SMAN 1 Students are GREAT writers!

Here are some Indonesian Folk stories written by tenth grade students at SMA 1 Limboto:

The Crying Stone

once upon a time, there was a widow who lived in a small house in the jungle in a remote place in the North Barito. She lived there with her son and daughter named Atak and Diang. Atak and Diang were spoiled and naughty and they had a very bad habit. They never helped their mother. Atak and Diang were conceited and had bad tempers. They treated their mother very badly. Atak and Diang made their mother do the hardest work in the house such as: scrubbing the floor, cleaning the pots and pans and preparing the food for the family. On the other hand Atak and Diang did not work around the house, and they never helped their mother.

Finally, their mother could no longer bear with the condition, and she decided to leave the house and her children. She went to the jungle and she met a big stone and she said "I cannot bear with this condition, my children never obey my order and they are cruel to me, please take me away". and the big stone opened, she come inside it. On the other side Atak and Diang were looking for their mother. They were so surprised when they found their mother inside a big stone. They cried and regreted that they had made their mother angry and sad, but their crying could not make their mother come back. You can still find a stone in the same jungle that cries.

The Golden Cucumber

Long time ago, there was a farmer couple. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had any children yet.
They prayed to God for a child One day a giant passed their home. He heard what they were praying. Then giant gave them a cucumber seed.

Then the couple planted the cucumber seeds. Each day they took care of the growing plant so carefully. A month later, a golden cucumber grew from the plant. The cucumber was getting heavier and bigger each day. When it was ripe, they picked it. Carefully they cut the cucumber and they were so surprised when they found a beautiful baby inside. They were so happy. They named the baby Timun Mas.

Many years after, Timun Mas had grown into a beautiful girl. Her parents were very happy. But their happiness turned to fear when her 17th birthday came. The giant was going to take Timun Mas away.
The father gave a small bag to Timun Mas, equipped with magic stuff, salt, chilis, cucumber seeds, and shrimp paste as weapons. Her father told her that it could help her from the giant. He ordered Timun Mas to run away.

The giant was chasing Timun Mas and he was getting closer and closer. Timun Mas then took a handful of salt from her small bag. She spread out the salt behind her. Suddenly a wide sea appeared between them.

Timun Mas was still running, the giant almost caught her. Then she took some chili and threw them to the giant. The chilis suddenly grew into some trees and trapped the giant. Timun Mas could escape again.

Unfortunately the giant almost caught Timun Mas. So she took the third magic stuff, the cucumber seeds. She threw the seeds and suddenly they became a wide cucumber field. The giant ate those fresh cucumbers. He ate so much that he felt sleepy and fell asleep soon.

Timun Mas kept on running as fast as she could. But the giant had woken up. Timun Mas so scared. Then she threw her last weapon, shrimp paste. It became a big swamp. The giant fell into it, and his hands almost reached Timun Mas. But at last he was drowned.

Timun Mas was safe now. Then she returned to her parent’s house her parents were very happy.

The Golden Snail

Prince Raden Putra and Dewi Limaran were husband and wife. They lived in the palace. Prince Raden Putra’s father was the king in the kingdom. One day, Dewi Limaran was walking in the palace. Suddenly, she saw a snail it was ugly and disgusting. “Yuck” Said Dewi Limaran, and she throw it away into the river. She did not know that the snail was actually an old and powerful witch. The witch put the spell on Dewi and changed her into a golden snail. Then, the witch threw Dewi away into the river.

The golden snail was drifting away into the river. One day, a kind old women went to the river to fish. Suddenly in the net there was a golden snail. The old women brought the golden snail to her home. When the old women woke up in the morning she was surprised that the house was very beautiful and clean.

The old women was very curious she decided to stay up late to see how her house got clean. She looked into the kitchen through a hole and she caught the golden snail changing into a beautiful women. The old women said to the woman, “who are you young girl”

“I’ am Dewi Limran mem’’ said the beautiful woman.

Prince Raden Putra was looking for Dewi non-stop, until one day he found the home of the old women. Prince Raden Putra asked the old women about his wife Dewi Limaran. And the old women said she knew about Dewi. Prince Raden Putra was so happy.

Then prince Raden Putra kissed the golden snail and the golden snail change into Dewi Limaran. Prince Raden Putra and Dewi Limaran were so happy that they could together again. They thanked the old women for her kindess. And they invited the old women to stay in the palace.

Finally, they live happily ever after.

MALIN KUNDANG

Malin including a smart kid but a bit naughty. He was often chasing chickens and hiting them with a broom.

Malin felt sorry for his mother who did not have a lot of money for their family. Malin decided to go wander the world in order to become rich before returning home later.

Malin Kundang’s mother initially disagreed, because she was scared he would never return and would forget her, but Malin eventually went on a merchant ship.During this time Malin Kundang learned a lot about being a sailor from the crew.

Along the way, the ship was attacked by pirates. The pirates took everything. Even most of the crew and people on the ship were killed by the pirates. Malin Kundang was lucky, he had hid in a small space so as not to be killed by the pirates.

Malin Kundang stayed by himself on the boat until finally the ship stranded on a beach. With his remaining energy, Malin Kundang walked to the nearest village from the beach. Malin realized this village was very good for farming. With tenacity and perseverance in work, Malin gradually became a wealthy man. He got a lot of merchant ships with men of more than 100 people. Having become rich, Malin Kundang married a beautiful girl.

Malin’s mother found out that Malin had become rich. She was grateful and very happy that her son had succeeded. Since then, every day Malin's mother went to the dock, waiting for her son to return to his hometown.

After some time, Malin and his wife made the voyage back to his home with the crew and a lot of bodyguards. Malin's mother who saw the ship coming into dock saw two people standing on the deck of a ship. She recognizes that the people standing were his son and his wife Malin Kundang.

Malin's mother was heading toward the ship. Once close enough, she was sure it was her son. "Malin Kundang, my son, why did you go so long without coming home?", she said, hugging Malin Kundang. But Malin only saw an old woman dressed in tattered and dirty clothes. Malin Kundang became angry even though he knows that the old woman is his mother, because Malin was embarrassed that this was his mother. He did not want his wife or his crew to know.

Malin’s mother became very sad and angry when she realized that he was embarrassed to see her. Malin's mother swore her son "If you are my son, I swear you will became a rock".

Soon Malin Kundang again went to sea and in the middle of the trip came a violent storm that destroyed the ship. After that Malin Kundang body slowly became stiff and over time eventually shaped into a rock. Until now Malin Kundang Stones can still be seen on a beach called Aia Manih beach, in the southern city of Padang, West Sumatra.

Letters to Obama

Here are letters that the students from SMA 1 Grade 10 wrote. They will be mailed to President Obama at the White House. Hopefully we will get a response.

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-1 from the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We think you are the best president. We are very proud that you lived in Indonesia, and we want be just like you. We think you are smart and clever.
We think the United States has a very advanced government and we hope Indonesia can be like the United States. We hope that our countries can be friends. We also hope you can continue to be fair to all people in the world.
In your next year as President we think you should try to stop terrorism, and work hard to make the terrorists become better people instead of killing them. Indonesia has a lot of corruption and we want to learn from you. In your next year as president we hope you can set an example for the world to stop corruption. The United States and Indonesia can work together to accomplish this.
We really want the leaders of the world to stop global warming because it is our generation that will suffer if you do not. Please try to care about the younger generation.
We want to ask you what was your opinion of Indonesia when you lived here?
We hope that you can come to Gorontalo in Indonesia, because we miss and love you so much, and we want to meet you.
Sincerely,
Class 10-1 SMA 1, Limboto, Indonesia

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-2 at the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We think you are someone that’s smart, fantastic, clever, and hero for your populace and many others. For us, this is the great opportunity, because we can sending ourletter to you. To be honest, you are the one of our idols. Because we think you are an awesome man.

We think the United States is a big country that is beautiful, famous, nice, amazing and a forward country. American is a country that is our dream for our country to become like America. We think the United States is a peaceful country, because you are a kind and wise leader. America is good in the field of economy, education and others. We want our country to progress to be like the United States. But Indonesia can not be that great yet, because my country is experiencing various tests such as disaster, poverty and hunger.

In your next year as president we hope you will respect human rights, confirm laws for people who break rules, always watch over all society welfare. We hope you can protect vulnerable people. We hope that in your next year as president you can stop global warming, and become a hero for your populace and the world.

We are students at SMA 1 Limboto. This is an excellent school and the students are very outstanding. Many of us want to study in the United States someday, and maybe one day one of us will be president of Indonesia just like you!

We hope American and Indonesia can be friends, and if at any time something happens, we hope, between Indonesia and America may help and defend each other.
And we want to ask something to you. We wanted to ask if your country will help Indonesia next time a disaster occurs?

We also wanted to ask whether it is hard to be president?
We will be so happy if you read this letter.
Sincerely,
Class 10-2 SMA 1 Limboto, Indonesia

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are from class 10-3 at the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We think you are the great president in the world, you can help solve the problems in the us and in the world like problems between the differences races: the black and white skin, problems between religion and the others. You are the one president who has been respecting of other religions especially of our religion: Islam. We are proud of it. We think you are very successful to solve the world financial crisis. We are proud of you because you studied in Indonesia and you always sang the national anthem of Indonesia: “indonesia raya” and national song is “garuda pancasila”. We also want to say congratulations because you received the Nobel Peace Prize in Normway.
In your next year as president we think you should always give help to other countries who have many problems like in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel. Please help give them peace there. We hate fighting and we have that Israel and Palestine are always against each other. Life with peace is the most beautiful life. Life with happiness in this world is not important without peace.
We think the United States is a powerful country that has the good governance, and is the greatest country in the power so we called it a super power The United States can be the greatest country in the world.
Although last year we had a big problem is the world financial crisis that still has effect today like the increase of joblessness. But just like the United States’ motto is “in god we trust”, Indonesia’s motto is “bhineka tunggal ika” which means although many differences in this country, like race and religion, we are the same, and we always trust in god. We hope that the US can build a relationship with Indonesia in education, like giving Indonesian students scholarships to continue to study in the US at the university. We hope the US can revoke the travel warning in Indonesia. We hope you can do it.
Thank for your opportunity to reading our letters. Good job and good luck to you.
Sincerely,
Class 10-3, SMA 1 Limboto, Indonesia

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-4 from the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
You are our idol, because you are so smart, clever, and generous. And we so proud of you Mr. Obama, because you are proof to world, that all people can be a leader, no matter what they look like. We think you are the best father for each child. Because you can manage your time as president of United States and your time for your family! It is amazing!. Honestly, we are very glad you are president of United States, because you lived in Indonesia when you were a child. Do you still remember Indonesian Language? And can come back to Indonesia and meet your friends (your classmates/schoolmates, your neighbors). We think they really miss you so much.

In your next year as president we think you should build cooperation between Indonesia and United States in the field of science and technology. In your next year as President we also think you should heal the world. We see many people died because of wars. And we hope you can stop it. Because we think you can.
We want to ask how we can be successful just like you. We know we just need courage, but sometimes we are not confident to say something in public. We are so nervous. We want to ask you about how to be confident in public. I know you always do it without feeling nervous. We want to learn about your success..

We want to ask you about success of America and we hope you can be give some tips for our country.

The last thing is we hope that the United States and Indonesia can make good friends.
We hope you are healthy and happy. God bless you.
Sincerely,
Class 10-4, SMA 1 Limboto, Indonesia

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-5 at the senior high school of Limboto, Gorontalo in Indonesia.
We are very proud that you lived in Indonesia. We think you are smart and kind and the best president in the world. There are no words that can show our admiration for President Barack Obama.
We think the United States is an advanced country that has laws that are fair and impartial and not just to help the rich. In your next year as president we think you should continue to be a dreamer, and a wise, fair person to help the country - regardless of the country's economy.
We hope you can help Indonesia become a fair and developed country just like the United States. We hope we can be friendly countries.
In your next year as president we think you should have America become the best again.
We want to ask you some questions about education in your country especially the high school level. How do you handle students who are disadvantaged?
Can we learn how students there improve the quality of education so we can learn to imitate their ways?
Please respond. We hope someday you can visit Gorontalo.
Sincerely,
Class 10-5 SMA 1 Limboto

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-6 at the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We want to know if you are happy and healthy and not too tired. We think you are a fantastic president, you are the best and a wise father because you can divide time between personal life and politics besides that you lead with good.
According to us you are a smart leader, wise and fair, and American people surely like your leadership
The United States is a developed country, both in the fields of industry, government, economics, and education. We agree with you that we should not distinguish between religion, ethnicity, culture, and skin color. We all are equal. For us, the United States is the nation's dream for all people. We often dreamed of going to the United States. We want to go to the United States to continue with school. We hope Indonesia can become a developed country like the United States. And we hope the United States and Indonesia can establish a good friendship. We also salute American ingenuity, and spirit that is being led by you!

About our school: our school is a good school in Gorontalo. Students in our school are students who are full of dreams, hopes and ideals. We always hope there will be a scholarship to continue our school in the United States. And we hope you can help realize our dreams.

We think you are a great person, because you can lead a country. We think being a leader is not easy, and there are many problems that must be faced. A leader must be able to be wise in all areas. In view of the changes that are increasing in this sophisticated era, perhaps you can improve the welfare of the people because it is a priority.
We are students and we are very concerned about education. We want you to know we are concerned about children in the world who are not in school. We are happy because we can go to school alone. We want the kids out there to feel how wonderful school is. They are not unwilling to learn, but the economic conditions forced them to be unable to attend school. We ask you to help fulfill their dreams.
We really applaud your struggle, because reaching goals is very hard but you never give up.
Sincerely,
Class 10-6 SMA 1 Limboto

Dear Mr. President Obama,
How are you? We hope you are well. We are students from class 10-7 at the senior public high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We think that you are a great president, who is always trying to create welfare for people, continue to give peace between the members, and a president who continues to promote his country. We are very proud that you are the first President of the United States that lived in Indonesia. We think you are very intelligent and kind. Your words inspire people around the world.
We think the United States is a country that has many advantages, and it prioritizes peace and welfare. America is a country that can become an example for other countries in the world. With your example we hope Indonesia can become a developed country.
In your next year as president we think you should further advance inter-state peace. We hope that all countries in the world can be friends so they can work together and not have wars. And we hope you can come to Indonesia in the district of Gorontalo.
We want to learn about education in America so we can improve the quality of our education. We want to ask you some questions about how it feels to be president. According to you, what efforts should be done by the state in Indonesia in order to become a developed country like the United States?
Thank you for reading our letter. We hope you are always happy and healthy.
Sincerely,
Class 10-7, SMA 1 Limboto

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-8 at the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
In your next year as President you should make our earth prosperous and protect us from Global Warming. We hope that you can also protect our state from corruption.

In our opinion, you are the best president ever in the world and you are very clever in overcoming any problems. You are good friends with the Muslim world, and you have never looked at anyone else based on skin color, religion, tribe, and culture. You love your people and love working together with mutual respect between everyone. We should be more concerned with common interests.
In our opinion, America is a country that is very rich. Going to America is the dream of all people, including us.
We hope, Obama can help achieve the best thing that we dreamed of: unity for all people and an end to corruption, HIV/AIDS and global warming.
We hope that someday you can take a stroll with us to look at all poor people we see and you can feel their trouble. Like in a movie, you will have to be in disguise, but I think if you do it, then you can be united with them.

We love our state very much. So we want to ask you a question, can you help our state in order that there will be no more illiterate people in our state, please?

We want to ask:
1. What you will do to tackle problems of corruption, drugs, etc.?
2. What should be done in Indonesia for achieving the progress of a nation, starting from economic terms, political, legal, social and cultural, educational, and various others?
3. What are your feelings after becoming president of America when people choose you?
4. What are your principles in your life as a leader?
Sincerely,
Class 10-8, SMA 1 Limboto

Dear Mr. President Obama.
We are students from Class 10-9 at the Senior High School in Limboto, Gorontalo, in the country of Indonesia.
We think you are a figure of a man who is very fair in terms of leadership and responsibility for the entire world community regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, and culture. We really admire you because you are a very important person in the United States, and you have been to school in Indonesia and now can become the president United States. We think you are a wise president, and we think the united state is something that must we guard together. I'm proud of you because you're the only president who has dark skin and you do not feel ashamed.
We think America is one of the most advanced countries in the world and it has many beautiful tourist destinations. We think America is the barometer of the world. We think the United States is has many universities, colleges and the United States also has a leading English language program in the world. United States also provides a wonderful place for us to walk. America has many cities and beautiful destinations in the world. This country has a high security system, backed by legal force that is very strong. I think you should add to the vision and mission of America to make it better than years ago. And you should also maintain citizen confidence in the United States. Hopefully you can move forward in the next year and become the best president.
In your next year as president we think you should not start new wars in the world and make any policies that are more supportive of the realization of peace on this earth. In the next year as a leader, we think you should keep your goal in reconciling the whole world community to respect and love one another. We hope there will be no more violence and differences between all communities.

I hope that we can bridge religious and cultural differences between Western and Muslim countries and can carry out specific programs in the field of trade, education and health services in the Muslim world.
We hope that before you leave your presidency that you can prepare everything so that we do not have the same problems again later.
We hope that you stay healthy and are not too tired.
Sincerely,
Class 10-9 SMA 1 Limboto

Dear Mr. President Obama,
We are students from class 10-10 at the senior high school in Limboto, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
We think you are smart, generous, kind, diligent, and nice

We think the United States is an advanced country that can make many new ideas. We are very grateful that the United States has helped Indonesia by providing assistance such as scholarships.
In your next year as president we think you should help stop the war in Afghanistan and help maintain the Islamic religion. Also, in the next year we think the United States will become more advanced, and we hope the United States could be an example for other countries so that they can have more love and peace, especially my country "Indonesia".
The students of our high school are smart, diligent, and otherwise pretty well. At our school we have a teacher from the United States to teach us the English-Language and we are very proud to have a teacher from the United States. Her name is Ms.Alexa Horwart.

We hope that you will not forget Indonesia and if you could please take your time to come visit Indonesia.


We want to ask you some questions about how do we study in the United States and how do you feel when you became a successful person like this?

Also, how can we advance education in our country?
Thank you for reading our letter. Good luck in your next year as president. We believe in you.
Sincerely,
Class 10-10 SMA 1 Limboto, Indonesia

If you want to write your own letter to President Obama at the White House, you can go to this website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact OR you can mail your letter to this address:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

WORDS Competition Information

• Students can submit essays, poems, dances, artwork, songs, and multimedia presentations.

• Submissions must be relevant to the theme “The Changing World Outside My Window: Where am I from? / Where am I going?”

• Each student must speak for a minimum of 1 minute in English. Students can use this time to describe their art or performance. Each entry should be at least 2 minutes and no more than 5 minutes.

• Each student must give the judges a copy of what they will be speaking.

• The written submission should be at least 50 words and no more than 500. Entries more than 500 words will be considered.

• English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) cannot help in any way with a student’s submission before the competition, except helping students understand the theme and rules.

• Each school will hold an in-school competition with one winner traveling to compete in Jakarta.

• All schools will use the same rubric (scorecard) and it will be available for students to see before the competition.

• The winner of each school competition will travel to Jakarta with their ETA on April 9 – 11, 2010.

• The winners of the Jakarta competition will receive scholarships.

• Students traveling to Jakarta with the ETA will need a permission form signed by their parents. The form will be given after students are selected.

February 1 : Start date of school competition
February 26 : Student submission deadline at schools.
March 6 : Top three finalists submission from each school to regional judging committee.
March 13 : Deadline for school competitions.
March 19 : Finalists’ names must be submitted to AMINEF.
April 9 : ETAs and finalists travel to Jakarta.
April 10 : Day of competition.
April 11 : ETAs and finalists return home.

If you need help understanding the topic, please contact Miss Alexa or another English teacher at SMA 1 Limboto. I will be posting examples of previous submissions soon.