Provincial News

Page 11 

On October 20, 2008, MTs. Al Ghazali Bogor welcomed Ms. Margot Ellis of USAID who visited the school to see the implementation of DBE3 programs and meet the teachers and principal. In this short visit Ms. Ellis had a chance to see the activities in an ICT class, English class and Civics class. West Java DBE3 Education Officer, Bpk. Rifki Rosyad, and the principal of MTs. Al Ghazali, Bpk. Achmad Karmiyatna, S.Ag, explained about the changes happening in schools after the training given to teachers.

According to Bpk. Achmad, the major change happening in the school is in teaching methods. Teachers are now more prepared in presenting the their lessons.

They also are more creative in teaching their subjects in classrooms. In addition, students learn in a more pleasant and better way. Consequently, they can understand more about the subjects being taught.

In this visit, Ms. Ellis also had a chance to speak to one of students in English class. Valdi, who is in the 9th grade. He said that he sometimes practiced English outside the class. The English class in MTs Al Ghazali is conducted in a creative way, giving opportunities for students to speak and practice with their classmates.

The visit to MTs Al Ghazali was only a short one. However, after observing the activities in the classrooms, Ms. Ellis expressed her appreciation to school principal.

Training on Modules 6-7 and Replication

In this first half of November, DBE3 West Java conducted two sets of training: training of District Trainers for modules 6 and 7 and a replication of DBE3 teacher training. The first training was held on November 3-6 at the Gumilangsari Hotel, Bandung, involving 15 District Trainers (11 male and 4 female), 8 English DTs (6 male and 2 female) and 7 Civics DTs (5 male and 2 female).

The participants were taught how to train using modules 6 and 7. In module 6 English and Civics DTs learned various strategies of teaching-learning, while in module 7 they learned various techniques of evaluation to measure the acheivement of learning life skills. One participant commented, “It is interesting to learn new strategies for evaluating the life skills education. I used to think that it is simply the same as other techniques of learning evaluation.”

The other training was held in the District of Bogor on November 12-13. The event which involved 98 teachers (43 males and 55 females) was opened by Dinas Pendidikan, Kota Bogor.

In this training, the participants who represented all MGMPs in Kota Bogor had the opportunity to learn about module 1 (Better Teaching and Learning) and module 2 (Life Skills). The training was collaboration of DBE3 with Dinas Pendidikan and MoRA, Kota Bogor, who sponsored it. In addition, the training

was also co-funded by the MGMP and the participants. Commenting on the training, one participant said, “I need this kind of DBE3-model training to make myself better in teaching life skills in classrooms.”