Traditional Foods from Palembang

     I do not know exactlty why recently I really miss my hometown. I miss its traditional foods, its tourism places, its cultures, and so on.  One thing that I really miss is actuallty its traditional foods, especially pempek, tekwan, and model. Actually, I know how to make those kind of foods so well, it's just I AM LAZY to do that. I also do not have enough time for cooking. In addition,  If I buy those kind of foods, the taste will be different. Hm, by the way have you ever eaten pempek, tekwan, and model? If you have not eaten it yet, I will introduce it to you first. Yeah, at least you know how it is looked. Hihi.

Ok, let me introduce you about pempek first:

Pempek, mpek-mpek or empek-empek is a savoury fishcake delicacy from Palembang, Indonesia, made of fish and tapioca. Pempek is served with yellow noodles and a dark, rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko. YOU HAVE TO TRY IT GUYS! The following is the picture:

Next, I will introduce you to another Palembang traditional food which is tekwan

Tekwan is a fish soup typical of Palembang, Indonesia. The fish cakes are made from the dough of fish and tapioca similar to pempek. The fish cake is cut in small sizes and presented in shrimp broth with a distinctive flavor, served with rice vermicelli, mushrooms, sliced jicama, and sprinkled with sliced fresh celery, scallion and fried shallot. This is the picture: 

And then the last food is Model. 

Model is almost similar with pempek and tekwan. It is made from tapioca flavour and fish. Model Palembang is simply fish dumplings stuffed with firm tofu and served in seafood broth with bits and pieces of little morsels. This is the picture of Model Palembang:

     Well, after I show you about some traditional foods from Palembang "Would you like to visit my home town and try to eat one or all of them?" Hehe. :D

Morning Exercise : Got Free Hijab From Ahad Berbagi Community

     Almost every Sunday morning my friend , Ms. Lina, and I usually go to Bundaran HI to exercise.We usually  exercise by jogging from Bundaran HI to Duku Atas. After exercising, sometimes we eat something at Pasar Kaget that is located beside Grand Indonesia building. On this Sunday morning we also did our routine. As usual, I wait for Ms. Lina in front of Informa at 6.00 am. We met there and went to Bundaran HI together. We rode our own motorcycle in order to reach that place faster. The distance from Informa to Bundaran HI is about 30 minutes. There is no parking are at Bundaran HI, so that we parked our motorcycle At Thamrin City.Once we parked my motorcycle, we started jogging from Bundaran HI. As usual we saw so many things there, food seller, someone who wore weird clothes, funny gymnastic movement, and so forth. We enjoyed it!

     Well, we have reached Duku Atas, so it meant that we have finished our exercise. Then, we back to Bundaran HI by walking leisurely. While we were walking, suddenly a woman who was wearing a long hijab came closer. She gave each of us a hijab and said, "This is from Ahad Berbagi Community, Hopefully it will be useful" then she left us with her sweetest smile (I don't know whether it is really sweet or not). After she left us, we silent for a moment and looked at each other. I was actually feeling confuse, "Why did she give me a hijab?", "is it because my hijab is too short or what?" I was wondering about it. While I was still confused by questions on my head, Ms. Lina patted me on my shoulder and said, "I do not  know what to do with this hijab, why don't we give this to someone who really need it? It will be more useful for them, won't it?".  I thought Ms. Lina was right, it would be better if I gave this hijab to others who really need it. So, we decided to give it to a woman who were selling "nasi pecel" on the roadside. Due to, we did not want to offend  her feeling, so I act as if I was a member from Ahad Berbagi Community. I also used the same words. The woman who sells "nasi pecel" thanked to me. I thought  she felt so happy. Hm, I was happy to see that. After giving the hijab, then we continue walking.

     Before going back home, we bought something for breakfast. I bought zuppa soup for my breakfast. Whoaa I love it! Ok, I was full , then Ms. Lina and I went to Thamrin City to take our motorcycle. We went home together. Today was special just like the previous Sunday morning, especially when we got a hijab from Ahad Berbagi Community. Haha!

     

     

Fun English - Funny Song Parody by Students

     Today was the time for students to perform "Fun English" project. The project's name was "English Song's Parody". I did not know whether students already understood or not about the term "Parody", but what I've seen that students already prepared it as best as they can. They perform the project in school's hall, at the 3rd floor. My students is 7 graders students which is 7 Lech Walesa.  I did know exactly what kind of parody that would be performed by them. They brought 2 wigs, dresses, eyes glasses, and do forth. Some of them also dresseed like the real employee. "They look very mature with that outfit" a teacher said, "Yes, they are" I respond it. I guessed they would perform about a song that related to employee, office or something like that. Well, we'll see.
   The teacher gave students 10 minutes to prepare all the thing that they need on the stage. Then, my students came closer and asked me whether they borrow my laptop or not because they needed it. After borrowing my laptop, some of them went to toilet for dressing. While my students were dressing, the teacher asked a volunteer that what to be the first. No one raised their hand. When the hall was silent, suddenly my student who just finished dressing entered the hall and said "Yes, Ms..What happens?". All the students were laughing at him and it made my students confused. The teacher also laughed and then asked him and his friend to be a volunteer which will be the first group. And taraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My class became the first group! Ulaaalaaa...
    They performed "Harlem Shake dance", "Oppa Gang-nam Style Dance", "Seriosa Song" etc. This was not a parody I thought. They only meddle some song and then acted like they were singing. The other class also did so. Only one class that did the right one. Hm, I thought the students need more explanation about what "Parody" is.
     After perfoming Fun English project, students listened some additional information from the teacher. The teacher also explained about what parody is.Well, finally they realized that what they already perfomed was not a parody. Next time, if the teacher asked them to perform a parody, they would understand.. Hopefully. Hehe :D

One Day Trip : 1000 Island (Kelor, Cipir, Onrust Island)

     For last two weeks in a row, I have to go to my office every Saturday because there was a training for junior high school's teachers that I have to follow (about curriculum and about special needs children's programs) and also because of the new students enrolment. It was tiring, but I tried to enjoy it. Yaah, at least I got something / new insight from that activity such as about the curriculum, about some special need children and so forth.
     Hm... Today was Friday, it mean that tomorrow was Saturday.Oh, I was so happy because tomorrow I was free (no training, no duty and yeah "I AM FREE"). On this Saturday this week, I was free so that I decided to spend my weekend to go to some places. My friend and I already planned to spend our weekend by visiting 1000 Island. We would like to  visit Kelor, Cipir and Onrust island. Honestly, this my first trip. That's why I was so excited and tacky. Haha! Due to the considerable distance so that tomorrow we have to wake up earlier than before. First route that we have to reach before heading to Kelor, Cipir, and Onrust island is Muara Kamal. It is a place where the fisherman's boats is anchored. On the other hand, we would use a fishing boat to go to those islands. Well, It would be fun I Thought. Hihi :D We have to arrive at Muara Kamal at 07.30 a.m. The distance from my rent house to Muara Kamal is about 2 hours Hopefully, I won't be late.
     Today was the day. "Beeeeeeeeeeeeep.... Beeeeeeeeeeep", my alarm rang several times and it was snoozed by me unconsciously. Oh God! I WAS LATE. I WAKE UP LATE. What should I DO?. Well, I did morning prayer, took a bath and, then prepared all the things that I have to bring. OK DONE, now it's time to go. I used Transjakarta and arrived at Muara Kamal at 8.00 a,m. Fortunately, the tour guide was very kind. He already wait for me and my friend for 30 minutes and he said "It's ok". I admitted that it was embarassing. Well, I won't repeat it next time. I Promise!


Now It's time to start our Trip : 1st Destination (Kelor Island)

     This island is actually a place that is used to control ships which is going in and out from Indonesia.That buiding is a control tower. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Next : 2nd Destination (Cipir Island)

     Cipir Island is a place for the passengers on the ship (that have been checked in Kelor Island) which have dangerous diseases. The most buiding which is founded in this island is hospital, the place where the patient will be quarantined. So, this island is usually called as "Pulau Rumah Sakit" (Hospital Island).

The Last : 3rd Destination (Onrust Island)

  Onrust Island is named after the Dutch Onrust, or "unrest". The island is also known as Kapal ("Ship"). Onrust was the site of a major shipyard and five-sided fort that had belonged to the by then defunct Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had to rebuild the naval base on Onrust several times due to British attacks, such as the one in 1800. The last restoration was in 1840. In 1883 the explosion of Krakatoa sent a huge tidal wave that destroyed the last Dutch naval base on the island. During the 19th Century Onrust held a sanitarium for people suffering from Tuberculoses Island a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from the Hajj to Mecca. The quarantine barracks took up some two-thirds of the island and could hold 3,500 pilgrims. Over the years erosion reduced Onrust from its original 12 hectares to 7.5 hectares (2002). The administration then built concrete retaining walls around the island but these are now in a dilapidated state. 

        So, from today's trip I got a lot of thing to learn besides happiness. Hopefully I can visit others island in 1000 island beside these three islands that I have ever visited. Thanks GOD, today is AWESOME.

Celebrating Teachers' Day : Surprises from Students

     On Monday, 25th of November 2013 there was something weird happening in our school. Normally students already lined up on the field at 7.30 a.m to conduct the morning ceremony which is held every Monday, but today they did not do it. When the bell rang, only few students left on the field. We, as the teacher felt confuse and wondered where actually the other students, why they did not here to conduct morning ceremony. Hm, I guessed unusual thing was happening today.
     While the situation was getting confusing, suddenly two students came closer to us. They pretended that they were also confuse by the situation which was happening. They said that they were also wondering why only few students left on the field. After a few minute, we suddenly listened student's voice. He read a poem about teacher for us. The poem recitation was accompanied by the strains of an acoustic guitar. Wow! it was suprising and very touching. While a student was reading a poem,  a group of students came closer and sang a song about teacher. Well, frankly I said that it was very awesome. They really presented it with heart.
     After reading a poem and singing a song, again they gave us the next suprise. They gave every teacher flower which is rose. Some teacher started to cry because they were amazed with what students have done today. In addition, students also gave an award for each teacher. They gave me teacher award as the most friendly teacher in Lazuardi. I was very happy and I appreciated it. Thanks for giving us some suprise. Love you all guys.

The Amazing Street Children that I Have Ever Met

As a last year student in a university, I have to fulfill  some exit requirement in order to graduate well from my university. One of the exit requirements that I have to fulfill is finishing KKN project for two months in a place to serve the community. That project was a group project so that I chosen some friend to work together. After conducting survey in several places, my friends and I finally decided to choose a place named Kampus Diakonia Modern (KDM). Since 1972, Kampus Diakonia Modern (KDM) has been offering street children from Java and Sumatra with the opportunity for a better life, by empowering street children to become independent, self-supporting adults. KDM could not do this without its partners and friends, and the many ways people can support its work. Based on that reason, we finally chosen KDM as a place to do KKN project.
Before we started the project, firstly we divided the duty for each group member. At that time, my duty was to be an English and craft teacher. Every Monday and Wednesday in a week, I had to teach English for the street children in beginner level and then  teach craft for 5-7 years old children every Friday and Saturday. At the first time I taught them English and craft, I underestimated their ability in learning. I thought that it would be difficult to teach them because their educational background unlike most children in general. Then I taught them for several times. I was very surprised, apparently what I thought about them was wrong. They are very smart, active, proactive, creative, and innovative. Frankly I said, I was amazed by their creativity in creating something from scraps. Not only skilled in making handicrafts, they are also good at cultivating mushrooms. They sell the mushroom several times in a week when the mushroom is ready to be harvested. In addition, they rich of experience. They struggle to survive and it makes me impressed and inspired. Some of them have started earn money independently when they were 2-5 years old. I learn a lot from them. The following are hand crafts that they have made and mushroom that is cultivated by them:

Punishment or Consequence?

Every school must has their own rules to manage and restrict their students' behaviors. The rules are created solely to protect students from bad things and to create individuals who are able to live discipline in the future. Unfortunately, students do not realize about it and they even break the rules that have been made without feeling​​ guilty. To solve this problem, eventually schools create "punishment" as a means to give a deterrent effect to the students who break the school's rules. It is also intended to make students able to obey the rules that have been created by the school well.

Discussing about punishment, there are two types of punishment which are positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment  is what we consider classical punishment and is used in order to extinguish a bad behavior, whereas negative punishment again, is a tricky concept and would seem to be what positive punishment is; but it is not. Negative punishment is also known as punishment by removal, because a right or privilege is removed (Roach, 2010). Punishment can be effective in some case, you probably think of a few example of when punishment does not reduce a behavior in the classroom. The following is an example when punishment does not work well to manage students' behavior:

"Richard has not finished his home work yet. It was because he fell asleep last night. His teacher was angry and gave him punishment because of that. Then he was asked to run around the field. After completing the punishment given by his teacher, he had to wait outside the classroom until the class is finished. Richard felt tired at that time and thought to do not repeat the same mistake on the next meeting. As time goes by, in fact Richard kept repeating the same mistakes, because he thought that running around the field and staying outside the classroom was easier and better than working very hard to do their homework from the teacher."

From the case above we can infer that punishment given by the teacher does not give student a lesson. It only gives temporary effect. Why is it that punishment seems to work in some instances, but not in others? Researchers have found a number of factors that contribute to how effective punishment is in different situations. First, punishment is more likely to lead to a reduction in behavior if it immediately follows the behavior. Second, punishment achieves greater results when it is consistently applied. It can be difficult to administer a punishment every single time a behavior occurs. Punishment also has some notable drawbacks. First, any behavior changes that result from punishment are often temporary. "Punished behavior is likely to reappear after the punitive consequences are withdrawn," Skinner explained in his book About Behaviorism. 

Realizing that punishment is sometimes not really effective to be applied because it could not give a lesson for students, some school try to change "punishment" into "consequence". So, what are the difference between punishment and consequence?. I will give you two examples to help you differentiate it easily.

Case 1:

"Rina knew that the schedule of the school bus stopped at the shelter to pick up students was at 7:00 pm. One day Nina woke up late, so she arrived at the shelter at 7:05 pm. As a consequence Nina had missed the bus and was coming late to school. Finally, Nina tried to get up early so as not to miss the shuttle bus again because she did not want to leave by the bus again."

Case 2:

"Rina knew that the schedule of the school bus stopped at shelter to pick up students at 7:00 pm. One day Nina woke up late, so she arrived at the shelter at 7:15 pm. Bus driver have been waiting for Nina for 15 minutes. Then he scolded her because Nina came late. When Nina got into the bus,her friends also yelled and taunted her. Nina felt ashamed, sad, and guilty because have been making other people wait  for her and came late because of her mistake. "

From those two cases above, it can be seen that on the first case Rina could learn something from the situation she was facing which is "Don't be late or the bus will leave you". It is different with the second case where Rina felt that there was a refusal from her friends when she came late and also a form of mental abuse did by the bus driver by yelling at and scolding her. The second situation cannot guarantee that Rina will not come late on the following day. Therefore, we can conclude that the first case is an example of consequence and the second case is an example of punishment. Consequences teach, are given with empathy, relate directly to the actual behavior, and teach students to take responsibility for their own choices. Isn't this what we all want?! That's what I'm striving for daily, although I must confess that I often miss the mark. Hopefully, I'm not the only one :). Whereas, Punishments are about controlling behavior and are often arbitrary. They leave students feeling helpless and focus on the actual punishment rather than the student's choices.

So, after reading this post, when you find you students break the school rules, which one would you choose as a good teacher ? giving students punishment or consequence? 

Me, As An English Teacher or Aid Teacher? (Part I)

On 22th of August 2013, I officially graduated from my college. Some people might think the challenges will be over if someone already accomplished their study in the University, but for me new challenges will come after this and even it would be harder than before. Same with the other fresh graduates, I also tried to look for jobs at some places such as schools, instances, foundations and so forth. As a scholar who graduated from English language teaching field , I will naturally be an English teacher. But, God has a plan for me and I think His plan will change my life in the future. And... This is a short story about my new journey as a fresh graduate.

Before graduating from my college, I already applied for jobs in some places. I sent my application letter to Sekolah Adzkia as an English teacher and to Lazuardi GIS as "I don't know" teacher. I passed the documents selection and interview session well in both schools. I was really sure at the time that they would call me soon and say "You are accepted Siti!. Congrats". Three weeks after the interview session Sekolah Adzkia has not informed me yet. I started feeling afraid and worry, I did  not want to be unemployed scholar. I tried to think positively, but it's hard. At the same time, I was also waiting for a call from Lazuardi GIS. "Oh GOD, please give me the best choice, Amiin!"

Today was the fourth week. God answer my pray. The HRD from Lazuardi GIS called me and said that I was accepted. I was really happy at that time, but at the same time I felt confuse. Why? It was because I did not know "Accepted as what?. When I applied for job at Lazuardi GIS, I did not know what kind of teachers are needed to teach at that school. On the information that I read, there is no clear explanation about the type of job intended. The information is not specific. So, I was applying the job as the teacher, but I did not know what kind of teacher I would be. Hopefully I was accepted as an English teacher. Two days after a call from Lazuardi, Sekolah Adzkia also informed me that I was accepted at that school as an English teacher. Wow! I thought GOD was testing me by giving me two choices at that time. Well, frankly I said, it made me really confused. It was a hard situation for me to decide which one is better. 

So, which school that I have to choose Sekolah Adzkia or Lazuardi GIS?

~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~