I wrote somewhere about English teaching in Indonesia thus:
Despite English language teaching starts from the junior high school (Class VII) in Indonesia educational system, and is supposed to be the second language after Bahasa Indonesia, instead of Dutch, the students are hardly conversant to this language unless they join a special Englsih course or having experience to study or stay abroad. The methodology of teaching and the quality of English teachers are probably two main reasons if we want to fingerpoint the major culprit.
After joining an three-month-long English course my nephew, who were just a fresher in a state university in Surabaya, once asked me how to improve his English. My suggestions were these: (a) make a blog; (b) write frequently and in English; (c) read English blogs & books of your interests quite often, particularly those which are written by native speakers.
The advice given are specifically for him as I know he has had enough grammatical skill in his pocket. What he needs just to practice and add plethora of English glossaries and their usages.
For Indonesian young students in general though there’s one more advice had they asked me: learning English grammar is no less important.
With the advantage of internet technology, and blogging, we now can achieve all aforementioned just by clicking websites or blogs which would give you ‘services’ you are looking for and for free. The blog of Hendro Darsono is one of blogs with educational purposes in mind. Here you can develop your English grammar skill. The explanation is even more understandable for English-newbie as it’s written in Bahasa Indonesia.
If you want to blog in English, or you already have, and you feel the grammar still your weakness point, try visiting Hendro Darsono’s blog frequently. Don’t forget the other advices mentioned above as well.[]
Complete list of previous top blogger Indonesia and how to get reviewed can be found here.
Further reading:
- Introduce English from Class I
- Ten Reasons Why We Blog in English
- How Blogging in English Could Benefit You
- Bahasa Indonesia and Nationalism
Great blogger. Keep up the good work.