Today's Joke

 by Aziza Restu Febrianto

1. Teacher: Bob, give me a sentence containing the word “gruesome!”

Bob: Uh…… er…. I didn’t shave for a week and grew some whiskers.

2. Teacher: Barbara, what is “can’t” short for?

Barbara: Cannot

Teacher: And what is “don’t” short for?

Barbara: Doughnut, sir.

Teacher: Lina, I told you to draw a cow eating grass, but you have drawn only a cow.

Lina: yes, sir. The cow is very hungry. Everytime I finished drawing the grass, the cow ate it!

How Should Teachers Use Their Voices in Class?

http://black-choise.blogspot.com

written by Aziza Restu Febrianto

It is important for teachers to know how they speak to their students. How we speak and what our sounds like have a crucial impact on them. There are three (3) things to consider when we want to have good and effective teachings based on the use of our voices in class;

1. Audibility

Absolutely, all teachers need to be audible. They have to ensure that all the students in the classroom can hear them. The students at the back side can hear clearly their explanation as well as those at the front. However, it doesn’t mean that teachers always shout while teaching. Inappropriate shouting is unpleasant. So, it is concluded that teachers do not have to shout to be audible. In most classrooms, too loud voice also has bad impacts for the students. Good teachers always try to make it balanced between audibility and volume well. They know when they have to speak louder according to the situation and materials given.

2.  Variety

It is very urgent for teachers to vary the quality of their voices and the volume they speak at depending on the type of lesson and activity. Meaning that the voice we use in giving instructions is quite different from the voice used in conversation or sharing views and information.

In a particular situation, teachers often use very loud voices especially when they want their students to be quiet or stop doing something. However, it becomes more effective for them to speak more quietly to getting the students’ attention when they realize that what we are saying is important and interesting. Hence, as good teachers, it is very important for us to have a skill on how to use our voices in appropriate situations to easily manage and control the class effectively.

3. Conservation

Teachers have to take great care of their voices. They know how to vary their voices appropriately. So that they try to avoid shouting as best as possible in order not to strain their throat and waste lots of energy. As a result, teachers always look fresh and energetic facing the class.  

Let’s move on then…..!

Teaching Narrative through Individuals’ roles

 writen by Aziza Restu Febrianto

Creating some variations in teaching is very important for teachers to do to avoid student boredom on the materials given in class. The usual method used in teaching is virtually one of the reasons which makes them bored. But just few teachers realize that. In teaching narrative text, the teachers can probably create other interesting circumstances in order the students may feel different way of learning. Using role play in a drama show can be a possible method in teaching this such writing. To implement this, they may consider the following sample:

LESSON PLAN

Level                       : Junior High School Level (for Indonesian Students)

Materials                : Narrative Text

The purpose            : to amuse, entertain and to deal with actual various experience in different ways.

Language Features :

Wanna be a real teacher? Think about these questions before the decision!

http://pixabay.com

Written by Aziza Restu Febrianto

Becoming a teacher is actually not easy as what people think. Knowledge and willingness are the only things required in teaching. Teacher candidates or those who want to take part to be a teacher need some qualifications to fill. Probably they need to consider these following questions first.

Some questions to think about:

1. Do you have high expectations for yourself and the students around you?
2. Do you like kids all the time?
3. Can you communicate with parents?

How Should a Teacher Manage The Class?

Written by Aziza Restu Febriantp

One of the problems that generally teachers face in teaching in a classroom is how to manage the class and control their students. Many teachers use inappropriate ways such as snapping at the students when they are too noisy and bothering the lesson. Or even they sometimes give hard punishments for the students who are not following their instructions. Therefore, being a good teacher, you are actually not only knowledgeable in the subject you are handling, but you also need to know how to control a class and to maintain discipline for the students. The following management skills need to be considered to be a professional teacher. 

1. Authority
   The teachers’ performance determines the teaching success by attracting the students to pay more attention to the lesson given. However, it is not good for them to get the students’ attention by making them laugh, snigger, and giggle because they look frumpy and dressed badly. In order to get a serious response from your class, you need to have a positive and authoritative manner about yourself. As you are sure of yourself to look presentable, it is easy to show our authority just by the way you look.

Today's Joke

by Aziza Restu Febrianto

Teacher : Tony, you are late again.

Tony      : Sorry, sir. It’s my bus. It’s always coming late.

Teacher  : Well, if it’s late again tomorrow, catch an earlier one.

Tony      : If it’s the bus which is late, why don’t you ask my father to drive the earlier bus?

Teacher : Does your father have something to do with your coming late?

Tony     : Good question, sir. My father is the driver of the bus that is always coming late. And his is the only bus that I don’t need to pay a ticket.

How Should Teachers Talk to Their Students?

 Written by Aziza Restu Febrianto

The way that teachers talk to students is the manner in which they interact with them. It is the one of the urgent teacher skills, but it does not demand technical expertise. However, it requires teachers to empathize with the people they are talking to.

• It seems to be fairly natural to adapt the way how parents talk to their young children.

Today's Joke

Hilarious Teacher and Student
by Aziza Restu Febrianto

Teacher : Jane, can you tell me something of importance that didn’t exist one hundred years ago?

Jane      : why only something, sir? I can name more than one thing that didn’t exist one hundred years ago.

Teacher : that’s wonderful. What are they?

Jane      : you and your wife.

How to be a good teacher

Written by Aziza Restu Febrianto

 

What makes a good teacher?

In an attempt to find out what we all think about teachers and teaching I recently asked a various people the question, “What makes a good a teacher?” I was especially interested to see what their instant response would be that might throw some light upon deeply-held beliefs about this fundamental part of human experience.

Many different people were asked the question, almost always with a tape machine there to record their answers. There were teachers of English in the UK, in Spain, and from Finland. Some of the respondents were teacher trainers and methodologists. I interviewed students of different nationalities studying at private language schools in Britain, and secondary school students studying at a Cambridge comprehensive school.

The following answers are representative of the many that were given.

Teaching Entrepreneurship Through English in School

*Aziza Restu Febrianto

It seems impossible to talk about entrepreneurship in school. Up to now, entrepreneurship is still considered a career for those who have problems with their formal education. Most successful entrepreneurs who focus on their careers consider that formal education is not the only factor that leads them to success. Bill Gates, a Microsoft founder drops out from his formal education, at Harvard University to focus on the project and computer software business. He got his Bachelor's degree when he was 40 years old and often goes to work without a jacket, much less a tie, and lives outside Seattle in a $30 million mansion. The other successful entrepreneurs are Japanese businessmen such as Soichiro Honda, the founder of the car company of the same name, and Akio Morita, the driving force behind the success of Sony. Konosuke Matsushita, who started a workshop with his wife grew into the world’s leading maker of consumer electronics.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur is very necessary. By becoming an entrepreneur, we could possibly be independent and promote independent economic development for people. The country's economy grows up quite faster and people become welfare. Nevertheless, success in formal education should not be forgotten. We should pay more attention to our education while focusing on the business. Unfortunately, the education system in our country doesn’t support this sort of view. Entrepreneurship is not yet included in the teaching and learning programs in school. In addition, the students are never taught about how to become a success in business and self-economic independence in the future.

Involuntarily, school students are led to be employed by companies after they graduate. And ironically, most of these companies are owned by those who do not have better formal education as the employers do. Concerning this phenomenon, professional education experts, deputies of the education department, and teachers are expectedly to consider some steps or strategies they probably take to promote entrepreneurship and people self economic independence. One of the prominent steps to realize this is including and implementing entrepreneurship education in schools. Teachers have an important role to give some lessons and practice to the students about entrepreneurship when the curriculum system doesn’t still have something to do with it. They can probably find some innovative ways how to encourage the students to become creative to develop their businesses.

English is considered one of the most important subjects that students have to master. Nowadays, English is used as an international language in which most people in the world use it for their global communication. However, the curriculum doesn’t give the possibility for teachers to teach English subjects effectively in school. Most English teachers do not understand how to create a good circumstance that motivates the students to get fun and satisfaction while learning English in class. Therefore, there should be a new alternative method for solving this problem. Naturally, most people especially students like business because they could earn money with it. Getting money can be such reinforcement for the students while learning in school. And exactly, English can possibly become a business medium to develop the students’ entrepreneurship skills. “English for Business Purposes.”

There are lots of advantages taken from English to develop business. First, since the business objects are Indonesian people, sometimes they find English difficult to learn independently. They must need a guide or a course to learn it faster and more effectively. They also suppose that Learning English should be done as early as possible. As a result, they often ask their children to learn it since they are still kids. Here, the English teachers could encourage their students to hold a profitable English course, English conversation club, or something for children. The students can be the instructors to guide them in learning this foreign language. Second, in our lives, we are often expected to understand many various English readings or information to get global views of the world. And of course, those who haven’t learned English find it so difficult. 

The students must then need an English expert to help them translate the English written information they are reading. In this case, they  can be encouraged to make an English translator team. They will always get translation jobs and gain some money. Third, conducting an English culture exhibition and bazaar is also possible for the students to develop their skills in business and creativity. In the English Cultures  Exhibition, they could possibly perform their English skills creatively such as writing and reading poets, making an English Magazine wall, performing English drama and arts, etc. Those activities will result in several various creations that can be sold and exhibited at very expensive prices.

Some alternatives above are actually an explanation of what English and teaching and learning can do to develop the Entrepreneurship skill of the students in school while this skill is never implemented in most formal educations nowadays.