Joining the Dance Competition

I joined the Traditional Dance Competition in Jakarta last year.

I represented my Junior High School. It was my biggest competition. I practiced hard with my teacher for a month. We also prepared the best costume we had.

We only had one day in Jakarta. We went there by plane. We left at 6 a.m. and arrived in Jakarta at 7 a.m. We took a taxi to take us to the place where the competition was held. It took an hour to get there. There were already some participants when we arrived. The competition would start in an hour.

First, my teacher and I went to the dressing room. My teacher helped me do the make-up and the costume. We spent almost an hour for the preparation. I told my teacher that I was really nervous. I was not ready for this. However, she told me that everything was alright, and I felt better.

Then, the time came for me to perform on stage. There were five judges and about two hundred people watching me. However, I did not feel nervous anymore. I performed on the stage confidently. I really did the best I could. I was glad when it ended smoothly.

After that, we waited for the announcement of the result. It was 4 p.m. when the judges finished making their final decision. I was so impatient to hear the result. I still could not believe when they called my name as the first winner. I was so happy to be given the trophy. My teacher was also proud of my achievement.

Finally, we went back to Yogyakarta in the evening. We were so tired. However, we were satisfied because our effort was not useless.

Source: BSE; INTERLANGUAGE; kelas X

MY Special Day (205)

I woke up at about five o'clock yesterday. It wasn't a regular day, because I was about to propose a girl.

After praying and taking a bath, I had my early breakfast. At about nine o'clock I was in my office but my soul wasn't there. I was thinking about the lines that I had to say to her.

At one o'clock, I had my lunch but I wasn't enjoying it either. So, I practiced the lines to almost all girls I met at my lunch. Yes, I was a little bit crazy. Finally, it was three o'clock. I remembered all my lines. I wrapped my works and got ready to pick her up and of course proposed her.

I met her at four o'clock, took a little walk and went to a movie. At seven, we had a romantic dinner. I thought it was the perfect time to ask her to be my wife. Then I said the lines that I practiced the whole afternoon.

She smiled. I reached my pocket to get a ring and put it around her finger. Then she said "Yes."

After driven her home I went back to my house, I am very happy to be her future husband.

Source: BSE; Developing English Competencies 1: kelas X

Unbeliveble Holiday (212)

Last Saturday I woke up early, but I didn’t get up because there was no school. Suddenly, my telephone was rung. It was my friend Fanny, she asked me to go out at 10.00 o clock. She wanted to buy something in traditional market.

We were out. In the street, I saw a piece of pink coupon. Interested with its color, I took it, then Fanny and I read this out. We were fully shocked, it was a receipt of a four nights tour to Lombok !! The expired date was that day. To our surprised, the name was Fanny Fenita and the birth date was exactly the same like Fanny my friend, and it was also valid for two persons. My God!! We were thinking that maybe the coupon just fell from the sky and it was there for us.

We were in hurried to the address of the tour agency that issued the coupon. The tour agency took care of everything. We went home and still could not believe what was going on.

Two days later we were on the Senggigi Beach, lied in the warmth sun. Moreover, we had long public holiday, so we could enjoy the “gift” happily. We also bought some presents for our family and friends.

Source: BSE; English in Focus 2; Kelas VIII

An International day

Yesterday at my school we had an International day. We had performances, food stalls, displays, raffle ticket draw, and some of us were dressed in costumes

We started our day off with performances but the one I liked best was the one from fourth grade. We played games. The performance I was in was Labamba.

Straight after our performances we had our lunch. There were food stalls. They came from Australia, Asia, Arab, and Greece

Everyone had a job. These people were from sixth grade. I did my job after I had lunch. My job was to sell International Day Books.

We had displays in the hall. These displays were good but I didn’t get to see them. The displays came from a lot of countries

There was also a Trash and Treasure stall where they sold toys. The school got these things by asking the children to bring them in.

Although I didn’t win anything, International Day was still fun.

Source: BSE; Contextual Teaching and Learning; VIII