Master English Teachers' Colloquium 2008

Australia-Indonesia Muslim Exchange Program 2009

2008-12-17T00:16:00.001+07:00

Media Release from Australian Embassy in Jakarta; 15 Dec 2008.

NOW OPEN

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer announced today applications are open for the Australia-Indonesia Exchange Program for Young Muslim Leaders in 2009.

This is an excellent program for young Muslims in Indonesia and Australia to promote interfaith understanding and harmony in support of the robust traditions of diversity our nations share, Ambassador Farmer said.

The Ambassador encouraged high-calibre young Muslim leaders to embrace this opportunity to be international ambassadors for Indonesian Islam by applying for the prestigious bilateral interfaith program.

Now approaching its seventh year and a highly regarded model for fostering inter-faith dialogue, the program aims to build links between Muslim communities in Australia and Indonesia.

As part of the independent and rigorous selection process, candidates are interviewed by a panel consisting of Professor Virginia Hooker (Australian National University), Professor Merle Ricklefs, Mr Phillip Knight (University of Melbourne) and Mr Rowan Gould from the Islamic Council of Victoria.
The Australia-Indonesia Exchange Program for Young Muslim Leaders is funded by the Australian Government through the Australia-Indonesia Institute.

Over the past two decades, the Institute has fulfilled a unique and vital role in fostering friendship and understanding between Australia and Indonesia through projects in the arts, music, education, youth, civil society, interfaith, Australian Studies, media and sport. Paramadina University has acted as valued partner and Indonesian coordinator of the program since its inception.

Information about the program and application process is available at www.indonesia.embassy.gov.au and www.paramadina.ac.id.

The application deadline is Friday, 9 January 2009 by 4pm.

Media Enquiries:
Fiona Hoggart (First Secretary, Cultural) Tel. (021) 2550 5260

Job Vacancy

2008-12-11T21:57:00.003+07:00

Translator Job Description:

Position:

English/Indonesian and Indonesian/English Assistant Translator

Service:

Internal Firm Services – Knowledge Management

Location:

Jakarta - Indonesia

Roles & Responsibilities:

We are looking to fill an existing Assistant Translator position within the Language Services Unit with good command of formal Indonesian language and capability and fluency in English to Indonesian and Indonesian to English translations of a broad range of materials, including: media, Indonesian government regulations, publications and presentations; proposals and ad hoc translation assistance to the assurance, tax, advisory and internal firm practices.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated individual to also promote language improvement programs for staff at large.

Requirements:

· Minimum S1degree in English language (preferably in linguistics) ;
· Work experience, preferably in business related translation;
· Sufficient knowledge of formal English language;
· Familiar with translation memory software such as Wordfast and Trados would be a plus;
· Good command of MS Word and MS Powerpoint;
· General awareness of the following fields would be considered a plus point:
o Government regulations, accounting standards, taxation
o Oil and Gas
o Mining Industry
o Economics, Business, Marketing
o Financial Services

Interested candidates should send application and CV to:
maria.e.sundah@ id.pwc.com

My Local Colloquium

2008-11-19T13:11:00.007+07:00

My first local colloquium took place last Saturday, November 15 in the computer laboratory of SMKN 1 Probolinggo. Attended by 12 teachers, apart from me, the meeting, which was actually an MGMP meeting, lasted for about three hours, starting from 09:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm. About 5-10 other teachers who had been invited could not attend the meeting due to several reasons.

On the occasion, I had a chance to pass some of the important information that I had got from the last MET Colloquium in Jakarta last August. Among those was the Internet-Based TOEIC Test on Speaking and Writing about which my colleagues in Probolinggo were completely uninformed. It was quite surprising for me to find that none of them knew or had heard about such test before. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come to them with something to read or see since it was not our main agenda of the meeting. (We hadn’t had the Examinee Handbook and other necessary data copied) However, I promised them that I would provide the forum with more information about the test in our next meeting.

The other thing, the main agenda of the meeting, was a brief workshop on Hot Potatoes. Though some of them, especially the ladies, seemed to have a rather hard time with computers, my colleagues were quite enthusiastic about the program. Despite the use of LCD, I had to run and move here and there many times to assist them with their work. But I enjoyed it. Let’s consider it a form of physical exercise for me.

The reason for the agenda was that we felt it was quite necessary to introduce computer-based tests to our students, and to vary the teaching methods that we apply from time to time by making use of any available teaching-learning media including computer. Based on my own experience, if presented correctly, a test or quiz in such a computerized form as Hot Potatotes files can be fun and enjoyable to the students. It can be a new and constructive learning experience which, in turn, will nurture and help maintain their motivation in learning.

I was quite happy to be able to share what I know and to pass necessary information to my colleagues in Probolinggo and I really appreciate their willingness to learn. I feel grateful for SMKN 1 Probolinggo, especially the headmaster (though he seemed to be unsupportive at first) and my colleagues and friends there (for their help from the very beginning), for allowing English MGMP teachers to use the computer lab. I should also thank Mr. Gumawang Jati from Bandung Talent Source for his kindness to share his paid ‘Hot Potatoes’ software with us teachers. (Well, it’s clearly not for nothing, sir)

Above all, I should extend my heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Jenny Lee, Mr. Victor Chan and everyone in ITC Jakarta for their effort in upgrading English teachers through Master English Teachers’ Colloquium program. Speaking in a broader context, I believe that all your work and effort will bear its fruit and add a color of value to the English language teaching in Indonesia. God bless you all.

Last but not least, I hope my MET colleagues will share their experience here. We would like to hear from all the Masters because I’m sure there must be something that we can learn from you. You are all such great people I can never forget the moments that I shared with you. Keep in touch and keep sharing, Masters.

VIbel

2008-11-12T00:56:00.003+07:00

New way of teaching online click here

www.bandungtalentsource.com/programs

2008-11-12T00:38:00.003+07:00

What is Hot Potatoes?

The Hot Potatoes suite is a set of six authoring tools, created by the Research and Development team at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre.
They enable you to create interactive Web-based exercises of several basic types.
The exercises are standard Web pages using XHTML 1.1 code for display, and JavaScript (ECMAScript) for interactivity.
These core W3C standards are supported by all good modern browsers, including Internet Explorer 6+, Mozilla 1.2+, Phoenix, Safari, and many others.
The authoring tools will also handle Unicode, so you can create exercises in virtually any language, or in a mixture of languages.
You don't need to know anything about XHTML or JavaScript to use the programs.
All you need to do is to enter your data -- texts, questions, answers etc. -- and the programs will create the Web pages for you.
Then you can post them on your Web site or save on your hard disk/flash disk or even diskette.
However, the programs are designed so that almost every aspect of the pages can be customized, so if you do know HTML or JavaScript code, you can make almost any change you want to the way the exercises work or to the format of the Web pages.

Distinguish Various Similar Sounding Words

2008-10-13T10:50:00.004+07:00

On the English test, you may have to choose among statements that contain similar sounding words. Some English words have similar pronunciation. To distinguish similar sounding words you have to listen and study the differences in making the words sound with our organ of speech. Then, you have to think about what will make sense in the sentence.

Here are some English words that have similar sound but they have difference in meaning whilst are in a sentence.

A. Words that sound similar at the beginning
Personal personnel
Magnet magnate
Respectively respectfully
Than then
Devise device

And find some more other words.

B. Words that sound similar at the end
hand brand
cab tab
large charge
pay say
place pace

And find some more other words.

C. Words that sound similar when combined with other words.
(they are) they’re their
(he will) he’ll hill
(we will) we’ll well

To train your students, find some books with best practices on similar sounding words. Reading aloud is very applicable here to train students’ oral language, and listening to reading aloud poetry that rhymes are good ways to practice.

2008-10-08T23:07:00.000+07:00

Bilingualism: Better to start early

2008-10-08T20:27:00.002+07:00

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 09/14/2008 | Supplement

Parents want it for their children, international careers really demand it, globalization practically insists upon it and more and more schools are providing it, but the simple truth is that becoming bilingual is for most people very, very challenging. But parents who want their children to grow up to be bilingual can do a lot to help.

A key way to help children toward bilingualism is to start them early. It has even been known for parents of two nationalities and so users of two languages to start talking to their child in both languages when the child is still in the mother's womb, almost as if when born the child will be bilingual. This, though, is taking things to extremes.

Whether or not such practices do really work in, as is claimed, "Tuning the baby's ear and mind to the two languages" is questionable, but children who are even as young as 18 to 24 months of age can already begin to show capacities toward being able to comprehend and communicate in two languages.

Of course, when children are this small we are not talking about the production of long sentences or even sentences at all but instead there may be a focus on single words and on particular nouns as they begin to grasp the names given to things. But little children can be taking their first steps physically and their first steps linguistically in two languages.

There have been suggestions that speaking two languages can be confusing for children but this is just not the case. Children can cope and they can cope more easily the earlier they are exposed to the two languages. It is therefore more about exposure and becoming comfortable with the two languages than any worrisome ideas about confusion.

What small children quickly develop is an ability to do something that is known as code-switching. This means that they can achieve comprehension and processing in two languages and so are able to produce words and expressions with ease within both languages. This can reach a level of sophistication that allows them to switch from one language to another practically from one sentence to the next or even in the same sentence.

But code-switching also means that a child can identify which language is appropriate to use when. There is an instinctive response here that is a natural consequence of growing up in a bilingual setting. This can be seen very easily when looking at children who are the progeny of parents of different nationalities.

Within one family here in Jakarta we have a perfect example of this. Two children with an Australian mother and an Indonesian father from Bandung exemplify a bilingualism that is practically enviable. They can fluently converse in both English and Bahasa Indonesia; they can even get by in Sundanese thanks to their father's background.

What makes them a perfect example of code-switching is the way in which they instinctively know which language to adopt when. If they are with their parents they will easily switch between English and Bahasa Indonesia using both languages because they know that their parents can understand them in both.

Meanwhile, if they are in the company of their Indonesian grandparents they will use Bahasa Indonesia and even occasionally slip into Sundanese. While if they are in the company of their Australian grandparents, English is the language that they instinctively know has to be used.

All of this exists for very practical usage reasons. The children are simply finding the best ways that they can to be understood and to understand what is going on around them. It is all part of what happens naturally as little children come to terms with language.

Small children learn any language by imitating sounds. They listen and imitate and so learn. This process happens naturally in children whether only one language is being spoken or even two. It should also be noted that this process is widely and rightly regarded to be beneficial if it is happening for two languages.

It is widely accepted that speaking different languages is beneficial for the development of the brain. Being able to speak different languages allows for improvement in the process of metacognition. This means that children instinctively gain a better understanding of what language is all about.

This is, therefore, not about language instruction and learning the structure or grammar of a language. This is sub-conscious, much more natural "language growth". Children grow into languages and so learn, or pick up, the language through exposure to it and practical use of it.

Some people deny it, but it seems a fairly common experience that the older you get the harder it becomes to learn a new language. This is because patterns and structures become fixed, even single words -- nouns become fixed and it can be difficult to become familiar with and internalize new ways of expressing meaning and applying new words to objects or concepts. As they say, "it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks".

But little children are not "old dogs" they are rather "young puppies" who are eager and capable of learning. Their brains are highly receptive and have often been described as sponges ready to soak up new ideas and ways and so too they are highly receptive to language and indeed languages.

The message here then is simple: starting them early in a bilingual, language rich environment is bound to prove beneficial. They will learn without really being conscious of the learning that is happening naturally within them and the long-term benefits of this may be incalculable. The ability to speak more than one language inevitably broadens horizons and opens up greater opportunities.

It can be difficult for parents who have grown up and lived in a monolingual setting to cope with the challenge of developing bilingualism but this is where good educators can and should come in to help. Children can and often will go beyond what their parents can do and this can be a good thing for them and for us all.

Another example illustrates how "natural" learning and exposure to language can get results and take children beyond their parents' expectations. A small child was being sent to an international preschool in Jakarta and the parents of this Indonesian boy were surprised one day when he began uttering words they could not understand. It eventually became clear that he was using Korean words as many of his preschool friends were from Korean families.

Again, results outside expectations but happening naturally and happening early because the child quite simply could pick up and learn the words. The lesson is clear, if bilingualism is an aim then start early. An early start reaps dividends later on.

Simon Marcus Gower , Contributor , Jakarta

MORE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARES

2008-09-19T18:45:00.006+07:00

Dear All,

It's great to know more and more MET's join our team-blog day by day.
I have pleasure in informing you 3 (three) more additional softwares that I've found recently. (You can also find them in the sidebar on the left). Click on the link to download FOR FREE.

1. TEACH 2000.8.20 (Personal Teaching Assistant)
2. VOCABULARY TEACHER 1.5 (Learn New Language)
3. RHYMESAURUS FREE EDITION 2.0 (Rhyming Dictionary)

Hope they're useful for us.

MOTIONS FOR NATIONAL SMK ENGLISH DEBATE

2008-09-19T08:31:00.004+07:00

Lampiran:
JADWAL GELAR PRESTASI DAN BELA NEGARA TINGKAT NASIONAL TAHUN 2008
MATA LOMBA: DEBAT BERBAHASA INGGRIS

Note: Check in and Registration, October 23, 2008
VENUE IN BANDUNG
THE MOTIONS OF ENGLISH DEBATE COMPETITION FOR ‘GPBN2’
OCTOBER 23 - 28, 2008
BANDUNG

EDUCATION:
1. THBT international standard school is a wishful thinking.
2. THBT nation character building is a speculation.
3. THBT national examination is educating.

REGIONAL AUTONOMY:
1. That governor is elected by president is feasible.
2. THBT regional autonomy is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
3. THBT decentralization dampens the spirits of unity.

POLITICS:
1. TH should endorse a test in national language to all candidates.
2. THBT strong leadership is the key to nation development.
3. THBT Pancasila still exists.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
1. THBT technology will eventually exterminate the man.
2. TH should develop technology-based manufacture.
3. THBT science endangers civilization.

MEDIA:
1. THW close porn sites.
2. THW ask more responsibility to the media.
3. That electronic cinema is corrupting our living values.

WORLD OF WORK:
1. That selling state-owned companies to public is loss-making.
2. THBT a multi-national company is monopolistic.
3. THW tolerate outsourcing in industry.

ETHICS AND MORALITY:
1. That we should change the way of life.
2. THW stop formalism with moral education.
3. THBT modern society drops off people morality.

NATIONAL POLICIES:
1. THBT giving money to the poor is humanizing.
2. THBT the increased fuel price denies the constitution.
3. THBT declaration of ‘Indonesia Can Do’ is naive.

Note:
- TH : This House
- THW : This House Would
- THBT : This House Believe That

score

2008-09-17T10:00:00.004+07:00

Hi, MET'S. Have you got your TOEIC score ? Tell us if you're the representatif of exchange teacher.

DJ new Blog

2008-09-15T07:26:00.002+07:00

Hi MET2!
This is my new blog. I have made it a couple hours ago.
You can visit me at: http://met2008-dj.blogspot.com
Enjoy English teaching! All the best for you.

selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa

2008-09-11T08:12:00.004+07:00

wish you(especially for the moslems) a happy and peaceful fasting month

punishment

2008-09-10T21:20:00.003+07:00

it seems that physical punishment isn't working today, especially in the month of ramadhan, well i have a good alternative ( at least.. that's what i think). i asked them to find Led Zeppelin ( my favourite band) 's lyrics, translate it and send it to my email. well, they are in the multimedia class, so it'll be shameful if they can't send email... cheers..

When Master Teachers Dance Poco-Poco

2008-09-09T21:36:00.006+07:00

This video was recorded during the cultural night held in the last evening of the Colloquium, Aug 15, 2008. Most of the 39 teachers were dancing joyfully to the rythm of Poco-poco, which is a traditional dance. (Please excuse the quality of the film)
"C'mon Masters, dance the nite away. Move your feet to the left and to the right. Don't stop 'cause this is our last night."

goodmorning mets

2008-09-09T08:15:00.003+07:00

sorry late 2 post on our blog. goodmorning bloggers.how r u all?have u done ur cascading?have u got ur toeic score?don't let me be the last 2 know any good and bad news,oc?

Chart of Country, Language and Nationality

2008-09-09T08:12:00.005+07:00

Dear MET's!
It's nice to rock you here! What's Up All of U?
Well, I am Dj want to share with U about the following chart. Hope it will be valuable for us.
Best regards!

This chart shows first the country, then language and, finally the nationality of many major countries from around the world.
One syllable
France-French-French
Greece-Greek-Greek
ends in '-ish'
Britain-English-British
Denmark-Danish-Danish
Finland-Finnish-Finnish
Poland-Polish-Polish
Spain-Spanish-Spanish
Sweden-Swedish-Swedish
Turkey-Turkish-Turkish
ends in '-an'
Germany-German-German
Mexico-Spanish-Mexican
The United States-English-American
ends in '-ian' or '-ean'
Australia-English-Australian
Brazil-Portuguese-Brazilian
Egypt-Arabic-Egyptian
Italy-Italian-Italian
Hungary-Hungarian-Hungarian
Korea-Korean-Korean
Russia-Russian-Russian
ends in '-ese'
China-Chinese-Chinese
Japan-Japanese-Japanese
Portugal-Portuguese-Portuguese

englishbaby.com

2008-09-08T10:08:00.003+07:00

Good news!! We can make our own website like friendster or multiply but this web is especially for ones who are willing to learn English. I found the web from mr. Heriyanto Kudus (thanks bro ^_^) n directly join it. It helps us with english slang, business english, basic english, and have streaming audio to listen to natural conversation for free. We also can find info about TOEFL, IELTS, and other English proficiency test, movies, grammar, vocabularies as well as friends to learn English. Just check it out and ask our students to join it. Believe me Friendster has become too crowded =P. Go to www.englishbaby.com and meet u there!!!!

Word Web - Free English Thesaurus & Dictionary

2008-09-01T23:44:00.003+07:00

Very useful and easy to use. And it's free!
Click here to download Word Web

ENGLISH TESTS (1)

2008-09-01T20:23:00.008+07:00

Feel free to:
1. Use it for your class
2. Comment on it
3. Add more tests of yours

CLOZE READING TEST - Topic: Global Warming (Click Here) Uploaded: 09/06/08

TEST OF ENGLISH FOR COMPUTING (Click Here) Uploaded: 09/06/08

VOCABULARY QUIZ (Click here)

CONJUNCTION & PARTICIPLE QUIZ (Click here)

CONDITIONAL SENTENCE QUIZ (Click here)

Good luck with your English.

Websites for Self-Study of English

2008-08-29T21:50:00.005+07:00

(as presented in the colloquium by Michael E. Rudder, PhD; Regional English Language Officer, U.S, Embassy)
Feel free to add more if you know

http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/
www.learnenglish.de
www.english-at-home.com
www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm
www.learn-english-online.org/
http://eslcafe.com
http://www.linguistic-funland.com
http://www.eslpartyland.com
http://www.towerofenglish.com
http://iteslj.org
http://202.23.150.181/users/kkitao
http://www.tesol.net/esloop
http://www.study.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/9260/online.html
http://www.1-language.com

Added:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk
http://www.churchillhouse.co.uk
http://esl.about.com
http://eslpod.com

Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!

2008-08-27T23:59:00.008+07:00

Hi, Masters!
I have found a way how to upload your Hot Potatoes files to the web FOR FREE in www.zoho.com (million thanks to Robert E. Woodhead who has referred us to this great website). While there may be many other ways of uploading files to the web, I do hope this little piece of information is valuable to us. It WORKS! N It's FREE! Just follow these steps:

1. Visit zoho.com
2. Click "Zoho Projects" (Project Management Software)
3. Click "Sign Up For Free"
4. Choose a plan (e.g. Free) & click "Sign Up"
5. Fill all required fields & click "Sign Up"
6. Click "Continue"
7. Fill in the field of Project Portal URL as you wish (this will be your portal address)
(e.g. http://met2008.projects.zoho.com)
8. Now you're supposed to be on "My Home" page. Click "New Project" link in the box on your left-hand side.
9. Give your project a name.
10. On "Dashboard", click "Add New Document"
11. You can now browse your "Hot Potatoes" files and upload them to the web.

Should you have further questions, feel free to post a comment or e-mail me (I'm also at YM). Happy uploading. :D
Notes:
- The URL name (address) of your Hot Pot files will generally be too long and difficult for other people to memorize or write. Therefore, it is advisable that you have a blog and post the link there. Example: Click Here for a Test on Conditional Sentences
- If your file comes with a video or audio file, I guess you must upload the video/audio to the web first and insert it to your Hot Pot file from the web.

hi there

2008-08-27T17:40:00.004+07:00

hi everybody...
it was great to meet you all there.. interesting people, interesting sessions, great experience and of course great facilities. it was great to meet you all there..

good luck for you all
and Indonesia.

Hi Teachers!

2008-08-26T10:05:00.006+07:00

Hi there!
I am very grateful to learn and share with you all. One source that you can use for listening activities and freely downloaded just go to www.eslpod.com
Enjoy your day!

Internet and ELT

2008-08-23T23:41:00.004+07:00

I was really happy to share a bit of what I know in the occasion. I am also happy that you are using blog for sharing ideas. Actually I am also using blog for teaching writing (click here to see) and I also have cozzy-corner (click here).

At the moment I am also helping a school in developing a LMS (click here). If you want to know where I work as my part time job (click here) which is really fun.

Anyway, It was great to meet you all, and looking forward to meeting you guys at another occasion. If you are interested in joing an ELT mailing list, please email me.