Cerita bilingual ini saya buat berkolaborasi dengan salah satu murid saya yang hobi menulis. Namanya Maylika, sudah sejak kecil suka menulis. Pernah juga berprestasi di ajang menulis puisi FLS Sukoharjo pada tahun 2019. 

Judul aslinya adalah : Sebungkus Cilok Untuk Kakakku. Saya kemudian membuat versi bahasa Inggrisnya dengan ada perubahan sedikit pada versi aslinya. Cerita Maylika ini menjadi juara 1 di kegiatan festival literasi  yang diadakan di sekolah kami tahun 2021 lalu. 

Dalam cerita bilingual ini saya menggunakan Bahasa Inggris - Indonesia dan cerita ini menjadi bagian dari buku fiksi solo saya : My Story Book. Rupanya cerita Maylika ini membawa hoki hehe..Buku My Story Book saya menjadi juara 3 penulis terbaik kegatan SAGUSAKU 4 (Satu Guru Satu Buku 4) Wonogiri tahun 2021 lalu,

Saya harap dengan membaca cerita berbahasa Inggris yang dekat dengan keseharian, kamu akan lebih tertarik untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris. Kosakatanya tidak terlalu sulit dengan total sekitar 1100 words. Yuk simak ceritanya.

 After I had helped Mom washing dishes, I was ready to do my remote learning assignments. Covid-19 had forced us to study at home since March 2020. Remote learning for me was not as easy as studying in real classrooms but I knew I just got used to it. Studying at home meant that I had to study with Gandhi. Believe me it was not always that fun.

    Gandhi was my little brother. Mom asked me to help him with his lesson. I understood that Mom really needed my help because her job as a batik painter needed extra focus and time.  She had to work carefully  with her canting and hot malam to finish each batik cloth patterns. My father off course couldn’t do any help with Gandhi’s lesson. He was always busy working from dawn to evening at the batik manufacture near my village at Tirtomoyo district.

    Usai membantu ibu dengan cuci piring, aku bersiap untuk mengerjakan tugas – tugas PJJ ku. Covid-19 telah memaksa kita untuk belajar di rumah sejak Maret 2020. Ini tak semudah seperti saat kita belajar di ruang kelas seperti dulu, tapi aku tahu, aku hanya harus membiasakan diri untuk itu. Belajar di rumah itu artinya aku harus belajar bareng Gandhi. Percaya deh, itu tidak akan selalu menyenangkan.

    Gandhi itu adikku. Ibu memintaku untuk membantunya untuk mempelajari pelajarannya. Aku tahu kalau Ibu memang memerlukan bantuanku karena pekerjaannya sebagai pembatik membutuhkan fokus tinggi dan waktu ekstra. Ibu harus bekerja dengan hati – hati dengan cantingnya dan lilin malam yang panas untuk menyelesaikan tiap pola kain batik. Ayahku tentu saja tidak bisa banyak membantu dengan pelajarannya Gandhi itu. Ayah itu selalu sibuk bekerja dari pagi – pagi sekali sampai sore di pabrik batik dekat desaku di Kecamatan Tirtomoyo.

It’s not that I hate helping Gandhi. It’s just he’s like any other eight years old boys who hardly stayed still for an hour. Moreover sometimes I felt any trouble on managing my time. Once, I asked for Mom’s suggestion about it. Mom suggested, “I know this is not an easy task but I believe you can do it, sweetheart. By doing this task, day by day you’ll have more chance to learn time management in real life.” 

So the day was just like my other remote learning sessions; washing the dishes, finishing my remote learning assignments and off course – now it’s time helping Gandhi with his online classes. But wait, the clouds were black and strong winds brought down some small rain drops. I saw that the clothes which Mom had washed this morning were still outside. I didn’t have a heart to wake Mom up. She had just fallen asleep on a small couch near her batik work area. She looked so tired. My parents had to work extra hard to earn living during this hard pandemic situation. No time to complain. I realized that I got to do as much as I could to do any help. I rushed to the yard to safe the clothes. 

I was out of breath when I reached Gandhi’s room. He frowned and protested why it took a long time for me to help him with his tasks. He complained, “I want to play with my friends!”

Oh gosh! Gandhiii.. if only you knew how hard it was to be me, helping Mom with the house works, doing my own online assignments and off course spending more hard time with you, I grumbled in my heart. 

“No, Gandhi. You can’t go out unless you finish these tasks,” I persisted, “You have to do this Math subject first, after that let’s finish your drawing assignment and doing this Javanese task.” I always wanted my session with Gandhi as short as possible. I wanted him to finish all his tasks in a rush. 

“Can I only finish my drawing now?” Gandhi persuaded, “I really want to play bicycle with Abi.”

 “No. You know you can’t! Let’s do all those tasks right now!” I insisted with my higher tone.

“I don’t want to do this Math now. It will take a long time to do it. I hate Math!” he yelled.

By that time, I saw Mom was entering Gandhi’s room. She had woken up because of our noisy argument. Mom whispered to me, “Be patient sweetheart. Your little brother is still a small kid. He won’t be happy if you make him do all his tasks at once in a rush.”

Oh, Gandhi! Millions tons of patience I had given for you. I remembered how often he had taken my Lego collections without permission from my cupboard. I had noted how many hours he had stolen from my leisure time to help him with his online classes. And look! He was just ready to run now.

“I’ve finished with my drawing task,” Gandhi just rose up from his chair and grabbed his mask on his desk. He didn’t listen to my objection at all. He asked some pocket money from Mom and quickly went out with his bicycle. I looked at Mom with an upset look, how could Mom just let him go that easy. 

“That’s okay, he will go home soon. Thank’s for helping Gandhi, sweetheart. You can finish your tasks while waiting him home,” Mom said.

Gandhi went home at five in the evening.  The rain had stopped but the air was a little bit cold. Mom was still busy with his batik painting. I had just finished preparing some cups of hot tea in the kitchen when I saw him at a glimpse running to the bedroom. I believed he would play computer games or reading any comic books at his room. I put two cups of tea for Mom and Dad at a small table near Mom’s batik area. I took another cup of tea for myself. I wanted to have it at my room while watching my favorite Korean drama. Tea for Gandhi? I didn’t want to bring it to his room. I put the tea for him at the table near the television. He sometimes had his tea there. I saw him peeping me from his room. Was he just throwing a smile at me? No, I didn’t care!

I walked into my room. I would rather spend a peaceful evening alone. But, I was so surprised when I was about to put my tea on my desk. I saw that there was a bowl of warm chicken noodle with a piece of note paper underneath it. I slipped the paper out and found out that it was Gandhi’s handwriting. Not very neat writing, but it was good enough for a kid at his age. The note said, This is the most delicious chicken noodle for my beloved sister. When I was hanging around with my friends I saw Mas Bejo chicken noodle stall, your favorite. I remembered that you must be so tired doing this and that. But don’t say thanks to me. Thank Mom for I bought it with the pocket money which was given by Mom. Please don’t hate me.

Gandhi, how could I hate you? You’re my only brother I had. I took two forks and brought the chicken noodle to Gandhi’s room. I saw him still reading his favorite comic book. I hug him from his back and he smiled. His smile, which was as warm as that special chicken noodle, melted all those hatred flakes inside my heart.

Tahukan anda, hampir 90 % pedagang mi ayam - bakso di beberapa kota besar Indonesia itu berasal dari kota kami, Wonogiri. Data ini dari Papmiso Indonesia (Paguyupan Pedagang Mi Ayam dan Bakso) tahun 2021 . Budaya 'boro' sudah menjadi bagian gaya hidup masyarakat di Wonogiri ini. 'Boro' ini berasal dari kata 'ngemboro atau mengembara'. Mi ayam dari Wonogiri terkenal pas rasanya, apalagi diguyur sambel dan saos tomat. Ada juga yang dilengkapi topping pangsit goreng, bakso atau ceker. Paling pas dinikmati saat musim hujan begini.

Cerita - cerita bilingual di buku My Story Book saya ini memang dibuat dengan mengangkat kearifan lokal. Di dalam cerita ini misalnya mengangkat menu mi ayam dan seni batik Tirtomoyo di bagian awal cerita. 

Oke, Selamat menikmati cerita ini sebagai teman belajar bahasa Inggris. Oya, tentu saja bisa sambil menikmati mi ayam Wonogiri :) Terus semangat yaa belajar Bahasa Inggrisnya. Keep reading !