LEARNING ENGLISH FOR FREE IN JAKARTA

Hello everyone! What's up?

Today as the first day in 2018, I'd like to make a (hopefully) beneficial post. After having a deep thought regarding what to write, I've decided to write about Learning English in Jakarta. For some of you, I know that it will sound boring, yet, who knows, there somebody out there looks for this. We never know.

Living in Jakarta has so much advantages. Ya, Jakarta doesn't provide 100% happiness (sure, it has the black side, too), but it gives us 1000% opportunities to do this and that.  One of the opportunities we can take is, learning English freely. What makes it matter is, THE WILLINGNESS. Willingness to go alone by yourself when nobody accompanies, willingness to go afar with your own money, and last but not least, willingness to learn. Anyway where can we find that such of opportunity? Check this out!

Here I'll share some information based on what I've experienced in Jakarta, in order to improve and expand my ability in English. However, I don't guarantee that what I am going to write will totally work, yet, it's worth to try after all.

First of all, going to At America. At America located at Pacific Place, 3rd floor, inside the mall. It's kinda place under US embassy (organised by US embassy in Jakarta) which has loooooots of events, and open for public everyday from 10 am to 10 pm. The events are various, it changes alternately, I mean like, for example, today at xx pm there will be event A, then the next day at yy pm there will be event B. Kinda like that.  Here I'll just show you some of its upcoming events.

You can just find more about its event by yourself by clicking atamerica.or.id. Those pictures I showed you above are only a few, it has some more. Somehow it has IELTS simulation (iLearn, even provide certificate for those who participate in), it has movie marathon, it has discussion, it has talk show, education fair, etc. What makes it special is, it's all spoken in English, I mean, the committee of each event (even the speakers) use English as the main language which is on advance level. It's good for use to get use to listen to, also good to learn how to pronounce every single word correctly, even to try to communicate with others using English without burden (I mean learn to be confident to speak in English). I know, if it's your first time, then you will find it difficult and hard, but as the time goes by, if you're being consistent and persistent, you will enjoy learning at At America while gaining soooooo much experiences. Fyi, if you're lucky, you'll meet foreigners there. They will be around you, don't hesitate to start the conversation, I am positive they will welcome you. I guess how our confidence and ability in English, especially in speaking will improve by the time. The audience doesn't depend on the age, you'll meet youth, students, businessman/business woman, even a family with kids, sooo you don't need to be afraid just to attend the event, but I suggest to check its social media to know the upcoming events just to ensure.

The second one where you can learn English freely is Britzone. Britzone is kinda community with various events which is located at library of Ministry of Education, Senayan, Jakarta. The events usually held every Tuesday 6.30-8.00 pm for business class, every Wednesday 6.30-8.00pm for public speaking class, and every Saturday 8.00 am - 1.00 pm. Based on my experience, it slightly different from At America. Simply, at At America you'll get used to listen to the speakers or instructors and the audience who are very fluent in English (advance level), while at Britzone, they are kind on medium level (so so). I don't say I am better than those who learn at Britzone, I just tell you my opinion. It might not so accurate since I just attended its event once which the instructor was a volunteer and his English was hmmmmm kind of "medhok, so javanese" I can say. But I sincerely thanked him for teaching us in a fun way. Basically, in Britzone, it's kind of place where you will feel that you're not alone who is struggling in learning English, everybody is. In each session, it has discussion time in a group so everybody should speak up based on the given topic. Sometimes it doesn't flow that smooth, but everybody obviously has a chance to speak up in a group or to speak as a representative of the group in front of the class. Don't worry, everybody still has his/her own obstacles, but they're willing to learn eventhough somehow they don't know the vocabulary, they can't arrange the sentence correctly, they can't pronounce the words fluently, etc, but it's really good place to start learning English, by building the confidence to interact with others in English no matter what.  Here some events that already held few weeks ago. 

For further information, you can browse it by yourself on www.britzone.id. Ah ya, almost forgotten, what I need to highlight on Britzone is, the audience are mostly workers and few students. So, if you're currently working, you can stop by at Senayan and join the class after work. Don't hesitate nor fully trust me, just experience it by yourself.

The next one is education fair, such as EHEF or IDP or whatever. In that kinda event, I guarantee you'll meet lots of foreigners, so challenge yourself to speak to them. Don't put lots of thoughts on grammar when you speak, just say it, just speak up. They will understand you though you makes mistakes, it's okay since they usually do as well. Otherwise, you need to concern on complicated grammar once you meet academic class or test. But, when your level is still "learning", don't be afraid to start to try, to make mistakes, to receive some advises, to learn even harder than before. It's okay. 

Last but not least, as the millenial generations, I am pretty sure that you spend at least half of the day to surf in the internet on your phone or computer. So, starting today, let's use it wiser, for good cause, like to browse some interesting events around Jakarta which support you to improve your English. Firstly you can follow the embassy accounts, to keep yourself updated of its events, such as US embassy, UK embassy. EU embassy, etc. Also, you can follow these:

- Erasmus Huis (located in Kuningan, under Netherlands embassy) https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/your-country-and-the-netherlands/indonesia/culture/programme-erasmus-huis

- IFI (place to take French course, under French embassy) http://ifi-id.com/v2/

- Gothe institute https://www.goethe.de/ins/id/en/index.html

etc.

REMEMBER, THE KEY OF SUCCESS IN LEARNING ENGLISH IS WILLINGNESS. Just go though nobody wants to go, just go though you will get criticized, just go though you need to go extra miles. Just believe in yourself, you'll get there, you'll succeed. LET'S LEARN, TOGETHER.

Xx.