Purpose of The Practicum
According to the objectives of The SEA Teacher Project, which is to provide an opportunity for prospective teacher students from universities in Southeast Asia to gain an experiences teaching in another countries in Souteast Asia. Therefore the aim of this practicum is to allow prospective teacher students to develop their teaching skills, improve their English skills, and provide experiences about the teaching process abroad and new world views.
Procedure of The Practicum
This practicum is held for four weeks with a procedure consisting of four steps and each step is carried out for a week. The procedur of the practicum are as follows :
a. Step 1 : Orientation and Observation
For the first week there are an orientation and observation. The orientation is held at the receiving university and the practice school. At this orientation the participant of the SEA Teacher will introduce to the receiving university and the practice school. The object of observation are general school information, daily student activities at school, school facilities, academic support systems, subjects teaching, pedagogical contents applied in schools, learning methods and evaluation guidelines.
b. Step 2 : Teaching Assistant
The second week is being Teaching Assistant. Teaching assistant will have a tutor teacher during the practicum . The tutor teacher will have to guide the learning direction in the classroom. Teaching assistant have to looking at the tutor teacher's teaching process about how the tutor teacher prepare the teaching plan and manage the student. So teaching assistant can explore the teaching materials, the method that used by the tutor teacher, classroom and time management and also the evaluation of the students.
c. Step 3 : Teaching Experience
The thing awaited by a prospective teacher is take part on the activities in the class. At this step a teaching assistant (participant) will take part as a teacher in the classroom for teaching experience. The number of hours of teaching time depends on the tutor teacher and the practice school.
d. Step 4 : Evaluation and Reflection
The last step is evaluation and reflection. The tutor teacher will give an evaluation to the assistant teaching (participant) about the teaching practice being carried out. After evaluation the tutor teacher will give a reflection to the participant, so the participant enable improve the teaching skills.
Outcomes of The Practicum
From this SEA Teacher programme there are many things that I have learned. One of which is improving teaching skills, starting from how to make boring learning materials become interesting for students, learning new learning methods and education system in different countries, reaching out to students, get a lot of motivation from new great teachers. And another important part is improving communication skills and learning new cultures and habits.
The Challenges of Practicum
English in Vietnam starts taught on the grade 3 and for my first lesson was on grade 2, so language barrier was my toughest challenge during the practicum. The students are interested in learning but they just understand some words that i say. So, I tried to changed the learning method for my next lesson. At the next lesson I used a powerpoint presentation and putted the text translation on Vietnamese language so the student can understand the materials. Then voila, the students become more active and interest to the lesson.
Overall Impressions
My first impression when I first joined The SEA Teacher Project was that I didn't have the confidence to do it well because my english skills were not that good. But during this activity I feel very fortunate to be given the opportunity to participate in this programme, given chance to improve my english communication skills and I feel confident that I can become a teacher who not only conveys knowledge but educates and imparts knowledge to my students.
Suggestions for Future Improvement
The suggestion for SEAMEO is to give a crosscheck to the schools or grades to be taken as a practicum subject. Schools or grades that are subject to practicum should have met the requirements of being able to communicate using English at least 70% so that the implementation of this program can run optimally. Until now there are five countries in ASEAN has joined SEA Teache Project. It will be better if the other ASEAN countries can join this program.
Dong Thap University is the first university in Vietnam has joined SEA Teacher programme. Every treatment and facilities provided by DThU were very good and helped us during the internship. The university can further increase the number of our activities during internship. This will further enhance the experience and knowledge of the participants.
Le Van Tam Primary school was very welcomed school. The suggestions for the school is to further enhance student activities in the learning process using English even more so with very adequate school facilities. It is will greatly help students in the future.
