2.3.a.8. Koneksi Antarmateri - Modul 2.3

2.3.a.8. Koneksi Antarmateri - Modul 2.3

Ganjar Muttaqin

CGP Angkatan 7

 

Paket modul 2 berisi tentang pembelajaran berdiferensiasi dan pembelajaran sosial dan ekonomi serta diakhiri dengan materi coaching. Materi pertama lebih berfokus kepada murid. Materi kedua berfokus kepada masing-masing guru, murid dan antar kedua pihak sehingga terwujudnya suatu keadaan di mana kedua pihak bisa saling berinteraksi dengan baik. Sedangkan materi ketiga lebih berfokus pada pengembangan kemampuan guru dalam beragam kapasitasnya namun berfokus kepada perannya sebagai coach baik untuk murid maupun untuk pihak lain.

Pada materi pertama tentang bagaimana mengidentifikasi beragam aspek yang terkait dengan murid. Murid tidak hanya ditempatkan sebagai suatu kertas kosong yang bisa ditulisi atau dilukis semau guru. Murid dilihat sebagai entitas yang terlahir dengan keunikan masing-masing atau dalam tuturan Ki Hadjar Dewantara, kodrat alam masing-masing. Keunikan ini akan berpengaruh kepada bagaimana setiap murid memulai, melakukan, dan mengakhiri proses pembelajaran. Cara belajar siswa sangat dipengaruhi dengan kodrat alam dan proses nurturing orang terdekatnya di lingkungan rumah dan sekitarnya.

Dengan pembelajaran berdiferensiasi ini, guru harus bisa mengajak murid mengenali dirinya sendiri dan mengambil langkah yang sesuai. Guru dalam posisi sebagai coach tidak memposisikan diri untuk menentukan metode belajar anak semau guru. Guru bisa memilah metode setelah dirinya membimbing murid menyadari potensinya dan memandu murid memilih beragam metode, materi, dan cara dia menunjukan kemampuannya secara optimal. Guru bisa bergerak sejauh memberikan alternatif yang bisa dipilih siswa namun tidak menentukan sejak awal pilihan tersebut untuk dipaksakan kepada anak.

Sebagai coach juga, guru, melalui alur TIRTA, bisa membimbing anak melakukan pembelajaran sosial dan emosi. Melalui “Tujuan”, murid dibimbing untuk mengenali masalah dan bersepakat tentang apa yang dibahas melalui proses coaching (KSE Mengenali Diri). Setelah menentukan masalah yang dibahas, murid diajak untuk mengenali potensi kekuatan dan kelemahan serta apa yang bisa dilakukan. Kemudian murid bisa merancang tindakan yang perlu dilakukan (Rencana) setelah mengelola emosi dan mengambil inisiatif perubahan (KSE Manajemen Diri). Selain itu, murid dipandu untuk mengembangkan kompetensi sosialnya dengan diajak melihat apa yang dimiliki rekannya sehingga bisa bersama mencapai tujuannya (KSE Kesadaran Sosial). KSE Keterampilan Berelasi juga bisa dipicu oleh guru dengan pertanyaan berbobot misalnya, “Bagaimana kamu berencana mengkomunikasikan tujuanmu dengan baik kepada temanmu?” Terakhir, murid diajak mengenali apa saja tanggung jawab yang harus diambil (TA) dan mengambil keputusan yang dipikirkan masak-masak. Komitmen juga perlu dikonfirmasi dan diafirmasi secara positif oleh guru sebagai coach agar murid bisa melaksanakan rencana aksinya dengan baik.

Pengalaman saya dalam melaksanakan proyek drama kabaret untuk kenaikan kelas di tahun 2016 sekilas memberikan gambaran tentang proses TIRTA dan bagaimana murid saya berbagi tugas (berdiferensiasi) dalam mengerjakan tugasnya. Murid diberikan tanggung jawab untuk menjalin komunikasi yang baik dengan rekan satu tim agar tujuan bersama yaitu pertunjukan drama bisa dilaksanakan dengan baik.

Bercermin dari pengalaman ini, saya bisa melihat bahwa saya bisa berbuat lebih baik seandainya saya sudah mendapatkan materi tentang pembelajaran berdiferensiasi, KSE dan coaching. Di tahun 2016, saya hanya bergerak secara intuitif untuk mendiferensiasikan aktivitas murid dan keputusan tersebut murni atas penilaian subyektif saya sendiri tentang karakteristik murid.

Setelah mendapatkan materi di modul 2 ini, saya bisa melihat celah yang sebenarnya bisa diisi di proyek tahun 2016 tersebut. Saya bisa mengadakan dialog dulu tentang apa yang bisa dilakukan bersama. Saya bisa berdiskusi dengan arahan Bottom-Up, bukan memberikan instruksi Top-Down kepada murid. Saya berpikir bahwa keterlibatan murid akan lebih baik lagi jika saya sudah bisa menerapkan dengan baik alur TIRTA dalam pembelajaran berdiferensiasi tersebut.

Sebagai penutup, saya ingin mengatakan bahwa modul ini sangat berkesan kepada saya karena memberikan pencerahan, penjelasan, dan utamanya penambahan/pelengkapan atas apa yang sudah dilakukan secara intuitif di tahun 2016. Di tahun mendatang, dengan pemahaman saya dan kemudian penerapannya dalam praktik akan membuat pendampingan saya kepada murid akan lebih baik. Saya akan bisa melakukan peran sebagai pemimpin pembelajaran menjadi lebih baik lagi.

  

 

TRANSLANGUAGING IN INDONESIAN CONTEXT

INTRODUCTION

In Indonesia, English is taught as a foreign language. Students start to learn it in the

junior high school. Prior to entering the level of education, most students in Indonesia never

formally learn English. Therefore English as a subject to learn for them is a new thing.

The novelty of English in a classroom setting may be problematic for both teachers

and students. On one hand, teachers need to introduce English as soon as possible. On the

other hand, students may have difficulties in even understanding the words that their teachers

say. Indeed, the issue of English as a language of instruction, and also the subject content, has

been the concern of both academicians and practitioners of education.

The students’ basic skill didn’t allow them to understand all teaching instructions

sufficiently. The longer they listened to the teacher’s instruction using English, the farther

they were lost in trying to figure out what the teacher was talking about. Consequently, there

are three problems that may occur. They are: (1) the reluctance of the students to speak, (2)

the lack of understanding of the students toward the teacher’s instructions in English, and (3)

the boredom the students have after failing to be effectively in the teaching learning activities

due to the previous mentioned problems.

The teacher in my position needs an alternative to teach the students with this basic

level. One of the alternatives is a practice which is called “translanguaging.” Translanguaging

makes possible for the teacher to use various ways to help teaching the students and one of

them is to use the students’ first language (henceforth, L1) in such a way to make learning

activities easier. This is not to say, however, that a teacher should abandon the use of the

target language (henceforth, TL) altogether. The following section will provide rationale

what makes this study is worth conducting.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In Indonesia, there is a common question being asked by people who find out that

graduates of high schools are not able to use English fluently. The question is “Why are they

not able to use English after spending 6 years learning it?” The answer to this question may

vary. Yet, one particular possible cause is either they didn’t learn effectively or their teachers

didn’t teach them effectively.

There are a lot of factors indeed but one factor that I have been experiencing since the

first year of my teaching career in junior high school is that the students are not exposed to

English before attending the junior high school and that leads to their minimum skill of

English. Each time I give an instruction in English, they don’t know what to do.

This situation does not only happen in my school but also in many schools in

Indonesia where the teachers are teaching English using the TL exclusively. The result is that

there are more students whose skills are minimum. The suggestion to use English exclusively

needs to be reconsidered and this study seeks to make the case that translanguaging is a

reasonable alternative.

UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

In Indonesian context, English is learnt as a foreign language. It is taught since Grade

7 in the junior high school. The belief that is held in the teaching-training universities is that

in teaching, English should be used as a sole language of instruction.

This fact might be related to “the misconception that separation of languages helps

students develop the target language without the interference of their home language”

(Hardigree & Ronan, 2019). This misconception might also root from the over-generalization

of Krashen’s comprehensible input hypothesis, in which “proponents argue that

exposing learners to extensive periods of comprehensible TL input will ensure

mastery of the target language” (Moeller & Roberts, 2013). Some proponents of this

hypothesis interpret this idea by stating that the FL is abandoned totally in the English

classroom.

In relation to the input hypothesis, there is an interesting comparison between the

terms input and intake. Input is referred to “the linguistic data that learners are exposed to”

while intake is “minimally a subset of input that the learner attends to in some way” (Wong,

2018, p. 1). In addition, teachers must make sure that input is attractive, because “the more

meaningful it is to the language learner, the more encouraging it is for language acquisition”

(Brands, 2011, p. 11). Therefore not all that teachers expose to learners will be taken in. One

of important language features that need to become input is chunks that are often used in the

daily routine of teaching learning activities (Boers & Lindstromberg, 2009, p. 9). These

chunks are important because they are spoken over and over again throughout the course of

English lessons.

However, contrary to the belief of total use of TL, recently there is a suggestion to

turn to a new practice called “translanguaging” which allows a teacher and students to use

various ways to get things done in the teaching learning activities. Translanguaging originally

“referred to a pedagogical practice where students are asked to alternate languages for the

purposes of receptive or productive use” (Garcia & Wei, 2014, p. 20). However, it also

includes other ways of helping the students in their learning as Garcia (cited in Zein, 2019)

states further that,

the process of translanguaging incorporates purposeful and systematic discursive

modes such as comparative hypothesis-testing, translation, code-switching and

navigating in-between spaces as well as note-taking, sighing, and discussing to make

sense of learning.

(p. 49)

Further, it is said also that in translanguaging “all users of language, select and deploy

particular features from a unitary linguistics repertoire to make meaning and to negotiate

particular communicative contexts” (Vogel & Garcia, 2017, p. 3). It means that when a

teachers and/or the students have difficulties in expressing the intended meaning in the TL,

they can use other ways to get the message across.

It can be said therefore, by translanguaging teachers will be given a variety of ways to

make their goals achieved. Students also can have many channels to express their ideas. The

practice of translanguaging has been found useful in several contexts, for example in the

CLIL classrooms in Finland, Spain and Autria (Moore & Nikula, 2016) and a primary school

in Indonesia (Zein, 2019).

This shows that translanguaging apply across contexts as long as the teachers hold on

to what Luk and Yin (2015, p. 17) state that “a principled bilingual approach, when carried

out systematically and judiciously, is beneficial to both teaching and learning.” This is

especially true when this relatively new concept will be applied in the contexts where the

belief that only TL must strictly be used has rooted deeply.

The next section will discuss some problems that arises from the strict use of TL.

There will be also several ways translanguaging may help to solve the problems.

Problems and Solutions

As mentioned, the problem posed in this study is related to the suggestion to use TL

(English) as extensive and strict as possible as the language of instruction and content. This

problem in turn gives rise to at least three embedding problems. They are: (1) the lack of

understanding of the students toward the teacher’s instructions in English, (2) the reluctance

of the students to speak and (3) the boredom the students have after failing to be effectively

in the teaching learning activities due to the previous mentioned problems. Each problems

will be described and sought to be solved through translanguaging below.

The first problem, the strict use of TL in the classroom in which the students have

basic skills such as in my school will leave the students confused. Even though, the topic of

the first sessions is usually the most basic or simple topic, for example, greetings as the

language content, still a teacher will use English as the language of instruction to carry out

his teaching plans. For beginner students, the much exposure of input such is mentioned by

Moeller and Roberts (2013) is a source of problem because they cannot turn it into intake.

However, translation as one form of translanguaging (Garcia, as cited in Zein, 2019)

may help the teacher to make his/her instruction clear. This is not to say that the teacher

translates all instructions because each choice of steps of translanguaging must be carefully

planned (Luk & Yin, 2015). Translation is usually a contingent effort to bridge understanding

between the teacher and the students. When it does happen, the teacher should make sure that

the most common instructions will be gradually understood by the students in the long term

and will not be translated again because the students are already familiar with them.

The next problem is the reluctance of the students to speak and express their ideas. In

my context, the students’ speaking skill is on the basic level. Expecting to speak English is

something difficult. The vocabulary they have built is minimum and to make a decent

presentation usually they need time to consult their dictionary. I remembered in one

workshop a speaker was opposed to the use of dictionary in the classroom and I couldn’t

argue much because she came up with some supporting theories.

At that moment, I was confused because I pictured myself standing in front of a class

of students and asked them to speak and forbade them to use any dictionary. Yet, now by

translanguaging students can consult their dictionary or even me in FL whenever they need

to. They will have various ways to express themselves. It is hoped that they are more

comfortable in the class and confident to speak in English.

The last problem to be addressed here is the boredom that the students feel when

they are stuck in the classroom without knowing what they are supposed to listen and what to

say. They are in the classroom looking at the teacher who talk much but whose words they

don’t understand. The input that the teacher works hard to give them is fruitless because it

does not become intake for them.

Such boredom is not desirable. Translanguaging offers various activities that a teacher

can do with the students. Teaching English is no longer confined to listening to a taperecorder or reading a book. Discussion, pictures, or other activities can be done. Of course all

those activities might have been done before in a class with a strict use of English but now

code-switching can be done (Garcia as cited in Zein, 2019) to allow the students to refer to

their own prior knowledge using their FL. Any activities that are carefully planned to achieve

a pedagogical goal can be done (Luk & Lin, 2015).

In conclusion, the problems that occur as the undesirable effect of the strict use of

English as the language of instruction in my context can be overcome with a carefully

planned practice of translanguaging. Without having to exclude either FL or TL in the

classroom activities, through translanguaging, teachers and students can negotiate meaning

successfully and the goals of the teaching learning activities can be reach accordingly.

LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTION

This study is basically a theoretical framework of the activities which are yet to be

done in my own context. It is a review of theories and a reflection of my own teaching

experience. Therefore, this study cannot be generalized nor even used as reference. There are

still many things to be planned, done, analyzed, and reported. Another thing to add here is

both a limitation and a suggestion. There needs to be more studies and research in Indonesia

which apply the practice of translanguaging. The limited number of research and studies

makes translanguaging an unknown phenomenon to the practitioners of education and

especially teachers of English. Translanguaging is actually an oasis in the vast desert for

English teachers who have been wondering for years the way to justify their similar practice

of translanguaging, those teachers who have been suggested to abandon their practice to

make way for the more widely shared belief of comprehensible input.

REFERENCES

Boers, F., & Lindstromberg, S. (2009). Optimizing a Lexical Approach to Instructed Second

Language Acquisition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

Brands, F. (2011). Using the target language in the foreign language classroom: English as a

foreign language (EFL) at Dutch secondary schools. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht.

Garcia, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism. Hampshire:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Hardigree , C., & Ronan, B. (2019). Languaging and Translanguaging for English Language

Teaching. In X. Gao (Ed.), Second Handbook of English Language. Springer

International Handbooks of Education. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-

319-58542-0_16-1

Luk, G. N., & Lin, A. M. (2015). L1 as a pedagogical resource in building students' L2

academic literacy: pedagogical innovation in a science classroom in a Hong Kong

school. In J. Cenoz, & D. Gorter (Eds.), Multilingual Education: Between language

learning and translanguaging (pp. 16-34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Moeller , A. K., & Roberts, A. (2013). Keeping It in the Target Language. Central States

Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, (pp. 21-38).

Moore, P., & Nikula, T. (2016). Translanguaging in CLIL Classrooms. In T. Nikula, E.

Dafouz, P. Moore, & U. Smit (Eds.), Conceptualizing Integration in CLIL and Multi

Lingual Education (pp. 211-234). Bristol.

Vogel, S., & Garcia, O. (2017). Translanguaging. In G. Noblit, & L. Moll (Eds.), Oxford

Research Encyclopaedia of Education (pp. 1 - 21). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wong, W. (2018). Input Versus Intake. In J. I. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL Encyclopedia of

English Language Teaching. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0071

Zein, S. (2019). Translanguaging in the EYL classroom as a metadiscursive practice:

Preparing prospective teachers. In S. Zein, & R. Stroupe (Eds.), English Language

Teacher Preparation in Asia: Policy, Research and Practice (pp. 47-62). Oxon:

Routledge.

 2.1.a.8. Koneksi Antar Materi - Modul 2.1

(Ganjar Muttaqin, CGP Angkatan 7)

FILOSOFI KHD DAN PEMBELAJARAN BERDIFERENSIASI

Filosofi Ki Hadjar Dewantara menempatkan pendidikan sebagai tuntunan (Kementerian Pendidikan, 5 | Sub-Module 1: Refleksi Filosofi Pendidikan Nasional: Ki Hadjar Dewantara, 2022a). Guru berfungsi sebagai penuntun murid untuk mengembangkan kodrat alamnya sambil menyesuaikan cara pengajarannya dengan kodrat jaman di mana murid dan guru sedang menjalaninya (Dewantara, 1956).

Guru bukanlah pesulap yang mengubah kemampuan murid secara ajaib. Dia tidak bisa membuat murid bersikap pendiam menjadi murid yang “cerewet’ dalam satu malam. Guru harus terlebih dahulu menyadari bahwa murid mempunyai keunikannya sendiri yang disebut Ki Hadjar Dewantara sebagai Kodrat Alam dan guru harus menyesuaikan pendekatannya kepada pembelajaran anak sesuai juga dengan jaman di mana mereka berada.

Terkait dengan kodrat alam ini, saya merasa pembelajaran berdiferensiasi adalah satu pendekatan yang sangat membantu guru dalam menuntun murid dan juga memungkinkan murid untuk berkembang sesuai kodrat alamnya. Tugas guru di dalam memberikan pendidikan atau tuntunan adalah mengenali karakteristik dan kebutuhan murid masing-masing sebisa mungkin dan mengupayakan beragam tindakan dan pilihan berdasar common sense (Kementerian Pendidikan, 2022b).

Pilihan berdasar common sense ini pasti didasari oleh visi si guru. Dalam hal visi, saya mengambil contoh visi saya di bagian modul 1 yaitu “Anak didik tumbuh berkembang menuju manusia yang bermanfaat optimal sesuai kodratnya dan agamanya.” Di visi ini saya menekankan pengoptimalan kodrat murid saya. Saya menyadari bahwa adanya keragaman kodrat yang dipunyai masing-masing murid saya dan saya tidak bisa memaksa mereka berkembang secara seragam. Di bawah saya berikan ilustrasi tentang bagaimana seorang guru tidak bisa memaksakan keseragaman (gambar 1).

 

(Gambar 1.)

 (Dikutip dari https://sputniksteve.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/climb-that-tree-differentiating-differentiation/, tanggal 24 Februari 2023, pukul 14.08)

Di ilustrasi tersebut, sang penguji memaksa para binatang untuk melaksanakan ujian yang sama sebagai simbol keseragaman/keadilan. Dia tidak mengindahkan kodrat alam dari masing-masing binatang. Keseragaman di sini malah membuat ketidak-adilan.

Dengan melihat ilustrasi di atas, pembelajaran berdiferensiasi menawarkan suatu keadilan kepada murid untuk bisa mencapai potensi optimal yang ditawarkan kodratnya. Sebagai langkah awal, guru harus bisa mengenali kodrat alam muridnya dan kemudian bisa mengenali juga kebutuhan belajar sang murid.

Tomlinson (2001, dalam Kementerian Pendidikan, 2022b) menyebutkan tiga aspek yang setidaknya perlu dijadikan dasar penentuan kebutuhan murid:

1.      Kesiapan belajar murid (readiness)

2.      Minat murid

3.      Profil belajar murid

Kesiapan belajar murid bisa mencakup kondisi awal atau level pengetahuan dan keterampilan awal murid. Guru harus bisa mengenali sejauh mana modal yang dipunyai murid dalam melangkah menuju penguasaan materi. Dengan mengenali ini, guru bisa melakukan diferensiasi proses di mana guru bisa menyesuaikan proses pemerolehan pengetahuan berdasarkan kemampuan awal murid dan juga diferensiasi produk saat murid harus menunjukan penguasaan pengetahuan mereka.

Terkait minat, guru harus memahami bahwa setiap murid biasanya mempunyai minat tersendiri. Memberikan materi yang diminati murid akan membawa murid “memiliki” pembelajaran mereka sendiri. Diferensiasi konten bisa mewujudkan ini dengan memberikan materi yang disesuaikan dengan minat khas murid. Pemilihan konten tentu saja sambil tetap mempertimbangkan relevansinya dengan pembelajaran secara umum.

Terakhir adalah profil belajar murid. Ini biasanya dikaitkan dengan gaya belajar atau preferensi pribadi murid dalam melaksanakan aktivitas pembelajaran. Guru bisa memberikan keleluasaan kepada murid untuk melakukan pembelajaran individualnya sesuai preferensi mereka. Jika murid lebih suka situasi yang tenang, dia diperbolehkan mengambil tempat di perpustakaan. Jika murid lain lebih suka berdiskusi, guru bisa memberikan keleluasan bagi dia untuk berkomunikasi sesuai cara yang baik tanpa harus mengganggu kenyamanan murid yang lain.

Kesimpulan dari hal-hal di atas adalah bahwa filosofi KHD tentang kodrat alam murid adalah sangat relevan dengan konsep pembelajaran berdiferensiasi. Kodrat anak akan lebih baik dituntun melalui pendidikan jika guru bisa membuat diferensiasi yang pas untuk membantu murid mencapai potensi optimalnya.

 

 

Deskripsi Nilai Rapor Kurikulum 2013

 Berikut adalah link google drive untuk arsip deskripsi nilai rapor Kurikulum 2013: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OAtiHGRZXMrQ0qP-6p0HF55ngDBj5DFQ?usp=sharing

Mengintegrasikan Pembelajaran Empat Keterampilan Berbahasa Melalui Pertunjukan Kabaret (Best Practice di SMPN 7 Majalengka)

Kurikulum di Indonesia saat ini menekankan pada keaktifan para peserta didik untuk melakukan pembelajaran. Peran guru sekarang lebih bersifat sebagai fasilitator yang bertugas memberi jalan dan kesempatan bagi siswa untuk berkembang  (Brown, 2001). Tugas guru adalah men-scaffold peserta didik untuk melampaui  Zone of Proximate Development (Vygotsky, 1962). Berdasar kurikulum yang baru ini guru menyiapkan strategi dan teknik untuk membuat peserta didik bisa meningkatkan kemampuan mereka.

Terkait dengan mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggris, di dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di Indonesia, pembelajaran difokuskan pada empat keterampilan: menyimak, berbicara, membaca dan menulis. Pemisahan pemelajaran keempat keterampilan berbahasa tersebut bukanlah hal yang sebaiknya dilakukan karena pembelajaran bahasa pasti akan selalu melibatkan semua keterampilan tersebut.

Dalam rangka melaksanakan kegiatan pemelajaran yang terpadu, suatu pembelajaran berbasis proyek (Project-Based Learning (PjBL)) bisa dilaksanakan, yaitu proyek drama kabaret. Kabaret adalah seni pertunjukkan yang di dalamnya terdapat drama dan music. Di dalam proyek kabaret yang dibuat untuk tujuan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris tersebut, percakapan dan musik sudah terlebih dahulu direkam untuk kemudian diputar ulang selama pertunjukan. 

Alasan dari perekaman ini adalah untuk membuat pertunjukan berjalan lancar tanpa gangguan lupa dialog. Kekhawatiran ini didasari alasan bahwa proyek kabaret ini akan ditampilkan di panggung acara akhir tahun. Ini adalah proyek drama musikal pertama di sekolah kami dan para peserta didik sama sekali tidak berpengalaman dalam hal pertunjukan drama di atas panggung.

Tahapan proyek ini adalah sebagai berikut:

1. menentukan pertanyaan dasar. Tahap ini diselenggarakan pada satu sesi KBM di akhir bulan Maret 2016. Di tahap ini guru dan peserta didik bersepakat untuk menentukan suatu aktivitas yang bisa melibatkan pembelajaran keempat keterampilan berbahasa. Kemudian disepakati bahwa kabaret adalah hal yang bisa dibuat dan pertunjukannya akan dilaksanakan pada saat Pentas Akhir Tahun di akhir Mei; 

2. membuat desain proyek. Masih di sesi KBM yang sama disepakati desain proyek di mana drama akan dilaksanakan dan percakapan direkam terlebih dahulu untuk menghindari lupanya dialog di saat pertunjukan. Naskah yang disepakati adalah naskah yang didasari legenda lokal di Majalengka, yaitu legenda bermulanya nama Majalengka atau dalam Bahasa Inggris berjudul “The Origin of Majalengka”; 

3. menyusun penjadwalan. Tahap ini diselenggarakan pada akhir jam pelajaran di hari selanjutnya. Pemilihan waktu ini adalah karena PjBL pada dasarnya adalah proses yang tidak boleh mengganggu jadwal pelajaran regular. Jadwal kemudian dibuat yang akan mencakup:  (a) pembacaan naskah secara bersama-sama, (b) pembahasan alur, setting, pewatakan, dan pesan moral dalam cerita yang akan dibawakan serta property drama yang diperlukan, (c) pembahasan kosakata sulit dan cara pengucapannya yang benar, (d) pelatihan pelafalan dan kelancaran penyampaian cerita dan dialog, (e) perekaman suara para pemeran, (f) melatih olah gerak sesuai dengan rekaman suara dan musik yang sebelumnya direkam,dan  (g) mempersiapkan property yang diperlukan ; 

4. memonitor kemajuan proyek. Di tahap ini guru memantau kegiatan siswa dari mulai persiapan, latihan, dan persiapan akhir. Guru memberikan bantuan dan bimbingan yang diperlukan, terutama dalam hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan pembelajaran keempat keterampilan berbahasa; 

5. penilaian hasil. Penilaian hasil dilaksanakan saat para peserta didik tampil di panggung Pentas Akhir Tahun. Penilaian akhir hanyalah salah satu penilaian yang diperhitungkan. Penilaian proses pada saat persiapan, pelatihan, dan pelaksanaan pertunjukan mencakup bagian besar penilaian; 

6. evaluasi pengalaman. Dalam tahap ini, guru dan peserta didik duduk bersama kembali untuk membahas semua hal yang dialami oleh mereka. Feedback dan refleksi adalah hal yang diharapkan dihasilkan tahapan ini.

Dari pelaksanaan kegiatan ini terobservasi bahwa keempat keterampilan berbahasa bisa dilatihkan dan diterapkan secara bersama-sama dalam proyek ini. Pertama, keterampilan, menulis, di dalam persiapan proyek, para peserta didik bersama guru menyusun naskah untuk pertunjukan dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan kemudian menuliskannya di dalam Bahasa Inggris. Pada tahap ini, guru hanya memberikan koreksi-koreksi yang dibutuhkan sambil tetap memberi keleluasaan pada peserta didik untuk mengembangkan ide cerita mereka. Keterampilan menulis menjadi terasah.

Selanjutnya, keterampilan membaca, para peserta didik di dalam tahap persiapan pertunjukan melaksanakan pembacaan naskah drama. Secara bergiliran mereka melakukan Reading Aloud di mana satu peserta didik membacakan naskah dengan suara nyaring agar peserta didik lain bisa menyimak. Pada teknik Reading Aloud, guru akan memberikan masukan tentang pelafalan dan intonasi yang tepat dengan cara yang tidak menjatuhkan peserta didik yang membaca.Masukan ini akan disimak oleh semua peserta didik. Hal ini membuat pemelajaran tentang pelafalan dan intonasi menjadi lebih bermakna dan kontekstual. Selain itu, Reading Aloud adalah efektif dan efisien karena bisa menjangkau semua peserta didik dengan cara yang ringkas.

Keterampilan ketiga dan keempat selalu harus dilaksanakan berkesinambungan. Di saat seseorang berbicara memerankan perannya, tentu ada orang lain yang menyimaknya. Bermain peran memang efektif untuk membuat peserta didik berlatih menyimak dan berbicara pada saat yang sama. Di tahap latihan untuk perekaman, unsur kefasihan dan kelancaran berbahasa menjadi fokus yang mendapatkan perhatian lebih. Hal ini disebabkan proses perekaman membutuhkan kelancaran yang berterima. Saat di panggung diharapkan semua peran memperagakan tuturannya dengan sangat lancar dan tanpa hambatan.

Pada saat hari H, semua kerja keras kami terbayar. Para peserta didik tampak percaya diri karena mereka yakin akan bisa melaksanakannya didasarkan proses persiapan yang telah mereka jalankan. Dilihat dari respon para penonton di Pentas Akhir Tahun, mereka terlihat tertarik melihat pertunjukan kabaret. Respon ini sangat menggembirakan para peserta didik. Mereka terlihat lebih percaya diri untuk melaksanakan hal yang sama. Penilaian proses dan akhir bisa dilakukan pada saat pertunjukan ini.

Tahap terakhir adalah Evaluasi atau refleksi. Para peserta didik mengungkapkan bahwa mereka sangat menikmati proses produksi kabaret ini. Bahkan mereka menyatakan ingin melaksanakan hal yang sama untuk tahun depan. Mereka tertantang untuk mempertunjukan langsung kebolehan mereka tanpa perlu direkam. Hal ini menjadi tanda bahwa motivasi bisa terbangkitkan selain tujuan utama pembelajaran keempat keterampilan yang bisa berhasil tercapai.

Praktik proyek pembuatan pertunjukan kabaret ini bisa disimpulkan merupakan satu terobosan pertama dan berhasil di sekolah kami. Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris yang sebelumnya sangat monoton dan tergantung pada buku bacaan berubah menjadi hal yang menarik dan menantang bagi para peserta didik. Proyek pertunjukan ini bukanlah hal yang terlalu sulit. Hal ini bisa dipraktikan di sekolah lain asal ada kemauan dan tekad.

A Creepy Night

 

One dark night, Alana went for a ride on her bike. As a shy girl, she gathered all courage to answer her friend’s challenge to prove her bravery by riding through a cemetery in the town and took a selfie in front of the biggest tomb in the middle of it.

 It was raining lightly and nobody was seen on her way from her house to the cemetery.

Upon arriving, she opened the creaking gate of the cemetery and slid through. Nothing was heard except the soft sound of raindrops and the whistling wind that breezed coldly passed her.

She looked around and surely she would not find anybody stupid enough to go there. She pushed her bike slowly along the path between the tombs approaching the biggest tomb. She whispered to herself, “Go on, brave Alana. You can do it. Go on.” But still, her trembling body couldn’t hide her fear.

As she was whispering, a faint sound of something soft dragged along the wet grass caught her attention. She quickly looked around but her eyes only saw tombs protruding above the ground. She walked again slowly and still the same sound seemed to follow her. She began to feel very anxious. Then she turned and looked back and when she faced forward again, a dark figure flew right towards her as quick as a lightning. It had the scariest face she had ever seen. It was a vampire with two sharp fangs coming out between his lips.

“How dare you come to this place, young girl?” he grunted.

She tried to make comprehensible words but she was too scared to do it. She could only babbled. Shakingly she walked backward slowly. Yet the vampire approached her slowly but surely. She searched her pocket but she only brought her cellphone.

She took it out and tried to contact someone. However, all she touched was the camera application. It opened and turned the backlight accordingly. She tried to close it but the vampire noticed and stopped her. “Don’t close it!” he said unexpectedly. “Why?” Alana answered, still shaking with fear. “Why, to have selfies of course!” So, he took the phone and had selfies with Alana. He kept smiling during the selfie sessions and grinned a lot. Alana, on the opposite, was really ackward. After taking many selfies, the vampire handed the phone to Alana and thanked her. He then vanished without a trace. 

Then she hurried up to get out of the cemetery. Once she reached the road she pushed the pedals as hard as she could and headed home. Instead of taking a selfie, she got selfies of herself AND a vampire.

(A workshop assignment from Ms. Frances Christie in ISFC 2016 Post Congress Bandung)

Kabayan and the Bags of Beans

Kabayan was a lazy man. He married Iteung, the daughter of Abah Ontohod and Ambu Ijoh. His father-in-law didn’t like him because of his laziness.

One night, Kabayan was asked to go with Abah to harvest the beans in the garden.

Actually he didn’t want to go. He said to Iteung, “The garden is far. I will be tired and sweaty.” 

Iteung soothed him, “Never mind atuh Kang, Abah will be angry if you refuse to go.”

Kabayan complained, “Owh Okay…”

The following morning, the two men went early because the garden was far from their house. Nobody talked along the way, even Kabayan walked sleepily. He usually woke up after the sun was high but today, he was awoken early.

“I don’t understand Abah,” he thought, “He is so old but he keeps wanting to collect richness. What are those riches for if not for making us happy? What happens is the riches become punishment. Just watch…” 

When they  arrived at the garden, they immediately gather the harvest. Abah worked very seriously while Kabayan often stopped, stood looking around. He hardly got any harvest because he was always daydreaming and complaining because he didn’t want to work. He apparently didn’t want to continue working.

He looked around. When he saw an empty bag, he came up with a trick. He smiled.

“Abah, abah” 

“Heuy.”

“I need to go to take a pee. My stomach hurts. If I am away too long, wait for me! Don’t leave me behind.”

“Okay! Just don’t be too long.”

“It depends because sickness comes like a flash and leaves slowly.”

Abah talked while keep harvesting the beans. He didn’t look around. 

Kabayan went into the bean bag. He curled himself and covered himself with beans to hide him.

When Abah came, he put the beans into the bag.  He saw that the bag was already full. He tied the bag to a stick and pulled it. “What a heavy bag,” he said. Then he sat and waited for Kabayan.

Kabayan didn’t show up for a long time and the evening came closer. “Why is he taking a long time? Said Abah to himself. “I bet he went home because he was sick. What a brat, how can he do it? He should have told me if he wanted to go home, but he just went. What a brat.”

Then he put the bag onto his shoulder. “Wow, it is so heavy,” he said while touching the bag, “the beans were pressed so hard into the bag.”

When he arrived home, he put the bag in the kitchen on a couch. Ambu untied the bag and said, “Wow, the harvest was really good. There are so many beans.”

“Hih, we didn’t harvest all the beans because it was soon full. The bag is too small, “ said Abah. “They are only one half I guess. By the way Ambu, I didn’t hear Kabayan. How is his stomachache?”

“He has a stomachache? I didn’t know that. I thought he went with you to the garden.”

“Indeed, we went together this morning, but he went home early. He had a stomachache.”

“Really!? Please Abah, help me empty this bag. It is so heavy.”

When they emptied the bag, some beans fell out but it was stuck. When they pulled and shook, Kabayan came out and fell curling. Ambu yelled because she was surprised. Abah jumped backward because he was surprised too.

Kabayan said sheepishly, “Hehe, it is because I was too tired!”

“It’s you Kabayan?” said Ambu.

“I was so tired Ambu! And also, I like it so much when Abah had me on his shoulder.”

“How could you do that? It was not polite to do that to your father in-law.” Ambu said. Abah didn’t say anything and just walked into the house. His heart was burning because he wanted to take a revenge. 

Nyi Iteung was very angry at Kabayan. She asked Kabayan to work seriously when harvesting the beans.

“Tomorrow, finish harvesting the beans with Abah, Kabayan! Do it well.  Behave yourself. It is not a good thing you did today, “ said Ambu.

“Heug, I won’t do it again, Ambu.”

The next day, Kabayan and Abah went to the garden again. They worked diligently once they got there. Abah glanced at Kabayan occasionally. Kabayan worked diligently harvesting the beans. It seemed that he remembered what his mother-in-law said. He really worked hard this time.

Knowing that Kabayan worked busily, Abah sneaked in. Kabayan went on harvesting the beans until the bag was fully stuffed. Then he tied it tightly.

“Where is Abah? He must leave ahead of me. Perhaps, he is still angry at me for what happened yesterday. It’s okay. I will go home. I will drag the bag because it is too heavy for me to carry on my shoulder, “ he said while rolling the bag. Then he quickly dragged the bag.

“Kabayan! Kabayan!” said a voice inside the bag. “It’s me, your father-in-law. Don’t drag me!”

Kabayan stopped, “Aah, you are beans..beans..!” Saying that, he hit the bag hard. He dragged the bag again quickly.

“Kabayan! It’s me, your father-in-law! Not beans!”

“Beans… You are beans!” he said smirking devilishly while dragging the bag.

Abah kept shouting until he lost his voice.

When Kabayan came to the house and entered the kitchen, he dropped the bag on the floor. “Ek!” came a man’s voice.

“There you are, Ambu, a bag of beans!” Kabayan said and went to wash himself.

When Ambu unloaded the content of the bag, Abah fell from the bag groaning. His body was black and blue as the result of being dragged along the way in the bag. Ambu was horribly shocked. She then took care of him. For two days, Abah couldn’t even wake up.

(Adapted from a Sundanese Folklore. Adapted from http://bujanggamanik.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/80/)