‘Teman gambar’ means ‘drawing friend’.
Based on the pen-pal experience many adults around the world remember from
childhood, Asialink resident Elly Kent and Tlatah Bocah are collaborating to
implement a creative exchange. This exchange aims to connect children who in
Indonesia Australia Indonesia Australia
In
2011, Teman Gambar decided to join the Big Draw. We put the call out to schools involved in
the Teman Gambar project, and two dedicated teachers of Indonesian language in
four Australian schools expressed interest. In Indonesia, four primary schools
on the slopes of Mt Merapi also joined:
Tully
State School, Queensland, Australia
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Cardwell
State School, Queensland, Australia
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Mission
Beach State School, Queensland, Australia
Geelong
Baptist College, Victoria, Australia
SDK
Perontakan (Perontakan Catholic Primary School), Sumber, Central Java,
Indonesia
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SDK
Kanisius (Kanisius Catholic Primary School), Sumber, Central Java,
Indonesia
SDN Keningar (Keningar State Primary School), Sumber, Central Java, Indonesia
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In late October, schools in Australia began creating their
collaborative drawings. Each school worked together to describe their home town,
school and favourite activites on drawings between 3 and 7 metres long. On these
initial drawings, students drew their schools, sports, histories, homes and
neighbourhoods. Teachers Sue Foley (Queensland schools) and Dewi Claridge
(Victorian school) posted the drawings to Teman Gambar founder Elly Kent in
Canberra. In November 2011, Elly
travelled to Central Java and delivered the drawings to the four Indonesian
schools. Teman Gambar co-founder Gunawan
Julianto worked together to explain the drawings and the project to students at
the four Mt Merapi schools;
Stage 1: Australian school students begin the first drawings which are sent to Indonesian schools.
Stage
2:Indonesian
school students complete the drawings begun by the Australian
students.
Stage
3: Indonesian
students begin the second round of drawings, which are sent in return to
Australian schools.Stage 4: Australian students complete the drawings they have received from Indonesian students.
Stage
5: The
story continues……
As the project unfolded, teachers and facilitators kept in
touch via email and the dedicated Teman Gambar Facebook Group.
In Indonesia, the students of the Mt Merapi Primary Schools
were thrilled and fascinated by the drawings from their Australian peers. An
avalanche of questions followed each introduction of the drawings. Where is
Tully? What kind of animal is that? What is that big green
circle?
Students at Kanisius looking at the drawing from Mission
Beach.
Why is their a
giant boot in the drawing? What kind of plants do they grow in Queensland?
Unrolling drawing from Tully students with students at
Perontakan.
What
are the different flags for?
Gunawan with the drawing from Geelong Baptist College at
Keningar Primary School.
In a short time, Elly and Gunawan helped the students explore Australian culture. Then the reciprocal drawing began!
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Detail
from Perontakan….
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Detail from
Kanisius….
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Detail
from Sumber….
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Detail from
Keningar….
As you can see, kids in both countries used this as an
excellent opportunity to learn more about their “drawing friends – teman gambar”
in their neighbouring country, and to share their own culture and lanuguage with
their friends…
SD Keningar was the last stop on out Big Draw tour. As the
school finished up classes for the day the heavy rainy-season clouds began to
build. Before long, rain was falling on the fertile crops of Mt Merapi, the
crops that sustain the livelihoods of her families. Gunawan, myself and my
family and the students were hanging out waiting for the rain to ease before
heading home. The Australian Rules football field and ball illustrated on the
enormous painting/drawing from Geelong Baptist College had been intriguing for
the students. It just so happened that my husband, a footy player himself, had
his football with him. Rain is part of the game! So our parting photographs with
the kids from Keningar, the last school to the top of Mt Merapi’s western slope,
were in fact those of Shane (footy player) and Adi (their son) teaching two
young fellows from Keningar to fly for the red ball. An all-round cultural
experience….
That’s the ball in the top middle! Those Keningar boys were
a great mark….
Elly Kent and Gunawan
Julianto
