Teaching ‘Giving and Asking for Direction’ (Classroom Activity and Powerpoint Presentation)

By Irfan Nugroho
As my eight grade students have learned about the ‘preposition of place,’ teaching about ‘giving and asking for direction’ gets one step easier. This time, I provide the subject of learning in the forms of listening and speaking competences.

Here is the procedures I have used to teach ‘giving and asking for direction’ to the eight grade students of mine.

A.    Aims
Students are able to:
-    Understand how to ask for direction in English
-    Understand how to give direction in English
-    Make note by listening to a conversation on ‘giving and asking for direction’
-    Ask for direction in English
-    Give direction in English

B.    Activities
-    Powerpoint presentation on ‘giving and asking for direction’
-    Role play
-    Writing specific information gained by listening to conversations performed by students

C.    Procedures (90 minutes)
-    Warming up
I started the lesson by telling my personal experience of how I could get to the school where I am working now.

“The first time I came here, I didn’t even know where SMPN I Karangdowo is. Then, I met with a pedicab peddler in Surakarta, then asked him, ‘Where is SMPN I Karangdowo?’”

Stopping at that question, I asked the students, “What will the man answer?” Using the name of street, students will answer, “SMPN I Karangdowo is on Solo-Karangdowo Street.”

Then, I asked them more, “Do you think that I can reach SMPN I Karangdowo only by knowing the name of the street? So what will I ask later?”

Some students got confused while some other understood what to ask: that is about asking for direction. So, I began the powerpoint presentation as included herein. (You may download it free, indeed).

-    Explanation – Presentation Stage
The powerpoint presentation begins with an flashback explanation on Preposition of Place. I did include the explanation on when to use “in/on/at” and four more preposition of place that may be used to explain a direction.

The next slide displays three sentences asking for certain addresses with red-lighted words can be replaced with other destinations. I did as such to help students recognising a new language system of asking for address in foreign language, in this case English.

Next, the powerpoint asks, “How if someone asks you more...?” This is a situation as what I have experienced and told in the warming up stage. Then I provides four varieties of question on asking for direction.

The last page slide displays a set of sentence patterns on giving direction. I wrote them in boxes functioning as template and helping the students recognising that new language systems. The boxes lighted in yellow are the destinations that can be replace with destinations the students would ask in the next stages; that is, practice and production stages.

-    Practice Stage
Now, the students have been introduced with some new language patterns as shown by the powerpoint presentation. Then, I tried to ask four students, “What is your address?” and “Can you tell me how to get there?”

Keep the last page powerpoint on the screen, let the students look at the slide and use that template to answer my questions. Do the same for three students until they have 50% understand.

-    Production Stage
Then, I got two students to perform a role play. They were boy and girl students.

The context of situation was that I was falling in love to the girl but I was not brave enough to ask her address. So, I get the boy to ask for the girl’s address and how to get there.

After that, the boy should report it to me and the other students must make note on how to get to the girl’s home. After performing the simulated conversation, the boy student may go back to his seat while appoint another boy to perform the conversation. The same procedure also implies for the girl students.

Make this simulated conversation for about ten couples. At the end of the class, students have to submit their notes for evaluation on their listening skills.

Download Powerpoint Presentation for Teaching Giving and ASking for Direction to Eight Graders

READ MORE - Teaching ‘Giving and Asking for Direction’ (Classroom Activity and Powerpoint Presentation)

When 'Certified' Teacher Doesn't Mean 'Qualified' Teachings

By Irfan Nugroho
Being a teacher in Indonesia did not guarantee somebody for save financial needs in the past. But the current progress on Indonesian education gets improved fast and is a good news for those grappling with it.

Therefore, being a teacher is no longer a nightmare, but a dream for so many Indonesian youths who want to get ‘save financial needs’ through teaching.

It is because those ‘certified teachers’ would get higher salary from the government that has boosted up the National Budget for Education Sector – up to 20 per cent from total National Budget – since 2008.

To those who have been familiar in watching news on Indonesian education, they would see that there are so many Indonesian teachers are now enrolling themselves for certification.

This can be a good news for students – with hope that students would get more quality education – but sometimes, still there are some ‘fraud’ teachers who want to have the mere higher salary with no quality improvement at all.

Such an assessment came out as the current research finding of Indonesia’s PGRI (Teacher’s Association of the Republic of Indonesia) disclosed a fact that ‘certified teachers’ cannot produce the more qualified teacher.

Likewise, the above assessment was also based on my self-experience as a non-government-paid English teacher at a certain SMP (Junior High School) in Central Java, Indonesia.

The story began when I came to the school for the first time. I tried to asses their English ability through a placement test given to the third grade students, second grade students, and first grade students.

Perhaps, I can apologize to any dissatisfying results coming out of the first and second grades students, but how if the same dissatisfying results also emerged from those students at the third grade.

They don’t even understand how they must apply “simple present tense” on an assignment I have given to them later. Then one big question spurred out, “What have those teachers taught to these kids?”

This problem takes my serious concern as the third grade students would face the National Examination only in less than one year.

It means that their fate of being three-year students at the school will be decided only in three days.

If they mark less than ‘five’ (of range one to 10 of marking) at the National Examination, they would fail at all, and not able to succeed in further higher education – SMA (Senior High School).

One of the onsets for the above problem slightly appeared when the school where I am teaching at was being ‘monitored’ and ‘supervised’ by a team consisting of two supervisors from the Department of Education.

The supervision is a means of quality control from the Department of Education to those teachers who have passed the certification stage.

As well, it means that those ‘certified teachers’ would be asked to take another certification process if they fail to make any good impression in front of the supervisors.

That is why; four days before the supervision and monitoring, the headmaster asked those teachers who have ‘passed’ the certification process to make some unusual and extraordinary teaching materials, special for that day of supervision.

Some ‘certified teachers’ then arranged teaching materials that are far more attractive than usual. Some of them even browsed for the internet; in fact, they rarely did it before.

What a good mark, the school where I am working at, got a good mark over the supervision. All ‘certified’ teachers have passed the supervision, and doesn’t need to take another certification anymore.

From the above observation, I would conclude that the research finding of Indonesia’s PGRI does match to the real fact in the fields.

My personal experience also supports an argumentation saying that ‘certified teachers doesn’t guarantee for qualified teachings.’

Now, there is a need to raise awareness amongst those certified teachers that the higher salary paid to them is aimed at stimulating them to improve their quality of teachings.

That does not only mean for getting ‘save financial needs,’ but there more duties and responsibilities are waiting for them.

In the other words, they have had their rights but they have not made any advanced progress following the ‘stimulus’ taking the form of ‘higher salary.’

Once again, they should now realize that there are more duties and responsibilities over higher salary and title ‘certified’ they have received.

READ MORE - When 'Certified' Teacher Doesn't Mean 'Qualified' Teachings

Definitions of Writing and Key Elements to be Tested in Writing

A.    Formulation of Writing Theories
Writing is viewed by Kooser (2006: 118) as communication just quite the same as speaking. The argument gets supported by Barry Holstun Lopez – the author of River Notes and Arctic Dreams - (in Kooser, 2006 : 3) as stating that writing is ‘telling the best story’ we know. Likewise, an outstanding writer, Bil Gilbert, says that ‘writing is telling a story to a stranger’ (in Kooser, 2006: 63). Finally, writing as a communication allows the existence of ‘information transmission’ as stated by Collinge (1990: 312).

Highlighting ‘transmission’ on the above paragraph, there must be one or more meaning within a writing that is deliberately expressed by a writer. That is why; writing – according to Tierney and Pearson (in Collinge, 1990: 312) – is concerned with ‘creating meaning.’ Writing as a process is a ‘practice requiring iterative performances – including the embodiment of a complex set of knowledge and skills to achieve competence (Knapp and Watkins, 2005: 81). More specifically, Swales argues that writing ‘involves focus on ‘making meaning appropriately within its terms’ (in Chambers and Gregory, 2006: 150).

As writing tends to be permanent rather than any other language skill such as speaking and listening, writing demands ability to convert mental experience undergoes on human brain into words. Therefore, Kooser (2006: 11) states that writing is ‘transformative experience.’ It means that writing alone is a medium for people to ‘transform’ people’s ‘thoughts – information, knowledge, and wisdom— into words (Kooser, 2006: 111). In the other words, writing may also be said as an attempt at ‘recording spoken language through a conventionalized system of graphic signs’ (Bussmann, 1998: 1294).

Then, how do people cope with the number of information or knowledge when they have to make writing? At this stage, the abilities to ‘reject irrelevant information, to summarize relevant points, and to organize relevant information are needed (Matthews, Spratt, and Dangerfield, 1985: 71). Then, when all done, a writer is required to be capable of ‘using linguistic cohesion devices, expressing precise meaning in a variety of styles and registers, and using a variety of sentence patterns and constructions (Matthews, Spratt, and Dangerfield, 1985: 71).

B.    Construct
Writing is a means of communication (Kooser, 2006: 118), an attempt to transmit information (Collinge 1990: 312), a transformative effort to convert mental experience into words (Kooser, 2006: 111), and a work to create meaning to be transmitted (Swales in Chambers and Gregory, 2006: 150).

To achieve those goals, thus a writer should be able to exploit his/her grammatical, rhetorical, organizational and expressive skills all together. For that reason, there are four main points to be tested or measured in writing; that of one’s grammatical skill, rhetorical skill, organizational skill, and expressive skill.  

References:
Aronoff, Mark and Rees-Miller, Jannie (Eds.), 2002. The Handbook of Linguistics. Blackwell Publishing: London.
Carter, Awena (Ed.), 2009. Why Writing Matters. Issues of access and identity in Writing Research and Pedagogy. John Benjamins Publishing Company: Philadelphia.
Chambers, Ellie and Gregory, Marshall, 2006. Teaching and Learning English Literature. Sage Publications: London.
Collinge, N.E., 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Language. Routledge: London.
Kooser, Ted and Cox, Steve, 2006. Writing brave and free: encouraging words for people who want to start writing. University of Nebraska Press: London.
Task, R.L., 1999. Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. Routledge: London.
Williams, James Dale, 2003. Preparing to Teach Writing: Research, Theory, and Practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers: New Jersey.

READ MORE - Definitions of Writing and Key Elements to be Tested in Writing

Teaching Comparative/Superlative Adjectives (Classroom Activities and Powerpoint Presentation)

By Irfan Nugroho
As of three hours prior to the class began, I kept thinking what the best activity to teach “Comparative/Superlative Adjectives” to the ninth graders. All of sudden, the word “debate” struck my mind, and thus asked myself, “Why not?”

Teaching “Comparative/Superlative Adjectives” is about ‘educating’ students to compare hence there would be a debatable argument on any statement using these kinds of adjective. That is why, I put a great agenda that my students should be trained to think critically.

“Debate competition” I called this classroom activity. After explaining students what “comparative/superlative adjectives” are, I did conduct a small-scale debate amongst the students in my class. The emphasize of the debate is on the use of “comparative/superlative” in real communication.

Here is a complete procedures of “teaching comparative/superlative adjectives” to the ninth graders.

A.    Aims
Students are able to:
-    Understand what “comparative/superlative adjectives” are
-    Differentiate when to use “comparative adjectives” and when to use “superlative adjectives”
-    Use it in real communication
-    Think critically

B.    Activities
-    Mentioning kinds of kata sifat (adjectives) in Bahasa Indonesia and in English
-    Powerpoint presentation
-    Introducing the rules of the debate
-    Debate competition

C.    Procedures (80 minutes)
-    Warming Up (5 minutes)
I started the class by throwing some questions such as “Kenapa orang-oang barat cenderung lebih pintar daripada orang Indonesia?” (Why are Westerners considered smarter than Indonesians?).

“Bagaimana kita merubah pendapat tersebut sehingga semua orang akan berpikir bahwa orang Indonesia adalah manusia terpintar di dunia?” (How do we changed that opinion, thus people would admit that Indonesia is the smartest people on earth?)

Too much exaggerated I think but it’s OK as I was trying to boost up their motivation to study more and more. Since then, I did highlight the use of “lebih pintar” (smarter) and “paling pintar” (the smartest) then started the “Presentation Stage.”

(In another class I used questions like, “Who is the richest man in Indonesia?” and “Can you find someone richer than M. President?”)

-    Explanation – Presentation Stage (25 minutes)
I used the included herein Powerpoint to explain the students about “Comparative/Superlative Adjectives.” You may download it for free.

The first and second slides of the powerpoint read “Adjectives (kata sifat)” and “What is adjective?” As I have finished telling them the definition of adjective, I got each student to mention one adjective in Bahasa Indonesia. I gave them one point to those who can also mention adjectives in English.

There would be about 40 adjectives at the end of that stage. Since then, I continued explaining about “Positive Adjective,” “Comparative Adjective,” and “Superlative Adjectives.” Two table were displayed thus they could see how an adjective can change in such ways thus results in Comparative/ Superlative Adjectives.

The presentation stage is over, continued with introduction to the rules of a debate.

-    Practice Stage (10 minutes)
I began this stage by giving a statement, “I am the most handsome man in this room!” Spontaneously, students reacted in various ways – expressing that they disagreed to what I had just said.

Then, I asked them, “Do you agree with that statement?” and they loudly answered, “ No, we don’t.” If that so, I then introduced them to “I disagree with you,” or “I agree with you” to express an agreement or disagreement.

As they disagreed, I asked them once more, “What are you reasons?” They answered in various ways – unfortunately they did still use Bahasa Indonesia – and therefore I got them to compare me to the one who is “more handsome than” me. I wanted them to express the reason using “Comparative Adjectives.”

Since then, one of them said, “I am more handsome than you!” Once again, all of students laughed at the boy. Another student followed the debate while saying “I am more handsome than you (me) and him.”

-    Production Stage (35 minutes)
I did as such for three statements – or you may adjust to the situation – until the students have understand the rules of the debate. Since then, I wanted one student to deliver a statement using “Superlative Adjectives” and the others responded it in disagreement as saying “I disagree with....” and using “Comparative Adjectives.”

Scoring system was set for those who can deliver statement and responded to the statement appropriately. Two points for them.

Download Powerpoint Presentation of Teaching Comparative/Superlative Adjectives

READ MORE - Teaching Comparative/Superlative Adjectives (Classroom Activities and Powerpoint Presentation)

Teaching Preposition of Place (Classroom Activity and Powerpoint Presentation)

By Irfan Nugroho
Teaching Preposition of Place to Indonesians, especially to those who are at the eighth grade (Sekolah Menengah Pertama/Junior High School), can be something hard to do. It is because the Indonesians do only recognise one preposition – that of “di ....” – while in English, we have three basic preposition of place – that of “in, on, and at.”

Below procedure is my experience of how to teach “Preposition of Place” to Indonesian students at the eight grade. The classroom activity will take about 80 minutes and be started by a powerpoint presentation as the file also included herein.

A.    Aims
Students are able to:
-    Understand the concept of preposition of place
-    Use preposition of place – in, on, at, next to, between, in front of, and behind – properly
-    Be familiar with English Preposition of Place and therefore use it in daily life.

B.    Activities
-    Powerpoint presentation on preposition of place
-    Where is X? X is in front of/ between/ next to/ behind.....

C.    Procedures (80 minutes)
-    Warming up (5 minutes)
At this session, teacher asks students, “Where are they?” in Bahasa Indonesia. Then, the teacher asks them, “Where is the painting?” in Bahasa Indonesia. As the students answered in Bahasa Indonesia, they would only use “di” for most of their answers. Since then, the teacher starts explaining the Preposition of Place through powerpoint presentation.

-    Explanation – Presentation Stage (25 minutes)
The powerpoint included herein is what I have used to explain preposition of place. You may download it freely.

-    Practice Stage (10 minutes)
At this stage, teacher asks students question like, “Where is someone?” and therefore will require four students to answer using either “in font of, behind, between, or next to.” (Please notice that I have 40 students within. They face one single screen and I face at them). Scoring is set by giving one point to those who can answer teacher’s question using preposition of place properly.

-    Production Stage (35 minutes)
As they have a little bit understood when to use either “in front of, behind, between, or next to” as well as “in, on, and at,” teacher gets students to carry the activity at “Practice Stage” by themselves.

One student delivers question asking where his/her classmate sits, and he/she must appoint four students to answer his/her question. Remember, the four students must use “in front of/ behind/ between/ next to.” Scoring system is set by one point for those who can propose the right answer and those who deliver questions.

As the class would get really active, you will find that this production stage will take a long time. More than that, it would get crowded if the students have really understood and comprehended the Preposition of Place in English as the teacher explains it clearly and understandably. However, it is all OK because the class is actually speaking class – not a sole grammar class.

Download Powerpoint Presentation of Teaching Preposition of Place

READ MORE - Teaching Preposition of Place (Classroom Activity and Powerpoint Presentation)