Teaching Experience as a Foreign Student Teacher

In this section, I will be discussing my experiences during my practice teaching in Kendari, Indonesia.

While I am observing in the different classes at SDN 84 Kendari, I already asked my cooperating teacher the topics for my practice teaching in order for me to prepare my lesson plans, instructional materials, and my final demo in advance. I was expecting to teach English subject. However, my cooperating teacher told me that they do not teach English subject because English is not a major subject in elementary level. Instead, learning English is just one of the extra curricular activities in their school. I was shocked to know that because I am expecting to teach them English. A lot of things came in to my mind, like, how am i going to teach them? how will I execute my final demo? and etc. On the other hand, I stayed being positive and just did my best to teach my students. It is really a struggle for me because as soon as my cooperating teacher hand me the book that I will use as my reference, I was shocked again because the book is written in Bahasa Indonesia and no one can translate it for me. But of course, I am proud to be a student of Far Eastern University that has a tagline “Be Brave” which means I need to be brave in the field that I am in. I was able to translate the book with the use of google translate and I am very thankful for that. Because google translate is indeed a life saver. The first time I taught students from grade 6 is really tough because they are not participating in the discussion. Maybe because they are shy to speak in English. That’s why I said to them that it is okay to bring out their phones and use google translate. Thankfully, last August 2018 I attended Bahasa Indonesia workshop that’s why I can speak some basic Bahasa Indonesia. So every time I teach them, I mix English and Bahasa Indonesia for them to understand the lesson clearly.

Every time I teach students, I want them to learn and enjoy my class at the same time. That’s why I always incorporate educational games in the learning process. I also give them stickers which has a star on it as a reward for those who are participating inside the classroom. Hence, the students will be motivated to learn and be more active in the discussions. Additionally, I always give them collaborative activities because in that practice, they will be able to develop their skills in critical thinking and working with others in which they can speak their minds through brain storming. In the end, my final demo teaching was successful because all of my students were actively participating and they all did a good job! I am very thankful for my cooperating teachers because they helped me and they are very supportive. After my teaching journey in Indonesia, I can say that I enjoyed and survived!