I teach at SMA Kristen Barana', near Rantepao, the biggest town in Toraja, a regency of South Sulawesi. SMAs are college preparatory senior high schools and Kristen means Christian, so the school's name just means Barana' Christian college preparatory senior high school. SMA Barana' (we usually drop the Kristen) is an RSBI, which means it is on the path to becoming an international school (this title, despite the name, is actually bestowed by the Indonesian government, not some international body). It is considered to be the best high school in all of Toraja, though apparently it is not the best by much (we got 5th at a recent competition open only to Torajan schools). The school has about 270 students (I forget the exact total), split among 10th, 11th and 12 grades (SMAs and SMKs--technical high schools--start in 10th grade).
SMA Barana' (I think all Indonesian schools, though I may be wrong) does not have moving classes. So, instead of each teacher having a room and the students moving between these rooms, each taking separate classes from his or her friends, the students sit in the same class all day, with the same classmates. Their are 10 classes at SMA Barana': 4 10th grade classes, 2 11th grade science track classes, 1 11th grade social science track class, 2 12th grade science track classes, and 1 12th grade social science track class.
On the plus side, having fixed classrooms makes it much easier to schedule classes than having moving classes. With fixed classrooms, the school only has to schedule the 30 or so teachers moving around. With movable classes, the school would have to schedule 270 students moving around. The school also probably needs fewer class spaces, which makes fixed classes less expensive.
On the down side, students don’t get to choose their classes (This is not quite true. At the beginning of 11th grade the students choose to follow the social sciences track or the natural sciences track. The track they choose influences the classes they take. However, they still do not choose individual classes. They choose a single collection of classes only).
Fixed classes also effectively prevents tracking (not quite: natural sciences is generally considered to be a higher track than social sciences, and I think students may need to test into the natural sciences track, though I may be wrong. At public schools, anyway, I’m pretty sure students do need to test into the natural sciences track (and test into SMA)). Tracking can be dangerous, but its also a great opportunity for students to go ahead of their peers (in math for example). With fixed classes, everyone in the same class takes the same level of class.
Fixed classes also means that students don’t choose their classes (beyond choosing their track), so students don’t necessarily take subjects that interest them. That being said, high school students in America don’t have that much choice either. I guess I’m really comparing SMA here to college in America, which isn’t fair at all.
Typically, Indonesian schools conceive of languages very differently than we do in America. In America, I would just take Spanish or French (or both!). At SMA Barana’ (and elsewhere in Indonesia), English gets split into multiple parts. So, 10th grade has one English reading and writing class per week (1.5hrs), one English speaking and listening class per week that follows the curriculum (1.5 hrs), and one English speaking and listening class per week where we can do anything we want. The 11th grade has one reading and writing class, one speaking and listening class, and one English for TOEFL class. The 12th grade has one reading and writing, one speaking and listening, one English for TOEFL and one English for Torajan culture.
Separating English into separate classes creates two main problems:
First, the same teacher does not necessarily teach all of a particular class’s English class periods. One teacher might teach reading and writing, while another teaches speaking and listening (Luckily, no class has more than two different English teachers). Even though the curricula for speaking and listening and reading and writing go hand in hand, the two classes might not follow them at the same pace. Even if the two classes did manage to stay at the same pace, the teachers would find it very hard to instill a sense of continuity (connecting vocabulary and grammar points and helping students remember new things from class to class). This coordination is particularly hard since, even though there are only three English teachers (plus me), there is no regular departmental meeting. I think I will try to change this.
Second, the teachers’ hands are tied in terms of creative lesson planning. Not only do I need to try to teach speaking and listening, but also I need to do so while avoiding reading and writing. These skills are connected, so separating them can be a pain.
On a completely unrelated note, one of my students is named Axlrose. This is awesome (also, he's a good kid, and I don’t want to take away from that, but that's not really the point here). Unfortunately, I can't quite imagine him singing, "Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." On the plus side, he's much more likely to say that than any of the other options in xkcd #805 (http://xkcd.com/805/). For those unfamiliar with webcomics, when you have finished reading the comic, place your cursor over it to read the hovertext). If you are older than 40 or have been living under, but not listening to, (a) rock for the past 23 years, "Wikipedia to the rescue!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axl_Rose".
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