Undertaking an Industrial Practice at Kimaya Hotel: English for Hoteliers

Yogyakarta (27/11) – Students of the Applied English Vocational College Universitas Gadjah Mada have collaborated with Kimaya Hotel by Harris Yogyakarta to offer an English tutoring class for hotel staff. This activity involved seven students, consisting of Fredella Geralda End, Rahma Kamila, Pristiara Nurrochman, Saffanah Rafiul Millah, Luthfi Massaid, Virgiawan Kaka, and Abimanyu Haniti Paksi. Kimaya Hotel invited twelve staff members from various divisions to participate in the class. This collaboration aimed to enhance the English communication skills of all Kimaya Hotel staff, helping them better serve foreign tourists who visit the hotel.

On Thursday (7/11), we came to Kimaya Sudirman and met Ms. Icha from the Human and Resource Department to discuss schedule and topics. This tutorial activity was then held offline for over four meetings in a period of 10 days that started from November 15th to 25th. The first meeting with the hotel staff was held on Friday (15/11) and then continued Monday (18/11), Tuesday (19/11), and then Monday (25/11) as the last meeting. On the first day, all of us came to the tutoring to introduce ourselves. On the second and third day, we had begun to divide up who came each day. And on the last day, all of us came and bid farewell upon the program completion. The meeting was held in the Lawu Meeting Room at Kimaya Hotel.

As noted earlier, our team was divided into two smaller groups of four students: Kaka, Abim, Tiara and Della for the first half, and Luthfi, Anna, Rahma, and Della for the second half. Therefore, the third day was the second group’s turn to give a presentation. On the third day of the activity, this group conducted a grammar workshop for the participants. The session focused on basic grammatical concepts, including the simple present and past tenses, as well as prepositions of time, place, and direction. Interactive exercises were given to make the development of practice and comprehension more exciting for the hotel participants. The participants actively participated in discussions and oral exercises. Their enthusiasm was evident throughout the session, demonstrating that we had succeeded in making English more fun for them. The HRD representative provided consistent support from the beginning and offered hospitality, fostering a positive learning environment and a comfortable teaching experience for us, especially considering this was the first time any of us had ever done this.

The fourth day, as the last day, was dedicated to examining the participants’ learning through a quiz. However, a slight misunderstanding happened regarding the information of the newest learning module, so we provided the participants with some time to review it before doing the quiz. After the quiz, we assisted the participants in scoring their answers and identified the said person with the highest score, who was later awarded a prize for their achievement. The winner is Ms. Viola from the front office department. The quiz successfully highlighted the program’s success in boosting confidence and language skills.

This activity aimed to improve the English language skills of the staff, especially in the field of hospitality to enhance better and professional service to customers. With better skills, the staff can be more confident in their performance. This activity is designed to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Qualified Education (4) and Partnerships to Achieve Goals (17). By providing high-quality training materials, the initiative aims to improve the English language skills of local workers, empowering them to develop their abilities and contribute to their professional growth.