Teaching Rural Indonesian Schools Students: Effective Strategies

“Building Indonesia from the periphery by strengthening the regions and villages within the framework of a unitary state” is the third agenda of Nawacita (Nine priorities of national development agenda). This commitment reflects the current Indonesian government s concerns that prioritize development in the disadvantaged, outermost, and frontier regions (3T). It is implemented in various programs, one of which is the SM-3T program enacted by the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education of Indonesia. The SM-3T, which stands for Sarjana Mendidik di daerah Terdepan, Terluar, dan Tertinggal (Graduates Educating in the Disadvantaged, Outermost, and Frontier Regions), is a year program for teacher education graduates to teach in rural areas of Indonesia. This study aims to investigate teaching strategies used by SM-3T teachers in rural Indonesian school. This research employs a narrative case study. The techniques of data collection comprise questionnaire, in-depth interview, and photo analysis. This study can extend the existing knowledge about ELT in rural Indonesian school, especially teaching strategies, and to improve teachers’ professionalism as they could experience conditions in rural Indonesian schools which are different from the conditions in urban schools.