Dale’s Cone of Experiences

there is a great variety of activities and learning experiences the teacher uses in the language classroom. Each of these activities or experiences is a chance for the students to learn new information and/or practice what they already know. Each activity and experience has merit and therefore should be incorporated into any second language program. In the following section we will look at Dale’s Cone of Experience and see how the information contained within this model can be used to structure a second language program so that all types of learning experiences are used to maximize student progress.

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/11381980/Dale-Cone-of-Experience

English Teacher

The task of a teacher is not making another human being into a super-powerful man, but a guide and accompany them with a model, understanding and compassion so that they grow naturally according to their talents, abilities and destiny that has been established by the Creator. Indeed only the grace of God that makes people become super powerful. (Mario Teguh, 2009)

actually not only English teacher but also this statement for all the teacher, before starting our activity in the classroom, the teacher itself have to know that their job is not to create a students with a superior brain, but to lead them into a good behaviour by attracting their attention trough a good activities. so teaching and learning process need a good lesson plan in order to prepare what kind of value that the teacher going to teach the students and it should be clear.

Theory of Learning

Behaviorism is a worldview that operates on a principle of “stimulus-response.” All behavior caused by external stimuli (operant conditioning). All behavior can be explained without the need to consider internal mental states or consciousness.
Keywords: Classical conditioning (Pavlov), Operant conditioning (Skinner), Stimulus-response (S-R)
Behaviorism is a worldview that assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli. The learner starts off as a clean slate (i.e. tabula rasa) and behavior is shaped through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will happen again. In contrast, punishment (both positive and negative) decreases the likelihood that the antecedent behavior will happen again. Positive indicates the application of a stimulus; Negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus. Learning is therefore defined as a change in behavior in the learner. Lots of (early) behaviorist work was done with animals (e.g. Pavlov’s dogs) and generalized to humans
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Behaviorism precedes the cognitivist worldview. It rejects structuralism and is an extension of Logical Positivism.

English is Fun

Learning English is actually the most practical way to master English and to go and live in an area or English-speaking countries. Improving your ability to English skills quickly and accurately takes a great deal of practice. However, you don’t have to learn the materials that or ones that contain words and concepts you aren’t interested in. Once you know the basic elements of the English language, you can select from a wide variety of reading materials, including different methods of presentation. Here are a few uniquely effective technique to master English.

Firstly, Learning from native speakers to hear and practice is more effective than starting with learning grammar. But I am not saying that you do not have to learn grammar. Because,  not all people have a chance to move abroad. The bottom line is willing to practice, and should be started with more listening. When our ear  already familiar with English, usually the tongue follow.

One of the tips of the easiest and cheapest is to learn to practice with English-speaking tourists. Tourists now do not only visit Bali, many other areas that also became tourists. Well this is an opportunity for direct practice. You can start with the acquaintance, probably the first topic of the origin, how long to stay in Indonesia, where he lives, and offer assistance according to your ability. Usually tourists are not arrogant like to chat. Do the conversation as best he could, one also does nothing, but it is important for listening to sentences spoken with great concentration. This listening experience will make you continue to remember the words he was saying. Another advantage when you become a good listener, your tourist friends that also will consider you as a friend a fun chat. Do not hesitate to ask if you do not understand, saying that your English is not too good, he must understand and be happy to teach you. You remember Tarzan? See Jane is so happy to communicate with her even though haltingly. The important thing here is sincerity.

Another important thing is do not assume that English-speaking tourists are a god for modern and you far behind him. This will cause a gap that is not fun. All people are basically the same, it's just a different language and English happens to already be the international language. So, let alone with confidence.

Moreover learn English as a foreign language is more difficult than any other skills, especially writing. That’s why we have to k now the effcective technique to be master in writing. As a a non-native person, we must remember a large number of rules in structure which are quite different from our own language. In this case, the learner must figure out the differences themselves and even outline some rules to convert from their own language to the target language. Eventhough, in fact people are often known to spend less time to write than to listen, to speak and even to listen. Learners learning the language in their country are proved to read more than any other skills while learners learning overseas must listen to the language most of their time. In any cases, they spend little of their time for writing. It is clearly known that an average person spend the most for listening, the second most for speaking, then reading and finally writing.

For example, when students of English as a foreign language write something, they have a big question in mind whether what they write is correct or incorrect. Who can answer the question for them and help them recognize the mistakes. It is, in many cases, the teacher who is teaching them and is ready to give them a hand. The problem however I want to mention is that the teacher does not have enough time to correct for all of them if there are more than ten students in the class. When the teacher corrects the writing for just some of them, the other students cannot recognize their own mistakes. Without correction, the mistakes may be repeate many times and become bad habits which are hard to adjust.

What should a teacher do if their students get bored? Using varitype games can be an alternative solution to handle this problem. Games, as a matter of fact, can help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work. By this paper, the writer wants to share experiences about “how to teach English vocabulary using games”.

There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn in nature and that if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not really learning. This is a misconception. It is possible to learn a language as well as enjoy oneself at the same time. One of the best ways of doing this is through games.

Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. In the whole process of teaching and learning by games, the students can take part widely and open-mindedly. To win the games each student or group should competitively answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other students or groups. In order to do so they must understand what the teacher or others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information

The English instruction in elementary school is intended to endorse the mastery and development of the four basic abilities and skills. Those are reading, writing, speaking and listening as reflected in abilities and skill concerning language use so that the students are able to express simple expression with emphasis our vocabulary mastery in order to avoid to vocabulary infraction and attain better out comes, the teacher should choose an appropriate teaching method, which is suitable with subject matter in teaching learning process. The need to use various instructional media will be able to help students to increase their English vocabulary.

Teaching vocabulary is clearly more than just presenting new words. It also includes a decision that words should teach the basic of how frequent they are used by speaker of the language. The words are most commonly used are those a teacher should teach first.

But commonly and usually the way of teaching makes the students lazy and bored. The teacher needs something different to make students interested, mostly children, because they are very easy to get bored. Therefore, teacher needs something interesting which can make motivate them. It is based on the characteristics and attitude of the children that they are curious and often seeks something that the teacher notices them and shows appreciation for what they are doing. So, to motivate them teacher needs something new that can stimulate their curiosity.

With the current analysis on communication in teaching language, using games appears to hold a solution for many teachers. The communication activities somehow involves in a varied use of language.

It had been found in many schools, teacher use games activities as their teaching aid. The students really appreciate any kind of activities which provide excitement and fun. It will be easy to understand and practice of English. The writer chooses games as the simple illustrated media to facilitate students’ method of learning, as we know children learn while playing games. It is easy to be understood and comprehended by students.

However, learning English vocabulary using games has an importance role for elementary teachers and students. The first, as students, they have strong and good motivation to deepen English language. The second, they are easy to accept the English language because they learn by playing games that nowadays has been grown and developed in Indonesia. The third, teaching English vocabulary using games can help teacher in teaching learning process. Finally, they (teacher and students) can teach and learn English vocabulary using games.

http://funeasyenglish.com/

Peran Blog Guru sebagai Upaya Peningkatan Mutu Guru

Guru memegang peranan sentral dalam membukakan pikiran siswa untuk melihat dunia yang berkembang dan dinamis. Peran guru tidak hanya sebagai pembuka jendela dunia, tetapi guru sekaligus berperan sebagai sosok yang menyeleksi, memfilter, dan memberikan informasi terbaik kepada murid-muridnya. Tentunya peranan guru dalam hal ini berbeda dengan peran sumber informasi yang lain seperti internet, TV, atau media massa yang menyerahkan segala kebenaran informasinya pada konsumen atau siswa. Akan tetapi, dalam memberikan informasi, guru lebih dahulu memberikan bimbingan, arahan, dan filter yang baik, agar tidak terjadi kesalahpahaman siswa terhadap informasi yang diberikan guru.   

 Peran guru sebagai penyeleksi dan pemfilter informasi yang diperoleh siswa dari internet belum maksimal. Hal ini berkaitan dengan kemampuan guru dalam menerima, mendayagunakan, dan memanfaatkan internet sebagai media pembelajaran. Banyak guru Indonesia yang belum mampu mempergunakan computer apalagi mengakses internet. Padahal banyak sekolah-sekolah menengah yang menggunakan pola pembelajaran e-learning, berbasis multimedia dan TIK. Selain itu, banyak sekolah-sekolah menengah  yang sudah difasilitasi Wi-Fi, sehingga seharusnya siswa dan guru dapat mempergunakan fasilitas itu sebagai media pembelajaran dan upaya peningkatan mutu pendidikan. Untuk itu diperlukan pelatihan-pelatihan penggunaan computer dan internet sebagai upaya peningkatan kemampuan guru, sehingga guru dapat menjalankan tugasnya dengan maksimal.      

Kepedulian lembaga perguruan tinggi, Unair,  terhadap upaya peningkatan mutu guru demi perbaikan nasib bangsa Indonesia terlihat nyata. Unair secara bertahap mengadakan pelatihan guru-guru untuk mengenal, menguasai, dan menggunakan internet sebagai media pembelajaran dan pembuatan blog guru sebagai sarana bagi guru untuk berkreativitas. Dengan menguasai penggunaan internet, guru dapat memperhatikan dan mengarahkan siswa dalam mempergunakan dan membantu memilih situs internet yang bermanfaat untuk siswa. Selain itu guru juga bisa memanfaatkan internet (blog guru) sebagai sumber belajar, media pembelajaran, dan sarana berdiskusi dengan rekan sejawat sehingga  pengetahuan guru akan semakin luas. Selain itu, dengan mempergunakan media blog guru siswa lebih tertarik dan bersemangat dalam belajar.

Blog kependekan dari weblog, adalah satu di antara sarana yang diciptakan Unair utuk guru Indonesia sebagai wujud kepedulian Unair terhadap mutu pendidikan di Indonesia dan sebagai upaya peningkatan mutu guru Indonesia. Blog guru yang beralamat Htpp//www.guru_Indonesia.net sebagai ajang guru berkreativitas, bertukar pikiran antarguru, bertukar pengalaman, saling berbagi informasi pendidikan, dan sebagai sarana kegiatan belajar mengajar jarak jauh yang sangat menarik dan digemari siswa.

Banyak yang mengatakan bahwa blog merupakan personal diary yang bisa diakses secara online di internet. Secara sederhana, blog juga dapat disebut sebagai website pribadi. Guru bisa memanfaatkan blog guru untuk membuat ringkasan materi pembelajaran, soal-soal, media pembelajaran, atau tugas yang harus dikerjakan siswa. Pengunjung atau siswa dapat membaca dan mengakses yang ada dalam blog tersebut dan sekaligus memberi komentar secara langsung di kolam komentar yang telah disediakan.

Salah satu sifat menonjol blog adalah update content yang selalu diperbaharui setiap hari oleh pengelolanya dengan topik-topik tertentu sesuai dengan keinginan. Informasi yang diberikan pengelola bisa berupa ide pribadi ataupun dikumpulkan dari situs atau sumber-sumber lain yang sesuai, atau bahkan bisa juga merupakan sumbangan dari user yang lain. Dari sudut pandang tertentu blog seringkali dinilai sebagai catatan harian karena mengeksplorasi pengalaman ataupun gagasan-gagasan individual yang dinilai layak dikemukakan untuk dikonsumsi pengguna lain secara umum.

Para blogger dengan sengaja mendesain blog-nya dan isinya untuk dinikmati orang lain. Aktivitas blog sering disebut dengan istilah bloging. Sedangkan individu-individu yang menjalankan situs blog tersebut, sering disebut dengan nama blogger. Dengan adanya otoritas individu di dalam pengelolaan blog, maka blog pun berkembang mencari bentuk sesuai dengan kemauan pembuatnya. Blog dapat dikategorikan sebagai e-learning, menurut Rosenberg (2001), e-learning merujuk pada penggunaan teknologi internet untuk mengirimkan serangkaian solusi yang dapat meningkatkan pengetahuan dan ketrampilan.

Sebuah blog dapat dijadikan media belajar interaktif, misalnya guru membuat blog yang isi atau konten sebuah blog menyangkut mata pelajaran yang diampu guru. Kemudian siswa yang mengakses blog tersebut, serta mengisi komentar di blog, sehingga terjadi komunikasi dalam sebuah blog tanpa di batasi sebuah protokoler antara guru dan siswa. Siswa dapat bebas berkomentar tanpa rasa takut salah.

Semakin banyak guru yang aktif nge-blog dengan materi informasi yang mendukung profesinya, maka pendidikan Indonesia akan cepat majunya. Dengan banyaknya guru yang aktif nge-blog, maka akan semakin banyak dan berfariasi informasi yang didapat siswa. Sehingga akan berdampak pada upaya guru untuk memfilter siswa dalam mengakses situs yang seharusnya tidak diakses siswa.

Menurut http://staff.blog.ui.edu/admin/files/2008/03/kenapa-blog.pdf, keuntungan menggunakan blog bagi guru antara lain: 1) Blog sebagai media komunikasi antara guru dan siswa. Dengan memberikan komnetar pada kolom komentar yang telah disediakan, guru akan mengetahui tingkat pemahaman siswa terhadap materi atau artikel yang ditulis guru dalam blog guru. 2) Tempat mempublikasikan hasil karya tulis guru. Blog dapat digunakan sebagai sarana mempublikasikan hasil karya tulis guru yang dapat dibaca atau diakses siapapun. 3) Sarana untuk saling berbagi ilmu. Dengan menulis artikel dalam blog, maka kemungkinan besar artikel itu akan dibaca dan dikomentari orang banyak. Sehingga penulis juga mendapatkan manfaat dari beberapa komentar yang bersifat positif. 4) Memberikan materi pembelajaran melalui blog/dalam bentuk download zip/pdf. Dengan menuliskan materi pembelajaran dalam blog, guru telah membantu siswa mendapatkan materi pembelajaran, meskipun pada saat materi pembelajaran itu diberikan guru, siswa berhalangan masuk sekolah.  5) Sebagai media publikasi karya guru dan siswa. Guru dapat memasukkan hasil pekerjaan terbaik siswa dalam blog, sehingga akan memotivasi siswa untuk berupaya mengerjakan tugas sebaik mungkin 6) Merupakan salah satu content yang diharapkan dapat mendukung proses belajar-mengajar yang bebas ruang dan waktu. Dengan adanya blog guru, siswa dapat belajar kapanpun dan dimanapun. Sehingga kesempatan belajar siswa lebih luas 7) Merupakan sarana pengelolaan pengetahuan.

Keuntungan yang didapat siswa antara lain; 1) Mendapatkan materi pelajaran, silabus, artikel, tugas, dll. Dengan mengakses blog guru, siswa dapat mendapatkan materi pembelajaran sesuai keinginan siswa. 2) Posting mengenai materi pelajaran yang dapat membantu siswa lebih memahami mata pelajaran. 3) Fasilitas belajar melalui materi quiz interaktif, 4) Penambahan wawasan melalui karya-karya, 5) Proses belajar tidak dititik beratkan di kelas, namun siswa dituntut untuk belajar mandiri, 6) proses pembelajaran lebih menarik dan menyenangkan.