Indonesia
Participants from the Philippines and Malaysia and Teachers at the Introductory Class of the UB BIPA Program
Universitas Brawijaya (UB) had 17 foreign guests on Monday (10/7/2024). They comprised lecturers, teachers, and students from several universities, including one school in the Philippines and Malaysia. There were three universities from the Philippines: the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, and Iloilo State University of Fisheries, Science, and Technology. One school from the Philippines is Golden Key Integrated School. One university from Malaysia is named Mersing Polytechnic.
Their arrival at UB is in the BRACE (Brawijaya Cultural Engagement) activities framework. The goal is to strengthen the relationship between UB and universities abroad. On this occasion, the agenda of the activity program they must follow is one of them getting to know BIPA or Indonesian for Foreign Speakers. A program owned by UB is a place for learning Indonesian, specifically for foreigners who want to learn the Indonesian language and culture.
In the BIPA introduction activity, they were invited directly to get to know Indonesian language learning in class. As foreigners, they were introduced to the primary BIPA material for approximately two hours. At that time, the BIPA learning introduction class was directly guided by Khilmi Mauliddian, S.Hum., M.Li., as a BIPA UB lecturer.
The introduction of the BIPA learning program was conducted at UB’s Faculty of Cultural Studies (FCS). In the classroom, Khilmi taught material about reading Indonesian alphabet letters, numbers, words, and simple daily sentences.
The participants’ enthusiasm was evident throughout the learning process. It began with introductions in Indonesian. Then, they followed the lecturer’s directions when reading letters and words according to the correct tone and intonation in Indonesian.
One of the participants from Malaysia, Faraazdila, also a lecturer at Politeknik Mersing Johor, said she was pleased to recognize Indonesian from native speakers. Although Indonesian and Malaysian are similar, there are many differences in vocabulary.
“I feel that Indonesian has a different characteristic from Malaysian. Like pronunciation, vocabulary is also a lot different. In the BIPA class, I feel that I know a lot of different pronunciation methods in Malay. Some vocabulary I also don’t understand,” she said with a happy face.
In addition, a student participant from the Philippines, Jone, also said that he liked the experience of coming to Indonesia and learning Indonesian. He admitted that it was his first time coming to Indonesia and learning Indonesian.
“This is my first time in Indonesia, and although I know Indonesian, this is my first time learning and knowing Indonesian, so I’m very happy,” she admitted.
At the end of the BIPA class meeting, the participants were invited to introduce typical food and drinks from the three countries. One of the interesting things is that one typical traditional drink is the same in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The drink is called Tahwa in Indonesia, Taho in the Philippines, and Tauhu Panas in Malaysia. These traditional drinks both come from silken tofu, served warm with brown sugar sauce plus ginger so that it tastes spicy and warm. [trans.acl/ed.dts/PR FCS]