LITTLE STEPS TO BE CLOSER TO THE VILLAGERS

Students from SMP Santa Ursula went to Magelang to participate in the school program, Live In. There, we did some exciting and meaningful activities. We had prepared the activities before we came there. One of those was fun teaching and playing with the kids.

On March 29th 2023, we did our programs. On that day, we taught them Math and English. We could see all the kids were having fun while we were teaching them. Then we played with them. They said that they had been longing for this kind of excitement since the pandemic outbreak happened all over the world. They also said that they had never expected this kind of fun activity from us before.

On our first activity, which was learning, we taught them math and English. For math, we taught them addition and subtraction. We used a white board to write some simple equations for them to solve. Some of the kids brought their homework so we could finish it together.

To make the experience more enjoyable, we gave candies to those who correctly answered the question. The candy was a great idea; it helped them by encouraging them to answer the questions more.

We were happy because we contributed to their happiness and impactful learning for the local residents. We didn’t just teach them, but we also played with them. We played Ular Naga and played tag. We felt that all the kids there enjoyed the games. We all were smiling and laughing during the game.

One of them told us that they had not played this much fun with the guests. They wanted to have this kind of activity again with us. They said that we had been pretty and kind. Then they told us too that they had wanted to play baseball with us too.

Some of the examples for the question included 3+7, 4+5, 9-4, 10-3, etc. Since our questions were simple, our main target was children between the ages of 6 and 10 years old. After about 30 minutes, we switched to studying the English vocabulary. As we were teaching the kids, we made jokes along the way to keep them entertained.

Words that they learned, such as cat, dog, donut, girl, boy, etc. Same with the math activity; since the English words that we chose are considered simple, our target audience is also kids, aged 6–10 years old.

I asked the kids about their feelings and opinions about this activity. One of the kids that I asked was a girl named Gita. I asked her what she felt about this learning activity. "It was fun!" she said. She explained that it was enjoyable because she expanded her knowledge of English vocabulary and got her homework done while also receiving candies.

The third activity that we did was "petak jongkok," or squat tag, where the kids and some of us played with them. The rules of the game are similar to tag, but the twist is that when we squat, the person that is it can’t tag us, and in order to get up from the squat position, we must be tagged by someone who is standing up.

It went on for a fairly long time and was a hit with all the kids. The game had acted as a second reward for them for doing their schoolwork. For a large amount of time, the game was played mostly by the kids because we were already worn out from the previous activities.

They seemed to enjoy it very much since they kept screaming out of joy, which kept them moving after sitting down for a long while. Even though there had been a squabble between the two girls, in the end they ended up making up and becoming better friends.

They seemed to enjoy the activity that we made for them. From the activities we have created, they can learn new things. We also had a great time teaching the kids because they are all very vocal and funny, which makes it easy for us. We also ask a few kids about their thoughts and feelings in an interview.

I asked two girls named Loisa and Sofia about their feelings and opinions. They said that they both liked it and that it was fun. "Why is it fun?" I asked. They said it was fun because they got to play with their friends and us. "What was the activity that you liked the most?" I asked again. They said they liked it the most when they were playing tag.

They explained that they were really happy that we got the chance to play together. They said that they learned a lot from us, such as new English words. We were glad to hear that they wanted to do this again with us. It was really sad because we only have a few hours to teach them something new until we separate from them. We hope we can meet them again next time. (JKA, JY, LAA, PL)