Yogyakarta – This semester break, 11 Australian university students take on INCULS’ short program in preparation for their Summer Program at Fakultas Biologi UGM. They had only studied the language for 3 days. Today, they take on their biggest challenge yet, Treasure Hunt around campus strictly using Indonesian to further improve their understanding of the basic level Indonesian they had learned prior today.
The activity starts at 9AM and goes on until 11AM. The 11 of them are then split into two groups. Each group is given an envelope. Inside are the clues needed to find their next destination.
They have to follow directions, such as “belok kiri”, “belok kanan”, cardinal directions, also to recognize buildings, trees, icons, and the faculties around campus. At the designated spots they come along, students are to take pictures together as proof.
Throughout the activity, everyone was very energetic, full of energy, and working together to solve the riddles. They brainstormed to understand the meaning of the sentence and to decide their next move. Not just improving their Indonesian Language capabilities, but also to motivate them to communicate and work as a team.
Everyone enjoyed the Treasure Hunt our lecturers in INCULS had prepared. Through this activity, not only they could understand directions in Indonesian better but also, the chance to see and etch an image of their new campus environment.
We hope the experience our Australian friends got from this fun and educational activity could increase their confidence when using Bahasa Indonesia, to make them feel at home in a new environment, and also to provide a very enjoyable and educative learning experience in this Summer Program in UGM.
Author: Bela (Huang Chun Mei)
