KEDIRI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

Choosing a Representative English Book

Book is something that every student requires to study with. Without any book at hand, students cannot get more knowledge and it is very hard for them to increase and enlarge horizons.  Here, I would like to explain how to choose a representative book of English.

1.     Generally, Many English books have been published but it is often far from students’ hopes because they are not applicable ones for living outside the class. Students think it too complicated to study. Therefore, a representative English book is badly needed.

2.     A representative English book should contain many skills that students can learn. As the government guided in the curriculum-2006 often the so-called KTSP, there are 4 basic skills that students should gain after finishing their study. 

3.     The 4 basic skills are considered as the basic competency needed by students. Those are listening, speaking, reading and writing competencies. In this case, a representative English book should cope with all the basic ones very well.

4.     Considering that parents face the hardships of economy nowadays, the publisher should provide a relatively competitive priced English book. It means that to buy a representative English book does not cost the parents much. Therefore, it should cover a lot of exercises or materials to learn in. 

Based on the criteria above, I am completely sure that the book you are reading now is the best choice for students to study with. Since it copes with all of the criteria, and finally I have no doubt to declare that this is the representative English book. 

EXERCISE 1:

1. What kind of text is it?
2. What is the generic structure of the text?
3. Find the parts of the generic structure of the text.
4. What tense is mostly used in the text?
5. What is the purpose of the writer?

Who are the custodians of the future?

Day in, day out, life in Indonesia seems to   get more   depressing.  Whenever I’m at a restaurant I feel I have to watch like a hawk or the staff will try to cheat me – they may serve me something more expensive than I ordered.

On the road, motorcycles get crazier each passing day. Cars and motorcycles use the busway lane in Jakarta, which is strictly forbidden. Worse still, the policeman who sees it just lets it be.

One day I took a taxi from Bintaro to Tebet. Usually, even if I take a taxi that operates on the new rates, it costs around Rp. 65,000, and I only have to pay the toll once. However, this time, I fell asleep in the taxi because I was tired. When I finally got to my destination, the fare was Rp. 81,000!

When I talk to people about things like this, they say, “Oh, it’s the tough economic conditions that make people that way.” I think, “How convenient!” as if that answer explains everything away.

What I sense more strongly with each passing day is that, beyond economic difficulties, there is also a steady degradation of the state of awareness in our society.

Sometimes, the awareness comes through to the surface, but one brushes if off, saying, “Udahlah emang orang Indonesia gitu! Mau diapain lagi?” (Oh, never mind! That’s how Indonesians are! What can we do about it anyway?)

How to overcome the problem?

·      Indonesians who can afford it – who are able to fulfill their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter and education – should escape the mind-set of just trying to get by on a daily basis.

·      Life is much more than accumulating wealth, large wedding receptions or going reunions and family gatherings. But life is about the deliberate effort to extract meaning from our lives: To live freely. To make deliberate choices that will improve one’s life. To find one’s purpose. To live with honesty and integrity.

·      It’s also daring to exercise one’s judgment, for better or worse; living without fear and with totality. About becoming a better human being.

·      The most important thing is to improve the quality of human life at an individual level.

What might the future include? Cleaner Air.

·      A society where can one think freely. Being able to disagree fiercely but without hurting one another physically.

·      To have an education system that champions questioning and imagination instead of rote learning. A society less hierarchical, A person being respected and revered due to his intelligent and character, and not because he is the son of so and so; or because he is a son of legislator, government official or university rector.

·      It means a society of genuine kindness. Fewer fake niceties and basa basi (small talk), A society that values kindness and honesty, and not somebody’s bank account.

·      A society that understand the modernity is not related to the number of malls a city has and the designer products a person wears, but the level of creative and critical thinking and the ability to feel and access deeply all facets of life.

Last but not least,

The future of Indonesia lies with the young generation: teenagers (12 – 18 years of age) and the youths (19 – 30 years of age). Our parents, our predecessors of this country, will leave this world to us. They are doing what they can at the moment, but many problems will last beyond their lifetimes.

That is why the future is in our hands. Just because they are older, don’t think that they necessarily know more than us. In fact, they may well be as confused and bewildered as we are.

We have something they do not: more time. So let’s use this time to make things better around us.

If you want to be part of the solution rather than the problem that is the only choice you have.

(Adapted from: Sunday – The Jakarta post 2007)

TEST 1:

Based on the text above, answer the following questions:

1.    What is the text about?

2. How are Indonesians living today?
3. What does the writer think about Indonesian people?
4. Why does a person like to take opportunity for his own benefit?
5. How to solve the problem, according to the writer?
6. Rewrite the solution of the problem (no 5) using your own words. Not more than 70 words.

TEST 2:

Based on the text above:

1.    What is the generic structure of the text?

2. Find each part of the generic structure of the text.

·         Thesis

·         Arguments

·         Reiteration

3. What tense is mainly used in the text?
4. What is the Reiteration about?
5. What is the Reiteration used for?

Untuk membaca jenis text  READING lainnya, silahkan Baca Buku Pedoman Text Reading untuk SMP dan SMA oleh Achmad Baihaqi, M.Sc. Kediri International Schools 2008.

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