Teaching Bahasa Indonesia to Foreigners

through Having Meals in Depot

1
by
Luita Ariwibowo

and Ike evita

1 Introduction
There are two prominent approaches in teaching language, namely
traditional and functional approach. The traditional approach is focused
on the form or the structure of the language. This approach has been
longly used until the birth of the functional approach. The functional
approach is rooted in sociolinguistics which views language as the
system of its speech community. This approach is well-developed as the
answer of the structuralists failure--the propponents of the traditional
approach-- explain the aspect of communiation in teaching language.
Consider the following examples:
(! "imana #amu tinggal $%here do you live&
('! "imana (apa# tinggal& $%here do you live&
)entence (! and ('! are interogative filled by *uestion word
Dimana $where, sub+ect kamu $you predicated by tinggal $live. This is
the way the structuralists analy,e sentences. -ne thing forgot is the use
of the sentence. .s it proper or not& /ormally, an interogative is used to
as# *uestion in which the hearer is supposed to give response by
1
Presented in International Seminar Teaching Indonesian Overseas FIB UGM Yogyakarta,
9-10 Mei 2007

Indonesian !e"artment, #irlangga Uni$ersity S%ra&aya

'nglis( !e"artment, #ndalas Uni$ersity Padang

1
answering that *uestion. This sentence, however, is not interchangeble.
.n the sense that sentence (! can not be adressed to the hearer of
sentence ('! and vice versa. That pronoun kamu, in (ahasa .ndonesia,
may only be adressed to those who are of the same age with the spea#er
but not to the old is underestimated by the structuralists.
This phenomena is commonly found within interaction between
.ndonesian leraners and .ndonesian native spea#ers. -nce,the writers
got story from a professor addressed by kamu by an .ndonesian learner
he taught. This is a $silly problem to be considered. To avoid such
missuse in communication, an .ndonesian learner is of importance to be
provided with the real context. .n the sense that, the .ndonesian
learners are introduced with the familiarly natural setting of
communication. -ne of those settings is having meals in depot.
This paper is aimed at describing teaching .ndonesian to foreigners
through having meals in depot. )ince having meals is an activity
routinously done by everybody, it assumed that the instict to #eep survive
abroad (through having meals! may profoundly motivate the learners to
learn .ndonesia. )econdly, the various activities done in depot li#e
ordering food, as#ing information about the food, and paying the food can
stimulate the learners to have practice. 0ence, teaching .ndonesian to
the foreigners is integratively conducted. This paper also describe the
benefits and wea#nesses of this method as well as the parameter of the
learners success in learning .ndonesian.
2
!" Having Meals in Depot# Is it I$portant%
1s the $)tudent City, 2ogya#arta is visited by many people from
various ethnics and countries. )ome of them are as the tourists and
some others are as the students who want to continue their study. Those
who are staying for *uiet long time (more than 3 months! in 2ogya is
categori,ed as penduduk musiman seasonal citi,en. This brings about
2ogya#arta becoming heterogenous followed by the mushroom of depot.
"epot is defined as a smallhome selling food (4oeliono, 556!. This
depot is run traditionally and non-traditionally. The traditional depot is
usually run by household with selfservice sytems-- each customer may
ta#e the meal as the li#e and must be paid before thay have it.
4eanwhile, the non-traditional depot is usually non self-service in which
each customer is served by waiter7waitress. The traditonal depot is
commonly visited by students $anak kos $ since the taste and the price of
the food is suitable with them. Those who firstly visit the depot is of
possibility to get confused with the system and the food provided. This
willfirce the toas# and dig the information, specially about the food, to the
owner or the waiter of the depot. The *uestion can be ini apa $what is
this, namanya apa $what is the name&, apa rasanya $how does it taste&,
terbuat dari apa $what is it made from&, etc. These *uestions are some
of the *uestions might be *uestioned by the .ndonesian learners and are
spontaniously uttered. .n the sense that, the communication ta#es place
)
naturally involving the real participants. This is of great cruciality in
learning process (Cahyono, 558!.
/urhermore, having meals is a #ind of activity daily done. 1t least,
everybody has two meals a day. /or .ndonesian learners staying in
.ndonesia, having mealsin depot is another test to challenge them
whet+hr they can survive or not living in the country where they learn the
language. The learners, therefore, are not recommended to have meals
in the reastaurant or fast food restaurant because the waiter7waitress are
able to spae#, at least, 9nglish. .f this is so, the aspect of practical and
cultural learning process can not be applied that is contradictive with
traditional depot. Traditional depot is traditionally managed in which
everything is having to dowith family. This is also reflected by the use of
.ndonesian or :avanese language to interact. .n this depot, the learners
will find the nuance, in terms of the visitors dan the waiter7waitress,
indicating the real .ndonesian culture such as the culture of *ueue to ta#e
the food, the culture of thoughtfullness to ta#e the food as much as
needed and consider that those who are in line behind also need the
food, and the culture of honesty when the food had must be paid.
& Having Meals in Depot# Integrated 'kills in Teaching Indonesian
Teaching .ndonesian to foreigners through having meals in depot
has fulfilled the four aspects of language teaching--reading, writing,
spea#ing7listening, and structure. Consider the following dialogs:
*
(;! < : .ni apa namanya, 4ba#& $%hat is this&
% : .ni gudeg. $This is gudeg.
< : =udeg terbuat dari apa& %hat is gudeg made from&
% : "ari gori. $/rom gori
< : 1pa itu gori& $%hat is gori&
% : =ori itu nang#a muda. $=ori is the unri pe+ac#fruit.
< : >asanya pedas ya, 4ba#& $.s it hot&
% : Tida#, manis. $ ?o, sweet
(@! < : (erapa, 4ba#& $0ow much is it&
% : Aima ribu lima ratus. $>p.8.866.-$
< : (=ive the money in 86.666!
% : 1da uang pas& $"o you have any exact change&
< : Bang pas& $9xact change&
% : Bang yang sesuai dengan harga ma#anan yang mas
ma#an. )aya tida# punya uang #ecil untu# #embaliannya.
$The number is as much as the price of your meals.. dont
have any change.
< : Bang #ecil& $The change&
% : Cembalian uang mas. $The change of your money
< : )aya punya uang pas. $. have the exact change.
These two discourses reflect how the .ndonesian learners dig the
information about the food and how to pay the food. /rom these two
activities, three s#ills in learning process had already done, namely
spea#ing, reading through the mastery of some vocabularies, and
structure. -ther s#ills can be applied in the non-selfservice depot which
prepares the menu table. )o, the learners may read some menus
provided and writes the menu choosed. 9venthough only reading and
+
writing simple information, but this can be the starting point to come to
the more complicated one.
( The I$ple$entation and The )valuation
Teaching language is commonly conducted in class. The class is
the replication of the reality exclusively fulfilling the demands of
authenticity and naturalness of use (:ohnson and :ohnson, 555!.The
classroom can be designed to create the natural speech event.
Bnfortunately, the naturalness of the native spea#ers culture can not be
fully presented in the class.The language is dynamical in line with the
dinamicality of the users (>evita, '663!. )o, the distinctive feature of
language context is of impossibility to be found7created in class.
This consideration creates another implementation of .ndonesian
teaching, namely teaching in class and out of the class with the following
steps:
1. .n Class
. =iving the basic information in relation to the need of the visitors
of depot, starting form ta#ing the food until paying the food (form
the time entering until leaving the depot!. This is related to the
concept of universal grammar (/lynn,5D3!.Choms#y (5D6!
said that universal grammar is a unit of properties, conditions,
and the li#e which reflects the initial condition of language
learned as the universal grammar becomes the basic to develop
the next language learning.
,
'. =iving the basic information about the culture or habit related to
the activities of having meals in depot, such as the culture of in
line, the culture not to mix the food ta#en, or the culture to use
right hand.
(. -ut of the Class
;. =iving the explanation about things that are not understood by
the learners within the activities in depot, li#e dialog in (@! in
which the learners do not understand the meaning of uang pas or
uang kecil. .f the explanation is not needed, let the learners learn
by themselves.
@. "irectly or indirectly helping the learners within interaction by
doing the interference.
)uch - ' of teaching7learning process will be applied in depot and
; E@ teaching7learning process will be applied in class. .n the sense that
the theory is given before the learners come to the real $worldand the
experience after being in depot will be discussed in class.
This is the first step to come to the next step. This first stepis still
done in group accompanied by a supervisor. 9ach group may comprise
;-@ students with one supervisor. The supervisor may introduce some
vocabularies related to the food or things related to depot7depot activities.
/or instance, gudeg is composed by unripe +ac#fruit, coconut mil#, and
palm sugar as well as the process of ma#ing gudeg.
7
The next step is individual activity in which the learners are allowed
to have meals alone in depot. .n this activity, the learners have to do
things alone and find the way out by themselves. -ne thing to be
consider is the teacher must inform the recommended depot in order the
learners are safe consuming the food. (y learning by doing, the learners
may easily memori,e and learn some new informations.
.f it is possible,the learners are as#ed to interact in a meal place
where the level of difficulty getting higherFang#ringan. 1ng#ringan is the
place to have meals where everything is run very traditionally. 1n
ang#ringan is not a small house but wagon-li#e which can be moved. The
#eeper of ang#ringan is usually not able to spea# 9nglish. )o, interaction
in ang#ringan is very challenged. .f it is not possible, the learning can be
conducted by role play in class.
The parameter of the learners success in mastering .ndonesian
can be measured by the number of vocabularies mastered reflected from
the variations of the lexical choice, the proper use of the lexicon in
sentence and the proper if sentence use in interaction, this related to the
mastering of .ndonesian culture, and the periodical writing report written
by students (per month or per two wee#s!. The parameter
also,furthermore, can be seen from the standard evaluation designed by
the institution.
-
* The Bene+its and the ,eaknesses o+ Learning Indonesian through
Having Meals in Depot
1s being explained previously, there are some benefits of applying
this activity as another implication of teaching .ndonesian to foreigners,
namely:
. This media can be applied anytime because depot (whatever
the name! can be found in almost everypart in .ndonesia.
'. The learning is conducted integratedly since the four s#ills of
mastering language are included.This integrated learning is one
way to avoid the boredom of the learners. )ometimes, #eeping
learning one s#ill is boring. (y learning within authentic
language, the learners are challenged to interact naturally
(>ebecca, '66!. .n line with this, the research demonstrates
that almost 56G of second7foreign language learners said that
structure is the most boring lesson (Hollard, '66!.
;. This acitvity indicates that learning .ndonesian is not only for
academic purpose, but also a means to interact and share with
others.
@. Aearning through the activity of having meals in depot may
stimulate the learners themselves to dig and to find the
formulas of language as well as the .ndonesian culture based
on their own experience (students-based learning!. This may
ease the learners to master .ndonesian because they learn from
their own mista#e. 2ule (553! said that the mista#es the
9
learners made are not things to forbid the progress of the
second7the foreign language learners, but the #ey to actively
study applied by the learners by communicating using the very
language.
8. Aearning by doing gives good impact to the learners. .n class
discussion, the learners may have impressive conclusion. /or
example,when they have no exact change to pay and the owner
of the depot does not have the change either, this owner of the
depot will say, $2ou may pay sometimes. This indicate that the
owner berleives in them and no worry that the customers will run
away. The culture of positive thin#ing of .ndonesian people is
their conclusion.
3. The writing report made by the students is of *uite satisfaction
because the report is based on their own experience.
The wea#nesses of this implementation are:
. .t is not applicable to those who are blan# in .ndonesian
because this will be the handicap for the learners.4oreover,the
waiter7waitress cannot spea# .ndonesian fluently. This problem
can be solved by learners assistance.
'. )ince this is related to the food consumed, the problem of
inappropriateness may arise. The learners are of li#eliness to
get stomachache. This problem may be minimali,ed by
recommending certain depots to be visited which guarantee that
10
the foods are higienis and adaptable to any stomache. The
teacher7institution may also cooperate with those recommended
depots.
;. This acitvity needs many instructors7supervisors, especially
group activites, unli#e in class that only needs a teacher. The
solution is the involvement of the selected college students to
assist the learners.
* -onclusion
Aearning .ndonesian to foreigners through having mealsin depot is
named learning from the nature. This learning is regarded effective and
eficient because the learners directly interact with the native spea#ers by
.ndonesian with .ndonesian native spea#ers. Aearning by doing and from
their own expreience is much more interesting than +ust learning in class
or replicative situation. 1s one of daily activities, having meals in depot is
li#eliness to be done by everybody. /urthermore, depot can also be
found in almost every part in .ndonesia. Conse*uently, this is of
applicability in .ndonesia. Teaching .ndonesian by having meals in depot
has fulfilled the four s#ills needed--listening7spea#ing, structure,
reading7vocabulary, and writing.
. Bibliography
Cahyono, (ambang 2udi. 558. Kristal-kristal Bahasa. )urabaya:
Bniversitas 1irlangga Hress.
Choms#y, ?oam.5D6. Rules and Representation. ?ew 2or#: Columbia
Bniversity Hress.
11
/lynn, )u,anne. 5D8. A Parameter Setting Model o !" Ac#uiisition.
0olland: ". >eidel Hublishing Company.
:ohnson, Ceith dan 0elen :ohnson. 555. $ncyclopedic Dictionary o
Applied !inguistics. -xford: (lac#well Hublishers Atd.
4oeliono, 1nton. 556. Kamus Besar Bahasa %ndonesia& :a#arta: (1lai
Husta#a
?orton,(onny and Celleen Toohey. '66'. I.dentity and Aanguage
AearningJ. "alam >obert (. Caplan. 'he ()ord handbook o
Applied !inguistics. -xford: -xford Bniversity Hress.
Hollard, ?ani. '66. $Henga+aran (ahasa .ndonesia untu# Hembela+ar
1sing melalui Cerita Tradisi Aisan. K%PB%PA %*. "enpasar (ali.
>ebecca. '66. $.ntegrated )#ills in the 9)A79/A Classroom. $S!
Maga+ine. <ol.3. ?o.. :anuary7/ebruary. %ashington: 9>.C
Clearing house on Aanguages and Ainguistics.
>evita, .#e. '663. $Cyberspace dan /ilsafat (ertutur 4asyara#at
4inang#abau. Simposium %nternasional Dies ,atalis ke--. dan
!ustrum ke-/" 0%B 12M. 2ogya#arta. 3-K 4aret.
2ule, =eorge.553. 'he Study o !anguage. '
nd
9d. Cambridge:
Cambridge Bniversity Hress.
12