purposes
The purpose of this practicum is for us to use and apply the pedagogical knowledge and the strategies we learned from our courses. This practice teaching enables us to develop our teaching strategies and skills inside our own classroom. This also helped us in developing our English language skill to be a globally competitive individual. This provides opportunity for us to learn not only about the teaching practicum but also the culture of another country which in our case was Indonesia. Through our pre-service teaching in different schools, we would be exposed to the real world of teaching, and it would equip us to conquer different challenges in the future.
procedures
-
First, during week one I observed 5 different classes where I will teach and assist the teacher in managing the class.
-
Second, I was asked to teach on my second week. The topic that was assigned to me was land transportation.
-
Third, over the weekend I made my instructional materials.
-
Fourth, I taught in five different classes to maximize my classroom management skills and for all the students to learn English as well.
-
Fifth, during Saturdays we went to the school to assist the teachers in handling the class in their extracurricular activities such as marching band.
-
Sixth, on Sundays we went to different places to travel or to experience new things.
outcomes
I realized a lot from this practicum that made me a better person. I was able to learn about the basics of the Indonesian language which helped me communicate with my students. I was able to adapt some practices and learned about a new culture that is different from what we have here in the Philippines. I was able to develop my resourcefulness, sense of responsibility, self-confidence and independence. I saw different kind of techniques, skills and strategies in teaching preschool students which helped me in handling my students. This practicum was a big help because I was able to apply and execute all the learnings I have in a real setting.
challenges
The biggest challenge I encountered during my practicum was the language barrier. Communicating and interacting with the people around you, especially with the children, is one of the fastest way to build a good rapport with them. Unfortunately, the people in our school wasn’t using English as their communicative language, they only know the basic words. But that didn’t stop me from teaching instead, I was motivated and inspired so what I did was to learn the basic Indonesian words, asked the translation to our buddies and sometimes used Google translator in order to understand them.
Being a preschool teacher, I need to be resourceful in terms of the materials that I will use in my lesson. With my experience in Bengkulu, the school supplies that they have there was limited so I improvised the materials they have there.
overall impression
This practicum was one of the best decisions I made in my life. I got to meet and know a lot of people who have good hearts and who helped me in my entire stay in Bengkulu, Indonesia. The days I spent with them was some of the happiest days of my life. They were so kind, generous, and loving. I learned new things that I will surely bring with me always. But the most important realization that I learned here was the love of the people to their own country. I was touched on how each of them showed their love to their own country, especially their love for their own language. English was only their foreign language, they make sure that the language they are fluent in is their own language. This is my role as a teacher, to instill this values to the students not only teach them about academics.
suggestions
TK Kemala Bhayangkari is providing students with all the learnings that they need to know, but the language that they are using is in Bahasa Indonesia. Although preserving their own language has been a huge part of their culture, I think that they could also open their doors for the English language.In the future, the school can accept teachers that can teach students in Bahasa Indonesia and English as well.​