Desa Bahasa, or Language Village, is the name given to the rural hamlet of Parakan by its surrounding communities. The hamlet is located in Ngargogondo village of Magelang regency, Central Java, some three kilometers to the southeast of the famous Borobudur Temple.
Despite its location at the foot of the Menoreh mountain range, children and teenagers in this hamlet speak fluent English. Hearing them speaking English as they play, as though it was their native language, is no surprise here. And that is not all. Most residents of the hamlet, including the younger generation, are also fluent in high Javanese, or kromo inggil as it is called, which is rarely spoken these days even among traditional Javanese communities. According to Hani Sutrisno, 32, who pioneered the establishment of Desa Bahasa, Language Village's birth was initiated by a great concern among the younger generation -- that they were unable to take advantage of foreign tourists visiting nearby Borobudur due to their lack of English mastery. "We had Borobudur, we had foreign tourists coming in, but we couldn't even touch them. And it was all because we could not speak English," Hani told The Jakarta Post during a recent visit to the hamlet. Along with the hamlet's youths, Hani started to realize in 1998 the idea of making residents fluent in English to widen their economic access to Borobudur. Hani, a director of the Simple English Course (SPEC), started providing free English classes to local teenagers. In order to attract children to learn English, he asked at a community meeting that their parents take the same English course three times a week. He hoped this would motivate the children to do the same. "We were certain that the children would feel ashamed if they did not join the course because even their parents had joined up. And we were right," said Hani. To make the course more attractive, an informal and relaxed atmosphere was created. The class, for example, is set out in a lesehan style, in which participating children sit on a carpet on the floor. Outdoor activities were also provided to provide variation. The outdoor class was designed specially to drill the children in using effective English. They were encouraged to make as many English sentences as possible by using whatever they found in nature. When they found a rambutan tree, for example, they were asked to make sentences using the word rambutan. "We used drilling and tutorial methods. Theory was given later because through the process, they would automatically get the theories on their own," Hani explained. After five years of intensive study, Parakan hamlet's language course had become widely known as well as popular. Thanks to the course, the average Parakan schoolchild had a higher score in English than those from other hamlets. As a result, more and more children were sent to take the Parakan language course, including those from surrounding hamlets. "I joined the course because my father sent me," third-grader Asri Octa told the Post. Today, over 100 children are learning English at Parakan. The language classes are conducted in several local homes, employing the lesehan classroom style. The course is still provided for free. Initially, Hani was the only instructor, but now he has a group of instructors. "Regeneration runs very well here. We have plenty of junior and senior high school students who are also good tutors for the course," Hani said. The children are divided into three classes held once a week on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and on Sundays, the three classes study together. While in class, children are obliged to speak English and Indonesian in opposition to the language spoken by their instructors. So if the instructors say something in Bahasa Indonesia, the pupils are to give their response in English; and vice-versa. "For the stationery, we buy it from our own pockets. But if we are running out of money, we ask the parents for some," Hani said. A special committee has now been founded to improve the quality of the English course. The committee is comprised of local public figures and the heads of the six hamlets in Ngargogondo village, and is tasked with supervising the language course curriculum. It is also responsible for monitoring the course to ensure that it will keep running on the right track, and for selecting programs toward quality improvement. In 2004, for example, moved by the concern that less and less people spoke kromo inggil, or high Javanese, the committee decided to open a special course on kromo inggil. "Once they have graduated from elementary school, students are sent directly to the kromo inggil course. This is our way of preserving tradition," said Thoha, Desa Bahasa Committee chairman. The committee, according to Thoha, also planned to make Desa Bahasa a field laboratory for anyone who wanted to master English as well as kromo inggil for free. It also has plans to establish a language cafe there. "People can just come and spend few days here, practicing their English and kromo inggil for free," said Thoha, adding that although the course was free of charge, locals could reap benefits by providing accommodations or fulfilling other travel needs for visiting students. Thoha underlined that Desa Bahasa was established purely on a local initiative, without any assistance from any government. He said the hamlet was rarely given either financial or technical assistance from the government, although such assistance would be of great help. "Indeed, we do not expect anything. We already have a very valuable capital here, which is the support and motivation of the entire community and the village administration. That is more than enough," Thoha said. -------------------------------------- Protect Your PC Now ! - 0 yen Security Campaign http://pr.mail.yahoo.co.jp/premium/ Hemat bandwith. Hapus pesan yang tidak perlu. 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