Procedures of Teaching

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            In the first week that I was told to teach, I asked my mentor which lesson I will be using whether it will the lesson plan format that we are using in our college, the format that they are using in their school and there will a collaboration between the two lesson plan.

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            After asking my cooperating teacher, she told me that I must use the lesson plan format that I am using in the Philippines, particularly in my university because the students must be able to learn something new, experience a new approach, strategy and methodology. When I hear that, felt so happy because it was my pleasure to present the system that we’ve been using in our school and it was just so fulfilling in my part because I know to myself that I want to give and contribute some changes to my students through integrating some twist in their daily routine. Another thing was, the teacher told me that they just prepare a unit plan for the entire semester and they just get materials through the cooperating teacher. That was a kind of lesson plan that is so broad and general and it might be difficult for the teachers to teach the students especially that have particular time for each topic. So everything is depending on how the students will be able to finish and accomplish their tasks after gaining some information.

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       After observing their behavior on class, I saw that in their subject Bahasa Inggris, the students lack motivation because they are having hard to time to speak and communicate with the language and so they keep on code switching from English to Bahasa Indonesia. I think that was one of the reasons why the student still doesn’t have mastery on the use of language in their studies. And so, I think of a strategy which would suit the learners of the students. I applied the discovery learning method to the students, in that sense, the students were able to manage tasks at the own capabilities and trying to find out what their lesson is all about. I also asked the students to recall their previous discussion, though the students hardly recall their lesson, I still encouraged my students to give a recap and then finally proceed to connecting it to the present lesson. The students were so amazed because they can now connect their schema to what they will be dealing on that day. After that, I will make sure that my students will be energized and so I allow them to watch some teaser and ice-breaker video clips for them to be motivated more. After that, I asked my students with lower order thinking skills question and higher order thinking skills question for them to have more analyzation on what they saw and heard.

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            English subject as we all know requires development on the two broad skills, receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (writing and speaking). In my lesson I always encourage my students to listen, not just listening alone but listening with comprehension, so what I did was I always ask random question whenever I will read a story, or discuss something so my students wouldn’t/t be lost in the flow. After several sessions I’ve notice the students are now being competitive and they already have confidence in answering though sometimes reciting in Bahasa Indonesia. In my entire lesson, I never miss to encourage my students in reading aloud and reading with comprehension. As what I have observed, the students have difficulties in reading, there were words that they cannot pronounce correctly because of the syllabication pattern, stress, and their way of pronouncing letters in the alphabet. I believe that it became hard for them to read because they got confused of the phonemes and morphemes. So I asked my students to read aloud and stress on the correct pronunciation of the words that they did not read correctly, and I think that becomes helpful to them. Every presentation from my PowerPoint always have a reading session for them to practice that skill. Writing is also one of the foundations of English language. We all know that once a student can write his or her thoughts, it means that he or she can now apply what they’ve learn from the subject matter. Since, I was tasked to teach an integration of grammar and literature, I asked my students to write essays, articles and narrative texts for them to develop their writing skills. In that task the students can share their thoughts and hand on experience and also deal with some technicalities in writing such as grammar rule, organization and correct structure. It has been a fun experience for the students because they were writing about their holiday with the family and friends and reading their outputs, I knew how much they value quality time for their family which is one of the characters that Indonesian people are known for.

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            Activities per lesson are also present, they students interact with their peers through brain storming and collaboration. They also had time for healthy competition to build confidence, independence and team work among their groupmates. My entire assessment for my students is that they just need motivation and support for learning English and turn their anxiety and fears into a fun and wonderful experience in learning English and how it functions to human and to the global community.

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Time Management and Organizing Activities

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            My experience teaching in SMK Tamansiswa was such an awesome experience especially on how time conscious the people are especially the teachers. I had different time for my class in each section since I was handling 5 majors in a week such as (Marketing, Beauty and Spa, Multimedia, Accounting and Office Administration). There were times that I had a 7:00 AM class, 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. It also very on the time-frame sometimes I have a 1-hour time for a certain topic and sometime 45 minutes for short period topics. Based on what I have observed the students come 15 minutes prior to their time of start because when it is already time for that subject the teacher must go on with the discussion and end on the given time for ending the lesson. In my experience, there were times that I had difficulties in teaching my students considering the barrier in language. The students cannot catch up easily the lesson because I am speaking English so I have to speak slowly and elaborate my lesson for the students to understand well my discussion. There were times that I had to draw on the board, show some gestures for them relate and connect. And so it has become a routine for me but in that way I know that my students are learning from me. Because of that problem, I come to think of strategy that while I was giving an activity to the students, I will already give a lecture so it was like hitting two birds with one stone. I had no choice but to do it because that is the easiest way on how I would become effective as well students’ success.

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            I gave activities such as; stimulation, artworks, watching video clips, charades, message relay, spelling, puzzles, etc. so they can be able to enjoy English subject despite they struggle in learning it. On the days that I was there teacher, I did not tolerate my students to use Bahasa Indonesia during the class because I strongly believe that their tolerance in not using English elicits their lack of competence in the English. So, although they have to spend more time to study English, it was okay for me because I want my students to realize how English will affect their lives and their future careers. I also give evaluation and assignment to my students because they really have to continue learning even at home.

 

Problem Solving

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            The first problem that I have encountered is that English in Indonesia is just a foreign language so only few students and teachers can speak the language. I had difficulty in communicating with my students because the process of communication is only one-way process, the feedback of students is lacking. On my first days in the school I really don’t know whether my students understand me or not so I always ask my mentor to help me translate to my students what I am trying to tell them. My strategy especially in addressing that problem was the use of context clues. I simplified each and every word in a way that they can somehow understand what its meaning all about. I also use contextualization and relate some personal experiences in the country and use them in a sentence so they may know and they are familiar of the foods, places and culture that I am stating so little by little they can already connect to me. I also used drawings on the board to clues and unlock some difficult words that are not familiar to them. I also did gesture to give emphasis on what I was telling them. And the most fun experience is trying to speak Bahasa which aroused my students to really pay attention while I was discussing. One thing I’ve learnt is that, teaching students with English as foreign language is challenging because it requires patience and expertise to teach English.

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Classroom Management

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            The classroom management in the school where I was deployed was not very hard because the students are manageable. Whenever I would go to the class, the students are all properly seated and they will just greet me “Good Morning Mr.” with the chairs properly aligned and the surrounding is organized. Most of the students are polite, kind and behave and there are also students who needs attention. They listen attentively to class while I am discussing and response positively on the commands and instructions that I am giving. In the individual quizzes and seat works, the students work independently and do not copy from their seatmates. Sometimes, when I was giving activity some of the boys are not participating so I have to call their attention and ask them to work with their group mates and the boys also follow to me. In my final them the flow was just so smooth and the students enjoyed the activities and was able to answer several assessments. After that, I know that my students will learn to be discipline and more driven to learn.  

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