If you google “oral storytelling tradition in Indonesia” you will not get much of anything. We know it existed through books of Indonesian folktales. One young 2016 PhD candidate is using that tradition to teach youngsters English in Indonesia.
Ika Lestari Damayanti, a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) School of Education. Ms. Damayanti explains that, “English is not spoken much in the community or that many teachers speak or use English effectively, but it is a compulsory subject for high school students and is part of the state exam for students.” She further states that because of this it is not seen as relevant even though the English portion of the exam must be passed to move on to the next level of schooling. The lack of effectiveness is shown in books and even in newspaper articles that I have read.
What is being done in the city of Bandung, the capital of the West Java Province is to take traditional Indonesian folktales and translate them into English. Ika thinks that the interactive nature of storytelling keeps the children motivated and provides them a cultural connection.
Makes sense to me!
Image at the top of Ika Lestari Damayanti can be found here.
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