Basic Indonesian And Anecdotes - Book Three: Book Three, #3

By Maria SP Uran

A former Darwin lawyer from East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia, pursuing her dream of being a medical doctor to third world countries, found herself as an Indonesian teacher at a middle school in the Northern Territory since 2011. She is a passionate teacher who wants to make a difference in her students' life. The author has started to write several small books for her Year 9 students as a gift after their graduation in middle school to inspire them to continue learning the Indonesian language and culture. However, this year she broadens her book for all Year 7, 8, and 9 Indonesian students to remind them of their time together and inspire and motivate them to be solid, kind, and understanding world citizens.

 

This book is her masterpiece, a compilation of her heart-warming stories as an Indonesian teacher teaching teenagers in Australia. The stories combine her personal stories and the stories from the classroom based on years of experience. It would benefit students or anyone interested in the Indonesian language and culture since Indonesia is one of our closest neighbours. Some basic Indonesian vocabulary and grammar are presented here in a simple and easy to understand. Telling time and talking about hobbies, likes, and dislikes with an engaging yet straightforward approach.

 

For the rest of the readers, this book will send you back to your school life as you go through some of the author's warm, inspiring, entertaining stories that will make you smile, laugh, or cry. Although some Indonesian language is present, it does not affect the flow of the story. This book is a must-have as it will enrich your own experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maria Uran
• Release date: Oct 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201010041

Book preview

title-page

The image of the cover page is the traditional clothes from my island home, Lembata, Indonesia.

Location: Uran’s Prayer Garden II—Waijarang, Lembata—Indonesia.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no party may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Learning Indonesian

Chapter 2: Alphabet and phonetics

Chapter 3: Greetings (Salam)

Chapter 4: Countries (Negara-Negara)

Chapter 5: Numbers (Angka–angka)

Appendix

Biography

Introduction

This small book is dedicated to all my Indonesian students at middle school. This is Book One, which only consists of some topics that will remind them of our time and experiences together in their alma mater; all the joys, sadness, happiness, stresses, frustrations and tolerance for the past three years of their school life. Countless lessons on good behaviour, consequences for breaking the class rules, such as essay writing about why they should not do what they did, and all the apologies that they have to make in Indonesian for offending or hurting others in their classes.

Those times and memories are always played over in my mind and I will treasure them for the rest of my life. It makes me realise that I am in the right profession since the job is very rewarding and satisfying. I have no regrets and am always thankful for each moment of my life and the role that I played in my students’ lives and their influences in my life.

I always considered my students as my own children, who not only need education but also guidance in the right direction. I know that they will be great individuals one day and will have bright futures, and I want to be part of their life journeys. I don’t want to stop influencing their lives when they graduate from their middle school. Although I know that they will treasure the memories that we have had in their life, I also want to be there for them and to remember them and our times together. They can always refer to the stories whenever they remember me or their time in middle school. I usually joke to my students, I will be expecting a weak cappuccino from you, when you become a successful individual. Please do not forget me.

Although the book was intended originally for my former students, it can be used by anyone that wishes to see the life of a middle school and how the students behave. Also it can be used if you wish to learn Indonesian language and culture from a native speaker.

Chapter 1: Learning Indonesian

Learning language requires dedication and effort. As I always mention to my students, language is repetition. If you repeat the vocabulary that you learn, you will remember it better. As we say, practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the better you are at it. The same thing with language learning, the more we reuse the words that we learn, the quicker we will be able to memorise those words.

Vocabulary

Building up vocabulary is important when learning a second language. It is like when we prepare for a feast. We need to have all the ingredients for cooking to create a variety of dishes for all our guests such as meat, rice, fish, noodles, bread, vegetables, sauces and spices. Without those ingredients, we are unable to cook. It is the same with vocabulary, without it we cannot create sentences.

The larger our vocabulary is, the better is our knowledge of a language. I usually gave my students twenty new words each week