Resume of International Webinar on Teaching English to Young Learners 2020

 Name : Anis Septianingsih

Class : 3E

NPM : 1910631060066

Resume of International Webinar on Teaching English to Young Learners 2020

The international webinar on teaching English to young learners was held on Saturday, November 14th 2020 via Zoom with more than five hundred people attended this webinar. The topic of the webinar was “Effective English Teaching for Young Learners during the pandemic: Critical Issues”.

At the beginning of the webinar, the keynote speaker, Prof. Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A., Ph.D. from Indonesia University of Education, brought up a subject matter about ‘Essentials in TEYL for Indonesian Elementary Schools: An Update for 2020’. There are a few points that can be concluded from his presentation:

1. English in Indonesia has the official status of a foreign language (EFL). This FL status has consequences: lack of exposure, lack of engagement; and lack of support.

2. Effective Teachers of English can fluently use English for functional communicative purposes, including for instructional purposes. (effective English teachers are disciplined in using English)

3. Teachers can help increase children’s learning motivation by acknowledging these principles: Children learn from direct experiences; children learn from hands-on physical activities; children’s thinking is embedded in here-and-now context of situation; children learn holistically from whole to parts using scripts; and children have a short memory span.

4. There are a few ways to face the challenges: Choose only excellent TEYL teachers to be assigned to teach in class. Teachers of English should be disciplined in using English as much as possible during teaching-learning process. Apply a merit-system in managing teachers’ work and payment. Introduce contract-based assignment of teachers in the school system.

After that, the first speaker, Asst. Prof. Rolando P. Quinones, Jr., MA. Ed., TESOL from Polytechnic University of the Philippines, brought up a subject matter of ‘From Traditional to Digital: Quality Instructions and Materials Preparation for Online English Instructions for Distance Learners’. There are a few things that can be concluded from this topic:

1. All teaching and learning activities are diverted to online learning. Therefore, we need to ensure that we are still able to deliver quality instructions with the help of technology. Technology use will be maximized with considerations to the capacities and limitations of the situation most especially, of the students and the teacher/instructors. The survey may also be used for knowing the learner’s preferred online activities in learning English.

2. Students’ preferred style in learning English language are: By listening, reading, copying from the board, repeating what they hear, and making summaries. 

3. Macro skills focus in teaching English to young learners are: Listen, speak, read, write, and view.

• Listening. Most common in interpersonal communication are: Informational Listening (Listening to Learn), Critical Listening (Listening to Evaluate and Analyse), and Therapeutic or Empathetic Listening (Listening to Understand Feeling and Emotion).

• Speaking. These skills allow the speaker, to convey his message in a passionate, thoughtful, and convincing manner. Speaking skills also help to assure that one won't be misunderstood by those who are listening.

• Reading. Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency, and motivation. There are a few types of reading activities: Silent reading followed by group discussions (student to student / student to teacher), Line-a-child (each student reads a line of the story aloud), and Think-a-loud (the teacher pauses at some parts of the reading material then asks the listeners to predict the next event).

• Writing. Writing skills are important because they allow people to get a point across without being physically present. Writing skills include all the knowledge and abilities related to expressing ideas through the written word, such as blogs, newsletters, diaries, and even poetries.

And the last speaker of this webinar was Yuna Tresna Wahyuna, M.Hum from University of Singaperbangsa Karawang. She brought up a subject matter of ‘The Three-Period Lesson: a Key Part of the Montessori Method’ which was a really interesting topic in my opinion. There are a few things that can be concluded from this topic:

1. The Montessori Method is founded on Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy. The teacher’s role is to prepare the classroom, and observe and guide their students in their learning. As a result, children progress at their own pace, according to their own abilities.

2. Principles of Montessori are: Follow the Child (children are free to choose and work on activities at their own pace. Here, they experience a combination of freedom and self-discipline, as guided by the environment and the teacher). Through work in the Montessori environment, children learn to develop concentration, self-discipline, and a love of learning.

3. The Montessori motto is: “Help me to do it myself”

4. The Montessori areas are Exercises of Practical Life (EPL), Sensorial, Language, Math, and Cultural.

5. The three period lesson’s purpose is to introduce a concept or vocabulary and demonstrate the purpose of a material. There are three periods: Naming, Recognizing & Associating, and Recalling.

• The first period is naming. This step can be done by the teacher showing some things and explaining what they are to the students. For example, the teacher shows a picture of a tiger, then the teacher says “This is tiger.” So the students can understand that the picture shown by the teacher is an animal called tiger.

• The second period is recognizing and associating. This step can be done by the teacher showing some things that have been explained before, the teacher asks a specific question about the previous lesson and lays out some answers, then the teacher asks the students to point out the correct answer to the question. For example, previously the teacher explained about an animal called tiger. This time, the teacher shows some animal pictures to the students and then asks them to point out which one the animal called tiger is.

• The third period is Recalling. This step can be done by the teacher showing some things that have been explained before, the teacher asks a specific question about the previous lesson, then the students have to say or give the correct answer to the question. This last step is to see if the students recognize or remember the lesson well.

For example, previously the teacher explained some things about animal, then the teacher lays out some animal pictures and points out one animal picture to the students then asks about what animal it is. The students have to say or give answer to the question. If they answered correctly, it means that they have understand the lesson really well.

That is all that can be concluded from this international webinar of teaching English to young learners. It was an informative and educative webinar. All of the speakers provided really useful and present-day information. All of the points mentioned above are really helpful, especially for the English education students that hopefully can also teach English successfully in the future. 

Modern and Traditional Dance

Name : Anis Septianingsih

Class : 3E

NPM : 1910631060066

Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.

An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronised swimming, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics.

There are two types of dance:

1. Modern Dance

Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance, primarily arising out of Germany and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Modern dance is often considered to have emerged as a rejection of or rebellion against, classical ballet. Socioeconomic and cultural factors also contributed to its development. In the late 19th century, dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance for performance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary, the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement.

Modern dance has evolved with each subsequent generation of participating artists. Artistic content has morphed and shifted from one choreographer to another, as have styles and techniques. Artists such as Graham and Horton developed techniques in the Central Modern Period that are still taught worldwide and numerous other types of modern dance exist today.

Example: Contemporary dance

Contemporary dance emerged in the 1950s as the dance form that is combining the modern dance elements and the classical ballet elements. It can use elements from non-Western dance cultures, such as African dancing with bent knees as a characteristic trait, and Butoh, Japanese contemporary dancing that developed in the 1950s. It is also derived from modern European themes like poetic and everyday elements, broken lines, nonlinear movements, and repetition. Many contemporary dancers are trained daily in classical ballet to keep up with the technicality of the choreography given. These dancers tend to follow ideas of efficient bodily movement, taking up space, and attention to detail. Contemporary dance today includes both concert and commercial dance because of the lines being blurred by pop culture and television shows. 

According to Treva Bedinghaus, "Modern dancers use dancing to express their innermost emotions, often to get closer to their inner-selves. Before attempting to choreograph a routine, the modern dancer decides which emotions to try to convey to the audience. Many modern dancers choose a subject near and dear to their hearts, such as a lost love or a personal failure. The dancer will choose music that relates to the story they wish to tell, or choose to use no music at all, and then choose a costume to reflect their chosen emotions."

2. Traditional Dance

Traditional dance reflects the country's diversity of ethnicities and cultures. For example, there are more than 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia: Austronesian roots and Melanesian tribal forms are visible, and influences ranging from neighboring Asian and even western styles through colonization. Each ethnic group has its own dances: there are more than 3,000 original dance forms in Indonesia. 

The dance traditions in Indonesia; such as Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, Palembang, Malay, Aceh and many other dances traditions are age old traditions, yet also a living and dynamic traditions. Certain traditional dances might be centuries old, while some others might just created less than a decade ago. The creation of a new dance choreography but still within the frame of respected dance tradition and discipline is still possible. As the result, there is some kreasi baru (newly created) dances. The newly created dance could be the rediscovery and the revival of lost old traditions or a new interpretation, inspiration and exploration of traditional dances.

Example: Tari Piring (Plate dance)

Piring dance is a traditional Minangkabau plate dance from West Sumatra, Indonesia. The dance might be performed by a group of women, men or couples, each of them holds plates in each hands, and vigorously rotate or half rotate them in various formations and fast movements.

The dance demonstrates the skill of the dancers that manage balance and to move the ceramics plate swiftly without dropping or breaking the plates. Sometimes candles are lit on the plate, and this variant is called tari lilin (candle dance). Dancers hold the bottom of plates in the palm of their hands and swing them wildly using the inertia to keep the plate from falling. Dancers tap their plates with a ring on one of their fingers to animate their movement with sonic accompaniment.

This dance is usually performed as a ceremonial welcoming dance to honor the guests and elders to a traditional ceremony. Next to randai, saman, pendet and jaipongan, the dance is also one of popular Indonesian traditional dances performed in festivals abroad to promote Indonesian culture and tourism.