) in the paddy.