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JAKARTA (ANTARA) – In a classroom, a group of children seemed to be listening attentively to the teacher’s afternoon lecture.
The teacher at the time, Mrs. Ciwuk Musiana Yudhawasthi, stood at the front of the classroom while the primary and junior high school students sat in front of her.
When Ms. Ciwuk gave the signal to put hands down, things got a little rowdy. Some kids put their hands down, while others put them up.
The reason for this “confusion” was that Ms. Ciwuk’s instructions and the hand movements the children had to make were intentionally out of sync.
If the instruction was to put the hand down, the hand movement had to be upward, and vice versa, so there was inevitably laughter as the students fumbled with the instructions.
The atmosphere at the Indonesian School of Davao was very exciting when two lecturers from Universitas Bayang Kalaya in Jakarta, Dr. Ciwuk Musiana Yudhawasthi (M.Hum.) and Dr. Erwin Syahruddin (SH., MH.), held a collaborative storytelling activity for teachers and students of the school in support of the Indonesianization program for Indonesian children living in the Philippines, especially in the Mindanao region.
The event was held under the framework of the community service duties of the two lecturers during their faculty exchange program at the University of the Philippines Mindanao from April to June 2024.
The storytelling activity was chosen because most SID students have a lack of knowledge about Indonesian history and have limited command of the Indonesian language.
It is understood that SID is a school specifically for Indonesian children who were born in Davao, live there and choose to become Indonesian citizens. In addition, the other students are children of local staff of the Indonesian Consulate General in Davao.
Therefore, the level of proficiency in the Indonesian language is low. Therefore, conveying learning materials through storytelling is considered one of the strategies to improve students’ literacy skills.
Although this activity often occurs in early childhood learning, Ms. Ciwuk Musiana believes that this does not mean that older children do not need or appreciate the concept of storytelling.
Stories are a powerful tool for teaching children about the world around them. When children listen to stories, it helps them learn important values as they are exposed to new ideas and exercise their creative thinking skills.
“Storytelling plays an important role in language and cognitive development. Not only does it improve students’ writing skills, it also increases interest in reading and enriches children’s emotional intelligence,” said the communication science lecturer at Bhayangkara University in Jakarta.
In this collaborative storytelling activity, the three activities carried out were folk literacy, environmental literacy, and museum literacy.
In these activities, Indonesian is required for communication, but the teaching is still carried out according to the students’ level to avoid causing psychological trauma to the students.
Ms Ciwuk said: “I hope that through this outreach activity, we can increase the children’s knowledge of Indonesian literature and environmental issues, and also learn about various cultural heritage through Indonesia’s museums.”
Participants in this collaborative storytelling activity included not only students but also SID teachers who serve as daily teaching staff.
According to the findings of existing research, as Dr. Ciwuk said, this collaborative storytelling method not only imparts cultural knowledge, but also cultivates artistic skills in students and teachers.
The purpose of singing and storytelling in class is to improve students’ academic performance. In addition, storytelling is a folk art that is suitable for people of all ages and abilities, making it easier to do.
SID was established in 1968. In June 1968, SID started its learning process at St. Mangga, Juna Subdistrict, Matina, Davao City.
The students of the Indonesian School of Davao are the children of the staff of the Department of Interior of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in Davao City (KJRI). On August 17, 1968, Consul Wardoyo inaugurated the Indonesian School as a branch of the Indonesian School in Manila. On February 12, 1982, the Indonesian government built the Ecoland Branch Building of the Indonesian Consulate General, which includes the SID (SID website).
Starting with the new school year in 1971, SID began accepting students from the Indonesian community living outside Davao City.
This decision was made to protect and educate Indonesian children who were then living in the farther areas of Davao City.
One of the goals of SID is to produce graduates who are motivated, have a high sense of nationalism and pride in the Indonesian School in Davao so that they can become a strong generation for the future. SID currently has three stages: elementary, middle and high school.
Lack of parent involvement
One of the main issues facing SID is lack of parent involvement. Parents play a very important role in their child’s growth and development, especially when it comes to language learning.
But this is understandable because they are all of Indonesian origin, living in remote areas that are difficult to reach, and their economic conditions are mostly below the poverty line.
Since SID students were born and raised in the Philippines, they have absorbed Filipino culture, which is also a major obstacle for their reintegration into Indonesia, especially because teachers also teach multiple subjects and multi-level courses.
UNHCR records in 2019 show that there are 8,745 people of Indonesian descent in the Philippines, of whom 2,842 are registered as Indonesian citizens.
Ms Ciwuk said this means SID must start opening up to students other than Indonesian citizens in order for it to maintain its existence in the future.
Based on Ms. Ciwuk’s observations during the project, the SID student population as of February 2024 was recorded as follows: Elementary School (SD) Grades 1 to 6, with a total of 15 children, including 12 boys and 5 girls; Junior High School (SMP) Grades 7 to 9, with a total of 29 children, including 11 boys and 18 girls; Senior High School (SMA) Grades 10 to 12, with a total of 41 children, including 21 boys and 20 girls.
The unique feature of SID is that the school has both boys and girls dormitories where Indonesian children whose parents live far from Davao City and whose living standard is below the welfare line can get daily necessities for free.
*) Metha Madonna is a lecturer at Bayankara University in Jakarta.
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Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
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