After all the observations and practice teaching that have been done, we can summarize some things.
PURPOSES OF PRACTICUM
This teaching practicum aims to enable the 4th year pre-service student teachers to develop the teaching skills and pedagogy, to prepare the pre-service student teacher to face the world of work, to encourage the pre-service student teacher to practice the English skills, and to allow the pre-service student teachers to gain broader regional and world view.
PROCEDURES OF PRACTICUM
In this program, we had 4 parts to be passed which are divided into 4 weeks, those are orientation and observation in the first week, teaching assistant in the second week, practice teaching in the third week, also evaluation and reflection in the last week. After doing the school orientation and observation on teacher in the first week, then in the second week we moved to the next part/agenda. Actually, it must be the teaching assistant but since on the third week the school will conduct the midterm examination for all grades therefore it will be impossible to have the learning process and complete 20 hours of teaching hours (as what's requested by SEAMEO) in that week, so school revised our schedule and switched it into the practice teaching in the second week, while the teaching asisstant will be on the third week.
So, before conducting the practice teaching, student teacher had to know the topic that will be discussed to students based on the curriculum of school and also conditions of students in classroom. After that, student teacher makes a plan in form of lesson plan about what learning strategy, method, and model that will be used to achieve the learning objectives of the topic then submit it to the cooperating teacher. Cooperating teacher will guide and give the student teacher some suggestions to make the better of learning process planning. After being approved by coordinating teacher, student teacher prepare the tools and materials that are needed in conductiong practicum. After all the preparations are ready, student teacher conduct the practicum in classroom. Then, student teacher performance will be evaluated by supervisor from school and university, it was conducted in the last week of practicum.
OUTCOMES OF PRACTICUM
After conducting this teaching practicum, the student teacher will be more prepared to face the work world, student teacher will have more experiences in using English in teaching and teaching students with different culture and habits, student teacher get increasing in self confident, student teacher is get used to adapt to the new environement, especially in making the appropriate planning, such as strategies, methods, and models that will be used in learning process based on the environment conditions, student teacher is get used to adapt with time to make a good time management, and many more.
CHALLENGES OF PRACTICUM
Besides of many outcomes that we got from this practicum, of course there were also some challenges. At the very first time before going to teach, the thing that became the most challenge was how to build self confidence. That’s one of the very important things that must be prepared before standing in front of students, because lost of self confidence means lost of everything, even the learning materials and other tools have been well prepared. But, after passing the first day of practicum, self confidence was getting bigger since we had known more about the classroom situations. Another challenge was about the language, sometimes even we use English in explaining the topic, but there will be some students that not really understand the explanation, therefore they needed explanation using their own language (in this case, using Tagalog language), sometimes their friends who understand the topic will give the explanation in Tagalog. Besides the challenge of language, it was also about the challenge in finding the tools or equipments in conducting practicum since we know that we were in another country so it was sometimes hard to find the stuffs that we needed. Another challenge was how to approach to the students with different culture, how to get their respects and attentions since they just knew us for a short time, so sometimes it’s a little bit hard to keep them quiet during the lesson.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
To be honest, it was my first time to go abroad and experiencing a teaching practicum in another country with people who have different cultures, language, and habits. It was hard at the very first time before teaching, but day by day of practicum has taught me many things. Feeling so blessed that I was assigned to Far Eastern University High School which is have the good rules about school, especially class system. The students there were already guided well to be a well mannered students, they know how to respect other people, especially visitors. The teachers there also cooperative, so it was not really hard to adapt with them, they are all very nice and humble. Although sometimes languages become a problem to understand each other, but that’s not a big problem at all. By joining this program, I was challenged to enhance my time management, adaptation, and English skills and those things will become my treasures in the future. After this, I also feel that my self confidence is increasing and braver to take the new challenges to reach the best of my self. All I can say is, it was one of the wonderful journeys of my life, instead become the best so far:)
SUGGESTIONS AND IMPROVEMENT
This program is a very fruitful opportunity for the student teacher to improve the pedagogy and English skills. For me, it has gone well. But, we can’t deny that there are still some things to be improved. Besides to improve the pedagogy and English skills of student teacher, this program also big possibly to broaden the networks of us. So, hopefully on the next batch the spread of students to every countries and universities can be distributed evenly based on the participating countries so that students can exchange cultures and experiences especially in teaching pratice with other students from other countries. Example, there were 3 of us from State University of Makassar came to Far Eastern University in Philippines, there were just three of us, nobody else whereas I hoped that I would meet other friends from Thailand there, but the fact is NO. So, I did not really feel the atmospheres of sharing cultures and experiences, since two of my friends came from the same university with me. So, that's what I regretted of.