Introduction
Some friends informed me that there was an English Village in East Java called “Pare”. Many friends said there were many foreigners who lived there. Others said that all the people spoke English, even the driver assistants and the pedicab-man. Still others and there were some excellent English courses that provided many kinds of programs, professional instructors, and exciting language activities in Pare. So if I spent my long holiday there, I would live in English environment with the foreigners and got not only speaking skill but also listening, reading and writing skills. All of the statements made me anxious and unable to sleep for couples of weeks. Some questions appeared in my mind: what is Pare, the English village, like? What English courses does pare offer? What English programs does Pare provide? Finally, on June 8th, 2003 I went to Pare to see it by myself. I stayed there for two months. This article is an attempt to answer the previous questions, which is based on my personal reflection during my short observation and investigation from some students staying there for a couple of months. This is to give objective information on what we can get and what we should do when we are studying English in Pare, the English village.
What is Pare, the English Village, like?
Information about where Pare is can be found from one of the Clifford Geerts’ magna opuses “After the fact. Two Countries, four Decades, One Anthropologist” published by Harvard University. Geerts says that Pare is a district on the bank of Brantas River, about 15 kilometers at the north of Kediri. The people are Javanese. The majority of the population is Moslem. It has no difference with the other villages in Indonesia; the people mostly are farmers who plant paddy and corn.
As a village, Pare is very quiet and conducive place for study. The living cost is relatively smaller than that of the student cities of Jogjakarta and Malang. For example, in 2003 the payment for a room was only Rp 30.000 for each student and a student could spend only Rp 2000 for one meal. Besides, the student could use a bike to go from the boarding house to the courses. More interestingly, Pare is located among religious community and traditional.
There are several villages in the district of Pare, but I think, Tulungrejo and Singgahan make Pare a special place to learn English for students from all parts of Indonesia. This is due to the fact that in relatively two small villages, there are at least 12 language courses, among others, BEC (Basic English Course), EECC (Effective English Conversation Course), PMEC (Pratama Mulia English College), Liberty: Intensice English Course, REC (Rhima English Course), Harvard English Course, HEC (Happpy English Course), Seven Eleven English Course, and Mahesa Institute: English Study Centre, where the writer spent most of his time learning English. According to a friend who came back from Pare lately, the number of courses had increased.
Every English course has distinguished features that make the course different from the methods, characteristics, and facilities they provide such as language laboratories and camps. For instance, Mahesa institute is very famous with its General English Course (GEC), writing and translation Programs, the two latest programs are taught by Mr. Andre, a prominent language teacher in Pare who is also one of the founders of the institute. The other example is BEC, which is famous with its basic course on tenses and language camp in its boarding school. Still other example is Seven Eleven which is special with its speaking programs.
The students, as I found, came from some different provinces in Indonesia. In 2003, for example, there were 170 students from South Celebes, 43 students from Madura, 60 students from West Nusa Tenggara. I found these numbers from the ethnic meeting that I joined. The writer also met some students from Borneo, West and Central Java, Mollucas, West Sumatra (Padang), North Sumatra (Medan), Lampung, Aceh, Jakarta, Irian, and East Java.
How English is Taught in Pare
The first time I came into the writing class I was surprised because the class was very bid with forty students using plastic chairs without tables. The same thing happened when I joined the TOEFL preparation and translation classes. Some of my friends in Seven Eleven Course also practiced their speaking skill in very big classes. There was no computer used in learning processes. Teachers explained the grammar and gave the students exercises. Other teacher gave composition and translation tasks then the students discussed together. These evidences proved that English was taught traditionally. Meanwhile, one of the courses had started to use modern equipment such as laboratory and pictures. There was also a course, which held an outing class to some tourist destinations to give opportunities for the students to practice their English with foreigners and native speakers.
Pare in the eyes of Students
The students who came to Pare had different background of studies, jobs, language learning experiences, purposes, and language ability and proficiency in English. Most of them are university students coming from Islamic university (IAIN & STAIN), who were studying TOEFL preparation course for studying abroad, but there also some senior high school students, who took general English course in order to master the basic knowledge of the language. Some other university students did not have learning experiences and they had to start from the very beginning level.
These differences made their opinion on Pare differently. For instance, Lusy, a student wearing glasses staying at Adawiyah Boarding House said: “In my opinion, Pare is not what I imagined before, I think Pare has a good milieu for studying English but actually this is not real, I am disappointed!” Ratna, who is always busy with not only writing study club but also translation study club, had the same opinion. What was in her mind before coming to Pare was that Pare was the place to practice English. She had a hope that she could develop her speaking skills. Yet, when she arrived to Pare, she found that an English area was only an issue. But she explained that the problem was not the area but the students who could not create the English area. Ade, a student coming from West Nusa Tenggara who stayed at Lovely House said that she could get many friends who had the same purpose so she could use this moment to study English in English study club not “Steady-Club”.
Efrizon, a student from Padang staying in Alzalzalah House at the same room with me, said: “I am not disappointed although I still cannot speak English well, but I got some knowledge that I had not understand before”. Unlike their friends, Fatima and Titin, who stayed Big-House, said that they found a positive point in Pare. They said that previously they know nothing about English, and now then understand much about English and can write and speak English.
Closing
In my personal opinion, Pare is a place where we can ‘isolate’ (uzlah) ourselves from our daily life activities so that we can learn English seriously. The good or bad of Pare will depend much on how people manage their selves and use the positive sides of Pare to learn English better.
About Contributor: Supardi, MA is a graduate of Master in Social Works, a program run by the UIN Yogyakarta in cooperation with Mc Gill Univeristy, Canada. He is a staff at the Center for Language Services (UPB) STAIN Salatiga.
Glossary:
Pedicab-man (noun) : Tukang Becak
Anxious (adj) : Cemas
Distinguished (adj) : Berbeda
Evidences (noun) : Bukti-bukti
To be disappointed (passive) : Kecewa
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