Dr. Ekawati Marhaenny Dukut has been a full-time lecturer at Soegijapranata Catholic University of Semarang, Indonesia since 1998. In addition to her teaching duties, she has been Chief Editor to her campus academic journal, Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature since 2001. She created a Graphic Novels course so that her students can learn how to combine drama, writing, and graphic skills for fun. Her Faculty of Language & Arts drama group called Camouflage was founded in 2013, which allows her to indulge in her hobby of directing students to produce staged drama and musicals. It has made her students enthusiastically follow her directions. Examples of her dramatic work can be seen here and here.
Having some talent in creative writing, she runs a course entitled Poems Interpretation. Not only are her students trained to use their imagination to write poetry, but they are also trained to ‘hear’ and ‘feel’ their state of mind until they can write beautifully with emotions.
For #CArtseCon2020, Dr. Ekawati will be introducing the:
Coronavirus Novel and Poster: A Creative Writing Cure
The outbreak of the Coronavirus all over the world is producing some negative and positive impacts at the same time on the young and the old. The impact is felt not only in the business sectors and families but also in the field of education.
Many schools are closed down not because they cannot function well, but because the schools have transformed into online schools in each and everyone’s house. How can school teachers be creative in a difficult time where staff and students must follow the regulations of self-distancing and lockdown? How could creative writing with arts be a cure to this frightening yet enlightening pandemic?
In support of CArts-E-Con’s “Art to the Rescue” theme, I would like to share the experience I had in teaching my Indonesian students how to creatively write a novel, and/ or make a poster through the online system supplied by my university’s Moodle software.
The deep engagement of my students in creating the themed Coronavirus novel and poster have helped my students reflect on the importance of living a fruitful life. Reading articles, video- and picture-sharing have been the forms of media used to bridge the reflective questions I give to my students, enabling them to think up out-of-the-box stories or art products. By creating, most students healed from the anxiety they may have felt from the Coronavirus because a feeling of happiness and satisfaction have overcome the negative impacts of the virus. It is a pleasure, therefore, for me to share my experience in CARts-E-Con’s Creative Writing workshop.