After three weeks of learning Indonesian, I have learned a lot, and my vocabulary notebook is overflowing with new words. My instructor asked us for feedback on the format. My classmate and I both said that we’ve appreciated the frequent class meetings but were hoping to have more time for speaking practice. As we learned in SDLC 105, this is the most important skill to practice when studying a language. Based on our feedback, my Indonesian instructor revised the syllabus and adjusted our weekly schedule. Here are some reflections on the new format:
- Grammar lessons on Monday: technical notes, new vocabulary, and themes for the week. This week, we talked about birthday celebrations, practiced numbers, learned the days of the week and months. I can say Saya ulang tahun 4 Desember 1998.
- Independent speaking practice assignments on Tuesday: Instead of in-person grammar class, we now are working asynchronously on Tuesdays to complete 2-3 minute speaking tasks and short writing assignments. For example, this week, we recorded ourselves wishing happy birthday to a friend. I was able to write out what I was going to say and practice using the correct inflection. This assignment allowed me to be creative with the new vocabulary. For the remainder of my time, I transferred my new vocabulary to my glossary notebook and reviewed the list of verbs.
- Speaking class on Wednesday: my instructor gives us prompts, first for individual speaking challenges and then for my classmate and I to have a dialogue with one another. This week, we had two minutes to talk about different occupations and repeated this exercise five times. Being a visual person, I found it helpful to take the two minutes when it was not my turn to gather some key vocabulary words that were associated with the occupation I would be describing. With these keywords, I was able to speak relatively fluidly. The spontaneity of this speaking assignment and time constraints were helpful because I saw patterns in which words and sentence structures I use most often. I really like modal verbs and using the word “because." (This is a pattern I've noticed in other languages I've studied as well.) I also appreciate that my language instructor encouraged us to speak with a mix of English and Indonesian and then recorded the words we didn’t know how to say. I found this approach to be less pressure because it emphasized that the purpose of language is to communicate with one another.
- Independent culture class on Thursday. Instead of powerpoints, we now have a reading assignment to respond to in a brief reflection. This week, I discussed why I would like to attend an Eid, Christmas, and Batik celebration in Indonesia.
- Language table on Friday. Fun activities to come!
I feel that this revised format allows me to be creative and use the language rather than trying to passively absorb it. Focus on quality rather than quantity. When I use the vocabulary through various writing, speaking exercises, I find I remember it so much better. Plus, the process is fun and reminds me that I am very fortunate to be learning the language with a native Indonesian speaker. Although speaking class pushes me outside of my comfort zone, my teacher and classmate were very supportive, and I really enjoyed the sense of community and confidence that I was able to express myself in Indonesian.
With this new format, my goal is to make learning Indonesian a personal process and recognize the importance of committing myself to the process of learning by practicing it in various communication formats.
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