Valentine’s Day & Farewell Party

        February 14, 2019, was a happy and a sad day of my life. I celebrated Valentine’s day for the first time of my life but I would say goodbye to my beloved TTIs and students for the first time too. It was a celebration of Valentine’s Day and a farewell party from MMSU LES to student teachers fro SEA-Teacher Batch 7. A day before Valentine’s Day, I bought some candies and tied each candy with ribbon. I would give them to my students on Valentine’s Day. I could not give any special things since I did not expected that Valentine’s Day would be celebrated here. I also prepared some gifts with my partner, Ninda, to our beloved TTI, Ma’am Lis.

            I dressed up in pink on that day since I did not understand much how to celebrate Valentine’s Day and so did my girl friends. They also dressed up in pink. We walked together to the school. Each grade had preapared their dancing performances for Valentine’s day. I cried suddenly seeing the students’ performances and realized that I would not see them anymore. I cried louder when grade 4 was singing “Terima Kasih Guruku”. The song means a lot from students to their beloved teachers, and the song means a lot for the teachers too. That was why I cried a lot on that day.

            As the event ended, we started to give gifts each other. I got many Valentine’s gifts. Even it was just a small thing like a hand-writing letter, it means a lot for me. It such a hardest thing to say goodbye to all of my new family in MMSU LES. But life must go on. Every beginning has its end. Goodbye my beloved tutors, especially Ma'am Lis. Goodbye my beloved students, especially grade 5. Goodbye MMSU...

My Beloved TTI, Ma'am Lis

My new families in MMSU LES

My beloved grade 5

Sweet gifts and remembrances from my students

           

International Student's Day

                It was January 30, 2019, when the International Student’s Day was held. But before that day, we had informed by our coordinator, Kuya Mee Jay, that we would perform our cultural performance. Since this would be a great opportunity for us to introduce Indonesian’s culture in foreign country, we had well-prepared all of the things.

            Less than a week before the day, we discussed about what would we perform since we came from different provinces and of course with different cultures too. After having a long discussion, we decided to perform three kinds of Indonesian’s cultures, they were Pencak Silat, Bali Dance, and Indonesian regional songs (Manuk Dadali, Ampar-Ampar Pisang, and Suwe Ora Jamu). Pencak Silat would be performed by Evan, Bali Dance would be perfomed by Nova, and the rests would be performing the Indonesian regional songs. While Ali would be playing flute (suling) and Yeyen would be playing guitar. Me and Komang would be the Masters of Ceremony of our performance. At the end of the performance, we also had prepared a special performance for all of Filipinos. We would be singing a song from the Philippines with the title “Buwan”.

            I felt so nervous on that day eventhough I did not perform any performance with my friends. But I was afraid that the audience would not enjoy our performance. But it was not what I expected before. They all enjoyed our performance, especially when we sang Buwan song because it was one of hit songs in the Philippines. We sang together and invited some audience to join us singing. We were so happy to see their enthusiasm in welcoming our cultures and appreciating us as their new friends.

Taking picture with President od MMSU

Going to Dingras: Plant and Harvest!

               On January 25, 2019, went to Dingras, another city of Ilocos Norte, to attend the launching of MMSU Dingras as Kalacuchi Campus.We were assigned to be ready at 07.00 a.m before the bus picked us up and we were suggested to use sport outfit. After having breakfast, we went together to the MMSU gate to wait the bus. While waiting for the bus, we took some pictures in front of the gate written “MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY”.

Taking picture in front MMSU gate

            Finally we were picked up by the bus. It took 30-45 minutes to Dingras. I could feel the fresh air of Dingras because was a highland area. According to what I saw along the road, Dingras was sorrounded by agricultural fields such as fields of rice, corn, onions, pumpkins, white squash, leeks, watermmelons, mustard green, and long beans because I was slept during the road beacuse I can sleep easily anytime and anywhere.We were welcomed when we arrived at Dingras. As we arrived, we registered our names at the registration table. We met special guests from Japan, Taiwan, and the USA. We were given program and activities of launching of MMSU Dingras as Kalacuchi Campus. 

     It was my first time to harvest direct from the field. It was fun to plant Kalacuchi flower and to harvest field corps with the president, and special guests from Japan, Taiwan, and the USA. We harvested pumkins, white squash, leeks, watermelons, mustard green, and long beans. We were allowed to bring home our harvest crops. We were so happy since we did not have many food supplies, and we had a lot of vegetables with us.

            We met Mr. Matthew from the USA. He was one of lectures exchange. He was very nice and have the same sense of humor like us. We harvested the plants together and talked many things with him during field visit and harvesting. We also took some picture with him. He asked all of our names and tried to remember them. He was so funny.

            

           

            

           

Exploring Foods at MMSU Food Trade 

          We went to the MMSU trade fair almost everyday because we were curious to taste the Philippines steet foodsnot. It was nit far from the mansion. We usually went to the trade fair at evening by walking. We walked around the trade fair while choosing what foods would we buy. We choosed the foods carefully and asked the seller what was the food made from since we can not eat non-halal food. I bought Takoyaki for 20 peso and a glass of Lemonade. The rest of us bought Shawarma Hamburger “buy one take oone” for 50 peso. How cheap these street foods are! The foods were also tasty. The seller was also so funny. We learned some of the Philippines words from him and he also learned some Indonesian words from us.

            On Friday night, we were asked by Mr. Matthew and Miss Carla to go to the trade fair. They wanted to see the students’ performance on the trade fair so they asked us to join them. We bought some foods and drinks before watching the performance. We enjoyed the performance. Because it was already praying time, we went back to the mansion and said goodbye to Mr. Matthew and Miss Carla since they still wanted to enjoy more performance.

            On the way back to the mansion, we had just realized that there were no boys accompany us. We supposed to be accompanied by the boys because it was night and dark. Some of use were scary included me since we had been told some horror stories around us. I asked them to play shalawat songs to ease our fears. We held hands each others and started to talk anything. Fortunately, we arrived safely at the mansion.

Takoyaki

Takoyaki in the making!

Food trade squad

First Time to Come to MMSU LES: Good morning, Teacher!

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            This is our third day in the Philippines and we started to do “The Real Agenda” of Teacher Training, that was visiting the receiving schools for the first time. On the night before, we were informed that Ma’am Jeanette and Ma’am Luis would see us at 9 a.m and send us to the schools. Before going to the schools, we were sepatared into two groups which a group belonged to teach primary school and another one to teach secondary school. Me and Salsa preferred to teach primary school as English for the subject of teaching. 

          We went to school with Ma’am Luis, whereas the other group went to school with Ma’am Janette. I was so nervous to come to the school since I did not had much experience in teaching elementary students. I was afraid the children would ignore me and could not accept me as their student teacher that would teach them even in a very short time. I encouraged myself to be brave to face this and thought that this was my chance so I have to do my best.

Going to school with Ma'am Estrella Luis

            When we arrived at the school, we were starred by everyone. I felt like I was an odd strangers to them. I just looked, smiled, and greeted to everyone of them. They smiled and did the same things too. So did the students. They came to us, waved, and started to make conversation with us by asking name, origin, what subject to teach and what class would we teach. I did not expected the enthusiasm of Filipinos to the foreigners like this, so my nervousness was slowly gone.

            We were divided into groups according to the subject and what level to teach. Each group had its own TTI (Teacher Training and Instructor) or mentor and the buddies. Me and Ninda were in a same group whose the TTI was Ma’am Philistia Mercuria P. Bagayas or Ma’am Lis. Mam Lis also introduced the buddies to us who were also having their teaching practice at the school. They were Ariel, Hazel, Jea, Hanzley, Frayle, and Haivy. Our mentor and buddies were so lovely. We were well-welcomed by the school.

            Our first meeting started with talking about the school’s schedule and the regularities of the school. Some of points noted from the first meeting were:

·         Student teacher would do the observation from February 29th – February 31st.

·         Student teacher would do the teaching practice and teaching assistant from February 6th – February 14th.

•          There would be Valentine’s Day on February 14th, so there would be no learning activities on that day.
•          School would start at 07.30 a.m. on Monday and Friday because there would be flag ceremony on Monday and flag retreat on Friday.
•          Every subject only has one hour of learning time.
•          The rest of the day would start at 08.00. therefore, we had to come beofre the time.
•        The break time would start at 11.00 a.m until 01.00 p.m. Since we did not have a place to pray and we could not bring our lunch to the school, we were allowed to go home at 11.00 a.m. and go back before 01.00 p.m.
•     I was given the opportunity to teach English for grade 5. Ninda was given the opportunity to teach Mathematics for grade 5
•      We would be given some examples of lesson plans and topics of teaching.

            When the meeting was over, Ma’am Lis offered us to come and see her class. While I was walking to the class, I looked some aspects around the school. The school just had four classes from grade 3, 4, 5, and 6. Each class was mentioned as groups of the best students. the rest classes were in Laoag City. The school had 1 office, 1 comfort room, 1 library, 4 classes,and 1 canteen. The shool was very clean.

             We were invited to Mathematic 4 and Mathematic 5. The class started at 10.00 a.m and 01.00 p.m. according to what I had been observed, the systemathic of teaching of both class  were similar. Ma’am Lis sit at the back teacher’s table and the teacher was the student teacher. The class started when the student teacher greeted the students and the students responded it back. It was reviewing class from the previous meeting. The learning activities were well-structured. The students were very active to volunteer. They did not hesitate of making mistakes. The whole learning activities even the books were using English. They were clever than I expected. The student teacher established a good learning situation. Because it was a reviewing lesson, the student teacher activated the students’ memories about the previous lesson. The student teacher always asked the students participation to contribute the learning activities such as asking the students to solve the math problems. During the lesson, Ma’am Lis always helped the student teacher when she have problems in delivering the lesson. The student teacher made the students into groups and gave them group work with some cases to solve for 10 minutes. After they finished their work, it was submitted to the student teacher. And then they were given individual sheet work at the end of the lesson for 10 minutes. According to some aspects that had been observed, the tacher not only make the students learning by themselves, but also learning when they were in groups. The teacher also used the strategy to activate students during the lesson so they can process the knowledge for longterm memory.

Math 4 Class

Math 5 Class

            Both class condition were good enough for the students to establish good situation during the lesson. Each class had 4 fans,  stand fan, 1 board, 1 air conditioner, decorating pictures, 4 windows, 2 doors, 2 mirrors, 2 teacher tables, 1 infocus, and book shelves. The students sit in pairs and the class was attended by 26 – 30 students.  The school residents wore casual outfits on Wednesday only. That was why the students wore casual outfits today.

            After the class ended, me and Ninda were invited to come to small welcoming party made by Ma’am Lis and the buddies. We were having good conversation and good meals. They bought cokes and snacks for us. We were also having “languange exchange” during our conversation. Ma’am Lis also gave her comments and suggestion on the student teachers’ performance today. It was so fun to have nice mentor, buddies, and students like them. I hoped everything would be fine because we were well-handed by them.

 

Small welcoming party with my TTI and buddies

Attending 41st MMSU Foundation Annivesary

            I woke up earlier than two of my roomates and got ready. After finishng everything, I had breakfast with my home-made “gulai” from Indonesia. They were made by my mom. Everyone also had their breakfast. After having breakfast, we walked together to Iloca Teatro to attend the event of MMSU. I could feel the air of the Philippines. It was so fresh! I even never feel the wind like this in Indonesia. I do not often walk to some places, but going to MMSU by walking did not make me sweating. I thought I would be healthier to live here.

            We arrived at the Ilocano Teatro and sit together in two lines of 16 student teacher from Indonesia. Some of us wore batik and Filipinos were amazed and praised our batik costume. They also use their traditional clother of the Philippines. They were so beatiful in their costume. So did the President of MMSU. She always beautiful.

Attending 41st MMSU Foundation Anniversary and wearring Indonesian batik

            The event started at 09.00 a.m. The eveny of MMSU was the 41st Foundation Anniversary of MMSU with the theme: Globalizing to ACHIEVE. 7 point agenda of MMSU was “ACHIEVE”: A= Academic Exceleence; C= Creative, Relevant, and Innovative Research Programs; H= High Impact and Transformative Extension and Outreach Programs; I= Improved Revenue Generation and Resource Management; E= Expanded and Strengthened External Linkages and Partnerships; V= Vibrant and Engaging, Culturally-Focused University Campus, and; E= Effective and Efficient Management. The first session of the event was the PRAISE Awarding Ceremony. These awards were awarded to those who had high achievements and were dedicated to the MMSU.

Vision, Mission, and 7-Point Gaenda of MMSU

            It was a break time for the session one and would begin again at 2 p.m for the next session. We went back to the mansion and had lunch together. After having lunch, I prayed then did my laundry. We got ready again before going back to the Iloca Teatro.

            After arriving at the Iloca Teatro, I saw the guests had changed their costume into more informal or more casual and so did the presiident of the MMSU. When it was a snack time, we were given a snack like meat sandwiches and some of us were already hold it in their hand. Suddenly, a man behind us who had already ate his snack told us that the snack contained pork so it was not halal. Fortunately, they had not ate it yet so they gave it back to the ladies who distribute the snack to the guests. We were only given mineral water then. A moment later, someone came to us and gave us a cupcake for each since we had not ate anything at snack time and said that the snack was halal. We thanked the man so much because he understood us very well that we can not eat non-halal food. The cupcake so delicious also and even my friends wanted to have more.

            The second session started at 2 p.m and the president delivered her speech to the audience. This session also presented some beautiful performance of the Philippines. Three traditional dances and a singing performance from the 1st runner up singer at Coaches Got Talent comepetition named James G. Ventura III, performed their performances beautifully.

            We were so happy and took some pictures in front of Iloca Teatro before going back o the mansion. I have not seen any event like this. An event like big awards to those dedicated people of a university. Their event were also well-prepared and seemed perfect just like international awards. I hope my school would have this awarding event too.

           

First Time Visiting Mariano Marcos State University

            After having breakfast, we were picked up by MMSU buses. We were taken to MMSU administration office. We were warmly-welcomed by all of MMSU people. We also met the president and the vice president of MMSU. We had welcoming ceremony on our first day. Everyone greeted and smiled at us. They all were so warm-hearted. After having good welcoming ceremony, we were invited to the president’s room and took some pictures. She was so beautiful and warm-hearted. She loved to smile to everyone.

Welcoming ceremony from MMSU

Visiting President office

            After having quick visit to MMSU administration office, we went back to the bus to attend orientation at Laoag City. It took 45 minutes from Batac City to Laoag City by bus. During the way from Batac city to Laoag City, we passed some historical places and a lake named Paoay Lake. We also passed large “multifunction” field. Because the field can be used to plant rice, corn, and garlic depend on the season. It was so fun having a quite long road but we could see those beautiful views.

            We had orientation after arriving at MMSU campus at Laoag city at Center of Teaching Excellent building. We were presented two Indonesian traditional dances and an Indonesian regional song. We were so amazed because they done it very well.

            After had the first session, we had snack time and then continue it to the second session. We were intorduced the Philipppines’ phylosophy, the history of colonialism of the Phillipines, and we were also introduced with some Ilocos Norte’s language. I found iy easy to learn Tagalog and Ilocanos language because it still uses latin letters. We sang the Philippines community song together and tried the song with body gestures.

            After having fun orientation, we had lunch. They served all halal food because they knew that we do not eat prok and other non-halal foods. When it was already pray time, we were allowed to pray together at the office. Then after that, we went back to the bus to go back at Batac City. Before going to the bus, we passed MMSU College of Student Teacher and took some picture together with the student teachers there.

Having Philippines luch in MMSU orientation event

MMSU Cllege of Teacher Education

            We went back to Batac City by bus but during the road, we were showed places where we can buy things like malls, supermarkets, markets, and other places. We were also brought to buy Philippines SIM-Card because some of us still had not inform their family yet since they arrived at the Phillipines. We bought “Globe” SIM-Card for 40 peso but we had to load it for internet data and it costed 599 peso since the mansion’s wifi was still not available. Then we ha quick walk to see around the MMSU festival stands.

            We went back to the mansion and got rest. For the dinner, we decided to cook instant noodle which we brought from Indonesia and sit together in a big circle. We also discussed and shared about our first day. Then we went sleep because there would be 41st Anniversary of MMSU tomorrow and we were invited to come so we had to wake up earlier tomorrow.

            It was an memorable day since I arrived at Batac City of the Philippines. The Filipinos were very nice. They loved to greet and smiled at us. They did not hesitate to ask us everything about us since our appearence as Moselims were different with them but we answered and explain to them happily. They were understand that there are some foods that we can not eat. They also laernt and spoke some Indonesian words well to us. What a good day! I hoped that tomorrow until our 30 days stay would be more interesting than today.

            

Mabuhay Indonesians!!!

            It was 10 minutes before 00.00 on Sunday, January 20, 2019. Finally, safely touched down in Batac City of Ilocos Norte! Since we were the last who arrived at the mansion (our house for one month), so we did not meet the other participants of SEA-Teacher Batch 7 since they had been in their bedroom. Before going to bedroom, Mr. Mee Jay A. Domingo as our coordinator in here, offered us to have dinner first since we looked tired. just before I was offered to eat Philippines Food. Naimas!

Philippines breakfast

            Because we had been scheduled to attend the flag ceremony in Batac City campus in MMSU on 08.00 a.m, we had to be ready at 7.40 a.m. When I went out from by room. I saw everyone was the dining table while eating their breafast. I saw 9 different colors of jacket including me. They were they are Ninda and Septi from UHAMKA, Eka and Nova from UNPAK, Diyah and Ali from UNS, Yeyen and Komang from UNDIKSHA, Dhita and Masdiah from ULM, Evan and Nizza from UPI, Eka from UNLAM, and Kisna from UNJA. We greeted each other, talked each other, asked names and origins. They were so lovely! I was so happy to find good people to live together in one month.

Having breakfast together with Indonesians

            After having Philippines breakfast together for the first time, we took some picture together in the living room, and of course, Mr. Mee Jay joined us. He wanted to be called “Daddy”. So right on that day, 16 of us were Daddy Mee Jay’s children :D. Alright, now we were in a happy family. :D

First complete squad photo

Finding Treasure Overseas is Began!

                       It was time to I start my “real journey” to go overseas.  Everything had been finished 2 weeks ago before leaving. My friends said that I am a  girl who seems to bring everything everywhere, and just before the day of my flight, I realized that I am really that kind of girl. I got 19 kilograms of luggage with me.

            My flight was scheduled at 09.55 on Saturday, January 19, 2019. I was accompanied by my father, my mother, and my grandmother. We went to the Fatmawati Soekarno Putri which is located at Padang Kemiling street, 15 minutes from my house. Before going to the airport we went to my brother’s grave to say goodbye. I felt so sad because he used to be the one who went to another city since he liked to join students program. I even never imagined that I was selected to be one of representation from my university to join SEA-Teacher Batch 7. He is my inspiration.

            As we arrived at the airport, my partner from the same university and major from Bengkulu University for SEA-Teacher program, Salsabila Trita Kurnia. After taking photos, we waved them goodbye. Sadness could not be handled and tears went down from my eyes.

            It was my first time to go overseas. I was afraid but I excited. What would my life be there? What foods would I eat there? Could I survive there? Would people be nice to me? And the most repeated question is: Would I save or waste peso there? I also felt not ready because it would tke 3 days of trip since we have to take plane from Bengkulu-Jakarta, and two more planes from Jakarta-Philippines but had to transit first to Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, we had to take bus from Manila to Ilocos Norte. What a long journey. Is it what we call “MY TRIP, MY ADVENTURE”?

           

 6 .      Summary and Suggestions

6.1  Purposes of Practicum

Purposes of this exchange programe practicum are :

1.   To enable pre-service student teachers to develop their teaching skills and pedagogy.

2.   To encourage the pre-service student teachers  to practice their English skills.

3.   To allow the pre-service student teachers to gain a broader regional and world wide view.

6.2  Procedures of Practicum

Ma’am Estrella Luis divided 8 of us into 5 group which each group has it own TTI. Me and Ninda’s TTI was Ma’am Philistia Mercuria P. Bagayas or Ma’am Lis. She introduced me to other student teachers who would be our buddies during our internship. She invited me to observe her class which was handled by the other student teacher. Ma’am Lis is an English and a Mathematic teacher. She teaches each subject three times a week.

                Our first meeting started with talking about the school’s schedule and the regularities of the school. Some of points noted from the first meeting were:

·         Student teacher would do the observation from February 29th – February 31st.

·         Student teacher would do the teaching practice and teaching assistant from February 6th – February 14th.

·         There would be Valentine’s Day on February 14th, so there would be no learning activities on that day.

·         School would start at 07.30 a.m. on Monday and Friday because there would be flag ceremony on Monday and flag retreat on Friday.

·         Every subject only has one hour of learning time.

·         The rest of the day would start at 08.00. therefore, we had to come beofre the time.

·         The break time would start at 11.00 a.m until 01.00 p.m. Since we did not have a place to pray and we could not bring our lunch to the school, we were allowed to go home at 11.00 a.m. and go back before 01.00 p.m.

·         I was given the opportunity to teach English for grade 5. Ninda was given the opportunity to teach Mathematics for grade 5.

·         We would be given some examples of lesson plans and topics of teaching

6.3  Outcomes of Practicum                                          

            Before teaching in MMSU LES, I felt not confidence since I did not have experience in teaching elementary students. I was afraid that the students would ignore me as their teacher because I would not be long to teach there. My TTI always gave me motivation, suggestion and evaluation, so that I can improve my self in teaching.

            After having teaching practice in MMSU LES, I found it was interesting to teach elementar school since the student understood me well. I learned from my TTI that teacher do not need to know everything, do not afraid of making mistake, do not be ashamed can not speak in English fluently. I got much valuable knowledge and many unforgotable expreiences and moments.

6.4  The Challanges of Practicum

            I found some challenges in teaching. First, the differences of language and mother tongue between me and the students. They have their own accent of English so sometimes me or the students could not get what we were talking about. Some of the students are using English in their home so that they speak English more fluent than the other students and they can not speak Ilocano or Tagalog as well as the other students.

                The next challenge was I had to teach within 60 minutes. The time was really short for me. But it was a challenge for me to manage my time n classroom.

                The participation of the students was a challenge for me since almost 80% of the student were very active. The challenge was the students shoul be wisely-choosed when they wanted to ask, answer, volunteer, or explain something.

6.5  Overall Impression

            After passing all of steps, I felt so happy. I felt so happy because I was selected to be one of representations from Bengkulu for SEA-Teacher Bacth 7. I felt so happy to be welcomed, serviced, accomodated, and invited to many events by Mariano Marcos State University. I felt so happy to be assigned at MMSU LES and to be one of teacher of grade 5. This is the most extraordinary exprience I have ever had.

6.6  Suggestion and Future Improvement

            I do not have many suggestions for the school, because the school is already well-facilitated and well-structured so that the learning process and delivery of the lesson can be conducted and handled in the best way. But in my opinion, one of the facilities like comfort room need to be improved so the students, the teachers or even visitors will be comfortable when they are using the comfort room.