The passionate English learners from the dormitory

Photo after our course

"It happened!" I exclaimed.
Full of joy and energy after seeing thirty-five students in the class, at 8.30 a.m. Papua time and on Saturday. I smiled at them, said good morning, and walked to my office to get more papers for the activities later.

Additional English programs on the weekends have always geared me up!  I started this program two years ago to help my students who progress slowly in the lessons. And because they were not compulsory, the numbers of students showed up for the class also changed every week. From my observation, students who maintained their commitment to follow this program succeeded and could help their friends. 

Giving instruction before we practice the conversation

However, this time's English class is different because it is initiated by the students residing at our school dormitory. Some of them are in my classes while some are in other teachers'. A month before, five of them came to discuss their initiative to have an English course every Saturday, and they will also be flexible with my schedule. I hid my surprise and continued to listen to and talk with them about which skill they would like to improve. Together we chose to explore more of speaking ability. I thought it wouldn't be hard since they already learned general English in the previous semester, so this time they will be given activities, additional materials, and courage to practice the conversation. I would write further about it!

Students practiced in pair

Breakfast 

Besides this course, they also organized breakfast, which will exist every week during our class. Could you imagine how I felt? Yes, yes, yes. Contented! This was out of my expectation.

Everyone was involved in the activity, laughed out loud, and seemed to enjoy the moment. I look forward to the next weekend. I look forward to hopes!

Goyang Patola, a Culture or a Trend?

My Facebook's timeline has been flooded with the opinions on failed-Patola dance, which appeared at the Sentani Lake Festival 2018 yesterday. As a fellow human being, I feel sorry for the MC, the children who got up the stage and danced, and the committee. But, hold on! How is Patola doing? After the failure?

I'd like to invite all of us to rethink whether the Patola dance is a culture or just a trend. I have read some comments, and one of them has repeatedly said that Patola is not Papua's culture. I agree! But whose culture is this? After all, don't we need to find someone or some people perhaps from different nationalities, tribes, or so to blame? Smile.

So here's what I'd like to point out. Patola dance should not be paired with Asmat or Yospan dance, or other respective cultural dances because it is NOT a culture. It is nobody's culture. It's a trend that some from our community picked up to show themselves for the sake of whatever reasons they might have." Before Patola dance made it to the surface, have you ever seen viral dance on the song, "turun-naik"? What do you think about the dance moves? Is it culturally acceptable? Oh, by the way, I enjoy listening to the song. My point here is to the dance movement. Or perhaps we can list more songs that came along with their moves in the past. How are they doing these days? They do no longer exist. Why? Because they are just trends.

Speaking of culture, it is something that binds a community together. It unites us. It shows our identity. In other words, it shows our quality as a person or society. It reminds us of the values and norms we uphold in our community. It proclaims what we believe despite the changes of the era. It is what we preserve. It is sacred. It is important. We do not pick our culture like pieces of the puzzle, trying to fit it into our society. No. We were born from it and live in it. We do not take culture for granted. Personally, it is not what I want to humiliate myself with because I respect it.

Meanwhile, the trend is vice versa. It does not bring people together. It makes us compete against each other, who shows it better, who wears it better, et cetera. Unlike culture, it is temporary. It is for a season. We follow a trend because it is fun and perhaps because we have seen many people do so. Trends come and go. Once a dance move comes out, and if it is way cooler than the recent one, we may follow. But if we want to.  

Before what happened during the festival yesterday, I watched some teenagers do Patola dance and surprised by the numbers of the likes they got on Instagram, which somehow have helped to validate their actions. Despite the critics and harsh words hammering on their comment section, nobody or even these teenagers would have thought that the Patola dance they did for fun will bring critics from more significant numbers of people today. It is no longer fun when it is considered as a humiliation of our own culture, isn't it?

In the end, I'd like to encourage us to see Patola dance as a trend. It is seasonal, and it will not replace the culture we have preserved. It is prevalent for our young people to adopt certain behavior and follow trends to be accepted. We may have risen in different generations, but the attempt to figure out who we were in life when we were young is the stage we should go through. I am also sad about how quickly our young people pick a trend that seems inappropriate within our culture. But this writing is not to blame them or anybody. It is a relief that when people disagree with Patola dance being presented in a cultural event, we value our culture, and we want to instill the same value in our young people. I believe that we can help our teenagers, our children, and our young people promote our culture.

I want to help! What about you?

Building Peace in my little world: Classroom

I am a peacemaker-teacher, if there is such term. -smile-

Every teacher has an ultimate goal they want to achieve. Any goals that lead to their students' achievement of the lesson objective in the classroom, during the term, semester, or school year.

I am one of them. My ultimate goal is 'making a difference'.

Every time I prepare myself for a new class I am assigned to, I know, I want to make a difference. I want to make a difference in my students' life. It is not enough to learn a material. It is more than this. The connection, the motivation, and the appreciation, the expectation, the enjoyment, the passion I have for the subject I teach, and the enthusiasm. They are all contagious!

In my classroom, peace means secured.
Students are motivated to learn when they feel secured. And as their teacher, it is important for me to make sure that our classroom is a safe environment where everybody can share their opinions, ask questions, make mistakes and learn from them, can succeed.

In our classroom, peace means smile.
I love smiling. I do!
I have found out that when I smile, my students usually smile to me. The smile tells them that they are welcomed in the classroom.

In our classroom, peace means being seen.
I will do whatever it takes to remember my students' names. All of it. Although I must admit that it is not an easy thing to do, but I have tried my best and so far, I harvest the good memory of their names.
We all know that by addressing someone with their names, we are opening doors for the same person to share more about their problems and difficulties during the learning process. It has happened in my classroom!

In our classroom, peace means trust.
This part still relates to my first point of peace. I need my students to trust me that I can help them succeed in their learning. They need to also trust themselves that they can succeed in the lesson. Of course, this part needs consistent motivation from the teacher in general. According to my experience, not every student is bound to learn English. They learn it due to many reasons, and it is our responsibilities as the teacher to motivate them and to show them why it is interesting to study the lesson and what will they have when they have accomplished the learning target.

Let's LOOK the Phrasal Verbs of LOOK #1

It's a beautiful morning here in Salatiga!
How are you all?

Hari ini kita belajar bareng yuk mengenai beberapa frasa dari kata LOOK. Dan kalau temen-temen udah pada tau, it's alright! Bukannya semakin sering kita review pelajaran, semakin baik kita mengingatnya?
Nah, di review LOOK #1 ini kita akan membahas 4 frasa dari kata ini, yaitu: 1). to LOOK DOWN on 2). to LOOK BACK, 3). LOOK FORWARD to, 4). to LOOK UP to.
 I promise you it won't be just "looking-looking".

Mau tau arti dan penggunaannya dalam kalimat? Keep lookin! :)

1). to LOOK DOWN on 

Kalau kamu LOOK DOWN on someone, itu berarti kamu merasa lebih baik dari orang itu.

Mmmm, ini nih contoh kalimatnya:
"Arrogant people LOOK DOWN on others."

Sampai disini jelas kan, temen-temen?
Bisakah kamu berikan 1 contoh menggunakan frasa ini?







2). to LOOK BACK 

Pernahkah temen-temen seperti ini? Ehem..ehem...

To LOOK BACK artinya"melihat ke masa lalu, atau...memikirkan masa lalu."

Contoh kalimatnya seperti ini, temen-temen:
When I LOOK BACK, my childhood was happy!
What about you, dear friends?



3). LOOK FORWARD to 

LOOK FORWARD to berarti "menantikan suatu event dimasa yang akan datang/suatu kegiatan yang dilakukan nanti (biasanya dengan perasaan senang dan berharap)"

Contoh nih ya: Kids always LOOK FORWARD to holiday.

Nah, coba temen-temen lengkapi kalimat ini:

I LOOK FORWARD to____________________.





4). to LOOK UP to...

to LOOK UP to (somebody) artinya "kita kagum & menghormati orang tersebut,& kita berharap bisa seperti mereka.

Contoh kalimatnya: I LOOK UP to my dad.

Who do you LOOK UP to, friends?





WOW! Aren't these phrases cool?! ;)
Thanks for reading, dear friends. I hope you learn something here.

Don't forget to practice.


Stephannie--TrifleEnglish

3 Cara Berterimakasih dalam Bahasa Inggris

Credit: www.kfm.co.za

Dear friends, 

Seberapa sering kalian berterimakasih atas kebaikan orang lain? 
Trifle-English edisi ini akan membahas beberapa ekspresi bahasa Inggris untuk menyampaikan rasa terimakasih selain thanks, thank you, dan thank you very much. Simak yuk! 

1)  I can't thank you enough
Ekspresi ini sangat sopan, temans! 
Kita gunakan ekspresi ini pada saat teman, kerabat, kolega, atau siapapun menolong kita, terutama disaat-saat genting. Ibaratnya hampir tenggelam waktu renang, lalu tiba-tiba ada yang bantuin. Nah, kira-kira seperti itu contoh situasinya. Sebenarnya masih banyak, temans. 
Ini contoh kalimatnya: You saved my job for me. I can't thank you enough. 


2)  I really appreciate this
Yang ini juga sopan, temans! 
Ketika kita appreciate seseorang, berarti kita sangat menghargai apa yang telah mereka lakukan untuk kita. 

3) I want to thank you / I would like to thank you
Biasanya ada kalimat lain yang mengikuti ekspresi ini. Contoh yaaaa: I want to thank you for all your supports for me. Intinya, terimakasih kita jelas, ada alasannya. Kita berterimakasih untuk apa. 

Alright, temans! 
Do you have any expressions to thank someone in English? You are welcome to share. Thank you for visiting this blog. Semoga bermanfaat. 

               

My after-Teaching Life

Well, my heart was shouting out loud when I wrote this post, "You miss teaching!" And my answer was, "Yes, I do!" There's nothing wrong with it. It is true that I don't teach anymore. But there are several things I'd like to highlight after not being in the classroom for several months. 

1. Most of my outfits are "English teacher"
I am working for a non-profit organization now, and I realize that I keep the same teacher's t-shirts, skirts, pants, and high-heels. Even though I have not work skirts and heels in my new office, still... I rarely wear casual outfits. Honestly, my closet is full of teacher's outfits and I don't see any ways to get rid of them. I have endured them for so long! 

2. I miss being around my students
Students bring joy. For me, they were always the reasons why I worked so hard to plan my lessons, my motivation to become a better teacher, and to progress in the field. I admit that there were times when my students did not behave good and they drove me crazy but I miss those moments! 

3. I miss being a mentor
The best feeling that I ever got in my classrooms was when the exchange of ideas took place. I was surprised at how they understood the lessons we learned together. There was satisfaction of helping my students to understand the materials being discussed, and to encourage them to use what they already learned outside of the classroom. 

4. I think my memory of teaching will soon disappear
I began to feel this months before. But I've got some ideas. I am starting an English group on Facebook. I have started to help some new teachers planning their lesson plans and shared my ideas of class management with them. These I hope, can keep me on the line. 

5. I can't get the lesson plans out of my head! 
Believe it or not, I plan English lessons every day! I plan but I don't teach. Funny, right? What about you, my friends? Got any experiences like this? I'll be glad to hear from you. 

Playing with Word Clouds

First word cloud of 'The Heart-Winners

I am extremely HAPPY! I just made my own word clouds! 

I really hope you feel the same elation after learning something new: Something FUN. 

Well, I was still up at midnight, trying to look for other possible sites that would help me to make this fun words. I am so thankful for two blogs I visited last night. They provided valuable information and links to follow and to give it a try. 

Blog 21st Century Edtech is a great blog which provides different ways to use word clouds in the classroom, for any subjects. For a brand new user of word clouds like me, it is important to know how to use it in my class with my students. Therefore, this information is really helpful! I will return to this site again! 

But then I found a list of free words cloud generators that teachers can use for absolutely FREE! 

There are several and I had tried them all last night. Smile. I visited Wordle first. It is very easy and no need to sign-up. Just create. I really wanted to create the word clouds on Wordle but after I was ready to create them, it didn't work. However, please make sure that you have Java(TM).

Another great site is Tagul. It's super easy but you need to sign-up first. Well, here's my second word clouds made on this site (including my Heart-winners up there!): 

My Word Clouds on Jobs designed for my El-3 class

Word Clouds on 'Things in the House' for El-2 class 

So, tell me what you think?!
I am so happy and I also think of helping my students to do their own word clouds to review our lesson about 'Personal Information'. I am sure it will be FUN!

Have a great day, everybody! Motivate more people, Win more hearts today!