Name   : I Gusti Ayu Triska Sri Urmila Dewi

Major   : English Language Education

Home University         : Ganesha University of Education

Receiving University  : Tarlac Agricultural University

Receiving School        : Tarlac Agricultural University Laboratory School

Blog    : https://blogoftriska.home.blog/

Mabuhay! Hello everyone! I still could not believe that my first International Flight I had was to do my teaching practice. I am so grateful that UNDIKSHA made it possible for us by conducting not only Sea Teacher program but also U to U or bilateral program. Undoubtedly, there were tons of astonishing experiences I got during my teaching practice at Tarlac Agricultural University especially at TAU Laboratory School. I met many inspiring people, discovered new cultures, tasted the Philippines flavor, learnt countless of knowledge, found out unique things and many more.

Through this post I would like to share and report about my teaching practice at Tarlac Agricultural University Laboratory School in the Philippines.

1. General Information

1.1. School Profile

Tarlac Agricultural University-Laboratory School is one of public school located in Malacampa, Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines, about 3-4 hours from Manila by car. Its building is in the same area with other colleges in Tarlac Agricultural University. It had established in 1944 as Camiling Boys/Girls school. The current principal is Karen A. Mariano.

Vision

TAU as one of the top 500 agricultural universities in Asia

Mission

TAU is commited to improve the quality of life through the production of competent graduates and relevant technologies in the service of society.

Breakthrough Goal:

• Take lead in innovative teaching methodologies using technology and/or appropriate ICT technologies to optimize learning.
• Advance agricultural productivity and income through technology transfer and training.
• Use of Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE) effectively for climate change resiliency and adaptation.

1.2. Academic Facilities

The buildings of TAU Laboratory School provides the students with regular classrooms with various sizes, usually junior high school classes are larger than the senior high school classes because the consideration of the student number (junior high school students are around 40-50 students and senior high school students are around 30 each class), there are also multimedia classes, and laboratories. The regular classes are quipped with white or black boards, big screen TV, electric fans, chairs and tables, and also wi-fi connections.   However, not all classes are quipped the same. Some is still utilizing regular LCD which has to be reserved first from the office before the use.

1.3. Teaching System

The school is operating from Monday to Friday for every grades. There are two timing section used, morning and afternoon section. The morning section starts at 7.30 up until 11.00 and the afternoon section is at 13.00 until 17.00. Between those sections, all the school residents can have break for two hours which is usually spent by taking a nap, having a lunch, playing sports, and so on. Every courses have different time portions which is considered from the grades and the course itself. For example, the English course for 7 grade will be one and a half hour meanwhile for 12 grade is two hours.

2. Pedagogical Contents

2.1. Teaching Method

Here in Tarlac Agricultural University Laboratory School, most of the teachers use student-centered learning method to make sure students involve in the learning. This method seems really suit the students’ personalities. The students here are active and creative, it will be inconvenient for them if teacher centered was applied.

2.2. Sources of Learning

The teachers mostly use textbooks as their sources for teaching. However since the school is facilitated with wi-fi connection and the students are allowed to bring their phone, the internet also become the source of the learning here.

3. Teaching Plan

3.1. Curriculum

Along with the Philippines government, Tarlac Agricultural University Laboratory School has been implementing K-12 curriculum which cover all grades from elementary to high school. Nonetheless, TAU Laboratory School ha also combining its own curriculum along with the K-12 curriculum which is Agricultural and Homemaking (AgHm) and Science curriculum. The implementation of combined curriculum makes the students are assorted tin groups. For junior high school which is 7-10 grades, the students are classified into Science A, Science B, and AgHm classes. Meanwhile, the high school students, which is 11-12 grade, are divided into four branches: STEM (Sciece, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), HUMSS (Humanities and Social Sciences), ABM (Accountancy, Bussines and Management), and Agricultural Homemaking Economics. The decision of what branch the students must take is fully theirs.

3.2. Lesson Plan

Compared to lesson plan I have learnt in Indonesia, here the lesson plan is way simpler. Even though the teachers could use variety of lesson plan form but the common forms used are semi-detailed and detailed form. For us the teaching practice students, we were asked to make the semi-detailed one. For my teaching practice, I prepared lesson plans for 21st Century Literature.

To check out the lesson plans please click:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1rqf6dxq3xZpmBzqJ9IvsJ86ew1iYTURF

4. Practice Teaching 

4.1. Teaching Procedures in the class

Just as what we do here in Indonesia, teaching procedures are divided into opening, core activity, and closure.  Here is how my teaching practice went:

• Opening

After everyone was settled well in their chair, I start the class with what we called there as routinary activities such as greetings, opening prayer, and attendance checking. After that I continued with giving the students questions about previous material and relating it to the upcoming material. I tried to use enhancing strategy here so I can lock the students’ attention from the very beginning. I have used video and music (which were related to Indonesia’s culture, because my students were so interested in it), the other time I also used games.

• Core Activity

Here is when I gave exposure about the materials to the students. Every theory that I gave always followed by examples so that they can understand more. I always used group work after because it suited them well which what I learnt from the class observation. After the group discussion, the students will present their result in front of the class. Since they are so creative, they did not only present their discussion result but also perform it (for example they acted out the poem they analyzed).

• Closure

The lesson end with the individual quiz given for the students. After the quiz, together with the students I reviewed the material that had been learnt. The class ended with closing greetings.

4.2. Documentations

5. Summary and Suggestions

5.1. Summary

• Purposes of teaching practice

The purpose of teaching practice is to provide the students with an opportunity to apply their pedagogical knowledge and skills they have learnt in university into the real practice of being a teacher. Along with it, students will be able to design, carry out and evaluate the teaching methods, they will be able to cooperate with other parties such as principal, colleagues, and students.

• Outcome of teaching practice

After completing the teaching practice in TAU Laboratory School, what I have obtained are having  plentiful experiences of being a teacher abroad, implementing my knowledge in real teaching practice, increasing my skill of cooperating with others, and getting ready for working as a professional teacher.

• Challenges

There is no journey without challenges, so that with mine. One of the biggest challenges in my teaching practice was to deal with season. It was a rainy and stormy system back then and if the government of the Philippines got a prediction of storm/typhoon, the class will be suspended. The Philippines even has its own twitter page to inform what they call as ‘Walang Pasok’ which means ‘there is no school’. Unfortunately, couple ‘walang pasok’ announcements informed during our practice teaching and I experienced my class had been suspended.  For this problem, I could not do anything about it.

• Overall impression

Incredible and precious that enough to describe my opinion about my teaching practice at Tarlac Agricultural University in the Philippines. Besides all the challenges, I am so grateful that I got this opportunity. I got not only teaching practice experiences but also new friends, new family, and experienced valuable events held by TAU such as International Conference, Fellowship Night, Manila tour and so on. I believe that this experience will lead me to be a better human resource for our beloved country Indonesia.

5.2. Suggestion

The only suggestion I can give for the upcoming teaching practice program students is to be prepared, Prepare for your body, psychically and mentally, prepare for your knowledge about the place you will visit, the food, the season, everything. Enhance the communication between your partners, UNDIKSH and your receiving university. The last but not the least is to maximize your experience to the utmost. Do not miss anything during the program.

That is all I have for my teaching practice experience at Tarlac Agricultural University. I hope that you get something from my it.  Maraming Salamat everyone!