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Kang Guru Bahasa
  • Indonesian or English Language Coaching
  • Pelatihan Bahasa Inggris
  • How Much Can You Learn In Just 4 Months?
  • Testimonials
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • About The IELTS Exam
  • About Kang Guru Bahasa
  • Small Business Coaching
  • CONTACT
Kang Guru Bahasa



​Articles by Kang Guru

4 Keterampilan Utama yang Akan Dinilai Dalam Tes Berbicara IELTS

11/27/2020
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Saya akan mulai dengan menjelaskan apa yang bukan tes berbicara.
Berikut adalah poin-poin penting yang perlu Anda ketahui:
• IELTS bukan ujian atas pengetahuan atau kecerdasan Anda.
• Anda tidak diharapkan menjadi ahli dalam topik yang mereka tanyakan kepada Anda.
• Anda tidak akan dinilai berdasarkan konten perkataan Anda.
• Penguji tidak peduli apa yang Anda ketahui atau tidak.
Mereka hanya ingin mendengar pendapat Anda dan seberapa baik Anda mengkomunikasikannya. Itu saja.
Anda tidak diharapkan memiliki banyak pengetahuan tentang subjek yang Anda ditanyakan. Anda tidak mengambil gelar Master, Anda sedang mengikuti tes berbicara bahasa Inggris. Isi dari perkataan Anda tidak penting dan Anda tidak akan dinilai berdasarkan itu. Anda bahkan dapat membuat cerita fiksi jika perlu.
Jadi, secara spesifik, apa yang Anda diuji? Hanya empat hal ini:
 • Kefasihan dan Koherensi
• Kosakata
• Tata bahasa
• Pengucapan
Hanya ini yang perlu Anda khawatirkan. Poin-poin ini masing-masing memegang 25% dari nilai berbicara.
Kefasihan & Koherensi
 Kefasihan - kemampuan untuk berbicara dengan mudah, alami, dan dengan kecepatan yang baik tanpa banyak berhenti, jeda, atau pengulangan.
Koherensi - Cara ide-ide disusun, dikembangkan, dan dihubungkan sehingga mengalir dari satu ke yang lain secara logis dan apa yang dikatakan masuk akal.
Keduanya penting.
 Kosa kata
Agar berhasil dengan baik dalam tes, Anda perlu menunjukkan kemampuan menggunakan berbagai kosakata dengan benar.
Saya telah menyoroti kata 'dengan benar' karena banyak orang membuat kesalahan dengan berpikir bahwa mereka hanya perlu menambahkan banyak kata 'lanjutan' dan 'kompleks' untuk mendapatkan nilai kosa kata yang tinggi.
Hasilnya adalah ucapan yang penuh dengan kosakata yang tidak tepat, penggunaan yang salah, dan kalimat yang sulit dipahami. Itu resep sempurna untuk nilai rendah.
Penguji tidak ingin Anda mencoba menjadi pandai dan memasukkan kosakata paling canggih yang Anda pikirkan. Mereka ingin Anda menggunakan kata dan frasa yang benar atau paling tepat untuk menjawab pertanyaan. Malah, jika Anda memakai kosakata yang terlalu canggih atau tidak biasa memakai, kebicaraan Anda bisa diangkap sebagai tidak alami, kaku dan dengan level koherensi yang rendah.
Selain itu, Anda tidak ingin terdengar seperti profesor universitas yang memberikan kuliah, hanya orang biasa yang berbicara dalam bahasa sehari-hari. Ini sangat penting.
Tatabahasa
3 poin yang berikut sangat penting tentang tata bahasa:
• Kebanyakan orang memperumit tata bahasa.
 • Gunakan bahasa yang paling tepat untuk menjawab setiap pertanyaan.
• Pertanyaan dirancang untuk menilai kemampuan Anda menggunakan tenses yang berbeda.
Kebanyakan orang memperumit tata bahasa. Ya, Anda perlu memahami dan menggunakan tenses yang berbeda dengan benar dalam bahasa Inggris. Memang, pertanyaan yang akan Anda tanyakan dirancang untuk menguji kemampuan Anda menggunakan berbagai bentuk kata kerja dan struktur tata bahasa lainnya.
Namun, seperti semua hal lain dalam tes IELTS Speaking, Anda harus dapat menggunakan bahasa yang paling sesuai untuk setiap pertanyaan yang diberikan. Penguji tidak akan terkesan jika Anda mencoba menggunakan tiga bentuk kata yang berbeda dalam jawaban Anda, hanya untuk menunjukkan bahwa Anda bisa, padahal sebenarnya tidak pantas. Pidato Anda secara otomatis akan kehilangan koherensi dan dengan demikian Anda akan kehilangan nilai.
Untuk hal yang diatas Anda bisa sangat bermanfaat jika bekerja sama guru IELTS yang berpengalaman dan berkualifikasi saat Anda latihan untuk ujian berbicara Anda. Karna beliau pasti bisa membantu Anda untuk memakai tatabahasa yang cukup dan sesuai untuk setiap macam petanyaan.
Pengucapan
Aspek terpenting dari pengucapan agar benar adalah kejelasan, yang jelas dan mudah dimengerti. Jika penguji tidak dapat memahami Anda saat Anda berbicara, mereka tidak dapat menilai kemampuan bahasa Inggris Anda.
Kejelasan pembicaraan Anda sebagian besar ditentukan oleh lima fitur pengucapan berikut:
• suara individu
• tekanan kata
• tekanan kalimat
• pembicaraan terhubung
• intonasi
Kesalahan tata bahasa yang besar dan kosakata yang salah juga, tentu saja, akan membuat Anda lebih sulit untuk dimahami, tetapi pengucapan yang baik memungkinkan Anda untuk memamerkan semua kemampuan bahasa Anda yang lain.
Jadi, sekarang setelah Anda tahu persis apa yang dicari penguji ketika Anda mengikuti ujian, Anda sudah lebih siap daripada kebanyakan orang. Apakah Anda sudah semangat latihan untuk ujian berbicara IELTS?
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Cara dan metode penghitungan skor IELTS Anda

11/20/2020
​Di post ini, Anda dapat belajar tentang sistem Band Score IELTS alias metode yang digunakan untuk menghitung nilai ujian Anda secara keseluruhan.
Kabar baiknya adalah Anda tidak bisa gagal dalam ujian IELTS. Hasil dinilai dari 1 - 9, dengan 1 sebagai skor terendah yang bisa Anda dapatkan dan 9 sebagai skor tertinggi.
Setiap komponen tes - Menulis, Berbicara, Membaca, dan Mendengarkan - diberikan skor individu, sehingga hasil ujian Anda secara keseluruhan akan terdiri dari skor untuk setiap komponen dan skor band secara keseluruhan (overall band score). Skor band keseluruhan adalah rata-rata dari empat skor individu.
Sebagai contoh:
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​Jika rata-rata dari empat skor individu berakhir dengan 0,25, skor IELTS keseluruhan akan dibulatkan ke band paruh berikutnya.
Jika rata-rata dari empat skor individu berakhir dengan 0,75, skor IELTS keseluruhan akan dibulatkan ke band berikutnya.
Bagi sebagian orang, skor individu dan skor band secara keseluruhan itu penting. Ini akan tergantung pada tujuan Anda mengikuti ujian IELTS.
Misalnya, universitas biasanya akan mensyaratkan skor IELTS band keseluruhan 6,5 dengan komponen tidak kurang dari 5,5.
Jika Anda mengambil IELTS untuk aplikasi universitas, ketahuilah bahwa persyaratan berbeda antar universitas dan bahkan antara program yang berbeda di universitas yang sama. Selalu periksa skor apa yang dibutuhkan.

Skala Skor Band IELTS
Skor band Anda dirancang untuk memberikan penilaian yang akurat tentang tingkat kemahiran Anda dalam keempat aspek bahasa Inggris - Menulis, Berbicara, Membaca, dan Mendengarkan.
Ini kemudian dapat digunakan oleh berbagai institusi untuk membantu mereka memutuskan apakah Anda akan dapat belajar, bekerja atau hidup dengan sukses di negara tempat Anda melamar.

Tabel ini menunjukkan keseluruhan skor IELTS dan deskriptornya.
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Penilaian IELTS secara Detail
Berikut adalah beberapa informasi tentang bagaimana masing-masing komponen dinilai. Ini akan membantu Anda memahami sistem skor band IELTS.

Mendengarkan
Tes mendengarkan berisi 40 pertanyaan. Satu nilai diberikan untuk setiap jawaban yang benar (skor mentah). Skor dari 40 kemudian diubah menjadi skala sembilan band IELTS.

Tes Mendengarkan - Konversi Skor Mentah:
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Bacaan
Tes membaca juga berisi 40 pertanyaan dengan satu nilai diberikan untuk setiap jawaban yang benar (skor mentah). Skor dari 40 kemudian diubah menjadi skala sembilan band IELTS.
Namun, ada perbedaan dalam penilaian antara tes Bacaan Akademik dan Bacaan Umum seperti yang dapat dilihat pada tabel di bawah ini. Mereka menunjukkan jumlah rata-rata nilai yang diperlukan untuk mencapai skor band IELTS tertentu, meskipun ini mungkin sedikit berbeda di antara ujian karena variasi teks yang digunakan pada kesempatan yang berbeda.
Biasanya, perlu untuk menjawab lebih banyak pertanyaan dalam tes Membaca Umum dengan benar untuk mendapatkan nilai pita tertentu daripada pada tes Membaca Akademik.
Perbedaan antara tes Academic dan General Reading terletak pada genre atau tipe teks. Tes Membaca Akademik kemungkinan besar berisi teks dengan kompleksitas lebih besar dan berisi kosakata yang lebih sulit.

Tes Membaca Akademik - Konversi Nilai Mentah:
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Tes Bacaan Umum - Konversi Skor Mentah:
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Penulisan
Tes menulis dua bagian ini ditandai oleh penguji yang memberikan skor IELTS band berdasarkan empat kriteria:
• Pencapaian Tugas (Tugas 1) / Respons Tugas (Tugas 2)
• Koherensi dan kohesi
• Sumber Leksikal
• Rentang dan Akurasi Tata Bahasa
Setiap kriteria memiliki bobot yang sama. Rata-rata diambil dari empat skor kriteria untuk memberikan skor band IELTS secara keseluruhan.

Writing Task 1 – Assessment Criteria
Writing Task 2 – Assessment Criteria
Berbicara
Kriteria serupa diterapkan pada tes berbicara dan skor band IELTS dihitung dengan cara yang sama.
• Kefasihan dan Koherensi
• Sumber Leksikal
• Rentang dan Akurasi Tata Bahasa
• Pengucapan

Speaking Task – Assessment Criteria
1 Comment

The Future of Corporate Language Instruction is Online

11/5/2019
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In many English speaking countries corporate training is a big sector. What many native English speakers perhaps don't realise is that a huge portion of global corporate training is English language instruction. 

Many big names in language instruction in Indonesia for example like Wall Street English, English First and Berlitz make the largest portion of their profits on in-house training programs, usually focusing on business English. Additionally there are several smaller players like English Today which are completely focused on the corporate sector and are quite competitive. I predict though that in coming years corporate English instruction could change to become more affordable, effective and accessible. The driving force behind this will be the switch to online based training.

Online based training is already becoming common place for industries that rely on remote outsourcing to recruit talent. Industries like the localisation industry (translation services to help companies target new markets) have most of their training done through instructors online.  The "quiz" based online training that was prevalent over the previous decade is not what I am discussing here. I'm talking about small groups of trainees studying a personalised curriculum with a skilled online instructor.

First though let us discuss why the status quo is going to become increasingly nonviable for companies looking to upgrade their team. 

Problems With The Status Quo

 I have been teaching Business English in-house for twelve years. I began in 2007 teaching at government departments and then went on to teach at NGOs, corporations and small businesses. One thing I found through these experiences is that despite the sector an in-house trainer’s main challenge was on how to keep the trainees engaged and committed throughout the course. ​
Human beings prioritise. This is something natural and meaningful. However most people will put immediate demands in front of long term gain.
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Subsequently employees usually turn up to the first training sessions motivated and in full force. However whatever the quality of training most in-house training programs will never see the same attendance again. In some organisations it may even become a fraction of what it was. ​

Some exceptions are when:​

The organisational culture is already effectively geared towards self-improvement​

Financial incentives are provided (either deducting from or adding to wages)​

There is a slump in business and many team members are under utilised​

In the first case this is positive but rare. I have only ever experienced this in a small percentage of organisations. Still when things got extra busy at the office, attention, if not attendance, was reduced. 

The other two cases are mainly negative. Financial incentives cause extra cost to employers or reduce employee motivation to volunteer for the program (in the case of deductions / payments). A slump in business means that the organisation may be in trouble. In any case point 3 should not be “expected” as well organised businesses will still have alternative  and productive tasks to the team to do in slow periods. 

Additional to attendance there are some other inherent flaws with the traditional delivery of in-house training.​

Large group sizes​
Smaller group sizes are the single most effective pedagogical factor according to extensive research in educational psychology​

Lack of personalisation ​
Trainees learn better from material that is tweaked to their individual interests and goals. This is possible to a certain degree in adapting material to particular organisations . However the smaller the group the better the personalisation. In the case of larger teams even complementary personality types can be paired together so the group is as conducive as possible.​

One size fits all​
In large groups you will almost always have a mixture of levels. A set curriculum is not conducive to a large group with mixed levels when it comes to language learning. A skilled instructor may be able to run up to three curriculums at a time, but this reduces their efficiency with any one level and it is most likely that the number of levels at an organisation outnumber three. ​

Inflexible study times​
It is almost impossible to arrange scheduling that suits everybody in an organisation.  Because of this some team members miss out on training despite the budget being used. Often these are team members that direly need to upgrade their communication skills like sales or external consultants. These are the people in the field doing presentations and meeting potential clients.
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The Solution Is Here

Small Group Sizes​ Level Appropriate Instruction​ Flexible Scheduling​ Improved Accountability = Improved Attendance

Online Semi-Private Instruction

How Does it Work?
Team is given a placement test and orientation​ Based on this test they are separated into groups of 4​ They are given personal instruction in these groups for 25 minutes each session​ These sessions are scheduled at times that suit the individual groups​ Assessment is given in a formative manner, increasing the number of effective sessions​ Real time updates of attendance and progress can be shared with Human Resource and Training staff​

Investment Comparison Breakdown Example
In-House   

2 X 2hr / week instruction   

$50 per hour (trainer)   

+$30 (transport) if the location is in a major city centre 

 $130/session X 8.6    Total = $1,118 per month   

-Real number of employees trained: +-10/20 (due to previously mentioned variables)   

-Efficiency of instruction: sub-optimal   

-Total ours of productivity used: 172  Example $5hr X 172 =$860   

Total cost PP: $118/month plus productivity cost   

Online 
 
20 Participants = 5 groups   

$25 Per 25min session (trainer)   

5 X $25 = $125 X 8.6      Total = $1,075 per month   

-Real number of employees trained: 20/20     

-Efficiency of instruction: Prime   

-Total hours of productivity used: Less than 86 Example: $5hr X 86 = $430   

Total cost PP: $53.75/month minus productivity saving     
In short: 

-Increased effect

-Increased scope 

 Which equates to: 

-Half the cost 
​

-Double the effect 

How To Get Started

There are international providers your company can use: 
 
Example: Verbling.com/enterprise   

And also local options: 
 
Example: English-Today-Online.com   

You can also find an independent instructor you like and commission them to make such a program. Make sure they are experienced delivering online instruction to groups!   

Remember --> Even a poor instructor will do better in ideal circumstances than a master instructor in poor circumstances. 

In conclusion, online corporate training is more effective, efficient and affordable than traditional in-house training. Although not a common choice it is the one that can help give your team and company an added competitive advantage. 


 



​

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What is the easiest language to learn if your mother tongue is English?

6/27/2019
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0 Comments

Education, language and learning a language

4/26/2018
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Hi guys,

One of the points that I mentioned in the post 'How to get 100% success in teaching a foreign language' was that around 90% students spend 9-12 years studying a language but still can't speak it. They may be able to parrot some sentences out, but they aren't autonomous speakers of the target language.

This is because they are 'learning' not 'acquiring'. By 'learning' I mean 'learning about'.

One of Steven Krashen's main points in the 80s was also that there is a distinct separation between 'learning' and 'acquiring'. He called it 'The acquisition-learning distinction'.

Now although he wrote a book on this in 1981 (31 years ago) titled 'Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning' we still find that in most schools and language institutes in Indonesia today language is still learned but not acquired.

I feel there are three reasons for this:
  1. The acquisition-learning distinction has not been socialized enough with potential and current teachers
  2. It is easier to test that language has been 'learned' rather than acquired (it can be tested just like any other subject)
  3. The text books which teachers are asked to teach from (and which are preparing for those tests) focus of course on learning rather than acquiring the language. 
There are also three reasons that those three reasons shouldn't hold us back on this:

  1. It is easy to socialize the acquisition-learning distinction
  2. The nation will get a far superior benefit from almost 100% of High School graduates being able to communicate autonomously in English rather than 10%. Besides that more students are going to do well in the final year 12 exam in they have been actually acquiring the language for 9-12 years rather than just studying it.
  3. Teachers want to see their students successful. If the focus is changed to being able to autonomously communicate efficiently in the language rather than just get good test scores. I believe teachers will accept the challenge and any changes in the curriculum that supports it.
I want to make this post short and sweet because I believe this is essentially a simple point, a simple fact with simple and easy application. I hope to do more in the application of this point in the coming years, around Indonesia if God grants me that opportunity.

If students acquire English starting from their first year of primary education, they will do well in the TOEFL exams for entry into Universities because they will be competent in the language. The main things that are tested in the TOEFL exam are Reading Comprehension and Correct Vocabulary Selection (usually in the form of multiple choice questions). Grammar is tested but somebody with purely a conscious understanding of grammar will most likely do badly. The student with a subconscious understanding of what fits and what doesn't will do much better in questions relating to grammar. This has been proven in numerous studies and I have seen it also in my own personal experience with language students here.

Further more even if only a slight increase in TOEFL scores and fluency are found (worse case scenario) wouldn't it still be better that most students graduate with a communicative competency in English? a B1-B2 (European standard) competency alone opens ups many opportunities for the individual including but not limited to trade, education, employment, contacts, the global village, cultural perspectives and professional development. Essentially we would be giving millions of people a gift for life, the gift of another language.

So I hope this post has inspired you to spread the message of language acquisition which essentially means a campaign against 'language learning' as there is simple not time for both and our priorities should be clear.

Keep on sharing, shining and changing lives!

Kindest regards,

-Hugh

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What is the best way to learn a language? Is there a book on the subject?

9/27/2016
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There is not a one-size-fits all answer to this but generally speaking.

Any method/environment that gives you lots of comprehensible input (language that you can grasp the meaning of) and is just a little above your current level.

Secondly you will need some kind of ‘feedback loop’ in that when you try to use the language or guess at the meaning of difference phrases you will get some sort of response, i.e. you can not learn language in a vacuum.

Finally it should be enjoyable for you, when you are stressed it will stop you from absorbing language (see: the affective filter) and it will also cause you to refrain from practicing/learning again. A certain level of stress or confusion is normal, but too much can be fatal.

If you would like to hear more about language learning, particularly self-study you can follow Lingo Steve on Youtube, he is an educated, experienced professional language instructor with a lot of common sense advice for language learners.

Alternatively I have written a few short articles on the matter and you are free to send me any queries but I would definitely recommend you check out Steve's work first!

Good luck with your language journey and my final advice is “intensity is always the best way to start” start with an intensive experience that won’t leave you in shock but will instead leave you knowing that you too have an ability to succeed in a foreign language.
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How good are Indonesians in speaking English, their accent and fluency?

5/17/2016
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Previously Indonesians in the public school system used to study English starting from SMP-SMA (Junior-Senior High School) then schools changed it to start at SD 3 (3rd Year of Primary School) and then for quite a while it has been obligatory since SD 1 (1st Year of Primary School). For private schools, they were usually a few steps ahead with when their students started learning English, most private kindergartens already start giving English from playgroup with songs and chants, but not all.
There is an interesting phenomena here though where students can 'learn' English for 12+ years but still not be able to communicate with it. This is due to a number of reasons such as:
  • A one track curriculum, where if you fall behind there are no more entry points. This also leads to multi-level classrooms that are unmanageable for teachers.
  • Poor teaching quality (either with pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge or both)
  • Too many unrealistic competencies which are the same for city schools and schools on a mountain in the middle of a jungle. That leads to poor teaching.
  • Some people feel motivation is also a factor but I feel with realistic expectations and well trained and facilitated teachers motivation will not be a major issue. Sure if students are self-motivated learners they will do well, but they will do well without classes too.
It is a very general question when referring to 'Indonesians' but as a whole those who are given the right environment usually learn English very well, I have seen in general the Indonesian tongue and mind is very well suited for English, usually well trained Indonesians have a lovely accent and if they are of the younger generation have good grammar too. The options for Indonesians wanting to introduce their children to this international language have increased with many more schools using the Cambridge curriculum for their Maths, Science and English subjects including Islamic schools. Previously if the Muslim majority wanted to have their children schooled well and speaking English they had to send their children to Catholic schools, now many Islamic schools have improved in regards to English, although they still haven't yet got the experience to overtake Catholic schools in general.
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Changing Education Paradigms

12/14/2012
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Recently the education board in Indonesia has been seriously talking about some mammoth changes for the 2013-2014 curriculum.

The changes are said to include removing English from the primary school curriculum. They say this is because they will replace it with a subject to improve attitude.

Now although I do not really know too much about the changes yet to comment on them here, the whole issue did get me thinking about a speech I heard from Sir Ken Robinson about Changing Education Paradigms. I feel the point of his speech can be summed up in a few words - we need to seriously question what we know about education itself, rather than making small changes to curriculum, standards and management we should be making big changes to our perceptions and pushing to make education what it truly should be. Those are my words, not his but a summary none the less.

His words are "we need to change the culture of our institutions, the habits of our institutions and the habitats they occupy".

So what should education be? I don't think we can fully answer that question before we take our first steps on our new journey, and to make a new journey in a better and more effective direction we need to first remove ourselves from our current path. But hasn't the path been working fine up until  now? I think we can all agree on the answer to that. This conversation about reforming education will never stop untill we first reform and refine our thinking on the matter.

Below is a RSAnimate video of the talk he gave in 2003 on Changing Education Paradigms. It is very easy to follow thanks to the illustrations even for a non-native English speaker.

It is well worth a watch! I've transcribed my notes below the video for those who prefer to read and for those who want to see my feelings on each issue. Enjoy! ^_^

Changing Education Paradigms

-A commentary of the speech made by Sir Ken Robinson

Any of my own feelings or opinions will be written in italic like this. The summary of the speech below is not quoted word by word but rephrased/written for easy reading. 

Around the world today there is a lot of talk about reforming education. According to Sir Robinson there are 2 reasons for this.
1. Economic: How do we educate our children to take part in the economies of the 21st century? Given that we can't anticipate what the economy will look like next week? As demonstrated by the recent economic turmoil.

2. Cultural: How do we give our children a sense of cultural identity while still teaching them how to thrive in the global village?

The problem is, schools and school boards are trying to meet the future by doing what they have done in the past and in the process they alienate millions of students.

In the past we were sold the notion that if we studied hard, did well and went to college we would get a good job. Our children don't believe that anymore and they are right not to. A college degree is good, but not a guarantee on a job anymore, especially if the route to it marginalizes most of the things you think are important.

Our education system now is still based on an enlightenment view on education and caters to the needs of the industrialization era.  This creates a certain perspective of education that although very useful in the past and a great step forward then, our perspectives need to be seriously revamped to keep up with the current era.

The prophet Muhammad SAW was said to of said "Teach people according to their era!"

There is an increase in Attention Deficit Problems with teens, mainly because of a lack of adaptability in the way we educate.

The arts are a victim of this mentality as they give an aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience is when your senses are operating at their peak. When you are fully alive.

What we are prescribing for our children is an anesthetic experience. To hold their attention we are asking them to shut their senses off. What we should be doing is waking them up to what they have inside themselves.

We have a model of education based on the interests of industrialization and in the image of it (like a factory). Think about it!
  • Schools still run with ringing bells
  • Subjects are separated into different places and times
  • We still educate children in batches, separating them into age groups (like the most important thing about them was their year of manufacture).
 There are many different children of the same age that learn in different ways. Some learn better in groups, some on their own, some in the morning, some in the afternoon.

It's all about 'conformity' and you can see this in the constant increase in standardized testing. 

The above line is especially relevant in Indonesia!

Sir Ken Robinson suggests that we should go in the exact opposite direction. That's what he's talking about when he says ' a change in paradigms'.

Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is an essential capacity for creative thinking. Divergent thinking gets less with age and this surprisingly coincides with 'becoming more educated'.

This may be because amongst other things in school we are taught:

  1. There is one right answer
  2. It's in the back
  3. Don't look or copy because that would be cheating (where outside school that's called collaboration) 
We have to think differently about human capacity. See that many of the concepts we have of education are myths (like the separation of academic and non-academic individuals). Realise that great learning happens in groups, collaboration is the stuff of growth.

If we atomize students and judge them separately we form a disjunction between them and their natural learning environment.

"We need to change the culture of our institutions, the habits of our institutions and the habitats they occupy."

To discuss this article and Sir Ken Robinson's ideas together please leave a comment bellow!

Until next time, keep shining sharing and succeeding!

-Hugh 
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How to become a Suggestopedic teacher

6/13/2012
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Today I want to talk about a fairly famous method of learning a language but one that is frequently misunderstood or deemed too complicated or outdated to be practical in today's classrooms.

I want to try and dispel that notion for those who have heard of Suggestopedia and introduce it to those of you who haven't.

Unfortunately in most teacher training around Indonesia not much energy is put into studying and appreciating the different methods that have been used over the years to teach language. A lot of the time courses go into the theory of the different methods but often with a critical eye and by critical I mean 'criticizing' not 'important' which I think is an important differentiation

Suggestopedia rocked the industry when it was first released by it's creator and developer Georgi Lozanov. Unfortunately a mysterious and suspenseful curtain (an iron curtain to be precise) was drawn over the method before Dr. Lozanov could teach any practical application of the method. This curtain was only lifted momentarily when Dr. Lozanov was allowed by the Bulgarian government to go to the USA to share his method with Bobbi DePorter. He would not get many other chances to sit down in peace and share his method until the Berlin wall fell (signaling an end to the USSR) and he and his family were able to settle in Austria after hopscotching their way across Europe. 

By that time though, the method had lost momentum amongst the Language Acquisition community and was perhaps considered old news. The uniqueness of the Suggestopedia method was perhaps also a great contribute to it's fall from popularity. Like TPR Suggestopedia did not rely on textbooks to work and thus probably wasn't accepted that widely in the formal education community.

This has been a reoccurring plague of thinking that has killed or hindered many good methods for language acquisition and even our basic concept of 'how we acquire languages' has fallen flat on it's face many times because Textbooks and most Summative Tests of 'knowledge' force teachers into a box (but we will discuss that more another day).

For now let's go over the basics of Suggestopedia. Firstly Suggestopedia is based on the concept of suggestion, some people may know it as hypnosis or NLP (Nuero Linguistic Programing). Basically Dr. Lozanov knew about how negative suggestion can seriously affect the brains ability to absorb language and information. An unideal state of mind such as being in a state of worry, stress or discomfort can also have a negative affect. After Dr. Lozanov, Prof. Dr. James Asher and then Prof. Steven Krashen also came to the same conclusions that the brains Affective Filter can hinder the ability for us to absorb a target language. I have discussed this before in my article 'Break Down the Barriers to Learning a New Language'.

What Suggestopedia does is give us a routine, environment and attitude as teachers to lower the Affective Filter and optimize our students state of mind for maximal learning ability. Sounds pretty good? Well we can perhaps discuss the theory of it some other time or in person if your really interested but I'm probably right when I assume it will probably bore you and you want to see practical examples and ways to apply it in your classroom right now. Okay so here we go!

Lesson One

Step one: New Identities (this is done at the beginning of a new course. Step Two-Six will be repeated several times in a course, Step One is only done once)

To improve students motivation and to help them get 'in the zone' they accept new identities which they will use for the duration of the course. This also assists in the students understanding the culture of the language as these new identities represent individuals who are native speakers of the target language.

Step Two: Presentation of Text

I have seen this done in two ways. the first using a dramatic scene where the teacher will act out the text. The second where the teacher hands out a the text, translated but with the translation in the left column and the target language in the right (according to Lonny Goldman this is because the brain has a natural urge to look to the right of the text as we do in reading) and then reads it in a dramatized voice. In both cases the students should be completely relaxed, without pressure to memorize anything and with classical baroque music playing in the background.

Lesson Two

Step Three: The Activation Phase

The Activation Phase will be the next lesson after the Presentation of Text Phase. Students are required to of taken the text home to read before bed and first thing after getting up in the morning. They are now ready for the Activation Phase. In the activation phase, up to 12 activities playing around with the language can be done in a hour. These activities are not always completed but sometimes finished half-way through (we can see reasons for this through psychological studies that show that people remember tasks more when they haven't been completed). These activities are also all masked as fun games or tasks that have no relation to to Language Learning or Acquisition at all (this is to keep the brain relaxed and 'in the zone').

Step Four: The Passive Concert

The Passive Concert takes place at the end of a Activation Phase lesson. Here the students relax completely while they listen to the text being read in a soothing and calm way. It is preferable that they are in a reclining position and listening the baroque or 'Alpha State' sounds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 'Alpha State' it is a state where the brains activity is at an optimum activity for absorbing knowledge, you can read more about it here: 'Alpha Waves'.

Lesson Three


Step Five: The Adaption Phase

The Adaption Phase is where the students now play around with the text they have been hearing. Here are some examples of Adamption Phase activities from Lonny Goldman's Website:


'a. Oral Comprehension.  The whole class listens to a tape, and then breaks up into groups of three or four students per group. Each group receives a bundle of cut-up paragraphs, all of which, together, constitute the entire text just heard. The different groups can put the paragraphs into the right order first. When a group thinks it has won, the teacher replays the tape to check whether the order is right (more hidden oral practice!).
b. Written Comprehension.  Each student receives a different newspaper clipping and quickly reads it. Then, in pairs, the students tell their partners about their particular article. The teacher now collects all the articles and puts them down on the ground (or pins them up on a wall). The students then mill about, looking at all the articles to identify which one their partner had.
c. Written Expression.  Students must create something in writing based on a situation in the text. This might be an advertisement for a nice restaurant, an exotic tour proposed by a travel agency, a funny newscast, etc.' 
  -Lonny Goldman


Step Six: The Grammar Phase

This is the only time in the course where grammar is consciously examined. That being so, it's only grammar they they already subconsciously have an understanding of through the text. This phase is usually done in a similar fashion to the Activation Phase in that students play games with the grammar structures in a fun and stress free environment.



 Okay Guys! Well I hope you enjoyed reading about Suggestopedia. As you can see it's actually very in line with what we have learnt about how the brain works in the last 25 years. It is also in line with Steven Krashen's 5 hypotheses of Language Acquisition. So why don't you give it a try some time?

Even if you can't follow the above steps that's know problem because being a suggestopedic teacher doesn't mean you follow a formula, it just means you understand the power of suggestion or 'desuggestion' (desuggesting negative feelings and filters)  and you make sure your lessons all harness it's power.

If you'd like to see some suggetopedic lessons in action you can watch this movie series from Lonny Goldman (a practitioner of Suggestopedia from the USA):
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