CO Briefs the IT participants

Kapusdiklat Bahasa Badiklat Dephan is warmly opens the DITC MTT IT (Defence International Training Center Mobile Training Team Inservice Training) at Pusdiklat Bahasa. This commandant hour is attended by Pusdiklat’s officials and English instructors, whereas from Australia’s side are newly appointed CO DITC CMDR Warwick Potter, MS Catherine, CAPT Kylie, MS Katina, and ALA CAPT Michelle Steward.

The objectives of this MTT that kicks off from 14 July to 10 August 2008 are to upgrade the participants ADFELPS Writing Skills of 5 to 6 and to enrich them with teaching methodology in particular using Military Campaign Course Book. They are 16 participants from Army, Navy, Air Force and Dephan competing to get the objectives done and hoping that their respective units can benefit from their training.

Recently, Pusdiklat Bahasa been flooded with prospective candidates for UN PKO Force. Miss Etty (officer in charge of overseas test) mentions that in a week there are more than 150 TNI personnel sit on the English Language Test. These personnel are going to be deployed to man the UNPKO missions in Libanon (UNIFIL) and Congo (MONUC). As an illustration, TNI deploys numbers of contingents to support the UN mission; Engineer, Doctors, and lately entrusted by the UN, TNI will deploy their personnel for The UN Military Police mission and Force Protection Unit Mission. The last one is taking a bunch of other ranks personnel such as private to corporal.

As we are all aware that TNI’s other ranks soldiers are well trained in tactical protection mission, they are also known as being loyal, highly motivated, seamless fighting spirit. Their skill and mastery upon their individual armament are above normal par. They are in their daily life just to train and sharpen their weaponry skill and specialization; they become sniper, bomb expert, master of disguise, sabotage expert. It is not bombastic to mention that these personnel are the expert and the master in their fields where such expertise is required for Force Protection Unit.

From our observation however, their capability to operate armament are not supported with the ability to communicate especially using English Language. We oversee and experience that not many of these soldiers pass the English language test. There are two main reasons; firstly, because they “just do the order to sit in the test from their CO” that they are not necessarily understand what they face. Secondly, because they have never been trained to do the test or attend any English course beforehand. The fact that the results are not satisfying is not a surprise.

What we can do to deal with the above issues are varies. One who has been attending KIBI might be able to internally train them within their related unit. Another might take initiatives by providing a short course prior to the test. And, the soldiers themselves might take initiative by attending English course privately. The last one will be a rare case I think.

Nonetheless to say, it is the responsibility of Pusdiklat Bahasa to train them, no matter efforts and initiatives been taken by all parties. As a sole KIBI dealer in the MOD and TNI, Pusdiklat Bahasa should take initiatives and start running the business. This is URGENT! Unless other Language Schools in the Angkatan will execute the mission, but would they?…

Roisn

A giant step has been taken and continuously encouraged by The Department of National Education (Depdiknas) to prove their commitment to public that they care about the quality of our national education. This is in particular to be viewed from the perspective of the readiness of the teaching package for those schools that financially insufficient to gain teaching package. In the past, Depdiknas distributed hardcopy of free teaching materials to these schools.

In fact, such efforts have been practiced long before today, however these methods have also been transformed into vehicles for committing corruption by some people in certain capacity. These minor conducts usually take modus operandi by asking some amount of money or fee from students or their parents for reimbursement purposes such as transport fee, meals fee, porter fee, and so forth. It sounds logic and we all participate in the drama and ironically just let these practices gone with the wind.

Today…Depdiknas launches BS-E (Electronic School Books) program where teaching materials are distributed online for free access. Efforts like this will indirectly diminish the above practices because students and parents now can freely and individually at their leisure time access and download the materials. They can do this via internet kiosks or home internet using dial-up access.

There are some benefits having BS-E established. Firstly, the initiatives indirectly promote the use of technology specifically internet to public; parents and students will learn how to access the materials. More than this, public in general will notice that internet is not a monstrous T-Rex brings destruction to moral and traditional values. Secondly, BS-E will battle the monopoly business where one door policy for book’s distribution is often singled by a particular strong distributor. Today, each and everyone can access this materials. Thirdly, economically BS-E will encourage the use of technology, therefore small business sector such as internet kiosks and printing shops will also gain better income. Lastly, the government – to certain extent- can reduce the use of paper and ink. This is consistent with the “Go Green” program.

Now, what lesson to learn from this Depdiknas initiative against our institution’s policy? When will we be able to do such practice by distributing electronic versions of our course package to our students? No more tiring, boring, and expensive printing and copying activities. Just let the students access the materials online and let them produce the chosen materials themselves. This could be the best alternative to reduce the unnecessary waste of money in our institution. This funding then can be allocated to increase the obsolete welfare of the instructors.

http://bse.depdiknas.go.id

RoisN

Jakarta,SBI. Kamis (29/05), akhirnya waktu yang ditunggu – tunggu telah tiba, detak jantung berpacu cepat menunggu saat – saat pengumuman lomba bloging yang diseleggarakan di Pusdiklat Bahasa itu. Acara yang diawali dengan briefing dari Kabandan itu sebenarnya telah ada prediksi siapa yang bakal jadi juara pertama telah menyebar luas di antara para blogger Pusbasa, apa salahnya ditunggu dengan berdebar -debar, siapa tahu panitia lomba blog salah ketik.

Tetapi, spekulasi itu salah total. Seperti yang diprediksi sebelumnya, juara I lomba blog itu adalah Retno Damayanti atau akrab dipanggil Enno. Disusul Kapten Yuline “the rockie” Monako yang pengunjungnya membludak hanya berselang kurang dari sebulan blognya diluncurkan. Yang ke-tiga Solikin, disusul juara harapan I Kapten Krisna dan harapan II Riyalat dan Ke III Tuti.

Sedang untuk lomba perkelompok, tetap saja dari Sub Pok Mandarin yang menduduki posisi teratas, ditempat kedua Sub Pok Prancis, disusul Sub Pok Rusia diperingkat ketiga. Lantas SBI diperingkat berapa? SBI masih dapat tempat di Harapan I dan Harapan  II Sub Pok Jepang

Selamat untuk para bloggers, hari ini bukanlah akhir dari perjalanan tetapi awal jalan terjal untuk mempertahankan prestasi. Perjuangan selanjutnya akan lebih berat karena dalam Lomba Blog tahap II semua bloggers se Badiklat akan turut serta, dan jangan lengah atau mereka akan dengan cepat menyambar prestasi yang telah dicapai.

Acara yang sekaligus memperingati Hari Ulang Tahun yang ke- 57 Kabadan Mayjen Anton Herrybiantoro itu diakhiri dengan potong tumpeng. Selamat ulang tahun untuk Kabadan semoga panjang umur dan diberi kesehatan.

SBI. Hari ini (Rabu,28/05) blog SBI mencapai 1000 pengunjung. Sebuah pencapaian yang memuaskan untuk blog yang tergolong baru diterbitkan ini. Tidak dapat dipungkiri bahwa tulisan – tulisan yang disumbangkan oleh para instruktur sangat berpengaruh dalam pencapaian ini. Terima kasih yang sebesar – besarnya kami tujukan kepada para instruktur yang dengan sukarela menyumbangkan pikiran, tenaga dan artikel untuk mengisi blog SBI. Seperti Kabadan utarakan bahwa pencapaian ini tidaklah seberapa karena kita mempunyai siswa dan mantan siswa yang mungkin jumlahnya mencapai ribuan. Untuk kedepannya, kami meminta partisipasi lebih aktif dari para instruktur bahasa Inggris baik yang berada di Indonesia ataupun diluar negeri. Tak lupa terima kasih kami ucapkan untuk Kapten Yuline Monako yang tidak bosan – bosannya mengirim artikel untuk blog ini ditengah kesibukkannya menempuh pendidikan S2 di Australia. Letnan Dahlan yang masih kami tunggu laporan langsung dari Australia-nya.

Kami harapkan instruktur – instruktur senior berkenan menyumbangkan pikiran – pikirannya dan dukungan dalam mempromosikan blog ini kepada para siswa sebagai sarana belajar mengajar sehingga target 5000 pengunjung diakhir bulan Juni ini dapat tercapai.

Sekali lagi kami ucapkan terima kasih.

What is bilingualism? Can we classify someone bilingual although he or she can only use a formulaic expression such as greetings? Or we have to follow the definition in the Collins Cobuild Dictionary which states the definition of bilingualism as the ability to speak two languages equally well. Bilingualism has generated a great deal of interest in recent years as the understanding of bilingualism is of great importance in education policy and political policy relating to language issues especially in bilingual or multilingual societies. Two general schools of thought are presently dominant: one is maximalist who views bilingualism as “native like control of two languages’ (Bloomfield 1933:55) and another is the minimalist who considers bilingualism as “the ability to use more than one language”(Mackey (1962:52). However, in reality, the degree of bilingualism is much more complicated and more difficult to define as this differs greatly from individual to individual and it is determined by many factors including age, socioeconomic and language background, and domain of language use and the level of exposure to both languages. In addition, not everyone becomes bilingual in the same way.

According to Chin and Wingglesworth (1991), there are five descriptors in relation to bilingualism:
1. Descriptors which refer to degree of bilingualism,
a. Balanced bilingual
For individuals who are fully competent in both languages.
b. Dominant bilingual
For individuals whose one language is more dominant than other.
c. Passive or Resesive Bilingual
For individuals who is gradually losing competence in one language, usually because of disuse.
d. Semilingual
For individulas whose level of proficiency in both languages are limited.
2. Descriptors which refer to the context of bilingual language acquisition,
3. Descriptors which refer to age of acquisition,
4. Descriptors which refer to the domain of use,
5. Descriptors which refer to and social orientation.

To discover people’s opinion on degree of bilingualism, some researchers have administered the 15 scenarios created by Hoffmann who deliberately included variables such as age, socioeconomic, language background, various domains of language use, length and type of exposure to the second language, frequency of language use. Let’s try to determine the degree of bilingual in each scenario the compare your answers with your friend’s:

( 1 ) the two-year-old who is beginning to talk, speaking English to one parent and Welsh to the other;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 2 ) the four-year-old whose home language is Bengali and who has been attending an English playgroup for some time;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 3 ) the schoolchild from an Italian immigrant family living in the United States who increasingly uses English both at home and outside but whose older relatives address him in Italian only;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 4 ) the Canadian child from Montréal who comes from an English-speaking background and attends an immersion programme which consists of virtually all school subjects being taught through the medium of French;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 5 ) the young graduate who has studied French for eleven years;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 6 ) the sixty-year-old scholar who has spent a considerable part of her life working with manuscripts and documents written in Latin;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 7 ) the technical translator;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 8 ) the personal interpreter of an important public figure;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 9 ) the Portuguese chemist who can read specialist literature in his subject written in English;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 10 ) the Japanese airline pilot who uses English for most of his professional communication;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 11 ) the Turkish immigrant worker in Austria who speaks Turkish at home and with his friends and work colleagues, but who can communicate in German, in both the written and the oral forms, with his superiors and the authorities;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 12 ) the wife of the latter, who is able to get by in spoken German but cannot read or write it;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 13 ) the Danish immigrant in New Zealand who has had no contact with Danish for the last forty years;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 14 ) the Belgian government employee who lives in bilingual Brussels, whose friends and relatives are mainly Flemish speakers but who works in an entirely French speaking environment and whose colleagues in the office (whether they are
Flemish or not) use French as well;
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

( 15 ) the fervent Catalanist who at home and at work uses Catalan only, but who is exposed to Castilian Spanish from the media and in the street and has no linguistic difficulty in the latter language.
Definitely not bilingual Definitely bilingual
1——————2——————3——————4——————-5

(Hoffmann 1991: 17)

Apa kabar kawan-kawan blogers Badiklat? Dari mulut ke mulut dan dari blog ke blog tersiar kabar bahwa Badiklat mengadakan lomba blog, benarkah? Jawabannya adalah : “benar”! Agar kabar ini tidak menjadi simpang siur, maka saya akan langsung menjelaskan aturan mainnya. Pertama, lomba yang diadakan dalam rangka memperingati “100 Tahun Harkitnas” ini hanya diikuti oleh blogers jajaran Badiklat, artinya dia harus personel Badiklat. Ke dua, lomba dibagi menjadi dua kategori, yaitu kategori blog perorangan/pribadi dan kategori blog unit/satuan. Artinya, semua blog jajaran Badiklat yang dikenal dan berhasil dikunjungi oleh panitia otomatis menjadi peserta lomba, indikasinya: panitia meninggalkan jejak di blog Anda. Bagi blogers yang merasa belum dikenal oleh panitia segera daftarkan segera blog anda kepada panitia, terserah dengan cara apa. Ke tiga, banyak faktor yang dinilai dalam lomba ini, antara lain: kualitas materi posting Anda, tentu saja yang paling dihargai adalah tulisan yang asli karya olah pikir atau pun hasil analisis Anda sendiri. Konsistensi updating juga dianggap sangat penting, maklum beberapa blog yang saya kunjungi sebenarnya pernah bagus, tapi sekarang “mati suri”. Selanjutnya, sejauh mana blog Anda relevan dengan bidang tugas/profesi, serta kesiapannya untuk mendukung konsep E-Learning yang sedang dikembangkan Badiklat. Masih banyak lagi yang dipertimbangkan, seperti keindahan/estetika blog, banyaknya kunjungan, respon dari pengunjung dsb. Ke empat, lomba akan dilaksanakan dalam 2 tahap, untuk masing-masing tahap disediakan hadiah-hadiah yang menarik. Nah para blogers Badiklat, hari ini panitia mulai menilai untuk tahap pertama, hasilnya akan saya umumkan pada tanggal 29 Mei 2008. Penilaian tahap ke dua akan dilaksanakan minggu ke dua atau ke tiga bulan Juni dan hasilnya akan diumumkan tanggal 29 Juni 2008. Demikian penjelasan saya, kalau ada pertanyaan atau saran sampaikan melalui komentar Anda di blog ini. Selamat berlomba !

Diposting oleh Anton H Biantoro di http://antonbiantoro.blogspot.com

LISTENING I

BEFORE CLASS:

Develop a mind-set geared toward listening

Skim relevant reading assignments to acquit yourself with main ideas, new technical terms, etc.

Anticipate the content of the lecture from the title, course outline, etc.

Do what you can to improve physical and mental alertness (fatigue, hunger, time of day, where you sit in the classroom may affect motivation)

Choose notebooks and pens that will enhance your systematic note-taking.

INTEND TO LISTEN!

DURING CLASS:

Listen for the structure and information in the lecture.

Resist distractions, emotional reactions, or boredom.

Pay attention to speaker for verbal, postural and visual clues to what’s important.

Be consistent in your note taking, eq. abbreviations, etc.

Label important points and organizational clues: main points, examples.

If you feel you don’t take enough notes, divide your pages into 5 sections and try to fill each part every 10 minutes (or work out your formula).

Ask questions if you don’t understand.

Listen carefully to information given toward the end of that highlight main points or hints on exam questions.

(From http://www.onlineasp.org/class/note03.htm)

LISTENING II

Nichols (1960) explains that we can think about 4 times faster than a lecturer can speak. While we’re listening, train our brain to:

Anticipate the next point

Identify supporting material

Recapitulate what you have heard so far

King (1992) gives a list of self-questions during listening in order to analyse the ideas and concepts in the lecture, determine how these ideas relate to each other, and relate the new information to prior knowledge.

Explain why…, Explain how …

(Analysis of process and concepts – explicit or implicit in the lecture. Translating terms into different vocabulary)

What is the main idea of …?

(Identification of central idea explicit or implicit in the lecture)

How would you use … to … ?

(Application of information in another context – perhaps involving relating to prior knowledge or experience)

What is a new example of …?

(Generation of new examples of a concept or procedure – perhaps involving relating to prior knowledge or experience)

What do you think would happen if …?

(Retrieval of background knowledge and integration with lecture material to make predictions)

What is the difference between … and …?

(Analysis of two concepts – comparison and contrast of concepts)

How are … and … similar?

(Analysis of two concept – comparison and contrast of concepts)

What conclusions can you draw about …?

(Drawing conclusions based on the content presented)

How does … affect …?

(Analysis of relationship among ideas)

What are the strengths and weaknesses of …?
(Analysis and integration of concepts)

What is the best … and why?

(Evaluation of ideas based upon criteria and evidence)

How is … related to … that we studied earlier?
(Activation of prior knowledge and integration with new information

Let’s practice:
Topic of talk: “Looking inside the brain in the real time”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdFJOcaVDYU&feature=user

References

Nichols, R. (1960). The supervisor’s notebook, Scoott, Foresman and Co. Spring 1960. Vol. 22, No.1

King, A. (1992) Comparison of self-questioning, summarising and note taking-review as strategies for learning from lecturers. American Educational Research Journal. Summer. 1992. Vol. 29. No.2. pp.303-323

It’s interesting,
I wanna share suggested uses for the L1 in the EFL Classroom based on Atkinson (1987)

1. Eliciting language “How do you say ‘X’ in English?”
2. Checking comprehension “How do you say ‘I’ve been waiting for ten
minutes’ in Spanish?” (Also used for comprehension of a reading or
listening text.)
3. Giving complex instructions to basic levels
4. Co-operating in groups Learners compare and correct answers to
exercises or tasks in the L1. Students at times can explain new points
better than the teacher.
5. Explaining classroom methodology at basic levels
6. Using translation to highlight a recently taught language item
7. Checking for sense If students write or say something in the L2 that
does not make sense, have them try to translate it into the L1 to realize
their error.
8. Testing Translation items can be useful in testing mastery of forms and
meanings.
9. Developing circumlocution strategies When students do not know how
to say something in the L2, have them think of different ways to say the
same thing in the L1, which may be easier to translate.
Strategy Spanish English
negative antonym vivo not dead
simplification/
approximate synonym fue vergonzoso it was terrible
circumlocution se mostró reacio he didn’t want to do it
simplification el precio del viaje the ticket’s expensive
se compensa por lo but life’s cheap there
lo barata que es la
vida
explanation pulpo it lives in the sea,
it’s got eight legs

ADAPTED FROM “THE MOTHER TONGUE IN THE CLASSROOM” BY DAVID ATKINSON.
Atkinson, D. 1987. The mother tongue in the classroom: A neglected resource? ETL Journal, 41, 4, pp. 241–247.

I’ll try to find other point of views.

Cheers

Yuline

 Hello Sir,

Thank you very much for your reply. I really appreciate that you are still calling me as a teacher. Honestly, I feel not really comfortable being asked whether I am a teacher in Indonesia.
I am laughing while imaging I have been in a cave for so long. And I keep laughing myself because I realise how much English proficiency that I’ve lost.

Talking about language skills, I just discussed about language attrition in bilinguals. Many of us learn a language. Some of us may gain considerably proficiency in the language. Often, for some reason, we cease to maintain this kind of contact with the language. Then, at some later stage, we might find that our language abilities are not what they once were. And I can become the example.

There are some factors might compromise our language ability after a period of non-use such as age, motivation, education and attitude.

Language Attrition can be grouped into four:
First-language loss in a first-language environment
First-language loss in a second-language environment
Second-language loss in a first-language environment
Second-language loss in a second-language environment

The recipe to avoid language attrition is simple(but sometimes hard to do ?!). That is by maintaining the language. Thyas’ children are very lucky that their parents support them by some biliterate materials.

Wish I can fix my blog sooner (there is technical glitch, I think), so I can discuss further.

Hello Sir,
You are right that my English proficiency is only hiding, but it’s hiding in a very deep hole so I have to dig as fast as I can in order not to be left behind.. hehe.. And I am getting older now hehehe..
I got problem with motivation. I kept maintaining my English through internet and kept reading my English books in the first three years after I was asked to moved from Pusbahasa. However, the environment was really different. I came to the point where hopelessly I thought I will not use my English ability anymore. The thick reading materials that I still read was only Harry Potter. I keep reminding Ayu to maintain her knowledge so she won’t feel sorry.
I’m lucky that in my University, there are some short courses available (the prices are reasonable and some are free of charge). I kept joining as much as I could (based on my schedules and load of assignment). I really suggest all new students to join any workshops although we, the Armed Forces members, have got the similar knowledge from DITC instructors. Let me give some examples: in my class, there are three other officers from Vietnam who never wanted to join any workshop and kept telling me wasting my energy. They are ‘active teachers’ not like me who is a passive one. But now, since we have to write some academic writing, they always get confused how to find articles from our library online. They do not even know that we may borrow books from other university which then will be delivered to our library, so I have to explain to each of them. We keep laughing by saying “no one is perfect”.

From : Capten. Yuline Monako