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.

Always join us through this Blogspot:

<Kediriinternationalschools.blogspot.com>

E-mail: kediri.kiss@gmail.com

  

Students of KISS in holiday in Bali While having a test of Speaking with foreign tourists

Students of KISS in holiday in Bali

While having a test of Speaking with foreign tourists

Informasi lebih lanjut hubungi:

Jocelyne & Vanity

Jln. Wisma Podomoro A/3 no 1 Sukorame 64114 Kediri – East Java

HP+628563482742

Motto:

“WE’RE COMMITTED TO SERVE YOU BETTER”

KEDIRI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON WRITING

Writing Paragraphs

1. What is the writing stage?
The writing stage is when you turn your ideas into sentences.

Five Writing Steps:

1. Open your notebook and word processor.
2. Write the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and closing sentence.
3. Write clear and simple sentences to express your meaning.
4. Focus on the main idea of your paragraph.
5. Use the dictionary to help you find additional words to express your ideas.

2. What is the Writing Process?

The Writing process is both a key concept in the teaching of writing and an important research concept in the field of composition studies.

Research on the writing process (sometime called the composing process) focuses on how writers draft, revise, and edit texts. Composing process research was pioneered by scholars such as Janet Emig in The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders (1971)^[1], Sondra Perl in “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers (1979)^[2], and Linda Flower and John R. Hayes in “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing” (1981).^[3]

The rest of this page will focus on the writing process as a term used in teaching. In 1972, Donald M. Murray published a brief manifesto on "Teach Writing as a Process Not Product,"^[4] a phrase which became a rallying cry for many writing teachers. Ten years later, in 1982, Maxine Hairston argued that the teaching of writing had undergone a "paradigm shift" in moving from a focus on written products to writing processes^[5].

Generally the writing process is seen as consisting of five stages:

• Prewriting
• Drafting (See Draft document)
• Revising (See Revision (writing))
• Editing: proofreading
• Publishing

These stages can be described at increasing levels of complexity for both younger students and more advanced writers. The five stages, however, are seldom described as fixed steps in a straightforward process. Rather, they tend to be viewed as overlapping parts of a complex whole. Thus, for instance, a writer might find that, while editing a text, she needs to go back to draft more prose, or to revise earlier parts of what she has written.

References

1. ^ Janet Emig, The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders, Urbana: NCTE, 1971.
2. ^ Sondra Perl, “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers," Research in the Teaching of English 13 (1979), pp. 317-36, rpt. in Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Victor Villanueva, Urbana: NCTE, 2003.
3. ^ Linda Flower and John R. Hayes, “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing,” CCC 32 (1981, pp. 365-87, rpt. in Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Victor Villanueva, Urbana: NCTE, 2003.
4. ^ IDonald M. Murray,"Teach Writing as a Process Not Product," The Leaflet (November 1972),rpt. in Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Victor Villanueva, Urbana: NCTE, 2003.
5. ^ Maxine Hairston, "The Winds of Change: Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of Writing," CCC 33 (1982), pp. 76-88, rpt. in The Norton Book of Composition Studies, ed. Susan Miller, New York: Norton, 2009

This writing is to be continued next edition on this blogspot.

<Kediriinternationalschools.blogspot.com>

E-mail: kediri.kiss@gmail.com

REPORT TEXT

Purpose: To describe the way things are.

Generic Structure:

·         General Classification

         It introduces Topic.

·         Identification

         It describes the shape/form, parts, behavior, habitat, way of survival.

THE TOEFL

The TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language. The test is used to evaluate the English proficiency of candidates whose native language is not English. Almost one million students from180 countries register to take the TOEFL every year at test centers throughout the world. Some of them do not pass the TOEFL because they do not understand enough English. Others do not pass it because they do not understand the examination. (General classification )

Since 1963 scholarship selection committees of governments, universities, and agencies such as Fulbright, the Agency for International Development, AMIDEAST, Latin American Scholarship Program have used the TOEFL Now some professional licensing and certification agencies also use TOEFL scores to evaluate English proficiency.

The admissions committees of more than 2400 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada require foreign applicants submit TOEFL scores along with transcripts and recommendations in order to be considered for admission. Some colleges and universities in other English-speaking countries also require the TOEFL for admissions purposes.

Many universities use TOEFL scores to fulfill the foreign language requirement for doctoral candidates whose first language is not English.

Three TOEFL testing programs are available – the Supplemental Paper-Based TOEFL, the Computer-Based TOEFL and the Institutional TOEFL. The Supplemental Paper-Based TOEFL and Computer-Based TOEFL are the official administrations. The Institutional TOEFL is not an official administration.

In general, the same four language skills are tested in all TOEFL programs. Listening, Structure, Writing and Reading are tested in three separate sections:

Section 1     Listening

Section 2     Structure/Writing

Section 3     Reading

There are some differences in the types of questions used to test the language skills.

The test is held in October, November, December, April and

May. It takes   three or four and half-hours long to do   the    test. (Identification)

         (Adapted from: Information Bulletin for TOEFL)

Note:

The Red writing is GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

The Blue Writing is IDENTICATION

 Simpang Lima Gumul – Five intersection Monument  (SLG) was inaugurated by Sutrisno then the Regent of Kediri in 2008.

Always join us through this Blogspot:

<Kediriinternationalschools.blogspot.com>

E-mail: kediri.kiss@gmail.com

Here’s the right place

To study English 

KEDIRI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

Topics this week:

1.  Report Text

2.  How to write well

KEDIRI CITY

Kediri is an ordinary city in East Java Province.^{[1] [2]} It’s about 125 kms to the south-west of Surabaya the capital city of East Java Province. Administratively, Kediri contains the Regency Administration led by a Regent and the Municipality Administration led by a Mayor. The municipality of Kediri is surrounded by the Regency of Kediri; therefore the city of Kediri is exactly in the middle of the Regency of Kediri. 

 The area of the Kediri Regency is about 963.21 km². It is bordered with the Regency of Jombang in the north, the Regency of Malang in the east, the Regency of Tulung Agung  in the south, the Regency of Madiun and Ponorogo in the west, and the Regency of Nganjuk in the north-west.^[3]      It has 23 districts and 260 villages and the center of the city is in Pare around 20 km east of the Regency office. The population is around 2.100.000 (2010)

Meanwhile the area of the Kediri Municpality is about 63.40 km².It has 3 administrative districts:

1.    Mojoroto District in the west of Brantas river

2.    City District in the middle or the east of Brantas river

3.    Pesantren Distric in the east.

The population is about 1.600.000 (2010) the Brantas river is the icon of the city. It has 7 km long from the south to the north.

That’s all about Kediri city.

References:

1.     ^ Semula Pusat pemerintahan secara bertahap akan dipindahkan ke Pare tetapi tidak berhasil, sehingga ditempatkan di Kec. Ngasem tepatnya di Daerah Katang.

2.     ^ Mulai era Bupati H. Sutrisno, Wacana tersebut akhirnya benar-benar dibatalkan, karena mendapatkan protes dari warga di sebagian wilayah Kabupaten Kediri, terutama di daerah selatan (seperti Kras, Ngadiluwih, Kandat dan Ringinrejo) dan di daerah barat sungai Brantas (seperti Tarokan, Grogrol, Banyakan, Semen dan Mojo) Sehingga diambil jalan tengah dengan menempatkan Pusat pemerintahan di wilayah Kec. Ngasem Kediri, tepatnya di Ds. Sukorejo (biasa disebut Katang) dan akan juga dibangun Pusat Bisnis di Wilayah Kota Baru Gumul.

3.     ^ Buku Potensi Pariwisata dan Produk Unggulan Jawa Timur.2009

Always join us through this Blogspot:

<Kediriinternationalschools.blogspot.com>

E-mail: kediri.kiss@gmail.com

Learn & Play here with KEDIRI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

Learn & Play here with KEDIRI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS Topics this week: 1.  Learn& Play here 2.  English for Children 3.  English for Junior & Senior High Schools 4.  TOEFL Preparation 5.  Descriptive Text  Students are serious to do the final exams in KISS

Students of KISS are relaxed to have a holiday in Bali while having a test of speaking with  foreign tourists in Bali. Motto: “WE’RE COMMITTED TO SERVE  YOU BETTER”