Democracy in Bahrain

Here are two articles regarding the recent Parlimentary elections in Bahrain.

http://www.forbes.com/business/commerce/feeds/ap/2006/11/26/ap3203747.html

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=162907&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29252

Post Elections and Thanks

Thanks for the birthday wishes from everyone. The tee shirts were not authorized by me!

Thanks to James Breen for posting the interesting election article. We intend to become more active in posting articles, quotes and comments regarding civics and democracy. Please send us your sites, ideas, pictures, etc as well.

Mike

Post Election

Here is an interesting article regarding the newley elected Representatives and Senators and the orientations program they are required to attend. It also discusses some issues to come up during the last few weeks of the 109th Congress.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/13/congress.returns.ap/index.html

CI team at Mike's Birthday

Here is the picture of our team. Do you recognize a face on our t-shirts???

THE POWER OF NETWORKING:ETA ENGLISH TEACHER ASSOCIATION

Dear CI Fellow and all alumni,

As the alumni of Summer Institute for Secondary Educators 2005, We have commitment to contribute something to our society as the result of our study in United State upon our return. So, with that spirit I gather all the English teachers in South Surabaya region and held a workshop, at the same time forming an English Teacher Association (ETA), which is meant for the private schools teachers.

This following article is written by my fellow English teacher in AL Hikmah, trying to give pictures of what it was like in the workshop. Enjoy it.

How long have you been studying English? Perhaps we have been studying English for quite many years. Probably starting when we were in secondary school. Anyway, can you speak English well?. These question still become a problem in English teaching in Indonesia. The question arise is whether English teaching in Indonesia has effective or not.

We get used to undergoing different curriculums. Each syllabus offers different methods in English teaching but sometimes the implementation in the classroom has no difference at all. It means that not all English teacher are aware on the fast changing of the curriculum, as today we are applying competence based curriculum towards KTSP ( Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan). Many teachers interpret this curriculum differently one another. Moreover, the characteristic of the national exam of this curriculum are rather different from the former one. Therefore, SMP AL Hikmah tried to make use the networking of schools in South Surabaya Region by holding a workshop under the theme “ Sukses UNAS 2006-2007, Menyongsong KBK 2006” on Saturday, September 9, 2006. The main purpose of this occasion is to build the network among schools as one of the vision of the school, which is to be able to give benefits to the school’s environment.

The place was in the library of SMP AL Hikmah Surabaya. Around fifty-five English teachers from private schools in South Surabaya region come to the workshop. With two facilitators who were the national trainers of Competence Based Curriculum, the workshop was running very well. The first facilitators, Drs. Edy Kuntjoro who is the former principle of AL Hikmah Junior high and now reside in The senior high gave a presentation to put a strong basis of the real teaching itself. And it’s all about perception.

Mr. Edy said that as teacher, we have to build a good perception to our students. And b having this thought, we hope that both teachers and students will enjoy the process of teaching and learning. “ Teaching is not always in the classroom but it can also be an outdoor activities”, he added. He also emphasize on how teachers should encourage the students to use the language they have learned into a real meaning, which is practicing. Motivate them by talking with them only in English during the classroom activities and after class. He emphasize that acquiring a language is not an instant result but coming from a long process of using it in daily life. At the end of his presentation, he tried to build a strong impression that teaching could be a fun activities no matter how serious the lesson is. “ Dead Poet Society” is the movie that told us that teachers is truly the agent of change.

Meanwhile, Slamet Setiawan, Lecture of UNESA, as the core program of the workshop present the strategy of teaching different kind of texts to students in a very interesting ways. Participants were enjoying the activity very much, with all the creativity in teaching, they tried to perform their best and present each text assigned to them perfectly. One group presented narrative text in a way of putting series of pictures about the folk story, then teacher give model on how to make a narrative text. Very interesting!!.

Mr. Slamet was also explaining about the strategy of facing the national exam itself. Listening that has never been part of the national exam previously, has become one of the competencies that students must have acquired to face UNAS. The other competencies are the linguistic and socio-cultural.

The participants are excited with all the activities. At the end of the workshop, we made an agreement to established an association namely English Teacher Association (ETA) with Ustadzah Silvia from SMP AL Hikmah elected as the chief of the association. And further, forming a small committee to organize the follow up activities which planned to be held after Aidil Fitr holiday. In conclusion, all the activities of the program was meant to share what Al Hikmah has got to others and in attempt to put in real the program of contributing to the community as the vision and mission of Al Hikmah.

Hope this is a good start and encourage other alumni to do something in their community

silvia

Kerry's own goal?

I've never paid so much attention to this issue before but the political athmosphere prior to the Nov 7 election in the US is really getting me interested.
I said to someone the other day, although the Democrats are likely to win big time for the Congress in this election, a lot could still happen before that day.
And guess what... It turns out to be true. Kerry's statement yesterday about the American kids sent to Iraq seems to be a big advantage to the Republicans. Kerry said (well, not literally) that the kids sent to the battle in Iraq are not the smart ones. I have no idea how it is an advantage for them but a lot of media believe so.
Anyway, let's just wait and see what happens next.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy Birthday, Mike. Wish you all the best with your jobs and May God always blesses you and your family! Miss you all so much!