SHARING

LESSON STUDY MAKES MY TEACHING PERFORMANCE BETTER
Last year during academic year 2008/2009 I joined a workshop what we called ‘lesson Study’. It was the first time I attended such meeting since I was a new English teacher in my school. The workshop was attended by English teachers from different junior high schools in the region. It took for about three months to complete the program with twelve times meeting and It was done every Tuesday from 8 A.M to 2 P.M. In the first day of the activity was a seminar attended by all subject teachers in the region with a keynote speaker came from the experts from our province. The seminar was talking about what is actually ‘Lesson Study’ and why we need to implement it in our teaching activity. It really gives me idea and opens my mind that teaching is not just teaching, teaching is something that should be well prepared, teaching is something that every student feels a joy learning, teaching would be great when we share materials what we are going to teach to our fellow teachers and that group teaching results much better than individual teaching (teaching alone).
The second meeting which was held on Tuesday, the following week, the English teachers gathered and were divided into groups based on what grade/year we teach. They are year 7, year 8, year 9 English teachers and conversation teachers. I was in year 8 English teacher group. We then discussed and decided the material going to be taught to the students. After that we started to make a syllabus and a lesson plan. We had a tight discussion and argument in how to manage the class and what steps of activities we were going to do. I feel that It was really a nice forum and for me myself it was really exciting. We can share our ideas and have a time to take from someone’s great ideas and give our ideas to compile a closely perfect lesson plan. This condition lasted up to the third meeting.
In the fourth meeting each group presented the lesson plan to other groups (peer teaching), there the group presenter received feedbacks and suggestions. It is a very important session since here we can make our lesson plan better. It can be better in the process of the teaching, the teaching instruments and the teaching aids. The following meeting we redesigned the lesson plan and as well as prepared everything we need to complete for micro teaching. The micro teaching was done in front of the students under the other fellow teachers’ observation.
The last activity of the workshop was doing ‘Open House’, teaching in real class and observed not only by the participants of the workshop but also observed by the experts, the university students and lectures, and all English teachers in the region. Here the best group was chosen by supervisors or coordinators of the workshop. It was really inspiring.

Name: Agus Nugroho Ponco Saputro
Job title and Institution: English Teacher at SMPN 1 Magelang (Magelang 1 State Junior High School) – Central Java – Indonesia.
Email address: karagus2@yahoo.com , aqielnugroho@hotmail.com
Telp : 085747002782 , fax (+62 293) 3216206

WRITING

Story writing - creative thinking
Submitted by swif on 21 October, 2009 - 07:20

Writing stories is an exciting and creative activity and yet students often seem resistant to undertaking this task. I think it is important to break the task down into small stages so students don’t get discouraged, and place emphasis on the creative part.

Preparation
This is the last line of our story;
‘They walked away sadly, promising never to return again’
Before class, think up several examples of who ‘they’ could be and from where they are walking. For example;
They: students Where: the last day of their language course in the UK
They: aliens Where: the Earth
They: football team Where: after a match
They: teenagers Where: a concert by their favourite band
They: friends Where: a party at another friend’s house

Procedure
• Giving the task purpose (this stage could be done in the students’ own language)
o Ask students what the purpose of writing a story is. Answer: to entertain
o Ask them for ways a writer can do this Possible answers: comedy, suspense, mystery, a twist, romance, a moral
• Brainstorming for ideas/ creating the plot of the story (I) As a class.
o Write the title of our story on the board. Ask students to think silently who ‘they’ might be and where they are leaving.
o If they find this difficult you could give them one of your ideas. Eg. They: students Where: the last day of their language course in another country
o Choose one of their suggestions and ask questions to get students developing the idea: Eg. Where did they go? Why were they so sad when they left? What things went wrong? Why will they never return?
o The aim is to get lots of different suggestions for each question to get students being as creative as possible.
• Brainstorming for ideas/ creating the plot of the story (II) In groups, with direction.
o Divide students into groups of 4 or 5.
o Each group chooses a different ‘they’ and ‘where’, either from earlier student suggestions or your ideas.
o Give them five minutes to come up with a story based on these. Encourage the groups to follow the same procedure as in step 2 and come up with lots of different stories before choosing their favourite.
o The aim is creativity and a chance for students to use their imaginations. The time limit is important to keep the activity moving.
• Whole class feedback
o Ask students to share their favourite stories with the class.
o Before this activity begins, tell them that they will need to choose which one of the other stories they like best and why - this will give students a good reason for listening.
• Extension

Take students back to the title you started with and discuss how many ideas came out of just one line. Of course, you could now ask them to write the story either in class or as homework, however, I would suggest leaving this activity at this point as the aim is to exercise students’ creative side. During the task the students will have had to use a wide range of vocabulary and I think this is challenge enough for any class.

Stuart Wiffin, Teacher, France
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/story-writing-creative-thinking

English for Grade 8(Exercise.2)

Read the text carefully and choose the best answer!

You can easily be accused of committing a tourism sin if you’re in Semarang and failed to visit the Ambarawa Railway Museum.
This museum is situated less than an hour’s drive from the capital of Central Java. During the Dutch colonial days, Ambarawa was a military zone and the railway station was used to transport troops to Semarang through Kedungjati. It is at 474m above sea level, giving you unpolluted fresh air to breathe.
The Ambarawa Railway Museum is well-maintained. It is a medium-sized building. The railway route is offered to visitors. You can enjoy the beautiful panorama during the route. All in all, this is a truly exciting treasure to visit.
(Source:Dit. PSMP, 2006)

1.What is the main idea of the above paragraph?
a.Semarang, a historical city
b.A military zone in Semarang
c.A tourism Sin
d.Ambarawa Railway Museum

2.How long does it take if you go by car from Semarang to Ambarawa Railway Museum?
a.two hours
b.one hour
c.not more than an hour
d.less than two hours

3.The following statements are correct, EXCEPT…
a.Ambarawa became a military zone during Dutch colonial
b.The railway is still used to transport troops to Semarang
c.The air is fresh and unpolluted
d.The visitors can enjoy the beautiful panorama by taking the railway route

4.Understand the second paragraph of the passage. What does the word “It” in the last sentence of the paragraph refer to?
a.The capital of Central Java
b.The museum
c.Semarang
d.Kedungjati


Iceland is a very unique island—in fact, it’s like nowhere else on earth. The interior of this island contains incredible contrasts. It has tundras, huge glaciers, volcanoes, and waterfalls. Swimsuit maker ‘Speedo’ sells a very large number of bathing suits in Iceland. The island’s climate is cool, but most people don’t pay money for heat.
Energy is very cheap and it doesn’t cause pollution, because they use geothermal heat from under the ground. They use water from volcanoes, hot springs and geysers. Icelanders eat fresh fruit and vegetables all year, but they rarely buy them from other countries. Icelanders like to play golf all night during the summer.
Notes on vocabulary:
geyser : a hot spring that shoots water into the air.
glacier: a large body of ice that moves slowly over land.
tundra : a large, flat area of frozen land without trees.

5.The purpose of the text is ….
a.to invite people to visit Iceland
b.to tell about the activities of Icelanders
c.to describe an Island, called Iceland
d.to describe about swimsuit maker

6.What do the Icelanders mostly eat everyday?
a.Fruit and vegetables that are bought from other countries.
b.Fruit only
c.Vegetables only
d.Fruit and vegetables from their own country.

7.The following statements are true according to the text, EXCEPT…
a.We cannot find an island like Iceland in other part of the world.
b.The island of Iceland has very great contrasts.
c.The Icelanders get the heat from tundras.
d.The Icelanders get heat from volcanoes.


Cairo is the largest city in Egypt. Here you can always roll back the centuries. Modern Cairo has tall buildings and broad streets equal to any in the capitals of Europe or Australia. From the top floors of impressive blocks of flats, you can gaze at magnificent views across the river Nile.
However behind the modern buildings are narrow alleys where there is no sound of traffic. The only sounds that come to your ears are the calls of the stall-holders. Water sellers and herdsmen wander through the streets as their forefathers did thousands of years ago. Many of the poorer people still dress in the same way as their ancestors.

8.In which country is Cairo situated?
a.Egypt
b.Australia
c.In the capital of Europe
d.Behind the modern buildings

9.From where is the best place to absorb the views of the Nile?
a.the streets
b.the river
c.the top floors of flats
d.behind the buildings

10.“you can gaze at magnificent views across the river Nile.” The underlined words means…..
a.to look at something for a long time
b.to go
c.to guess
d.to get gasoline