Mr Rizky Dinata from Indonesia participated in a teaching exchange programme at TAR UC for one month.
Mr Rizky shared that it was an exciting experience teaching a class fully in English for the first time.
Visitation to PETRONAS Art Gallery with lecturers from FCCI’s Department of Creative Industries
(From left): Mr Kendy Mitot, Mr Tan Siong Hui, Mr Jeremy Pinto, Mr Rizky
For Mr Rizky Dinata, conducting a class fully in English for the first time was an insightful experience during a one-month teaching exchange programme as a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication and Creative Industries ('FCCI'), where he taught Year 2 Diploma in Graphic Design students design for print.
Hailing from Indonesia, he currently teaches product design at Universitas Mercu Buana’s Faculty of Design and Creative Arts. This being his first time participating in an overseas teaching exchange programme, Mr Rizky had the opportunity to experience not only a different teaching environment, but was also able to immerse himself in Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage.
“In Jakarta our semester is 6-month long so there is only one class per week. Whereas at TAR UC, I see students more frequently since the semester is shorter and there are multiple classes per week,” he shared. “This was my first time teaching in English so it was a new experience for me. I am able to converse in Mandarin too as I studied in Beijing. That helped me grow closer to the students and communicate with them sometimes.”
“Apart from that, TAR UC students are very digitally savvy as TAR UC supports e-learning platforms such as Google classroom. E-learning is something which I hope I would be able to apply to my own teaching methods when I go back to Indonesia, as I have learnt from my experiences here.”
“My favourite part of this exchange was exploring the local food scene together with my colleagues. They took the time to explain the story behind the different types of cuisines and its cultural heritage. If I could, I would invite all of them to Universitas Mercu Buana. However, if I could only invite one person, it would have to be Mr Kendy Mitot,” he said with a grin. “That is because he would be able to share the stories behind his art and illustrations as well as share his experience in art exhibitions where his artworks have been featured.”
He also left some words of encouragement before returning to Jakarta on 13 December 2019.
“My advice to my students at TAR UC would be to stay curious and draw inspiration from unconventional sources. That way you would be able to flex your creativity more. And I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues at FCCI who I worked alongside for a month. Even though my stay was short but I have learned a lot from this experience thanks to them.”
