Selasa @ UKSW 3 Nov

Last "Prose" today, my favourite class of the week, as I get to teach literary concepts and engage in some in-depth analysis of short stories. Though I work in the Faculty of Language and Literature, Language (or Linguistics) is the main focus, with Literature a bit of an add-on. The staff who teach literature are not formally trained to do so. Most "Prose" classes begin with a test to see if the students have read and comprehended the short story. Thereafter, there's a lot of content analysis, and very little discussion of how language is used to create a world. So the faculty was pleased to have me, and I was pleased to introduce them to some intensive literary analysis, some of it basic (What is the significance of the title?), some of it narrow (Why is the first sentence of the story significant?). All of it fun.

Today, collage day. Assessment here is different from ANU. Literature is essay-based; here, it's presentations, weekly journal, and collages. I think that this assessment regime creates problems for students who choose to write a literature thesis, as they've had no prior experience of writing an extended piece of academic writing. All students in their final year must write a thesis (30-35 pages). I

So groups of 3 and 4 got out in front of the class and explained how their collage related to the text they chose. At the end of this process, which took over an hour to get through 6 groups, all the posters were stuck up on the wall, and the class wandered around to each group, asking questions about the poster's significance.


A group of students using the Javanese thumb gesture! During one of my other classes, I was frustrated with the student passivity and not wanting to be impolite and indulge in some Australian pointing and "Hey you"-ing, I asked one of the students how would a Javanese request that someone do something. They demonstrated a thumb gesture. I took to using this to force students to speak spontaneously. Much laughter, of course, from the students when I used this gesture, but it encouraged them to talk! So Ninez, left, closest to the poster, who was in that other class, got her friends to pose with the the Javanese thumb.

Stevan, a student prepared to talk without being "thumbed," discussing a poster.


Next week, another 6 collage presentations will be done.

At the end of the class, Ibu Ina thanked me for the teaching I'd done and for introducing the students and her to new approaches to teaching literature. Followed by me thanking the students for the opportunity to be their guest teacher and for their willingness to engage with an Australian way of teaching and learning. Then two student representatives gave speeches of thanks. Quiet a moving end to the lesson.