Faculty Abroad: Dr. Lori Assaf Fulbright Check-In

March 10, 2019 

In January, we announced that Dr. Lori Assaf, professor in the Curriculum & Instruction Department received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program grant to work with Faculty of Education at Universitas Tanjungpura in Pontianak, Indonesia for two weeks. After one week in Indonesia, Assaf took some time to fill us in on her time there in her own words.

After the warm and enthusiastic welcome, I spent the week presenting workshops to UPT Bahasa UNTAN faculty on using digital tools to support language instruction. After each workshop, I was served lunch by the student union and then participated in brainstorming sessions with university-wide faculty and the international directors. On Saturday and Sunday, I had the pleasure and honor of working with teacher candidates and primary grade students in the Rumah Pintar EFCT House in the local village of Kubu Raya, which provides local primary and junior high students with language classes taught by student teachers from UPT Bahasa UNTAN.

I held an hour and a half workshop on reading strategies and supporting vocabulary instruction on Saturday. On Sunday, I demonstrated a language lesson to 15 elementary students, four UPT Bahasa lecturers, and a student teacher.

For a little sightseeing, we visited St. Joseph's Cathedral, Dayak Long House, walked through Taman Alum Kapuas (waterfront city park) and took a riverboat ride down the Sungar Kapuas. Did I mention I met the Sultan while visiting the Keraton Kadriyah Pontianak Kalbar (palace) and had lunch with the Rektor (president) of the UNTAN at his home on Sunday? It’s been a fast and exciting trip.