About SMA YP UNILA

Hello again, it has been about a month since I last posted, and I just want to put this here. This is all about SMA YP UNILA. By the way, SMA means Senior High School, YP means foundation, and UNILA stands for Universitas Lampung. Yes, the school is related to my host university.

SMA YP UNILA's Headmaster is Pak Berchah Pitoewas. I met him on the day of our orientation at UNILA. He's a very generous and kind man.

Me with Pak Pitoewas and Raku, a Japanese teacher assistant also assigned in SMA YP UNILA but under a different program.

I asked for a copy of their curriculum and I was given their Dokumen Satu ( Document no. 1) which was this thick.

It was all in Indonesian, which I could partly understand. 

This is the Daftar Isi, or Table of Contents.

It also included their school calendar for the School Year 2017-2018 as shown below.

I also saw the section where the school's vision and mision was placed. Visi means vision, and misi means mission.

What I understand from the vision stated was that SMA YP UNILA is envisioned as superior in achievement, science, and technology, and a leading or distinguished school in the city of Bandar Lampung.

There was also the structure of their curriculum, and in that section I saw the chart for all the subjects taught in all the year levels.

At the top of the first column, the words, "Mata Pelajaran" are present. Mata Pelajaran means "Subjects." The second column, named "Alokasi waktu perminggu" means "The allocated number of hours per week."  Under this column are the grade levels. There are two classes per level:MIPA and IPs, meaning Mathematics and Science class and Social Science class. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are offered only to the Mathematics and Science class and not to the Social Science class, while Economics, History, Sociology and Geography are offered only to the Social Science class and not to the Math and Science class. However, General Mathematics is still offered to all students if you look at letter D on the chart. When the students reach Grade 12, they are all required to study the local dialect, Bahasa Lampung, as a subject. This is indicated at the bottom of the chart, just before the totals. 

So that's their academics. They also have extra curricular activities.

As indicated on letter e, they have Ekstrakurikuler (extracurriculars). I saw that there are 14 listed. Okay, let me translate them here:

1. Sports (Futsal, Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, and different marial arts)

2. Spirituality (I don't know how they do it)

3. Red Cross Teens

4. Olimpiad Guidance (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Astronomy, Economics)

5. Youth Scientific Group and Robotics

6. Scouts

7. Paskibra (I don't know the meaning)

8. English Club

9. Theatre Arts (Theatre, Modern Dance, Traditional Dance, Traditional Music, Vocal Group, etc.)

10. Science Club

11. Social Club

12. Japan Club

13. Marching Band

14. Photography

Wow, that was a lot of clubs. If I studies Senior High here I probably joined all the clubs! I really envy the students here. But, the next paragraph states the conditions for choosing extra curricular activities and number 3 says that all students are given the opportunity to choose a maximum of 2 extracurriculars so that their academic achievement will not be disturbed. Aw man! 

But still, it would be amazing to be part if an awesome club in high school. I still envy them.

The weekly schedule is also included in the document Monday (Senin) to Friday (Jumat).

HARI means day, JAM means period or hour, WAKTU means time, and KETERANGAN means information. UPACARA BENDERA means Flag Ceremony, and ISTIRAHAT means Break or Rest. There are istirahat everyday, which is recess and lunch break.

The last part of the document are all appendices. So yeah, that's their curriculum.

I also asked for a sample lesson plan and this was given to me. I was a bit surprised because it was quite thick.

I was thinking, "This is a lesson plan? Why is it so thick?" What I knew was that lesson plans should be short and simple, like 2-3 pages or so. But when I took a look inside the pages, I found out that it was a compilation of lesson plans. Also, for one subject matter, no matter how many hourse

 would be used for it, only one lesson plan is made for it. Take a look at this lesson on Sexually Transmitted Disease, AIDS and Pregnancy.

Allocated Time (Alokasi Waktu): 2 meetings

Then on another topic, Volleyball, the time allocation is different.

Allocated time (Alokasi Waktu): 6 meetings

The lesson plans have 8 Components: Core Competencies, Fundamental Conpetencies, Teaching Material, Learning Material, Methods and Steps for Learning, Learning Activities, Assessment, Tools and Sources for Learning.

Whew, that's a lot. Each lesson is about 6 pages, and it's so conplicated. Susan was right. It's hard to make lesson plans here in Indonesia. It's a good thing they let me make my lesson plans in the format of my sending university. I was adjusting a lot already.

During my stay at SMA YP UNILA, I observed that teachers used games a lot to motivate and facilitate learning. For teaching skills in Physical Education, demonstration with detailed explanations are most effective. When the students see that the teacher can do it, they are easily encouraged to learn the skill. Also, making students laugh is a must. All the P.E. teachers here are known to be the funniest teachers in the faculty room. I guess it's a big advantage. I noticed that when a teacher can make his students laugh, the students are more likely to listen.

Just look at how Bu Linda makes the students laugh and smile on casual conversations!

I really enjoyed my time in SMA YP UNILA. I learned a lot, and I have gained a lot of experiences here. The people are very welcoming and hospitable. But most of all they are so skilled and humble. I'll never forget them.

There were challenges that I faced, but I know that those are normal. I was able to get past these challenges and for that I'm thankful to my God.

The main challenge that I encountered as a practice teacher is the language barrier, which I managed to overcome, and I am glad to have overcome it. Nevertheless, I hope the program would make sure that the schools where future exchange students would be assigned are schools with English-speaking students, because in my case, I was not able to practice my English skills as stated in the objectives of the program because I had to use Bahasa Indonesia as my medium of instruction in teaching. 

Overall, I think SMA YP UNILA is an excellent school. They just need to develop English more among their students and teachers. I will be forever thankful to this school, and I wish them all the best.

I'll miss you, SMANILA! 

Good bye...

It's already been a month. i had been thinking of this for a week now, and I just can't help but be sad. I have made so many friends already, and it hurt to say goodbye. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE I have met here has been so kind to me. I want to thank God for allowing me this experience. To all the teachers at SMA YP UNILA, thank you so much for talking to me during my free time, letting me try all kinds of Indonesian food, offering me a ride home almost everyday, and always being kind to me.  You have given mo so much.

Me with the teachers and the Headmaster of SMA YP UNILA (Pak Pitoeas, at the leftmost side). I'm wearing my traditional costume from the Philippines. We are doing the "L" sign which represents Lampung.

To my student buddies, thank you. You have been the best. For always being with us when we need you, taking us to places around Lampung  and for being such nice friends, I owe you all a lot. May you be successful in your future lives. I'll really miss you guys. :)

To my new Indonesian friends, thank you for trying to speak English with me when I can no longer speak in Bahasa Indonesia, hahaha. There should be more people like you on this planet. I'm glad to have found you. 

To Raku and Sayaka, my Japanese friends, thank you for teaching me Japanese culture. I feel so honored! Arigato.

There are so many more experiences that I have not put on my blog because this blog is supposed to be about my teaching experiences here in Indonesia. That's the focus. Terima kasih banyak semuah! 

Fourth Week

Okay, now this is it. My final week in Indonesia. This week I can't help but think of saying goodbye but nit wanting to. I can't believe that in just a few days, I'll be leaving. I have become used to teaching here, that leaving this place breaks my heart. Can I have another week? Why is time so fast? Throughout this week, I made it a point to take final pictures of SMA YP UNILA and important documents as well, as needed in the student self report. Somehow I feel so uneasy. The thought of leaving just haunts me.

I found it hard to stay alert and happy because of my lingering thoughts. My students often asked me this week if I'm okay because I looked so serious. I guess I was really taking my departure seriously.


On my last day at the school, I saw so many students at the court during classes. I was wondering what they were doing.

I was told that they were having their shooting for their graduation video. When I went upstairs, this was the view:

SMANILA- short for SMA YP UNILA. Wow. And to think that this whole thing was just put together by the students themselves!

This is the man they hired to take the video with a drone. The students wearing green shirts are the ones in charge of the whole thing.

 Bu Linda went with me to buy "oleh-oleh" or "pasalubong" which are local products to take home to the Philippines. I was schocked when she told me not to pay for it because she told me that the school will pay for it. It was a lot!

Me at the store. Photo taken by Bu Linda.

After that, we went back to school and some students gave me a local attire. I felt so touched.

Thank you for this, SMA YP UNILA students!

Then, the teachers at the faculty room said their goodbyes. My heart was melting right then and there. I remembered all the kindness they have shown me. They woukd often treat me to lunch or breakfast, especially Bu Linda. They would also give me snacks during istirahat (break time). I will be forever grateful. Then, when I saw Bu Linda crying, I also started to cry. The thing is, I hate it when I cry because I know I look so bad when I do! But I couldn't stop myself, so I just let the tears flow. The teachers told me not to cry, but I cried the more. It was so hard. It's like I feel as if something's missing. Like I'm incomplete. My goodness, goodbyes are so terrible!

Me trying to smile for the picture with teary eyes. 

I spent that night musing in my dorm, trying to settle with the fact that goodbyes are aprt of life, no matter how heartbreaking they are. That you've never lived if you've never said goodbye. The next morning, Ibwoke up knowing that I must face it bravely. It won't kill me, right? I will truly miss everyone I have met here.

Third Week

NEW LANGUAGE
Oh wow. Time has flown by. I cannot believe that I'm almost at the end of my Indonesia journey. As of now, I am just so glad that my Bahasa Indonesia vocabulary has expanded. I have learned so many words and can already give instructions in Bahasa Indonesia, though not as fast as Indonesians speak, Thanks to Pak(Mr.) Alin, the vice headmaster who happens to be Bu Linda's brother-in-law. He's the one who has been talking to me most of the time and teaching me Bahasa Indonesia while doing so. He's been very helpful to me. I'm starting to like Indonesia very much.


STUDENTS ARE NOW DIFFERENT!
My struggle this week was that I found out that students in here are easily bored. They just put up with me last week because I was new to them. This week they started to lose interest. The boys were starting to talk and play by themselves at the back. This happened for two days, and I didn't enjoy teaching then. I knew I had to change my strategy or the whole week would suck for me and the students, too.

LET'S HAVE SOME FUN
Wednesday came, and I turned my lesson into a more enjoyable lesson. Thanks to my mother who gave me this idea. I was teaching the Heaven and Earth Six Sinawali in Arnis this week, and simply demonstrating and letting the students follow me was clearly not fun enough. So, at the beginning of my lesson, I divided the students into four groups and explained that we will have a game (with the help of my translator). I said that they should pay attention to the rules and instructions so they'll know how to win. This instantly got their attention! :) It worked like magic, I'd say. Also, I taught the girls first, then the boys. After giving a short background on Arnis, I demonstrated the first 3 steps, then let them do it with me. After I let each group do it, I started the game and let them do it by themselves. I informed them that if one of the members of a group makes a mistake, I will subtract points from them. If not, they get 4 points. Thus, the game began. There was jeering, shouting, and fun!  I wrote their points on the board. I made it into 3 rounds and this is how it went:

Round 1: steps 1-3
Round 2: steps 4-5
Round 3: steps 1-6

It was definitely more effective and I'm so happy with the results. I held their attention for the entire period without appearing too strict. There were times when the teasing was too much and so I just told the students that if they get too noisy, I'll subtract from their group's points. This instantly made them behave better. Can I just say this: I love teaching!

They're more cooperative now!  ^_^

Second Week

TEACHING STARTS...

 I finally started teaching Arnis this week. The original plan was that I teach Pencak Silat, Indonesian martial arts, but then I explained to my Cooperating teacher that I didn't know anything about Pencak Silat, let alone training in the said sport. So, she said I will just teach martial arts from the Philippines. Thus, my subject matter became Philippine Martial Arts: Arnis. They don't have that here, so I was tasked to teach it. My Cooperating Teacher, Bu (Ma'am) Linda, was kind to make arrangements so I could teach Arnis although there are no Arnis sticks here. She required the students to roll up paper cartolinas and tape them closed to serve as a modification of Arnis sticks. So colorful!

"Arnis sticks"

I was trying to give instructions in Bahasa Indonesia.

Here I let them practice it with their partners so they can identify the target better than when they're just beating the air.

I was also asked to teach gymnastics. I only taught the girls though.

Preparation for forward roll.

Me explaining how the roll must be performed.

Candlestick position.

TEACHING DIFFICULTIES

I was so nervous when the class started. "What did I get myself into?" I thought. It was my first time to ever teach a class and I had to do it in a foreign country. Great. Anyway, I just lead the students in a warm up activity and became quite embarrassed when we had to count to 8 in Indonesian and I made mistakes. I shook it off, though. I proceeded to explain and demonstrate the basics of Arnis. But then, some students started to stop paying attention while I was teaching. Maybe that was because even if I made my voice loud, the student who was translating for me was not loud enough, resulting to boredom to some students, especially those at the back. There were also boys who seemed to lack attention and randomly said jokes that the class laughed at even while I was speaking. Also, throughout the week, some of the translators forgot to tell what I was saying and just nodded when I was explaining. I had to remind them to translate what I was saying. Another difficulty was that it was hard for me to let the students assemble in straight lines. Indonesian students talk a lot, even while their teacher is giving instructuons. It really does take more time and effort to teach in another country. I couldn't help but think, " Maybe I should have just stayed in the Philippines."

SURPRISE

This week, in the middle of my musings about whether I should have just stayed in the Philippines or not, I got a visit from the vice dean of UNILA (Universitas Lampung). He asked me if I liked SMA YP UNILA. Of course I liked it, and I told him so. He asked me if I had any trouble doing my lesson plans, and I said no. He also told me that he heard I was struggling with the food because it was too spicy for my taste. He added that I can order non spicy foods here. Of course, this conversation happened with the school's headmaster and my cooperating teacher present, and I thought, "Wow, they really care about their exchange students here." I couldn't believe that I just got checked up on, and without prior notice. This motivated me to exert more effort in my teaching and be more creative in my lessons. Surely there is a way to be an effective teacher here.

First Week

NEW THINGS LEARNED
This week was pretty much an adventure. I was introduced to so many new things. Through interacting with Indonesian people, I have learned so many Indonesian words. I also found out that so many Filipino words are the same in Bahasa Indonesia, such as mahal, mura, tawa, lima, dua, makan, ada, and some are almost similar, such as paha (paa), tahun (taon), minum(inom) and meja(mesa). I also learned that Indonesians do "salim" which is like "mano" in the Philippines, but they touch their left chest indicating their heart after. It means they take the greeting to heart. The students do "salim" to me all the time.The most significant thing I have learned though, is that Muslims are also people. They love to laugh, joke around, and they also make mistakes.

My Cooperating Teacher, Bu Linda, joking with students.

They are also human. I met a Muslim who has a girlfriend, even though girlfriends and boyfriends are not allowed in Islam. Like us, they sometimes break the rules.

THE GREAT BARRIER
Since I'm in another country, I have to learn their language. It's a bit easy, since there are a lot of similar words, but the language barrier still exists. People at my school who know how to speak straight English are quite rare. But everybody wants to talk with me, and they do so in Bahasa Indonesia, thinking I understand. Then when I tell them that I can no longer understand, we struggle to understand each other. My Indonesian vocabulary is still limited, given that I've been here for only a few days.

My students comparing Philippine money with Indonesian money. Through introducing things from our countries, we communicate and learn.

"WORDSY"
My cooperating teacher, Bu Linda (Bu is Indonsian for Ma'am) gave me an English-Indonesian, Indonesian-English dictionary.

Thank you, Bu Linda! By the way, when she gave me this, I found out that "dictionary" in Bahasa Indonesia is "Kamus."

 "Oh yes," I thought. Now at least I have a tool for better communication, and just like that, my week became "wordsy."  I handed the dictionary to whoever was speaking to me in Indonesian if I couldn't understand a word. They would search for the word then show me the translation. Also, if I was trying to say something to them and I didn't know a certain word in Indonesian, I'd search for it in the dictionary and show them the word. At the same time, my Indonesian vocabulary widens. In addition, I write all the new words I learn with their corresponding English meanings, even while talking to someone. They love seeing me learn their language. I am happy to say that i can now construct sentences, and finally manage a basic conversation with Indonesians. I think if I keep this up, I'll be quite good in Indonesian by the end of my stay here.

Touchdown...

January 21, 2018 (Sunday)

After having a delayed flight from Manila to Jakarta which led to a missed flight to Bandar Lampung thus a rebook, I finally arrived at Bandar Lampung at about 6:00 pm. I was met by Sir Ghea, who to my dismay was waiting for 4 hours outside the Raden Intan II airport. I apologized about the delay and explained the situation to him. He understood well, and was very accomodating. It turned out that I was the first exchange student to arrive, and the others' flights were also delayed. After about two hours, the others arrived and I met them. There were three females from MinsCAT, and two from PSU. I also met my coordinator, Ma'am Dara Helmasena with her partner in the office, Sir Didi.

After all the introductions and picture taking, we rode to a local restaurant and had our dinner. We ate Sate with rice and iced tea. After that, we were brought to our dorms where we would be staying for a month. It was one of the most tiring yet adventurous days I've ever had.