Indonesian Update

Who saw Turtle?

This term, F-2 students are celebrating all things turtle in Indonesian classes. Turtles have been travelling the ocean currents between Australia and Indonesia for hundreds of thousands of years and are culturally important to the original inhabitants of both countries. 

This week, we’re focussing on the verb ‘melihat’ (to see). We’ve read Ros Moriarty’s book Who Saw Turtle to practise using ‘melihat’ and to learn the Indonesian words for some sea creatures. We know ‘ikan’ means ‘fish’ and we’re getting used to using ‘penyu’ for turtle. ‘Ikan paus’ means ‘whale’: we remember that one by noticing that ‘paus’ rhymes with ‘house’ and a whale is as big as a house (that’s called a mnemonic device if you would like to know some fancy language). 

Turtle sanctuaries are becoming more common in Indonesia. We watched a video about this turtle sanctuary on Bawah Island and several students mentioned that they had visited similar sanctuaries in Bali - ask around if you are lucky enough to be visiting Bali in the holidays, you might pick up some tips on where to see turtles.

Sampai jumpa,

Bu Deryn