Hello fellas! I know its been a while since we posted something here and we sincerely apologize for it. This is our newest project, our own school prospectus! We put a lot of effort into it so i hope y'all will appreciate it.

 We had to research about our own school in the website and then make it into a brochure shaped prospectus. I had some help too from others. Overall it was a fun activity. -Bastian

There are two prospectuses each made by a different group. This time the groups are different than the usual ones. The one below is the prospectus Bastian and I, along with 2 members from the other group, Vianca and Robin, created. Everyone had their own jobs and we also helped each other in contributing to the making of the prospectus, such as writing the contents, editing, etc. -Tamara

School Break

On December 12, 2015, we had started our annual semester break; it ended on January 5, 2016. We had a 3-week break. This time, I spent most of the time staying at home.

At home, I did not have many things to do, and it was just the usual things I do daily. Besides that I also read books, watched TV shows or videos, played games, and etc. to keep myself from boredom.

I did not go outside my house often during the break. I went outside occasionally to go cycling for a while, have dinner in a restaurant with my family, go to the movies, and go to my mother’s office to help out some stuff. Some of the movies I watched during the break were “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, and “Ip Man 3”. I also went to my friend’s house to hangout. The only time I went outside Jakarta was when I visited my grandmother in Bogor, and I did not stay there.

I spent my New Year and New Year’s Eve at home with my neighbors and my childhood friends. They went to my house to hangout, and we spent it by playing board games such as Monopoly and just talked until around 2 am in the living room. Aside from us the others were asleep, and we might have disturbed them since we were so loud.

Although my holiday was not that exciting, I still enjoyed it. I hoped the break was longer but, as a ninth grader, we have to go to school and study for the soon-to-be-faced exams.

By: Tamara

Hell-O-Spook

                On October 30, 2015, we celebrated our very first Halloween in school. It was called “Hell-O-Spook”. On that day we had several activities.

                Several days before the event, each section decorated its classroom for the best decorated classroom competition. Each class decided on its own unique theme. On the day of the event, everyone arrived in school in his/her Halloween costume. It was spectacular because all dressed up according to their class’ theme. In the morning of the event, there were evaluators who went to each class to judge the best decorated class. While the evaluation was going on, the grade 9 students were kept busy by the preparation of their food and drinks kiosks, their business studies project. However, the other grades studied as usual. It was successful because the lower grades and the teachers supported the grade 9 students by buying their products.

                After our religious service, all of us gathered in the lobby, after that we went to the lecture room, where the Halloween party was held. At the party, there were games, awarding ceremony, and talent show. Each class had its own representatives for the talent show. For the talent show they had to show their talents, such as singing or playing musical instruments. Awards had been given to the section which had the best decorated classroom, to the student who had the best costume, who showed the best talent, and etc.

By: Tamara

The Upcoming Midterms

On Tuesday, September 22, 2015 until Friday, October 2, 2015 (except for weekends), we, the grade 9 students, will have to recall all those lessons we learned in classes for all the subjects we have. We will have our first midterm exams for the school year 2015-2016.

For the first week, our dismissal time will be as usual, 2.45 PM, and as for the second week we will be dismissed early at 12.30 PM so we will have more time to study for the exam on the next day, although we will continue our lessons as usual on the last day of the exams. The exams on the first week will be the not-so-complicated subjects such as PE, art, ICT, and music. Class 9A will start the exams earlier than 9B, they will have their PE test on Tuesday, September 22, 2015, and 9B will start their exams one day later. Although on the first week, there will be a one day break on Thursday, September 24, 2015, since there will be Eid al-Adha (or Idul Adha in Indonesian).

After the midterm exam ends, we will have to attend school on Saturday, October 3, 2015, because there will be an open house, and we will use Monday schedule and we will be dismissed as usual. In exchange for our hard work to study for the exams, we will then have our midterm break on October 5, 2015 – October 12, 2015 and we will resume our class on Tuesday, October 13, 2015.

By: Tamara

Thrills and Chills

This is our 2nd blog for the semester. So far our activities in EFL class have been so-so and there was no thrills. We occasionally talked with each other in between classworks and that's where we found thrills. Sometimes our teacher Mr.MB would also join the chat and chat with us. He said that if we speak in Bahasa Indonesia in his class, the said person would have to bring martabak to class and that was thrilling. Another thrill is that Mr.MB asks each student to write, define and use a word in a sentence, called Word For The Day. We usually crack jokes around with the words. We also have fun when we discuss our classwork where we would either laugh at funny answers or joke around with the answers. Sometimes instead of discussing answers we just talk about irrelevant topics which usually irks Mr.MB. Recently we just had a quiz and we had the chance to talk about each of our answers.

Sometimes Mr.MB would pair us up and we would end up chatting instead of finishing the work itself, which you can say is a habit of us. Everytime we talk, it's always fun. But (there's always a but), sometimes when we talked too loud or we did not complete our task, Mr.MB would redirect us and  that's when we know he's being serious. There isn't really a lot of thrills in the activities itself actually. Well I guess that's because none of us that's what we get in EFL. Nevertheless, I'm grateful that I'm in EFL.

I hope we will have more activities that would make the class more fun/thrilling. Perhaps one way is to discuss or read the new novel that we got because we are excited to read it since we have gotten it. That is all for this, thank you for reading and see you next time!

By: Bastian

Our Activities So Far..

            During the first day, our teacher told us to write an essay about last school year which included our comments, likes and dislikes, and our expectations. So far our activities have been simple. Small things such as making essay about last school year, our expectations, doing worksheet about grammar, discussing in groups of  two or three about what we thought of the word “island”.

            Supposed, we worked in pairs, but since one of our friends left, we became 7, and we were uneven. Bastian worked with Robin; Vianca worked with Tamara; and the rest, who were Elvira, Grace and Thea, worked together. We made a mind map about what we thought about the word “island” and then, we presented it in front of the class.

            Next, EFL Grade 9 was given a lecture about our first topic which was skimming and scanning. In our first topic, Mr. MB taught us the definitions, examples, criteria, how to use it, the functions of skimming and scanning. Then, he gave us a simple oral example, where we should answer the questions from a link that he presented using his laptop. In the next meeting, he gave us a small piece of paper for a pop quiz about skimming and scanning. For those who really understood the topic, they could answer them easily.

            Throughout the works we had finished, we learned something useful. Like in our first topic which is skimming and scanning, we learned that whenever we are given short passages or article, as especially when we are in college, we should try to use those methods. Even though we had limited time, we would still be able to understand the main idea of the text.

            So far, the first three weeks have been great. We enjoy every single meeting. We expect interesting new lessons and an assuring teacher, so that we will enjoy being in the EFL class forever without any burdens.

 

By: Tamara, Thea, Bastian