Summary and Suggestions

Purpose of the practicum

To improve my teaching, social, and adaptability skills through teaching students from other countries.
To experience and learn a new culture to enhance my global awareness, adaptability, and cross-cultural communication skills.
To learn more knowledge in teaching which I can use or adapt to enhance my skills to become a better teacher in the future.
To enjoy and meet new friends from different countries.

Procedures of the practicum

During my first week in SMA labschool, I observed their classes before teaching them by myself. There, I saw how the teacher taught them the lesson where she facilitated all the students during the class not just explaining the lesson. Even though their class is longer than the classes in the Philippines they only cover a few topics which allows the students to understand the lesson more. In the second week, I started teaching the students. After teaching them my coordinating teacher would give feedback about my performance to improve my teaching skills.

I did my demonstration teaching in the fourth week. My teacher assigned me a lesson about solving a system of linear equations. I submitted my detailed lesson plan to my coordinating teacher, she approved it so I did not make any changes to my lesson plan which you can see in this blog.

Outcomes of the practicum

When I taught my students, I could see that the students learned the lesson even though I taught the lesson using the English language which is their third language. My heart is fulfilled whenever I see my students enjoy the activities or the games that I give them. By teaching them, I also learned a lot from them on how to make my teaching better. I am also thankful for my coordinating teacher's feedback because it motivates me to do better.

The challenges of the practicum

The challenges that I experienced throughout my teaching journey in labschool was the language barrier and how to approach students from another country. Some of them can only speak basic English which is why I need to explain slowly and only use basic English words so that my students can understand me. For them, Mathematics is a difficult subject, and teaching it using the English language makes it more difficult that is why I always do my best so that they can understand the lesson that I am teaching.

Overall impression

My experience throughout my journey as a SEA Teacher at UPI was amazing. I was able to learn a lot of things that would help me to improve my teaching, social, communication, and adaptability skills. I am very grateful to all of the people who helped me on this journey, especially my fellow SEA Teachers from Japan and Thailand, and also our buddies, my coordinating teacher, and my students. Before, I was afraid to teach in different countries because I was afraid that I might fail but this program helped me overcome my fears and made me a better pre-service teacher. UPI is an amazing university, I met a lot of wonderful people from other countries. For me, one month is not enough because I will surely miss them and the things that I experienced on my journey as a SEA Teacher participant.

Suggestions for future improvement

I have suggestions about their accommodation, though it was good but I suggest to give us an electric fan since there are mosquitoes even though the weather was cold. Aside from that, I don't have any more suggestions. They gave us an amazing experience and also introduced us to their culture like batik painting and many more.