Last week and farewell to the Philippines

Last week and farewell to the Philippines

13^th September

We had our closing ceremony in Bayambang campus that day. Like usual, when we had a formal occasion, we dressed ourselves with traditional dress. But in the morning before we went to elementary school hall, we still had some groups of student came to our dorm. Mostly they want to say good bye and gave a gift to us and then took some photos.

Some of my students came to our dorm looking for me. I was surprised by that and didn’t expect that there are some students who came looking for me. So, I went out to meet them, said “Hi, how are you?” to them and started making a conversation. At the end of our conversation, one of my student said that he heard from someone that my voice is good. He heard it from another student from another class in which I sang Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon song. So, he asked me to sing any song to them. I sang a different song than the last time and that is You are My Sunshine. When I was singing they were recording me with cell phones. Then, when I was done singing they gave me applause and said that my voice is beautiful.

We finally went to elementary school hall which is just a couple of minutes away from our dorm by walk. When we got there, it’s already crowded with students, and teachers which some of them were our mentors. We had a warm and funny opening speech by Ma’am Sally Jarrin, and also all of the persons who has an important position in PSU Bayambang. We also gave a speech which was represented by Ari Sihad, and Nanticha. Both were giving a very funny speech especially Nanticha student-teacher from Thailand. Her English speaking skill is not very well, and the script that she has made was left behind, so all she did was just chattering random things. After that, we had a dancing performance by students from the receiving campus. Our heart was deeply touched by the beautiful singing performance by our own buddies who sang a farewell song to us.

At the end of the closing ceremony we ate together with Filipino style, it is almost similar with Indonesian traditional eating party. They put all the food on the banana leaves in long lines and then we ate it outdoor together, but because the weather was very unpredictable, we did it indoor. Outside, our students and some college students were waiting for us to take a photo, we felt like celebrities in there.

Afterwards we had a scheduled of visit at Bayambang’s Mayor’s house and café. It was already dark when we reached there. The mayor’s wife’s café is very nice, we take the foods as much as we can because we are so hungry and the foods looked too sarap to be ignored. After that we took photos with the Mayor of Bayambang.

When we got back to our dorm some of buddies was coming around. We were playing some funny games like Pak Ganern, concentration game, it was so much fun and we had a lot of laughter. Some buddies made a wood fire. We chatted and we chatted until we feel tired and had nothing to talk anymore. This was the last night we can be together with the buddies, so they stayed until midnight. Some of us had a deep conversation, speak out everything that we really want to say inside to them for this was the last chance.

14^th September

This is the last day in our dorm. So sad but we tried our best not to show it to the buddies. We were having a free day, but we were so busy trying to finish the self report. Meanwhile, students kept coming to say good bye and gave some gifts. The buddies also came to our dorm, just to play around or helped us with self report. We tried to seize the moment as much as we could. Knowing that in the night we have to leave them.

This was the time. The time that we were afraid of, the time that haunted us every time we were having good times, because we were scared of losing it finally came. The buddies started to leave us. It was so hard just to say the word good bye came out of my mouth, as if it would be never enough. Thousands of words unsaid cramped up in the space between us, it was useless to speak, so we just stared at each other so deep, trying not to show it to them that we were so sad inside. Some of them just couldn’t help the tears running down their faces, mostly girls. The guys were just being men, took pride of their manliness but actually were not that different inside. we said good bye and hugged each other. we were waving our hands to them from "The Hill of Signal". It's a small mound of soil where we spent our nights looking for signal. It was so dramatic like in a cheap Indian drama movie.

In the night we finally leave our dormitory. The bus picked us up at 10 pm in the night. It was raining and so windy because of the typhoon starting to hit Philippines that night, and we had to bring our heavy baggage to the bus. In the bus we said good bye to everything that has memory for us when we passed them, like saying: Good bye CSI, goodbye McDo, good bye trees, and just anything that sounds silly. 

It took 6 hours to reach NAIA. The storm was bigger when we got there. In the airport we had to wait until the next night. Early in the morning around 3 am, I couldn't sleep, we just looking for a smoking area and found one in Japanese Restaurant.  We ate there and smoke, I really wanted a hot cup of coffee in there but they didn't sell it.

In the afternoon we just tried to take a nap for awhile. we were bored to death, imagine that we had to wait for almost a day in the airport. The boarding time was come and we got to the plane at 10 pm. It took 3 and a half hours to reached Jakarta. looking out the window, it was just like the first time we landed here: dark and rainy night. I was too tired and sleepy to thinking or remembering sentimental things, so I just read a novel and then slept in the plane. Good bye Philippines.

Here are some pictures of where I've been and my activities

Closing ceremony in Bayambang campus

Visiting Major's wife's Cafe

Information Related to This Program

Summary and Suggestion

The purpose

The purpose of this program is to unite the countries in ASEAN on education improvement. By uniting the teacher and their school from around the ASEAN we expect that we will be able to share anything related to education. through sharing and build connection we will be able to solve the problems that we encounter in giving education to our next generations and build a stronger nations.

Student-teacher who participate in this program will have a great deal of experience and skill when they go back to their countries. In the countries that they go to, they will absorb all the things that related to the culture, education system, students character and even politic or religion in there. which all of those are the essential things that a teacher must has. 

They also will have the skill that they need after they come back to their respective countries. By teaching in a real situation in another country with different educational system, school system and different student characters will put a big amount of skills in their teaching activity.

Procedure of Practicum

• Orientation in college
• Orientation in the school
• Observation in the class
• Teaching practice
• Evaluation
• and reflection

Outcomes of Practicum

We as a student-teacher who participated in this program will have the skills that we needed after we come back to our respective countries. By teaching in a real situation in another country with different educational system, school system and different student characters will put a big amount of skills in our teaching activity. Being a real educator is not an easy task. We must have a lot of knowledge of this world and everything in it to be delivered to their student through teaching. With that, the generations of our countries depend on how capable the teacher do all of the things mentioned before. This program provide all of those.

Challenges of Practicum

The English education in Philippines is far more advance than in Indonesia. I taught a senior high-school student, and their skill of English is almost the same with what we have as an college student in Indonesia, even better in some cases. The materials that are given to the student are more about literature, while in our country we still struggle with English as a communication. 

Luckily, I have a passion on literature. I have enough ideas and knowledge of it, although I don't get it from formal education. At first I doubted about the knowledge that I had, because it is not from a legal and trusted source, but Ma'am Jonna, my mentor told that it was fine.

I have a little bit problem with the communication with the students in front of the class. My teaching experience is very poor to be able to build a good communication in front of the class. It was fine, I can talk to them and explain everything just fine. But Ma'am Jonna told me that I have to make use of my voice in building a good relationship with the students.

Overall Impression

I haven't find any other way to improve my teaching ability and my own personality better than this program. I was greatly overwhelmed by how much the experiences, information, ideas, and skill that I got from going abroad teaching in another country. We made friends with everyone that involved in this program and people in there. Which means broadening our connection that gives us a lot of opportunity in the long run. 

Suggestions fro future improvement

1. For SEAMEO

The Exchange pre-service teacher program is a great program to improve student-teachers ability in teaching and their skill in making a communication using English with other foreign people. So, my suggestion for this great program is: it would be better if the other countries in ASEAN can join this magnificent experience and this program activities.

2. For Pangasinan State University

The treatment from Pangasinan State University was beyond expectation. I was really satisfying. From the president, lectures, and the students college were really helpful. The program was also well organized. The only suggestion is that it would be better if the receiving university makes a timeline in detail regarding the schedule of the student teachers who join the program.

3. For School

In my opinion, the school we were doing our practice teaching. started from the principle, teachers, staff of the school and the students. the only suggestion for this school is that the students deserve a proper classroom building, the facilities, and services from the school. Because they have a big potential to be a great students which later become a people who have a big role in society and countries.

4. For Supervising Instructor (Teacher/Mentor)

There almost none of the flaw that my mentor has. She is a great person, great teacher, great friend, great mom for her children, great life advisory,  and a great mentor for me. She was very humble, very nice, very open-minded, very understanding and very considerate to me. Every time I have problem she will help me and tolerate our flaws because she said she knows how it feels to become a student and a teacher. But of course every one of us has flaw, and my suggestion for her is only it would be nicer if she can provide us a clear schedule and give an advice for our time management. We needed it so we were able to prepare and do our practice teaching more effectively. although, I know she tried her best on those things.

Third Week in the Pearl of the Orient: Philippines

Third Week

7^th September.

We finally reached our third week in the Philippines. It was sad and relieving at the same time. We had our closing ceremony in Lingayen with SEA-tvet students. We prepared early in the morning just like usual while waiting for the bus to come. The bus was also like usual, not on time. We’ve prepared everything early in the morning because they said they will pick up us at 9 am, but the bus actually came around 1 pm in the afternoon. We are very disappointed by that and we were just waiting and some of us even took a nap. When the bus finally arrived we were not taken straight to Lingayen, instead we were going to pick up another SEA-tvet in Urdaneta City. It took almost 5 hours of riding bus because we were going around to different direction.

We finally got to Lingayen campus late in the afternoon, almost dark in there. We were not expecting that there will be a lot of students inside the hall, different from when we had our opening ceremony. We did our performance which had been prepared two weeks before. We were performing a traditional dances, singing, pencak silat (our traditional martial art). They appreciate it very well. Afterwards, we were given our certificate from PSU, and came on the stage and take photos. I felt the atmosphere was a mixing between melancholic and happiness. Time just went so fast.

8^th September.

In order to prepare for our next teaching mMa’am Jonna gave us the topics to teach and the materials. This time we were required to make a Philippine semi-detailed lesson plan. So we went to Ma’am Jonna’s office to have an explanation about our topics, lesson plan and the materials. It’s not as complex as we thought it is. Roughly speaking, it is almost similar with our lesson plan but with different terms and different structure. I had figure of speech as my topic and given a poem by Alfred Lord Tennison’s The Eagle. It was a very beautiful and imaginative poem. He uses a lot of figure of speech in there, almost in every line. It made me easier to teach figure of speech to the students. Ma’am Jonna was very smart on choosing the literature work to be discussed by me. We must do at least three times revisions on my semi-detailed lesson plan, so we were required to finish it as fast as possible and submit it to Ma’am Jonna before Tuesday, which is our teaching day.

11^th until 12^th September

We had our last teaching in there. Because we were having lack of time, Ma’am Jonna asked us to teach only in one day. We taught only 1 hour for each of us then the last class we did a roulette, and to my surprise I’m the one who got it. I taught 2 hours on that day while my friend only one hour, but we were assisting each other. I taught about figure of speech and was given a poem by Ma’am Jonna. The poem is the Eagle by Alfred Lord Tennison, it was a beautiful work by him. Ma’am Jonna said that I excelled a lot from the last teaching especially on my time management and knowledge of the material.

We also had to finish our self report on the next day, so we did our best to finish it that day. Ma’am Jonna told the students that we were leaving on Friday. So, they came to our dorm bringing a gift for us to bring back to our country. They came to us in a group from the morning until afternoon and took a lot of photos and selfies. They came and go while we are busy on our self report and start packing our things. They are very nice students, I almost feel like a real teacher in there, although our time is short with them.

Here are some pictures of where I've been and my activities

My Second Week in the Pearl of the Orient: Philippines

Second Week

25^th August.

We had our first tour in the Philippines which took place in Nayong, Philippines in Clark City. That day was the day that we are waiting for. In the morning of our weekend, we woke up early in the morning because we have to wait in line to take a bath, and also the water was very slow when we use it at the same time with other units in our dormitory. The trip took almost 6 hours; it was very tiring and boring. When we got there it was a light rain and we were just waiting in front of the gate because none of use was willing to go inside. The cost was not cheap and we were so hungry because most of us didn’t have breakfast in the morning. It was a bit disappointing because the trip going there was long and boring. But it was not that bad after we went to SM mall in Clark to have our late breakfast. We didn’t do anything aside from it in there.

27^th August.

We went to Lingayen campus to have a SEAMEO games. All of us who participated in SEAMEO program in PSU were playing games to make our relationship closer and warmer. It was just a simple game but it was really fun. Games like how long you could say “samtong” in one breath, yell-yell of each group, group walk using two bamboos, sack hopping, dancing, Hep-Hep hooray, and the funniest game was when we had to use everything that we wore to make the longest line. At the end of the event we ate chicken porridge with dried chili: just like we have missed it. It was very tiring but we were so happy. We reached the dorm at night.

The next two days was our class teaching. The first day was Ari’s turn to teach the class, he taught about plot. He was very charming, the way he speaks, the way he talk to the students, and his gesture shows that he is very communicative and confident with the way he teach. In the opening he use some technique to make the student feel energetic and ready to study like; hep-hep hooray, 123 clap, and hi-hello. He was very good at making the students feel attracted to him. But he wasn’t aware of his time management, because he was enjoying too much. So, he needs to extend the time on the next meeting because he didn’t finish his class, and this was also our problem on the next day. It was not surprising because at first we use Indonesian lesson plan which has different time management.

On the second day of teaching was Galih’s turn. He taught about characterization. The way he taught was very effective and straight to the point. He didn’t do things like Ari did, but he stick to the material he was teaching. But still, he also needs an extension. Our schedule became so messy caused a domino effect.

After my schedule was moved back a couple of times because of my friend’s extension, I finally taught my first teaching. I taught about setting and atmosphere. I was given the material by Ma’am Jonna and the short story to be discussed in the class. The story was The Cat in The Rain by Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway is my all time favorite writer, so I have a bunch of ideas in my head that I want to share to my students. I was very lucky because I love literature, and it made my teaching way more enjoyable and easier. But still it was my first teaching real students, so I still feel nervous and sometimes I found myself confused of what I’m going to say.

The way they teach English in high-school is different from Indonesia. They teach English literature while we, Indonesian teacher, still teach communicative English in high school. Most of the students are able to understand my speaking well. But in speaking they still need an improvement, but not as much as in Indonesia. Not all of them can speak fluently, but they can understand English well. They are also very exposed to literature. It’s very clear to see in their writing on their remembrance letter that they gave to me. When I teach them the setting and atmosphere they are very responsive of my questions about it and they are very confident to raise their hands.

September 1^st.

This was the day that we waited for. We went to Hundred Islands in Alaminos City. The timing of this trip is very refreshing, in the week when we were very busy making lesson plan and teaching. It took about 3 hours of riding bus. When we reached there, there was a big rain, but we didn’t go straight to the Hundred Islands, instead we were given some introduction and history about the place. Just when we went outside the building where we were given introduction the rain stopped, but not completely.

We went around island to island using boat. We were grouped consisting of 10 persons per boat.  On the first island we ate our lunch meal that we brought from the dorm. After that we swam in the beach even the sun was right on top of us and it was very hot. Most of the guys didn’t wear clothes which made our skin burnt: that made our skin peeling off on a couple of days after we went there. We swam until we got tired and then we went to the other islands. On the last island, we were stuck in there because of the rain. We waited for the rain to stop but it was very long and one of the people in there said that it might be until night.

This week which started from 3^rd until 6^th September was not an effective week, because of the extension of classes. Ari’s class used Galih’s teaching schedule and Galih’s class used mine. So, it caused a domino effect which made this week was not an effective week to teach. We were a little bit worried by our teaching hours, if it would make it to twenty hours of teaching or not. We only had two more weeks, but only one more effective week which is the third week. But thanks to Ma’am Jonna’s good time management, we can make it to twenty hours of teaching and assisting.

Here are some photos of where I've been and my activities.

We were in Nayong Philippines

Mom Jonna and The Three Musketeers

SEAMEO games. 

My team, The red team, was win in the first place.

Out on the Hundred Islands in Alaminos city.

Soaking hot sun and salty water of Filipino beach