The Indonesian government has introduced its new curriculum for Senior High School called “Merdeka” (Independence), allowing schools more flexibility in what to teach.
As a result, I was asked to teach Dutch in both 3rd grade classes (Hotel and Diving/Tour).
That was fun. When you start learning something you’ve known since you were a child, you realize what a complicated language Dutch really is.
Try this: take the verb “to walk.
So that is: ‘I walk’, I walked (past tense), I have walked (completed).
Now you would expect it to be the same for the word “hope.
But no, it is “I hope,” “I hoped,” and “I hoped.
But surely “buying” should be the same thing?
Forget it! ‘I bought’, ‘I bought’ and ‘I bought’. Try explaining that….
Or the use of the words “the,” “it” and “an”; a completely unknown piece of grammar in the Indonesian language. But it was a lot of fun; especially the pronunciation. We ended this 3-month class with some Dutch songs. The result I will spare you.
