Strange? It’s O.K.

I got this article from a friend. It’s so enlightening, that’s why I need to publish it here. This also a relief for some people who are categorized as the ’strange’ one in this crazy world. Check this out:

ANEH MEMBAWA NIKMAT
by  ZAINUDDIN DJAFAR

“Dunia memang aneh”, Guman Pak Ustadz

“Apanya yang aneh Pak?” Tanya Penulis yang fakir ini.

“Tidakkah antum (kamu/anda) perhatikan di sekeliling antum, bahwa
dunia menjadi terbolak-balik, tuntunan jadi tontonan, tontonan jadi
tuntunan, sesuatu yang wajar dan seharusnya dipergunjingkan,
sementara perilaku menyimpang dan kurang ajar malah menjadi
pemandangan biasa”

“Coba antum rasakan sendiri, nanti Maghrib, antum ke masjid, kenakan
pakaian yang paling bagus yang antum miliki, pakai minyak wangi,
pakai sorban, lalu antum berjalan kemari, nanti antum ceritakan apa
yang antum alami” Kata Pak Ustadz.

Tanpa banyak tanya, penulis melakukan apa yang diperintahkan Pak
Ustadz, menjelang maghrib, penulis bersiap dengan mengenakan pakaian
dan wewangian dan berjalan menunju masjid yang berjarak sekitar 800m
dari rumah.

Belum setengah perjalanan, penulis berpapasan dengan seorang ibu muda
yang sedang jalan-jalan sore sambil menyuapi anaknya”

“Aduh, tumben nih rapi banget, kayak pak ustadz. Mau ke mana, sih?”
Tanya ibu muda itu.

Sekilas pertanyaan tadi biasa saja, karena memang kami saling kenal,
tapi ketika dikaitkan dengan ucapan Pak Ustadz di atas, menjadi
sesuatu yang lain rasanya…

“Kenapa orang yang hendak pergi ke masjid dengan pakaian rapi dan
memang semestinya seperti itu dibilang “tumben”?

Kenapa justru orang yang jalan-jalan dan memberi makan anaknya di
tengah jalan, di tengah kumandang adzan maghrib menjadi biasa-biasa
saja?

Kenapa orang ke masjid dianggap aneh?

Orang yang pergi ke masjid akan terasa “aneh” ketika orang-orang lain
justru tengah asik nonton sinetron “Intan”.

Orang ke masjid akan terasa “aneh” ketika melalui kerumunan orang-
orang yang sedang ngobrol di pinggir jalan dengan suara lantang
seolah meningkahi suara panggilan adzan.

Orang ke masjid terasa “aneh” ketika orang lebih sibuk mencuci motor
dan mobilnya yang kotor karena kehujanan.

Ketika hal itu penulis ceritakan ke Pak Ustadz, beliau hanya
tersenyum, “Kamu akan banyak menjumpai “keanehan-keanehan” lain
di sekitarmu,” kata Pak Ustadz.

“Keanehan-keanehan” di sekitar kita?

Cobalah ketika kita datang ke kantor, kita lakukan shalat sunah
dhuha, pasti akan nampak “aneh” di tengah orang-orang yang sibuk
sarapan, baca koran dan mengobrol.

Cobalah kita shalat dhuhur atau Ashar tepat waktu, akan
terasa “aneh”, karena masjid masih kosong melompong, akan terasa aneh
di tengah-tengah sebuah lingkungan dan teman yang biasa shalat di
akhir waktu.

Cobalah berdzikir atau tadabur al Qur’an ba’da shalat, akan terasa
aneh di tengah-tengah orang yang tidur mendengkur setelah atau
sebelum shalat. Dan makin terasa aneh ketika lampu mushola/masjid
harus dimatikan agar tidurnya nyaman dan tidak silau. Orang yang mau
shalat malah serasa menumpang di tempat orang tidur, bukan malah
sebaliknya, yang tidur itu justru menumpang di tempat shalat. Aneh,
bukan?

Cobalah hari ini shalat Jum’at lebih awal, akan terasa aneh, karena
masjid masih kosong, dan baru akan terisi penuh manakala khutbah ke
dua menjelang selesai.

Cobalah anda kirim artikel atau tulisan yang berisi nasehat, akan
terasa aneh di tengah-tengah kiriman e-mail yang berisi humor,
plesetan, asal nimbrung, atau sekedar gue, elu, gue, elu, dan
test..test, test saja.

Cobalah baca artikel atau tulisan yang berisi nasehat atau hadits,
atau ayat al Qur’an, pasti akan terasa aneh di tengah orang-orang
yang membaca artikel-artikel lelucon, lawakan yang tak lucu, berita
hot atau lainnya.

Dan masih banyak keanehan-keanehan lainnya, tapi sekali lagi jangan
takut menjadi orang “aneh” selama keanehan kita sesuai dengan
tuntunan syari’at dan tata nilai serta norma yang benar.

Jangan takut dibilang “tumben” ketika kita pergi ke masjid, dengan
pakaian rapi, karena itulah yang benar yang sesuai dengan al Qur’an
(Al A’raf:31)

Jangan takut dikatakan “sok alim” ketika kita lakukan shalat dhuha di
kantor, wong itu yang lebih baik kok, dari sekedar ngobrol ngalor-
ngidul tak karuan.

Jangan takut dikatakan “Sok Rajin” ketika kita shalat tepat pada
waktunya, karena memang shalat adalah kewajiban yang telah ditentukan
waktunya terhadap orang-orang beriman.

“Maka apabila kamu Telah menyelesaikan shalat(mu), ingatlah Allah di
waktu berdiri, di waktu duduk dan di waktu berbaring. Kemudian
apabila kamu Telah merasa aman, Maka Dirikanlah shalat itu
(sebagaimana biasa). Sesungguhnya shalat itu adalah fardhu yang
ditentukan waktunya atas orang-orang yang beriman.” (Annisaa:103)

Jangan takut untuk shalat Jum’at/shalat berjama’ah berada di shaf
terdepan, karena perintahnya pun bersegeralah. Karena di shaf
terdepan itu ada kemuliaan sehingga di jaman Nabi Salallahu’alaihi
wassalam para sahabat bisa bertengkar cuma gara-gara memperebutkan
berada di shaf depan.

“Hai orang-orang beriman, apabila diseru untuk menunaikan shalat
Jum’at, maka bersegeralah kamu kepada mengingat Allah dan
tinggalkanlah jual beli [1475]. Yang demikian itu lebih baik bagimu
jika kamu mengetahui”. (Al Jumu’ah:9)

Jangan takut kirim artikel berupa nasehat, hadits atau ayat-ayat al
Qur’an, karena itu adalah sebagian dari tanggung jawab kita untuk
saling menasehati, saling menyeru dalam kebenaran, dan seruan kepada
kebenaran adalah sebaik-baik perkataan;

“Siapakah yang lebih baik perkataannya daripada orang yang menyeru
kepada Allah, mengerjakan amal yang saleh, dan berkata: “Sesungguhnya
Aku termasuk orang-orang yang menyerah diri?” (Fusshilat:33)

Jangan takut artikel kita tidak dibaca, karena memang demikianlah
Allah menciptakan ladang amal bagi kita. Kalau sekali kita
menyerukan, sekali kita kirim artikel, lantas semua orang mengikuti
apa yang kita serukan, lenyap donk ladang amal kita….

Kalau yang kirim e-mail humor saja, gue/elu saja, test-test saja bisa
kirim e-mail setiap hari, kenapa kita mesti risih dan harus berpikir
ratusan atau bahkan ribuan kali untuk saling memberi nasehat. Aneh
nggak, sih?

Jangan takut dikatain sok pinter, sok menggurui, atau sok tahu. Lha
wong itu yang disuruh kok, “sampaikan dariku walau satu ayat”
(potongan dari hadits yang diriwayatkan oleh Al-Bukhari no. 3461 dari
hadits Abdullah Ibn Umar).

Jangan takut baca e-mail dari siapapun, selama e-mail itu berisi
kebenaran dan bertujuan untuk kebaikan. Kita tidak harus baca e-mail
dari orang-orang terkenal, e-mail dari manajer atau dari siapapun
kalau isinya sekedar dan ala kadarnya saja, atau dari e-mail yang
isinya asal kirim saja. Mutiara akan tetap jadi mutiara terlepas dari
siapapun pengirimnya. Pun sampah tidak akan pernah menjadi emas,
meskipun berasal dari tempat yang mewah sekalipun.

Lakukan “keanehan-keanehan” yang dituntun manhaj dan syari’at yang
benar.

Kenakan jilbab dengan teguh dan sempurna, meskipun itu akan serasa
aneh ditengah orang-orang yang berbikini dan ber-you can see.

Jangan takut mengatakan perkataan yang benar (Al Qur’an & Hadist),
meskipun akan terasa aneh ditengah hingar bingarnya bacaan vulgar dan
tak bermoral.

Lagian kenapa kita harus takut disebut “orang aneh” atau “manusia
langka” jika memang keanehan-keanehan menurut pandangan mereka justru
yang akan menyelematkan kita?

Selamat jadi orang aneh yang bersyari’at dan bermanhaj yang benar…

Semoga bermanfaat.

I think you can also forward this message if you find it useful. No reward or gain for you, except that Allah will be ridho with your good deeds…amin.

TEACHING READING

In my view, teaching reading is one of the best practices for EFL students, because it is a kind of an exercise of reason. As an expert said, it is an exercise dominated by the eyes and the brain, and provides huge advantage for EFL students (Harmer, 2004).

            In my context, I have experienced many activities dealing with reading practice. Mostly, the main objective is to understand a reading text or to get the important information from it. For this goal, I always convince my students that English text can be understood if they keep on reading it until the last sentence of the passage. For me, an English text can be comprehended even though there are new vocabulary and structures that my students have never seen before. They have to guess and predict the meaning the context and train their brain to digest the information on the passage. I usually make an illustration for them: they are just learning how to get to Blok M by car, and I told them the way to get there and that they just need to drive according to the instruction. Do not stop over if they find something strange or need to know (it’s the new vocabulary or structure), because the more often they did that, the longer it will be to get to the destination. To get the idea of what a text is about can be done in shorter time if they are skilled, or keep on reading for comprehension rapidly.

            After they get the idea of the text, I usually ask some questions to check whether they can extract the information on the passage. It can be a combination between open-ended questions and Yes/No questions. This activity can be a practice for speaking for my students.

            In other objective, I can also use reading as communicative task, i.e. activity to foster my students’ ability to communicate in English. For example, I give a text, and my students are asked to discuss it in small groups as the task assigned for them, such as:

-          to get a clue in a case study,

-          to rearrange the jumbled paragraphs into a good story

-          to discuss their stand points after reading certain issue

-          to discuss the moral value of a folk tale

-          to find the suspect in a crime story, etc

 

The last objective and also the most important for me is to stimulate them to pronounce better while reading aloud (another exercise for speaking). It’s a good practice because I can monitor my students’ progress in speaking by doing this. I can know easily whether my students keep on improving or not. (I usually motivate them to practice reading aloud at home, read bedtime story, or recite a poem. It’s a good exercise for pronunciation, stresses, and intonation). Reading a text aloud can indicate our speaking proficiency.

 

So, teaching reading is also a kind of teaching skills to my students. I like teaching reading, because it will also encourage me to keep on improving. In reading, we will continue to find something new: it can be some difficulty, some new skills, or more information that can widen our horizon.

 

 

***

TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM

Teaching the language system means that a teacher presents students with clear information about the language they are learning. It is a complex task, especially for me, because teacher must show students what the language means and how it is used, what the grammatical form of the new language is, and how it is said and written (Harmer, 2004).

In my experience, the best way to present language is in context. The challenge for teacher, in my view, is to provide good context for students that enable them to understand the language system. From my experience, the context for my students can be:

-          physical surrounding: classroom, campus, our Ministry of Finance, etc

-          student’s world: their lives, problems, hobbies, interests, etc

-          global world:  recent news, trends, stories, lifestyles, etc.

 

For example, when I want to teach grammar, let say comparative sentence, I provide them a reading text taken from the Internet on recent topics that contains many sample usages of comparatives in a passage. The activities will be suited to the objective in the lesson plan. A good context can be motivating for students to learn  new language.

 

            Talking about the presentation of structural form, I do not really explain much on forms and pattern, since my students have got it in semester 1 (I teach Diploma IV or semester 7, so my students should know a lot about grammar). Rather, I use the lead-in model (in the hope that my students will be aware of the key concept) or elicitation (because it is more time saving and less frustrating for students don’t have to practice something they have already known). For me, elaborate explanation depends on whether there are corrections needed to be made. But sometimes, if they do not aware of certain mistake, I just repeat their sentence by using different intonation (like questioning), so as other students can think that it is an indication I doubt what a student said is correct.

            In short, a teacher should show students not only what language means but also how it is used, and the activity can vary depending on the topic and the context that the teacher planned before.

***

Widyaiswara Should Know This too: Teacher’s Competence

Widyaiswara has the main function as teaching agent to all trainees in governmental institution. In this sense, widyaiswara is similar to teacher in the nature of the task to perform. This posting is aimed at discussing what teacher’s competence is and enriching our knowledge (as widyaiswara) on the topic.
As learning agent, a teacher should possess several competences. A competence is an integrated mastery of knowledge, skill, and attitude which is reflected in the working performance. Kepmendiknas (The Decree of Minister of National Education) No. 045/U/2002 defines competence as a set of intelligent and responsible acts in conducting all the duties of a certain job. So, teacher’s competence can be described as a unity of knowledge, skill and attitude which is reflected through intelligent and responsible acts in conducting duties as learning agents. UUGD (The Law of Teachers and Professors) and PP (Government Regulation) No. 19/2005 state that teacher’s competence includes personality, pedagogy, professionalism, and social competence. Those four teacher’s competences as well as the sub competence and the essential indicators will be discussed as follows:
Personality competence Personality competence is a personal ability which reflects firm, stable, mature, wise, and authoritative traits. Having personality competence also means becoming the role model for the learners and possessing good morality. Specifically, those sub competence will be described below:
1. A firm and stable personality sub competence: behaving according to the law norm; behaving according to the social norm; being proud as a teacher; and possessing a consistency in behaving according to the norm.
2. A mature personality competence: performing independence in acting as a teacher and having working ethos as a teacher.
3. A wise personality sub competence: performing benevolent attitude towards learners, school, and society, and showing open-minded view and behavior.
4. An authoritative personality sub competence: having a positive attitude towards the learners and having respectful behavior.
5. A good morality and becoming the role model sub competence: behaving according to religious norm (belief in God, being honest, being sincere, and helping others) and possessing behavior that can be adhered by learners.
Pedagogy competence
Pedagogy competence includes understanding the learners, designing and conducting the learning process, evaluating learning outcomes, and developing learner’s actualization of their potentials. Specifically, each sub competence is described as the following essential indicators.
1. Sub competence of understanding the learners: understanding the learners by employing the principles of cognitive development; understanding the learners by employing the principles of personality; and identifying pre-learning preparation of the learners.
2. Sub competence of designing the learning process, including understanding the educational framework for the sake of learning process: understanding the education framework; applying the study and learning theories; determining the learning strategy based on the learners’ characteristics, the desired competence, and the teaching material; and arranging the learning plans based on the selected strategy.
3. Sub competence of conducting learning process: organizing the learning setting; and conducting a conducive learning process.
4. Sub competence of designing and conducting learning evaluation: designing and conducting evaluation on the learning process and the learning result integrally using certain methods; analyzing the result of the learning process and the result of evaluation to determine the level of learning mastery; and the employment of the result of evaluation for the improvement of the quality of the learning program.
5. Sub competence of developing learner’s actualization of their potentials: facilitating the learners to develop their academic potentials and facilitating them to develop their non-academic potentials.
Professional competence
Professional competence is a broad and deep mastery of learning materials, which includes the mastery of subject curriculum materials and scientific substances related to the curriculum, and also the mastery of the structure and methodology. Every sub competence has these following essential indicators.
1. Sub competence of mastering the scientific substances related to subject curriculum: understanding the teaching material in the school curriculum; understanding the scientific structure, concept and methodology which is coherent with the teaching material; understanding the conceptual relation among the related subjects; and applying the scientific concepts in daily life.
2. Sub competence in mastery of scientific construction and methodology: mastering the research procedures and critical review to deepen the knowledge/subject materials.
Social competence
Social competence is the teacher’s ability to communicate and to live in harmony with students, colleague teacher, education staffs, parents, and the school environments effectively. The social competence comprises sub competences with these following essential indicators.
1. being able to communicate effectively with students and to live in harmony with them
2. being able to communicate effectively and to live in harmony with colleague teacher and school staffs
3. being able to communicate effectively and to live in harmony with parents or foster parents and people in the school environment.
It is necessary to note that those four competences (personality, pedagogy, professionalism and social) should be integrated in the real practice; one competence cannot be separated from the others. The above distinctions are made for easier understanding of the concept. Some experts said that the term professional competence is like an “umbrella”, because it includes other competences. On the other hand, the mastery of teaching material in deep and extensive way is more appropriate to be called the mastery of the teaching material resources (disciplinary content) or often labeled as skill subjects. To view a teacher with competence refers to the expectation that he/she should possess (1) an understanding of student’s unique characteristics, (2) a mastery of teaching materials, (3) the ability to conduct teaching and learning process, and (4) the willingness to develop his/her professionalism and personality in a continuing process.

My Notion about Lesson Planning and Classroom Management

In my view, Lesson Planning is vital for teachers for the success of the teaching and learning process. It will help teachers to resolve problems and difficulties, to provide a structure for a lesson, to provide a ‘map’ for teacher to follow and a record of what has been taught (Richards 1998). Thus, the class can run more smoothly and problems can be anticipated before they happen in class. For me, I need to make a lesson plan because I have to prepare and learn/review the material before teaching (although I have been teaching for almost 14 years, I still do that because the same content can be delivered using different strategies, depending on my students’ condition) so as to make me more confident in performing my teaching. If I am confident, I can maintain my students’ interest and attention to the Unit we discuss for the meeting. My preparation is usually for the ice-breaking activity, the language focus, and exercise practice for class activity and home assignment (topics are already plotted in the syllabus, so I can focus on the activity for the day: reading, writing, or speaking). I always prepare plan B in case something happen; for example, I prepare hand-out exercise to be written on WB or copied elsewhere if the electricity went out, while we are supposed to use the language lab , tape recorder, or LCD projector. With lesson plan, I can evaluate my teaching (some improvement or changes I should make for the next semester), and think of what other activities that are fun as well as meaningful for students in the next meeting.

Talking about classroom management, it can not be separated from motivating students, managing constraints, and managing teacher’s role (Harmer, 2004), and I am in full favor of that statement. English teachers are to deliver language skills, which needs application, not merely memorization. Therefore, teaching English needs teacher’s management skills to handle the classroom well in order to make the learning successful. In my experience, I motivate my students by explaining them the benefits to them if they can master English skills, especially in their workplace and career development in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia (Depkeu RI). In our Ministry, chances to gain scholarship for studying abroad and involved in international diplomacy are widely open. Moreover, those who succeed in our bureaucracy are mostly fluent English speakers, either graduated from abroad universities or had taken overseas courses very often. Also, I tell my students to give them score of A if they actively participate in class activities, do all assignments, and manage the mid/final exam successfully. Since my students are adult learners, this works well to motivate them to be active in the learning process.

So, teachers, make a plan before going to classroom.

CLT, Task-Based Learning, Lexical Approach

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) emphasizes interaction as the means and also the ultimate goal of learning a language. I don’t really get the real track of CLT, but from some other references, the activities in CLT can be Role Play , Interviews , Information Gap, Games, Language Exchanges , Surveys, Pair Work, etc., and I believe most English teachers have tried some or all of those strategies to make their students communicate and interact in English. But I think this will not work for low levels students because they will not able to communicate with limited vocabulary and limited range of grammatical functions (like my elementary school students). So, I think using CLT for teachers must involve equipping students with vocabulary, structures, and also strategies to enable the students to interact successfully.

I agree with the point by Richards and Rodgers that CLT is basically about promoting learning. But, we must ask ourselves as teacher why we teach English, who we are teaching, and why. Are our students aiming to learn or acquire English? Do they need to know certain vocabulary and linguistic rules as a means of passing an exam, or do they want to be able to interact in English? If we use CLT, we must think of why we use this to our students.

The method of Task-Based Learning (TBL) in concentrated on learning tasks that students are involved, not on the language input (Harmer: 34). By task, I mean a goal-oriented activity with a clear purpose. I think TBL is related to CLT, because doing a communication task involves achieving an outcome, creating a final product that can be appreciated by other.

I once tried some strategies on TBL to my students of diploma III of STAN Jakarta for English 2 (third semester). I didn’t teach grammatical points formally, because the purpose is to make them speak better than the previous semester. Then I forced them to use English without telling them anything about grammar (they got it in English 1). The activities can be making a list of reasons, comparing things, enlisting procedures or things that need doing in certain condition, reading graphs and figures, personal sharing, or solving a problem.

For example when the topic is “Accounting”, a listing task is: List ten reasons why accounting is important (my students must know the answer since they got Principles of Accounting in semester 1). A comparing task might be to compare budgeting and accounting. A problem-solving task could be to think what might happen to a company that doesn’t have an accounting department. An experience sharing task could be sharing stories about their learning activity on Principles of Accounting class. My students do the tasks in pairs, then we discuss their works by some pairs presenting their answers and others comparing or commenting the work. By doing this, my students learn to communicate with whatever English they can recall; they have no fear of failure and teacher correction in front of classmates. In the language focus session, I explained specific features that they did in discussion, then I gave some practice to do at home (e.g. when I found they use comparatives, the exercise will be making three comparative sentences).

I find out that my students enjoy this strategy, because they also love challenging activities (indeed both STAN students and lecturers are assignment lovers…). I think this TBL is also a challenge for teacher too because the language focus part does need careful preparation. Teacher must be ready with whatever analysis activity to explain some problems. But, I have my own strategy: if I may not know the answers to incidental language questions, I just encourage them to explore the further answer on their own, and I will discuss it with them in the next meeting.

According to the literature that I read, the Lexical Approach develops many of the fundamental principles advanced by proponents of the Communicative Approach. The most important difference is the increased understanding of the nature of lexis in naturally occurring language, and its potential contribution to language pedagogy. Just like CLT, I think I do not have a clear idea of what the Lexical Approach actually looks like in practice.

As I see it, teaching vocabulary cannot be separated from grammar and topic of learning (e.g. accounting, taxation, families, pets, etc). I will tell an example of my teaching activity related to vocabulary building for my students at diploma III STAN Jakarta; I don’t know whether that uses Lexical Approach or not, but that activity gave my students new words in an organized and sequenced way.

Teaching vocabulary to me can be integrated with reading activity or communicative activity. I teach vocabulary material by taking the topic as listed in the syllabus . Since this was ESP class, I told my English 1 students before to learn by heart the list of special terms on the chapter at home. This because I do not want to always give everything to my students, sometimes they have to workout themselves. Then in the classroom, I gave an exercise (Fill in the blanks with the appropriate special terms listed in the right column. E.g. The profit that results from investments into a capital asset, such as stocks, bonds or real estate, which exceeds the purchase price is called…. The answer is capital gain). For me, it was a true vocabulary learning by students’ discovering themselves.

Communicative Language Learning

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I was quite interested in reading Chapter 8 of Richard’s and Roger’s book on CLL because the language used in the chapter is much easier to understand than in other chapters in the book. Community Language Learning principles are from the “Counseling Learning Approach” developed by Charles A Curran, and I see it was created especially for adult learners who might fear to appear foolish; so the teacher becomes a language counselor who understands and leads students to overcome their fear.

Dealing with the types of learning and activities in CLL, they are combination of conventional and innovative tasks: translation, group work, recording, transcription, analysis, reflection and observation, listening, and free conversation. As I see it, those activities are good to improve student’s oral proficiency, because as members of a community, students must be more active and attentive as the teacher is more focused as counselor. I think the techniques used in CLL can build relationship between students because they feel in control and interact among them without any fear. Especially noteworthy is the non-threatening atmosphere and the non-defensive learning, which can enhance security, involvement, attention, and cooperation.

If I am to use CLL, I think I will use it for diploma I students of STAN (State College of Accountancy) Jakarta from Eastern Indonesia classes, and I put it in the introductory speaking class. I just can adopt the lesson plan of CLL to my class. This will be different for my diploma IV classes, because all students have intermediate-advanced level mastery of English. I think I will put it on class presentation activities and I don’t allow students to use native language (Bahasa Indonesia) in this level (English for diploma IV focus on the ability to write academic paper and make presentation). Indeed, it is a tough task for me to teach at STAN, since my classes are ESP, which means I must not only rely on my proficiency but also have to improve my knowledge on Accounting to explain the technical terms. I am not quite sure that I can be such that counselor, who must be non-directive (teaching traditionally or correcting mistakes), but I can be a sympathetic teacher to cope with any responses by my adult learners.

Another thing is on the analysis and reflection techniques. The objective of English classes in my campus is more on the student’s fluency, so actually minor grammatical mistake is alright for me. I explain grammar only if my students make fatal or major mistakes in grammar. What I can do according to CLL is then I must repeat the correct sentence over and over again until students learn from the mistake.

In other words, I can say that CLL will work with my elementary classes; but to deal with more advanced students, I cannot use a hundred percent CLL technique. This method is constrained by the system under which it operates, and I don’t guarantee that using it will help my students in the examination (UTS and UAS). But, to conclude, I think CLL also has contribution to make lessons communicative and interactive.

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Ini yang Merusak Mahasiswa (Kampus X)!

Posting ini dibuat usai berdiskusi hangat dengan Mr. A yang dipasang untuk mengajar English 3 di prodip IV bersama saya (I plan not to teach this semester, but for some reasons I swap my class of D3 Khusus with D-IV), pas menjelang waktu Ashar. Intinya saat itu tidak ada titik temu antara kami dalam pengajaran English 3, dan saya sudah dijembatani oleh Bidang bahwa silakan kami berdua jalan dengan plan kami masing-masing.
What I learnt from our discussion is that still some lecturers think that they are the great helpers to their students, but I just see them as poisoning their learners. Here are my proofs:
1. Mengajar sesuatu yang bukan spesialisasi kita
Personally, I will not teach something beyond my knowledge and experience. I’m an Indonesian and a moslem: I speak Indonesian very fluently; in addition, I pray, read Qur’an, etc but I will not take MK Bhs Indonesia or Agama Islam because those are not my specialty. Similarly, although you were an overseas CPA, or a fluent Ph.D, don’t take a skill class like English if you are not really aware of linguistics aspects and pedagogy.
2. Memberi nilai secara pukul rata pada mahasiswa.
Here are their reasons: D-IV students will be future accountant, never ground them because of English, so let‘s give them all a B minus. I didn’t take that silly reason. In my view, the success of a student is from the way he treats all subjects he is taking. I always tell my class that they have the chance of getting an A to F in English 3 if they want to. In my life, I can always be responsible for any single mark I gave to my students, for I record very carefully their progress and achievement, and this proofs useful to help them gain better score (although once I grounded some students for cheating and plagiarism, but for God sake I am trully aware of that decision and I will take the responsibility even to GOD because I know what I am doing). To me, students have the right to gain the maximum mark of A in all subjects, as long as they work hard for it.
3. Mengira hanya pelajaran Akuntansi saja yang paling penting buat mahasiswa.
They didn’t say that explicitly, but I know the point is exactly like that. Listen all teachers, being an accountant is not everything. Being just and fair is the thing. Never underestimate other subjects, because we are all one body: your head will not work if your heart stops beating. In this era, you are not a competitive accountant if you don’t master ICT, English, etc, and more importantly akuntan di Indonesia sudah banyak, yang ber-IPK tinggi juga banyak, tapi yang dicari pasti yang punya nilai lebih yaitu MORAL. Buat apa IPK 4 tapi akhlaq nol, hanya menambah panjang daftar calon penipu and koruptor di Indoensia. If we, lecturer, demoralize our learners to be serious in all subjects they take, we just teach them to cheat. Some students named me Ms. Evil because I necessiate them to be discipline and never tolerate any indiscipline things, but I don’t mind that calling. Deep inside, I did that because I love my students and love is all I take in every class I teach and to every students I face. That is the essence of learning to me, and I just hope that someday they realize that what they thought as burden during my class is actually my great help to them for their own good. So note this: Accountancy can be number one in this campus, but it’s NOT the only one in academic life, got that mate?
4. Menganggap semua mahasiswa D-IV bisa belajar sendiri, jadi santai dan have fun saja in class.
I am in full agreement that learning should enjoyable and fun for students, but it doesn’t mean that we can take the class so easy. Bagaimana kita hanya bisa memberi mereka text bacaan dan membiarkan mereka membaca dan membahas sendiri, kemudian mempresentasikannya di kelas tanpa kita ajari bagaimana cara memahami wacana dan cara berpresentasi dalam formal meeting? Itu seperti mengajari siswa berenang dengan cara menceburkan mereka ke kolam renang dan berharap mereka bisa mengambang dan sampai ke tepi kolam dengan sendirinya. For some skilled students, it will work; but for those inexperienced ones, they will be drowned to the bottom of the pool. Ini juga pesan buat mahasiswa, change your mindset: don’t fool yourself with your idea ‘kuliah santai gapapa yang penting nilai A’ but the fact is you get nothing. Mau jadi apa kualitas pendidikan kita sekarang kalau dosen dan mahasiswanya sama saja error-nya?

Sebenarnya masih ada beberapa hal lagi, tapi tidak perlu saya tulis di sini. Paling tidak yang sudah saya tulis di atas sudah saya sampaikan ke rekan-rekan saya, dan lega juga sudah menuliskannya. Mau komentar?

Teaching Speaking and Listening in My Context

Speaking activities are inseparable with learning foreign language, because they give chances to practice real-life speaking and to use the language knowledge as well as opportunities to produce language automatically without very much conscious thought (Harmer, 2004). In my classroom setting, speaking becomes a rule in the teaching and learning process, especially for Diploma IV students (STAN Jakarta). It’s like a habit between us to communicate in English in and outside the classroom. Therefore, whatever topic or plan stated in the syllabus, it is always speaking integrated with the class activity. Especially for me as the teacher, I always try to use a 100% of English in the language of instruction. I put myself as the model for my students in practicing speaking.

 

For my Diploma III and Diploma IV classes, I use different activities. Diploma III is of intermediate-level students, with the average age of 17, so they like something fun. Therefore, I use communicative games, simulation and role play, or buzz-group discussion. For Diploma IV, in which the students are on the advanced level and their average age is 24, the students prefer something more challenging. So the activities can be discussion on controversial topics or moral dilemmas, debate, and individual presentation.

 

As a facilitator of speaking, I try not to dominate the class activity, but I will intervene if the activity is not running smoothly. In making correction, too, I do it after the speaking activity is over (based on the notes I took during their activity). This usually leads to further discussion in the language lesson since usually more questions will arise from critical students.

 

I think teaching listening is also important for EFL students. Listening will expose students with what native speakers are saying, both in authentic or inauthentic source. It is good for students’ pronunciation, because they can listen to examples of appropriate pitch, intonation, stresses, and sounds.

 

For my classroom activities, I use intensive listening, i.e. listening to get the gist purpose and the gist-topic, the specific information, the pragmatics, and the summary information. The sources can be from such CDs as TOEFL (listening to academic lectures), Pusintek, Tell-Me More, Speak More, etc. It can also from DVDs like National Geography, movies, and so on. For students’ home assignment, I make them use the Internet for free listening sources and practices (I usually tell them to visit www.ets.org, www.npr.org, www.bbc-english.org, and so on), and they must report their activities. For me, that will encourage them to listen more and more.

In short, in teaching speaking or listening, teacher must design activities that are desirable for communicative activities and improving their language. Listening and speaking are actually getting students to actually do thing with language, so it is the “doing” that should form the main focus of each session. Lastly, make them independent learners by assigning them individual practice outside the classroom.

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Mangan Opo ndik Malang? A Culinary Directory

This October, I will return to my hometown, Malang (also famous as Paris van East Java). My hometown is so beautiful: its varied geography provides a wealth of leisure activities, visit to serene water dam and waterfalls, to know the ancient history foundings, make a fascinating day trips. I’m so excited about returning home, for I plan to trace back my culinary adventure in my lovely town.

Here I will share you all recommendations of what and where to eat in Malang: from light snack to full meal… The list is arranged according to my preference from the most to the least. Anyway, I’d like to thank my net pals, Fahroe and Pipiw: they have been great sources of information. I believe that this post might not be very complete or accurate, since it’s been 3 years for me to leave Malang. Hopefully, someone will inform me if there are some changes or further information.

Wait, before we move on, you may check out some special terms below (in case you are not familiar with them). This post is trilingual: my language is a mix between boso Malang, Bahasa, and English. So, deloken, Jes!

Arema= acronym of Arek Malang, means Malang people (especially the young)

Gang = alley

Goreng = fried

Kecambah = grean been sprouts

Kecap = black soybean sauce

Kukus = steamed

Lontong = rice cake (made from rice wrapped in banana leaves and boiled for hours)

Nasi = steamed rice

Pasar = traditional market

Perempatan/Prapatan = junctions

Pertigaan = T-junction

Petis = shrimp paste (black paste)

Pikulan = a street vendor that carry (mikul) his selling on his shoulders

Pojokan = the corner of

Pujasera = food court

Rombong = street vendor that push a rombong (booth) while selling his product

Sambal = chilli paste

Sego = nasi; steamed rice

Warung = canteen/cafeteria serving local menu

NOW, HERE WE GO….

I. Bakso

It’s the trademark of Malang. Arema calls it OSKAB

Details: a soup containing penthol (meat ball) with its variation: goreng, halus, kasar, telor; tahu (tofu), somay goreng or kukus , mie (noodle), jeroan sapi (beef liver), vermicelli. Served with daun bawang, fried onion, tomato and chilli sauce, soybean sauce.
Location : Bantaran, Lowokwaru, Glintung, Kemirahan in front of Gang, belakang Mitra II (this is my favourite “Bakso President”), pertigaan pasar Halmahera, Gajayana, etc. There are also rombong2 that sell them in housing areas.

II. Kripik Tempe

Details: fried chips from tempe.

Location: The most famous is Tempe Sanan at Jalan Sanan; Toko Ardani Jl. JA Suprapto

III. Tahu Campur

Details: The soup is like soto (yellow) with extra bumbu petis, served with daging otot (beef tendon),fried tahu (tofu), menyok (mashed cassava), sayur slada, kecambah , suun (vermicelli), krupuk, and hot spicy sambal. Huh-hah! Mbrebes mili…

IV. Rujak Petis ( Rujak Cingur)
Details : Sliced fruits (cucumber, pineapple, bengkoang) + boiled vegetables (kangkoong, kecambah, gobis(cabbage), kacang panjang/long peanuts), tahu, menjes, & tempe goreng, cingur sapi (beef mouth) served with peanut sauce + petis udang.

Location : Almost all kampung, Jalan Amprong, Jalan Lawu (pindah Sawojajar) Tenes Stadion Rujak Manis and Es Degan Stadion and Primagama Jalan Semeru, Stasiun Kota, Warung Pojok in front of BTC Pajajaran

V. Tahu Petis and Telor Tahu

Details: tofu, scrambled egg, kecambah, lontong, krupuk served with peanut sauce and petis

Location : near SMAN 5 (evening), perempatan Kasin in front of Sego Resek and Gang next to Sinar Brawijaya (in front of Kapal Teknik Unibraw)

VI. Warkop & Ketan

Details: ketan (steamed glutinous rice served with shredded peanut and sugar palm syrup), hot coffee/tea/ginger ale.
Location : perempatan Rampal – SKI, perempatan Kauman in front of RSB Muhammadiyah, Talun Gang next to billiard pool.

VII. CATEGORY: NASI

1/ Sego Campur Buk (Buk refers to ‘ibu’ in Arodam/Madurese)

Details : nasi sayur lodeh, paru goreng, jeroan, ayam, empal
Location : Next to Brantas Gas Sation; Pertokoan Stasiun Kota; Kidul Dalem, in front of Saguanto; Pasar Kebalen ; Pasar Besar

2/ Sego Goreng and Mie Jowo, Sego Resek
Details : nasi goreng putih / mawut, mie goreng / rebus.
Location : Pojokan perempatan Kasin next to bengkel Vespa, Pojokan perempatan Merapi – Buring (RRI Lama); perempatan Pattimura and gedung WISH / BTC, Gang in front of Soto Lonceng Wetan Pasar; Pak Wulan Klampok Kasri; Nasi Goreng Kambing Pedes in kampung Klampok Kasri

3/ Sego Campur Korak and Nasi Bebek

Details : sayur lodeh, bening, sop, kecambah, lauk tempe or tahu plus krupuk; accompanied by teh pait (black tea). The pakan (rice) bebek is nasi lauk pecel and gorengan weci
Location : pojokan pertigaan turunan Bendungan Sutami – IKIP lewat Ambarawa, gang2 kecil at IKIP jalan Surabaya and Jombang, gang Kerto2an in IAIN area and Unibraw, in front of Kelud, in front of Pasar Bareng, pertigaan jalan Jakarta – Ijen (nasi bebek is especially open in the evening)

4/ Nasi Orem-orem
Details : sayur tempe orem2 (sayur kunir), krupuk, lontong or nasi.
Location : in front of pasar Kebalen, rel kereta Boldi, Pertukangan in front of Bioskop Jaya. If you are lucky, you can find the street vendors (rombong) at Dinoyo, Gajayana and Veteran.

5/ SGPC alias Sego Pecel or LECEP

Details: It’s Javanese salad: boiled vegetables (turi, cambah, kenikir, bayam, kacang panjang, kobis dll) served with peanut sauce and rempeyek. Other accompaniments can be tempe orek, mendhol, bakwan jagung,  and serundeng. There are many versions of pecel: Malang, Blitar, Madiun, Ponorogo, Tulungagung.

Location:Jalan Gede (Dempo), Jalan Rajekwesi, Jalan Kawi , Jalan Letjen S. Parman near Wijaya Kusuma and Dinoyo (in front of pasar), Jalan Bendungan Sutami in front of Pom Bensin / Unmuh Kampus II, Pasar Mergan, Jl. Puntodewo (after SKI-Kalimosodo)

6/ Sego Trancam Nasi served with sayur lodeh tahu, urap2, lamtoro . Sometimes called seglo slametan or sego kuburan (meals for death ceremony).
Location : di pasar2, Kasin next to Sego Resek

7/ Nasi Pecel Lele

Details: Pecel Lele means nasi with Fried Ikan Lele served with sambal trasi and lalapan (raw vegetables: lettuce, cucumber, cabbage)

Location: Warung Citra Kawi and Soekarno Hatta, Kampung Klaseman (morning only), In front of Perbankan Unmer (evening)

8/ Nasi Gurami Goreng and Bakar at Pujasera2 and Natural Resto found at Kebon Agung

9/ Tempe Penyet Kuburan Kasin, many warung around Malang

10/ Warung Nasi Aneka Menu / Restaurant

Top names: Marhaen; Nyik Sun; Warung Lama H. Ridwan, Panglima Sudirman; Lesehan Stadion, Citra, Hok Lay; Toko Oen; Ringin Asri; Warung Bu Haji AREMA (with Javanese using AREMA naming for the meal n beverages) at perempatan Kidul Dalem

VIII. CATEGORY : JAJAN and KUE

1/ Jajan Gorengan

Details : Rich variety of fried snacks and cookies: pohong (cassava), tela (sweet potato), tempe menjes, tahu brontak, weci, tape, bakwan, kokam, gandoz, ketan jadah, tape ketan hitam, tahu petis, getas ketan, perut ayam, etc.
Location : Gorengan can be found almost everywhere in Malang, especially at traditional markets. My favorites are Pasar Bunul and Pasar Besar, Gang Jalan Gajayana next to Salon Didiet, Kaliurang, Perempatan rel kereta Ciliwung

2/ Jajan Pasar
It is the traditional delight served with shredded coconut and syrup of palm sugar. Details : putu, lopis, cenil, klepon, gatot, sawut, horok2, ketan item-putih

Location : Gang In front of Dunkin Donat Celaket, pasar pagi and malam, Pasar Bunul, Pasar Besar.

3/ Martabak and Terang Bulan Lokal
Details : martabak telor, terang bulan
Location : Pasar Senggol, Kelud, Martabak Dinoyo in front of Soto Kudus, Bang Sohel Tongan, Kairo pertigaan (T-junction) Kauman, Agung pertokoaan in front of Mitra Dept Store, Perempatan ITN

IX. SOTO-SOTOAN:

1/ Soto Dok Soto daging Lamongan

Dok means the sound of ketchup bottle dibanting dengan keras ‘DOK’ bunyinya sehingga dijuluki murah meriah + kaget !
Details : soto daging, jeroan sapi, perkedel kentang and teh manis legit.
Location : It was near Bioskop President Jl. Sarangan, now it moves to pojokan in front of GOR Pulosari and Pasar Tawangmangu

2/ Soto Babon Khas

It’s like other soto in Malang, except for the chicken is from Babon meat. Babon means a fat, female chicken.

Location : Pasar besi tua Bentoel Lama

3/ Soto Ayam lamongan Oro2 Dowo and di Tlogomas, Khas Jalan Lombok and near STIA Tlogomas spesial pake koyah (soybean powder)

4/ Soto Kambing (Ngelo) It’s soto daging and jeroan kambing with koyah and lontong. The soup contains much fat (gajih)
Location : atround Kampus III Unmuh Tlogomas (Terminal Landungsari)

5/ Soto Shampo . It’s like Soto Lombok, but the taste is more spicy.
Location : a warung at perempatan Lapangan Shampo (Angkatan Laut near SMAN 5) (awas suka antri and habis sebelum jam 11 malem)

X. CATEGORY: BEVERAGES

1/ Wedang Ronde and Angsle

Ronde is a bowl of hot gingerale with roasted peanut and klepon ; Angsle is sweet kuah santan penuh bumbu and bread cut into kotak2.
Location : there are many phikulan or rombong around housing area

2/ STMJ Hot milk, eggyolk, honey, and ginger (sometimes plus ginseng and other herbs)

Location : STJM is always sold at evening time. Jl. Trunojoyo (Pak Sentot), Jalan Kawi, Bareng near Jalan Semangka, Jalan Surabaya, Pujasera Pulosari. The sellers usually sell Roasted Corn and Toast (Jagung & Roti Bakar).

3/ Es Selon

Details: this is actually Es Campur: a bowl of fruit cocktail (blewah, nanas, melon, alpukat, tomat) with milk and syrup plus kolang-kaling, cincau, agar-agar, rumput laut. I used to have it at Lapangan Rampal , Pasar Bunul, or Jalan Muharto, but it can be found almost everywhere in Malang.

XI. CATEGORY: CHICKEN MENU

Chicken is not only the main ingredient for Soto. There are many variations of chicken dishes:

1/ Sate Ayam ARODAM . Sate Medhure or ETAS KITIP are available everywhere in Malang.

2/ Ayam Bakar Pak No Pom Bensin Kasin Sawahan and sejumlah tempat lainnya

3/ Ayam Goreng

Details: Fried chicken menu. The famous names are Ayam Goreng Pemuda, Ayam Tenes, Ayam Prambanan.

Location : In front of Perbankan Unmer, Jalan Galunggung in front of Gading Pesantren and di Pujasera2.

XII. Rawon Jahat Kawi Atas masuk Bareng, Nguling, Warung Perempatan Muharto

XIII. Bang Sohel Tongan Sate Gule and Etas Mbik diberbagai pelosok kota

XIV. Pujasera DEMPO, Bondowoso, Pulosari, Soekarno Hatta, Kawi, Bengawan Solo (Sanan / Purwantoro jalan logam2)

XV. Cantonese Cuisine and Sea Food

1/. Cwimie or Mie Pangsit
Location : Belakang SMA Dempo, Pujasera Pulosari, jalan naik Tanjung – Mergan, Isor Uwit in front of Pasar Oro2 Dowo, Mie Gloria in front of Plasa Malang, Mie Gajah Mada Pecinan next to Rahman Sports

2/ Seafood Location: in every Pujasera; jomplangan Ciliwung

3/ Duk-Duk Chinese Food (Duk-Duk means the sound of kentongan by the street vendors when they wander around Malang to sell their meals)

Details : ala chinese food nasi goreng, mie rebus or goreng, fu yung hai, cap cay, tamie goreng, ayam mentega, nasi mawut, mihun dll.

Location : in front of Bank Bali jalan Semeru, gerbang UNMER, pertigaan jalan Jakarta – Ijen; every housing residences and kost2an (boarding house for students)

XVI. CATEGORY: OLEH-OLEH

Besides tempe Malang, you can try other special OLE2 from Malang:

1/ Kue dollar It’s crepes shaped like coins; It has many variations: plain, banana, chocolate, sesame (wijen), etc. Available at Sukun area.

2/Kripik buah (fruit chips) It’s amazing that many fruits can be converted to chips, like pineapple, strawberry, jackfruit, apple, etc. My favorite is made by Kusuma Agro Wisata.

3/Kripik Bakso I usually buy kripik bakso at any outlets of Bakso President (di Mitra I or behind Mitra II building), Bakso Kota Cak Man.

Well, that’s all that I still remember about the food and beverages in Malang. I think there will be more to hunt in Malang (especially after 3 years of leaving the town). Wadooh, selak moleh, Ker! Kuangeen puool!!!