Language Barrier Posing Threat to the Overall Learning Experience

Today was the very first day to teach a class with an actual lesson plan. The format used was an integration of Philippines’ 4As specialized lesson plan and Indonesia’s lesson plan Dr. Irmayani sent us in advance prior to flying here in their country. Fortunately, the lesson went as planned. I also received a compliment from my Cooperating Teacher Mrs. Emy Widya Sari that the lesson was implemented well, and that I was being procedural and organized and the students cooperated to the best of their ability. I also realized that the students are really excited and happy about the activities I had them do in the class.

As this was the first time that I meet these students, I started the class with the Indonesian way of greeting and introduced myself casually to make them feel comfortable. The class was an all-female banking section. Also, I added translation to my introduction to manifest my intention of being open to learning their culture. After which, I started the lesson proper with a review of the verbs where students look for the action words in the given sentences.

               They were all being attentive in the class as I used a randomizer calling-a-student strategy. So far, the students called were able to identify the verbs and I then proceeded to the motivation of the lesson proper. I showed them pictures of scenes or events which I asked their forethought as to what could possibly happen next after the scene depicted in the pictures. This is where the roadblocks of learning started to get in the picture when I asked them the questions for analysis. Their eyes looked blank. Bodies and heads are stiffly glued towards me but I can tell that there was a little hindrance of the messages I was trying to get across my students. It struck me that I may have been talking in a pace they can’t keep up. So that’s where I decided to have my Google Translator up and from then on everything went smoother than before I did. Sometimes, I have my student buddy Mr. Alwi to translate some words for me. Also, Mrs. Emy proactively helped me in translation to students. The language used as the medium of instruction may pose a threat in the teaching-learning process but it is how you try to understand your students and make yourself understood that makes up the true essence of communication thus fostering learning. Some videos in the class are taken for references.