Summary and Suggestions
Purposes of Practicum
This SEA Teacher Project, from the start is clear with its purpose -- to provide pre-service teachers like me with the opportunity to broaden my horizon and expand my pedagogical and cultural knowledge and awareness. I entered and tried my luck for this experience with a nervous heart, given that it would be my first time to be exposed to locals in a foreign country, leave my homeland, and be able to experience a different way of life, way of teaching, and language. Looking back, I believe that the aim of broadening my regional and global horizon as well as my pedagogical and cultural knowledge were indeed met.
By being in this project, I was able to test my creativity and flexibility as a teacher. There is an evident chalenge in teaching students while having a language barrier. So, I was forced to get out of my comfort zone and find ways to engage them and teach them the subject effectively. Moreover, this experience improved how I communicate with others, especially through my constant communication with my students and my cooperating teacher. This experience taught me that fostering a relationship is equally important as doing your job effectively. Because without a relationship, there would be no connection and a sense of familiarity of any sort that would make the students and the people around you detach and not give any care.
Procedures of Practicum
During my practicum is when I completely realized the importance of lesson planning. It really became my guide in the flow of my class and it helped me seamlessly transition from one point to another point. The lesson plan that I employed also helped me better with the inductive teaching method because usually, I do not introduce the tpic to the students. Instead, I give them some activities and examples, and I guide them through some questions to figure out what our topic is. This allows me to confirm that they understand what we are learning.
For example, in our lesson in identical verbs and nouns, I gave them an activity wherein they have to pick a word from the deck of cards that I have and they have to tell me the different ways in which a certain word can be pronounced. After which, I ask them where the higher tone is for each pronunciation, whether it is on the first or second syllable and I differentiate and clarify the stress by capitalizing the syllable that they have identified. Then, I ask them what the two pronunciations mean and what parts of speech are they. After getting the answers to my questions, I then ask them "What do you think is our lesson for today?"With this questioning, the students try to guess what our lesson is using our activity and examples as the bases.
Outcomes of Practicum
Seeing how my students participate well in class and are aways enthusiastic and have a lot of questions that they are never afraid to pose, I believe that my practicum had been a success. Every time that we finish a class, my students always say "thank you for teaching us, Miss" which warms my heart because it becomes some sort of validation that I was able o teach them and contribute to their betterment as students and as future professionals.
Challenges of Practicum
Of course, challenges are always a part of any journey. But what makes the journey fulfilling is the joy ofovercoming these challenges. Some of the challenges that I faced were:
1. The language barrier, especially in the regular class. It is a little bit difficult to try to explain with time efficiency to students in the beginner level. Usually, I would need the aid of their fellow classmate who can translate what I was saying and translate the students' response to me as well. If not for the time constraint, this difficulty would not be much on the heavy side.
2. The students' over enthusiasm. Yes, enthusiasm is a good thing, but too much enthusiasm would usually challenge my classroom management. I like that students are very eager to learn and participate, but with almost all of them trying to get their answers and ideas out there, sometimes, controlling the noise pollution is a little overwhelming.
Overall Impression
This program offers a unique space for us to celebrate the richness of our diverse backgrounds. While we come from different walks of life, our shared love for education unites us. Through this program, we enhance our teaching and learning skills, acquire valuable life experiences that inspire us, and have the privilege to embrace various cultures and individual uniqueness.
I want to express my sincere appreciation to the wonderful people of Indonesia for their kindness, approachability, and generous spirit. All of the people that I have met in a span of one month gave me nothing but good memories. I would also like to thank my Filipino SEA Teachers family (Team Filos) for all the support and companionship during this life's phase. Indeed, they became my family in this wonderful journey. Also, I would like to wholeheartedly thank my cooperating teacher, Ibu Juliantika for being very hands on and for checking up on me and my progress consistently. And of course, I am thankful to my students, who have made each day truly meaningful. As their teacher for a limited period of time, I await what lies for them in the future and I would celebrate with them with pride as to whatever accomplishments they would be able to attain.
I eagerly look forward to sharing a multitude of stories with my family, friends, and especially my peers. These anecdotes will serve as an inspiration, encouraging them to excel academically and partake in the extraordinary opportunity that is the SEAMEO Sea Teacher Program!
Suggestions for Future Improvement
The only suggestion that I would lay down here is for the international affairs office to communicate with the cooperating school about the academic and non-academic schedules. Yes, we were given a general schedule of activities and we already anticipated that we will be starting our observations and practicum in the first week of our stay. However, due to the mismatch of our schedule and the cooperating school's schedule, our observation which is supposedly for two meetings became just one, and our practicum started 2 weeks later, because we had to wait for the SMA Lab School's examination week and field trip week to be over, until we could start observing and teaching. That is my only suggestion -- clearer communication and scheduling.