The Keynote Elements for Students’ Progress in English Department of UNISMA

In the education point of view, globalization is clearly believed as the basic measurement of how educators are obligated to educate and facilitate their students. Their educating method and materials are --let’s say-- almost totally influencing the students’ ability to compete with thousands of well-educated people in the world wide, recently. Students are challenged to master English in which it is recognized as the international language. By this case, the writer, therefore, try to analyze briefly whether or not Malang Islamic University (UNISMA), exactly English Department of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education is qualified enough to facilitate and educate students for the global challenges.

The writer, of course, does not forget to explain shortly about what English Department of UNISMA is. English department is one of three departments existing in the faculty of teacher training and education (FKIP) of UNISMA. This department is fully educating students with English-based learning system. Students are taught how to communicate fluently and to write academically in English. Besides, they are also educated to be the future educator, translator, and even tourist guide. The writer believes that English Department of UNISMA must have some elements to facilitate and to improve students’ English skills efficiently for their better education. Let’s now take a look at two elements used to assist the English Department students in improving their English skills; they are English rooms and student association.The most influential element used by English Department to improve the students’ English skills is the English rooms. The first English room is called SAC (Self Access Centre) which is used to spoil students with many English books, Language laboratory, Room Theater, and many other English-based facilities. In this room, students are obligated to speak English completely. “No English, No Service” is the quote addressed to those who enter to the room. Another English room is called Micro Teaching. As its name, this room is to facilitate students to improve their English teaching skill. Students can absolutely practice the English teaching methodologies in this room since it is completed with many teaching equipments. Thereby, both SAC and Micro Teaching room have purpose to educate students efficiently.Student association is the second important element existing in English Department. This association is named English Student Association (ESA). The reason why the writer emphasizes that this association is important element to develop students’ English skill is because students can automatically learn how to be a good organizer of English activities. Moreover, students also have chances to practice their English with the native speakers since this association is guided by them. Another positive point of the existence of ESA is to boost students’ critical thinking toward political, economical, and other general cases as it provides English Debate Community and English Day. By those reasons, we cannot deny that students will be able to improve their English skills in English Student Association.Based on this article, it can be briefly stated that the existence of both English rooms and student association in English Department of UNISMA can assist students’ English skills progress. Facilities and advantages are addressed to the students efficiently. Thus, students are confidence enough to face the global challenges with their English skills and critical thinking.

                                                                                                Written by Laili Nurilliya

                                                                                                Malang, 27^th of May 2013

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Nasionalisme kedua ala Mahasiswa - M.Faruq Ubaidillah- The Former President of ESA 2013-2-14

Nasionalisme kedua, sebagaimana yang telah diucapkan dan menjadi harapan semua pihak sejatinya merupakan pertanyaan terhadap peran dan fungsi mahasiswa pada umumnya. Bukan hanya sekedar perntanyaan skeptis yang ditujukan kepada mahasiswa namun juga menjadi suatu acuan untuk pengembangan peran dan fungsi mereka di dalam pergulatan intelektualitas nyata. Hal seperti ini biasa dilakukan oleh para mahasiswa baik di panggung perpolitikan kampus maupun mimbar bebas akademik (Fadjar A. M. dan Effendy, M., 2013:48). Namun kenyataannya, akhir-akhir ini muncul perdebatan tentang apakah peran tersebuat telah terpenuhi dengan optimal dan maksimal baik di dalam tubuh organisasi intra kampus maupun ekstra kampus. Kenytataan masih belum. Mahasiswa yang dijuluki agent of change di zaman kontemporer ini memiliki tugas yang cukup berat untuk menghidupkan kembali jiwa nasionalisme kebangsaan melalui forum-forum ilmiah atau mimbar intelektual yangmenjunjung tinggi nila-nilai kesantunan dan disiplin ilmu pengetahuan.

Dalam konteks ke Indonesiaan, misalnya, masih terdapat banyak sekali organisasi-organisasi mahasiswa baik intra maupun ekstra yang belum sama sekali mewujudkan nilai-nilai tersebut. Mereka memilih untuk berjibaku di jalan raya menyuarakan suara rakyat sambil memikul bendera kebanggaan mereka masing-masing. Hal ini sebetulnya baik dan tidak bersifat riskan apabila tidak disertai dengan sikap-sikap fanatik demonstrasi yang merusak, membakar, dan mengganggu individu-individu lainnya yang juga memiliki hak untuk menggunakan fasilitas-fasilitas umum di luar sana. Namun kenyataannya masih banyak dari mereka yang tidak memperhatikan hal tesebut dengan berdalih ‘satu aksi satu hati’. Apakah seperti itu peran mahasiswa yang sebenarnya? Lain halnya dengan organisasi mahasiswa intra kamus yang terkenal lebih aktif dalam pergulatan intelektualitas di dalam kampus. Mereka yang tergabung didalam aliansi ini lebih cenderung bersikap sentimen yang akhirnya mereka bawa ke ranah personal tanpa akhir.

Dalam kaitannya menghidupkan kembali sikap nasionalisme kedua ini, peran dan fungsi mahasiswa perlu diarahkan ke arah yang lebih positif dan prospektif. Dalam pembahasan nasionalisme kedua ini juga harus lebih diartikan sebagai upaya untuk merekonseptualisasikan paham kebangsaan indonesia dan menumbuhkan sikap nasionalisme baru sehubungan dengan perubahan-perubahan yang bersifat global dan menjadi tantangan tersendiri bagi mahasiswa dalam ranah intelektualitas dan mimbar bebas akademik. Perubahan sikap fanatik yang salah harus dimulai dari sistem ‘turun jalan’ yang dilakukan mahasiswa menjadi sistem ‘naik mimbar akademik’. Etika haruslah dijadikan tombak dalam menyikapi setiap permasalan-permasalahan atau isu sosial politik lokal dan interlokal. Arogansi dan sentimen-sentimen yang mengarah kepada perpecahan solidaritas mahasiswa khususnya di dalam kampus perlu dihilangkan dengan semangat kebhinnekaan di dalamnya. sehingga mahasiswa dapat menyatukan visi dan misi mereka yang berbeda di dalam satu wadah inteletualitas dan mimbar akademik.

Posisi mahasiswa inilah yang nantinya akan menentukan jalan peran dan fungsi mereka sebagai insan muda intelektual. Mahasiswa sekarang ini tidak lagi dilihat sebagai elite ekskluf dibanding pada masa kebangkitan nasional dahulu. Jika nasionalisme pada masa penjajahan muncul serentak, itu sudah wajar mengingat pada masa itu penjajahan membabi-buta disetiap daerah di Indonesia. Pada masa sekarang ini, kebangkitan nasionalisme mahasiwa lebih mengarah kepada cara menyikapi tantangan dunia global dengan cepat dan tepat. Dalam hal ini paling tidak terdapat dua faktor penentu yang harus dimiliki mahasiswa dalam menghidupkan kembali semangat juang nasionalisme.

Pertama, mahasiswa merupakan asset masa depan bangsa yang lebih berkesempatan dalam menguasai ilmu pengetahuan, teknologi, dan bahasa untuk menjawab tantangan hidup di zaman global ini. Sehingga dengan begitu idealisme mereka akan lebih mudah diimplementasikan. Semangat juang di ranah intelektualitas, mimbar akademik, dan pengabdian masyarakatpun akan terwujud dengan sendirinya.

Kedua, mahasiswa adalah kelompok strategis untuk mengembangkan pola pikir kritis dalam membantu kemajuan pembangunan. Di sektor pendidikan misalnya, sebagaimana yang telah diusung ole setiap Perguruan Tinggi baik negeri maupun swasta mengarahkan mahasiswa untuk mewujudkan penelitian, pendidikan, dan pengabdian ke ranah sosial akademik nyata. Karya-karya ilmiah dan kreasi mahasiswa harus lebih dioptimalkan kembali sebagai tempat pengejawantahan nilai-nilai penelitian. Dalam hal pendidikan, baik peserta didik yaitu dalam konteks ini adalah mahasiswa maupun pendidik yaitu dosen harus bersama-sama menamkan dan mengfusikan nilai-nilai karakter pendidikan seperti kejujuran, keadilan, tenggang rasa, tanggung jawab, dan lain sebagainya. Dalam ranah sosial budaya, pengabdian adalah point yang juga tidak bisa begitu saja diabaikan karena inilah yang akan menjadi tolak ukur keberhasilan teori-teori pembelajaran dan penelitian yang dipelajari oleh mahasiswa. Pengabdian masyarakat dalam hal ini dapat diwujudkan dengan membangun kembali jembatan-jembatan yang tidak layak untuk dilewati di beberapa daerah terpencil di Indonesia. Hal ini akan lebih bermanfaat dari pada mahasiswa harus banyak terjun jalan dengan tanpa hasil nyata untuk proses pembangunan bangsa dan negara. Terlalu banyak teori tidaklah efektif dalam menyelesaikan setiap permasalahan. Pun ketika harus menunggu ulur tangan pemerintah adalah hal yang sia-sia. Kalau bukan kita yang memulai, lalu siapa lagi yang pantas untuk itu?

Perspektif ini aadalah sebuah kontemplasi nyata yang perlu untuk didoktinkan sejak awal kepada para mahasiswa khususnya mereka yang bergelut aktif di organisasi-organisasi intra maupun ekstra kampus. Akar dari nilai nasionalisme harus menjadi landasan dasar dalam bertindak dan menyikapi setiap permasalahan. Etika, intelektualitas, dan progresifitas mimbar bebas akademik adalah hal mendasar yang perlu dicerna oleh setiap mahasiswa. Sehingga dengan begitu generasi muda harapan masa depan dapat menjalankan fungsi dan peran mereka dalam proses pembangunan yang berkelanjutan. Ide ini bukanlah sebuah skeptisme belaka namun sebuah proses pengejawantahan teori dan praktek yang harus dijalankan oleh mahasiswa. Bagaimana menurut anda?

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Festival Lomba Bahasa Inggris se- Indonesia oleh English Student Association, FKIP, UNISMA

Mei, yang merupakan bulan pendidikan bagi bangsa Indonesia, dijadikan kesempatan oleh mahasiswa FKIP UNISMA jurusan pendidikan bahasa Inggris yang tergabung dalam English Student Association (ESA) 2014. Pasalnya, bulan pendidikan tersebut digunakan sebagai bulan pelaksanaan festival lomba bahasa Inggris 2014 yang diadakan bagi seluruh mahasiswa dan siswa SMA dan SMP se-Indonesia. Dengan mengusung tema “Empowering the Youths for the Critical and Global Challenges”, acara festival tersebut dihadiri dan dibuka secara langsung oleh Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Agus Sugianto, M.T, pembantu rektor II, Universitas Islam Malang.

Festival yang diikuti lebih dari 355 peserta pilihan dari seluruh pelosok negeri tersebut berhasil dengan sukses menyelenggarakan lima kategori lomba baik untuk SMP, SMA dan mahasiswa. Kelima lomba tersebut adalah essay writing, debate, speech, news reading, dan olympiad. Dalam kesempatan kali ini, Moh. Fauzy selaku ketua pelaksana fesival tersebut, mengaku bahwa hanya karena kerja keras tim panitia lah acara terbesat di FKIP UNISMA tahun ini dapat terlaksana. Menariknya, sekalipun acara tersebut tidak didukung oleh pemprov Jatim dan Bank Indonesia di Surabaya, tim panitia masih mampu menjalankan teknis-teknis perlombaan dengan baik, imbuhnya.

Di pihak lain, M.Faruq Ubaidillah, selaku ketua umum ESA thaun ini, berpendapat bahwa pengembangan kualitas anggotanya sangat perlu dilakukan dengan mengadakan acara-acara besat setiap tahunnya. Harapan Faruq bahwa periode selanjutnya, ESA FKIP UNISMA mampu mengadakan lomba-lomba yang lebih prestis dan besar kembali sebagai salah satu pengejawantahan pembangunan individu-individu yang kritis di negara Indonesia.

Dalam pelaksanaan festival bahasa ini, tim panitia mengambil beberapa pelajaran berharga yang membangun, tentunya untuk UNISMA dan jurusan pendidikan bahasa Inggris FKIP sendiri. Semoga dengan awal pelaksanaan festival tingkat nasional ini dapat memotivasi mahasiswa-mahasiswa Indonesia untuklebih bersaing lagi dalam meningkatkan kualitas mereka khususnya kulaitas kemmapuan berbahasa Inggris. Diharapkan juga tahun depan, ESA FKIP UNISMA mampu menyelenggarakan acara festival bahasa yang lebih besar dan prestigius kembali.

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National English Festival 2014- A Great Welcoming Note from Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Agus Sugianto, M.T (Vice Rector of Administration Affairs)

Again, ESA FKIP UNISMA succeeded to hold a national-scale event in its presidency this year. After holding the National English Seminar (NES) in December last year, the ESA’s members has currently carried out another reputable event, called National English Festival (NEF) 2014. This event is held annually. However, this year, there is a great difference from the usual event.

Attending by almost 355 participants thoughout Indonesia, NEF this year provides five competitive English tournaments either for university students, senior or uiversity students. As told by Moh. Fauzy, the NEF’s convenor this year, the committee has work very hard to succeed it, starting from six months ago. He added that this year ESA can hold English olympiad over East Java and Bali. It is a good initiative since it becomes the first time for ESA itself to hold the competition out of East Java.

M. Faruq Ubaidillah, as the president of ESA this year, told us that National English Festival 2014 presents English olympiad, speech, news reading, debate and essay writing competition. Those tournaments have been prepared a half year previously by cooperating with some spondors and Malang Debating Union. As usual, he adde that he instructed all ESA’s members to run the competitions within three days, starting on Friday through Sunday. What a hard activity was !

Holding five wider English competitions this year has shown how ESA builds its quality in every year. It, of course, surprises lecturers in Faculty of Teacher Training and Education. On another point, ESA also invited Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Agus Sugianto, M.T, vice rector of Administration Affairs, Islamic University of Malang to officially open the grand opening of the festival 2014.

This gesture was not in pain. Prof. Agus really appreciated the work of ESA’s members in holding such a great event this year. More importantly, Prof. Agus promised to fund the ESA’s event next year if it it carried out internationally.

In addition, the appreciation also came from the Head of English Department, Mr. Hamidin, M.Pd, the one who always accompanies ESA’s members in every single activity they carry out. Mr. Hamidin admitted that National English Festival is the only one national-scale event that ESA has ever conducted over the past ten years. He feels very happy with the improvement this year. As the head of English Department, Mr. Hamidin will always accompany ESA’s members to hold the other activities in this presidency.

Thus, what made by ESA this year has inspired many students, lecturers, and participant this year. Hopefully, the ESA’s members will still carry a more prestigious event in the next year’s presidency.

Festival Lomba Bahasa Inggris se- Indonesia oleh English Student Association, FKIP, UNISMA

Mei, yang merupakan bulan pendidikan bagi bangsa Indonesia, dijadikan kesempatan oleh mahasiswa FKIP UNISMA jurusan pendidikan bahasa Inggris yang tergabung dalam English Student Association (ESA) 2014. Pasalnya, bulan pendidikan tersebut digunakan sebagai bulan pelaksanaan festival lomba bahasa Inggris 2014 yang diadakan bagi seluruh mahasiswa dan siswa SMA dan SMP se-Indonesia. Dengan mengusung tema “Empowering the Youths for the Critical and Global Challenges”, acara festival tersebut dihadiri dan dibuka secara langsung oleh Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Agus Sugianto, M.T, pembantu rektor II, Universitas Islam Malang.

Festival yang diikuti lebih dari 355 peserta pilihan dari seluruh pelosok negeri tersebut berhasil dengan sukses menyelenggarakan lima kategori lomba baik untuk SMP, SMA dan mahasiswa. Kelima lomba tersebut adalah essay writing, debate, speech, news reading, dan olympiad. Dalam kesempatan kali ini, Moh. Fauzy selaku ketua pelaksana fesival tersebut, mengaku bahwa hanya karena kerja keras tim panitia lah acara terbesat di FKIP UNISMA tahun ini dapat terlaksana. Menariknya, sekalipun acara tersebut tidak didukung oleh pemprov Jatim dan Bank Indonesia di Surabaya, tim panitia masih mampu menjalankan teknis-teknis perlombaan dengan baik, imbuhnya.

Di pihak lain, M.Faruq Ubaidillah, selaku ketua umum ESA thaun ini, berpendapat bahwa pengembangan kualitas anggotanya sangat perlu dilakukan dengan mengadakan acara-acara besat setiap tahunnya. Harapan Faruq bahwa periode selanjutnya, ESA FKIP UNISMA mampu mengadakan lomba-lomba yang lebih prestis dan besar kembali sebagai salah satu pengejawantahan pembangunan individu-individu yang kritis di negara Indonesia.

Dalam pelaksanaan festival bahasa ini, tim panitia mengambil beberapa pelajaran berharga yang membangun, tentunya untuk UNISMA dan jurusan pendidikan bahasa Inggris FKIP sendiri. Semoga dengan awal pelaksanaan festival tingkat nasional ini dapat memotivasi mahasiswa-mahasiswa Indonesia untuklebih bersaing lagi dalam meningkatkan kualitas mereka khususnya kulaitas kemmapuan berbahasa Inggris. Diharapkan juga tahun depan, ESA FKIP UNISMA mampu menyelenggarakan acara festival bahasa yang lebih besar dan prestigius kembali.

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ALA Success Story- Harits Masduqi

Harits Masduqi is a lecturer at English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, East Java. Believing in ’Impossible Is Nothing’, he began his enduring career as a scholarship hunter in 1999. After two-year ill-fated efforts in applying numerous scholarships, he successfully got a master degree scholarship from DEPAG RI and studied at Postgraduate Program, Islamic University of Malang.

During his thesis completion in 2003, Harits gave his ‘nothing to lose’ shot to apply for ADS (Australian Development Scholarship). This time Allah SWT seemed to pity on him and granted his prayers. And Kun Fayakun, out of the blue! He got a ‘durian runtuh’ of ADS and pursued his second master degree at Monash University of Melbourne, Australia. He obtained M.Ed. in TESOL (English Language Teaching) from the university in 2005. Two years later he was awarded another AusAid scholarship and got a Certificate of I-CELT ESOL Course (an international English Language Teaching certificate) from Cambridge University, England. ALHAMDULILLAH and Bravo Australia Indonesia Partnership!

In addition to working for UM and UNISMA, he was once assigned to be a Master Teacher Trainer of the LAPIS ELTIS Project from January 2008 up to June 2010. In the AusAid teacher training project, he was responsible for training Communicative English Language Teaching method to Islamic secondary school teachers and headmasters in remote areas of East Java. In collaboration with all ELTIS trainers, he also contributed his writing work in Handbook of Communicative English Language Teaching Training which was published by the AusAid Project in 2008. Indeed, the project was challenging and rewarding as well. He did not only train the trainees, but also encouraged them to improve education qualities in remote areas which are often neglected by Indonesian government.

Harits has also presented and published articles in academic journals and seminars, i.e., Critical Thinking Skills and Meaning in English Language Teaching published in TEFLIN Journal 22 (2) 185-200 in July 2011, The Teaching of Reading in Indonesian Universities: A Cross-Cultural Perspective presented at Annual Higher Degree Research Student Conference 2012, The University of New South Wales on 9 November 2012, and English Language Teaching in Indonesian Universities: What Makes for an Effective EFL Reading Program presented at the 60^th TEFLIN International Conference on 27 August 2013.

The latest breakthrough of Harits’ career is being an awardee of AusAid Austalian Leadership Award Scholarship 2010 (The scholarship is updated at http://australiaawardsindo.or.id/). He was granted the PhD scholarship after ‘a series of unfortunate events’ failing three ADS applications (including an interview in January 2010), Endeavour Scholarship, IIEF Fellowship, and Fulbright Scholarship (also failed the interview in July 2010). What a long scholarship journey! Harits is currently doing PhD in TESOL program at Faculty of Education, The University of Sydney, Australia.

His research proposal discusses EFL Reading and Critical Thinking Skills Used by Indonesian University Students. His study is mainly designed to find out to what extent Indonesian University students use reading and critical thinking skills and whether ways of using reading and critical thinking skills vary among them due to different socio-cultural backgrounds. In Australia, he will be actively involved in leadership trainings and workshops as required by the ALA Scholarship. He plans to extend his academic network and leadership qualities with other brilliant ALA awardees from Indonesia and other countries.

Having got PhD from Australia, Harits believes he will be more able to develop Indonesian people’s reading and critical thinking skills. His study will potentially contribute to higher education development in Indonesia, through the inclusion of reading and critical thinking skills in the university curricula. Consequently, Indonesian students and lecturers will be better able to apply reading and critical thinking skills and eventually, can exchange and evaluate argumentative ideas in English more effectively. The research topic also fits with his future community development in which he plans to include the notion of reading and critical thinking skills in leadership trainings and seminars in Indonesian non-governmental organizations.

Having been married with Fatimah – a lecturer at Brawijaya University of Malang – for thirteen years, Harits has four children (what a productive couple, isn’t it?). His hobbies are watching movies, travelling, and reading novels. He also likes meeting new people and of course, enjoying nice meals and drinks (steak, noodle, nasi pecel, fruity juice, STMJ, and Es Teler). Believe it or not, now he is weighed over 90 kg! Oops! Luckily, he is 180 cm tall and therefore, he isn’t a sort of pendekar (pendek kekar). No wonder his students at UM and UNISMA call him Mr. Smack Down!

Finally, Harits can be contacted through email at hmasduqi@gmail.com. He also has a Facebook and Twitter accounts after his full name. He welcomes 'good guys' coming to his modest home in Malang, East Java.

Malang, December 14^th, 2013

^* Harits Masduqi, PhD Candidate.

Faculty Member, State University of Malang (UM)

Lecturer, Islamic University of Malang (UNISMA)

Awards/Scholarships obtained:

1. Thomas T. Roberts Education Fellowship, The University of Sydney, 2013
2. Postgraduate Research Student Scholarship, The University of Sydney, 2013
3. AusAid Allyson Sudrajat Award, 2010
4. AusAid Australian Leadership Award, 2010-2015
5. AusAid LAPIS-ELTIS Scholarship, 2007
6. The Best Graduate Award, Islamic University of Malang, 2006
7. AusAid Australian Development Scholarship, 2003-2005
8. MORA RI Graduate Scholarship, 2001-2003
9. The Best Undergraduate Award, Islamic University of Malang, 2000

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Kuliah S3 Dengan beasiswa ALA- Harits Masduqi

Masih segar dalam ingatan ketika penulis menjawab pertanyaaan seorang teman dosen tentang apa yang dilakukan penulis setelah resmi bergelar Magister Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris. Tanpa berpikir panjang, penulis langsung menjawab, ” Saya akan kuliah S-3 dengan beasiswa ALA ke Australia”. Sontak beberapa teman yang mendengar percakapan itu langsung tertawa dan salah satu nyletuk sambil bercanda, ” Ha...ha...ha...dengan Beasiswa ALA? Yang benar saja, mas. Jangankan dapat, nglamar saja sulit dan prosesnya rumit, online semua. Apalagi jurusan Mas banyak pesaingnya, ribuan. Sorry, sepertinya agak Mission Impossible deh.”

Tepat lima tahun setelah peristiwa itu, penulis memperoleh beasiswa S-3 di Australia melalui program Australian Leadership Award (ALA) pada tahun 2010. What a sweet revenge, isn’t it? Sampai sekarang pun penulis yakin teman-teman tersebut belum tahu kalau penulis telah memperoleh salah satu beasiswa paling bergengsi se-Asia Pasifik itu.

Banyak suka duka yang dialami penulis ketika melamar beasiswa nomor wahid di Australia tersebut. Namun kuranglah bijaksana bila penulis membahas semua pengalaman di tulisan yang singkat dan sederhana ini. Lebih bermanfaat bila penulis berbagi tips dan strategi dasar bagaimana mendapatkan Beasiswa ALA yang setiap tahun bisa diakses di http://australiaawardsindo.or.id/

STRATEGI DALAM PROSES ADMINISTRASI

Sebagaimana lazimnya beasiswa pascasarjana di luar negeri, ALA juga menerapkan proses administrasi yang ketat. Semua pelamar beasiswa ALA wajib mengisi form aplikasi secara online dan melampirkan semua dokumen secara online pula (diantaranya sertifikat IELTS, fotokopi transkrip, fotokopi ijasah, research proposal dan surat rekomendasi. Semua dokumen tersebut harus diketik, diterjemahkan dalam Bahasa Inggris, dan di-scan sebelum dilampirkan secara online. Kelihatannya ribet ya? Disinilah dituntut kesabaran ekstra dan perencanaan yang matang.

Dengan waktu kurang lebih dua bulan, penulis menyiapkan semua dokumen tersebut dengan menyusun ’daftar kebutuhan’. Persyaratan yang berhubungan dengan legalisir transkrip dan ijasah serta memperoleh LOA (Letter of Accepatance) dari universitas di Australia, penulis dibantu oleh Mbak Yuli Istiana dari IDP Malang. Surat rekomendasipun tidak terlalu sulit karena penulis masih menjalin hubungan yang intens dengan pembimbing thesis penulis. Yang menjadi sedikit kendala adalah membuat PhD research proposal, mengisi form aplikasi dan mendapatkan nilai IELTS 6.5.

Untuk mengatasi masalah pertama dan kedua, penulis meminta saran beberapa dosen dan rekan yang pernah berhasil mendapatkan beasiswa S-3 keluar negeri. Dalam penulisan proposal penelitian dan pengisian form beasiswa ini, penulis banyak diberi masukan oleh profesor dan dosen senior di Jurusan Sastra Inggris Universitas Negeri Malang. Saran dan masukan dari dosen-dosen tersebut sangat penting karena research proposal dan beberapa pertanyaan dalam form aplikasi tersebut butuh jawaban dan key words yang strategis. Hanya orang yang pernah dapat beasiswa S-3 keluar negeri saja yang tahu membuat a marketable research proposal dan menyiasati pengisian form aplikasi tersebut.

Yang paling menantang adalah memperoleh skor IELTS seperti yang dipersyaratkan panitia besiswa ALA. Pertama kali mengikuti latihan tes IELTS di sebuah pameran pendidikan Australia di Surabaya, penulis yakin mencapai skor tersebut. Tidak seperti yang diharapkan, ternyata penulis gatot alias gagal total. Dengan semangat maju tak gentar, penulis mengikuti latihan tes yang kedua di sebuah pameran pendidikan Australia di Malang. Kali ini dengan persiapan yang lebih matang. Penulis belajar strategi pengerjaan soal IELTS dari buku-buku strategi IELTS. Sayang, tes kedua ini hasilnya juga tidak terlalu menggembirakan. Penulispun sempat frustasi. Untungnya penulis tidak menyerah. Alhamdulillah, pada tes IELTS tanggal 9 Januari 2010 di IALF Surabaya penulis berhasil meraih skor 7. Thus, never give up with IELTS test!

STRATEGI DALAM UJIAN IELTS DAN INTERVIEW

Setelah mengirimkan semua persyaratan administrasi beasiswa tersebut secara online pada bulan Juni 2010, Alhamdulillah, dua bulan kemudian penulis memperoleh surat invitasi untuk mengikuti tes interview sebagai tahap seleksi kedua di Jakarta (Hebatnya beasiswa ALA adalah semua biaya tiket pesawat terbang, akomodasi dan uang saku di Jakarta ditanggung oleh panitia ALA, padahal ini masih proses seleksi. Great!).

Sekali lagi, penulis berkonsultasi dengan dengan beberapa dosen dan teman yang sudah berpengalaman untuk menyiasati tahap kedua ini. Selain berkonsultasi, penulis juga mendownload strategi dan tips wawancara dibeberapa website beasiswa dalam dan luar negeri. Setelah melalui beberapa proses tirakat, penulis mantap untuk mengikuti tahap seleksi kedua beasiswa ALA di Jakarta pada bulan Agustus 2010.

Pada saat tes wawancara, penulis ’berhadapan’ dengan dua professor dari Australia dan Indonesia serta seorang perwakilan panitia beasiswa ALA. Untuk tahap ini, strateginya sederhana saja JANGAN GROGI, bersikap yang wajar-wajar saja (wong profesor juga manusia). Penulis menjawab semua pertanyaan dengan dengan jelas dan apa adanya serta ’membagi’ pandangan mata pada ketiga orang tersebut selama proses interview. Selain itu, penulis juga menghafalkan proposal penelitian (berjudul Critical Thinking Skills Used by Asia-Pacific Students in Australia) dan semua jawaban di lembar aplikasi (termasuk program studi, nama supervisor penelitian dan nama universitas Australia yang dituju, plus leadership experiences/perspectives in the past, present and future). Strategi hapalan ini ternyata berhasil. Hampir semua pertanyaan dalam wawancara tersebut tidak terlalu jauh dari poin-poin utama di proposal penelitian dan form aplikasi. Hanya ada sedikit pertanyaan yang ’diluar konteks’ wawancara, misalnya hubungan luar negeri antara Indonesia dan Australia. Untungnya, penulis sering membaca berita-berita internasional sehingga bisa menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang pengetahuan umum itu dengan meyakinkan.

KESIMPULAN

Setelah melalui proses yang panjang dan melelahkan plus ditunjang puasa sunnah dan sholat malam, pada bulan Oktober 2010 penulis memperoleh surat dari Panitia ALA di Jakarta. Penulis dinyatakan sebagai salah satu dari 24 orang yang memperoleh besiswa PhD ALA ke Australia. Sebuah prestasi yang luar biasa mengingat jumlah pelamar yang mencapai ribuan orang. Keberhasilan ini diraih penulis setelah berkali-kali gagal dalam proses seleksi beasiswa luar negeri, baik proses administrasi maupun wawancara (diantaranya Endeavour Scholarship, IIEF Fellowship, ADS Scholarship, dan Fulbright Scholarship). Alhamdulillaahirrobbil`alamiin! Allaahu Akbar!

Dari pengalaman penulis di atas, bisa ditarik kesimpulan bahwa dengan usaha keras, amalan yang istiqomah dan semangat pantang menyerah, siapapun sebenarnya berpotensi untuk meraih beasiswa ALA atau beasiswa luar negeri lainnya. Sekarang terserah anda. Mampukah anda membuktikan? Insya Allah, Anda bisa! Why not? Nothing is Impossible!

Malang, 14 Desember 2013

^* Harits Masduqi, PhD Candidate.

Dosen Tetap, Universitas Negeri Malang

Dosen LB, Universitas Islam Malang

Awards/Scholarships obtained:

1. Thomas T. Roberts Education Fellowship, The University of Sydney, 2013
2. Postgraduate Research Student Scholarship, The University of Sydney, 2013
3. AusAid Allyson Sudrajat Award, 2010
4. AusAid Australian Leadership Award, 2010
5. AusAid LAPIS-ELTIS Scholarship, 2007
6. The Best Graduate Award, Islamic University of Malang, 2006
7. AusAid Australian Development Scholarship, 2003-2005
8. MORA RI Graduate Scholarship, 2001-2003
9. The Best Undergraduate Award, Islamic University of Malang, 2000

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Scholarship- written by Abd. Kadir ( Universitas PGRI Adi Buana Surabaya )

Scholarship

1. What is a Scholarship?

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further his or her education. Scholarships are awarded based upon various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award. Scholarship money is not required to be repaid.

2. Why do they give A Scholarship?

It's not often that people are willing to fork over thousands of dollars in cash to a complete stranger. So what possesses someone to give you (the stranger) money to attend college? If you have ever wondered why sponsors offer scholarship, consider how they shape the society:

Scholarships build better Cross-cultural Understanding. Western and eastern countries have many different points of view in certain things. Scholarships provide ways how people from different countries can understand other countries by living like them. So, the people can understand each other even thought they have many differences. It happens in the U.S and Australia.

Scholarships increase workforce diversity. Companies service a wide range of clients; clients who likely speak different languages, carry different expectations, and have varying skill levels. By creating scholarships that encourage the education of a people with varying ethnicities, religions, and cultures, companies can continue to encourage the creation of a diverse yet mutually understanding workforce. Many students have looked to Scholarships for help in finding scholarships for minorities—and they have found success. There are countless African American scholarships, Hispanic scholarships, Asian scholarships and disability-related scholarships in

Scholarships create opportunity for the poor. University is an expensive luxury for most families. There aren't many families with average income. Even thought they have money, they don't have access to the amount of money necessary to fund an education. Scholarships provide students from every socioeconomic background the opportunity to earn a diploma and to develop skills necessary to create success in their lives.

Scholarships reward achievement. If a student doesn't exert the effort to achieve in high school (which is nearly free), continuing to fund an even more expensive education through college is difficult for anyone to justify. By making the effort to achieve in high school, students show that they are committed to their futures. This commitment is what scholarships seek to reward, as it is typically these students who go on to make great contributions to their communities.

3. Who offer scholarship?

Many countries, companies, universities and others offer many scholarship schemes. The countries which consistent to give scholarship to foreign are United Stated of America (Fulbright / Aminef), Australia (ADS/AAS), European Committee (Uranmus Mundus), Indonesia (Dikti), etc.

Not only many countries provided scholarship for students but also the companies or corporations which need a high quality of employees. The companies which provide scholarship are Bill Gate Foundation, Purtra Samporna Foundation, etc.

4. How to apply?

Many scholarship Foundations have their own rules and requirements but most of them have the same rules and requirements such as Toefl or Ielts, essay, motivation statement and Letter of recommendations.

Most of scholarships require online registration and hardcopy documents. Applying a scholarship needs long steps and need at least 3 months. It depends on the Institutions. Let’s see for American Scholarship or Fullbright (Aminef). The procedures of Aminef are:

1. Opening Announcement
2. Deadline
3. Administration verification process
4. Toefl Test
5. Interview
6. Health test
7. Vaccinations
8. Aminef review
9. Consortium review
10. Visa
11. English Test By University / College

According to my experience all of those steps needed at least 6 months before I arrived and studied in the United States of America.

5. Steps to get scholarship

If you want to get scholarship, you need to do these steps.

First, y ou need to have a Test of English as a foreign language (Toefl) or International English language Test (Ielts) certificate. It is impossible to get a scholarship without those documents because Toefl or Ielts are the essential document to measure your communication ability.

Second, find the institution, agents or universities that provide scholarship for your skill or study. You need to apply the scholarship which fit your study background. It is important to make better chance.

Third, apply for scholarship on time. If you submit your documents late, it shows your quality as candidate. So, you need well prepare in this situation and on time.

Forth, the most important thing is motivation statement. Fill the motivation statement with a strong mission. The committee will get to know you based on your motivation statement. You need to have a great and strong motivation statement.

Fifth, you need to have unique Essay. The committee will figure out what you are going to study if you pass. They need to make sure that you are the right person in that program.

Last, you need to confine the committee in interview section that you are the right person. The interview result will help other bad scores such as toefl and health test.

All of those things will help you to have a bigger chance getting scholarship. If you fail in a scholarship program, you need to try another program or try it again the next year. Applying scholarship in many programs mean you have better chance. Keep in mind, never give up and do it again and again.

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SHORT-TERM OVERSEAS TRAINING EXPERIENCE FOR SCHOLARSHIP HUNTERS

SHORT-TERM OVERSEAS TRAINING EXPERIENCE

FOR SCHOLARSHIP HUNTERS

by

Esti Junining*

*A Lecturer at the University of Brawijaya (UB)

e-mail: ejunining@ub.ac.id

The short-term overseas training experience in this paper is divided into three different destinies. Firstly, the short-term visit in the United Kingdom (2007), followed by degree training in Singapore (2011) and finally, accomplishing dissertation draft in the United States of America (2012).

The scholarship hunting begins when the TPSDP project provides opportunities for the Language Service Unit (LSU) of the University of Brawijaya (UB) academic staff to participate in Overseas Non Degree Training (ONDT) in School of Education, Leeds University, UK in 2007. At that time, the Asian Development Bank granted four academic staff of LSU, UB to be actively involved in attachment program organized by the School of Education in Leeds University. One and a half months staying in UK was able to equip the writer with the culture of studying English in summer, joining classroom seminars, consulting the scientific paper to the advisor, searching books in the library and self browsing in the university computer. Things to remember related to the culture of British are that they like to say “thank you” for any favors made by people and “sorry” for any inconvenience done by people around.

Different from British culture, a rush education system embellishes the tiny country in South East Asia, Singapore. A four-month participation in Overseas Degree Training (ODT) program in pursuing Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics in 2011 organized by RELC, SEAMEO Singapore, enables the writer to learn other Asian people life style in pursuing study. The academic atmosphere in Singapore mostly focuses on independent and more contextual learning. Whereas the non academic culture, the language and life style of most Singaporean are covered with Chinese way of life besides some India and Malay heredities.

Different from the two separable cultures, living in the United States of America is much more challenging than the other two. The first and the most challenging thing experienced by the writer was visa arrangement. Compared with looking for visa in Britain, getting visa from the US was more complicated in terms of the procedures as well as the interview. If someone is registered as scholarship hunters in the US, the coordination among the three parties, from the US University, from US embassy and sponsorship guarantee must be made clear, otherwise the expected visa could not be processed easily.

In terms of academic life, the academic atmosphere in the US schools is somewhat similar to the other progressive countries, mainly emphasize on independent learning and creativity. Regarding the non-academic life-style, the culture, the life of Jewish and other non-Muslim life-style must be anticipated by Indonesian scholars. Yet, as scholars we need to filter the good and more beneficial life style and reduce the inappropriate way of life during our staying overseas.

Some tips to be able to win the scholarship to study overseas is preparing a good proposal (language, motivation, benefits after finishing study), improving curriculum vitae and using all of the opportunities openly. Besides, anticipating culture differences such as different weather, language, life-style, academic atmosphere and non academic ones need to be prepared and considered appropriately. The one and the most important thing in scholarship hunting are to keep trying and never give up.

---good luck---

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Is TV an Effective Media to Build Your Children's Mind ?? Written by Andarwati Masruroh, Universitas Terbuka Surabaya

Andi..... Turn off your television and go to study now!” that sentence is not uncommon any more in our ears, isn’t it? It is often said by most mothers in our environment. Most of mothers often feel difficult to ask their sons or daughters to do their duty. Their children stand on wacthing television for some hours. It causes some mothers feel confused and worried about the development of their children’s minds. As we know that television is one of popular entertainment, communication, and education equipment in our daily life. With television, people, especially chiildren, can refresh and develop their minds to get knowledge and entertainment, but television does not always become the effective way to build the minds of children. It can give bad influences for their minds especially in their moral and intelligence.

Television can give the bad effect for children’s moral. We know that television always serves various shows or programs for the viewers. Unfortunately, television often shows the program which are not suitable with the children’s age such as criminal news, sinetron, upper 17-years-old movie, fashion, fight program etc. Intan Pariwara says in one of the analytical text that the programs which were unsuitable with children’s age could affect the children’s behaviour, and could make the children mature before their time ( Detik-detik ujian nasional, 2013) so that they can loss their chilhood. The statement above is strengtened by Dr. Agus Darsono, open university professor, he mentions that children between 5 until 9 years old were good at catching concrete thing (perkembangan peserta didik, 2009:5.1-5.30). Based on what he says, we can know that children will be easily effected by what they watch from the television whether it isgood or not. By watching television’s program uncontrolledly, the children can also grow to be spoiled guys. If they wacth amusing advertisement, commonly the children will have their parents buy those things for them. It is not seldom any more if the children will cry and force their parents to get what they want so that this case can build bad behaviour for the children.

Television can give the bad effects for children’s intelligence also. Most of television stations compete to attract the viewers’ interest and attention by showing some amusing programs or shows. That’s why television often shows intertaining programs especially for the children such as Teletubbles, Sponge bob, Larva etc. The amount of intereted programs shown by television makes the children stand in front of the television for a couple hours and make them lazy. Anita Wibisono, a psychoanalysist, states that being lazy was one of the factors that can decrese the intelligence of the children ( Wikipedia). If the students or children are enjoyful to watch television programs, they will not study, do their duty and do their homework consequently their achievment will decrease and their brain will not develop well because it is seldom used to think.

Whether television is the effective wayto build the minds of the children has been answered and known from the explanation above. Commonly, everything always has positive and negative sides, included television can be useful tool and vice versa, television can cause the poor impacts for the children’s moral and intelligence with the programs shown. In this problem, the parent’s role takes the important part to take care and guide their children in watching the best program for them in order that we can build the moraled and intelligent mind for the children like what we hope.

Work cited:

• Detik-detik Ujian Nasional. Surabaya: Intan Pariwara, 2013
• Darsono, Dr Agus, Perkembangan Peserta Didik. Tangerang : Universitas Terbuka, 2009: 5.1-5.30
• Wibisono, anita. Pengaruh Negatif Televisi Bagi Anak. Dampak Negatif televisi. 10 Apr 2013 ( http//.www.wikipedia.com)

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Finally,The National English Seminar 2014 Has Concluded Successfully

If you have joined it, you will probably miss it to happend for the second time. The National English Seminar 2014 held by ESA lasted with an excellent mark. The Seminar on “Intenational Scholarship Programs- East Meets West; Cross Cultural Awareness of Scolarship Hunters” received a round of compliments from lecturers, especially Rector of Malang Islamic University, Prof. Surahmat, M.Si. The Seminar was conducted on December 21st, 2013 and was attended by almost 250 participants. This seminar might be a very special event for the committee and participants since Prof. Surahmat, Rector of Unisma, also attended and officially opened it. Besides, the presence of the keynote speakers has made the Seminar more interesting and prestigious- Dr. Esti Junining, M.Pd., Dip.Appl.Ling, Harits Masduqi, M.Pd., M.Ed, Dzul Fikri, SS., M.Pd, Nanang Endrayanto, SS., M.Sc, and Abd. Kadir, S.Pd did their excellent presentation and amazed the audience with their scholarship journeys. the objectives of holding this seminar is to motivate the participants especially freshmen of English department Unisma to hang on their dreams as high as sky. Hopefully the next seminar would be more prestigious. Go Go Go ESA.....

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EDFO ESA; Trying to Be Alive in Hard Circumstances

One of the most promising programs of ESA is EDFO, standing for English Debating Forum. At this moment, English Debating Forum simply called EDFO, maintained under the presidency of English Student Association (ESA), is now attempting to exist and to broaden the availability in this batch. Prior to that, EDFO has already tried to exist in the past two years. This was proven by several intervarsity debate tournaments they joined. As examples, East Java Varsity English Debate (EJVED) UM 2011 was the first debate tournament they joined, even if, they failed in breaking to the octo-final round. Nevertheless, in the coming event, again, EDFO’s debaters then managed to succeed in The First Malang Newbie Debate Competition (MNDC) held by Malang Debating Union, intervarsity level as well. Indeed, this moment served as a memorable event they walk on. The passion to defeat other teams from other reputable universities cannot be denied. Why so ??? None of the participants, at that time, believed that UNISMA’s debaters could beat teams from Malang State University as well as State Islamic University of Malang and won the Semi-Finalist position. What an amazing moment was !

Going to the next debate tournament, EDFO also succeeded to break the limit. That’s unbelievable. The 2012 EJVED UM crowned EDFO’s debaters as the Octo-Finalist. The only teams from Islamic University over East Java that broke into the big sixteen teams. Tremendously, this achievement doesn’t suffice the curiosity among EDFO’s debaters. They still want more. They still seek more challenging debating tournament. Known by most Malang debaters after the EJVED concluded, EDFO then received a new invitation for another debate tournament. At this time, the debate was held in the State Islamic University of Malang called East Java Newbie Debate Competition. Without thinking too long, EDFO decided to join the competition. EDFO in UIN Maliki Malang was represented by Rifai, Diecha, and Raudah as debaters, and Faruq as the N 1 adjudicator. This decision was also agreed by other EDFO’s debaters such as Ela, Ulfa, Dayat, and Nabila.

The opportunity to go for another outstanding debate tournament was not disappointing since EDFO’s representatives did a great job. They made it. They succeeded to break the octo-final round. Though, they unluckily had to stop the journey after being defeated by Formasi’s debaters from University of Brawijaya. All EDFO’s debaters as well as ESA’s members will enthusiastically familiarize the freshmen of English department with debating atmosphere.  Hoping that they will be aware of the real competition outside their campus. In regard with this idea, yesterday on September 29, EDFO performed debate exhibition for freshmen. Besides, this becomes a way to proliferate debaters in English department as well as motivate students to develop their critical thinking in spoken English. This new innovation has amazed many audience during the round. Some of them didn’t believe, at the very first time, that EDFO and ESA’s members have great English competency, especially in speaking skill. 

Lastly, high expectation goes to EDFO’s presence during this batch where joining more regional and national English debate tournaments will shape a tough character for the debaters.

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