Amazing Priceless Moments

September 7, 2017 (HPL – 7)

Selamat malam, dunia.

Note ini ditulis sebagai upaya ‘break’ dari kejenuhan pikiran tentang tema-tema perkuliahan yang tengah saya hadapi di awal semester dua ini.

Tiba-tiba saya merasa bahwa saya harus mengabadikan cerita penuh makna ini ke dalam tulisan.

Saat ini saya sedang menantikan kelahiran anak pertama, seorang insan generasi muslim yang berguna untuk ummat di masa depan. Aamiin.

Alhamdulillah, Allah mempercayakan amanah kehamilan ini kepada saya tak lama pasca menikah dengan seorang lelaki yang luar biasa, suami saya.

Maka kami haruslah sangat bersyukur.  

Mungkin di luar sana banyak pula wanita yang punya cerita senada: hamil dan kuliah dalam waktu yang bersamaan. Yang saya tahu, Dian Sastro aktris terkenal itu juga pernah mengalami hal yang sama.

Menikah di Bulan Desember 2016 di usia 25 tahun, saya positif hamil setelah melewati satu periode haid. Perkuliahan magister saya dimulai bulan Februari 2017. Saat itu, perasaan campur aduk. Antara senang, kaget, terharu, takut, kuatir, dan bahagia. Hingga saya ungkapkan hal itu pada Bu Bidan di desa. Namun Bu Bidan menguatkan saya.

Masa-masa awal kuliah sekaligus awal kehamilan yang cukup menantang telah sukses saya lewati karena pertolongan Allah. Morning sickness / mual muntah yang berkelanjutan membuat saya sering terkulai lemas di rumah, sering rasanya merasa lemah. Obat pengurang mual dari Bu Bidan seakan tak berarti apa-apa.

Kuliah berlanjut, tetap berusaha semangat. Suami saya pun membawa saya ke dokter spesialis kandungan untuk cek tiap bulan dan diberi vitamin. Saya agak kuat menjalani hari-hari, meski mual dan muntah masih terus dihadapi sampai bulan kelima kehamilan. Tidak mau makan, badan tak enak, lesu, semua itu sudah dirasakan di masa-masa itu. Beberapa kawan sekelas yang peka bahkan lama kelamaan tahu kalau saya hamil. Siang hari hanya makan tahu baso atau pisang goreng dan teh panas, kadang nasi meski jarang sekali.

Awal kehamilan, saat kondisi masih sangat lemah, suami saya dengan telaten mengantar saya kemanapun saya pergi. Kala itu saya masih ada aktivitas mengajar di perguruan tinggi tempat saya belajar dahulu, juga di sebuah lembaga training profesi penerbangan, dan bimbingan belajar yang saya rintis di rumah orang tua saya. Di sela-sela itu, saya masih berkutat dengan tugas-tugas kuliah yang tidak sedikit. Yang membuat luar biasa adalah: jarak jauh. Kampus tempat kuliah ada di Kentingan, tempat mengajar ada di Kartasura dan Colomadu (dekat bandara), rumah suami tempat saya tinggal ada di Kalijambe, dan rumah ibu jaraknya 15 menit dari rumah suami.

Dan saya telah melewati momen-momen itu.

Momen dimana saya hamil muda dan harus naik sepeda motor sendirian jarak jauh, dengan jalur lalu lintas yang padat dan keadaan jalan yang tidak mulus, bahkan musim hujan.

Momen dimana suami mengajak saya berkeliling hanya demi menemukan makanan yang kiranya saya tertarik atau bisa saya makan.

Momen dimana saya muntah-muntah di jalan, baik saat berkendara sendiri ataupun dengan suami.

Momen tiba-tiba mual, lemas, dan keringat dingin di depan para siswa saat mengajar.

Momen dimana perut terasa kosong dan lapar namun bingung hendak makan apa.

Momen dimana pop mie hanyalah makanan yang bisa diterima mulut dan perut.

Dan saya beruntung karena memiliki suami yang pengertian dengan segala kesabaran dan keterbatasan kami. Suami yang senantiasa berusaha menjaga saya dan janin yang tumbuh di rahim ini, agar selamat dan berkembang sempurna.

Bulan April: workshop pengajar Bahasa Inggris

Bulan Mei: konferensi internasional di Jogja

Bulan Mei: tampil menyanyi di acara sharing beasiswa di kampus

Bulan Juni: puasa sebulan penuh plus kuliah (saya sangat bersyukur atas hal ini)

Bulan Juli: menjadi panitia dan moderator di workshop pendidikan dengan kawan-kawan sekelas

Bulan Juli: tes uji kompetensi pengajar pendidikan non formal di jogja.

Ini adalah semacam reminder / pengingat saya untuk terus bersemangat dan maju dalam menghadapi kehidupan, demi niat ibadah kepada Allah swt, bahwa saya pernah berhasil menjalani momen-momen luar biasa dalam episode kehidupan saya.

Maka, di masa depan saat saya merasa sedih dan patah semangat, saya akan tengok kisah ini agar merasa malu jika saya tidak bangkit.

Hari perkiraan lahir yang saya catat ada tiga versi, dari dokter dan bidan berbeda: 14 September, 18 September, dan 26 September. Allah yang berkuasa menentukan kapan bayi ini akan lahir. Allah yang akan memberikan pertolongan agar ibu dan bayi selamat, normal, sempurna jiwa dan raganya. Allah penentu segalanya.

Kuliah semester dua ini dimulai sejak 31 Agustus lalu. Kondisi baik dan sehat, namun malas makan, tidak mau makan nasi. Dan di minggu-minggu awal ini suami masih sangat setia mendampingi dengan siaga. Mengantar dan menunggui bukan hal yang mudah untuk seorang lelaki. Untuk minggu-minggu ini kami masih naik motor. Mungkin selanjutnya akan naik mobil.

Insya Allah saya akan menuntaskan semester ini dengan gemilang, pun dengan studi ini. Insya Allah lulus tahun 2018, dengan membawa ilmu yang bermanfaat bagi kemashlahatan umat.

Kehadiran bayi yang tak lama lagi sudah makin terasa di rumah ini. Dua hari yang lalu saya dan suami berbelanja perlengkapan bayi. Saya masih ingat senyum refleks di wajahnya saat ibu penjual mengeluarkan baju bayi lengan panjang. Saya percaya bahwa ia adalah ayah yang baik. Saya pun semakin menyayanginya.

Hei kamu yang menendang-nendang perut ibu. Kami menantimu dengan tangan terbuka. Jadilah anak yang baik akhlaknya, sehat jiwa raganya, berbudi pekerti luhur, dan menjadi generasi islam yang siap menghadapi tantangan masa depan. Setelah semua yang kita jalani bersama selama Sembilan bulan ini, terbukti atas izin Allah engkau sangat kuat, Nak.

Kalijambe, 7 September 2017

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/project-based-learning/4-things-project-based-learning-teachers/

http://wegrowteachers.com/consulting/project-based-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/project-based-learning/using-project-based-learning-flip-blooms-taxonomy-deeper-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/sentence-stems-higher-level-conversation-classroom/

http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/inquiry/20-questions-guide-inquiry-based-learning/

http://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/types-of-analogies/

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/hatties-ascending-order/

http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/28-student-centered-instructional-strategies/http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/28-student-centered-instructional-strategies/

http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/technology-can-address-maslows-hierarchy-needs/

http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/post-progressive-education-statements-shape-your-teaching/

Blended Learning seems the Best for ESP?

ICAO-Based Needs Assessment in Thailand’s Aviation Industry: A Basis for Designing a Blended Learning Program

Dondon Parohinog, Chaithat Meesri

This is an interesting study conducted at Aviation Personnel Development Institute, Kasem Bundit University, in Thailand. It concerned on students’ needs assessment of English teaching and learning to maximize the learning result. Quantitative data was collected through survey questionnaire to find out aviation students’ opinions about language descriptions set by ICAO namely: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, fluency, comprehension, and interaction. The study revealed the need for a Blended Learning Program. The focus groups and interviews resulted in the need for higher English proficiency. Meanwhile, the ranked preferred topics were airline and air crew, airport, aircraft, air traffic control and aviation authority respectively. A set of online tools is the alternative the students would like to have in their language learning.

Parohinog, D., & Meesri, C. (2015). ICAO- Based Needs Assessment in Thailand ’ s Aviation Industry : A Basis for Designing a Blended Learning Program. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 208). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.202

Another Needs Analysis Study in ESP

Needs Analysis on English Language Use in Tourism Industry

Nawamin Prachanant

This is a study on needs analysis for ESP curriculum, surveying the needs, functions and problems of English language use by 40 tourism employees. Through questionnaire, data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The researcher found that speaking is most important, then listening, reading and writing. Meanwhile, the three most relevant functions in using English language were: giving information, providing services, and offering help. Whereas their problems in using English included; inability to understand foreigners’ accents, inappropriate words and expressions, inadequate vocabulary, and lack of grammar knowledge. Although this study represented tourism industry, I believe the sort of condition and problems were mostly encountered by most ESP students in other sectors.

Prachanant, N. (2012). Needs Analysis on English Language Use in Tourism Industry, 66, 117–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.253

Again, ESP Materials Not Meet the Students' Need

Analyzing English Language Learning Needs among Students in Aviation Training Program

Parvin Karimi, Reza Vahdani Sanavi

This curriculum development study applied mixed research methods: qualitative and quantitative, seeking for the learners needs in ESP course at an Aviation Training Program. The researchers used questionnaire and interviews to record the needs and problems. They found that the students still have low English proficiency  on the target skills: speaking and listening, and that the current course is far from their expectation and less effective in its implementation. As the students needed to improve their listening and speaking skills, the material (books) and class activities should lead the students’ to that way. This study leads the researchers, teachers, and syllabus-designers to evaluate curriculum development and implementation in ESP class to address learners’ needs. This is very crutial to help the student learn what they should learn.

Karimi, P., & Vahdani, R. (2014). Analyzing English Language Learning Needs among Students in Aviation Training Program. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 98, 852–858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.491

A Study on Realistic Dialogues in the Airport

English for Airport Ground Staff

Joan Cutting

This is the article cited by several papers about aviation English. It presents structural-functional  analysis on the realistic dialogues of security guards, ground handlers, catering staff, and bus drivers, mainly about the English tenses they used and how they differred each other. This research involved native speaker linguists and English teachers in their official visit at British and French airport. They found that security guards, ground handlers, and bus drivers at many times used ‘will-future’ when they refer to law or rule, or offer action. Security guards and bus drivers often utter direct orders, enforce the law and rule the passengers. Offers and requests and other hospitality expression also formal address forms are very important features for catering staff and bus driver. Ground handler will perform more routine conversation than soft interaction. This study helps ESP teacher especially teaching airport ground staff to arrange the language materials for their students. However, it would be a little challenging if the class consists of students with various target working-position.

Cutting, J. (2012). English for Specific Purposes English for airport ground staff. English for Specific Purposes, 31(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2011.06.002

When ESP Materials Need Improvement

English Materials and Their Relevance to the Needs of Pharmacy Students 

(A Case Study at a School of Pharmacy in Bandung – Indonesia)

Fauzy Rahman Kosasih

This article brought an insight to me about an ESP implementations. Through questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis, the researcher looked for the students’ need and expectation beside things need to improve. He found that the syllabus met the needs of the students, however, the material needed improvement. Of four language skills analyzed, she found out that speaking was the most needed skill, even though the students stated that they still had problem within all skills. In addition, there were some in materials the teacher prepared were not relevant with the students’ need, even far from their subject. This showed that ESP materials need an improvement to help students learn something valuable even though it is just for a short term. I am now more interested to look for other areas of ESP to see how things work in the classroom. Are the students really learning English that will be used in their job in the future?

ASIA EFL January 2017 

ESP in Indonesia Got a very Little Attention

Research and Trends of ESP in Indonesia

Kun Aniroh Muhrofi-Gunadi

The researcher took the data from the Proceedings of International Conference of TEFLIN (Teaching English as Foreign Language in Indonesia) held in 2011, till 2014, to find out the dynamics of ESP trends. She found that the number of ESP researches decreased year by year, and that the method mostly used is need analysis. There are more studies needed, especially with the method of etnography, lingua franca, and corpus. This article also provides comparison of those aforementioned methods, and classification of the method used in the selected papers. EAP (English for Academic Purpose was dominaning, and it is proved that the ESP topic especially EOP (English for Occupational Purpose) seemed not really popular in Indonesia. Even though the era of AEC (ASEAN Economy Comunity) has been developing, the importance of ESP has not been anticipated in Indonesia. This is the challenge of Indonesian ESP instructors and practitioners to develop its curriculum and teaching-learning quality.

ASIA EFL January 2017 

the article source

A Helpful Research Method for My Topic

Development of Task-Based English Oral Communication Course

for EFL Undergraduate Tourism Students

Nisita Rittapirom

I found this study focused on the material development in ESP context, to teach tourism students in Songkhla Rajabhat University, Thailand. To gain information about the target tasks frequently performed by hotel front desk, how language is used in reality, oral communicative problems, and the communicative strategies, the researcher did an in-depth need analysis from semi-structured interviews with 15 hotel managerial positions and 20 working alumni in hotel industry. She also used questionnaire to gather information from 60 senior tourism students with field experience, documentary research, and site observation. She listed the course components, language features and intelligibility, also verbal and non-verbal communication skills. This research is very helpful for ESP curriculum development, and as the example of the study I wanted to conduct; in aviation industry. However, document study and site observation will be the challenges for me. 

Asian EFL Journal, 2017

Hello, Again!

Hello, world!

I know it has been a very long time I left you in emptiness. You might want to know what is new about me. Well, I have been through so many things since I left the U.S in June last year. I guess I owe you a lot of stories to tell, a thousands of pictures to post. Don't worry, I am going to share them later.

Anyway, here is the video if you wanted to watch it so bad:

Click this link for video of my memorable year in Newark, DE :)

And the other things I need to tell you is that I have been married with a super lovable guy and now enjoying my life as a graduate student at Sebelas Maret University started from February 2017.

You know what one of my goals for now is?

To graduate from UNS in August 2018.

...beside other dreams in my head.

May Allah grant us grace and happiness. Aamiin.

I'll see you later.

P.S.: After this, I'm going to flood you with some academic journal reviews. Enjoy! :P