Teaching Fifth Graders

    Posted in college by

    I’m not new in teaching. I gave a private English course to a second grader when I was in tenth grade. I also taught a 19 year old boy to prepare for SNMPTN when I was in fourth semester. Not to mention the microteachings I had done for Teaching Media and English Teaching and Learning classes. However, for the English for Teaching Young Learners class I’m taking this semester, I must teach in a real classroom, in a real school, with real students. I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t freak me out. I’m really nervous. What if the students don’t like me and give me troubles during the class? What if I do something wrong, like pronouncing a word wrong and they end up pronouncing it wrong too? I took Teaching English to Young Learners class last semester, and from that class I can conclude that teaching children is not easy and we have to be very careful. They’re still in the phase of immitating and if we do something wrong, they can carry that wrong thing all their life.

    This Wednesday, it was Ijal’s turn to teach in the fifth grade in Cipaganti Elementary. I myself got the third turn, so I will teach in the next two weeks. Ijal did a very good job, by the way. He could grab the students’ attention and kept them excited during the whole lesson (something I’m not sure I could do when it comes my turn to teach them). Ijal used puppets, the “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” song, and Simon Says game. His lesson’s focus was on listening, whilst mine would be on reading. Reading; sounds boring huh? A lot of people don’t like reading nowadays, especially children. So I have to come up with a really good idea to make the lesson fun and interesting (since they are the keys of teaching children).

    Now, now… Do you guys have any idea to help me out?

    PS. I changed my header and tweaked some stuffs yesterday. Do you like it?

    31 October 2012

    Trifles (another ‘nevermind!’ post)

    Posted in what's inside my head by
    Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of trifle

    Last week we were assigned to discuss a play script written by Susan Glaspell entitled “Trifles”. It was about an investigation of a murder of John Wright in his bedroom with her wife, Minnie Wright, as the main suspect. The class was divided into 6 groups, and my group was assigned to discuss the theme of the play. I, being the internet-addict (and the laziest student my university has ever had) that I am, decided to google it and found some arguments that the play has the theme of feminism. Here’s what I finally delivered as a report in front of the class:

    In this play, the male characters mock the female ones because they think that the ladies put too much attention to small and ‘unimportant’ things. This makes the title: Trifles. The men keep looking for evidence in the form of weapons, blood, prints, and such. The women, on the other hand, pay more attention to the personal side of the suspect in the form of the state of her kitchen and all the things they can find there; or the real evidence, as the ladies can find the real motive behind the murder whilst the men find nothing.

    The first thing that came into my mind when I concluded said things about was exactly like: “Oh my God, this is so true!” Putting too much attention to small and ‘unimportant’ things? That’s us, ladies. From my own experience, I believe that I tend to overthink and overanalyse small things in my everyday life. On one of those days, I could spend more than an hour to decide which clothes I should wear or if my headscarf match my shirt or not. Small things like that could easily stress me out.

    And right now, I’ve been feeling so grumpy about a really unimportant thing (and by ‘unimportant’, I mean ‘very, VERY unimportant’): my relationship status on Facebook. I know, right?

    This is silly. Thinking about this trifle won’t help me solve any murder cases; nor will it help me get through all these assignments that I really should pay attention to instead.

    30 October 2012

    Oh nostalgia!

    Posted in memories, musics, television by

    If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might’ve seen that a few weeks ago I posted tons of old anime songs (with Indonesian dub) I found on YouTube. From all the videos I shared, this one is my favourite. It’s the closing theme of Mojacko, a series about a boy who befriends aliens. It was aired when I was still in elementary school. This song is very catchy and the singer’s voice is also good, unlike most of the other songs’ singers.

    This is the Indonesian dubbed version:


    This is the original version:


    Good, isn’t it? What do you think? Do you know this anime series?

    29 October 2012

    Weekend is for…

    Posted in weekend by
    1. … celebrating Eid al Adha (and my birthday!)

    Ciwastra, 26 October 2012

    2. … going on a date to the zoo and posing with the elephants.

    Kebun Binatang Bandung, 27 October 2012

    3. … having a BBQ party with my manfriend and our friends.

    Supadio 18, 28 October 2012

    How was your weekend?
    28 October 2012

    Quoted Saturday

    Posted in quote by

    Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could. (Louise Erdrich)

    {via: image | quote}

    27 October 2012