The games we played, the lessons we learned
First of all, let me introduce you to the gurus:
Natsuka Ishihara, 22 years old student of Media Sociology at Musashi University, Japan, Hello Kitty lover, food and culture explorer, with fabulous sense of humour and passion for change.
When working or interacting with teenagers, I never miss an opportunity to capitalize on and use my life story to inspire desire in them to learn and explore the cultural vastness of the world. Raised in a post-communist country, I earned my Bachelor's degree from a private business college in America, and my Master's from one of the most prestigious art schools in the world. Then, I moved on to a career in advertising and media planning till I decided to quit my job and devote my time and efforts to a social project focused on providing western-style education to primary school students in Indonesia.
Now, let's move on to the story of our experience. From the very beginning, we knew that in order to tailor our teaching methodology relevantly, we needed more information with regards to the environment and the main actors involved - namely, the kids and their families. We wanted to gain insight into each one of the environmental factors, exerting influence on the upbringing of the children: the administration of the school, the organization of the village, and the daily life of the local people.
Semoya is an urban village with families whose income is either at or above the average for the island of Java. The level of education offered by the school is considered relatively low. The parents are low skilled workers, working at the farm, on the rice field, at the factory, or selling food at the pasar or at a warung. They leave home as early as 4:30 am and come back home late afternoon. Few mothers are housewives and children rarely spend quality time with their parents, mainly occupied with the provision for the family. When it comes to their children's life, their highest priority is not the school but their children's engagement in house activities. As previously pointed out, children are shy (thanks to Javanese culture) and unwilling to participate no matter the reward. This, however, does not mean they keep quiet and do not misbehave. Many of them are hyperactive and do not follow any order regardless of how authoritative the individual is.
The main goal of every new lesson or of testing any previously acquired knowledge was to be conducted in a game format. This technique proved incredibly tricky as there are certain mistakes to be avoided if you want children to consider you not only as their friend but above all as the individual, responsible for their education. They have to know they can play games with you but they need to also be aware that the purpose of these games is not pure amusement but knowledge acquisition. For good or bad, due to the fact that I look much younger than I actually am, I passed the first "friendship" stage readily. Children considered me equal and really easily felt comfortable. Also, in order to build trust and win their hearts from the very beginning I used humour and tried to ridicule myself. "Nama saya M-A-Y-A. Tidak A-Y-A-M! Please, please tidak A-Y-A-M!"
What may also hinder the process of learning through game is the fact that in the small village students stay in class and interact with the same kids that they play games in the afternoon with. So their school environment almost resembles their leisure environment and students receive minimum amount of reminders when in school that they are actually supposed to learn rather than merely play games.
We sang popular children's songs
Every word of the song is written down on a separate numbered piece of paper. Each student is entitled to have only one piece of paper, different every time, and pronounce the word as part of the sequence. Task - learn phonetics and correct pronounciation.
We learned counting numbers
Rules of the game: all students sit in a circle and each is handed out a paper with a different number. One kid starts in the middle and chooses a number. The students who have this number should exchange positions. In the meantime, the one in the center should be in a hurry to find a seat and escape the bad fate of his/her central position.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to have the lessons under control, we decided to delve deeper into the life of the villagers and find out what was making the kids so disobedient. Regardless of how entertaining the method was, the attention span of the kids lasted no more than 10 minutes. So, we started visiting families and asking the inappropriate questions.
Natsuka Ishihara, 22 years old student of Media Sociology at Musashi University, Japan, Hello Kitty lover, food and culture explorer, with fabulous sense of humour and passion for change.
And me: BSc Marketing and MA Applied Imagination graduate with advertising and media planning experience, fed up with the office routine, searching for ways to develop new skills, change career paths, and land on more philanthropically related horizons, aimed at bringing about some kind of social change.
When working or interacting with teenagers, I never miss an opportunity to capitalize on and use my life story to inspire desire in them to learn and explore the cultural vastness of the world. Raised in a post-communist country, I earned my Bachelor's degree from a private business college in America, and my Master's from one of the most prestigious art schools in the world. Then, I moved on to a career in advertising and media planning till I decided to quit my job and devote my time and efforts to a social project focused on providing western-style education to primary school students in Indonesia.
Now, let's move on to the story of our experience. From the very beginning, we knew that in order to tailor our teaching methodology relevantly, we needed more information with regards to the environment and the main actors involved - namely, the kids and their families. We wanted to gain insight into each one of the environmental factors, exerting influence on the upbringing of the children: the administration of the school, the organization of the village, and the daily life of the local people.
Semoya is an urban village with families whose income is either at or above the average for the island of Java. The level of education offered by the school is considered relatively low. The parents are low skilled workers, working at the farm, on the rice field, at the factory, or selling food at the pasar or at a warung. They leave home as early as 4:30 am and come back home late afternoon. Few mothers are housewives and children rarely spend quality time with their parents, mainly occupied with the provision for the family. When it comes to their children's life, their highest priority is not the school but their children's engagement in house activities. As previously pointed out, children are shy (thanks to Javanese culture) and unwilling to participate no matter the reward. This, however, does not mean they keep quiet and do not misbehave. Many of them are hyperactive and do not follow any order regardless of how authoritative the individual is.
The main goal of every new lesson or of testing any previously acquired knowledge was to be conducted in a game format. This technique proved incredibly tricky as there are certain mistakes to be avoided if you want children to consider you not only as their friend but above all as the individual, responsible for their education. They have to know they can play games with you but they need to also be aware that the purpose of these games is not pure amusement but knowledge acquisition. For good or bad, due to the fact that I look much younger than I actually am, I passed the first "friendship" stage readily. Children considered me equal and really easily felt comfortable. Also, in order to build trust and win their hearts from the very beginning I used humour and tried to ridicule myself. "Nama saya M-A-Y-A. Tidak A-Y-A-M! Please, please tidak A-Y-A-M!"
What may also hinder the process of learning through game is the fact that in the small village students stay in class and interact with the same kids that they play games in the afternoon with. So their school environment almost resembles their leisure environment and students receive minimum amount of reminders when in school that they are actually supposed to learn rather than merely play games.
The Games
We learned colors by playing twister:Every word of the song is written down on a separate numbered piece of paper. Each student is entitled to have only one piece of paper, different every time, and pronounce the word as part of the sequence. Task - learn phonetics and correct pronounciation.
We learned counting numbers
Rules of the game: all students sit in a circle and each is handed out a paper with a different number. One kid starts in the middle and chooses a number. The students who have this number should exchange positions. In the meantime, the one in the center should be in a hurry to find a seat and escape the bad fate of his/her central position.
We read and acted out English stories
Under construction...more games are to be added...
We made a general performance board where class participation, home work, and class behavior are recorded.
Kids were never happy when they get a frowning face and after a couple of sad faces they started to behave in a better manner.
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