The tipping point was when a 10th grader asked me who movie star Mel Gibson is and whether he actually is, as the “Cool News” section of her textbook stated, “the most beautiful man in the world.”
No joke. The headline actually read: “Mel Gibson: The Most Beautiful Man in the World.” The rest of the article would be best described as an ode to Gibson in the key of Gag Me.
Finding a bootleg copy of a Gibson blockbuster like Mad Max or The Passion of Christ in Indonesia is easy; finding relevant teaching material is another story - a story that, for me, started with a Fulbright ETA assignment in a remote district of Sumatra, called Sekayu, and - in just six months - has evolved into a national Radio for Education (or Radio Ed) initiative in classrooms throughout the archipelago.
As a journalism major, my background was in radio—I knew nothing about being a high school English teacher. But luckily radio turned out to be the perfect teaching tool in this rural, information-starved area.
Thanks to Mel Gibson, and other random celebrities like him, I decided to ditch the text books and search for more relevant teaching material. This turned out to be a lot more difficult to find than it sounds—until I stopped looking and started listening.
I started using segments from a bi-lingual current affairs radio program called Asia Calling to substitute the textbook’s “cool news” with real news and information. To my surprise, real news turned into real debate and discussion. The more I used Asia Calling, the more critical thinking, analysis and questioning (in other words learning) actually took place in my classroom. And all I had to do was turn on the radio, prepare a few questions and define some vocabulary. Asia Calling’s engaging content and the kids’ curiosity take care of the rest.
Thousands of schools throughout Indonesia have access to the weekly programming from Asia Calling. Now, thanks to a partnership with Indonesia’s largest Educaiton Foundation, the Putra Sampoerna Foundation, classrooms throughout the archipelago will be charged with the ideas and information from this award-winning program from the country’s only independent radio news network, KBR 68H.
The aim of our ten-month Radio for Education pilot program is to create the materials, resources and support network to help teachers “turn on the radio and tune in to learning.”
The project has come a long way since Sekayu. But the recent support of the Putra Sampoerna Foundation and the Indonesian Association for Media Development has fast-tracked our progress, spreading Radio Ed throughout Java, Kalimantan, Bali and Sumatra.
Mel Gibson may have got to them first, but Radio Ed is on the way!
Stay tuned for more.
