MGMP Effective in Dissemination

Having been pressed to increase the quality of education especially in English teaching, all the English teachers who are part of the Teachers Working Group (MGMP) in Pacitan, held a workshop on 13 September 2005 on the Competency-Based Curriculum (KBK). This activity was aimed at achieving an understanding of the 2004 curriculum and helping teachers to use teaching and learning processes in English which will encourage the students think actively, grow in creativity, and achieve language skills in an enjoyable atmosphere.

The training was also aimed at livening up the school and district level MGMPs. The 105 participating teachers came from state and private, conventional and religious junior secondary schools (SMP and MTs). At least half of the total number of English teachers in Pacitan attended. The two days training that was really a MGMP forum was run jointly by the organizing committee and MBE consultants (Bpk Maskur and Ibu Furaidah). Teachers that had already received PAKEM and other training and MGMP officials helped provide guidance and support to the group of teachers. At the end of the training the participants felt that KBK is not as difficult as they had at first imagined. The overall picture was becoming clearer, as were ways of overcoming problems such as shortages of student books. Topics covered included: a curriculum analysis, understanding different kinds of texts, writing texts, making a syllabus, and making lesson plans after an example had been modeled for them. Through this kind of training it is hoped that teachers will be able to develop lesson materials independently. The training will be followed up at future MGMP meetings. With an improved syllabus teachers were able to make better worksheets and were able to implement KBK-based English language teaching using PAKEM. 99% of the participants felt satisfied with the training. This was reflected in the enthusiasm of the participants to meet the very tight-schedule of sessions and from their own written evaluations during the training. The training was opened by the Bupati and also attended by the Head of the Education Office, Supervisors, and Principals. The participants thought it was very effective and that similar activities need to be run by MGMPs for other subjects. As a result of this training it is hoped that the development of PAKEM will be accelerated. The funding which was shared between the teachers of the MGMP and MBE proved the willingness of the teachers, if they are supported by their schools, to make an effort to improve quality. Thank you, MBE and hopefully it will benefit us.

By Kun Widayati Zulaika, a teacher at SMPN1 Pacitan.

BLITAR: Learning Out of Class at SMPN 1 Wlingi

On the 26 November 2005, grades 7A and B of SMPN 1 Wlingi visited the studio of Radio Purnama FM which happens to be located only 700 meters from the school. It was only a short walk to the studio through rice fields and it felt like a recreational stroll and an opportunity to breathe some fresh-air.

The main objective was to help develop the students’ competencies in Bahasa Indonesia, including writing news items, reading news, and developing interviewing skills together with a news media expert. Helped by Ibu Muti’ah, the students enjoyed interviewing the news presenter Ibu Dea whom they had only known previously from her voice.

Ibu Dea herself is a graduate from SMPN 1 Wlingi. The activity also formed links between the school and one of its graduates. This type of activity also increases the community’s role in education.

Ibu Dea replied politely to the questions from the students. Besides asking her about her career as an announcer, they tried to get an understanding of news management: how to find news, who searches for the news, how to write stories up, and how to broadcast them. The students were able to observe these thing at first hand and ask questions of an expert.

There were many positive benefits to the students from the visit. They were very active during the activity. They really enjoyed learning in a new setting outside the classroom. More than that, it also broadened their horizons. A mastery of speaking and reading could well be an asset for the future. For example it can lead someone into being a reporter. From this activity it can be seen that studying outside the classroom is easy, cheap and leads to excellent results.

MAGETAN STIRRING….!!!

Magetan district made a study visit to MBE target schools in the towns and districts which have already made progress. It is hoped that this will be an inspiration and reference point for school stakeholders so that they can make better use of their resources and improve the quality of education in Magetan through SBM, Community Participation and PAKEM.

The study visits were divided into 2 groups. Firstly Magetan sub-district visited Blitar district on 8 Septem-ber 2005 with ap-proximately 100 participants including principals, committee members and teach-ers from MBE target and other schools.

The second group, from Maospati sub-district, visited Batu on 20 December 2005 and included approximately 160 principals, committee members, and teachers from MBE target and other schools.