ABOUT DBE IN SUBANG, WEST JAVA

DBE- Teacher Training was held by USAID (United State Agency International Development). DBE (Decentralized Basic Education) is a program of Indonesian government to improve the quality of basic education in Indonesia through three integrated components (DBE 1, DBE 2, and DBE 3). DBE 1: More effective decentralize education management and governance. DBE 2: improve quality of teacher and learning. DBE 3: increased relevance of Junior Secondary and non-formal education to life skills (Decentralized Basic Education - www.dbe-usaid.org).

Fortunately, I participated on that program in Subang, West Java. I really enjoyed when the tutors (Mr. Topik and Mrs. Willyana R) gave the materials in interesting ways. They gave a model in teaching by using games, team work, giving ice breaking sometimes, etc. It's just fun, it's not like usual teacher training, boring. I was so lucky, I guess. I learn so many things. There so many advantages that I've got.

Most of students don't like English lesson. They said "Studying English is difficult". I tried to practice what I got in DBE program in my class. I divided 46 students into 8 groups. I gave them an exercise of classifying the characteristic of seasons. I saw the students were so enthusiasm doing the task. I know that they like their activities. Every student participated in it. It is very effective. Student centered, so I won't be tired in teaching. What should I do is just go around the class, give some explanations when the students need.

It is very important to motivate the students in studying, studying English especially. And it's not easy for me to do it. DBE opens my eyes that there is a way to motivate the students. I optimist the students will be happy in studying English or love studying English. Of course I must make a well teaching preparation, lesson study, tasks, etc. I must be creative.

But I still find some difficulties to practice. Doing DBE style needs much time. I only have 2 x 40 minutes each meeting. I think it's not enough. It's little time, too many materials to finish. It's my problem now. And I haven't found the solution to solve it. Of course, that's just one of my problems. Another problem is I always feel unconfident with my English (grammar, vocabularies, sentence composition, etc). I've got C for writing class in college. I know I'm not good enough but I will keep learn anything especially that has relevance with English lesson. I hope I will be better someday. I will very appreciate if anybody gives me advice/s to make me or my writing better.

Using Article (A, An, and The)

Written by: Dina Nurnafiah, S.Pd.

Article is used before Nouns. It consist of two types: Definite (The) an Indefinite (A and An).

1. Definite article (The) is used to refer specific thing or person.

Example: The room is very dirty.

2. Indefinite article (A and An) is used to:

a. Represent one (numerical).

Example: I have a cat.

b. Refer thing generally.

Example: A chicken has two wings.

Let’s talk about the difference in using A and An.

1. An is used before nouns beginning with vowel sounds (an egg, an ant, an apple, an accident, etc).

2. A is used before nouns beginning with consonant sounds (a chair, a table, a pen, a book, etc).

How do we use the article?

Let’s try. I’ll give some examples to differentiate the usage of a, an, and the.

An elephant has two tusks and a very long nose.

The little elephant looks so naughty, it always play around.

A couple sentences above show us the usage of an and the. Elephant in the first sentence means every elephant. It could be any elephants (gajah pada kalimat pertama adalah setiap gajah yang ada di dunia, bisa saja gajah yang manapun. Sedangkan gajah pada kalimat kedua adalah gajah kecil itu atau hanya seekor gajah tertentu yang dimaksud).

There is another example for you.

A cat likes eating fish.

The black cat with white spots on its face is mine.

Compare those sentences above. Cat in the first sentence means every cat in the world it culd be any cats (kucing pada kalimat pertama yaitu setiap kucing yang ada di dunia).

And cat in the second sentence means only one cat. That is the black cat with white spots on its face (kucing pada kalimat kedua hanya seekor kucing tertentu, yaitu kucing yang bulunya berwarna hitam dengan ciri-ciri bercak-bercak putih di wajahnya).

EXERCISES:

Fill the blank using a, an, or the!

1. ............. pen on the table belongs to Ani.

2. ............. driver must have driving license.

3. I’m so confused now. ............ advice for me is really needed.

4. There are some kinds of fruit on the table. I want ............ apple.

5. ............. computer must be fixed as soon as possible. I need it to finish my assignment.

6. ............. television not only gives us information but entertainment as well.

7. ............. umbrella is needed to protect us from the rain.