Grade 11 Field Trip To Tenganan Village: “Where modern and ancient tradition meet…”
Last Friday, on February 12, 2016, Grade 11 students taking DP Indonesian B had a field trip to Tenganan village, Karangasem.
After an hour’s drive we arrived in Tenganan village, one of the villages in Bali that still hold the original traditions and rules of the Ancient Balinese. People in Tenganan are called “Bali Aga”. We were so lucky that it wasn’t raining when we were at the village. Pak Nyoman, our local guide, a friendly and humble man, took us on a tour around the village and to the village forest gate.
There are some surprising facts we found in this village, such as their rules and traditions. Before arriving in the village and having an explanation from Pak Nyoman, we thought that Tenganan was an old village and it applied “ancient” practices. We thought that we wouldn’t see any modern practices there. However, we have to say that Tenganan is the most developed village in Bali!
Tenganan village holds men and women as equals who have the same rights in all practices. There is no caste system to group the people. Most of the village rules put a very high concern on the environment, for example they cut old trees that are dead rather than healthy ones, to protect the forest area, and they do not to sell their land, preserving it for the village.
The students had a lot of questions about the traditional or more modern practices applied by Tenganan people. Moreover, during this field trip the students had to speak in Bahasa Indonesia since our guide couldn’t speak English fluently. We also interacted with some local people who were doing their daily activities, such as weaving, writing on “lontar” and selling traditional Tenganan fabrics. Finally, we returned to school after having traditional dishes for lunch.
Putting the students in a real-life context challenged them to use the language they learn in class. Surprisingly, I never see so much Bahasa Indonesia spoken by students in class, especially those who have Indonesian as their second or third language. As a follow up activity the students will write blog articles about the highlights of the trip.
Putu Ayu Mustiari
MYP and DP Indonesian
Students’ opinions:
“Keseluruhan, aku pikir aku punya banyak kesenangan di perjalanan ini. Saya belajar banyak informasi tentang topik ini dan tentang kehidupan lokal di Desa Tenganan. Jika memungkinkan, aku mau pergi ke sana lagi dan aku mau lihat upacara untuk Durian.”
-Angie Liu-
“Untuk saya peraturannya sedikit aneh ya, tapi ini adalah peraturan mereka dan saya menghormati itu. Tetapi untuk kalian semua yang tinggal di kota besar, peraturan di dalam desa ini pasti bikin kalian kaget.”
-Ines Delgado Rusli-
