Off We Go!!!

Off We Go

Today we, that is Miss Cooper, myself, Eric the Echidna and all the other teachers and Principals from the Tallangatta Cluster headed off to Indonesia.  Up early this morning to catch a flight from Albury to Sydney, where we made our way to the international departures area - which was an early lesson on leadership - someone just make a decision and lead the way!!!!!

 

After checking through immigration we made our way to the gate lounge - not before Miss Cooper disappeared to fit in a bit of duty free shopping for all of her friends and family!!!!!!

A long flight; nearly eight hours before we arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia where the temperature was 29 degrees at just on 6:00pm in the evening.what a difference to the weather in Tangambalanga!!  The time difference in Jakarta is 3 hours, so even though we arrived at 6:00pm it was 9:00pm in Tangambalanga. 

 

When we arrived we had to line up and buy a visa into Indonesia, which cost Au$25.49.  Once we had our visa we then had to line up in the Immigration line, which took a bit of time, probably around 30 minutes.  Once through Immigration it was off to collect our bags.

 

 

From there it was a bus ride into central Jakarta with our local guide Ari telling us a huge number of interesting facts about Indonesia like:

 

- There are 33 provinces in Indonesia

- Indonesia has a population of 240 000 000 people - about ten times the population of Australia

- Jakarta, which is the capital city, has a population of around 9.4 million people

- Indonesia has one of the highest population densities - which means that more people live in every square kilometre than in many other countries ( about 132 people per square kilometre)

- The currency of Indonesia is the Rupiah - and at the moment we are getting around 10 000 Rupiah for Au$1.

- The largest island of the nearly 17 000 islands that make up Indonesia is Java, the one that we are on.

- Nearly 6000 of the islands are uninhabited. 

 

Wow!!!!  That was a lot of information on the way from the airport into our hotel.  When we arrived at our hotel we checked in, but by that time it was nearly 11:30pm - Australian time.  What we found out though was that there was a big dinner ready and waiting for us!!!  It was very late at night for us - because we had travelled all day, but not so late for the Indonesians (only - well can you work it out?????)  So we went down and had some of the dinner that was waiting for us. 

 

 

After that we headed up to bed - it had been a very long day for us all. 

 

Introducing Eric the Echidna

Hi Everyone,
Well both Miss Cooper and I are packed and ready to head off to Indonesia.  But before we do I just wanted to introduce you to our travel companion - Eric the Echidna.  Eric will be travelling around Indonesia with us and experiencing all that we do.  Look out for all of the things that Eric gets up to on our trip. 

News Article - SDN Sedati Gede 2, Sidoarjo

U.S. CONGRESS DELEGATION VISIT SDN Sedati GEDE 2 September 8, 2009

Posted by frederickkampret in Uncategorized .
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The delegation was visiting the class

A total of 4 (four) Delegates Congress of the United States (John Packer, the U.S. Agency for International Development, Caryn R Mc.Clelland, Consul General, Jessica Lee and Coss Mixtu, House Foreign Affairs Committee, USA) visited SDN Sedati Gede 2 (20/08 ). Their visit in order to see directly the activities at the school who have a lot of innovation in the process of active learning student-centered. Their arrival was greeted with crazy dance by 4 (four) students and two (2) children dressed Guk Yuk draping flowers. Besides Dani (grade III) with good English guide them around the school. Before around the school they were greeted by the Principal, Jeni Trisulisjayanti, School Committee Sarjito, Kacabdin Education Sidoarjo, Sutjipto, SH. MM., Provincial Coordinator Rosdiani Rachim. 
In his speech, the principal of SDN Sedati Gede II said, "We would like to welcome the arrival of a delegation from America to here are already pleased to see our school. Our school includes the village school, so this is the situation, we could be like this with the assistance of USAID. What is given to our school encourages us do our best to become school innovation and creativity with active learning student-centered ". 
Under these circumstances our school was chosen to be one of the school to the national standard in wiliyah Sidoarjo, in addition to our school also received support tools ICT (Information & Communication Technology) which can then be used by teachers to support various activities in developing active learning using the technology, he said. 
Further invited guests around the school by Dani, a student of class III SD conversant with English, as well as a guide. They show the whole class learning model and learning system that uses Pakem math class VI with a guided Bambang Tirtowijoyo math teacher. They were very impressed with the class of learning systems and procedures that have been changed, in the form of discussions and groups, indicating that the SDN Sedati Gede II has changed the patterns of learning. 
They also visited PSBG (learn some vital lessons Cluster Resource Centre) is a place that became a miniature teachers to practice the system of student-centered learning. In this group there are 10 computer assistance from USAID, which can be used also for the use of active learning with technology is limited and as a venue for teachers to make inexpensive props that can be used for learning in the classroom. The delegates had a chance to dialogue with the teachers who are doing the practice of making inexpensive props to peek in the cardboard. 
Then they visited the kindergarten Darma Women, about 200 meters from SD Sedati Gede II, a kindergarten, which also received support from USAID. TK is also one that has succeeded in developing interactive learning techniques using audio instructions. 
With this visit they were very impressed with what he had seen, they are expected to return to the United States will make a report on the success of education in Indonesia. In addition, the delegation also visited the SMP 2 Sedati which has also received support from USAID. (Rief).

Introducing our Host School

Hi everyone
We were very excited to receive an email yesterday introducing our host school in Indonesia, SDN Sedati Gede 2, Sidoarjo.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to find a website for the school, however there is a small YouTube clip about the school. It is a couple of years old, but still fascinating to watch.

It can be found at htttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuT5w0QLodU 

By watching this clip it can give you a small insight into the school that we will be hosted in from Tuesday 25th September until Thursday 27th September.

Hi everyone,
This blog has been set up to share the up coming Indonesian Study Tour that I will be taking part in with the Tallangatta Cluster of schools.  It is my intention to add to this blog (when the opportunity arises) - given internet access whilst we are in Indonesia.
The aims of this program are:

- to forge new partnerships with schools and an education precinct in Indonesia
- to develop an appreciation and understanding of a culture diverse from our own
- to build an understanding of learning and teaching methods within each country
- to develop a relationship with a school in Indonesia

This study tour is an extraordinary opportunity and I most certainly want to get the absolute most out of the experience.