Where is Our Nationality?

Baru saja saya dapat pemberitahuan dari Panitia Peringatan 17 Agustus di kompleks perumahan saya. Yang mengejutkan adalah penarikan iuran sejumlah Rp.150.00,00 untuk semua aktivitas peringatan dalam satu hari, dan yang lebih mengagetkan adalah susunan acara yang sudah disepakati warga (saya kebetulan tidak bisa datang pada malam rapat itu karena sedang mengajar di LPMP Pasar Minggu). Acaranya yang membuat saya miris: lomba joget, suap-suapan pisang, panggung gembira, pokoknya menurut saya banyak unsur kekonyolan dan hura-hura. Masih mending jika ada lomba atau adu ketangkasan dan ketrampilan, misalnya pertandingan olahraga atau lomba menghias tumpeng, lha makan pisang??

Seperti inikah cara kita memperingati kemerdekaan bangsa yang diperjuangkan dengan darah dan harta para pejuang kita? Saya merasa akhir-akhir ini bangsa kita semakin jauh dari rasa kebangsaan. Saya pikir ada beberapa faktor penyebabnya:

1. Pendidikan

Pendidikan sejarah terutama tidak mengakar pada generasi muda kita. Banyak mahasiswa saya jika diminta menyebutkan lima belas saja nama pahlawan kemerdekaan kita, belum dapat sepuluh nama sudah meringis. Juga pendidikan ahlak, budi pekerti, maupun agama yang kurang membekas pada diri kita. Sebagai orang berbudi, tentu kita malu untuk melakukan hal yang tidak berguna, sia-sia, ataupun malah merendahkan martabat kita. Melakukan kekonyolan sama saja membuat kita kelihatan bodoh, bapak-ibu guru kita tentu tidak mengajarkan yang seperti itu kan?

2. Kepemimpinan Nasional

Bangsa kita memang sedang mengalami krisis kepemimpinan. Politik kita yang amburadul, ekonomi kita semakin mengarah ke liberalisme dan kapitalisme, banyak terjadi kekerasan dan pelanggaran hukum yang tidak dituntaskan dengan adil, dan terlebih lagi semakin dipaksanya kita untuk menerima nilai-nilai universal (karena alasan globalisasi) tetapi malah mengatasi nilai-nilai nasional kita. Dimana pemimpin kita?

3. Kepribadian dan Wawasan Nasional

Bangsa Indonesia dahulu terkenal dengan sifat-sifat yang luhur, salah satunya yaitu perikemanusiaan. Kita cinta segala yang memanusiakan bangsa kita. Tetapi belakangan ini rasa bangga dan cinta tanah air mulai meluntur. Satu hal lagi , secara verbal saja kita mengakui Ketuhanan YME, tetapi pada prakteknya kita takut melawan kemusyrikan, pembodohan, dan pelemahan. Where is our sense of pride as Indonesian?

Saya dalam mendidik anak tidak cuma membuali mereka dengan pelajaran sekolah yang kurang di-update dengan situasi sekarang. Misalnya saya katakan pada mereka bahwa tanah air kita luas dari Sabang sampai Merauke, tetapi setiap hari batas wilayah kita dicaplok oleh negara tetangga. Bumi kita kaya tetapi sumber mineral kita sebagian besar dikelola atau dikuasai asing. Jumlah penduduk kita banyak tetapi banyak juga yang tidak mengenyam pendidikan, menjadi pengangguran, atau mengalami gizi buruk. Apa yang saya tanamkan pada mereka membuat mereka (yang notabene masih kecil-kecil) jadi berpikir dan sedikit memunculkan rasa keprihatinan nasional mereka. Bagaimana Anda mendidik putra-putri Anda?

Ditulis untuk mengingatkan generasi kita betapa mundurnya kita belakangan ini.

Membuat Blog di Microsoft Word

Salah satu penyedia layanan untuk membuat blog secara gratis adalah Blogger. Situs Web yang telah diambil alih oleh Google ini dapat diakses di alamat www.blogger.com. Di situ, Anda tinggal mendaftar. Selesainya pendaftaran, Anda bisa langsung membuat blog, bikin tulisan, dan “menerbitkannya”.

Untuk pendaftaran, Anda memang harus online. Akan tetapi, untuk menulis Anda tidak perlu online supaya bisa menghemat biaya ber-Internet. Cara yang paling sederhana adalah dengan menulis blog dulu di penyunting teks, seperti Notepad atau Microsoft Word, secara offline. Kalau sudah selesai, baru online, kemudian buka situs Web layanan blog, login, lalu copy-paste hasil tulisan yang ada di penyunting teks.

Kita sebut cara yang barusan disebut adalah cara manual. Cara yang akan dijelaskan berikutnya kita sebut dengan cara otomatis. Tulisan tetap dibuat secara offline. Online-nya baru nanti, setelah tulisan selesai dibuat. Cara otomatis ini menggunakan Microsoft Word. Tapi, bukan sembarang Microsoft Word, melainkan Microsoft Word yang sudah dilengkapi dengan add-on bernama Blogger For Word. Aplikasi tambahan gratisan itu bisa didapat dari http://buzz.blogger.com/bloggerforword.html. Ukuran paket instalasinya kecil, cuma 2MB.

Cara pemakaiannya bisa diringkas seperti ini. Setelah Blogger For Word di-install, toolbar Blogger akan muncul pada Microsot Word. Kemudian, tuliskan isi blog seperti biasa, tetapi jangan online dulu, offline saja. Kalau tulisan sudah selesai, nyalakan koneksi Intenet, lalu publish deh.

Nah, cara detailnya seperti ini. Oh ya, kita pakai Word 2007 untuk artikel ini. Di versi lama mungkin berbeda, tetapi sedikit saja.

1. Klik [Add-Ins] pada menu di sebelah atas. Opsi [Add-Ins] sebaris dengan [Home], [Insert], [Page Layout], dan lain-lain.

2. Klik [Blogger Settings], kemudian pada kotak yang muncul, masukkan username dan password untuk masuk ke Blogger. Klik [OK].

3. Ketikkan isi blog di dalam Word. Kalau sudah selesai, online-lah. Kemudian, klik [Publish].

4. Masukkan judul blog dan pilih blog yang akan berisi tulisan itu. Klik [Send]. Selesai.

Disarikan dari PCplus

My Working Experience

No.		Uraian	Penyelenggara	Tahun
1		S-1 Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris Universitas Airlangga	Unair	1995
2		Magister Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Universitas Prof. Dr. Hamka	Uhamka
3		Diklat Prajabatan Golongan III	LAN	1999
4		Workshop Evaluasi Kinerja Perpustakaan	Univ. Indonesia	2003
5		Diklat Kewidyaiswaraan Berjenjang Tingkat Pertama	LAN	2005
6		ESQ Leadership Training	ESQ Leadership Center	2006
7		Workshop Excellent Personality and Communications	Excellencia	2007
8		Pelatihan Penulisan dan Analisis Soal bagi Widyaiswara STAN	STAN-Puspendik Diknas	2007
9		Lokakarya Metodologi Pembelajaran	BPPK	2007
10		DTSS Metodologi Penelitian	Pusdiklat KU	2008
	The following is my working experience:
Tahun		Instansi	Jabatan
1995		Perum Jasa Tirta II Malang Dinas PU	Penerjemah Unit Counterparting
1996 sd 1999		Business Training Center Malang	Dosen dan Instruktur
1997 sd 1999		Wasantara International School of Hospitality Malang	Dosen dan Instruktur
1998 sd 2004		Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara	Pelaksana dan Dosen
2003 sd 2004		Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi Indonesia Kampus E	Dosen
2004 sd 2005		Balai Diklat Keuangan V Balikpapan	Pelaksana dan Dosen prodip I
2005 sd sekarang		Pusdiklat Keuangan Umum BPPK	Widyaiswara
2005 s/d 2008		Sekolah Tinggi Akuntansi Negara	Dosen
2007 sd 2008		STIE Dr. Moechtar Talib Jakarta	Dosen
2007 sd 2008		Yayasan Nurani Dunia	Pengajar Tamu
	These are my favorit seminars:
	No.	Judul Seminar	Penyelenggara	Tahun
	1	Material Development for English Teaching Programme	LAN	2007
	2	Analisis Implementasi e-Learning serta Pengaruhnya terhadap Prestasi dan Sikap Peserta Didik	Sekretariat BPPK	2008
	3	Penerapan Sistem Manajemen Mutu ISO 9001:2000 dalam Kegiatan Pendidikan	Pusdiklat Pegawai BPPK	2007
	4	Effective Time Management	Executrain	2007
	5	National Single Window (NSW) untuk Pelayanan Prima	Pusdiklat Pegawai BPPK	2008
	The followings are the subjects that I teach:
	No.	Subject	Course/School
	1	ESP: English for Secretary	BTC
	2	ESP: English for Hotel & Tourism	WISH
	3	ESP: English for Accounting	STAN
	4	ESP: English for Budgeting	STAN
	5	ESP: English for Taxation	STAN
	6	Listening	DTU TOEFL Prep
	7	Speaking	DTU TOEFL Prep
	8	Reading	DTU TOEFL Prep
	9	Writing	DTU TOEFL Prep
	10	Academic Skills	DTU TOEFL Prep
	11	Pancasila	STAN
	12	Kewarganegaraan	STAN
	13	Komunikasi Yang Efektif	LPJ II
	14	Team Building	LPJ II
	15	Peng. Pendidikan: Dinamika Kelompok	DF Calon Widyaiswara
	16	UUD 1945	UPKP V
	17	Bahasa Inggris	UPKP V

How to Improve Your Listening Skills?

I teach DTU TOEFL Preparation in my office (Pusdiklat Keuangan Umum BPPK), and my specialty is listening. Since 2007, we have been teaching iBT TOEFL for the government officials of the Ministry of Finance (we used CBT format from 2003-2006). Here I will share you some strategies to improve listening skills, especially for the iBT format.

The best way to improve your listening skills is to listen frequently to many different types of material in various subject areas (sciences, social sciences, arts, business, etc). Watching movies and TV and listening to radio is also an excellent way to practice listening. Audio tapes and CDs of talks are available in libraries and bookstores; those with transcripts of the listening material are particularly helpful. The Internet is also a great resource for listening material.

Improving listening skills needs a lot of practice. Here are some websites that you can visit for listening sources:
www.ets.org/toefl
www.englishpractice.com
www.inggrisonline.com
www.npr.org
www.c-span.org
www.bbc.co.uk/world service/learning english
www.voanews.com/special english

There are still hundreds more. So, find them yourself and …happy surfing!

“-”

Assignment 3 (CALL Program Assessment)

Task 3

Subject: ICT in Language Education

Lecturer: Hartoyo, M.A., Ph.D.

CALL Program Assessment: CD Evaluation

by Efi Dyah Indrawati

Universitas Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka

Jakarta – Indonesia

Introduction

CD Evaluation that I perform here is based on the basis of five principles of self-access computer-mediated language learning program by Hartoyo (2006:90-91). They are:

1. ‘interactivity’ (feedback and instruction)

2. usability (flexibility)

3. content ‘appropriatness’

4. effectiveness

5. performance (attractiveness)

The followings are the ratings that I use for overall evaluation of a CD:

***** = Very Good

**** = Good

*** = Fair

** = Limited

* = Poor

CD 1

Title : Issues in English

Publisher : Protea Textware Melbourne

Year : 1995

Rating : ****

Evaluation:

Since the CD doesn’t use runtime files, I have to explore the content first then click the setup to install it, which is impractical for people who are not computer literate. Yet, I admit that the author of the CD is very creative in programming a way to improve English learning by using content approach on hot issues in life. The CD is very interactive, in the sense it stimulate user’s interaction by providing feedback.The appearance of the program is not bad, yet it could be a bit dull for people who love attractive colors and design.

After we launch the program, we can see the attractive exposition of menu or topics (rich content), such as Animal Rights, Euthanasia, Discrimination, Smoking, Public Transport, the Environment, Gambling, and Growing Old, presented from level 1 to level 4. All are provided with Getting Start, Listening, Vocabulary, Grammar, Speaking, and Writing buttons. The narrators on the video are various people, which make the CD more appealing. From level 1-3, there are Jenny, Michael, Parthena, Isobel, Andrew, Gary, Ryan, Sally Ryan, and Carol; while in level four, the features are experts or guests in each issue like John McPherson, Rob Wootton, Jim Roberts, Manar Tchelebi, Carol Oliver, Will Tomadin and. Kay Koetsier.

Talking about the usability (flexibility), the operation of the CD is very easy, just by doing the instructed action on each button, such as:

- Getting Start (questions on comprehension of the video): we just need to drag the available answer to match the question on the box. If we can answer then right, the feed back will be spoken “Right!”

- Listening: we just need to click the right word that we hear from the audio. If we can answer one question, the response can be “Excellent!”, “That’s right!”, “Well done!”

- Vocabulary (using pictures and words): we just need to drag the words to match the pictures. We will know that we didn’t give the right answer if we couldn’t put the right word to the right box.

- Grammar: we must type the right complement of a sentence using keyboard, and if we succeed the response will be “Good!”, “Well done!”, or “Excellent work!”

- Speaking: we record word using microphone, and we can click a word to listen to the sample pronunciation

- Writing: we must type using keyboard a sentence to fulfill questions on the issue presented by a speaker.

I found the CD is very practical for English self-learning. Yet, the navigation buttons are not provided with text, so we must try to click each one to know the function (such as the balloon callout sign means ‘go back’); this can be frustrating for people who lack of computer skills because they will get confused in choosing the menu. In addition, the quality sound of video are not good, it was choppy spoken sounds. I think that’s because CD burning quality is not very good; I finally viewed the text by clicking text button to help me understand the spoken statements by the actors/guest speakers. Anyway, one good point about this CD is that it also provides a glossary or index for learning, which is rarely provided in English learning CDs.

In my viewpoint, this CD is appropriate for students of junior or senior secondary school (ESL students), since the materials are ranged from level 1 (Basic English) up to 4 (intermediate English). This CD can be very effective to improve students’ mastery of the four language skills for their level: speaking, grammar, listening, and writing.

CD 2

Title : Speak English: Talk More

Publisher : Eurotalk Ltd.

Year : 2000

Rating : ****

Evaluation:

To start using this CD is quite easy if we have already had Quicktime program in our computer; this happens to me the first time I open it using my notebook. The second time I tried using it with my own home PC, I failed and have to restart my computer because this program asks a screen resolution of 1024 x 76.

The appearance (performance) of the program is very attractive: using bright colors and modern design, which makes is more appealing than the previous CD (Issues in English).The narrator who begins the program is very encouraging by saying: “Good luck, have fun, and enjoy it!” There are only two hosts or presenters, a man and a women, but it is alright. Like the previous CD, the navigations buttons are not accompanied by text, so we must try out each button to find out the functions. This is not very flexible in the usability, and it can be a bit frustrating for people who are not very keen on computers. Meanwhile, this CD is interactive enough by stimulating users to score higher, yet it is not provided with feedback (such “Good” or “Congratulations” for high scorer, or “Try Better” for poor scorer) like the precious CD. This CD is actually provided with Help Language, but we must insert Talk More extras CD, and of course I have none of them.

The effectiveness of this CD is on the materials to improve speaking proficiency, they are put in context for speaking, such as greetings, at the restaurant, shopping, getting around, at the hotel, on the phone, emergencies, leisure, and business. This really helps users to enlarge vocabularies in certain context. In addition, the pace of speaking by the hosts is very slow, and the pronunciation is very clear, sometimes they use sign language while speaking. This is quite helpful for people who want to improve their pronunciation skill by imitating the hosts’ speaking.

All in all, this CD is appropriate for learning speaking for ESL learners in the elementary level because the material is very easy to learn and understand. It can also meet the need of students of elementary and secondary school to practice speaking.

CD 3

Title : Talk Now! Learn English: Belajar Bahasa Inggris

Publisher : Eurotalk Interactive London

Year : 2000

Rating : ****

Evaluation:

This CD doesn’t use runtime files so I have to use the Window’s explorer to find the setup to install it first. Some problems for me who have just moderate computer expertise, I couldn’t open with my PC because it asks a screen resolution of 1024 x 768, therefore I use my notebook. Also, my computer is ‘hang’ while using this CD quite often, I don’t really know why.

I find this CD is very interactive; it can stimulate users, even seems to communicate with users by providing feedback on each attempt. For example, if we click a wrong answer, it will tell us by saying “No!”, and if we click the right answer, it will say “Yes!” It also rewards users if they can answer all questions correctly by saying “Selamat!” (the score is excellent). Talking about the usability, the navigations buttons are clear and provided with Indonesian description. For example is when we want to change the language, we can click the symbol of flag, or when we want to quit the program, we just click the symbol of a foot. Users are flexible to choose the menu; they can skip exercise that is too difficult to attempt. The appearance or performance of the program is very attractive: colorful and modern-stylish design, typical of product of the year 2000s.

The effectiveness of this CD is that it helps users to improve their vocabulary, phrases, and pronunciation. One thing that I notice is that this CD is appropriate for people who want to learn General English in the intermediate level and also students on the level of Junior to Senior high school.

CD 4

Title : Easy to Sing

Publisher :

Year :

Rating : **

Evaluation:

At first I couldn’t open this using either my PC or my notebook, and I thought it must be the bad quality of CD burning again, so that the file (or maybe the directory) is corrupted and therefore unreadable. But when I try using VCD players at a CD rental, I finally succeeded to open it, although only for once (the second time I replayed it was not successful).

The CD contains selection of songs, and users can choose what they want to listen to, so this not an interactive CD. There is no interaction between computer and users by providing feedback. The performance is not very attractive, because the layout of the screen is just standard. In dealing with the flexibility, the buttons used are standard and not very interesting, yet easy to navigate. The song lyrics on the CD are easy to catch and follow, which are quite helpful to create an enjoyable environment for learning. In my opinion, this CD is appropriate for English learners of beginner levels, such as kindergarten or elementary school. This is very helpful to develop student’s vocabulary through songs. The good points of the songs used in the CD are that they also teach some moral values of life. In my viewpoint, this CD is okay as an alternative choice for English learning, especially for the elementary level.