It’s been 9 months that students have not set foot in a classroom in Indonesia. One of the ways the YUM-VTC tries to keep our students motivated to learn is by running fun online English classes. The tutor makes a video explaining the lesson based on the module and at the end of the video, there will be an assignment. Each student has already received the English module at the beginning of the course. 

Teaching in the classroom is common for our English tutors as all of them are English teachers in schools in the area. But making a video is altogether something new for them. It requires firstly a space conducive for recording, the recording device itself, and lastly the task of editing at the end of the recording. Despite all of these challenges, our tutors have successfully made several tutoring videos and shared them with their students through Whatsapp Groups. We truly appreciate their effort!

This is what Mr. Yudhi, the English tutor said about his experience during this pandemic:

I am using a WhatsApp group to keep in touch with my students. From the chat, I know that most of them are struggling to have adequate Internet quota to work on tons of school assignments. Luckily, my intermediate class students are still following the English course through videos. They can chat with me directly about any lesson that they do not understand. I hope this pandemic will pass soon and I can return to teaching in the same room with my students. 

The enthusiasm from the students is evident by several private chats to our VTC admin, asking when can they start their class again. Hopefully, it will happen soon.

My name is Alma, I am 18 years old. When I started my English class, I was in my last year of high school. Now, I am already at the university. I was enrolled in the Intermediate level with Mr. Yudhi as my tutor. Between my school’s assignments, I continued to follow the English class lessons through videos and submitted the exercises by sending a photo through the WhatsApp group. My favorite session is the listening and writing part. I hope that I can be in the classroom soon and practice speaking English.

Alma, English class student.

This has been a tough year for everyone, but we shall not give up. There are a million reasons for us to keep doing the right things.  We are especially thankful for PHMF’s continued support to our VTC project. YUM will do its best to continue providing training in various skills for the youth in the Cipanas area while still implementing the COVID-19 prevention protocol.