ER: My Special Gift for X

One of the students' assignments in the extensive reading class is that they need to think as if they were preparing a special gift for a character in the story. I love this assignment!

Years ago, back then when I was sitting in my extensive reading class as a student, I had to present my gifts in front of my friends. I picked The Prince of Egypt. 

It is an easy one, Level 2, and actually an adaptation of Spielberg's animated film. The book narrates the story of Moses and how he grew up as a prince in Egypt, once saved by the Egyptian queen when he was still a baby. Appointed by God, Moses was tasked to lead and free his people from slavery in Egypt, standing against his stepbrother, Ramses. 

I had to think of what gift was special for Moses. I remembered my favorite scene in that book, that is when Moses stood before the river/sea, prayed to God, raised his staff, and let his people witness the powerful God split the sea before them. It is that scene that I always imagine when I read the same story told in the Bible. I thought of giving him this item. 

A wooden walking cane

So, instead of walking with that old, curvy wooden staff, Moses could walk and move more elegantly with this new wooden staff. And that scene would be way cooler when he raised this stylish staff! And he could do more miraculous things later with his staff, too!

The next person I chose was from the same story: Ramses. Well, it would not have been fair if I had treated Moses but his stepbrother. After all, I would like to make the story more interesting. Haha. 😎 

I knew Ramses .was the wicked one. Although Moses had reminded him how omnipotent God is--remember those ten plagues, Ramses was headstrong and ignorant. Even when he seemingly let Moses and his people walk away from his land, he tried to chase and capture them back. Then, they were riding their chariots but got stopped--and trapped--when the sea closed. 

Forgive me for my being 'naughty', but here is what I would like to give Ramses (and his army). Tadaaa!

A jetski!

The chase would not have ended right there when the sea closed. I would love to see how this stubborn Ramses kept chasing Moses and his people. And what next would God show to those people? I would love to witness more miraculous things to happen and let Moses utilize his new staff too! Haha. 

What about my students? Well, let me tease the gifts they have prepared for the characters. Please check their blog updates, too.

• Yohanna Amanda Putri -- a water pump and a pile of money
• Johanna Jerusha Prasodjo -- a stylish outfit and an enamel necklace
• Vinsensius Brahmantya Adityawan -- an alarm clock and a notebook
• Sony Chrissetiyaki -- a VIP movie ticket and an Iron Man figure
• Theresia Ratna Shela Puspita Sari -- a trophy and a typewriter
• Gracia Marchelly -- a rocking horse and a jumbo cat house
• Diki Setyawan Kristiananda -- an alarm clock and an air compressor
• Yeremia Edo Surya Noegraha -- an axe and a chic car.
• Melkisedek Osibas Tauho -- earphones and an alarm clock
• Emmanuela Kurnianti -- a trophy and a LEGO Batman Minifigure!
• Nevel Petroza Andrew -- a Nobel Prize Medal and a time-traveling car! 
• Tri Widhiastuti -- a lot of food and a piece of blank paper
• Nola Leticia Luntungan -- a bone and a cake.

What about you? Who is your favorite character? And what special present would you like to give him/her? Mind sharing your ideas? 😉

Reading Journal #5: Emoji Stories

Emojis are not only fun to use but also resourceful. I use it in my English classes too. Besides using memes or animated GIFs, I use emojis—a lot. Btw, check this article that discusses how you can have fun with emojis in your teaching. 

I remember that meme of how a mother misused that crying-LOL emoji. So, instead of using the appropriate crying emoji to respond to a tragedy, she used a Face-with-Tears-of-Joy emoji that got her kid to protest! Funny. 

One of the assignments in my extensive reading class also uses emojis. I asked my students to pick and read two stories in ER Central. Then, for each story, they needed to choose an emoji that best represents their opinion on the story or what they feel after reading the story. You may check my student's update in the list below. 

Star Struck Emoji, from Emojipedia.org

I also read two articles. I chose this star-face/star-struck emoji to describe how I felt after reading my first text. It's a non-fiction one, 'Sign Language,' written by CompassMedia. It is a Level-8 text with 299 words—an easy one. As the title suggests, this text discusses sign language, particularly American Sign Language. The text briefly introduces how people who cannot hear make different finger-shapes, move their hands, and use facial expressions to communicate. I always want to learn how to sign, but I haven't got the chance to do so. I love watching some signing clips on YouTube, even those songs sung in sign language!

Grinning face with sweat, from Emojipedia.org

The Monster is the second text I read, still written by CompassMedia. Surprisingly, because I didn't notice it, although it is a Level 16 fiction text, it only contains 60 words. A super short one! Haha! So, it's about a kid lizard and his/her mom. The kid reported to her mom that he/she had seen a monster, which turned out to be a train--with a big noise and many round feet! I love reading and watching fantasy stories, including the ones about monsters. I chose that grinning face with the sweat because I was quite surprised to find out that the story only has few words. Whew!

What about you?  What's your favorite emoji? And have you read a story recently? What emoji will you use to describe the story or your feeling after reading it? Why don't you share your emoji in the comment box below? 

Btw, here's the list of my student's recent blog posts with their emoji stories. And I would like to invite you to read their writings by teasing the emojis they used. 

• Yohanna Amanda Putri -- 🙄 😞 😊 (She gave her reader a bonus emoji!)
• Johanna Jerusha Prasodjo -- 🤣 😢
• Angel Indrawati Intan Wiyoso - 🥰 🌲
• Vinsensius Brahmantya Adityawan 
• Sony Chrissetiyaki -- 🥰 🙄 
• Theresia Ratna Shela Puspita Sari -- 😮 👍
• Gracia Marchelly -- 🥰 🌱
• Diki Setyawan Kristiananda -- 😍 🥺
• Yeremia Edo Surya Noegraha -- 👽 🧟
• Melkisedek Osibas Tauho -- 🤔
• Rista Arin Ningsih -- 🥰 👍
• Emmanuela Kurnianti -- 👍 😍
• Nevel Petroza Andrew -- 😊 😡 😡

ER Assignment #2: I think, I don't think...

Even when we're talking about the same thing or topic, we might have a different opinion from others--and that's okay actually. That also applies to the discussion on reading interest and habit.

Some might think that reading is fun, while others don't really enjoy it. I might prefer a particular genre or topic to read, but my friends might roll their eyes when they find out that I love reading a certain book. Many can read texts quickly and fast, while others, including me, often need to read and reread a sentence to really grab its meaning. 

Today's online discussion I had with my students is about our opinion on reading. We need to respond to these eight statements. 

1. Reading in my first language is fun. 
2. Reading English is difficult. 
3. I should usually look up new words in my dictionary.
4. Reading English is boring. 
5. It is easier to read about sports than science. 
6. If I read very fast, it is hard to understand the meaning. 
7. Reading out loud is a good idea. 
8. Reading English is fun.

I think I'd agree with the first statement. Of course reading in Bahasa Indonesia is (still) fun, although I do enjoy reading English books, too. I would carefully choose what I want to read, which includes selecting the topics and the authors. I am easily interested in an article when I know who writes it. I fall in love with certain authors or writers, whose writing is systematically composed and style is both engaging and convenient to follow. 

Reading in English can also be difficult for me, again, based on the authors and the topics. Even if the language is difficult, with complex structures of sentences and unfamiliar words, I'd still love to read the material if it's written by a certain author or it discusses a topic I love. And when I come across difficult words, I sometimes need to consult an online dictionary (I have a dictionary app on my phone too). I'll write about online dictionaries next time. 

And when I have to read those 'challenging' books or articles, I often have to slow down my reading speed. Rereading a single sentence or a paragraph and even reading out loud helps me much in understanding those tough materials!

Talking about my favorite genre or topic, I'd easily (and proudly) say that I always enjoy reading sci-fi or fantasy stories (Magic always excites me! I'm not into occultism, tho. LOL). I used to read many novels. Nowadays, I'd rather read non-fiction: self-help, personal development, communication, or even psychology. And I'd admit that I enjoy reading books or articles on Christian spirituality too. Sports? That's not my cup of tea. 

A few weeks ago, there's this challenge I joined on Facebook. I was asked to share seven book covers, without providing any explanation or reason. But of course, I picked those seven books because I love them and I want to encourage my FB friends to read them too. Here are those books, 

1. How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk
2. Boundaries
3. Mere Christianity
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Talk Like TED
6. Matinya Kepakaran, or originally The Death of Expertise
7. Judy Moody Menaklukan Dunia

Wanna read what my students think of those eight statements related to reading? Check their recent blog posts below.

• Yohanna Amanda Putri, who finds it challenging to read in English. Awesome!
• Johanna Jerusha Prasodjo. Jojo thinks that reading out loud is a bad idea. 
• Angel Indrawati Intan Wiyoso; she's eager to learn more new words in English. Cool!
• Vinsensius Brahmantya Adityawan, who think that learning English is important. It is indeed.
• Sony Chrissetiyaki. Quietness is his reading company.
• Theresia Ratna Shela Puspita Sari. I could learn Javanese from her.
• Gracia Marchelly. Pssst. She likes reading out loud. 
• Diki Setyawan Kristiananda; now he gets more challenged to read in English. Way to go, Dik!
• Yeremia Edo Surya Noegraha -- a football enthusiast here.
• Melkisedek Osibas Tauho. He loves football!
• Rista Arin Ningsih -- she got challenged to read more in English.
• Emmanuela Kurnianti -- well, she prefers a quiet place when reading.

What about you? Please leave your comments below.

ER Assignment #1: Reading and Me

Hullo!

First, Happy International Literacy Day!

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A post shared by FBS UKSW (@fbs_uksw) on Sep 7, 2020 at 6:31pm PDT

In the first meeting of my extensive reading (ER) course, I gave my students their first assignment. They were asked to write about their reading experience. Previously, my students and I discussed a few questions related to that experience in our online meeting (Pssst. I'm using Google Chat to have online discussions with my students this semester). We talked about memories of our first reading experiences.

My parents used to buy me a preschool magazine back then when I was in kindergarten. I forget the title of that magz but it had pictures to color and several other written activities or worksheets to do by its readers. I almost forgot that my parents also regularly bought me Bobo, not until a student mentioned that he subscribed to Bobo! 

Well, Donald Duck series and Doraemon comics are my favorite too when I was at elementary school. My parents would occasionally buy me Donald Duck, while I would spend the money my aunt gave me monthly to buy Doraemon. I would also go to the school library during recess. There, I would take a series of my favorite encyclopedia or borrow my favorite detective book: Hawkeye and Amy. 

When I went to junior high school, I started to collect Goosebumps. I knew Harry Potter and bought the first title of the saga. I remember once my friend borrowed one of my Harry Potter books and she got it peed by her cousin! Dang! My cousin bought another title of Harry Potter and he somehow ruined the cover. Since then, I had a trust issue in lending my books. LOL

I used to read a lot of fiction books, but nowadays my interest has shifted. I prefer reading non-fiction. Rarely do I read fantasy books although I still love this genre. I have several e-books on my phone as well as tons of PDFs in the storage of my laptop. But, I have my tsundoku. I buy many books (though fewer nowadays) but pile them up at home, reading only the first pages or chapters of the books or even ignoring them at all. LOL

I guess I've written too much about myself and almost forgot to share what my students have written on their blogs. Here's a list of links to their individual blog posts. Have fun reading my students' updates!

• Yohanna Amanda Putri, who used to read Indonesian folktales.
• Johanna Jerusha Prasodjo, a Wattpad/fanfiction reader here.
• Angel Indrawati Intan Wiyoso -- she cried when her parents wouldn't buy her books!
• Vinsensius Brahmantya Adityawan, a fellow Bobo subscriber here.
• Sony Chrissetiyaki; he loves reading stories from the Bible!
• Theresia Ratna Shela Puspita Sari -- a fiction lover here.
• Gracia Marchelly, who read Bobo Magazine, Kuark, and KKPK. (What's that?!)
• Diki Setyawan Kristiananda, another Bobo subscriber.
• Yeremia Edo Surya Noegraha -- he spends reading-time together with his parents. Sweet!
• Melkisedek Osibas Tauho. He enjoys reading detective comics.
• Rista Arin Ningsih, who also loves reading Indonesian folktales/folklores too. 
• Emmanuela Kurnianti -- She enjoys reading The Bible. Cool!

Teaching Extensive Reading Course at PBI, UKSW

 Hi!

First of all, actually, this is not the first blog I created. I have my personal blog as well as another teaching blog (in Bahasa Indonesia, not yet updated). Hopefully, I can update this blog more regularly. But for sure, I will often update this blog, at least once a week.

That's because this semester, I'm teaching an extensive reading course at PBI, UKSW. This is not my first time teaching an ER course. Years ago, when I first taught at PBI too, they trusted me with an ER course. Now that I'm back at PBI (after several years working in Magelang, managing schools), I'm trusted to teach this course again. 

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A post shared by Daniel Kurniawan (@dankuur) on Oct 23, 2019 at 5:27am PDT

(You might want to check this post I have on Instagram. It was last year when I taught Extensive Reading at both PBI and Sastra Inggris program.)

What's new this semester is that we're still doing remote teaching and learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used to have book clubs or conferences in the classroom. I would invite students to have an individual conference with me occasionally. And students would hand-write and submit book reports weekly. But now, here we are with this online teaching. 

So, instead of asking our students to submit their hand-written book reports, we have decided to go online and use a weblog! So, here I am. With this new blog. But I have promised myself to regularly update this blog not only for the extensive reading course I'm teaching. I also plan to share ideas and stories related to my teaching. #fingerscrossed

Let me end this post by inviting you to watch this short clip introducing the Extensive Reading course we have at PBI, UKSW. Ciao!

Welcome!

den /den/ noun [countable]    
1/ the home of some animals, for example, lions or foxes
2/ a place where secret or illegal activities take place
3/ an enclosed and secret place where children play
4/ especially American English a room in a house where people relax, watch television, etc.
5/ British English old-fashioned a small room in a house where people can work, read, etc. without being interrupted
from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Welcome to my den!

In the Bible, Prophet Daniel was thrown into a lions' den. 

Worry not. There are no lions in this den. This is my teaching den, where I will update this blog with my stories, reflections, ideas, and other things related to my teaching.

Enjoy reading!