This post was originally in Indonesian. Sorry for any mistakes in translation.
(This email was received from an Indonesian Teacher)
In a meeting with all of the parents of student candidates for a bilingual class in one Junior High School, I tried to compare their expectations with our version of reality in the school. To be more precise, I tried to lower the parent’s expectations as they were too high about the teachers’ level of English.
There are three conditions where English would be used in the bilingual class. In general, the use of English was as follows:
Firstly, English was used as the introductory language to open and close the class. Opening the class including greeting, conducting an opening prayer, and light talk (= minor discussions).
Secondly, English was used as the language to give the everyday orders from the teacher to the pupils. For example please open your book at page 5, come forward, work in pairs, put away your books, prepare a piece of paper, don’t cheat, and so on. All of the teachers that taught in the bilingual class, except the teacher for bahasa Indonesia, were obliged to use English in the two conditions above. They were trained repeatedly to confirm that their pronunciation was at least comprehensible enough (could be understood) by the pupils. We could not hope to have native-like language production (= we did not hope the use of English would be like a native-speaker). That was simply too far-fetched (= it really was not possible).
Thirdly, especially for the teachers of science, math, and IT, they had to use English for giving the special terms in their lessons. The procedure was like this: firstly, the material was given fully in Indonesian. If pupils understood the concept of the foundation that was being taught, the teacher would then repeat his explanation of this concept in Indonesian but use the special terms in English. For example, in math class, the mathematical operator symbols were given in English, such as the area of the field (the area), the circle (the perimeter, circumference) and so on. For biology, the mentioning of the parts of a plant were in English, for example, root, stem, leaf, branch, twig. But the composition of the sentence when the teacher explained everything both in the first and the second explanation continued to use Indonesian. The English used in the lesson was limited to explaining scientific terms. The logical reason was that if everything was explained in English it could take a long time. And certainly that would increase the burden on the content teachers.
This explanation did not satisfy the principal, because it did not “sell” the school. Some parents personally said to me that they cancelled putting their child in this class because they had hoped their child would get exposure to English from the instant that he set foot inside the school gate. One mother hoped that the teachers would be using English all day in the school as she had seen that in the school with an immersion the program. Again, that was simply too far-fetched (really was not possible).
I explained several types and conditions for bilingual programs that are known in foreign language teaching literature, beginning with immersion program (such as in JIS, BIS), transitional, maintenance, etc. The available teachers in our school were not recruited with an English ability that was adequate to teach in the immersion program. Then this mother asked, why it was the class given the label ‘bilingual’ if English was used in such an extremely limited condition? And why must parents pay far more fees compared to the regular class, with the difference only limited to the physical facilities? I could not answer her. The Principal was not happy, and neither was that mother. But I was glad to bring them back to reality. I’m not a good salesperson, indeed. I must get ready to look for the another job, as perhaprs after the first semester the Principal will would kick me out.
[Comment from Gene Netto]
Once more had we have an admission from a brave teacher, who is honest in exposing the real condition and the quality of her school that is very far from the expectation of the parents. How many confessions like this do we need to collect before the parents realize the deception that was carried out against them, both from the schools and the SBI classes (the Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional –International Quality School), and from the bilingual classes in the private schools?
All these classes had the same foundation: MONEY.
The knowledge that these parents expect for their child is something that will not necessarily emerge, and if indeed there are some children who get English skills that are expected by the parents, it was not necessarily was obtained from the school. In fact, it is very possible that they got those skills from the internet, from cable television, from DVDs and VCDs, from books, from older brothers and sisters, etc.
The private schools and their bilingual classes that are expensive are not necessarily the main source in the development of children’s language, especially when in the school or class, there is no expert in language teaching who understands the methodology for teaching a foreign language to a small child. There are plenty of side-effects that could emerge if the foreign language is given in a poor way. But don’t hope that the school will inform the parents (read “customers”) about this.
When will parents in Indonesia become united and demanded a quality education system for all of the nation’s children?
Many parents hope that by paying expensive fees in the private schools, at least their child will become cleverer than their neighbor’s children, and by that they will get a wider opportunity in this world. But all parents all over the Indonesian Archipelago hope for the same thing for their children, whether the parents are bank directors or taxi drivers. When will parents in Indonesia become united and fight in the interests of ALL of the nation’s children, and with one strong voice demand the educational right that is appropriate for all the nation’s children, without looking at who their fathers are, or how much money they make?
This nation could advance if the majority of the inhabitants received the opportunity to pursue knowledge in a good school. When will parents begin to care to about their neighbor’s children and join one another to demand attention from the government of this country for the sake of all of the nation’s children?
Everything is in the hands of the parents.
Now, the rich have been cheated with the SBI and bilingual schools. The poor have been ignored and their aspirations for their children (that are precisely the same as the aspirations of the rich people for their children) have received no attention from the government. This situation will not change until parents join forces, and began to care about their neighbor’s children and want an education system that is appropriate for all of the nation’s children.
Isn’t it their human right to get a decent education?
Gene Netto
