January 21, 2014

Muslim Pesantren

Wesley International School

Today we went to teach at a strict Muslim school, called a Pesantren.  Many people were skeptical about going to this school, especially since Jan had mentioned that schools like this breed terrorists, but I was so surprised by the greeting we received.  They had snacks there when we arrived, and we enjoyed a very nice welcome from all of the students upon arriving in the classroom.  The students listened so well and they really enjoyed the games and songs we showed them.  They all knew One Direction, so we ended up singing “What Makes You Beautiful” to get them engaged in what we were doing.  At the end, their teachers translated some questions for us, and they had very insightful questions about American culture.  We gave them all of our Facebook account information before we left their class.  Whenever I got back to my room, I received so many Facebook messages from the students, many of whom were girls who said “Thank you for visiting our school.”  I was so surprised to see them be so friendly and open to us coming.  As I continued to talk with one of the female students, she mentioned that she really hoped to come to American sometime soon, but she had no financial way to leave Indonesia.  It really broke my heart to see how much she wanted to get out of her home country, while some of us were dreading going back to ours.  This conversation was one of the most powerful moments of this trip.  It was such a joy to bring life and bring home into this girl’s dark situation, and I hope that I can continue to witness to her through Facebook interactions.  We went to Wesley today for our last day teaching, and we went as tour guides with the ESL students to a local Hindu temple.  It was great to meet some of them and help them with a history project, while also learning some about Hindu culture myself.  When I returned to music class, I was able to help the students learn to play the drums.  The first and second grade students were learning how to play the drum set, which was pedagogically incorrect on so many levels.  The students do not have the coordination to play one part of the drums with the correct technique, let alone a whole drum set.  The students were struggling and getting frustrated, which was a hard thing to see as a teacher.  Instead, Mr. Gallagher should have focused on basic rhythmic patterns and playing with good technique before he moved on to something this difficult.  I was very disappointed in this teaching practice, but I was able to help them as much as I could.  I was glad that I made gains in musician skills through my time at Wesley, because I would have been unable to play the drum set, even at the most basic level, without my time spent practicing during my free periods there.  After we were done teaching, I said a thankful good-bye to Mr. Gallagher, and I went back to the hotel.  I exchanged my contact information with Mr. G, so hopefully I will be able to stay in touch with him if I have any questions about praise band or worship leading.  As much as I did not agree with some of his pedagogical ideas, I respect him a lot as a musician and a worship leader, so I hope to keep him as a contact.  Mexi, a friend from the English teaching seminar, came to visit us at the hotel tonight, and it was great to see him again and play some music with him before we left.  We recorded “Be Thou My Vision” and he sang it in Indonesian; it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard, and I cannot wait to show this recording to my friends and family at home.  Tonight was the first night all trip that we did not have to write lesson plans and do assignments, so it was quite a joy to play games with some of the other members of the trip.