Photos of RTDs

Almost 8 months ago, my computer crashed. I lost everything, including all the pictures. Here are some of what I could compile afterwards. All about RTD. Check it out.

The Participants:










The facilitators:














What They Did:









After the Sessions:

60th RTD: Proposal Writing

'How can I express myself in only 250 words?' someone asked.
'We are shy to brag about ourselves, it is against my believe,' the other said.
"That's the art of writing proposal when you apply for scholarship," an answer came.
"So, Damon, guide us..."
"Yes, please lead a workshop on this.."
"We urgently need that skill, Damon.."

So, then, we decided to hold a "Workshop" on Proposal Writing
on Wednesday, July 26. It also marked our 60th round.

The session was oversubscribed only in 3 days after being announced. Up to the last day, we had rejected over 15 disappointed participants. And..believe it or not, on the D-day there were still 3 participants who simply tried their luck, they attended the session anyway. There were 37 participants in all.

After a short theoretical introduction, D assign the participants to write a short self-introductory paragraph. Five minutes was over, some did not even know what to write, though it was about ourselves. Then Damon explained and give pointers of the need to draft and revise and revise and revise and finalize.

The workshop went on for 2,5 hours, and the participants seemed to have gone nowhere. We really did not want to stop, but time was running. Damon had to leave for the airport to catch a flight.

"Judging from their short paragraph I read around, they need at the shortest a 3-day intensive workshop, Kun, " Damon commented.

So?

59th RTD: Using and Writing Poems in the Classroom

As our 59th RTD, we have Drs. Bambang Yudi Cahyono,M.Pd,MA, Ph.D coming from Universitas Negeri Malang to lead a workshop on 'Using and Writing Poems in the Classroom'. The lively session was attended by 23 participants.



Everyone tried, everyone shared. Here is a Haiku I wrote:

Damon Anderson
A keyword for search engine
of English Teaching

Some of the participants commented that the poems I wrote in that workshop were too scientific. I called it too 'technology oriented'. But then, ... it was another proof, that even technology can give ideas to poem writers.

Here is one of the masterpieces:


The poems written and shared and read were all beautiful and inspiring.
Now we know...there is a certain part in us..



If you would like to contact Pak Yudi, here is his email address:
yudic2000@yahoo.com


Thank you, Pak Yudi.

58th RTD: IIEF: Doors for Scholarships

IIEF: Doors for Scholarships

On June 21, the RELO Center was packed with 34 RTD participants (37 including us, then) attending a session by Diana Jahja and team from IIEF on 'Doors for Scholarships'. Guess everyone was eager to know about chances to get scholarships.



There are things we just learned, there are also an encouragement we got from the session, especially after learning there are some chances for scholarships open for those whose TOEFL scores are not high enough yet, and also those without age limit.
The biggest challenge is on 'writing the proposal'. So, most of the attendees requested Damon Anderson to give a workshop on Proposal Writing.

As everyone is so eager to try applying the different scholarships, there are a lot of questions coming up in the discussion. And so, at the end, most of them still lingered after the session, all gathered around Diana and the team.



If you want to get more and updated info regarding scholarship, please do not hesitate to contact Diana via email at diana.jahja@iief.or.id

Thank you, IIEF.

57th RTD: What and Why TOEIC ?

On June 7th, 2006 the TOEIC team from Indonesia Test Center came and lead the discussion on "What and Why TOEIC?". Victor Chan, the CEO of ITC himself led the team.

The session was attended by 25 participants of different background, and everyone was given a complete package of brochure and sample test CD. It was a lively session and there was a lot of questions from the participants since the popularity of TOEIC is still way behind TOEFL.



At the end of the session Jenny Lee, the Marketing Director of TOEIC Indonesia promised to send a TOEIC Prep Book to the RELO Center as to complement the collection. The book is now at the Center, and quite used by the visitors.

If any of you would like to contact TOEIC Center or to know more about TOEIC,
please feel free to contact Victor at victorchan@toeic.or.id

Thank you, again, to Victor Chan, Jenny Lee, and team.

Special RTD with Highschool Students

May 11, 2006 - Teenage Life After School

Whenny, a frequent RTD Attendee, had the initiative to hold a special Roundtable Discussion for her students. It was a chance for the highschool students studying in her Language Center to practice their English with native speakers. The topic chosen was: "Teenage Life Outside Schools".

RELO Damon Anderson and ELF Coord Mike McCoy patiently encouraged the students to talk. It was hard at the beginning, but after a while the students started to melt, and they were brave to say a word or two.




Teenage life after school is similar. They spend their time doing sports or their hoobies. The culture of going out with their friends are also similar. They have to ask permission from their parents, and they have a certain curvew to follow.

Hope the discussion really gave those students encouragement to learn and practice their English.

56th RTD: Adapting Materials by Damon Anderson

56th RTD - May 17 - Adapting Materials

Attended by 27 participants, Damon Anderson started the discussion with self introduction and the reasons or expectations from everyone. It was obviously stated, then, that the skills of Adapting Materials into classroom use is something really needed by the participants.

Damon then continued the discussion by giving some pointers of considerations when adapting materials. The most important consideration is always the students: their age, interest, competence, and objective. So, to be able to cater the demand of the students, we need to know them. In the day-to-day activities, most teachers do not have the freedom to choose the materials but only use what is available in the textbooks. Then, it is the teachers responsibility to provide scaffolds for the students. By doing so, the teachers bridge the world of the material writer, the authority who had the decision of textbooks selection, so that those strange and (sometime) complicated world is more accessible by the students.

The discussion was able to open more doors for ELT practitioners so that they understand the points of adapting materials better. However, the 2-hour discussion was only able to make the participants ask for more hands on practice. So, the next plan is to hold a one-day workshop to really give it a try to adapt materials, and make the discussion comes true in the life of the participants.

At the end of the discussion RELO presented a birthday cake for Mike McCoy, the Fellow Coordinator.

55th: Roundtable Discussion- Maximizing the Availability of Multimedia in ELT

Teaching English using Multimedia? Wooow...!!!

When hearing the word Multimedia, what came to our mind is the sophisticated internet, glossy powerpoint presentation, video conference, etc. While actually multimedia is the combination use of two media or more in teaching. Stick figures, realia, tape recorder, TV, leaflet, poster, all can be used. They are called multimedia and they are around us. The question is now, how can we maximize the use?











Gumawang Jati from ITB Language Center, known as Mr. Technology, came all his way from Bandung to lead the discussion. There were 23 participants, mostly wanted to know more about the use of multimedia, some claiming fro being lagard, others complain for not having any mutlimedia facilities. Jati underlined that sometimes we were so focused on the media and forgot that media is just media, while the focus should be on our teaching.

The discussion was led around Dale's Cone of Experience with the objective of trying to bring our teaching activities towards the lower layer of the cone. If you are interested to know more about the discussion and / or the topic, please feel free to contact Gumawang Jati at jati@melsa.net.id


It was a very animated session, and the networking was even stronger. People stayed for a while afterwards, and laughters were bursted here and there. Another merry and joyful Roundtable Discussion Day.

54th Roundtable: Teachers Behaviour VS Students Motivation

April 12th, Itje Chodidjah from Learning Partnerships led the discussion and played the role of the RELO hostess as well, while Rizal was the host. Damon and Kun were in Yogya leading a 2-day workshop on Multimedia in UGM.

Attended by 17 participants, the discussion went around the fact taht motivational strategies cannot be employed successfully in a 'motivational vacuum' - certain preconditions must be in place before any further attempts to generate motivation can be effective. Three important points were: 1. Appropriate teacher behaviours and good relationship with the students; 2. a pleasant and cupportive classroom atmosphere; 3. a cohesive learner group with apporpriate group norms.

A survey revealed that the teacher's own behavior is the single most important motivational tool.

To get to know further about the discussion from the resource person, feel free to send email to karce@cbn.net.id