ACICIS was excited to welcome six students and two teachers from Mandurah Baptist College, Perth, to Yogyakarta in July this year. Their eleven-day adventure in Yogyakarta was packed with fun activities and learning about the Indonesian culture, and also included Indonesian language classes at Sanata Dharma University’s Language Centre. The students from Mandurah Baptist College participated in fourteen hours of language classes and five hours of one-on-one tutorials which were taught by experienced Bahasa Indonesia teachers at Santa Dharma University’s Language Centre.

Aside from their language classes, the students had an opportunity to participate in the Jamu workshop at Sanata Dharma University’s Language Centre, where they learned how to make the traditional Indonesian herbal medicine Jamu. They were also given the opportunity to practice their Indonesian in real life contexts by participating in the Out-of-Class Learning Activities during their tutorials, some of which were organised by the Language Centre and a couple of others by the accompanying teachers.

The participants tried to use their Indonesian language skills at every opportunity during their tour in Yogyakarta, especially when given the opportunity to live in a Turgo Village in Kaliurang. They had several activities such as traditional cooking, trekking, planting and learning traditional instrument “gamelan’.

Fun filled activities awaited them here in Yogyakarta, the Mandurah Baptist College participants had the opportunity to explore Kota Gede, Yogyakarta’s old town that is famous for its silversmiths. The students and teachers had the chance to walk around Kota Gede admiring the colonial architecture and visiting the royal cemetery.

The fun didn’t stop there, the participants had the opportunity to hike the Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano and visit the permaculture farm in Imogiri, where they discussed environmental issues. The participants also got to enjoy cave tubing, drifting through the beautiful kalisuci river.

Thank you to all the great participants from Mandurah Baptist College, your next visit is certainly more than welcomed – we look forward to seeing you all in the future!

To find out more about our ACICIS Indonesia School Tours, please click here.