The Workshop in Kepanjen Malang
Malang- When we arrived at SMP 5 Kepanjen Malang, everybody soon noticed, that this school is different from the others. It’s more clean and more clean. It’s an eco-school. They separate anorganic and inorganic in different coloured bins, they have green signs everywhere to explain their philosophy. So this was my first impression.
The pupils were a bit shy at the beginning, but after some games the ice melted and the workshop began. They were devided into 3 groups with different topics. I was the guide for the “river-group”. I did a presentation about river/water pollution and we discussed this topic and did some group work to find out what the pupils already know and what they understood.
After that we observated the river near the school. The pupils already had a great understanding of environment and we did an action plan for the next day. The children decided to clean the river, to make signs to protect it and to make posters to educate the people around.
At the next and last day of the workshop the pupils did what they had planned. They worked very well. They picked up rubbish from the riverside and out of the river, they created colourfull signs and they designed posters. For educating the people, we went to another school and they presented their posters.
I think the children have learned a lot and I myself enjoyed the workshop very much.