USING MAHABARATA EPIC TO BOOST ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS LINGUA FRANCA IN

ASIA Endah Yulia Rahayu Titah Kinasih Ferra Dian Andanty University of PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya Today, the usage of English in Asia, particularly Indonesia is not only to communicate with the native speakers but also with the non native speakers. Therefore the way those people speak English becomes more important than the way native speakers speak English, besides using regional varieties of English in the classrooms. A major role for English in the region is as a lingua franca between the peoples of the region, then the fulfillment of this role should be the primary goal of English language teaching in the region. Thus the model of English to be presented in the classroom can well be a local or regional model such as by using a popular Epic, like Mahabarata. It is well known in Asian Region and also beyond the Asian countries. The Mahabharata has a huge cast of characters and complex subplots - in fact in Indonesia there are 147 wayang plays related to subplots of the Mahabharata. These would take 147 nights of 9-hour performances to complete. It is the longest story ever written which was written more that 2,000 years ago in India. Traders and religious scholars brought the story to Indonesia where it became popular, especially on the islands of Bali and Java . The story tells of jealousy and power struggles between two sets of cousins who both want to rule their kingdom. It ends with a great war in which the main characters use supernatural powers. The two sets of cousins are the Pandawas (representing the forces of good) and the Kurawas (representing the forces of evil). There are five Pandawa brothers: Yudistira , Bima , Arjuna , Nakula and Sahadewa . There are 100 Kurawa brothers and one sister. The two main Kurawa characters are Duryudana/Duryodana and Karna (who is actually the Pandawas' secret half-brother). Here there is so much for the philosophy behind the development of the materials of Mahabarata Epic. Students develop an understanding of the main events, characters and settings of the much-loved Mahabharata epic. The spelling of characters' names and the name of the story may differ from one version of the story to another - for example: Pandawas, Pandava or Pandewas; Kurawa, Kurewas or Kurawas; Mahabharata, Mahabarata or Mahabrata. It shows awareness of how a traditional Indian epic operates in an Indonesian context. The Asian learners have been familiar with this epic since they have learned it from their environment. They will be motivated by a curriculum that will allow them to study the Mahabarata of the other version. Next they discuss and explain this epic at their own perspective according to how their culture grows it. In this way, local and regional English teachers are likely to be the most suitable teachers of this model and curriculum. It will save the money currently spent on hiring native speaker teachers and more importantly, raise their status and self-confidence. Key words: Mahabarata Epic, Lingua Franca, native speaker of English, non-native speaker of English