ALI SAID EDUCATION

English Class vs Language Arts in Education

2009-11-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

Most schools do not put enough emphasis on the fine arts, namely, as an example—the art of language. In an English class the teacher will focus on reading skills, reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary—but language arts is recognizing written word as an art form.

Yes we do want our students to study and master the English language. But the fine arts should be reserved as different kind of lesson, preferably in a creative writing class that is separate from English class. But every English class, if there is no specific language arts class required, should at least include a unit that focuses on the beauty and importance of literary accomplishments throughout the ages. Poetry, plays, song lyrics, screenplays, novels, from authors like Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, Ken Kesey, Harper Lee etc.

Language is composed of words—words carry specific meaning and sometimes carry double meaning. So the primary tool of language is words, another is sound. Words are, in combination with an almost musical goal, can show the transformation of words and basic communication into art.

Words are to the writer what paint is to the painter, they are what the instrument is to the musician, and they are what tone and pitch are to a singer. That is why children must understand that English is not just what they learn in English class—but the language itself is spawned the language arts years and years ago.

The empty page means to the writer what the score of music means to the musician or singer. The empty page is the blank canvas, the untouched page in a sketchbook and so on, the empty page is—the thing that the any artist of the written word must make to come alive.

As I mentioned before, there is a musical aspect and technique to literary language that is hard to grasp without providing prime examples of it. The musical technique involved in the art of language is well exemplified by the works of William Shakespeare, but he is just one of many. The poem, when read silently or aloud. Should have a certain song about it. Whether it in written in iambic pentameter, as a sestina or in the more modern style of free form, the music should be there. For example in a poem by Dylan Thomas, the first stanza reads:

“ Do not go gentle into that good night

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night...”

The poem was written as Dylan Thomas watched his father lay dying, and there is a beautiful song here. Note the repetition. Note the syntax in which the words are used which is different than regular speech—there are articles like “the” or “a” that the author will drop—removed for the sake of rhythm. This particular poem is easy to find at the library or on the Internet, and I highly recommend it as a tool for any Language Arts instructor.

There is technique and beauty, form, use of syllables, pitch, pacing and sound even in prose. So demonstrate to your students the versatility of words.

If there is one thing I loved best about high school—it was what I learned in my Advanced English class, which was exclusive to the analysis of the literary arts

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, education and home décor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on education please visit Teaching Supplies.

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EXTENSIVE READING

2009-10-02T06:08:00.001-07:00

by: Drs. H. Moh. Ali Said, M.Pd

Q.S. Al-Alaq: 1-5

Meaning
1. Read! In the name of Your Lord who has created (all that exists)
2. He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood)
3. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous
4. Who has taught by the pen
5. He has taught man that which he knew not

· Reading textual and contextual
· Textual means everything we read,
· Contextual means everything available in universe (related to the creatures)

Weaknesses
a. Knowledge
b. Skill
c. Attitude

English teachers should
1. guiding the materials
2. classroom management
3. understanding the strategy

What is Reading?

Reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. The goal of reading is comprehension. Strategic Reading is defined as the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading. Good readers know what to do when they encounter difficulties. Fluent Reading is defined as the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension.

Strategies Fluency

Reading

The Reader The Text

2. Background to the teaching Reading
Reading is an essential skill for learners of English as a second language. For most of these learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English, but also in learning in any content class where Reading in English is required.

Silent Reading : Reading is primarily a silent activity. The majority of reading that we do will be done silently. Different strategies are used when reading orally than when reading silently. Since comprehension is the goal of reading, your primary focus in the classroom should be on getting meaning from print. Make silent reading the goal in your classroom instead of using oral reading.

Reading Process: The models of reading process can be divided into three categories:
a. Bottom-Up Model typically consist of lower-level reading process. Students start with the fundamental basics of letter and sound recognition, which in turn allows for morpheme recognition followed by word recognition, building up to the identification of grammatical structures, sentences, and longer text

b. Top-Down Model begin with the idea that comprehension resides in the reader. The reader uses background knowledge, makes predictions, and searches the text to confirm or reject the predictions that are made. A passage can thus be understood even if all of the individual words are not understood. Within a top-down approach to reading the teacher should focus on meaning generating activities rather than on mastery of word recognition.

c. Interactive Model are accepted as the most comprehensive description of the reading process. This third type combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down models assuming “that a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several knowledge sources” (Stanovich, 1980, p.35)

3. Principles for Teaching Reading

Exploit the reader’s background knowledge
Build a strong vocabulary base
Teach for Comprehension
Work on increasing reading Rate
Teach reading strategies
Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills
Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching
Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher

4. Classroom Techniques and Tasks

Activate prior knowledge
Cultivate vocabulary
Teach for comprehension
Increase reading rate
Verify reading strategies
Evaluate progress

When we read a story, magazine, or newspaper we employ our previous knowledge as we approach the process of comprehension, and deploy a range of receptive skills

Purpose : to get benefit from their reading’ The more students read, the more language they acquire.
How : Teacher encourages students to choose what they read and to do so for pleasure and general language improvement

Reason for Reading

Instrumental

To a chieve some clear aim
Eg. We read a road sign so that we know where to go

Pleasurable

For pleasure
Eg. Reading magazine, newspaper, illustrated cartoon
etc

· Analyzing Reading
Top down = the readers get a general view of the reading passage by absorbing the overal picture
Bottom up = the readers focus on individual words and phrases and achieves understanding by stringing these detailed elements together to build up a whole
· Different Skills

Identifying the topic

Good readers are able to pick up the topic of a written or spoken text very quickly with the help of their own schemata they get idea quickly of what is being talked about. This ability allows them to process the text more effectively as it progress

Predicting and guessing

Readers and listeners sometimes guess in order to understand what is being written or talked about. Sometimess they predict what is coming. Sometimes they make assumptions or guess the content from their guide

Reading and listening for general understanding

Good readers are able to take in a stream of discourse and understand the gist of it. Skimming: we run our eyes over a text to get a quick idea

Reading for specific information

We want a specific information by scanning

Reading for detailed information

We read the text in order to understand everything we are reading in detail
Eg. Garuda Indoneisan Air/ GIA AA671 will fly to Medan in 15 minutes

Interpreting text

Readers are able to see beyond the literal meaning of words in a passage, using variety of clues to understand what the writer of speaker is implying or suggesting
Eg. You’re in non- smoking zone

Extensive Reading: Why? and How?
The Role of Extensive Reading in Language Learning

It can provide 'comprehensible input'
It can enhance learners' general language competence
It increases the students' exposure to the language
It can increase knowledge of vocabulary
It can lead to improvement in writing
It can motivate learners to read
It can consolidate previously learned language
It helps to build confidence with extended texts
It encourages the exploitation of textual redundancy
It facilitates the development of prediction skills

To resolve such problems we need to think about how we choose topics, and how we approach different reading genres:

Choose the right topics

Choose topics which our students will be interested in

Create interest

We can get the students engaged by talking about topics, by showing a picture for prediction, by asking them to guess what they are going to see or have them look at the headlines or captions before they read the whole thing

Activate schemata

Give the SS predictive tasks and interesting activities

Vary topics and genres

Make sure we expose them a variety of a different text types

The Characteristics of an Extensive Reading Approach
from Day & Bamford (1998, p. 7-8)

Students read as much as possible, perhaps in and definitely out of the classroom.
A variety of materials on a wide range of topics is available so as to encourage reading for different reasons and in different ways.
Students select what they want to read and have the freedom to stop reading material that fails to interest them.
The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding. The purposes are determined by the nature of the material and the interests of the student.
Reading is its own reward. There are few or no follow-up exercises after reading.
Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Dictionaries are rarely used while reading because the constant stopping to look up words makes fluent reading difficult.
Reading is individual and silent, at the student's own pace, and, outside class, done when and where the student chooses.
Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower as students read books and other material they find easily understandable.
Teachers orient students to the goals of the program, explain the methodology, keep track of what each student reads, and guide students in getting the most out of the program.
The teacher is a role model of a reader for the students -- an active member of the classroom reading community, demonstrating what it means to be a reader and the rewards of being a reader.

Mastering the English Vocabulary is Not As Daunting As You Think it Is!

2009-09-24T07:36:00.001-07:00

By Laurianne Sumerset

The English language has one of the largest vocabulary among the world's languages, with close to one million word items estimated to be available in its arsenal. As such, mastering the English vocabulary typically takes a very long time, especially for those starting their English education from scratch.

Despite that, gaining a good enough mastery of the English lexicon isn't an impossible task. In fact, if you put in the time for study and use the proper tools, you might just surprise yourself with the amount of vocabulary you find yourself equipped with.

One way of enriching your facility with the English language is to write in the vernacular on a frequent basis, all while employing new words within your sentences every time. Whenever you sit down to write something in English, whether an email or a essay, put the thesaurus included with your language software to good use, employing it to help you discover new words to express your ideas.

While vocabulary mastery isn't the easiest thing in the world, it's definitely something you can integrate into your everyday life, making it an achievable goal to aim for. Apart from the exhaustive thesaurus, writing software (such as Whitesmoke) usually includes a suggestion feature that recommends replacement words and phrases, for both clarity and better reading.

As a matter of fact, since English has been very prominent and common to use, learning English can might as well help in order to understand people even if they came from different races with different languages.

Watch how innovative Grammar Check Software instantly can improve your writing on a daily basis and learn how advanced NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, essays, letters or reports. Read more

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Introduction to Teaching English in Japan

2009-09-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

By J Finnis

Would you like the chance to spend some time in Japan but feel turned off by whistle-stop package tourist trips? If so, teaching English may be the answer. There is no better way to get to know a country than by living and working there. By teaching English you become a part of Japanese society, rather than just an observer looking in.

Teaching English is big business in Japan. Despite the collapse of the so-called bubble economy Japan remains one of the richest and most sophisticated nations on the planet, and this status is largely due to its success in overseas trade and investment. Thus, to get ahead in Japanese society, proficiency in English is a significant advantage. Add to that the fact that being able to speak English is simply considered cool and the huge demand for English teachers becomes clear.

Don't Japanese people learn English at school?

Yes they do. Usually for 6 years or more. The problem is that, unlike most of the school curriculum, English isn't taught particularly well. Japanese schools tend to follow traditional teaching methods in which the teacher stands at the front and lectures the class. Students are expected to absorb rather than question. The method produces excellent results for subjects like history and mathematics, but not for communicative, participative skills like language. School English education is likely to consist of lots of reading and writing, lots of grammar practice, but very little - if any - spoken communication.

Do I need to speak Japanese?

Not at all. Of course, if you can pick up a little nihongo (Japanese) it will make your daily life easier, but it won't help one bit as a teacher. The reason is that the most effective way of teaching language is to use only the target language. Thus the only language used in English lessons is English.

How do I start?

Well, you could simply buy a ticket to Japan and start looking for work. Unfortunately, without a work permit, that strategy is illegal. Unless you have a Japanese spouse you need to find a job that will sponsor you for a visa. It is possible to travel to Japan as a tourist and approach a few of the numerous schools advertising for teachers asking if they are prepared to sponsor your visa application.

It helps to undergo some TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training before looking for work. Not only will this give you some basic teaching skills and confidence, but it also shows potential employers you are serious about teaching and not just a backpacker looking for some financial re-fuelling.

TEFL courses are advertised in most English speaking countries. The more useful ones are provided by working English schools and offer face-to-face teaching practice with real learners.

Accommodation

If you are employed by the JET program or one of the big English school companies they will more than likely arrange accommodation for you. You are of course free to find your own housing if you so wish.

Living in school-found accommodation has the advantage of an English speaking contact to sort out repairs or other problems. The disadvantage is that it's difficult to quit a job that may not be for you while living in their accommodation. I have also heard of at least one school that charges its teachers a significant premium over market rental rates for use of its accommodation - so beware!

There are several English speaking accommodation agencies advertising in the free English language press, and these generally provide decent accommodation, but at a price.

An alternative favored by many single English teachers are the so-called "gaijin houses" (literally foreigner's house). These are basically hostels that rent out basic, but adequately comfortable, rooms mainly to non-Japanese clientele. Usually bathroom, kitchen and sometimes communal sitting room are shared. Gaijin house advertisements are to be found in the free English language press.

Johnny is a TESOL qualified ESL teacher with several years experience in Japan. He runs the Web site English the international language offering online lessons, resources and advice for learners and teachers of English as a second language worldwide.

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Moral Lesson of Main Characters as Reflected in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

2009-09-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

By : Drs. MOHAMMAD ALI SAID

Abstract

The interest in the study of morality has always been one matter of endless discussion since there is no one objective standard of morality. W. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in relation with the fact that life should not neglect the value of morality. Therefore, this study tries to reveal the moral lesson of main characters reflected in Macbeth and its significance to the recent life phenomena. There are three major moral lessons reflected in this literary work, i.e. power corrupts, temptation of evil, and murder. These lessons, as a matter of fact, are very closely related to the real life that corruption, collusion, nepotism and murder always happen as a result of evils as shown in the story of Macbeth.

Key words : morality, power corrupt, prophecy, murder

The discussion on the concept of morality usually leads to somewhat controversial. Historically, the concept of morality has often been used negatively as a list of thou shall not in check against ones actions. The stance taken is often that it does not matter what you do, as long as you do not violate any moral edicts; but the source of these moral edicts is often mystical or arbitrary.
A list of prohibitions, even if founded in reason rather than mysticism, is not a sufficient outline for success. Morality should be positive rather than negative. Not what shouldn’t I do? but What should I do?. The problem defining morality negatively is that pretty much anything goes provided one avoids a few problem areas. This is not useful because within the sphere of pretty much anything goes, there is no methodical way to choose which action is best, whereas positive morality sets forth habits, i.e. virtues, which lead to the achievement of values and methods for choosing what to value which is the way to live and thrive (Foot, 1978).

Anthropologists used to claim that morality, like law, is applied only within a society. It differs from etiquette, law, and religion. Morality is a code of conduct that is put forward by a society and provides a guide for the behavior of the people in that society. In this sense, morality might allow slavery or some people with one skin color to behave in ways that those with a different color are not allowed to behave. Many people, according to ethical relatives, refer morality to such a universal code of conduct.

Unlike the anthropologists, Kent (1967) claims that concept of morality is more closely tied to its religious origin. With one’s own life as the standard of value, morality is not a burden to bear, it is no unfortunate duty, but a prudent and effective guide which furthers life and success. With one’s life as the standard of value, morality is transformed from arbitrary mystical set of duties into a useful set of guidelines for how to live and flourish and achieve the best possible life.
Descriptively, morality has two essential features: that morality is a code of conduct that is put forward by a society and that it is used as a guide to behavior by the members of that society (Hare, 1981). In this sense, people can refer to an individual’s morality without endorsing it, so morality has no limitation on content. On the other hand, the Utilitarians talk about producing the greatest good as the goal of morality. However, they include the lessening of harm as essential to producing the greatest good and almost all of their examples involve the avoiding or preventing of harm. The paradigm cases of moral precepts involve rules which prohibit causing harm directly or indirectly, such as rules prohibiting killing, causing pain, deceiving, and breaking promises. When people explicitly talk about the morality of a group other than their own or of a person other than themselves, it is usually clear that they are using morality in a descriptive sense.

Definition of Morality
The term, moral, came from a Greek word, moralis, which was first introduced by Cicero. To him this word is the equivalent of Aristotle’s ethikos (Bagus, 1996: 217). Bentham in his Principle of Moral and Legislation states nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. For Bentham it seems that mankind is caught up between getting pleasure and enduring pain. The morality of the person concerned is put on trial in the middle of this polarity between pleasure and pain.
Wallace defines morality as a doctrine or system of conduct relative to principles of right and wrong behavior. The word encompasses the ideas of: (i) moral judgment, with regard to behavior; (ii) moral obligation, referring to our conscience; and (iii) a moral agent, or one who is capable of right and wrong action. Common synonyms include ethics, principles, virtue and goodness. Morality can be a confusing topic in today's multi-cultural world. Let's explore what morality is, how it affects our behavior, and our conscience.

Morality and Our Behavior
Morality describes the principles that govern our behavior. Without these principles in place, societies cannot survive for long. In today's world, morality is frequently thought of as belonging to a particular religious point of view, but by definition, we see that this is not the case. Everyone adheres to a moral doctrine of some kind.
Morality as it relates to our behavior is important on three levels. Renowned thinker, scholar and author, Warnock defines them as: (1) to ensure fair play and harmony between individuals; (2) to help make us good people in order to have a good society; and (3) to keep us in a good relationship with the power that created us. Based on this definition, it's clear that our beliefs are critical to our moral behavior.
The view of many who do not adhere to Creation is that morality is an invention of man, based on the need to build cooperative societies. Since all life forms are constantly choosing between life and death, man's power to choose his actions is given reigning authority, ultimately leading to a code of values and virtues. But what happens when my choice conflicts with your choice? What if something I believe I need in order for my life to continue results in death for you? Without an absolute standard of truth, we are left to our own devices, with chaos the inevitable and ultimate destination.

Morality and Our Conscience
Morality affects our daily choices, and those decisions are guided by our conscience. Again, we must decide for ourselves where the conscience originates. Many people believe that our conscience is a matter of the heart, and that basic concepts of right, wrong and fairness are inherent in all of us.
Morality includes such values as honesty, the pursuit of truth, responsibility, duty, fairness in interpersonal relations, concern for one's immediate neighbors, respect for property, loyalty and duty to one's spouse and children, the work ethic and keeping one's word. The emphasis is upon the duty and responsibility of the individual.
No society can function efficiently or humanely and no civilization can endure, without these values. Honesty is essential for personal security. A lie is an abuse of another's faith. Lies demean the liar. Lies are at the root of unfair dealing and bad bargains. Therefore, lies stand at the root of personal oppression, conflict and litigation. Lies cover up worse sins and therefore prevent the rectification of wrongs.
Honesty to oneself is also important. It is necessary if one is to deal with reality (while there is time) instead of creating a world of illusion and self-deception which precludes all constructive response to problems and must inevitably lead to a greater debacle.
Dishonesty to oneself and one's neighbors has a way of returning upon one's own head. The liar creates a falsehood which he must ever go to greater lengths to maintain if he is to avoid public disgrace. It can become his living nightmare. At the same time he is less able to face up to his disgrace because his practice of lying corrodes the courage which he needs in order to face the truth.

The Symbol of Blood
In Shakespeare's Macbeth the symbol of blood is used to represent honor, bravery, treason, murder, sin, and guilt. The symbol of blood is continuously developed until it becomes the dominating theme of the play.
The word "blood," or different forms of it appear forty-two times, throughout the play.
Perhaps the best way to show how the symbol of blood changes during the development of the play, is to follow the character changes in Macbeth. At first Macbeth is heralded as brave and honorable, but as the play progresses, he becomes a treacherous person who is identified with death and bloodshed, and shows his guilt in many different forms.

Honor and Bravery
The first reference of blood is one of honor, and occurs when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says "What bloody man is that?".(Act I, Scene2,Line 1), This quote is symbolic of the brave fighter who had been injured during the battle for his country. In the next passage the Captain says "... Which smok'd with bloody execution, "(Act I, Scene 2, Line 20), he is referring to Macbeth's bravery in which his sword is covered in the hot blood of the enemy.
After these few references to honor, the symbol of blood now changes to show a theme of treachery and treason. Lady Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to make her blood thick. What she is asking by this is, that she wants to make herself insensitive and remorseless for the deeds which she is about to commit.

Treason
Lady Macbeth knows that the evidence of blood is a treacherous symbol, and knows it will make the servants and not she and Macbeth look guilty when she says ". . . smear the sleepy grooms with blood."(Act II, Scene 2, Lines 64-65), and ". . . If he do bleed, I"ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt."(Act II, Scene2, Lines 81-83), When Banquo states " . . . and question this most bloody piece of work,"(Act II, Scene.3, Line 149), and then Ross says " . . . is't known who did this more than bloody deed?"(Act II, Scene 4, Line 28), they are both inquiring as to who performed the treacherous acts upon Duncan. When Macbeth is speaking about Malcolm and Donalbain, he refers to them as "bloody cousins."
Sin and Guilt
What is interesting in Macbeth related to the using image of blood. Blood symbolizes of sin and guilt that the main characters felt after killing king Duncan. Macbeth felt guilty, remorseful, and scared. The following quotation depicts Macbeth’s image of blood: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand (Act II, Scene 2, Lines 60-61).
Here, Macbeth imagined that he still had Duncan’s blood on his hands, after he had washed them frenetically. He wondered if he would ever be able to forget the horrifying deed that he had committed. At the other time, the ghost of Bloody Banquo haunts him at the banquet. The sight of apparitions represents his guilt when he says: “It is the bloody business which informs thus” (Act II, scene I, 58-59). That quotation refers to his inability to say murder after he had killed king Duncan, so he uses the bloody business instead.
Then the ghost of Banquo, all gory, and bloody haunts Macbeth at the banquet. The sight of apparitions represents his guilt for the murder of Banquo which he planned. Macbeth shows a bit of his guilt when he says "It is the bloody business which informs thus,"(Act II, Scene 1, Lines 58-59), he could not gather up the courage to say murder after he had killed Duncan, so he uses this line instead.
The idea that the blood symbolizes guilty, in the play, is obviously expressed in Lady Macbeth. She shows the most vivid example of guilt using the image of blood on her hands that appear while sleep-walking. She says;

"Out damned spot! Out I say! One: two: why then "tis time to do"t: hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it when none can call out power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" (Act V, Scene 1, Lines 33-39).

That speech reveals that fact that she cannot wipe the blood of Duncan off her hands. She shows the motions of continuous washing of her hands which illustrates her guilty conscience after the murder. When the doctor of the castle finds out about her sleep-walking, he tells Macbeth: “As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies. That keep her from her rest” (Act II, Scene 3, Line 38-39). This means that Lady Macbeth has fantasies that deal with blood. Macbeth knows in his mind that she has troubles with her guilt, but he will not say anything about it. After this scene, Lady Macbeth goes crazy and dies in misery. Guilt, remorse, and fear are all emotions felt after seeing the blood of king Duncan.
Just before the ending of the play, Macbeth has Macduff at his mercy, and lets him go, because of his guilt. He shows that he is guilty, when he says "But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd with blood of thine already."(Act V, Scene8, Lines 6-7). Of which, Macduff replies, "I have no words, my voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain than terms can give thee out."(Act V, Scene8, Lines 8-10). He is saying that his actions with his sword will do his speaking for him and that Macbeth is the worst of all villains!

After the death of Macbeth at the hands of Macduff, the symbolic theme of blood swings back to what it was at the beginning of the play. It is the symbol of honor to Malcolm this time. The death of Macbeth is a honored feat that Macduff is congratulated for.
So as we have seen meaning of the symbol of blood change throughout the play from honor to treachery, and then to guilt, after this, it returns back to the symbolic meaning of honor once again. This could only occur after the villain that changed the meaning from honor to treachery is killed. Due to these many changes, it has been proved that the symbol of blood has many different meanings that can be attributed to the course of this historic play.
In brief, the blood imagery contributes to the overall atmosphere of darkness, deception, and horror experienced by both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The darkness and horror are shown by Macbeth’s sin and actions while in the dark. In addition the deception is depicted by their disloyalty towards the king and the entire kingdom.

Ambitious
Throughout history, man has shown an unhealthy desire for power. All humanity is ambitious. Every person wants the world to conform to his witches. As a product of the ego, this desire culminates in tyranny among those that have arrogance, opportunity, and instability to embrace and foster it. What a person craves for himself often determines his fate.
Reading Macbeth by William Shakespeare, one could easily infer that with the opportunity, arrogance, and instability which are bred by his ego and contra natural forces Macbeth changes his characters. His blind ambition for the pursuit of power and control disregards his moral. Macbeth essentially loses his integrity and honor as a direct result of his own actions. He is a man, who for the simple sake of his own ambition, is willing to murder many people including his king and his best friend.
Furthermore, he adhered to the evil whims and plans of his wife, and put himself in a position that destroyed his self respect, ruined his pride, degraded his honor, and spoiled his integrity in order to possess and maintain the crown. His ambition is stronger than his conscience. Along with his crown, he comes to his downfall. This happens because of his ambition for the throne, an ambition that will do anything in order to behold.
Lady Macbeth is fascinating portrait of an ambitious wife. She is ambitious not for herself, but for her husband. Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to be a great and powerful man. She loves him and her only ambition is to help him gain the throne of Scotland. She uses all her strength and intelligence for evil purposes. She helps Macbeth overcome his natural and hesitation to commit murder. She is feeding herself with day-dreams of ambition.
She is bold and confident, because she does not understand that her ambition is morally wrong. Her only concern is to destroy the evidence. She is a strong woman by saying that behind every great man there is a woman. Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to be a great and powerful man. She thinks that Macbeth will be less of a person if he does not steal the throne. Even she dubs him a coward for not wanting to carry out their murder plan. (Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress’s yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes in now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love, art thou afraid To be the same in thy own act and valour As though art in desire? Would’st thou have that which thou esteem’t of life, And live a coward in their own esteem, Act I, Scene 7, Lines 35-43).

Powerful Contradiction
Macbeth is a character of powerful contradiction. He is not only strong and courageous but also very ambitious. At first, he is brave, noble, and loyal thane. However, his character changes drastically after the witches tempt him with the idea of becoming king. They have predicted something which stirs a deep chord of response in his being. Their prediction comes to his mind: “ Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor ! The Greatest is behind” (Act I, Scene 3, Line 117-118). Being the name of Thane of Cawdor after absorbing the three witches prophesies strengthened Macbeth’s sole ambition to have the throne of Scotland for himself.

Macbeth is somewhat uneasy and feels that he wants fate alone to hand him the throne, rather than killing King Duncan himself to inherit it.( If chance will have me king, chance may crown me, without my stir, Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 142-144). Macbeth undergoes dilemma at that time, between his honor and the crown. There is an inner conflict inside Macbeth, a sign of his actions, but more truthfully questions the probability of success.

He is not at all concerned with whether what he is doing is right, he only cares about whether he will succeed. However, during the banquet held at Macbeth’s castle at Inverness in honour of Duncan, his ambition changes. He contemplates his wicked plan of executing Duncan and arrives at the conclusion of not allowing his plan to fall through. His ambition increases when King Duncan announces his oldest son, Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland, to be the heir to the Scottish throne. Consequently, for his desire to become king, he is willing to turn his back on what he knows to be right.

Monstrous
Macbeth does horrible things. He murders his king, who is also his own uncle. Once he has killed to get the crown, the other crimes seem inevitable. In order to keep what he has taken, Macbeth learns to lie and kill as a matter of course. His values become totally confused. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Act I, Scene1, Line 11). To him now, he has lost track of the difference. In addition, he hires men to kill his best friend, general Banquo. He sends men to kill Macduff’s wife and son.
Having taken the crown by murder, he keeps it by deception. He plants spies in all the noble’s homes and spreads lies about Malcolm, king Duncan’s son, who should rightfully inherit the throne. He rules by terror since he does not deserve anybody’s loyalty. His violent acts and criminal activities simply the result of his blind ambition to be the king. His ambition is driven by the prophecies of the three witches. he is wrong to hear their prophecies as an invitation to murder the king. Their evil forces eventually destroy Macbeth's oral.

William Shakespeare depicts the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as overly ambitious, deceptive, and dishonest. To my subjective interpretation in Macbeth, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of darkness, deception, and horror by using images of blood, the supernatural, and darkness, which causes the death of the two main characters.

Supernatural
Another interesting image used by Shakespeare is the coming of the supernatural. As it was mentioned earlier, Macbeth’s character changes drastically after having got the witches’s prophesies. The supernatural, witches, and apparition play an important role on Macbeth’s character because they influence much Macbeth while in his egotistical state of mind.
Macbeth slaughters many people of importance to the kingdom, one of them is Banquo, the other army general and Macbeth’s best friend. Banquo is the only one who knows the secret of the witches’ prophecies on macbeth. The death of Banquo haunted Macbeth. While being crowned in a room full of sergeants, army members, and his wife, he sees banquo’s ghost. He becomes hysterical. He states: “Thou art too like a spirit of Banquo. Down ! “ (Act IV, Scene1, Line 113).
Although Macbeth deceives others, on the contrary, the witches manipulate and deceive Macbeth by remarking him as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and the king. Notice the following quotation: “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor ! All hail, Macbeth, that shall be King hereafter!” (Act I, Scene 3, Lines 48-50).
The second prophecy tells that Macbeth cannot be killed or harmed by normal man. Thus he must be inhuman in order to win the kingdom. See the following speech: “Be bloody, bold, and resolute, laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (Act IV, Scene 1, Lines 79-81). Receiving the prophecies that he is safe from any man born of woman, Macbeth feels himself invincible. Maddened by power, which he has usurped, Macbeth fails to realize that the power he has taken contra naturally will be returned
It seems that the images of ghosts and witches all contribute to darkness, deception, and horror. The atmosphere of darkness is depicted as the only time when the witches come out to talk with Macbeth. It plays an important role in the supernatural. Moreover, the atmosphere of deception occurs when the witches lead Macbeth in the wrong direction of his life.
The horror, eventually, is illustrated on Macbeth’s face when he finds that Macduff, whose wife and son were killed by the murderers assigned by himself, is not born of a woman. Macduff, in addition, explains the nature of his birth: a Caesarean operation. He was not born by the efforts of a woman but was from his ‘mother’s womb/untimely ripped’. Notice the next quotation : “I bear a charmed life; which must not yield. To one of woman born” (Act V, Scene 8, Lines 12-13). The existence of the bloody body of Duncan contributes to the state of horror.

Nature
Nature plays an important role in the play, because it reflects and reacts to the actions of Macbeth. His lack of moral conscience affects nature. The notional image of horses eating one another is inexplicable: “Turned wild in nature, break their , flung out, contending ’against obedience” (II.4.17-18). The image of a falcon eating an owl for no apparent reason is another example. An old man speaks of this; “’This unnatural, ... a falcon towering in her pride of space was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed!” (II.4.10-13)

As a result of Macbeth’s effect on nature, Lady Macbeth speaks about noticing unusual occurrences seen while walking. “I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry” (II.2.16). The actions of the animals are metaphors for man and woman’s rage for power and control. All examples illustrate the effects Macbeth’s sins have on the kingdom and nature.

Nature incorporates the all-around atmosphere of darkness, deception, and horror. Darkness is part of nature. It helps set the mood. All of the incomprehensible acts occur during the night. Deception comes into play when Macbeth’s deeds and ambitions end up taking nature off its course. He has taken a turn for the worse, and nature is just following suit. The horror of seeing the indescribable scene of horses eating one another is not very easy to swallow. It also shows the unforgivable crime he has committed.

Darkness
Darkness reveals the most important image in Macbeth. It is used as a tool to hide sins and deeds of both Macbeth and Lady macbeth. The portrait of night influences Lady Macbeth to call upon it to cover her bad actions. Read the following quotation :

“Come, thick night, and pall there in the dunnest smoke of Hell” (Act I, Scene 5, Lines 46-47).

The above quotation comes after Macbeth gets success in killing king Duncan. Lady Macbeth asks Macbeth to use the bloody knife to kill the king’s guards in order to frame them for his death. Time has gone and past, yet it is still day. When it is supposed to be night, the stars are not appearing. Through the above speech, William Shakespeare describes that the two main characters’ actions have set the dark atmosphere for the whole play. The dark image contributes to overall atmosphere of darkness, deception, and horror.
Darkness is the key to Macbeth’s killing on king Duncan, because he does not want anyone to see him. Darkness, furthermore, is called upon to cover up the murdering of Duncan. Deception comes into the story when the actual stabbing of king Duncan occurs. Macbeth kills his king, who thought of him as a loyal sergeant, host, and kinsmen, but in actuality wanted to be king.
At last Macbeth learns a valuable lesson that greed, deception, and disloyalty get nothing. His ambition for the throne costs his own life. He undergoes tragic flaw, that is, his downfall as the result of his ambition. In addition, Lady Macbeth could not live with her horrible deeds. Covering her guilty conscience, she takes her own life. The images of blood, the supernatural, and darkness cause the demise of the two main characters to be even more horrific.

Conclusion
Three moral lessons that Shakespeare’s audience would have taken with them after reading the play are power corrupts, do not give in to the temptations of evil, and one murder can snowball into a large mess.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a very successful general of King Duncan’s army. He was a good person, loyal, with much ability. After having got the prophecies from the three witches that he would become the king hereafter, Macbeth’s thirst for power erupted. With the influence much of Lady Macbeth, he became a cold-blooded killer, and went insane. This is an absolute waste of talent. He went so quickly from a marvelous, courageous army leader to an insane murderer, that one can clearly see how power can corrupt.

Throughout Macbeth, Shakespeare shows how the supernatural forces in the play are much stronger than the individual character. The witches may be evil but their prophecies convey truth. The witches’ prophecies sound like good news, however, they lead to death and destruction. Macbeth, at first, was careful of the three witches, but after their second meeting, he began to rely on their evil ways. The evil forces that eventually claim him corrupt Macbeth. He is culpable for his actions and the blame lies solely on him. Throughout the play, Shakespeare points how greatly evil forces can effect characters by robbing them of their humanity. Macbeth is victimized by these evil forces and is tricked into destroying himself. He appears to achieve his heart’s desires; in fact, he only gains torment and death. The play suggests that a person should trust his destiny to a higher power not to evil forces. After having trusted much to the three witches, Macbeth tries to take fate into his own hands, and that action brings him nothing but grief. We can see how misleading the witches were to Macbeth.

Once Macbeth kills king Duncan to get the crown, the other crimes seem inevitable. He is committed to a course of lying and killing. His actions are monstrous. Having taken the crown by murder, he keeps it by deception He plants spies in all the nobles' homes and spreads lies about Malcolm, who should rightfully inherit the throne. Macbeth rules by terror, since he does not deserve--or have--anybody's loyalty. He had killed at least seven more people. If Macbeth was not such a head case, he would not have murdered Duncan in the first place, and seven other people would have lived. In order to keep his power, he had to murder his own best friend, Banquo. If Macbeth had let fate take its course, there would not have been such a mess to deal with the first place. All of the evil that Macbeth has committed finally catches up with him. He gets just desserts when he is killed.

Bibliography

Abrams, M.H. 1987. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Bagus, Lorenz. 1996. Kamus Filsafat. Jakarta: Gramedia.
Brown, Calvin S. 1956. The Reader’s Companion to World Literature. The Dryden Press, Inc.
Foot, Phillipa. 1978. Virtues and Vices, and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hare, R.M. 1981. Moral Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hicks, Malcolm; Hutchings, Bill. 1989. Literary Criticism. Chapman and Hall, Inc.
Jones, Edward H. 1968. Outlines of Literature. New York. The Macmillan Company.
Kant, Immanuel. 1967. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. New York: Barness & Noble.
Kermode. et all. 1973. The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Volume I. Oxford University Press.
Mill, John Stuart. 1998. Ulitiarianism. Edited by Roger Crisp. New York. Oxford University Press.
Neilson, William Allan; Hill, Charles Jarvis. 1942. The Complete Plays and Poetry of William Shakespeare. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Pickering, James H.; Hooper, Jeffrey D. 1981. Concise Companion to Literature. New York. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Sampson, George. 1959. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature. The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press.
Wallace, G. and Walker,A.D.M. editors. 1970. The Definition of Morality. London.Methuen.
Warren, Austin; Welleck, Rene. 1977. Theory of Literature. New York: A Harvest/HBJ Book, Harcourt Brace Yohanovich.

Islamic Tourism : a Proposed Package Tour of East Java

2009-09-07T08:09:00.002-07:00

By: Drs. MOHAMMAD ALI SAID

Abstract

The two big tragedies, World Trade Center and Bali blast have positive and negative impacts. The positive one is the awareness of studying Islam in USA and the awakening of domestic tourism. The negative one is the developing of bad image of Islam. Islamic tourism, one of the ways to counter the bad image of Islam, is one of the solutions. East Java has potential sources of Islamic tourism. Therefore, when this is well managed, it will be the competitive product of East Java tourism. In developing this tourism, some points concerning religion rules, support of the government and society and cooperation among distribution points have to be also well managed.

Key words : Islamic tourism, East Java, competitive product

1. Introduction
Before the World Trade Center tragedy, tourism world in Indonesia had not been in good condition because of smoky issues that disturbed neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Then it was followed by May tragedy which hurt ‘minority tribe but potential one’ in Indonesia and long monetary crisis respectively. The hard years undergone seemed endless when Indonesia received the impact of World Trade Center tragedy.
World Trade Center tragedy that happened on 11 September 2001 still remnant sadness and drawback of various fields in economy, security and social aspects including tourism until today. Tourism as industry is very sensitive to security. Security disturbed gives an effect on tourism. Since tourism involves many aspects in economy, economic life is said to be lame. Hotels, shops, airlines, travel agents, land transportation, restaurants, and other services cannot run very well. Socially there has also been a bad image on Islam since Al Qaidah is accused to be ‘the actor’ on that tragedy. People still remembered very well on the World Trade Center tragedy when Bali blast, an exciting event making people sad and feel unsafe, occurred.
This second big tragedy once again has slapped Islam as if it were identical with killing non-Moslem people. What is within the mind of the Islam enemies is a bad thing that may ruin their life. What they often hear is that Islam is a good and peaceful religion. But what they see in reality is often something that is on the contrary. Therefore it is not quite strange when a woman wearing jilbab takes a walk in Kuta people around cynically will say that the woman is one of the followers of Usamah bin Laden. This indicates that how disappointed Balinese people are to what Amrozi and his friends have done to Bali specifically and, generally, towards Moslems. To see the impact on that tragedy, it is not only Bali which undergoes the drawback of the economic life but also Indonesia in general. Since Bali is the center of tourism, it can be clearly seen that the number of tourists, either the domestic or the foreign, decreases significantly. The condition of the tourism industry in Indonesia can be categorized into being seriously ‘sick’.

2. The Impact of the Tragedies to Tourism
These two tragic events make people have to think twice if they want to go outside for a picnic. They prefer spending their spare time or holiday at home or in their home country in which they are quite sure that the places will give them safety and comfort. From this phenomenon, the tourism experts and marketers change their market direction from the focus on the foreign tourist segmentation to domestic tourist segmentation. They do not realize how big this tourism potent is. In the point of view of income, domestic tourists give lesser income. However, since the number of the domestic tourists and the frequencies of having journey increase, the income the domestic tourists contribute in the near future can be more or less the same, if it is well-managed.
Well-managed domestic tourist will cover need assessment of domestic tourists coming from all parts of Indonesia. Tourism package for adults and youngsters, their specific tourism interest, accommodation, food, transportation and other things are all important factors that should be taken into consideration. The development of domestic tourism will also help to create the image that not only foreign tourist can support tourism industry but also domestic ones. The principle of little profit which can be multiplied in high frequency should be maintained. Based on those two kinds of tourism, the experts and marketers can focus on domestic tourism. However, since the condition of the country is still not getting better, most of Indonesian people will spend their income for primary needs.
Beside being aware of domestic tourism, World Trade Center tragedy supports the spirit to learn Islam. Islamic books in USA becomes best selling. The sale of the books increases incredibly. Even it can be categorized as sky rocketting either in book shops or at amazone.dot.com, a website which sells Islamic books (Semone, 2002). Readers in USA think that there must be things that drive Usamah bin Laden to destroy WTC even though up to now there is no authentic perfect proof whether or Usamah did it. A big question that bears in their mind is : what is actually the background of doing that big tragedy? Since Usamah is a Moslem, educated people will have uncountable questions about Islam. The questions are not only related to Usamah but to Islam as well. The countless questions will be explored not only through references but also possibly countries where the majority of the population are Moslems.
What do they go there for? Certainly they go there to study Islam. This phenomenon actually creates the special segment of tourists which is often called special interest tourism. If they have read the books about Islam, do what they read is actually the same as what they have in their minds? One of the alternative solutions is through studying Islam in the Moslem countries, including Indonesia. Islam in Indonesia has its own unique characteristics which cannot be found in other Islamic countries. This is another point of Islam which can be developed into tourism. Its unique cahracteristics could be explored in the form of Islamic tourism study.

3.The Potential Islamic Tourism in East Java
Seeing the unique characteristics of Islam in Indonesia specifically in East Java where the majority of Moslems and Pesantren exist, a number of package tour could be developed. There are some proposed package tours that need special attention

3.1. Tour de Pesantren
In almost every town in East Java there is a pesantren or it is generally called a school with a boarding house, either classic or modern one. In a big city usually there are classic and modern ones but in a small town usually classic pesantrens are dominant. What is meant by classic is he study of Islam bases on the ‘Kitab-kitab’ and they tend to study the purity of Islam while the modern ones have the combination of studying the kitab-kitab and the change of era that allows them to make renovation based on the development of the world.. Therefore some pesantrens have the label of pondok modern or pesantren modern which indicates that the pesantren provides the religion teaching and what the santri should study in the modern era.
Pesantren has different system from universal school. The santri or students have to stay at pesantren so they are not going home during their study. They only have special day for going home. During their stay they have to practice what they have got in their lesson in their everyday life such as senior santris have to devote teaching before leaving pesantren, practicing foreign language they have with their friends, being discipline, and other good deeds that they have to practice.
By having tour de pesantren tourists will have the illustration on what santris are studying. Is there any program for brain washing to be the killers? Is that because of religious teaching that make people from pesantren like Amrozi has the bravery to bomb and kill many people or the people who actually miss-interpret the Alqur’an verses?. A deep and thorough study needs to be done in analyzing this, and this can be bridged by studying Islam in pesantren. A clear example is Darut Tauhid pesantren where some santris come from United States. By having tour de pesantren a clear illustration will be gained, and this program will decrease that actually little information on everything including Islam will lead to miss-interpretation.

3.2. Religious tourism
What is meant by religious tourism is tour de Wali Songo that is visiting the graveyard of Islam preachers especially in East Java. What the pilgrimage do is to know and to learn how Islam enters Java and to pray to God. Things that should be taken into consideration is that this tour can only be followed by moslems. Therefore a place or a mini movie has to be prepared for non moslems to see the synopsis of the story of Wali and their religious preaching. This kind of film has been displayed on a private television.

3.3. Health tourism
A specific health tourism here is the model of alternative cure by Kyai or Nyai, a man or woman Islam leader. They have their own method of curing sick people. Gus Alif uses egg and praying for the media of curing sickness. A certain Nyai uses picture and pray, where as a certain Kyai of Sawojajar uses a photograph and praying as the media. This kind of cure will give the illustration that God gives miracles to certain people He wants by giving supranatural power that nobody has. The method of cure is also totally different from western ways. Tourists will learn a lot on the miracles of God that are given to selected human beings.

3.4. Islamic gourmet tourism
The characteristics of Islamic gourmet are halal and thoyyib, halal means the food does not contain pork, dog, frog and other animals that are forbidden to eat. While thoyyib means the way how to get the food is in a good and permitted way. When the two requirements are fulfilled people are not doubtful in eating that food. Principally there are many kinds of food that have the requirements, however for Islamic gourmet there should be specific things that accompany them. Usually there is the origin or the story of the food. Kolak, ketan and apem which used to be pronounced Qola, qotoan , afam are specific food that are served when people gather to study Islam. This kind of teaching was given by one of the Wali Songo at that time. Another food that has a story is kupat and lepet which have the story of being apologized each other when people in the neighborhood give those food each other.
Food and the story are interesting thing to be described to tourists. The story that accompany food contains education that is teaching techniques applied by Wali in introducing Islam to people in Indonesia who at that time are mostly Hindus.The food that was served in religious teaching by Wali many years ago is still served in a certain occasion until now. In many villages in East Java Jumat legi the ceremony of sending prayers to relatives who have passed away still becomes a strong tradition. However in the town such a ceremony is rarely found. Nowadays where the era is getting modern and people prefer practical things in doing almost everything, maintaining tradition that could strenghthen friendship among human beings should be maintained. The important thing that should be done is registering food that can be categorized as Islamic gourmet or food and trying to introduce and display in specific restaurant or food festival to attract tourists.

3.5. Islamic music for religious preaching/da’wah
Indonesia is very rich in music which has many kinds of colour, ranging from tradition, custom, tribes, other countries’ influence, modernism to religion. Islamic music is in combination among all colours in which the content is asking people to do good things to human beings and to God in the world. Hadad Alwi’s music to some extent has the colour of all and is packed traditionally. But others are packed in modern way with a collaboration with Australian musician and rocker band ‘Slank’. Both of them sound very nice and it can satisfy listeners who consist of young and old. This means that Hadad Alwi could read the taste of the audience. Kyai Kanjeng of Cak Nun is another example of Islamic music which contains deep philosophy of Islam which is served in traditional and modern way. Cak Nun tries to recycle the Islamic Javanese song ‘Ilir- ilir so that young people could enjoy and contemplate the content of the song. Nasyid group which is now growing rapidly among young people in East Java is another colour of Islamic music that also has great potent in spreading da’wah. Nasyid has focused more on the beauty of the voice of the singers and the musical instruments are not quite dominant. So when nasyid group are on the show audience could listen the lyrics of Islamic teaching clearly from the singers.
The turning point of tourism which is now developed into many branches of tourism including tailor made tourism, sooner or latter would drive the supply and demand on tourism. Meanwhille the growth of westerners in studying Islam will also increase. Another form of tourism is labelled as ‘wisata ruhani’ or mental tourism hoped to sharpen inner conscience awaken to do the good things to human beings and God. Islamic music is one of the solutions and it will be of a help for making people feel relieved and peaceful.

3.6. Islamic traditional ceremonies
Idhul Fitri and Idhul Adha are two big Islamic Days which are celebrated by all moslems in Indonesia. Idhul Fitri is a day where parents, children, relatives, neighbours and friends who live nearby or from far away distance meet and apologize each other. On this big day very important person such as mayor, regent or governor has opened his house where people could go to that party. Specifically in East Java one week after Idhul Fitri there is Idhul Fitri Kupat where people on that day cook special food called ‘kupat’ with the accompaniment and they take them to relatives and neighbours. Kupat symbolizes that among human beings on that day there have no more envy, jealosy , prejudice and other bad things. Actually people have done it on Idhul Fitri. However, Idhul Fitri Kupat functions as a strength of apologizing each other.
There is an interesting story on one of the Islamic traditional ceremonies held in a certain city in USA. An Indonesian child living in USA asked his mother why haloween party is very great, children are amused by atrractions and why Idhul Adha is not. Based on that question the next Idhul Adha Indonesian mothers there held Idhul Adha in which children can take part. After sholat there is a program for children where they have to attend pengajian and other specific programs such as games and show all in the atmosphere of Idhul Adha and children get presents such as holy Qur’an,sajadah, sarung, or kopiah. Mothers club there have the opinion that in the Islamic Day they want to show to other people there that they want to make children happy without leaving the Islamic teaching. Here it can be seen that actually creativity in which many things are involved including syari’ah that is the rules what should do and donot in packaging program plays an important role (Jawa Pos, 2002)

4. Some factors that should be taken into consideration in developing slamic Tourism

4.1. The consideration of Islamic syariah
Islamic tourism is considered to be debatable whenever this is for the consumption for non moslems. The question is when moslem wants to communicate and counter that Islam is not terrorism, Islam is not identical with bombing non moslems, and other bad things there should be some ways as a proof. One of the ways is through tourism. Since it maybe debatable there should be ijtihad that is a deep study based on Alqur’an and hadits, what things are permitted and what things are not in Islamic tourism. When this could be done, not only the understanding that leads to comprehension that tourists will get on Islam but also building friendship and peace among people in the world. And who knows that little by little tourists will be interested in Islam and from that they can inform their friends that Islam is not as bad as what they think. People could be possibly bad but not the Islamic teaching.

4.2. The support of government and society
Tourism is as what experts and many market doers say will be healthy as long as safety and comfort of the country have no problems . Once these two factors are not in good condition actually not only tourism which is disturbed but also another economic factors. The condition of tourism now is still not getting better. Many efforts have been done such as Indonesian police have caught the bomb doers and the government has made the collaboration with famous Indonesian entertainers aiming at building international trust and to attract tourists come to Indonesia, but still has no good result. It will take time and it needs continuous effort to bring the image as what it used to be.
The government and society duty now is even harder, for certain society dislike Moslems in which if it is not observed and carefully managed, it will lead to SARA (a form of dislike towards tribe, religion, ethnic groups can grow among Indonesian tribes). And when this happens, it will become the seed of disintegration. Government and society, any society whether it is in group or individually, formally or informally has to be the agent of promotion of friendship and peace in the country and abroad. A program which constitutes student-teacher exchange among provinces in Indonesia is one of the alternatives, tourism education program in kindergarten is another one, or other programs in the country and abroad that promote friendship and peace should be highly appreciated. Those programs will help to recover Indonesia economically, politically and socially.

4.3. The importance of cooperation in tourism distribution points
Along with the program of peace and friendship the aspect of cooperation among distributions has to be maintained. Distribution points means places where tourists come in a certain tourist destination and they intend to continue their journey at the same destination. East Java is in the middle of the first tourist destination and the second tourist destination, Bali and Yogyakarta. However the tourists visiting even in normal condition is still not satisfying in the sense that East Java is the way to Bali and Yogyakarta. Tourists still view East Java as a transit. Therefore, minimizing the transit cooperation among travel agents in Bali and Yogyakarta with the travel agents in East Java has to be supported and facilitated. With the development of the Islamic tourism in which East Java has a great potent, and the support to the cooperation on distribution points, it is hoped that East Java has competitive product on tourism.

5. Concluding remark
The hatred and prejudice to Islam that are now developed should be counter attacked. One of the ways is through tourism and since East Java has a great potent on Islamic tourism, this kind of tourism when it is well prepared and managed will be a competitive product of tourism in East Java. This big job needs the support of government and society in which they have to share their willingness to promote peace and friendship among human beings in the country and abroad. They also have to promote that Indonesia is safe and comfort to visit.

Bibliography

Jawa Pos. Idhul Adha di Amerika Serikat 1 Februari 2002
Kun Aniroh, 2002. Studi Komprehensip Paket Wisata Jawa Timur, a paper presented in the training of Kemampuan Teknis Perencanaan Pembuatan Paket Wisata. Surabaya, 3-4 October 2002
Kun Aniroh, 2002. Usaha Jasa Impresariat: Belajar dari Singapura, a paper presented in Sosialisasi Usaha Jasa Mice dan Impresariat. Malang 27–28 May 2002
Semone, Peter, 2001. Thoughts and Notes on Tourism, a paper presented in the Seminar of The Association of Indonesian Tourism Higher Education, Surabaya, 4 October 2001

Learning English through Children's Literature

2009-09-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

By : Mohammad Ali Said

Abstract

This article is about the Teaching English for Young Learners and how teachers use children's literature in their teaching of English. As we know, now more and more teachers of English for young learners are using carefully selected stories from the world of children's literature because they have become more familiar with an acquisition-based methodology. Here, the writer emphasizes four important points to be considered in teaching English for young learners, i.e., the role of stories and storytelling in language teaching, selecting storybooks, pupil responses, and personal and professional development of the teachers.
The educational value of using stories and the technique of storytelling has always been undisputed throughout the world. Nowadays, many teachers use carefully selected stories to teach English for young learners. Here, the writer would like to propose four important points to be considered in teaching English for young learners, i.e., the role of stories and storytelling in language teaching, selecting storybooks, pupil responses, and personal and professional development of the teachers.

The role of stories and storytelling in language teaching

Once upon a time and not so very long ago in the capital city of France, a teaching centre for little children and not so little children was opened. One little child and then two and then three and then many, many more came along. And so our story unfolds ….. There was a little red hen, a meerkat in trouble, a brown bear, a black elephant and a white elephant, a very hungry caterpillar, Spot the dog, a clever tortoise, a big, roaring, yellow, whiskery lion, a kangaroo from Woolloomooloo and many more.

These are just some of the colourful characters from children's literature who have helped children aged 10 - 15 attending English classes at an international school in Indonesia. These weekly courses take place each afternoon for two hours.
Now more and more English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers of young learners are using carefully selected stories from the world of children's literature because they have become more familiar with an acquisition-based methodology and because stories comply to the major objectives in most countries for foreign language teaching to young learners: linguistic, psychological, cognitive, social and cultural. EFL teachers use stories to supplement their core materials or to create self-contained units of work that constitute mini-syllabuses. In this way, a story provides the starting point and rich context for developing a wide variety of related language and learning activities involving children personally, creatively and actively in an all round whole curriculum approach (see Ellis and Brewster 1991 and 2002).

Selecting storybooks

Storybooks are carefully selected from the world of authentic children's literature mainly from the lists of British publishers. We look for stories that have gained an international reputation and contain rich and authentic examples of English, as well as literary devises commonly found in children's literature such as repetition and cumulative content, rhyme, onomatopoeia, humor and suspense, etc; and which allow us to implement a story-based methodology structured around the familiar three stages of pre, while and post storytelling. We look for stories with high quality and varied illustrative styles and illustrations which synchronize with the text to support children's understanding and to develop their visual literacy. We look for stories that take place in settings other than western and urban and address issues such as citizenship and multicultural education in order to develop intercultural awareness; stories that develop social skills and emotional development and stories that allow links to be made with other subjects in the curriculum in order to build on children's general knowledge, reinforce concepts and help them learn how to learn. Finally, we look for stories that offer a concrete outcome in the form of dramatization, related songs and rhymes, book-making, making a game, a quiz/competition, poster-design, project work, etc.

Pupil responses

The educational gains from using authentic children's literature are very rich indeed as reflected by pupils' personal response to the stories. Younger children (5 - 7 year-olds) respond in pictorial form and older pupils complete a more detailed written evaluation focusing on genre, characters, setting, illustrations, what they liked about the story and what they learnt from the story. Here are some examples in response to the question, What did I learn from the story?

The Pied Piper: We must keep our promises and not be greedy.
Tusk Tusk (a story about how elephants became grey and tolerance) I learnt about tolerance and racism. I learnt to know how to respect others because we can't all be the same. You have to love each other.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar: I learned the life cycle of the butterfly
Meerkat in Trouble: We mustn't disobey. You have to be obedient to your parents.
The Little Red Hen: You must help people.

Personal and professional development of the teachers

Implementing a story-based approach requires a great deal of energy, creativity and excellent classroom management skills and flexibility from teachers. In addition, on the final afternoon of the course children present their work to parents, which provides an ideal way of strengthening our parent/teacher relationships. This can, however, put teachers under a certain amount of strain as the performance of their pupils is often equated with their performance as teachers. As one teacher said it keeps you on your toes! In other words, it maintains high quality language teaching. Teacher's critical appraisal, resourcefulness and confidence develop greatly:

I am now able to appraise a prospective storybook for use in class very quickly and decide if it's suitable and for what age group it could be used with.
I am able to see the potential of a particular book and can create the support material necessary and that has links to other curriculum areas.
Using storybooks has been an enjoyable experience and has given me another approach to teaching English to children that is authentic and interactive where both teacher and students learn something new!
I have developed my storytelling techniques and ways of making authentic language accessible to foreign language students and techniques for creating worksheet and activities for exploiting the language in the story.
The choice of the storybook is very important; if a teacher is enthusiastic, often this is contagious.

Initially some teachers find it difficult to imagine how they can use a storybook for up to 6 - 10 hours. However, once they have used children's literature they often find it difficult to return to the more conventional specifically written EFL materials which tend to remain at the mundane and utilitarian level of basic dialogues and daily activities. Storybooks address universal themes and allow children to play with ideas and feelings and think about important issues.

Bibliography

Ellis, G., Brewster, J. 1991. The Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers. New York: Penguin Longm
Ellis, G., Brewster, J. 2002. (forthcoming) Tell it Again! The New Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers. New York: Penguin Longman
Read and Respond series, Scholastic: www.scholastic.co.uk
Literature Units from Teacher Created Materials: www.teachercreated.com
Downloadable guidelines and worksheets from Penguin Readers: www.penguinreaders.com
Downloadable lesson notes and activities from Puffin Books: www.puffin.co.uk
Reviews and ideas for teachers and parents: www.realbooks.co.uk

Pesantren Mahasiswa: A Slight Ray in Long Tunnel of Our Hope upon ELT Success in Indonesia

2009-09-07T07:14:00.001-07:00

By Moh. Ali Said

Abstract

Pesantren mahasiswa as a supporting factor to succeed ELT in Indonesia. Instead of its traditionalistic fashion, as known so far, pesantren actually has a very good potent to succeed ELT in Indonesia. This potent comes into the surface because recently pesantren presents, in some extents, a dynamic movement. The dynamism of pesantren, especially, is clearly seen from the phenomenon of pesantren mahasiswa in which English Environment Program is constructed. Due to the fact that the program is similar to the Direct Method situation, an exploration upon this method comes in the first section. In the later stage, there is a proposal to share.

Introduction

Pesantren, which is sometimes called by some experts as the indigenous educational institution and educational system in Indonesia, recently has tried to introspect itself towards the matching of what society need. Instead of being static as impressed so far, pesantren shows its dynamic movement in some extents. In terms of its curriculum, for example, a lot of pesantrens have included some ‘secular’ courses or lessons such as Bahasa Indonesia, Mathematics, and English. Even more, to accommodate the needs of the society, nowadays we find a phenomenon of pesantren mahasiswa
The following is a brief explanation on the phenomenon of pesantren mahasiswa. Pesantren mahasiswa is a pesantren that focuses itself to facilitate university students who wants to learn religion—in this context is Islam. Because of this specialty, as the consequence, the management, the syllabus, as well as the teaching method is quite different and even extremely different in some extends from other common pesantrens. To say some, we can find that in pesantren mahasiswa instead of allowing recruiting new santries at any time and without entrance test, Pesantren Mahasiswa recruits new santries at specific time in line with its academic year and conducts an entrance test.
In addition, and this might be counted as the most typical and perhaps also the greatest controversy in pesantren phenomenon, Pesantren Mahasiswa has commitment to create second-language-context environment, especially English. The program is called English Environment Program. Even though the success of this program has not been able to be seen yet, this commitment, however, is hoped to arouse just like a slight ray in the long tunnel. Hence, by this paper, the writer wants to share an idea on how to succeed this program. The writer believes that once this program can successfully be materialized in a certain strategy; thence, the same steps and procedures can also be applied in Asrama Mahasiswa that is available in almost every campus in Indonesia.
Since the atmosphere is similar to that required in the Direct Method, the phenomenon of pesantren mahasiswa will be viewed through this method. After some explorations on the Direct Method principles, presentation will be continued to the description of activities in Pesantren Mahasiswa. As a note, it is important to inform the description is based on observation in Pesantren Mahasiswa Al Hikam Malang, Pesantren Aji Mahasiswa Al Muhsin, Krapyak, Yogyakarta, and Pesantren Mahasiswa Hajjah Nuriah Shobron, UMS, Surakarta.

The Direct Method

Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be connected directly with the target language, without going through the process of translating into the student’s native language.
This basic rule is then elaborated into principles, which stretches from stating the goal until evaluating the process. In terms of goal, Direct Method is chosen to make the students learn how to communicate in the target language as the goal. In order to do this successfully, students should learn to think in the target language. The role of the teacher, consequently, is constructing the atmosphere in such a way that she/he becomes more like partners in the teaching/learning process.
In the teaching learning process, in addition, teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In order to do this when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of realia, pictures, or pantomime; he never translates it into the students’ native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations (for example, one unit would consist of language that people would use at a bank, another of the language that they use when going shopping) or topics (such as geography, money, or weather). Grammar is taught inductively, that is the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from the examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences.
The nature of student-teacher interaction, then, goes both ways, from teacher to students and from student to teacher, although the latter is often teacher-directed. Students converse with one another as well.
The next elaboration is on how language and culture are viewed. The Direct Method perceives that language is primarily spoken, not written. Therefore, students study common, everyday speech in the target language. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language.
Hence, vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Although work on all four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) occurs from the start, oral communication is seen as a basis. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students practice orally first. Pronunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of a course. Errors that may happen are corrected through self-correction method whenever possible by employing various techniques.
Due to some reasons of tracing the development as well as the improvement of the students proficiency of using the target language, formal evaluation in the class is not mainly employed; however, the students are asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do so using both oral and written skills. For example, the students might be interviewed orally by the teacher or might be asked to write a paragraph about something they have studied.

Pesantren Mahasiswa

The Santries
Based on an observation in three Pesantren Mahasiswa, namely: Pesantren Mahasiswa Al Hikam, Pesantren Aji Mahasiswa Al Muhsin, Krapyak, Yogyakarta, and Pesantren Mahasiswa Hajjah Nuriyah Shobron, UMS, Surakarta, the input of the santries is the same. They are from universities or colleges around the pesantren. In Pesantren Mahasiswa Al Hikam, for example, the santries are from universities or colleges around the pesantren, such as: Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas Negeri Malang, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, Universitas Merdeka Malang, Universitas Islam Malang, STIE MALANGKU@ESWARA, etc. the same phenomenon also happens to Pesantren Aji Mahasiswa Al Muhsin, Krapyak, Yogyakarta.
A different phenomenon happens in Pesantren Mahasiswa Hajjah Nuriah Shobron. In this pesantren, the input of the santries is merely from Universitas Muhammadyah Surakarta due to the fact that this pesantren belongs to UMS.

The Activities of The Santries
Different from the santries from pesantren other than Pesantren Mahasiswa who are restricted to conduct activities inside of the complex of their pesantren, the santries of Pesantren Mahasiswa, due to the status of being university students, have routine activities outside the pesantren in their daily life. Early in the morning, usually at 6.30, for example, almost all santries go to their campus and have class until afternoon. Some santries, though, sometimes need more time in campus to conduct laboratory works. Therefore, they can go back to the pesantren at late afternoon.
Consequently, the pesantren only has a chance to manage the santries’ time after the santries go back to the pesantren from their campus. Based on this reason, Pesantren Mahasiswa give its wisdom to not disturb the time needed by the santries to go to campus and have classes. Pesantren just try to manage efficiently the rest of the time, namely: in the morning after morning (shubuh) prayer before the santries go to campus, and in the evening after sunset (Maghrib) prayer when the santries have been back to the pesantren. In this time, the pesantren Of course, the whole night is given to the santries to take a rest or to review their courses. Practically, most of the effective time of the santries is spent outside the pesantren.
From this constraint, the pesantren construct its teaching-learning activities in such away that it is suitable to be conducted after Maghrib prayer and after Shubuh prayer. Never does the pesantren conduct its teaching and learning activities in the morning, or at noon, or in the late evening.

The Curriculum

The curriculum of Pesantren Mahasiswa, in some extends, is quite different from that in the salaf (the old-fashion or traditional) pesantren. In Pesantren Mahasiswa, as the writer has mentioned above, we can find some courses called ‘secular’ courses, such as Logic, Research Method, and English.
Besides activities that are conducted as classroom activities, the curriculum also includes some extra-curricular activities, such as English conversation club, English day, guest lectures, as well as some training on journalism, enterpreneurship, and organizational skills. These activities are usually conducted on holidays or as spare time activity.

The Strategy: A Proposal

Based on the conditions briefly explained above, the writer can propose a strategy to succeed the English Environment program. The strategy is still taken from the Direct Method with some modification. In terms of its coverage, this strategy covers activities that shall be conducted inside the classroom or classroom activities and outside the classroom. The explanation of the strategy can be presented as follows:

Classroom Activities Strategies
This strategy consists of techniques to bring the atmosphere of the Direct Method in the classroom. Furthermore, it is also constructed to give both enough input of the language to the students in order to be able to speak. Besides, it also gives chances to the teacher to supervise his/her students. Some techniques proposed in the activities are:
Reading Aloud
In this technique, students take turn reading sections of a passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn the teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.
Question and Answer Exercise
This exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice with new words and grammatical structure. They have the opportunity to ask questions as well as answer them.

Getting Students to Self-correct
The teacher has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternate answer he supplied. There are, however, other ways of getting students to self-correct. For example, a teacher might simply repeat what a student has just said, using a questioning voice to signal to the student that something was wrong with it. Another possibility is for the teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student knows that the next word was wrong.

Conversation Practice
The teacher asks students a number of questions in the target language, which the students have to understand to be able to answer correctly. In the class observed, the teacher asked individual students questions about themselves. The questions contained a particular grammar structure. Later, the students were able to ask their other own questions using the same grammatical structure.

Fill-in-the-blank Exercise
In this exercise, all the items are in the target language; furthermore, no explicit grammar rule would be applied. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill in the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.

Dictation
The teacher reads a passage three times. The first time the teacher reads it at a normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by phrase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.

Map Drawing
The class included one example of a technique used to give students listening comprehension practice. The students were given a map with the geographical features unnamed. Then the teacher gave the students directions such as “Where is the place of Rocky Mountain? or “Find the place of Sungai Bengawan Solo!” etc.

Paragraph Writing
The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on what has been discussed. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.

Out-side-classroom Activities Strategy
This strategy is intended to maintain students’ motivation as well as to give more chance to the students to practice the language in real life. Otherwise, there will be neither enough reason nor opportunity for the students to practice their language. The strategies consists of:

Supervisors Availability
Due to the fact that the language, in this context is English, is a second language or sometimes it is also called foreign language, then supervisors availability is a must. 'Supervisors' here means person who can accompany the students in the complex of the pesantren to supervise the students as well as being partners to students. In case the students get difficulties in expressing their ideas, for example, there should be a person who is accessible to ask and to assist them. The supervisors here shall be person with high English proficiency—at least they are in low advanced level of English proficiency.

Vocabulary Supports
Vocabulary supports in this context means the management of the pesantren supports the students to know easily the English words of any thing that are available in their surrounding. A technique of labeling all things in the pesantren such as Biology students when they are naming plants is recommended. This strategy is needed by the students in order to access the words easily instead of consulting dictionary. Through this strategy, the students can just simply see the name of the object that is stuck at the objects themselves.
The vocabulary supports is also able to develop the santries’ vocabulary of words other than noun. The management can just provide a whiteboard in which words other than noun can be written.

Conversation Club Activity
Different from ‘Supervisors Ability’ strategy which is intended to give chances to the santries to consult anything in case the have problem, ‘conversation club’ activity is intended to give opportunities to the santries to share freely their ideas to their friends, teacher, and supervisor. Through this activity, the santries practice themselves how to give speech, how to express ideas, share opinion, and to socialize among them in the atmosphere of English. By this activity, they will not only acquire the language but also moral values, as well as joy and self-confidence.

Regulation Availability
Regulation availability is needed not only because English is a foreign language that the santries are reluctant to communicate in this language but also to give psychological safety to the santries who want to speak English. As we know, in absence of regulation, the santries will feel shy to speak English while they are, let’s say, in Malang, for example. By the presence of the regulation, as a matter of fact, the santries will be confident enough to say either to other santries or to themselves, ”Well, I speak English not because of acting as if I were English but merely because of the regulation. Otherwise, it will punish me!”

Law-enforcement of the Rule/Regulation
This last strategy is the most important, after all. All what has been constructed will be nothing when there is no law-enforcement. All things will be just a waste of the time, energy, and money. There must be strong commitment, therefore, among the santries, the teachers, the supervisor, as well as the management to enforce the regulation that has been regulated. There are two choices: to be or not to be.

Conclusion

Even though it is quite difficult to create English Environment in the country where the language is treated as foreign language, nothing is impossible while we are in this heavenly earth. However, a great warning has been delivered by experts that the Direct Method will not get its success when we cannot decrease the limitations of Direct method itself.
As a matter of fact, if I may recommend, the strategies presented above are the way to decrease the limitations of Direct Method.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Larson-Freeman, Diane. --- . Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. England: Oxford University Press.

Tirmidi. 1996. A Syllabus Proposed to English Courses in Pesantren Mahasiswa Al-Hikam. IKIP Malang : Unpublished.

Brown, Douglas H. 2001. Teaching by Principles : An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. New York : Pearson education.

Pesantren Mahasiswa Al-Hikam. 1999. Profil Pesantren Mahasiswa Al-Hikam Malang. Unpublished Document.