Being a teacher was my dream when I was in elementary school years back then. I often imagined standing in front of the class and talking to my students. It wasn’t crossed my mind as to what kind of teacher I wanted to be at that time. I just wanted to be a teacher. 

Once I had a teacher, a Bahasa Indonesia teacher when I was in middle school. She was so inspiring. I like the way when she taught, the way when she talked to her pupils, and the way she gave feedback. I felt impressed and always remembered her in my heart until now, even forever. 

Being a teacher is a profession few people love or dream of. This profession will not make you rich, some people say. But, what the world says is if you are looking for a job, the first criterion to look at is whether or not the job will make you rich. Looking for a job, the first thing we have to consider is how you can contribute to the world through your job. 

Then here I am. I have been teaching for almost 25 years! Teaching is always my passion, and I always love it. I chose not to be a civil servant teacher because I had never wanted to since the beginning. Not sure why but what I remember in my thought was civil servant teachers have to wear uniforms. And I never like wearing a uniform. This is the main reason. 

Through the ups and down in my journey of being a teacher, I have been becoming an Indonesian Studies teacher in one of the prestige schools in Jakarta since 2011. This was exactly the kind of teacher profile in my dream when I was in elementary. 

Day by day, I teach my country’s language, Indonesian, to hundreds of students from many countries across the globe. I really enjoy this experience. I feel so happy and proud when seeing some “bule” students can converse in Indonesian after some time engaged in learning it. And feel sad at the same time when seeing Indonesian students cannot speak their own country’s language; even worse, they are not proud of it and are not enthusiastic about learning it. This is bad. But this is the fact, and it has become a big challenge for me to find ways to spark their interest. Loving your country’s language means showing your identity, I believe. 

Teaching language, of course, cannot be separated from teaching cultures. The language itself is formed from the culture where a group of people live and agree to use a certain language to communicate among the members. So I introduce the host country, the regions, the traditional sides, and the diverse people in an archipelago of more than ten thousand islands. 

Being a teacher is a forever learner. Even though I have been teaching for such a long time, I am still learning, keep learning, and want to keep learning. I learn a lot from my mistakes, and I learn a lot from observing my other colleagues while they are teaching. This is what I like about my job. Being a teacher is not just a profession for me, but it is my way of fulfilling my heart and my soul as I do not just grow as a better teacher, but most importantly, as a better person. 

Home by the Garden, Jan 14, 2023.