Minggu, 29 September 2019

Summary and Suggestion

Summary and Suggestion

Purposes of Practicum

The main objective of the teaching practicum is to provide student teachers with authentic hands-on experience in teaching. This is required to develop their teaching skills and to start collecting experiences to enrich their professional wisdom. It is not enough to read about teaching or to observe others teach, something students have done for years. Student teachers have to practice themselves because practical knowledge and wisdom are held by the individual and cannot easily be transmitted from person to person. Student teachers need know-how, and by connecting the skills of teaching to knowledge, through reflection, they will gradually start developing practical wisdom.

Procedures of Practicum

  • Know the topics that going to be taught
  • Make lesson plan according to the topics 
  • Consults with supervising instructor about the lesson plan 
  • Prepare the lesson and materials 
  • Practice teaching in class 
  • Evaluate/post conference with supervising instructor 

Outcomes of Practicum

The teacher becomes more trained in teaching, such as creating the best lesson plan, know the appropriate teaching methods used, has the skill of manage the class, and manage time. Teachers also studied about the characteristics of each class and each student, and becomes know how to conduct the lesson with their own characteristics. One more outcomes of this practicum is, teachers has developed the English skill to teach.

Challenges of Practicum

The challenges of teaching this time is how to explain the lessons using English because in Indonesia English is considered as foreign language so it is rarely used in daily life, then how to control the class when the students are noisy, and how to manage such a short time to finish the lesson without rushing everything.

Overall Impressions

As a teacher, we can what it’s like to teach in a real class situation, arrange the best lesson plan for certain topic, understand the importance of teaching method, understand how to manage the class, and understand what exactly needed to be a good teacher for the students.

Suggestions for Future Improvement

For the future teacher, the most important thing is to develop the English skill for teaching in the classroom. Master the topic, establish the best teaching methods, and manage the class efficiently so that the objectives of the learning can be reached maximally.

Selasa, 17 September 2019

My Teaching Practice



Magandang hapon!!!!

Today I'm going to tell you about my teaching practice in PSU Integrated School - High School Bayambang. But first, here's the procedures, time & classroom management, and techniques I used in my classrooms.

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Procedures of Teaching

  • Students do the greeting and pray together.
  • Students’ attendance checked by teacher 
  • The teacher reviews the last topics and then give to motivational activity. 
  • Students discuss about the task given by teacher or problem solving 
  • Students do the activity 
  • The teacher explains about topics and ask the guided questions to students 
  • Students answer the question 
  • Students do short quiz in the last lesson 

Time Management and Organizing Activities

  • 10 minutes for preliminary activities (greetings, pray, motivation activity).
  • 25 minutes for developmental activities (teacher’s explanation, discussion, problem solving). 
  • 20 minutes for evaluation (assessment, quiz) 
  • 5 minutes for conclusion and generalization from the lesson. 

Problem-solving

Teachers give a problem to students and let their group to solve the problem and they try to explain the solution in front of class.

Classroom Management

Manage classroom depends on the strategy used by teachers, if the teaching method is appropriate, then it is easy for teachers to manage all of students.

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          Okay, enough about the technical things. I have a lot of things to say. My first impression teaching in the Philippines was, "Oh wow the kids are pretty fluent in English huh." Compared to Indonesian students (I'm not saying this as an insult to Indonesian or anything okay, I'm just comparing, jeez), they're better in English. Maybe not all of them are fluent in speaking, but at least they understand English clearly.

          That's like my main concern before teaching in the Philippines, "Are they going to understand what I say or not?" Apparently, they all understand every single thing I said in the class! Thank God, haha. Some of the students even told me that I am very good in English. They said I'm fluent in speaking English. Also, someone said that they like my accent (although I didn't really think I have an accent LOL).

          When talking about the materials, the students in Philippines got more advanced materials than us in Indonesia. Like, even though they're in the same grade—for example grade 11 both in Indonesia and Philippines—the materials that they learn in the Philippines is more advanced than in Indonesia. For example, I've got to teach about Speech Acts and Intercultural Communication (Cross-Cultural Understanding) in grade 11 in PSU Integrated School - High School Bayambang. In Indonesia, we got both of those materals in COLLEGE, not in HIGH SCHOOL!! Pretty shocking for me though. We learn simple things in grade 11 in Indonesia. Maybe that's because the Philippines consider English as their second language, while Indonesia consider it as foreign language. Hmm...

          But overall, it was a nice experience teaching the students in PSU Integrated School - High School Bayambang. I wish that the program ran longer than a month.

On the next post I'll be talking more about my experiences in the Philippines, especially teaching in PSU. Meanwhile, here's some pictures of me when I was teaching in PSU Integrated School - High School (don't judge me okay haha)





Senin, 16 September 2019

Teaching Plan and Lesson Plan

Magandang hapon!!!

While teaching in the Philippines, I learned a lot about their education system, curriculum, and lesson plan. In this post is the example of one of my lesson plans that I made during my teaching practice in PSU Integrated School - High School. Have a look!!

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Teaching plan or lesson plan is a detailed guide for teaching a lesson. It's a step- by-step guide that outlines the teacher's objectives for what the students will accomplish that day. Creating a lesson plan involves setting goals, developing activities, and determining the materials that will be used.

Curriculum

        PSU Integrated High School uses the latest K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum. K-12's implementation began in 2011 when kindergarten was rolled out nationwide. It continued by fully implementing the system for Grades 1 and 7 during the school year 2012-2013, for grade 11 during 2016, and for grade 12 during 2017.
There are four "phases" during the implementation of the new system. Those are:
— Phase I: Laying the Foundations.  Its goal is to finally implement the universal kindergarten, and the "development of the (entire) program".
— Phase II: Modeling and Migration. Its goal is to promote the enactment of the basic education law, to finally start of the phased implementation of the new curriculum for Grades 1 to 10, and for the modeling of the senior high school.
— Phase III: Complete Migration. Its goal is to finally implement the Grades 11 and 12 or the senior high school, and to signal the end of migration to the new educational system.
— Phase IV: Completion of the Reform. Its goal is to complete the implementation of the K–12 education system.

Teaching Plan Related to My Major


I. Objectives

At the end of the discussion, the students should be able to:
        A. Define speech acts;
        B. Identify the types of speech acts; and
        C. Understand of the types of speech acts through a written test.

II. Subject Matter

A. Topic: Speech acts
B. Materials:
       — Electronic generated slides (PowerPoint presentation)
       — Visual aids for intercultural communication
       — Laptop and projector
C. References
https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-linguistics-1692119 (date retrieved: 19/09/2019 8:22 AM)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_act (date retrieved: 19/09/2019 8:23 AM)
http://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/projects/milca/courses/dialogue/html/node65.html (date retrieved: 19/09/2019 8:24 AM)
https://www.slideshare.net/EjeSeastres/oral-comm-types-of-speech-act (date retrieved: 19/09/2019 1:05 PM)

III. Learning Procedure

A. Routine
The teacher will ask a student to lead the class prayer. Then, the teacher will ask the class secretary to check the attendance.

B. Motivation
        The teacher will let the students play the game “Charades”. The class will be divided into two groups: the left group and the right group. The teacher will let the students name their own group.
        Each group will have one representative that will act the words or phrases given by the teacher. The first group who guess the correct words or phrases get the point. The group with the most point win the game. The group representatives only have 30 seconds to act the words or phrases, as well as the other members of the groups to guess the words or phrases.
The words or phrases for the game are: 1) Washing dishes, 2) Angry mom, 3) Asking for money, 4) I’m hungry, and 5) Writing a love letter.

C. Presentation
The teacher will write the topic on the board and will communicate lesson objectives to the students in a conversational manner.

D. Development of the Lesson
        The teacher will start the discussion by asking the students what are their understanding about speech acts. Then, the teacher will post the definition of speech acts on the board.
        According to Austin (1962), speech acts are the speaker’s utterances which convey meaning and make listeners do specific things. In other words, when someone expresses something, he/she does not only produce utterances containing grammatical structures and words, but he/she also performs an action through the utterances. This action performed by an utterance is called speech acts.
         Example: the utterance “You’re fired!” can be used as an action to fire someone from his current job, or “I’m hungry” when someone expresses hunger or requests something to eat.
         The teacher will explain the three types of speech acts one by one and give task to every group to produce three utterances of the respective speech acts.

1. Task #1 for Locutionary Acts
         The group will be retained. The teacher will start the discussion by asking the students about what is a locutionary act. Then, the teacher will post the definition of locutionary act on the board.
         Locutionary act is the act of actually uttering. A locutionary speech act occurs when the speaker performs an utterance which has a meaning in the traditional sense. For example, someone will say “What?” when they’re surprised, or “Don’t go into the water!” as a warning to the listener not to go into the water.
         After the teacher explains about locutionary act, the teacher will ask the groups to make three examples of locutionary utterances. Each group must not give the same examples. The examples will be written on a piece of paper and submitted at the end of the session.

2. Task #2 for Illocutionary Acts
         The group will be retained. The teacher will start the discussion by asking the students about what is a illocutionary act. Then, the teacher will post the definition of illocutionary act on the board.
         Illocutionary act is the active result of the implied request or meaning presented by the locutionary act. For example, if the locutionary act in an interaction is the question "Is there any salt?" the implied illocutionary request is "Can someone pass the salt to me?"
         After the teacher explains about illocutionary act, the teacher will ask the groups to make three examples of illocutionary utterances. Each group must not give the same examples. The examples will be written on a piece of paper and submitted at the end of the session.

3. Task #3 for Perlocutionary Acts
         The group will be retained. The teacher will start the discussion by asking the students about what is a perlocutionary act. Then, the teacher will post the definition of perlocutionary act on the board.
         Perlocutionary act is the actual effect of the locutionary and illocutionary acts, such as persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening, inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or realize something, whether intended or not. For example, the listener in the "Is there any salt?" example has to realize that the speaker’s intention is to ultimately get hold of the salt.
         After the teacher explains about perlocutionary act, the teacher will ask the groups to make three examples of perlocutionary utterances. Each group must not give the same examples. The examples will be written on a piece of paper and submitted at the end of the session.

E. Generalization
         The teacher will ask the students to sum up today’s discussion and share what he/she has learned. Afterwards, the teacher will sum up the lesson.
         Speech acts are the speaker’s utterances which convey meaning and make listeners do specific things. There are three types of speech acts: 1) locutionary acts, 2) illocutionary acts, and 3) perlocutionary acts. Locutionary act is the act of actually uttering, illocutionary act is the active result of the implied request or meaning presented by the locutionary act, and perlocutionary act is the actual effect of the locutionary and illocutionary acts which is getting someone to do or realize something.

IV. Evaluation

        The teacher will give 5 questions related to speech acts which the students should answer in a piece of paper and submit it after 3 minutes.
Identify the illocutionary act (intention) of each item:
1. A teacher says “Oh, it’s too hot in here” in a classroom with closed windows and doors.
        Answer: She/He wants someone to open the windows or doors
2. A mother says to her children “The dishes aren’t going to wash themselves.”
        Answer: She wants her children to wash the dishes
3. Someone on the street says “I think those trash shouldn’t be left lying on the street like that.”
        Answer: She/He wants someone to pick up the trash and put it away
4. A woman says “It’s going to be a windy day” to someone next to her at the grocery store.
        Answer: She wants to start a conversation with someone next to her
5. A mother says to her daughter “It’ll be better if you clean your room.”
        Answer: She wants her daughter to clean her room

V. Agreement/Assignment

The teacher will ask the students to do an advanced reading on the next lesson.

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So, that's all about the lesson plan. See you on the next posts!!!

Pedagogical Contents

Pedagogical Contents

Magandang hapon! Good day!!

Here's some pedagogical contents of learning in PSU Integrated School - High School. It's going to be quite a lot and technical haha. So, without further ado, this is it!

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In the process of learning, a good teacher must be able to master the content (learning materials/materials subject) and master the science of teaching (pedagogy). Content is knowledge science that should be mastered by the teacher, including facts, concepts, principles, laws, and theory.

Teaching Methods

Based on the observation during the 1st week of the program, the teaching methods used by the teacher during the lesson are lecture method, discussion method, and students’ activities.

a. Lecture method
        Lecture method is an oral presentation of information by the instructor. It is the method of relaying factual information which includes principles, concepts, ideas and all theoretical knowledge about a given topic. In lecture method, the instructor tells, explains, describes or relates whatever information to the students through listening and understanding. This method is therefore a teacher-centered method. The instructor is very active, doing all the talking. The teacher explained about the topic and give questions for the students so they can be active in class. The advantages of the lecture method are it saves time, the topic are covered, and permits flexibility. Meanwhile, the disadvantages are including boredom, passive students, and uneven gain of knowledge among the students.

b. Discussion method
        Discussion method is a method which group discussion techniques are used to reach the learning objectives. Discussion method is used to stimulate thinking, interest and securing the student participation. Students in class will be more active and cooperative in the group activity. The discussion method also can increase students interest, acceptance and commitments. The advantages of the discussion method are increased student knowledge and experience, which results in more permanent learning. The disadvantages are time-consuming, unwillingness of students during the group activity, and failure in reaching the objectives of lesson.

c. Students’ activities
        Learning is organized by involving students in practicing conceptual understanding. Teachers facilitate students to learn with fun. In grade 11, teachers use the game as a motivation, where students more easily receive lessons with the game. Besides not boring, the game is used for all students to be actively involved in learning activities. So that all students follow the learning and learning objectives can be achieved.

Learning Materials and Innovation

        Based on the observation, the teacher used learning materials which are including textbooks, TLP, PowerPoint presentation, and if there was no projector, the teacher usually uses Manilla paper or Blackboard to write the materials so every student can get and understand the materials clearly. Motivation activity is proven effective to increase the students’ curiosity and activity during the lesson. The value integration given by teachers during learning process is making students more understand about the value beside of the knowledge aspect.

Sources of Learning and Technology

References book:
— Fernandez, Ana Marie O. 2016. Speak and Listen in Context for Senior High School. The Phoenix Publishing House, Inc. : Quezon City
— Curriculum Guide in English, DepEd.

Authentic Assessment

        Based on the observation, the teacher used the assessment including the students’ participation when teacher explain and ask, group activity, and a long quiz in the last lesson. Teacher also checking the disciplinary of student, by check their id card and complete uniform during attendance checking. Teacher would give additional point to the students who is active in class, or cooperative in group activity.

Others

        Based on the observation during the 1st week of the program, the teacher sometimes gave an assignment for students to do the advance reading for the next topics.

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So, that's all about the pedagogical contents. On the next posts I'll post more of my experience. See ya!!

Minggu, 15 September 2019

PSU Integrated School - High School Profile

Good day! Magandang hapon!

This post is going to be about the profile of the school where I did my practice teaching when I was in the Philippines. These information were gathered from the school information center and the internet. So, this is all about PSU Integrated School - High School Bayambang!




School Profile

a. Location
Quezon Blvd, Bayambang, 2423 Pangasinan, Philippines

b. Vision and Mission
Vision: To become an ASEAN Premier State University in 2020
Mission: The Pangasinan State University, through instruction, research, extension, and production commits to develop highly principled, morally upright, innovative and globally competent individuals capable of meeting the needs of industry, public service and civil society.

c. Guiding Philosophy
        The Pangasinan State University’s leadership adheres to the Filipino educational philosophy that education is geared towards better citizenship and live hood, and the United Nation’s declared that EDUCATION IS FOR ALL giving ACCESS to quality Education.

d. History
        Pangasinan State University, commonly referred to as PSU, is a state university in the Philippines that is notable for its many locations throughout the province of Pangasinan. It is mandated to provide advanced instructions in the arts, agricultural and natural sciences as well as in technological and professional fields. Its main campus is located in Lingayen, Pangasinan. Other campuses are located in Alaminos City, Asingan, Bayambang, Binmaley, Infanta, San Carlos City, Santa Maria, and Urdaneta City.
        The Pangasinan State University was chartered through the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 1497 promulgated on June 11, 1978 and became operational on July 1, 1979.
The University integrated the collegiate courses of five DECS supervised institutions in the province and all the programs of the Central Luzon Teachers College (CLTC) and Western Pangasinan College of Agriculture (WPCA).
        Institutionally speaking, there were only two institutions that were integrated into the University system, namely, the then Central Luzon Teachers College (CLTC) in Bayambang and western Pangasinan college of Agriculture in Infanta. For the other institutions namely, the Asingan School of Arts and Trades (ASAT) in Asingan, Eastern Pangasinan Agricultural College (EPAC) in Sta Maria, Pangasinan College of Fisheries (PCF) in Binmaley, Pangasinan School of Arts and Trades (PSAT) in Lingayen, and the Speaker Eugenio Perez National Agricultural School (SEPNAS) in san Carlos City, that were integrated into the system were their respective collegiate programs. These said schools are still operating under the administration and supervision of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Technical Education and skills Development Authority (TESDA).
        Central Luzon Teachers College (CLTC) came into being first as the Bayambang Normal School in 1922. It offered then the secondary normal course which prepared much needed teachers for country. The school closed in 1935 due to inadequate funds but opened up in 1948 under a new name- Pangasinan Normal school, which offered the two year collegiate teacher education program. It was in 1952- 1953 that the college like any other regional normal school began offering the four-year bachelor’s degree program for elementary teachers.
        In 1953, the normal school with the elementary schools in the District of Bautista and the Bayambang National High School were merged to become the Philippine UNESCO National Community Training Center. It operated as a school division in Pangasinan.
        Republic Act 5707 converted school into a chartered institution, the then Central Luzon Teachers College on June 21, 1969. As provided in the charter of the college, the major functions of the institution are instruction, research and extension service.

Academic Supporting System

        In PSU Integrated School – High School Bayambang, the facilities are sufficient. Grade 11 and 12 have their own class. Each class has enough facilities, such as blackboard, tables, chairs, and fan. Learning process that uses TLP/projector must be scheduled before, because there are some classes that use TLP together. Total amount of the teacher is sufficient to teach students and have a good teaching system. The school has gymnasium, library, and laboratory, even though it is still integrated with the university. There are some extracurricular and student council.

Teaching System

        A week of learning is held for 5 days. 11-Narra have 9 subject in this academic year. Earth Science, General Chemistry 1, Komunikasyon at Pananaliksik sa Wika at at Kulturang Filipino, Physical Education and Health, Personal Development/Pansariling Kaunlaran, Pre-Calculus, Introduction to the Philosophy of a Human Person, General Mathematics, and Oral Communication in Context. The morning session start from 8:00AM until 12:00PM. And for afternoon session start from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM.

Material and Other Learning Sources

        Materials for lessons sources are more or less sufficient. There is laboratory, library with many books, TV in RS room which can be connected to laptop using HDMI cable, TLP projector, white and black board. Each student has their own books, so that the learning can be held easily. Students can also use other learning sources such as internet or other books that mostly used.

Measurement and Evaluation System

        Teacher employs classroom assessment methods that are consistent with the curriculum standard. It is important for teachers to always inform learners about the objectives of the lesson, so that the latter will aim to meet or even exceed the standard. The teacher provides immediate feedback to students about their learning progress. Classroom assessment also measures the achievement of competencies by the learners. The evaluation system used in PSU Integrated School are including short quizzes, long quizzes, home works, discussions, presentations, and also the mid-term and end-term exam.

Curriculum

        Curriculum of PSU Integrated School – High School Bayambang is K to 12 Basic Education. Curriculum for Senior High School is two years of specialized upper secondary education; students may choose a specialization based on aptitude, interests, and school capacity.
The choice of career track will define the content of the subjects a student will take in Grades 11 and 12. Each student in Senior High School can choose among three tracks: Academic; Technical-Vocational-Livelihood; and Sports and Arts. The Academic track includes three strands: Business, Accountancy, Management (BAM); Humanities, Education, Social Sciences (HESS); and Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM).

a. Core curriculum subjects
        There are seven Learning Area under the Core Curriculum: Languages, Literature, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.
        — Oral communication
       — Reading and writing
       — Komunikasyon at pananaliksik sa wika at kulturang Filipino
       — 21st century literature from the Philippines and the world
       — Contemporary Philippine arts from the regions
       — Media and information literacy
       — General mathematics
       — Statistics and probability
       — Earth and life science
       — Physical science
        — Introduction to philosophy of the human person/Pambungad sa  pilosopiya ngatoa
        — Physical education and health
        — Personal development/pansariling kaunlaran
        — Earth science (instead of Earth and life science for those in the STEM strand)
        — Disaster readiness and risk reduction

b. Applied track subjects
       — English for academic and professional purposes
       — Practical research 1
       — Practical research 2
       — Filipino sa piling larangan
       — Akademik
       — Isports
       — Sining
       — Tech-voc
       — Empowerment technologies (for the strand)
       — Entrepreneurship
       — Inquiries, investigatories, and immersion

c. Specialized subjects
       — Accountancy, business, and management strand
       — Humanities and social sciences strand
       — Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics strand
       — General academic strand

Teaching Plan

        The teaching plan used in PSU Integrated High School can be semi-detailed or detailed lesson plan. For the semi-detailed lesson plan, it has the format as written below:
       I.    Objectives
       II. Subject Matter
       III. Lesson Proper
              a. Daily Routine
              b. Motivation
              c. Discussion
              d. Generalization
       IV. Evaluation
       V. Assignment

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That's all about the general information of PSU Integrated School - High School Bayambang. See you on the next post!

Senin, 09 September 2019

Trip to the Hundred Islands National Park!!


Magandang hapon guys!!!

This post will be about my experience going to the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos, Pangasinan. It was such a wonderful experience! The place was so BEAUTIFUL I even still can’t believe that I went there LOL. So, without further ado, let’s go back in time.

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          On Friday evening, September 6th, we already expected that the next day we will be having some interesting things to do, because on the schedule of activities that shown on the Opening Ceremony a week ago, we will be having either cultural exposure or campus activities every Saturdays. So, we got very excited whenever it’s near to Saturday LOL

          In the evening of that day, we got some information that we will be going to the Hundred Islands on the next day. AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! THAT’S AMAZING LOL. But then they said that we have to prepare our things on Friday night because we’ll be departing VERY early—4am in the morning—on Saturday. Pretty wild yeah? Haha.

          So, we did prepare our things. I brought some spare clothes because we might get wet there. I’ve read on the internet that the Hundred Islands National Park is one of the most famous tourism spot in the Philippines! And based on the pictures, it looked a lot like Raja Ampat in Papua, Indonesia, but I’m not really sure because I’ve never been to Raja Ampat before haha.

          On Saturday, we woke up SUPER early—like, 3am in the morning—and took turn taking a bath. The campus officials said that they will fetch the other students from other campuses like PSU Bayambang Campus and San Carlos Campus, before arriving in Lingayen and departing to Alaminos. We waited and waited. Earlier they said that we’ll be departing at 4am to avoid the traffic. But the bus arrived so late. At last, we finally departed to Alaminos at 5am or 6am (I forgot haha).


          On our way to the National Park, we stopped in the center of Alaminos City to buy some breakfast because we hadn’t eaten yet (they told us to prepare super early but the bus came late haha). I bought some food in McDonald’s there and change my USD to PHP because I was running out of Pesos LOL. Then we continued our trip for one hour—give or take a few minutes—then we arrived at the National Park! 



          Well, it wasn’t really the ‘park’—it was just a harbor for the boats going to the small islands. There were a lot of souvenir sellers there, it got super crowded near our bus and I got confused LOL. Some of the sellers even approached me, trying to bribe me with discounts but I said, “Sorry mam, maybe I’ll buy it after I came back from the boat trip.” Then they all went away with that, haha. 



          Then, we all gathered in one place to count how many we are. After that, we’ve been told that we have to pay about 130PHP each if we want to go to the small islands by boats. I mean, 130PHP sounded very cheap compared to the price they listed on the internet for the trip around the islands. So I said, “Why not? TAKE MY MONEY.” HAHAHAHAHA

          And guess what, it rains. Like, why on Earth is it always raining in the Philippines? Maybe it was the season, I had no idea LOL. But even though the rain was pouring, we were still going to the small islands. At first I was kinda afraid because... it’s raining and we’re going to cross a freaking ocean! I have a fear of a wide and deep body of water, that’s so blue that I cannot see the bottom. But bismillah, I hope we’ll be okay. 


          WE FREAKIN CROSSED THE OCEAN GUYS!!! It was me and 7 of my friends and 2 campus officials in a boat. The boat wasn’t very big, and we have like 3 big people there so we have to sit on the opposite side of each other to balance the boat. Kinda funny but scary at the same time haha. We all wore our life jackets—that assured me, a bit LOL.

          Because it was raining, we literally cannot see anything more than 5 meters in front of us (I’M JOKING IT’S NOT THAT BAD LOL). At first all we see was an open ocean. It was pretty calm, no big wave or anything. Just rain... a lot of rain. Then after several minutes of seeing nothing except water, we started seeing some islands! 


          AND BOY, SUCH BEAUTIFUL SCENERY!!! The islands are quite small with a lot of trees on top of them. The islands shape kinda reminded me of a mushroom—or an umbrella. Because the part of the islands that touched the sea water kinda eroded away because of the waves. SO COOL I JUST WOW-ED ALONG THE WAY HAHA.

          Then, we stopped at one small island called “The Governor Island”. Such a unique name, I don’t really know why they named the island like that. But the name made me wanna be the Governor of Alaminos (or Pangasinan, I don’t really know—my bad) so I can get one of the islands to myself LOL. After taking some pictures of the beach there, we went uphill because they said that the scenery is amazing up there—we can see the rest of the islands from the top. 



          It was tempting. But when I knew that there will be hundreds of stairs, I hesitated because this boy rarely does exercise HAHAHAHAHA. But I did go up with two of my Indonesian friends. And oh we all complaining when we’re going to the top—we kept saying that we’re about to die LOL. But thank God I didn’t die and we REACHED the top!! YEAY!! 



          “HOLY COW, THIS IS AMAZING!!!” I shouted when I saw the beautiful scenery at the top. We could see a lot of other islands from there. I spotted a statue, a statue of Jesus that looked very similar to the same statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. But it was quite far away because it looked pretty small from where we stand. We took a lot of pictures there. And by the way, I forgot to tell you. It’s still raining so the pictures we took—we all super wet there HAHAHA.

          Then we continued or journey to another island. On our way, our boat and other boats kinda had a race LOL. It was fun, we were shouting at each other, laughing and pointing at each other haha. Then after several minutes, we arrived on an island called Woody Island. 


          The Woody Island is more crowded than any other islands because I saw quite a lot of people there. I mean, not A LOT—decent amount of people. Maybe because it’s raining, I don’t know. After registering and doing some official stuff (we didn’t do that, the campus officials done that), we went to the bungalows on top of a small hill on the island. There, we had a lunch. We ate Chicken Adobo, made by sir Mike—one of the campus officials and our field coordinator. It was very good! Even though I found the taste is quite salty—maybe a lot of sea water got into the Adobo haha. But really, it was super delicious.

          Did I tell you that I wasn’t feeling really well that day? Well, now you know LOL. After eating, we went down to the beach. But being in the rain all day made me feel dizzy and very cold. So I didn’t do much there—only sitting with my friend’s wet jacket (which wasn’t really helping with the cold at all) and trembling. It was still raining and the wind was super strong and super cold. But I don’t want it to destroy this once in a lifetime experience.

          We’re about to go to the island where the Jesus statue is, but it got cancelled because it was too much. The rain and wind really affected us so they decided it was enough. I kinda felt grateful because I couldn’t take it anymore, but sad that we couldn’t explore another island. Maybe this is a clue from the Universe that we might visit this place again in the future to complete the experience—when it’s not raining for sure LOL.

          After several minutes on the ocean, we arrived at the harbor. Then, we went to change our clothes. I took my time cleaning myself and changed into my dry clothes. Then, when waiting for my friends who were changing too, a couple of souvenir sellers came to me and it got wild.

          Did you remember the seller that bribed me with discounts when I first got to the harbor? I said that I’m going to buy her stuff after I got back from the islands. I was about to buy her stuff, but the other seller offer me a better deal, 200PHP for 3 packs of keychains and a pack of magnets. I was tempted to buy the other seller’s stuff because it was cheaper. Then they all argued in Filipino. It got pretty messy, but no fighting though—thank God. I was confused, whose stuff I’ll buy?

          I promised to buy this sellers stuff since the first time I got to the National Park. But the other seller offered me better deal. It’s confusing and I didn’t want to break anyone’s heart LOL. But then the seller that I promised offered 3 packs of keychains and a pack of magnets for 200PHP. The same as the other seller. I took that. Then they all argued—I didn’t understand what they’re saying! I felt like I didn’t want to be a part of this, then I slowly back away to the bus. Haha...

          After that, everyone got in the bus and we had an hour trip going back to our campuses. The first thing I did when we got back to our dorm is sleeping—duh. It was very tiring, and I still felt kinda dizzy, but it’s getting better. Then I drifted to sleep.

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THAT’S ALL, Y’ALL!!! Fun wasn’t it? LOL. I hope you can enjoy my experience going to the Hundred Islands National Park through this post—and even feel like you’re part of it. Haha. So, I’ll be writing more of my experiences in Pangasinan, Philippines. See you on the next posts!!!

Senin, 02 September 2019

Opening Ceremony at PSU Lingayen Campus!

Magandang hapon! 

Today I'm going to tell you about the SEA Teacher and SEA TVET Opening Ceremony at PSU Lingayen campus. Without any further ado, let's go back to the 2nd of September!!

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          It was Monday. We've been told that we're going to have an Opening Ceremony for all of the SEA Teacher and SEA TVET a day before. The campus official also told us that we have to wear our own national costume. When they told us that, I was like “Oh so that’s why they asked us to bring our costume long time ago.”

          Of course I did bring my costume. It was a traditional Sasak male outfit. It consists of a black colored top that kinda looks like a suit—but certainly not a suit. The front flap of the top is longer than the back. It actually kinda reminded me of the suit that an orchestra conductor worn during the performance. But theirs has a longer back flap—the opposite of Sasak male top. I wore a black trouser with a Sasak traditional songket wrapped around the waist. I tied the songket with another piece of long-woven-cloth on the waist so it doesn’t move around. Also, I wore a sapuq on my head. It’s a sort of headband that tied around the head of a Sasak men. It looks similar as the Balinese headband (pssstt... we share the same culture you know)

          By the way, I wish I had a full-body picture of my then OOTD, LOL. We were very tight on time so we have to do everything fast. This is how a traditional Sasak male outfit supposed to look like:

You see, that guy in the picture is obviously not me LOL. I found this picture on the internet—to give you a real ‘picture’ of how the outfit supposed to look like.

          And this is how I look with the outfit on. I KNOW, only an upper body picture because we’re already seated and the Ceremony was about to begin. You get the idea haha. I am the one in the middle. Tell me I looked cute in that LOL hahaha.

Me and my other Indonesian friends at the Opening Ceremony: Mada (left), Katon (right) and obviously me in the middle

          Then, the Ceremony began. They played quite a lot of songs actually, compared to events that I attended back in my country. They played the ASEAN song, which was VERY new to me. That was the first time I heard that song, and I was like “Wait, they have a song?” LOL. Thank God that they displayed the lyrics on the screen so I could follow along the song.

          After that they played a series of Philippines song. I forgot the order LOL but they played the Philippines National Anthem “Lupang Hinirang” and the Province of Pangasinan Hymn which titled “Luyag ko tan Yaman”. Both of the songs reeeally stucked in my head LOL, even though it was hard for me to memorize the lyrics, but I got the melodies haha.

          Then they played the “Indonesia Raya”, the National Anthem of Indonesia. ALL of us Indonesian students sang the song. The conference hall was loud—grumbling with our spirits. It was such a great moment. I legit got goosebumps, and I bet the others in the hall got that too. After that, they played the Thai National Anthem. I am sorry to my two Thai friends I don’t know the title of the anthem because I can’t read Thai LOL. But the anthem is not less cool than the first two. In my personal opinion, the Thai Anthem sounds very...Thai. I mean, of course it was a Thai song but for me, it sounds very authentic—kinda traditional also. That’s very cool to me. Same with the previous ones, I don’t know the lyrics but I’ve memorized the melody haha.

NOTE:
While writing this post, I read it as a whole then thought “is this post going to be all about the songs that played at the Ceremony?” Haha just hang on okay... The songs are the things that stuck the most on my brain LOL

          Then, they played the hymn of Pangasinan State University (PSU). That was the moment I’ve been waiting for—because even before I got to the Philippines, I’ve heard the hymn of PSU on Youtube and it was AWESOME LOL. Apparently every SEA Teacher and SEA TVET students knew the song so they sang along. It was soo cool!


By the way if you’re curious about the hymn, this is the link of the hymn on Youtube >> https://youtu.be/E9FJJHYzQ5c

          After all the songs and hymns had been played, the MC asked us to stand to read the PSU Quality Policy together. It was very new to me because we didn’t do that in Indonesia (or at least my university). Then, there were several speechs by the PSU officials, and we were given snacks!!!


I don’t know the name of the food but it was damn good LOL

          The main event of this ceremony was the announcement of our schedule of activities for a month in PSU. Starting from September 3rd until 5th, we will be having our class observation. Then, on September 7th there will be some campus activities. I was kinda confused about what are we going to do for the campus activities. Then someone told me, we will be joining the students in their campus activities such as sports and stuff. Fun, I think LOL

          When they showed the next slide, everyone got veeeeryy excited LOL. It was said on the next slide, we will be having a cultural exposure (aka vacation LOL) on September 14th. We will be going to either Vigan or Baguio. We got super excited and the girls started screaming in joy LOL (including me even though I’m a boy because I’m excited LOL). They said, Vigan is an old city which has a lot of historical sites. I bet we can get a lot of cool vintage photos there haha. On the other hand, Baguio is a highland. They said that it’s cold there so we have to bring warm clothes. That’s also cool in my opinion because it’s been a long time since I went to highland place like that LOL.

          Then, on the next slide, it’s said that WE WILL BE HAVING ANOTHER CULTURAL EXPOSURE on September 21st to Bolinao! The hall went super loud again LOL. Based on the picture on the slide, Bolinao seems to have beautiful beaches. EXCITING!!!

          On September 25th will be the submission day for our evaluation form, report, and stuff. There was no cheering when they showed this slide LOL. And on 27th, we will be having our Closing Program. It’s not even near 27th but we kinda felt sad because we’ll be here only for a month. We wish that we could be here longer.

          Then there are a couple instructions about what we’re going to do on the next day. After that we danced. It was cool and funny, but I kinda felt embarrassed because I don’t like dancing in front of people LOL

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And that’s basically it! That was my experience in the Opening Ceremony of SEA Teacher and SEA TVET in PSU main campus at Lingayen. I’ll be writing more about the rest of my experiences in Pangasinan.