Learning Bahasa Indonesia : MEMBACA

She is half Indonesian, though there is nothing to be proud of, but she should not forget her root, it's my root that I would want to impart some good things to her. During my return to Pekanbaru last Chinese New Year in Jan09, I managed to rob from my sister in law this basic reading book. It belonged to my niece who just upgraded to Primary 2. And the book was the same as my book when I was in primary 1, oh man, how time flies but, the curriculum remains unchanged. No doubt, this is a good book to start with, but I was kind of hoping there should be more advanced and new books coming out in the market. Hey, we are talking about 20 over years back. Never mind, it's a free book, why I complained so much.





So with this book below, I started teaching Beth and Charm about Membaca. Beth is my main student, and she is my main concern. I thought I might confuse her / them if I introduced Indonesian language at very young age, they have not grabbed the whole idea of English phonics, reading etc, and now I was teaching a whole new set of Alphabet and pronounciation/phonics. But ...Beth is a good student and fast learner, honestly speaking I love to teach her cause she is so easy to be taught. Both of them love this language. She could even sing to me, "mommy, let me sing Indonesian ABC song, Aa.. be...ce..de...e...ef ge..." She knows which and which between Indonesian and English letter pronounciation. Glenn Doman somehow convinced me that our thought was wrong. Apparently, young toddlers below 6 years should learn as much as they can be exposed too, multi languages will only enrich their learning and knowledge, increases their vocabulary and brain volume. She will turn to 4 years old this coming May. This is the only thing that I can teach her, we don't speak Indonesian at all at home, and she does not have exposure to this language. The only time she is exposed to is only with her ama (grandma) if she comes to Singapore.


After a few lessons, Beth could pick up the essence of Reading Bahasa Indoenesia, she knows how to blend the simple consonants and vowels. She can read, "Ini mata Tuti, Itu alu lama". And it's not memorizing (her memory is brilliant).





Sometimes, I smiled to myself, my two rascals are enjoying doing the activity books, reading books, and those I introduce and expose to them, as if they are toys to them, and they do not realize that actually they are learning them.