Diary at Massey 2

Here I upload my diary at Manawatu Campus of Massey University at New Zealand, continuing the other parts I have been uploaded before . . .

12/10/09

The weather in Palmerston North and New Zealand changes day by day. But the change also happens at the same day. We often feel sun shine in the morning, it’s cloudy at noon and it rains in the evening or the sun comes back again. To live here, people should be prepared every thing based on the weather. My host family told me that it happens in spring. Summer will be come sunny and we will have colourful lives. In contrast, Indonesia, a big country with huge population, has a lot of cultures with hot weather more often than dry season. Climate change affects seasonal cycles in the world as I felt in my country.

Jane explained about DEEP program to us. With DEEP (Direct Entry English Pathway), we can study in Massey without the IELTS test. DEEP runs for 17 weeks before entering postgraduate study. Students in the College of Education must have band 7 of IELTS score. Indonesia had some IELTS test places. If we took the IELTS test in Indonesia, we should come to those places and pay the cost of the test. It should be better if we can increase our English level during our short course here. So, when we attend an IELTS test, our score would be better than before.

21/10/09

I slept in a backpacker’s lodge in Wellington, Ex-base Backpacker. Wellington was an unique city in front of the sea and hills; a city with combined old tradition and new modernism. I saw old buildings and new buildings here. I saw a traffic jam on the streets. People went and came to and from places. Shops sold services and goods. They were preparing for end of the year sales. It is a big city with a big problem for government. While I walked through streets there, I saw a homeless man sleeping on the street. He used crumpled and soiled clothes with dirty blanket. This is a problem for city council of Wellington. I thought every big city faced social problem as experts called it “social pathology”.

Victoria University had a nice building. I heard from the Indonesian Nite announcer that this university had a partnership agreement with USU University in Indonesia. Beside it, there was a huge building with unique architecture Parliament Building of New Zealand State. It look like Beehive. My host mother told me that at certain times people are allowed to go in for tourism destination. We traced the streets of Wellington from 08.00 a.m. untul 03.30 p.m. Our last destination was the bus and railway station. We booked the tickets online by internet connection. My friends and I came back home by (Tranzit Inter City) bus.

On Monday we had a class with Vijaya Charant and Penny Haworth. They described Quality Teaching for Diverse Students; Inclusive Education. From this class we know that inclusive education is supported by government and community. As a small country with a small population, New Zealand is always ready to handle immigration problems. Penny had been teaching refugees for years with ADL programme. Vijaya talked about inclusive education historically. She prepared the presentation well. She spoke English pretty well with an Indian accent, short sentences and fast words.

22/10/09

We have been here for four weeks. The schedule changed. We Indonesian teachers educators had a challenging task from the teachers. We are obliged to do a small research project which will be presented in week 6. in this week we had a lot of time to increase our English capability and vacant time for self needs. The day before yesterday my friends and I went to Recreational Centre. We played badminton here after we had booked the place. I felt a little embarrassed with our attitudes on the ground. We showed our happiness and spirit by making a loud shout. At that moment, people looked at us and some of them shook their head from left to right as a sign of refusal to listen to our cry. We came from different cities and different habits.

On Monday 19 we had a class with Vijaya Charant and Penny Haworth. Vijaya was born in India. She showed her expertise by guiding us about grand design of inclusive education in New Zealand. Penny looked a humble person. She laughed and sang during her presentation. She was a kind of third culture kid: experienced with different cultures and easy moved between countries. On Wednesday, the teachers debriefed us about the tasks. Then, Phil showed resources on key websites. It’s important for us because we could download and learn new things for our teaching and learning. There was free choices time in the afternoon provided by Phil for us: searching research topic, recreational activities and observation at CUPELS afternoon class.

23/10/09

I had a great class with Gary Punler. He asked us a lot of questions. He is a principal of a primary school. We were questioned by ‘what is the difference between western/eastern educational systems?” a challenging question. Philosophically, he said, the differences came from asking question skills. Friends of mine replied that the main point was from culture. I did’nt think so, because culture was not a stagnant thing. It changes depending on human and other factors.

I agreed with him about reflective thinking. Students should know how they did and how to make thing better. It came from questioning. Questions are done to encourage the progress the progress of someone skill. A teacher trainee should know what does he/she want and how to achieve it. Reflection continued with collaboration. “Collaborative” means that all have a duty and responsibility for the aim. Based on my experience, students are used to studying by instruction/lecturing. So, it was hard to speak about their thinking.

27/10/09
Yesterday we had a class with Valerie. She was an expert of parent – school relationship. The good relation between school, students and parents happened by triangle relationship. It is built by intensive relationship through media like newletters, e-mail, leaflet, and so on.

Parents should know real life in school, help school and participate in school’s activity at the school or at home. Parents should know the truancy level of the class, school’s decile, and school agenda for his/her son or daughter.

Homework Procedures and Guidelines of St. James Catholic School showed a partnership relation between students, parents, and school. Homework done by students was contentious. Students some times come across the solution that never discovered at the class. To take it on board, parents had to be ready with time to do homework together with students.

Valerie gave us some papers as resources. I knew she had to prepare the presentation perfectly. To be honest, our school in Indonesia rarely did what St. James does. New innovation is found to make a better class.

29/10/09

The Recreation Centre is provided by Massey University for students here. As temporary students, we have a right to use the facility here. It’s better to book the place before, because many students want to do sport there. Booking can be done by phone. At the end of semester, many students face examinations or tasks for their paper. So, the Recreation Centre at the time we came was available for Badminton.

We played badminton, a second popular sport in Indonesia after football. The Recreation Centre became our comfort zone. We laughed and cried loudly. Some people looked at us strangely. I felt a little embarrassed. We used to play sport in open area. Some friends played table tennis, basket ball and billiards.