Written by Dode Gargitha, School Communications Officer
On Saturday October 22nd I joined the second lesson of Bottle for Botol’s Environmental Education Program at SDN 2 Canggu. Most schools in Bali run their extracurricular activities on Saturdays. One of the extracurricular at SDN 2 Canggu is about the environment. The lesson started at 08.30 am and was taught by Pak Made Dasna and Ibu Yeti, the year 5 and 6 teachers. All of the students began the lesson by singing a happy song called “Di Sini Senang, di Sana Senang” together. “Di Sini Senang, di Sana Senang” means “We are happy everywhere”. The teachers explained they chose the song to start the Bottle for Botol lesson with good spirits. The teacher asked the students to explain the last BfB lesson that had been given. The students were very enthusiastic and almost all of them raised their hand to get a chance to explain the lesson.
Figure 1. A student explains the previous Bottle for Botol lesson
In Lesson 1 of the Bottle for Botol lessons, the students formed small working groups. For homework they were given the task of interviewing someone who is more than 30 years older than themselves about the environment 30 years ago. They were asked to explain the results of the interview in Lesson 2. Each group explained their interview results in front of the class. They had very various answers about their environment 30 years ago and what kind of things were used before plastic was created. One of the student groups explained that after plastic was created, there is so much plastic around us, and that plastic will end up in the sea and will destroy the coral reef.
Figure 2. A student group explains their interview results.
In Lesson 2 the students are asked to draw their environment today, 30 years ago and what it might look like 30 years in the future. This was the most interesting activity in the lesson. The students were very happy and enthusiastic to think about their environment and draw it in the book. They had many different thoughts, so they also had very different drawings. There were drawings about the sea, multi-storey buildings and plastic in our environment. Very various.
Figure 3. A student’s drawing of what their sea might look like in 30 years time.
The teachers then gave some additional information about how rubbish ends up in the ocean. If we throw away rubbish carelessly it will end up in the sea, and the fish will eat it. During the lesson, one of the student asked to the teacher, “if the fish eat plastic, and then we eat that fish, will our body also contain plastic?” The teacher answer that, “many fish can’t distinguish plastics and food. They will eat anything. If the fish eat plastic, and then we eat that fish, our body will contain plastics too. So, don’t throw your trash away carelessly”.
Overall, the teachers gave the lesson very well and systematically. They gave students real examples in each part of the lesson, so the students easily understood the lesson. The teachers also added some additional information about what materials they used to eat and drink from a long time ago, like banana leaves, coconut leaves for wrapping food, and cups made from bamboo and coconut shells.
Figure 4. Ibu Yeti and Pak Made Dasna, the year 5 and 6 teachers, teaching BfB Lesson 2
Written by Catherine Elliott, Dode Gargitha and Alice Sainsbury.