During the first trip in October, we made observations, conducted interviews, and surveyed key stakeholders to make informed decisions about ways we could help the students The Island foundation in Bintan. Form it we took away the following experiences: Using the Compass of Sustainability to investigate the Critical Challenge and understanding the Unsustainable income and a loss of indigenous culture in Panglong Fishing Village, Bintan, Indonesia. Then we used the Atkisson Pyramid Lite process to prepare an action plan that meets the needs of Panglong community. 

Then we prepared an action plan that was approved by TIF and the Orang Suku Laut before we left the village. After the trip students we had time to do further research and gather resources, preparing to implement our action plans for the next February trip.

The February trip was from Tuesday 15 – Thursday 17 January 2019. During this trip we took away these key learning experiences:

  • Understanding Sustainable development can only be achieved by considering multiple perspectives.
  • Understanding Systems thinking can be used to identify and understand sustainable change
  • Presenting projects to the Panglong community and The Island Foundation
  • Reflecting using a SWOT analysis to receive feedback on projects and plan the next steps

Following our recent lessons in Humanities based on Piaget’s theory on constructivism, we framed our lessons such that the new knowledge to be learned by the students is presented in an engaging manner in order to captivate their interest for the topic being put forth and hence increase their interest in the lesson.  With Vygotsky’s theory of zonal proximal development, we have configured the lesson such that any queries may be solved upon. interaction amongst peers.As a part of a service trip the Bintan, we worked alongside TIF (The Island Foundation) to gain a better insight on the skill needs of the people in Bintan for development. In groups we collaborated and devised a lesson plan for the students of TIF. Creating a lesson plan has given me deep insight as to the effort required to model a lesson plan. Through talking to experts in the field of teaching followed by intense research, I’ve learned how to tactfully incorporate the most efficient and appropriate methods of teaching for the age group we are to cater to.

Statistics following the current progress of the effectiveness of education in Bintan are dim but still hopeful. With proper use of the methods of teaching above, it is possible the students interest in education may improve and hence result in greater strides made to pursue higher education as well as increased interest in education. Indonesia’s development relies on the tactful use of manipulating skills that surround the tourism industry, which includes the English language. However, these skills need to be brought out through education with greater amplification which requires in a change of teaching style and a change in the education system without which it will be difficult to meet future goals in this field.

The Bintan Trip was a new and  introspective experience which changed the way I looked at things.

The different stakeholders of the society offered valuable viewpoints; some which even cleared up our former misconceptions. This was an important step in the process as without this; we would’ve been unable to make an accurate judgement on the different problems affecting the area.

During the course of the trip we mainly interviewed the village folk based on the different compass perspectives that we were assigned; ( Nature. Economy, Wellbeing, & Society).  Time and translation skills were a constraint so, we were to make best use of our time by asking meaningful questions as the translation too was a skill that took effort. Following the guidelines of the compass perspective was useful as, based on their occupation and the compass perspective we were required to look over; it was easier to frame meaningful questions.

The main point which was brought up by the stakeholders that framed our perspective clearly was the importance of the English language in the island of Bintan. Many brought up the issue of locals not being hired due to their lack of English speaking skills and brought up that foreign workers were more preferably hired. For instance; Nikoi Resort staff Andy told us about how unlike the resort he works in which employs 85% locals, most other resorts refrain from hiring locals at all and pay them less even if they do so. We were also able to notice a clear issue in the education system upon interviewing a middle school student who felt overwhelmed by the English subject and lacked the English speaking skills of even a pre-schooler. Unlike most other societies, the locals of Bintan do not feel the strong urge to increase their technological development but rather feel that improving their English speaking skills will help them thrive better in their chiefly tourist-based society.

I often found my peers and I trying to expand on just one question and collecting information that was not necessarily useful for us. Instead, we could’ve moved on swiftly after each question so as to cover more topics and make better use of our time.

While presenting our compass perspectives my partner and I could’ve managed our time better by clearly discussing the important points to go over beforehand, instead of getting overwhelmed over the plethora of information that we were able to garner. Upon watching the video again I was able to notice that we often expanded on one thing as soon as we started making links and took time to move on to our next point. We were excited to present our findings but could’ve done a better presentation.

Post Trip Analysis:

Following months of collaborative work and preparation, the time had finally come to present our lesson plans which we had devised as a group to the staff of TIF (The Island Foundation) and eventually the students of TIF. Our group’s lesson plan on exercise executed using puppets and interactive games went through seemingly smooth. Though our time management and our communication may have been better, during the SWOT analysis (analysis of: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Weaknesses)  we were able to go over possible strategies to mold our lesson plan into the time requirement and how we may make it more appropriate for their age. The other group that had travelled with us to the village was very helpful in providing areas of improvement and helped us understand places where our execution could have been better.

The SWOT analysis essentially helped bring a few main points into consideration:

  • S- Certain intuitive actions such as counting along during the exercise and clear and concise instructions helped to improve the quality and execution of our lesson
  • W- Previously planned ideas such as asking students to devise their own lesson plan would be too complex and that it would be better  if in the future we could possible adopt a different idea such as; asking students to design their own puppet
  • O- During the exercise a jingle or rhyme could have been sung so as to add to the experience and to further enhance the linguistic skills of the students
  • T- The Hygiene aspect of picking up garbage during on elf the exercise posed as a threat

Following the SWOT analysis however, we were able to make our lesson better simply by adhering to the points brought out during the SWOT analysis. When we presented some aspects of our lesson along with the group’s lesson we took into consideration the points and implemented the following changes:

  • Rhymes were sung during the exercise stations and the children thoroughly enjoyed the tunes
  • To combat the threat of putting hygiene in jeopardy, the students were made to wash they’re hands at the hand washing station set-up following the exercise

Following the final lesson plan executed along with the other group, above came the SWOT analysis as a result of the same.

Upon discussing with TIF their opinion of our lesson plan we were able to garner the following:

  • Our idea for a puppet show was novel and will implemented with higher levels of the island foundation and activities such as creating a puppet show will be put into action
  • The concept of exercise stations was greatly appreciated as it was interesting enough for the students to not lose interest and at the same time enjoyably learn about the concept of exercise.
    • The Island Foundation staff requested us to share a document with information about the four exercises presented at the exercise station as well as add step by step instructions in English to guide the person leading the teaching of the exercise.
  • TIF also requested us to produce more questions following a game wherein students were only allowed to pass through given that they answered questions written in Malay and English.
    • Following this instruction, we collaboratively brainstormed innovative ways to propose questions in a way that is simple yet allows student’s linguistic abilities to improve.

Below is the result of the same:

I believe that we as a group were able to effectively provide resources and ideas to TIF and feel that we were able to meet their needs as well as introduce them to new concepts.