Language Make Connection

Today, on the 5th of August 2009, we, the Surabayan delegation and year eight students from Melville Senior High School went to the Indonesian Consulate by bus. The Surabayan student delegation sat beside the eight year students. We passed many things along the road. We saw the “Canning River” and the “Swan River”. We also saw great buildings such as “The Swan Bell Tower” and the “Concert Hall”. They are very great buildings. They had a unique structure that will get attention from new-comers.

I was sitting with Keegan. He is a year eight student from Melville Senior High School. He has been learning Indonesian for 2 years. He has just moved from Sydney few years ago. When he’s learning Indonesian, he has some difficulties remembering the words. I have tested his abilities in speaking Indonesian and he is pretty good with Indonesian numbers. He and his family, planned to go to Indonesia (Bali Island). He would love to go to Indonesia sometimes. That is the same as me, as I would like to come back to Australia, especially Perth.

He loves to learn Indonesian and even though he finds some difficulties with it, he would love to learn some more of the language. His spirit to learn Indonesian is the same as me, as I love to learn English and improve my English. I found this as a connection between me and Australian people.

A Little Chat with Year 8 Students

An excursion with Year 8 Melville SHS Students to the INDONESIAN CONSULATE? That was what we did this morning (5/8/2009). During that time, we had a little chat with two Melville SHS students. They are Louis and Ethan. Firstly, I want to tell you about my little chat with Louis. Louis said that he started learning Indonesian this year. He thinks that Indonesian people are very busy and hard-workers. He likes to learn Indonesian because it is an interesting language. He also spoke a little Indonesian to me, like "Nama Saya Louis". After talking with him I learnt that its okay for us to learn something new, because it's good to enrich our experiences and our knowledges.

Berbeda dengan Louis, Ethan sudah belajar Bahasa Indonesia sejak duduk di Year 3. Ia tertarik untuk belajar bahasa ini karena katanya, sepertinya menarik untuk mempelajari Bahasa Indonesia. Kata Ethan, Bahasa Indonesia itu keren dan katanya budayanya juga keren. Dan lucunya, waktu saya tanya "apa yang kamu tahu tentang Indonesia?" dia menjawab, "Indonesia punya waterpark yang keren di Bali ..hehe". Ethan juga berbicara bahasa Indonesia kepada saya, seperti "Nama saya Ethan" dan "Apa kabar?".

written by : Natasha and Winnie

Melville's and Surabaya's students play the Gamelan together

This was my first time as a visitor to the Indonesian consulate in Perth. I was so excited when I heard, I would go to the consulate. I had a big job to do while I was there. I must ask a student questions. Only one. I made a friend from the year 8 students from Melville Senior High School when I was in bus. I asked him so many questions about Indonesia. I asked a question about 'what do you think about Indonesia?', but firstly I asked his name. His name was John. Then he answered just all about Bali. I didn't know why. But I was satisfied, he could answer my questions.

Then we went down from the bus into the consulate. In the consulate, we met the consulate staff. We then watched a video. The video was about traditional dances in Indonesia and the Gamelan. After that, we went to the other room to play the Gamelan. I was so excited because I would introduce the Gamelan to the Melville Senior High School's students. Before we did it, we were divided into some groups as Slentheng player, Demung player, Gong player, etc. We were very happy, we could play Gamelan together.

Setelah kita melakukan itu semua, kami lalu kembali ke Melville Senior High School dengan bus. Lalu saya memberikan pertanyaan lagi seputar Indonesia. Saya menanyai dia tentang 'Kata-kata Indonesia apa yang dia ketahui?', dan dia menjawab banyak kata dalam bahasa Indonesia. Sebagai contoh, dia bisa mengatakan terima kasih, salam, angka, dan masih banyak lagi. Dalam perjalanan pulang, dia bercerita banyak seputar kota Perth. Tentang Swan River, Kings Park, dan banyak lagi. Banyak pengetahuan baru tentang kota Perth yang saya dapat dari John. Sungguh suatu pengalaman yang indah karena bisa mengunjungi kedutaan Indonesia di Perth.

Thank you so much for your time. Good bye.

Why Building Connection is Important

On the 5th of August 2009, there was an excursion to the Indonesian Consulate with year 8 students who are studying Indonesian at Melville SHS.

We went by bus together and the way to consulate was quite far so I had enough time to ask the teacher that teaches Indonesian in Melville Senior High School how Indonesian is taught to the Melville student, about herself, and how Melville students see Indonesia



The teacher's name is Mrs O'Loughlin. She was born in Malaysia so that's why she studied Indonesian while she was in high school. She teaches the 8,9,10 grades at Melville and she uses videos to teach them about the culture in Indonesia. The first thing she taught at the beginning to the students of Melville was the daily conversation. What makes Indonesian so difficult to teach is the students don't know the importance of learning it. They just feel it just a waste of time. So we can say that we as the delegation from Surabaya should convince them that learning Indonesian is important to build a connection between us as neighbouring countries.