The Best Moment In Time for Education

ICT and Action Research Training in Makassar

2007-03-04T12:03:00.000+08:00

The second workshop of 10 February 2007 in Makassar aimed to improve teachers’ skills in the use of computers as a tool to boost the learning of English Language. Jalu, helped by Ibu Ratna (2005 alumna) conducted a workshop on using CD ROM English program application to provide alternative and make initiative in upgrading students’ skills particularly in listening. Around 25 teachers were taught step by step on how to use the CD. They enjoyed the CD program and admitted that it was very useful for their teaching resources. SATA gave away each participant a CD and English teaching materials as learning resource. At the other occasion, 3 alumni were present to take the chance to share exchange experiences of their stay in the US. They were Busyaeri Jafat (as usually called Erik) of 2006 YES program and 2 Pak Yaumin and Wahyudin of Aminef alumni. Erik shared an experience of how he could participate in the program and had a testimony of his stay with American family and went to school there. The most important lesson he explained was that the discipline of time of Americans and parents gave a strong attention on their children education and the progress of child’s learning. Attendees were curious of finding out to get the change to join the programs and wanted to learn from them.

Workshop for Elementary Teachers in Jakarta

2007-03-04T11:51:00.000+08:00

Linking with some teachers in Jakarta area, SATA was invited by Ar-Rahman Islamic Elementary School to hold a joint workshop of Active Learning for Primary Teachers located at Ar-Rahman Islamic School. The Saturday workshop was initiated to build connection with many Islamic schools, particularly for elementary level. Jalu, the coordinator of SATA, delivered active learning best practices in the specific area of understanding learning styles of every student to optimize the students’ absorption of lessons. With other two presenters who are Jalu’s colleague from his previous school, the workshop was stresses on the creativity of teachers teaching in classroom to design learning which is more integrated so the learning is more hands-on. 45 teachers were present in the workshop and they had testified that such program was really helping them in the improvement of the classroom best practices as they also hoped for another training in the future. At the end, SATA presented 10 reusable camera packages for the participating schools to document their process of learning with their students.

English Teacher Immersion Program in Surabaya

2007-02-07T22:31:00.000+08:00

The workshop entitled “English Teacher Immersion Program” organized by State Alumni Teachers Association (SATA) in collaboration with Al Hikmah Middle School invited around 50 English teachers in South Surabaya area. Many alumni involved in the workshop. This workshop was attended by local Education Officer (Dinas) and Head of MGMP. Mary Beth took the opening remark to speak about US-Indonesian relations, particularly in educational programs. Then Ibu Ratna of American Corner appeared to speak about her office. They were both very pleased to be invited and hoped the program gave a lot benefit for the participants. Bu Pratiwi (Aminef alumna) delivered her lesson on Genre Based Text and Promoting Intercultural Learning, while Pak Eddy (Aminef alumnus) performed more practical teaching initiatives for English teachers. The participants gained more ideas in developing their teachings. Jalu spoke more in class management, specifically his experience in developing student discipline. He also involved them in a creativity game. Silfia and Dian, alumni of 2005 program, worked hard to make the event happen. They worked together with their colleagues to set everything ready for the success of the program. On this occasion, the US Consulate Surabaya distributed many sets of book about America for all participants and SATA donated 10 mini reusable cameras (to document teachings) and some English teaching materials. SATA also donated a set of computer + printer for a poor middle school named IT-TAQU.

Click http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jalueleven/album/576460762388676823 for photos.

Thank You Madania and Good Bye friends!

2006-12-14T21:58:00.000+08:00

Dear all,

Assalamu'alaikum Wr. Wb.
20th December 2006 is going to be my last day to be with Madania. I am going to resign from this school due to my new job at Sampoerna Foundation Teacher Institute. My first day there is going to be on the 2nd January 2007 and I look forward to it. I am going to work in the special program development whose job is to develop possible training programs for teachers and deliver training for teachers.

4,5 years with Madania has given me a lot of great things. I have been through wonderful times being a teacher of elementary (4 years) and middle year (6 months). As a teacher, Madania has taught me fantastic lessons to grow and learn together with other teachers to be 'real' teachers, maybe most wanted teachers. I will never forget all the great times I used to have such as the Ciputat training days in 2002, the experiences being with my lovely students in grade 5 (2002/2003), 2J (2003/2004), 3J (2004/2005), 3J (2005/2006), and my 6-months stay with my teenage students in 8J (2006/2007) this year. Those years are fascinating! Thank you to my great, helpful, and fun colleagues who have supported and worked hand-in-hand to make all teaching experiences possible for the students for their growth academically, physically, mentally, and socially. Hope they will be 'great people' someday to make a better nation and the world in the future. I shall also thank to the parents whose children were my students in those years I was with them. Thank you and I will never forget all the assistance and wonderful cooperation. I wish a greater success for Madania school in the future and look forward to the possible partnership with my new institution we can make in the making of better educational program tomorrow. To all dearest Madanians, wish you all the best and in your work. I will never forget you all.

Last, I would like to appologize for all the mistakes I have made to all of you my dear fellows. I hope to see you again in the future occasions to work together in possible forms of cooperation. God blesses you all.
Take care.
Wassalam.

EL Formative Test

2006-12-05T08:02:00.000+08:00

Dear parents and students,

El formative test for grade 8 will be on 11-15 December 2006.
The test will assess students' listening, reading, grammar application (present tenses and passice voice) and writing. Oral test is given too and will be assessed by John. Have your child be ready and good luck students!

Workshop for Teachers in Makassar

2006-11-30T17:38:00.000+08:00

State Alumni Teacher's Association (SATA) held a day workshop for teachers in Makassar. It was on Saturday, November 25 in UIN Alauddin campus Makassar City. Although we expected about 50 teachers to attend the event, surprisingly we had around 80 teachers participated in the workshop. The workshop was about KTSP (2006 curriculum) and best practices in teaching. Before the workshop, the audience received very valuable information about American scholarships for teachers and students in Makassar who would like to continue their study in the US. Michael McCoy explained all about it and the audience looked enthusiastic about finding more a program called ETA (English Teaching Assisstances). On the other occasion, the representative from USAID and American Cormer also presented their programs on education in Indonesia and how the US government takes an active part in the development of the education.

The workshop was also attended by the rector of UIN Makassar and he took the chance to open it. Pak Muis, the director of Lembaga Bahasa UIN, spoke about the English Language Center which provides a wide access to public for resources in learning and teaching. Pak Jalu led a discussion on KTSP and how his school has implemented it in the classrooms. Some participants shared their experiences about the implementation of KTSP and the obstacles they had to get resolutions from the audience and speaker. In the other rooms, Anthony Zak, American Fellow in Makassar, taught English teachers some practical strategies handling large classes.

In the end, SATA commited to donate a computer set to a poor school in Makassar as a action of community service. The distribution will be made in December this year. To make a post action of the workshop, the audience was challenged to compete to design a creative lesson plan in their classroom learning and SATA will provide a pocket camera and a mini grant to support the activities.

The audience passed positive comments on the event, but some of them regreted about the limited time they had. They hope to have a similar event in the near future to enhance quality teaching.

Click http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jalueleven/album/576460762356909503 for photos.

Blog Workshop

2006-10-08T15:11:00.000+08:00

My first collaborative work between Alumni Teachers and my institution Madania School was to conduct a one-day ICT workshop for teachers on Saturday Oct 7, 2006 at Madania campus, Parung, Bogor. On the workshop entitling "The advantanges of weblog in the learning processes", I was asked to deliver a sharing time with the participants, who were teachers and school administrators, about my experience in creating and benefitting weblog. After sharing, I trained about 50 teachers on how to create a weblog. Each participant received a tutotial book about Blogging provided by State Alumni Teachers. After the workshop, the participants now have had a weblog and they would optimize it in publishing and supporting the process of learning in their classrooms. This workshop was also a collaboration among, Madania School, Alumni Teachers, Microsoft, and Detikinet. Click http://photos.yahoo.com/jalueleven for more photos.

English EHB (Monday 9 Oct)

2006-10-06T17:22:00.000+08:00

The Grammar Topics for English EHB are:

Simple Present Tense
Simple Past Tense
Present Perfect Tense
Modal Auxiliaries (can, may, must, be allowed to, etc)
Question Form (Direct Question: Who are you waiting for? --> Indirect Questions: May I know who you are waiting for?; Does she speak French? --> Can you tell me if she speaks French?)
Imperative (command) sentence
Passive Voice (A Mouse ate the cheese. --> the cheese was eaten by a mouse)

PS: Study the Formative Test 1 and 2 Problems, Practice your Reading Comprehension and Writing.
Good Luck!
online resource: click www.englishclub.com/grammar/

English Quiz

2006-10-04T07:23:00.000+08:00

This is just a sample of English Quiz of Grade 8. The 8th graders have done it well.

ENGLISH QUIZ 1

MISSING WORD

1. Tiger Woods can play golf very _ _ _ _ .
(4 letters)
2. If you don't study hard, you will _ _ _ _ the exam.
(4 letters)
3. We use our noses for _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
(8 letters)
4. 'Big' is the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of 'small'.
(8 letters)
5. The sun goes _ _ _ _ at sunset.
(4 letters)
6. He likes listening to music while _ _ _ _ _ his homework.
(5 letters)
7. I stayed _ _ home all day.
(2 letters
8. Could I have a _ _ _ _ of chicken soup, please?
(4 letters)
9. The policeman ran _ _ _ _ _ the thief.
(5 letters)

CROSSWORD CLUES

THE FIRST LETTER HAS BEEN WRITTEN FOR YOU

1. Clever.
i ______
2. It has a trunk and branches.
t _______
3. A tropical fruit.
p _______
4. A pain in the mouth.
t _______
5. A small piece of rock.
s _______
6. What are gloves worn on?
h _______
7. What are the Andes and the Himalayas?
m _______
8. What drink do cows produce?
m _______
9. A country in Europe.
D _______
10. A dangerous African animal.
l _______
11. Not the same.
d _______
12. What type of food are bacon and beef?
m _______
13. What do you spend in a shop?
m _______
14. To try to find something.
s _______
15. Painful.
s _______
16. It is used for shaving.
r _______
17. Another word that means 'country'.
n _______
18. The highest mountain in Japan.
F _______

e-pal/pen pal Project for Students

2006-10-04T07:10:00.000+08:00

Project Description
E-pals/Pen Pal project is designed to provide students with opportunities to correspond with International students so they can communicate about personal interests, school life, cultures, and related lessons within their curriculum framework. It also trains students to sharpen their thinking, reading and writing skills about life and surroundings. Through emails and posts, they will exchange projects such as writings (electronic and original), art/craft products, gifts, etc to make peace and friendships between the nations. It is a full-year program and highly recommended for grade 8 students of English to participate and all postings will be marked. The theme of the project is “Teens’ Talk on Culture”.
Length of Project:
· Period I October 06 – January 07
· Period II February 07 – May 07
Procedures and Regulations
1. Each participating student is paired with an Int’l student partner to correspond to each other. After having been paired up, students are not allowed to change partners and resign from the program.
2. Students must fill in the form and be acknowledged and endorsed by parents.
3. Students must be committed for each assignment determined by the teachers.
4. While communicating their pals, students may determine an exchange project by both parties. They should prepare:
a. Title of the project
b. Duration to complete the project
c. The way to exchange product (post or email)
5. Students may only use one email address to communicate. It must be informed to the teacher.
6. Students are not allowed to correspond via chat rooms (msn, yahoo, etc)
7. All in-and-out emails and exchange products must be copied and informed to the teacher to be reviewed and marked. (Teacher’s email address: kangmasjalu@yahoo.com)
8. Students must always use polite language while communicating.
9. All in-and-out emails, images, and other products created for exchanges must always consider politeness, good norms, and be free from SARA (suku, agama, ras, dan antar golongan).
10. Students failing to accomplish the tasks (for any circumstances denied by the teacher) during the project will be terminated from the project and will not receive any substitute assignment. Therefore, he/she will not get marks. The students who don’t join this project will receive assignments/projects determined by the teachers.
11. This project is an assignment to be done at home and/or at school.
12. For non-electronic exchanges (art/crafts, gifts, etc), the postage will be charged collectively.

Workshop on Active Learning for Teachers

2006-10-04T07:02:00.000+08:00

Recently, as a 2005 Alumnus I was invited to deliver a workshop for Paket B Teachers at Daarut Tauhid Jakarta Office at Ciputat Tangerang. As a professional educator, I was very excited to share my knowledge and skills to new teachers especially teachers teaching for students with disabilities to persue their eduacation due to financial problems. During the program, I introduced models of Learning Styles to the participants to understand learners' ways of learning. Later, I involved the participants on some activities to build awareness of self disciplines to create positive interactions among learners and ways of handling misbehaviors. Click http://photos.yahoo.com/jalueleven for more photos.

Entertaining Children: Sing, Play and Make Them Happy

2006-09-30T11:56:00.000+08:00

Week 11.
Grade 8 English classes were about involving the students to speak more English through a visit to Primary students in Africa. John and I brainstormed the students with a few English children songs and games for them to play with the students such as "the wheel on the bus", "Simon says", "1-2-3 freeze!", and many more. During the visits, students showed their skills of public speaking (to children as audience) and their confidence to act, sing, and play the games. They showed up with thier own ideas too. The teachers observed and assessed their performances and shared it with us as reflections. This project is to build awaremess and show everyone that we are all one and learn hand-in-hand. Together we learn from each other!

Quantum Leap

2006-09-26T08:25:00.000+09:00

Hi Everyone.
I am no longer teaching Elementary classes coz beginning school year 2006-2007 I am working with Middle School Teachers of Madania. I am teaching English. Many students of mine called it far jumping, from year 3 to year 8. Now I have around 110 students of 5 classes. I hope for a success being a middle school teacher this year. Here is the photo of some of my students. Last week, they cooked spaghetti bolognaise to implement the lesson of sequences and the imperative sentnece. First, chop the onions and garlic. Then, stir fry them with a little oil in medium heat. After that, . . . They cooked very well and produced delicious product.

My School, Your School

2006-05-19T19:35:00.000+09:00

A Brief Look of
Madania School, Indonesia

Completed by
Grade 3 students of Mr. Jalu’s class
participating in
My School Your School Project 2006

Collaborative Project with:
Silvana Carnicero
My school, your school project facilitator.
http://myschoolyourschoolproject.blogspot.com
2005 Project:
http://www.iearn.org/projectpages/myschoolyourschool/

OUR SCHOOL CANTEEN

In our canteen school, there are eight workers. And there are 13 tables and 26 chairs. All the food in our school canteen is healthy.
The students mostly have to eat healthy food. Everyday the student’s buy porridge, pizza, rice, and chicken strips. They drink juice. There are five kinds of juice: orange, melon, strawberry, and guava. We eat snack at 9.20 am, and we eat lunch at 11.30 am.
This canteen is only for grade 1 – 3. When we eat we can‘t speak too much and can’t throw the food, and we must finish the food.

By: Jasmine and Jeanly

OUR SECURITY GUARD

At Madania we have some security guards. There are about 12 security guards. We met and interviewed MR. Iskandar, one of the security guards. He said he prepares: a complete uniform, handcuffs, a police stick, and a whistle. The security guard wears black and white colored shirts and blue and black pants. They also help arranging the parking system dropping and picking the children. MR. Iskandar said that he and his group guard from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. So they guard until the night time. They don’t use any guns because they are not allowed to use them. Why do we need guards? So we can get protections and safety environment.

By: Damar and Adi

STOCK ROOM

Hi friends We want to tell about our stock room. In this school there is a stock room because the stock room is a place to order things for teachers to support their teachings. Inside the stock room there are pictures, stationary, paints, a lot of kinds of papers, books, models, etc. The benefit of stock room is that it can help teachers and students learn better with good tools and equipment.

By Bayu n Farid

NURSE STATION

We need nurse station for first aid if the student is accident.
Nurse station is a room for giving to help student in accident.
Many kinds of medicine in there, like panadol for headaches, syrup, betadine for skin scratches, oil, and many more. If we are sick we have to take a rest and drink some medicine. We must be quiet in the nurse station because nurse station is a place for rest.
The worse thing that has been happen to the child is a broken arm. The disease that can easily recover is influenza.

By Naufal and Luthfan

LEARNING SUPPORT DEPARTMENT

It’s for children whose development has been delayed for many reasons to have intense individual instruction (means 1 teacher to 1 student).

The kinds of the teachers are university graduates who are specialized in child development and education. There are thirty one aide teachers that support the special needs student. So, the main teachers only help the special needs student in LSD, but the aide teachers always support the special needs student everywhere. LSD handles 53 special students. They are from year 1 to year 9. LSD handles special needs student. What kind of special student they are? They are: Dyslexic, ADA-attention deficit disorder, ADHD-attention deficit hyperactive disorder, Asbergs, autistic, and language delayed or developmentally delayed. That’s all about LSD!

By: Ica, Janno and Ilonka

SPORT FIELDS

Now friend we want to tell about sport. There are 15 sports teachers and there are so many sport fields in our school. I know some of sport fields. There are soccer, basket, badminton, swimming baseball. And our sport teacher is Mr. Rahmat. We need sport fields because they are for playing sport.

By Dimas and Rayhan

CLASSROOM

Friends, now we want to tell about classes in Madania School. In Classes there are 24 students. They are from Indonesia but in our class there is one student from Australia. Usually one class has 24 books in class as a mini library. There are two teachers in each class. One teaches in English for math, social, and science and the other teaches in Indonesian language for Indonesian language and Moral Values. The school has a special room for computers. The rule is no food, no drink, and no games, and use in-door voice. The class is 8m x 8m. There are about 46 resource books. There are display boards because people can see our work in special places.

By Alif and Radit

HEADMASTER

Hi friend! We want to tell you about our headmaster in MADANIA School, Indonesia. Every school has a headmaster to lead the day to day operation. I am sure your school does too.
Our headmaster observes teacher the way they teach, discuss with teacher, meeting, making plan, and train teacher.
What does the headmaster do by training teachers? They teach teachers some new knowledge and skills of teaching. In our school there are 4 (four) headmasters. They are Ms Warih for headmaster of grade 1-3, Mister Ricky for headmaster grade 4-6, Mister Teguh for headmaster of Junior high school, and Ms Andry for headmaster of Senior high school. That is our information about headmaster of. How’s your headmaster?

By: Chacha & Anin

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY

Hi! We want to tell you about our school library. In the library we have 10000 books. In the library we have 20 shelves and 2 teachers. The children can borrow one fiction, or non fiction book, and easy reading. We can read and borrow resources and a lot of news we can get. Every school needs a library because library is a center of information. In our library children like to borrow fiction or non fiction. The library has 12 rules. At our school we have 3 libraries. Sometimes the library at the school is used for extracurricular, like reading. We have 5 computers in the library, 4 display boards. It has internet-linked computers, magazines, and TV.

By Bagus and Kemal

MPH and KOPERASI

MPH means Multi Purpose Hall. MPH is for sport and performances.
There are 3 (three) sport teachers for grade 1 (one)-3 (three). There are so many kinds of sports we do at MPH. Example: Soccer, basketball, handball, and many more. Besides that, we can do performance, assembly, seminar, flag ceremony, bazaar, and many more. Assembly is something that we perform in front of our friends and teachers. Example: Dancing, singing, drama, and others.
We also have “OPEN HOUSE” every year at MPH.

We also have the place that called “KOPERASI” at our school. “KOPERASI” is a small market at our school. Our school’s KOPERASI sells food, snacks, and drinks. We have an idea to have KOPERASI because there are many teachers and students who want to buy some snacks besides they usually buy at the canteen. The snacks and foods become the favorite, the most is yoghurt.

By: Myra and Nadine

COMPUTER AND AV ROOM

In AV room students watch movies like scientific film, comedies, cartoon and many more. In Madania we have 4 AV rooms.
Besides that, the function of the AV room is to help the child and some times AV room is use for meeting of teachers.
In the building A the AV room only is used by the grade one and two.
We have 25 computers in the computer room. In here the teacher teaches in the computer room because students must learn how to operate computers for daily activities like typing, drawing, and many more.

By Yoshi and Jedaia

Pen Pals Project

2006-03-30T17:45:00.000+09:00

Having friends is so much fun. To have new friends from another country like America is really special.
Pen Pal Project Madania School-PM Akin Elementary, Texas USA
(the photo showing the students of Madania with their pen pals letters on display in background)

My students of grade 3 Madania Elementary School showed their excitement when I announced that I just got an email about an invitation from an Elementary school in Texas, USA to write letters to make friendship and get to know each other through a project “Penpals.” They were so enthusiastic to hear it that they wanted to begin writing immediately.
I continued communicating with Mrs. McMillen the teacher of grade 3 of PM Elementary about what and how to begin the correspondence between my students and hers. We agreed to match our students so that everyone would have a friend to share stories with. We sent short writing of students’ introduction through email each other several times but then developed it through something more interesting: mail students handwritten letters! It took quite a time to get settled with students’ letters. They would tell and describe about themselves: likes, favorites, hobbies, and families. Janet and I did a process of writing of what our student wanted to write. We taught them to plan their letter writing and asked them to make a draft. Then they began writing as they planned in their drafts with developing ideas of their own. I had my self help them with their English in editing process: the vocabulary, the spelling, and the English structure. After that, I asked to share what they had made with other students in a conference to require a few ideas and suggestions or comments. To finalize their writing, I had them publish their letters through a class presentation to hear their friends’ comments. At this stage, we got surprised that Mrs. McMillen students’ letters arrived in our class (mid Dec 2005). Very fast! My students could not wait anymore and asked me to distribute each letter to everyone’s pen pal. Everyone enjoyed reading their pen pal’s letter. They read not just once. Because they had to answer questions from their American friends, they had to modify their letters with answers for their friends. Not enough, I encouraged them to prepare presents for their friends as something to have and remember about this correspondence. They made pins, masks, bookmarks, decorated writing notes, and decorated hello cards. At last, all the letters were mailed!
I found enjoyment in class, especially in the process of learning the English language. Through this project, my students have developed their reading and writing skills. They have also learned to know a little culture of America during our talks and discussions about the country. They have been very curious about America and hoped someday they can fly there. I am proud, and proud of my students for their eagerness and achievement of completing the project.

Special thanks to:
« Jakarta US embassy
« IEARN
« P.M. Akin Elementary School (Mrs. Janet McMillen)
http://www.wylieisd.net/campus/akin/default.wspx

Here are comments from my students:
Before I had pen pal from Texas, I feel I want to have a friend from other country. When I had a pen pal named Libby, I was so happy because I had a friend from another country. I started to send letters for Libby. When I have another friend, from another country, I will ask then how is the place there? Or some other questions that I will ask. In the future I want to have more friends from another country.
Nadine

I start to learn pen pals when I am in grade 3, and we just do it. We have pen pals in Texas. I like to have many friends from the other county that I don’t know, like Texas. That is one country that I don’t know much, so I can contact my pen pals there and ask how is Texas. For the future I want to have more pen pals for my life, because maybe someday if I already grown up maybe I can see my pen pals. I like to have many friends from the other country. I just like something new about other country.
Chacha

I feel so happy to have a pen pal like Hansel. I learnd about his culture and personality, like hobby, favorite things and other things. And I also can get a new friend. In the future I wish I can meet or be pen pal with him again.
Damar

We are very interested in getting contact with any school globally for particular communication, sharing, or collaborative projects. Please feel free to contact me.

JALU AND 11 INDONESIAN SECONDARY EDUCATORS IN USA

2005-09-04T10:30:00.000+09:00

From June 9 to July 20, I was at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA USA to participate in the "2005 Study of the United State Institute for Secondary Educators." This summmer program was sponsored by the US Departement of State and aimed to promote mutual understanding between the two countries to get deeper understanding in goverment, education, and social-cultural perspectives. The program was a classroom discussion on American education and goverment. We visited to some schools in the district of Amherst to observe the process of learning-teaching and had some talks with the teachers and student. We also had a great tour to Cincinnati, Washington, and New York City. Professor Jeffrey Sedgwick, from UMass is our Academic Project Director and Dr. Michael Hannahan, is the Administrative Director of the Program. Photo: At the previuos WTC Towers (will soon be built Freedom Towers). Click http://photos.yahoo.com/jalueleven/ for more photos.

Learning from America

2005-08-05T18:14:00.000+09:00

Learning American Educational System.
American education is a complex topic because a single school can draw upon resources from several different public and private institutions. For example, a student may attend a private high school whose curriculum must meet standards set by the state, some of whose science courses may be financed by federal funds, and whose sports teams may play on local, publicly owned fields.

Despite this complexity, however, it is possible to describe the broad contours of American education.
more . . . http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/ch6.htm