Super-Model

Last Saturday, I sat in on a teacher professional development workshop led by one of my fellow Fellows. During a Q&A session, one of the participants very eagerly shared her advice that teachers need to be "supermodels" in the classroom. Stopping just short of parting student desks to make a catwalk, I think she had it just about right.

Cue Rupaul.


And when you walked in to the room
You had everybody's eyes on you

Jess and I are wrapping up and saying goodbye to the sixty officers we've been teaching since September. We met with them four days a week inside the classroom to talk about everything from traffic accident reports to human trafficking. Every day was a challenge to A) learn about the policing concept ourselves first (what is the difference between assault and battery? Is that a blood spatter or splatter?), and 2) pull out the English language features to teach to our students. Don't get me started on how awkward the unit on sexual harassment and rape was to teach to a class full adult males. They were a credit to the badge, though, and perfect gentlemen...apart from the occasional question about why my face can turn so many shades of red.

Luckily, we did manage to get them outside the classroom and away from the textbooks for some less serious talk. 

And it don't matter what you do
'Cause everything looks good on you

On Oct. 31st, Jess and I held the first-ever Sebasa Halloween Extravaganza, complete with costumes, candy, and a pumpkin carving contest. On a whim, we decided that we needed to introduce our students to this great American holiday. In return, the students got into the spirit(s) of the holiday and came in costume. We told them about the origins and trick-or-treating, and they introduced us to some of Indonesia's famous ghosts like the pocong (featured in the bottom left corner) and kuntilanak, a Ring-like lady with long black hair covering her face and a hole in her back.

My favorite part was the jack-o-lantern contest. These guys had never carved pumpkins before, so they all got out their smartphones to look up examples. Then with care and precision they dug in (with their own knives, of course). Here are the results:

I'm not sure what this costume was supposed to be, but I love it!

 

Wet your lips and make love to the camera.

We also had Native Speaker Day, in which we invited nine folks from America, Great Britain, and Australia to come act as suspects in a murder mystery simulation. They were all superb actors, conjuring up fake tears and nervous ticks along with their fabricated alibis. The students worked in small groups to interview them all and come up with their accusations. First, the students had to introduce themselves with an English yell-yell, or chant. This was the favorite among the guests:

No, Mr. Rusli, you're not supposed to laugh at Deirdre...I mean Rose, the housekeeper, when she cries.

Adam throwing out red herrings like he's a pro...or like he's done this before.

Jon worked out his nervous ticks...rocking and hand wringing.

The guilty were brought to justice!

Work, turn to the left
Work, now turn to the right
Work, sashay, shante 

Last up, Jess, our fellow Fellow Jon, and myself took over morning exercise last week to introduce some more American cultural charms. We split up into three stations: Ultimate Frisbee (Jess), American Football (Jon), and American Line Dancing (me...duh). The classes rotated through each station, staying at each for 30 minutes. In that time, I was able to squeeze in The Electric Slide, The Cupid Shuffle, The Cha Cha Slide, and The Chicken Dance. So, I basically took them through an American wedding reception minus the booze, and they still had fun!

Jon explaining American Football

Frisbee!

Three months and one group of students away.
I have just one things to say, You. Better. Work.