What did I gain personality-wise?
Vietnam war, Afghanistan war, and finally Iraq war which is still exist until now may become the impression of all people in the world about US. The United Stated government often expands and gets involve in other country’s problem. Those were my perceptions before I went to Arizona. I only knew little thing about US society from media such as television and newspaper. I thought that the best and most hospitable society is Indonesian. However, as I had been living in Tucson longer and longer, I started to know what US societies really are.
Like a high block of ice which is located below the sun, my negative perception about US societies is melting particle by particle and cube by cube. All evidences that I found in the real life showed something different. It was amazing to live here. The way US societies made me unable to say anything. I knew that they have been become educated and modern civilization in the world. Society life, learning method, health, environment, and disability issues have been well organized.
I will show you my personality-wise by telling you the facts that changed my mind. First of all, I would like to talk about the US society life. The city arrangement was very well planned. Furthermore, US societies are very friendly, kind, hospitable, and easy to talk with. Sometimes I felt guilty when I was standing in edge of road because suddenly the car in front of me will stop and the driver asked me to cross the street. Wow, Pedestrians have high position and people respect them. Pedestrian is better because they don’t produce air pollutants, far from perception that pedestrian is identical with poor or destitute. Moreover, they always appreciate everything and they show their appreciation by saying that’s cool, I like your name, nice school, great job, and some words that can make us feel good. This is trivial, but I believe that it will positively influence our physiology. Those are positive words and we have to learn from them.
Learning method is also different from the culture in my university. I really impressed with the teacher behavior. Unattended class which means the teacher did not come is impossible to happen. I got full class in 8 weeks; you can imagine how they appreciate their job more than something else. When they could not attend the class, they usually had other teacher teach the class with detailed instruction about what are going to do. It’s amazing. Then they also very appreciate with student’s opinions and questions. Whether the opinion is good or bad, they always appreciate and respect to them. Moreover, process oriented is preferred than final result. I mean that the teacher paid attention to the learning process of their students. I have experiences in writing class when I got ‘C’ in my second essay due to wrong quotation. I was very shock at that time then I decided to tell my teacher that whether could or not I rewrite my essay to change my grade. She immediately replied, “Sure! Rewrite your essay and I will change your grade. Oh No, You Change your own grade.” I like the latter sentence when she tried to convince me that I will change my own grade. The teacher very appreciated the courage of their students to learn and learn.
The other wonderful thing I found in US is how they treat the people with disability. For instance, paralytic person can go everywhere he or she wants. All streets and public facilities have been completed with equipments that make them easy to access or use. Therefore, having such kind of disability doesn’t mean we should stay at home or go with companion. They can go alone without worrying disability problems.
What did two months of studying in the host country do to my language capacity?
Like white and clean paper, I started learning English in CESL with very limited knowledge and skill about English. I am studying in Industrial Engineering which makes it impossible to study and practice English every day. Every day is time to collect data, process them, and analyze to get a conclusion about one problem. With only courage in my heart and believing that no late to study English, I confidently tried to speak and asked questions to my teachers and my classmates. Being afraid to make mistake on pronouncing and using wrong words was not a problem anymore. Feels like a baby who has just been born, I felt free to do everything in order to improve my English. I got four subjects each day. They are Reading, Grammar, Writing, and Speaking.
For eight weeks, reading or vocabulary was the first class I got every single day. I tried my best to listen to what my teacher said. She started conversation by saying her name. Her name is Sharrol Brodersen. To be honest, in the first time it was very difficult for me to understand what she said. Like water falling down from high altitude, she speaks very fast. I think she is wonderful in teaching because she always gave her students joke in order to attract all attention. She never gave us opportunity to get bored because she could describe every single new word clearly not only the meaning but also the situation in what context a word is used. I got many new vocabularies from the book and from her. She always enlarged the topic by adding some slang words that popular in American conversation.
After having break time from 11.00 to 1.00 p.m., Mr. Gim Epstain is waiting for Grammar class. A thin and curly-blonde haired man is ready to guide us exploring the interesting thing of practicing grammar in daily communication. He always starts the classes by making short conversation with us relating to the topic that would be learnt. Some of us thought that Gim is our best teacher. I got better explanation about conditional sentences, adjective clause, noun clause, etc. To be honest; I don’t like grammar because I often did silly mistake in my quizzes. Instead of giving up, I tried to learn from each mistake I did. I believe I will get better and better and I have to get maximum grade for grammar class.
The most difficult subject in learning English is writing. Smiling and saying “Good efternoon Students, I am sorry to interrupt you”, was the signal Natally Reed used to make students paying attention to her. She is very strict in teaching; always made prompt in the first-five minute of class. However, my classmates and I must have got great improvement in writing skill especially academic writing. She had the students write three kinds of essay namely paragraph definition, comparison essay, and argumentative essay. Three criteria to be considered are the organization of the idea, quotation including paraphrasing and direct quote, punctuation, grammar, and work sites. The amazing of Ms. Reed is her ability to check and correct every single essay. She must find the How did she do that? Did she spend whole time to read all essay? Those are unanswerable questions among the students. She emphasized the explanation about direct quote and paraphrasing because it can jeopardize us regarding with plagiarism in US. Overall she is wonderful and dedicatory teacher.
Oral presentation is the most interesting; always make students frustrated in speaking class. Jenell Ray was the one who responsible of those feelings. A curly-haired woman who always comes to class in time emphasized her subject on listening and pronunciation. I always shoot her with many questions both how to pronounce and use a particular word. I really interested in her class. She also introduced a real story from 1957 era whose title is ‘October Sky’. She wanted us to learn the script and focus on pronunciations and also some idioms or expressions used in the movie. She conducted a short quiz in every chapter. We were demanded to be able to understand not only the meaning of words but also how to use them in right context. October sky is also included in the quiz which made us understand the context because she would play the part once, and she gave us new script with some blank words in it. We had to guess what word should be filled in the blank by listening to the movie in the second time. It was a real listening practice from Native American. From this class, I got a significant improvement in listening and pronunciation skill.
What are the pluses of the program?
Learning language especially English in the host country gives a lot of benefits for its participants. Students get not only theory, but also practical English in daily conversation including listening, speaking, writing, and watching how the Native people communicate each other. Students are also able learn American culture, visit local events, and have trip to some interesting places where they are study. Practice English every day may become the most important thing from studying English in the host country. We have no choice to say something in our native language during classes. The teachers speak English, classmates speak English, and everybody speaks English. We have no choice. It’s mean that our mouth, ears, eyes, gestures, and minds are learning English in the same time.
Visiting local events such as Gem Show, gas light theater, and renaissance festival gave different experiences to the students. We got additional information about American history, habits, and many other things about them. Our trip to Grand Canyon will become unforgettable moment in rest of our life. Many people in the world only are able to see the amazing creature and nature phenomenon in television. But, we had opportunity to go and step our own feet there. Oh My GOD. How lucky we are. We were not only able the beautiful scene of Grand Canyon, but it was also the first time for us, Indonesian group, to see snow. We played a lot like a bird has just free from a hundred year living in the cage. I miss my friends.
How can the program be improved?
I can say that this program is very good for students -who want to study English-. Otherwise, is bad. Obviously, my opinion is limited from Arizona perspective because other students from other state may have different answer. First, the stipend is good for students who live in Arizona especially for those who can make their own food, but more stipends will be better. Second, the housing, Sahara Apartment, is nice, giving the students easy-access to campus. Students can go to university with only 20 minutes on food or four minutes by Sahara Shuttle.
I have one suggestion that I am not really sure whether it is good or not. It’s about living with American partner, not exactly American, but at least student who didn’t speak our language. Why? That situation will force the student not to speak their local language. It will be very good because they practice their English every day. However, it is a risky thing. Many negatives things may be occur.
Finally, I think it will be better if the grantees are given the detail information about the amount money they got from US dept. of state; the stipend, transportations, apartments, etc. Because everyone is keep questioning about this issue. They want to know is it similar from Arizona to Oregon. I feel very lucky to be place in Arizona states because we have lower living cost and we can manage our money for our living cost. By giving this information, hopefully there won’t be misunderstanding about all.
