Are you a teacher, student or member of the community who would like to become actively involved with schools in Bali and their students? AdoptASchool provides a meaningful opportunity to do this at the grassroots, interactive level with our closest neighbour. The outcomes achieved are embedded across the curriculum with Society & Environment, LOTE (Indonesian) and English being the most evident.
Indonesian language teacher, Roisin and Bali co-ordinator
Our experience has been that small actions can cause a ripple effect with outcomes often being unexpected and broader than at first expected. Each child and/or adult can interact with their sister school to learn about their culture and develop a real understanding of and tolerance towards our differences. Surprisingly for some they also discover just how much we have in common. This personal connection has the capacity to break down stereotypes and empower action by individuals and groups to stimulate change.
Communication and support of the sister school can be at whatever level is desired. Typically interaction starts off small and builds over time as relationships develop. Some examples of actions are: exchange of drawings and craft work; writing letters or sending items informative of the Aussie way of life; raising funds for items identified by the Balinese school ranging from stationery to computers; setting up a school sport program; supporting girls to go on to high school. Once people in WA have visited their new Bali friends, their motivation increases.