HAVING NEW EXPERIENCE IN PARE ENGLISH CAMP

On last December 2013, our school held study tour to Pare but not all the teachers and students joined to this program. There were ninety seven students from all grades and ten teachers including me as one of the teacher who joined to this program. We stayed there for two weeks. We went there for Learning English. Why we learned English there because it’s well known as an English village and there are a lot of English courses and so many people in Pare can speak English well.

In the first day, we gathered in front of school to go to the Pasar Senen station by bus. As we know, Pare is one of the districts in Kediri, Jawa Timur province. It’s very far away from Jakarta so it will take long time to get there. So we took train to Kediri station and took eleven hours to get there. We already reserved for one hundred and seven seats in economic class. When we arrived there, the teachers gave tickets to every student to go inside the station. But when we already went inside, the train was not ready so we had to wait about one and a half hour. The students looked and felt unhappy to hear that.

After we waited for so long, it’s time for us to get into the train. Suddenly, the students looked so happy and felt excited to find their own seat. During the travel, students had their own activities, such as some students fall asleep because they felt so tired, some students felt hungry and ordered some foods, and others had conversation which made others passengers felt annoyed.

Finally, we arrived in the Kediri station in the morning. We had to take public transportations to Pare. The public transportation that already reserved by the course waited us in the station gate. Before we got into the public transportation, the students were briefed by the teacher firstly. The teacher explained about the rules of how did they got into the public transportations for boys and girls and explained about the location for house that they would stay there as well. The boys and girls would have different public transportation and house.

On the way to Pare, we looked the situation and condition of Kediri City. Because it was still in the morning so there were no many activities doing by the people there. The Kediri City was very clean, that’s why the Kediri city got Kalpataru award from the government as one of the cleanest city in Indonesia. It’s very comfortable because there still have so many trees so we could breathe the fresh air. We enjoyed the city view as long as the way to get Pare village.

Then we arrived in Pare village. We felt happy and enthusiastic. In Pare, there are a lot of courses places, one of them is Elfast English Course. It’s well known as one of the biggest English course in Pare and we took the English Course there. As soon as we arrived in our home stay, we looked for our room, one room was for two or four students. After I finished to put my luggage and cleaned my room with my roommate, I and other teachers looked the students’ room to check whether the students already got into their room or not. Then we took a rest for hours and waited for the opening ceremony at 7.30 PM.

It’s time for the opening ceremony which be held in Elfast’s hall. It was attended by all the students, the teachers, the school vice principal and the elfast’s coordinator, and elfast’s tutors. It explained anything about all the programs for the students such as introduction, the rules of learning, the schedule for every class, and the punishment that they would get if they didn’t follow the rules that already given by teachers. The Elfast English Course gave the students a t-shirt and English hand book. The students must wear it in the first day of learning and brought the English hand book as their guide book to learn English in the class. It’s already 10.00 PM and the opening ceremony was closed. The students must prepare their selves for next day so they must go back to their own room and slept.

In the first day of learning English in Pare, the students felt excited but they must take a test before they got a class. They must do it in order to know the level of their English. The classes was according to their level because in order to get easier for the teacher to teach them. After test, the coordinator informed the result test and mentioned the names for every class. The class was divided into four classes, one class consisted of twenty four to twenty five students. The classes’ names were class A, class B, class C, and class D. The Class D was the lowest level and the class A was the highest level. Every class had different rooms. Then, they began to learn the English Lesson in Pare.

Before began the class, the coordinator gave students the schedule for learning English in Elfast. The students would learn English in three sessions. The first session began in the morning at 07.00 – 09.00 AM, the second session was at 10.00 – 12.00 AM, and the last session was at 03.30 – 05.30 PM. After prayed Subuh, they were gathered with their house’s guide to discuss and consult about the learning material and Elfast. At 7.30 PM, they did the same thing too. They had time for rest about three and a half hours in the afternoon and slept at night. They would do the same thing for two weeks, but after one week they learned there, we had test to speak English with foreigner in Bali and had vacation as well.

In Pare, the students not only learned about the English grammatical, they also learned such as pronunciation, reading, speaking, listening, writing and etc. The students felt excited when they learned English there because they got a new knowledge of English Language. For example the teachers taught them some slang sentences in English which made them wanted to explore more about English. They learned how to pronounce words in English, the teachers showed them some symbols in English then taught how to spell the words. Because pronunciation was new for students to learn, the students felt interesting and wanted to learn more. They learned enthusiastically so they can improve their English.

One week passed, it’s time for us to go to Bali for two days. We went to Bali by Bus, there were two Bus. We would visit some places in Bali, one of them was Tanah lot. We went there to have test as one of the test that should passed by the student and for vacation as well. The task was the students had to make a conversation with the foreigner and they had to record the conversation as proof. They already prepared some questions that they have to ask to the foreigner in paper in order not to forget the questions while they were asking to them. There were so many foreigners in Bali so the students felt freely to choose with whom they wanted to have the conversation. Some students felt afraid to begin the conversation but after that they felt happy because they could speak to them. After they finished their task, they could enjoy the scenery in Bali and bought some souvenirs to their family. We just stayed for one night in Hotel and as soon as we finished the task, we went back to Pare.

After we arrived in Pare we took a rest so next day we were fresh and ready to continue the program. But some students were busy to edit their task because they have to submit it soon. On next day, the students continued their activities as usual. They would learn more about English there. The teachers taught them enthusiastically. They always played games for taking the students’ attention. The games made the lesson fun and made the students easily to understand what the teacher taught. There were a lot of methods which used by the teachers to teach them and one of the reason for using them were to make the teaching learning processes were attractive and interesting.

It’s already thirteen days they have learned English in Pare and just remained one day for the students to have final test. They would have the final test in order to know their result after days learned there and to measure their improving skill especially in English. The skill test that they would have was speaking skill and vocabulary skill. There were two session for the final test. The first session, they must arrange the random pictures into a good arrangement then they must tell the picture into a good story. The second session, the teacher gave them some pictures and they chose one picture. After that, they must explain what happened in that picture and gave the moral story according to their explanation on last. Then they finished their program and waited for the certificate which included their score.

Two week had passed, and it’s time for us to get back home. At night, the students and the teachers packed their luggage so in the morning they were ready. They also didn’t forget to buy some souvenirs from Pare to their family. They felt happy to go back into their family and couldn’t wait to share their experience in Pare. Before we got back to Jakarta, we held a closing ceremony. In the closing ceremony, we said good bye to all Elfast’s staff and teachers, and some students showed some entertaining performance. We felt happy at that time.

It’s already in the morning, and it’s time for us to get back in Jakarta. We gathered in front of Elfast’s gate to go to the station by public transportation. The train was on time and ready to go to Jakarta. The students were very happy because their family already waited them. They also felt happy because they got unforgettable experience and improved their English skill.  They hoped someday they can go back to Pare.