TEFL Pittsville Wisconsin

indonesia is a very different yet united as one country and its national motto is, “unity in diversity.” This can be seen because the indonesia has more than 17,000 islands with 300 distinct ethnicities and 500 different languages. After being immersed in indonesian culture teaching english there I learned there are several different struggles that seemed universal to each student. First, there is not much english taught at all due to a lack of foreign language policy. Also, there are not many opportunities for students to use their english to retain it if they do learn. Grammar is also very difficult for them to learn because their native language doesn't require much. Sadly poverty and underdevelopment also makes it very difficult to learn english. There is no official foreign language policy in indonesia and most students do not have access to learning english. This prohibits most students to learning english at a early age and having a base to studying it. Where it is taught it is done so poorly that the wealthy shun the national schools and send their kids to private schools. I realized quickly after studying tefl that they do not have many engage activities or activate activities when I did see english taught by the national schools. They focused on just studying it and being able to write english. Most of my english students could hardly understand english if they had studied before and could not speak it or formulate sentences. So having to start most people and adults at a beginners is very common and if a student has had previous learning testing them in their proficiency is very important also. Another difficulty for indonesians is the difficulty of grammar and irregular forms of the english language. The indonesian language is “very straightforward and easy to learn” and does not even have tenses that require conjugations. Coming from such a simple language I found that indonesians do not know english tenses. When speaking they speak mostly in the present simple tense. The indonesian language you use one word to modify the verb to make it a different tense, no conjugation is required. So making sure indonesians grasp conjugations is important to their learning and being able to be proficient in the english language. Poverty and underdevelopment is something that is very common so most people do not have the money to learn english. About half of indonesia's population is living under 2 dollars a day, the international poverty line. Since english again is not taught nationally then it is something that the average person does not have the option or opportunity to learn. I personally had many students that wanted to learn english and even took a few classes from me but was unable to continue learning even though our school was not for profit and was very cheap compared to other schools. Though there are sometimes many difficulties to teach in indonesia I believe it is very rewarding. Moreover, I think the indonesian people are very eager to learn if they have the opportunity and can help them raise a level in their social status if they do learn. Sometimes I would get discouraged by the poverty and living in such a underdeveloped country however, I think when there is more difficulty when you see a student be successful the joys and success they can gain from education is very great. This joy gives even more motivation that far outweighs the difficulties in learning or teaching english.