General News
19 July, 2024
Indonesia trip success
A GROUP of students from Camperdown College’s senior campus took the opportunity to learn about Indonesian culture and language in a real-world setting during a recent study tour.
Ten students were accompanied by three teachers to Indonesia for a ten-day study tour, visiting a variety of places within the country.
Indonesian teacher Jenna French said the tour was in conjunction to classroom learning for Indonesian at the college.
“We’ve got students from Prep all the way to Year 10 studying Indonesian at the moment, so it’s an opportunity for the students to have an authentic language and cultural experience by taking a group of students over to Indonesia,” she said.
“We also have a sister school over in Indonesia too, so one of the main objectives of the trip was to visit our sister school as well.
“We have had a relationship with this school for 10 years.
“This was the third time visiting our sister-school.”
The first stop on the trip was visiting their sister school SMPN2 Leuwisadeng, which is located in Bogor, West Java.
Ms French said the students were greeted with a formal welcoming ceremony, which was attended by the Department of Education head for the Bogor region.
“It was quite a formal event. They put on traditional dance and song and activities and music for us as part of that welcoming ceremony,” she said.
“They then had the opportunity to get to know the students.
“The next day we invited 10 students from our sister school to go to a safari park located closely to the school, and then we moved on to Central Java to a place called Yogyakarta.”
Other places visited included Jakarta in West Java and the Bali areas of Sanur and Ubud.
Students also took a tour of the village of Candirejo.
Ms French said there were lots of cultural opportunities and experiences for students to enjoy during the trip.
“We visited two main temples that are located there – one is called Prambanan and the other is called Borobudur,” she said.
“We experienced a lot of the local art as well – students had the opportunity to learn some dance and some weaving.
“They also did a Batik class, and we went to the Sultan’s Palace as well. They looked at silver-making as well.
“We went to a ballet performance while we were in Jogja.
“We then travelled to Bali as well, so they could experience another aspect of Indonesia.”
In Bali, students were able to put their language skills to use as they learned about bargaining at the traditional markets.
Ms French said students enjoyed the experience of being able to have a “real-life” immersion into Indonesian culture and language.
“The consensus of the group was that the highlight of the trip was the time we spent with our sister school, but they enjoyed every part of it,” she said.
“There’s lots of opportunities to be independent while they’re travelling, so I think there’s a lot of life learning there that comes through travelling at that age of 15 and 16 years old.
“They had to be responsible for themselves, and they also had to be reflective of their own behaviours and interactions and ensuring they were culturally appropriate while they were there.
“Having that opportunity to think and use the language they have been learning at school, they’ll be able to draw upon many aspects of their experience in the future.”
Ms French said plans for the future of the study tour included hosting students from SMPN2 Leuwisadeng in the near future.
“The intention is to run the study tour every two years,” she said.
“In the past, we had a study tour and then since COVID-19, it’s been challenging.
“This has been our first trip since 2017.”
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