Society Speaking Club or SSC is a community service event initiated by the English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) and the English Letters Study Program of Sanata Dharma University, in collaboration with LPPM (Lembaga Penelitian dan Pengabdian Masyarakat) and EEC (English Extension Course) Universitas Sanata Dharma. The aim of this event is to facilitate anyone who wants to practice his or her English speaking skill while increasing their knowledge on various topics.

     Society Speaking Club was conducted in four sessions in February to April 2021. The sessions were held virtually on Zoom Meeting every Friday from 16.00 to 17.30. Each meeting, a guest speaker was presented to guide discussions on a selected topic.

     The first session was held on Friday, February 19, 2021, and the topic was Staying Mentally Healthy During Covid-19 Pandemic, with Cornelius Siswa Widiatmoko, M.Psi., a psychology lecturer at Universitas Sanata Dharma, as the speaker. The second session of SSC was held on Friday, March 12, 2021, and the topic was Promoting Tolerance amidst Diversity through Arts and Music. Sabina Thipani, the vocalist of Agony, was present as the speaker. The third SSC was held on Friday, April 9, 2021, and the topic was Being Friendly to Our Environment. The speaker of this meeting was Dinda Permata Putri, an environment activist, also the admin of @do.w.pe on Instagram. The fourth SSC was held on April 30, 2021, and the topic was Entrepreneurship: Turn Your Passion into Money! In this fourth meeting, the speaker was Daniel Ari W, S.Pd., M.Hum. He is a lecturer at Universitas Mercu Buana Yogyakarta, a creative entrepreneur, also the CEO of Obah Wood Work and Everglow English Language Center.

     Each session of SSC, there were four main agendas. The first session was started by introducing the speaker, continued with the topic discussion and a question-answer session between the speaker and the participants. Afterwards, the participants were invited to discuss the issues in a Zoom Breakout Room. A  facilitator joins in each breakout room to lead the discussions. In the group discussion, the participants felt free to express their English speaking skills, and the facilitators were in charge of encouraging them to be more confident in speaking English. After the discussion, the participants returned to the Main Room for having a wrap-up discussion together with all other participants. At the end of the session, there was a giveaway in the form of 50,000 IDR GoPay Top-up for two lucky participants. The whole session ended with the group photo.

T     he participants of SSC come from different regions in Indonesia and even from abroad. In each session, the participants’ enthusiasm was fantastic. In the first session, there were 28 participants coming from a variety of ages and institutions. There were participants from other universities and participants from the general public. The participants joining the session came from different places in Indonesia and there was even one participant joining the session from the Philippines. The places are Yogyakarta, Jember, Denpasar and the Philippines. In the second session, there were 17 participants. The participants from the second session were from Yogyakarta, Malang, Bandung, and Denpasar. In the third session, there were 33 participants. The participants from the third session were from Yogyakarta, Bogor, Jimbaran, Philippines and Jember. Finally, in the fourth session, there were 12 participants. The participants from the fourth session were from Yogyakarta, Bandung, Jember, and Kalimantan. The total participants joining this event from the first session until the fourth session is 90 participants coming from a variety of age, institution and place.

     In the Society Speaking Club, the participant got new experiences regarding speaking in English with other people. During the event the participant can freely talk in English with other participants assisted by the facilitators from ELESP and English Letters department. This experience boosted their English speaking skills, confidence in speaking and made new friends to talk English with. The participants also got new insights from the discussions on different topic.

           

     Below are some of the documentation taken from the sessions: