This diverse anthology of traditional tales from across the Indonesian
archipelago includes short stories, origin myths, historical legends,
poetry, diary entries, news reports and dialogues. Each of the 20
stories is presented in parallel English and Indonesian versions on
facing pages, making this a great resource for intermediate language
learners.
Although written in the Indonesian national language, the stories hail
from many different ethnic cultures and include a number of female
characters who reveal the challenges faced by women in Indonesian
society. In adopting this approach, the authors make the stories
relevant and engaging for students, as well as provide fascinating
windows onto the regional cultures found among these islands.
The stories in this volume include:
-
"Forbidden Love"--A story from West Kalimantan that tells of the
tragic love between two first cousins who had to pay a hefty price for
their love
-
"Freshwater Dolphins of the Mahakam River"--A story in the form of
blog reports from Borneo telling the legend of the freshwater dolphins
in the Mahakam River and the challenges faced by the peoples of East
Kalimantan
-
"Pitung, the Hero of Batavia"--A story from Jakarta in which a
Robin Hood-like figure who stole from the rich to pay the poor, played
a heroic role in defending the poor against foreign-run gangs in
colonial times
-
And many more!
Authors Katherine Davidsen and Yusep Cuandani are experienced language
teachers who use these texts in their high school classes at
international schools in Jakarta to fulfill the requirements for
International Baccalaureate and Cambridge IGCSE curriculum courses in
Indonesian language and culture.
The stories are graded in terms of difficulty. Each one is accompanied
by a set of discussion questions, a detailed vocabulary list, cultural
notes keyed to the text and online native-speaker audio recordings. An
extensive Indonesian-English glossary is provided at the back of the
book.
