Mr Parulian Pasaribu
Primary Teacher
To enhance and build upon the curriculum in this Semester 2, Grade 4 students participated in an age-appropriate field trip to visit the Textile Museum of Jakarta on Tuesday, 19th of March 2019. It is a museum of 768 batik pieces, 709 woven cloths, 325 mixed works, 60 tools and 100 contemporary textiles.
Upon arriving at the site, all students and teachers took a group picture in front of the main building before being divided into two groups. Students were amazed of how big the area was, which consists of patchwork of buildings, pendopo (cottage) and garden – all forming a picture that is reminiscent of a residence in The Colonialism Era.
The main museum has wonderful examples of traditional weaving in glass cases. Some are new and some are ancient. Students were given information about many kinds of Indonesian traditional weaving such as Javanese batik, Palembang songket, Batak ulos, and ikat. They were also introduced to some of the traditional weaving instruments and equipment for textile production. On their way out, students learned how to make a simple Javanese puppet out of coconut leaves.
Students were enthralled by Indonesia’s wealthy resources, as they strolled around the Batik Pavilion and Gallery, which revealed a thousand strands of colored thread, all sourced from all corners of our country and dated back to 60 years ago.
Finally, our students were taken to Pendopo Batik, where they experienced an afternoon at a batik tulis lesson, which was the cherry on top of the whole learning journey. It was really fun to see how students explored their creativity in creating various patterns to be drawn on their own fabric, using a particular kind of batik wax.
Just before we left the museum, students were given the opportunity to purchase souvenirs from the gift shop, which offers an array of goods that include textiles, garments, accessories, batik-making tools, and various informative books.
