August is one the most crucial months for Indonesians because during this month they commemorate their Country as an Independent Nation on 17th of August. 

One of the ways Indonesians celebrate is by decorating their ‘gapura’, the community alleyway gate, with a colourful theme to show how grateful they are to live in their country, Indonesia. Communities in cities as well as kampungs (local villages) compete to create the best ‘gapura’ decoration. 

At PMACS, this year a similar competition was held. Students from Year 1 to Year 6 decorated the classroom doors, as substitute gates, to engage in a more authentic Indonesian learning experience. Every class was encouraged to collaborate and think of a unique idea of how they wanted to decorate their glass door area.

The Year 6.3 students, for instance, decided to have popular traditional games as their theme during the celebration such as ‘lomba makan krupuk’ (eating Krupuk competition) and ‘lomba memasukkan pensil di botol’ (pencils insert into bottles race). The Year 5.1 students chose the theme of a traditional Indonesian food store, called ‘warung’, selling different snacks such as chocolate and cheese crackers and ‘kecap manis’ (Indonesian sweet soy sauce in bottles). 

This activity was also conducted in conjunction with the Languages Week Celebrations at our School. 

Two judges, Ibu Maya Swailes (Head of Languages) and Bapak Rod Wood (Associate Principal of Primary School) were appointed to select the three best-decorated glass doors. The winners that were announced during the whole Primary School Assembly in Week 10 were as follows: 

Group 1: Year 5.1
 
Group 2: Year 3.2
 
Group 3: Year 1.1
 
As you can see from the photographs, all classes put in tremendous effort with a colourful result, hence proving extremely difficult to judge. 

In the end the overall winner was decided to be Year 5.1 for creating an authentic Indonesian style of decoration with Indonesian food packages, especially the ‘kecap manis’ bottles. 

Selamat (congratulations) to all the students who participated but in particular a big well done to all the three winners. Hebat sekali!
 
Written by Ibu Fransisca Smith, Primary School Indonesian Teacher