ELITE DE COM

SMK N 1 CILACAP English Debaters will compete in ELITE DE COM (English Literature Debate Competition) UNSOED PRWOKERTO, MAY 9 – 10 2009.

THE MOTIONS

LAW AND POLITICS

THW ban independent candidates

THW legalize abortion for senior high pupils

THW send the drug user to the rehabilitation center better than prison

SOCIAL

THB in BLT

THBT kerosene conversion brings more harms than good

THW ban divorce to any couple having children

EDUCATION

THBT single sex schools bring more harm than good

THW ban non-regular intuition charge

THW ban sex education in the formal school

HEALTH

THBT people are getting irrational

THW ban worldwide web glorifying youth eating disorder

THW stop importing snack from other countries

ENVIRONMENT

THB in REDD

THBT earth hour is ineffective

THB in vegetarianism

Good Luck for the debaters, just fight for the glory. I pray for every success for you.

Accelerated Teaching

Guru adalah anggota masyarakat yang sangat berjasa. Ia memilih membimbing
tunas-tunas muda lebih dari sekedar mengajar. Ia merancang suatu pemikiran
cemerlang, bertindak dan memecahkan persoalan yang relevan.

Berbagai metode dikembangkan oleh guru. Salah satunya adalah accelerated learning (teaching).
Melalui penerapan teknik accelerated learning di kelas, anak-anak walau
memiliki kemampuan kurang tampak seperti benih yang hendak tumbuh.

Langkah demi langkah accelerated teaching dapat diringkas dalam satu
kata: MASTER. Dengan M:
Mind, A: Acquiring the fact, S: Search out the
meaning, T: Trigger the memory, E: Exhibit
what you know dan R: Reflecting.

Ciptakan
Suasana Hati yang Tepat (MIND)

Hubungan
yang baik antara guru dan murid adalah salah satu faktor penentu apakah
pembelajaran dapat berjalan dengan menyenangkan dan efektif. Sangat penting meluangkan waktu bersama siswa dan menjamin siswa
dapat menerima, bebas stres dan suasana hati gembira.

Berikut ini adalah beberapa cara membangkitkan motivasi siswa:

v Jelaskan pada siswa cara kerja
otak mereka dan gaya belajar.

v Tekankan relevansi.

v Visualisasikan kualitas hasil.

v Beri siswa kepercayaan mengatur.

v Beri jaminan rasa aman untuk
kesalahan.

v Sugesti keberhasilan.

v Pasang poster ‘sukses’.

Dapatkan
Informasi (Acquiring the Fact)

Saat guru
menyampaikan informasi baru, wajar bila siswa mulai melakukan internalisasi.
Siswa melakukan internalisasi dengan cara yang berbeda-beda sehingga dapat
menimbulkan kegaduhan. Bila guru berusaha menghentikan kegaduhan ini, dapat
menghambat pemahaman siswa. Cara yang efektif untuk mengurangi kegaduhan
adalah berhenti dan menganjurkan siswa berdiskusi dengan teman sebelahnya
sejenak. Pada kesempatan ini guru dapat membantu pemahaman siswa tertentu.

Dalam
suasana seperti ini guru dapat mengambil sikap proaktif:

v Ide utama; menjelaskan kembali ide
utama sehingga membantu proses internalisasi.

v Kerja sama informal; kembangkan
kerja sama informal antara siswa-guru maupun antar siswa.

Temukan
Makna (Search Out the Meaning)

Tujuan
pembelajaran bukan sekedar transfer ilmu, tetapi membantu siswa mengembangkan
pemahamannya sendiri sampai ke pemahaman yang benar tentang subjek.

Untuk membantu siswa menangkap makna, guru dapat melakukan:

v Berikan Analogi; memberikan
gambaran-gambaran yang lebih akrab atau dikenal oleh siswa.

v Kerangka visual pikiran; Anda dapat membuat diagram materi yang sedang
diajarkan atau peta pikiran. Dengan demikian hubungan antar tiap bagian dapat tervisualisasikan.

v Pemikiran mendalam; mungkin Anda
dapat membantu siswa mengkaji lebih detil. Anda dapat menunjukkan contoh
konkret atau bukti formal.

v Sequence Shuffle untuk tipe kinestesik; untuk tipe
siswa kinestesik, berilah kesempatan agar dapat melakukan gerakan tertentu.
Biarkan saja ia pindah posisi untuk merenungkan lebih dalam.

v Arahan imajinasi; bangun percaya
diri siswa. Picu imajinasinya. Dukung dan arahkan imajinasi ke makna terdalam
atau lebih.

v Pertanyaan tantangan; munculkan beberapa pertanyaan yang memancing rasa
penasaran. Tahap demi
tahap semakin dalam.

v Pembelajaran Interpersonal.

v Bantu membangun kecerdasan
intrapersonal.

v Proyek perseorangan yang
melibatkan banyak subjek.

Memancing
Memori (Trigger the Memory)

Gunakan review
berputar. Anda dapat meminta seorang siswa untuk menyebutkan apa yang paling ia
sukai dalam pelajaran yang baru berlangsung. Pernyataan
siswa itu kemudian disambung dengan siswa yang lain. Anda dapat berperan
sebagai fasilitator.

Salah satu metode terbaik untuk memori adalah circuit learning. Anda
dapat melakukan pengulangan- pengulangan secara terencana. Misalnya siswa dapat
membuat peta pikiran dari suatu subjek. Setiap hari peta pikiran itu diamati
secara sepintas. Jika ingin dikomentari, langsung ditambahkan.

Ungkapan Apa yang Diketahui (Exhibit)

Siswa jelas perlu menyatakan apa yang telah dipelajari dan seberapa
baik. Lakukan test untuk feedback.

v Tantangan yang sesuai

v Swap Shop

v Pernyataan pribadi

v Rekaman pencapaian

v Nilai

Refleksikan Apa yang Telah Dipelajari (Reflect)

Cara paling sederhana untuk memperbaiki kinerja Anda dan siswa adalah
melakukan renungan. Renungkan hal-hal apakah yang dapat diperbaiki lagi.

Refleksi guru. Renungkan apakah metode yang kita
terapkan telah sesuai sasaran. Renungkan pula apakah target kita tercapai.
Bagaimana cara memperbaikinya. Dengan perenungan ini, setahap demi setahap kita
akan menuju titik optimal.

Refleksi siswa. Tuntunlah siswa untuk merenungi apa yang telah ia
pelajari. Apakah ia telah belajar dengan cara yang efektif. Jadilah fasilitator
untuk meningkatkan kinerja belajar sisw

10 Competencies of Good Leadership

In Uncertain world like today, wedo need a good leader. To my mind being a god leader, he or she must have the following competencies;
1. Visionary
2. Inspirational
3. Strategic
4. Tactical
5. Focused
6. Persuasive
7. Likeable
8. Decisive
9. Etical
10. Open to feedback

The question is, "Can leadership really be learned or are good leaders just born?"

How well is your memory and spelling?

Let's train your brain and spelling with these tongue twisters;

Betty Botter

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter

A Flea and a Fly

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore

She sells sea shells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Woodchuck

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Stroke Order

Stroke Order

Posted by Ginny

Apr

26

2009

By request, I’ll give you four basic rules on how to write kanji (かんじ) letters. Keep in mind that stroke order differs with each calligraphy school. One school my cultivate a certain style while another may reject that style. Really, what matters is how the letters look. I’ve seen people go against the basic rules and their characters came out just fine. On the same token I’ve seen people follow the rules, with awful looking charcters. Everyone has a certain writing preference. If you go against innate preference for the sake of following the rules, the characters may not turn out as you would have liked. As a result, there is no wrong way to write Japanese characters.

You should write in a way that makes the character readable. As long as it looks remotely something close to the character, it’s fine. There has been some debate among others as to how kanji (かんじ) should be written, but I am telling you that it’s pointless because it’s the end that matters, not the means. In the end, people don’t care how you write it, they just care that it’s legible and comprehensible. With that said, here are some basic guidelines:

1) Start from the left to the right. Here’s an example : the Japanese charcter for “one” is (一). It’s just a horizontal dash written from the left hand side to the right hand side.

2) Start from the top to the bottom. The Japanese character for “three” is (三). Start from the left top and create a straight line. Then skip a space and from the left draw another straight line. Do the same for the last line.

3) Horizontals are written first. After the horizontals, you can deal with the verticals. The Japanese character for “ten” (十) is drawn with the horizontal starting from the left hand side. Then finnish it off with a straight vertical line from the top to the bottom.

4) The outside strokes are written before the inside stroke. The Japanese character for “four” (四) is written with a box or square like character first, then the insides are drawn. I’ll use a metaphor for this character. Draw the “window” first (the square) and then draw the “curtains” (the two inside strokes).

Again, if you enroll in a particular school, the philosophy of the school will go into much more depth with complicated characters. Again, you don’t have to know all those rules to write Japanese characters. The fact that we no longer write with an ink brush and have computerized ways of transcribing Japanese characters have made some of the rules obsolete, so don’t worry too much about the stroke order.

Monbukagakusho

Penerima Beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang Berangkat ke Jepang

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1. Tujuh puluh dua mahasiswa Indonesia, akan berangkat ke Jepang pada tanggal 1 April 2009 untuk melanjutkan studi mereka di berbagai bidang sebagai Penerima Beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Teknologi / Monbukagakusho).

   
   

2. Pada tanggal 31 Maret 2009, bertempat di Kedutaan Besar Jepang, telah diselenggarakan Acara Pemberangkatan bagi para penerima Beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang yang akan berangkat ke Jepang, dan Kuasa Usaha ad interim Kedutaan Besar Jepang Bapak Takio Yamada juga memberikan dukungan semangat kepada mahasiswa..

   
   

3. Para penerima beasiswa yang berangkat ke Jepang, terdiri dari 48 orang mahasiswa Program Research Student (Pasca Sarjana); 4 orang mahasiswa Program Undergraduate (S-1); 15 orang mahasiswa Program College of Technology (D-3); dan 5 orang mahasiswa Program Professional Training College (D-2).

   
   

4. Penerima Beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang selain mendapat tunjangan setiap bulan dan tiket pulang pergi Indonesia ? Jepang, mereka juga dibebaskan dari uang kuliah. Sampai tanggal 1 Mei 2008, dari 1,791 orang mahasiswa Indonesia yang belajar di Jepang, 690 mahasiswa diantaranya adalah penerima Beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang.

   
   

5. Kedutaan Besar Jepang akan membuka penawaran beasiswa Pemerintah Jepang untuk keberangkatan tahun 2010, setelah bulan April 2009.

Hanami

Hanami (はなみ)

Apr

19

2009

Hanami (花見) means “flower viewing” in Japanese. The springtime is the prime season for viewing flowers, especially sakura (さくら) flowers. Sakura (さくら) is a cherry blossom. They are pinkish and grow on trees. Every year, people all over Japan set out some time in their busy schedules to have an outdoor party amongst the sakura (さくら) flowers. It’s a time for co-workers, romantic couples and families to gather together and enjoy the outdoors and the company of others. Usually people bring some kind of blanket or mat to sit on, some sake, and some food. It’s kind of like an American picnic.

You’re probably wondering, why is the sakura (さくら) so fascinating to Japanese people? Sakura (さくら) flowers wither away almost as soon as they bloom. For centuries, the sakura (さくら) flower has been the metaphor for life. To the Japanese, life is considered transient, ephermal, or short lived. It’s kind of depressing, but at the same time it makes you realize how precious life is. Sometimes, the sakura (さくら) is used as a metaphor for youth as well. To the Japanese, youth is fleeting and that’s what makes it so bitter sweet.

Speaking of youth, sometimes you’ll see a group of college students gathering under the sakura (さくら) trees at night. When the gathering is at night it’s called yozakura (よざくら), which literally means “night sakura”. Colored lanterns are hung everywhere, which makes the atmosphere just as beautiful as the daytime. The most popular hanami (花見) spot is Ueno park (上野公園). Of course, any place with sakura (さくら) flowers will do. Most people just want to socialize, but they do it under the pretense of viewing flowers. There’s no exact day per say for hanami (花見), but it’s usually held when the weather is nice; sometime around March, April, or May.

If you live on the east coast of the U.S., you might be interested to know that Philadelphia hosts a cherry blossom festival every year. That’s the only place in the U.S. that I’m aware of that hosts a sakura (さくら) festival. Wherever you are in the world, if there’s a sakura (さくら) festival near you, write a comment in the comments section. Thanks everyone, I’m heading out now.