Year seven students at Wingham High School are taking to their compulsory language lessons in ways that are firing up their imagination, humanitarian interests and the school barbecue.
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This year is the first in which Indonesian is taught at the school, thanks to teacher Anne Thornton.
The lessons in Indonesian are not just about the language, but encompass the country itself. Anne is finding ways to engage the students that make the learning relevant to them.
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“I’m trying to get Indonesia to have a profile in the school and in the area, and teaching a language in a rural area - it’s very irrelevant,” Anne said.
“So if we can make it a little bit more relevant, or show that’s it at least a bit of fun, you can try and enjoy it around the edges. Rural areas are not necessarily gung ho about learning foreign languages, I get that. So how I can make it a bit fun and bring a bit of relevance to it, then that’s what I aim to try and do. And it’s working a little bit, I think.”
One of the things that is making it work is introducing the students to the plight of orangutans in Indonesia due to deforestation and palm oil plantations.
It is has made it a bit more real and so it’s been a really enjoyable process.
- Mrs Thornton
“We’ve been learning about deforestation and orangutans in Indonesia as part of our language program and we thought it would be a great idea to do a fundraiser to ‘adopt’ an orangutan and raise a bit of of money to support that,” Anne said.
At lunchtime in the school quadrangle on Wednesday August 16, year seven girls, aided by a couple of year 11 boys, held a sausage sizzle to raise funds to adopt an orangutan, plus funds to help another charity for rural schools in Indonesia, the 100 Books Project.
“The 100 books project is a very small ground level charity that’s being run by a lady who’s living in Indonesia, and it’s to raise money for books for small rural schools in Indonesia,” Anne explained.
“Part of what we have done in class is make some books, bilingual in Indonesian and English – picture book type things – which we’re going to send along with whatever donations that we make from today. So it’s kind of a big Indonesian two-pronged approach for the two charities.”
It was difficult circumstances under which to have a sausage sizzle, being 32 degrees and with a strong wind that made decorating the stalls troublesome. Regardless, Anne reports the students raised almost $200 from the stall alone.
They raised a further $159.55 from an out-of-uniform day, where students dressed in red and white, the colours of the Indonesian flag, and paid a gold coin donation for the privilege.
For more information about the 100 books project visit http://www.seayogi.com/p/100-books-project.html. for more information about The Orangutan Project, or to adopt an orangutan, visit www.orangutan.org.au.