They Learn I Learn

Sometimes as an English teacher I am reminded of exactly how much it is that I learn from my students. The funny thing about education is that it is quite often a two way street in that the learning process is front. In order to teach my students, automatically it means that I have to review the material that I intend to cover. Whenever my students request courses that I may be a bit unfamiliar with, I have to work twice as hard to learn the material and figure how best to teach it so that I don't sound like a total idiot. :) 

Besides the material covered, I also learn a lot about different fields and disciplines. My students over the years come from an amazing variety of backgrounds and all possess very unique areas of interest and talents. Whenever they wish to share with me what it is that they do from the day to day, I often get engaged in deep conversations just about anything not limited to philosophy, education, politics, finances, engineering, marketing, music, art, gardening, and etc. This is really cool to me because I get to learn new things and gain new perspectives. 

Take Anissa for example. She is a university student and currently majoring in biology. I will never forget how much I hated studying biology in high school, but when she explained certain aspects about biology, I found myself thoroughly intrigued and curious at the same time. Whoever knew that I would become interested in this science after so long despising it so much?

Keep on Developing

I guess one of the biggest challenges I have as an English teacher is remembering how special the label of Native Speaker is. I have been here in Indonesia so long that sometimes I feel as though I have lost my American appeal. I can speak the Indonesian language so lots of my interaction here is of course conducted in Indonesian. One thing that I have to remember is that when a person chooses to study with a Native speaker of any language, he/she wants to really feel like they have a friend from the country/countries with that language as a first language. I have to remember to be me and not change too much no matter how long I have been in Indonesia. It is the American in me that pays my bills thus I need to strive harder to protect that side of me. Just some food for thought guys. 

One way to to overcome this is to continuously develop yourself professionally as a Native English speaking teacher. I attend workshops and even plan my own. I try to join communities where I can get ideas about lessons and programs from other Native speakers. My current project is branching out into public speaking. I have decided to try and make a seminar on how to make effective presentations in English. Guru Datang is great and all, but it is these public speaking gigs that will really inspire me to stay fresh and current or innovative if I may. Wish me luck guys!

As you can see from my picture, the location is Bamboo Shack Resto which is located in the Dago area of Bandung. I reason I picked this place is because the owner is my friend. His name is Bob and he originally comes from Australia. He is such an amazing fellow. He has literally climbed every mountain in Indonesia. Going back to finding a community or Native speakers, Bamboo Shack is the place to go because it is like the headquarters for all us foreigners. Not all are native English speakers but all of them speak English. Please like my facebook page!

The Golfer

Iwan, Iwan, Iwan, what can I say about this guy? Well first of all let me give you some information about him. He is one of the top managers for Woori Saudara Bank which has its main branch in Bandung, Indonesia. He is around 50 years old and is originally from Bogor, Indonesia. Even though he has a very serious job, he is quite funny and great to have as a student. We often spent the first part of class having a bit of small talk which was followed by whatever topic or lesson I prepared for class. The last part of class was mostly just free conversation about current events or banking. He enjoys playing golf in his free time and from his stories, he seems to be quite the player. Even though he has much more life experience than me, I truly feel like I am respected by him and can see that he really appreciates the time I spend helping him to improve his English fluency. Alright, I have to get on a bus and back to Bandung so that is all. See you next time.

I Care

Dian from ITB

Hi guys! I'm back again. You know, I was looking through some of my old pictures with some of my students and it just dawned on me that I am actually accomplishing the very mission that I set out to achieve which was to make the world better through opening minds and shaping individuals. After all, what is the purpose of any education if it cannot be used or applied to society? I like to believe that through teaching English and caring about my students, I somehow make them more well-rounded and better equipped to handle the challenges that may come up in life. As an educator, there are many things that I believe in and try to ensure that my principals are evident. Whenever a parent asks me to teach their children, they even if they don't realize it kind of made me a member of their family. I think this way because I will treat their children (my students) as if they were in fact my own. What do I want for my own children? I want the same things every parent wants. I really appreciate the amount of trust put in me by not just the parents but by my students themselves. They count on me to prepare them. They count on me to make a difference in their lives. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I think I do a decent job meeting their needs and expectations. I guess one of the best experiences a teacher can have is the acknowledgment from his/her students as being vital to the success of the student him/herself. I just love being invited to graduations and having the chance to talk to parents and family members about how proud we all are to witness first hand a great achievement. On a lighter note, it is also really fun to take pictures and act a little crazy and feed off the graduation excitement floating through the air. Graduation day is when you get to see your students contemplating their future and what they want to do next. 

Yuwanda from UNPAD

Indonesia is such a fun place to teach because in addition to teaching Indonesians, I have also had the pleasure of teaching many international students from places like Japan, Thailand, Madagascar, and Laos just to name a few. Top Indonesian universities accept a lot of students from the world over. The woman you see on the right, Yuwanda, is actually from Thailand. I helped her out a lot while she was here taking her master degree. She was a foreigner too, so she often asked for my advice about various topics. Not only did I help to improve her English fluency, I also helped her write letters and papers for school. One day, while her mother was visiting Indonesia, she brought her mother to my place to introduce me. That meant a great deal to me and truly made me feel special. Even though her mother could not speak English, her mother asked Yuwanda to translate how thankful she was for looking after her child and helping her make it through the so many challenges of university life. I will never forget that moment. As teachers we sometimes forget that education is a two way street. As we strive to inspire our students to be better learners and people, we often forget that our students are our greatest teachers in that they inspire us to be better individuals and to set better examples. Sometimes, they may very well be the reason for getting out of bed in the morning. On her graduation day, we literally took like a thousand pictures together and that made me feel like she also did not want to ever forget me and how important I was to her while she was studying in Indonesia. 

Ikbar from ITB

Sometimes it is easy to forget that being a Native speaker of English over here is not just about making money because every one tries to sell your services to a company or school or something like that. Sometimes, it can be easy to lose heart and clock in and out like a 9 to 5. Just when I realize that my motivation and sincerity has decreased, my students remind me that I am more than just a Native speaker, I am more than just a hired teacher. They remind me that I am special because they feel as though I care about them. That's a cup of coffee for you I tell you. One way to tell that you absolutely have that magic in the classroom is when your students constantly recommend you to their friends and such is the case with Dian (top picture) and Ikbar (to the left) . These two gave me so many students and of course as mostly a private English teacher, I greatly appreciated it. I mean it was really good for Guru Datang . One thing that I hope never changes is my passion for teaching because as a result of my passion, I care not just about the material I cover in my classes, but I care for my students as well. 

Strangest Thing Happened

Out of all my experiences meeting random people, this takes the cake for sure. One day, I was on my way to teach a private English student when I heard a guy shout "mister". Here is Indonesia, the Indonesians call foreigners Mister all the time, so naturally I turned around and saw what appeared to be, a homeless guy or at least an extremely poor soul. I wouldn't normally give two thoughts about it, but I approached the gentleman to see what he had to say. He introduced himself and started asking me questions as well. The conversation escalated to the fact that I remind him of Mike Tyson. Please keep in mind that this entire conversation was conducted in English which really shocked me in that this guy in my mind would have been least likely to be able to communicate in English, but I was wrong. For some reason he knew every thing about Mike Tyson's story. Luckily, I recorded the entire conversation so please check out the video. You https://www.facebook.com/ciacienglish/videos/960946500592802/ 

He asked me what it was that I did and I told him I have my own business called Guru Datang where Native English Speakers come to homes and teach English, help with assignments, and things of that nature. 

Zevy Is a Cool Dude

This guy is so great to teach. He is a high school student and his name is Zevy. No matter what kind of clever lesson plan I construct, the conversation always seems to go back to either movies or music. He is a huge fan of both especially music seeing as how he is actually a musician. He is a drummer, guitarist, and excellent singer to boot. His wit also adds to the situation as there is never a dull moment with this guy. Zevy is such a typical teenager in that he hates homework including the work I give him. He never fails to concoct a brilliant reason as to why he failed to do his homework. I am surprised he didn't say the dog ate it. That would be quite extreme in that he has no dog, but hey it wouldn't surprise me if he did use that reason. Well, I guess that is enough for now. Kind of tired so let me get off this laptop. Till next time. If you would like to know more about my services please check out http://gurudatang.wix.com/bandung !

Opening Doors for Guru Datang

I am totally dedicated to providing private English language classes no matter where the student may be. For me, it is just simply part of the fun. I get to explore new places throughout Bandung and West Java, Indonesia and on top of that, I get to meet some really awesome people. Oh yeah, I guess I have not really introduced myself. My name is Ryan and I originally come from the United States and if you haven't figured it out by now, I totally love my job. Being a Native Speaker of English really opens doors. Indonesia is a great place to share and exchange culture because this country and its people are very welcoming to foreigners. Everyone is so eager to get to know you and interact with you. That feels great and is something that must be experienced. Most of my students request conversation lessons. Those are the best for me because I get to teach them something that they will hopefully use of the daily basis as a way of meeting new people especially ones that come from abroad. After a while of going around teaching English, I decided to make a website where people can find out information about how they can become my students. The site is called Guru Datang and the web address is http://gurudatang.wix.com/bandung . I also made this blog to talk about different random experiences I have as an EFL teacher. I hope one day I can look back and see all of my unique and interesting experiences with my students and as a teacher. Please stay tuned for more posts to come.