Exam Seasons

Beating Exam Anxieties!

In my university, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Banyuwangi - Indonesia, mid-exam is just around the corner and this time going to happen a bit late compared to the previous year which usually taken place around mid October. Our mid-term test will start in two days time, which is on Monday twenty-fourth of October. Everyone seems to be very calm and cool about it. Well, I am not quiet sure whether they are fully prepare for it or just don't give a damn about it - you know what I meant, some people just think that exam aren't very important at all and just take it very lightly. As for me, I always regard exam very seriously and enjoy being under pressure because of it and I think that I work best when I am under intense pressure. Usually when exams are approaching, I'll try even harder but not overdo it - XD. Here are some of my tips of overcoming exam strain so that it becomes less stressful :-D

• Time management. Take your time doing revision regularly in between your time and don't leave it till too late for you to revise your study all at once just the night or even the morning before the test taken place. It'll be too difficult for your brain to take that much information in one go with limited time. Reading your own notes, books or quizzes are good ways of doing revision before exam. Anyway, everyone is different and you can decide whatever most suitable method for your learning style.
• Good Food. I love having my favorites food available around me whenever I'm studying for my exams. when I'm studying, my brain works even harder for me and because of that it made me hungry very easily. So, having plenty of good food really help me study better because I know, I won't be able to grasp what I'm studying when my tummy grumbles all the time. :-D
• Listening to music. I love listening to classical music while I'm studying. I listen to classical music most of the time whenever I'm doing my uni work in front of my computer and not necessarily when it's approaching exam only. I think, listening to soothing music really help me study better because  it helps enhance my concentration and probably it improves my memory as well. :-P
• Varies what you're doing when you're studying for your test. When you're studying, you shouldn't do it so monotonously because it's going to be very boring and it'll make you feeling frustrated. In my case, sometimes I'll do something that I like in between my studies, for instance after studying so hard for a few hours, I'll just sneak out of the house and swimming in the swimming pool for an hour or so. In another time, I'll just stop studying and do other things like water the plant or just made myself a simple lunch. After that small break, I always feel refresh and feel good about continuing my studies again. 
• Get plenty of rest before your exam and don't stay up too late. Before exam starts, it's good to study hard, however we shouldn't neglect our own body and don't overwork it. Get plenty of rest and feel fresh on your exam day! :-)

Above tips are just what I usually do during my exam time. I guess, everyone will have different habit of overcoming the exam pressure, so it works for me but doesn't mean it'll work for other people. XD Finally, best of luck on our examination. Hope everything goes well and yes, I wish that we won't have any major difficulty in answering the exams questions (I really do anxious with statistic test though as I know, I'm not good at it). Anyway, Best of luck all.

Introductory Paragraph

Extensive Reading for Non-Native Students

For many non-native students, reading extensively in a foreign language is obviously very challenging and it needs special effort as well as determination to do so. Many students believe that extensive reading can help them improve their language proficiency, nevertheless it is extremely difficult to put it in practice because of several problems. Most students encounter the difficulty of understanding English text. In addition, many schools also did not provide different varieties of English literary book. Encouraging students to read extensively in and outside of the classroom setting is undoubtedly one of the teachers main duty. Teachers try to implement different types of approach to reach their goals in making the extensive reading program practicable, for instance by using either web-based stories or paper books stories. In our opinion, there are several ways to make extensive reading for non-native students workable in and out of the classroom. Those ways are as follows, provide students with many different types of reading materials, reading material must be easy and suitable for their level, let students to have the freedom to choose whatever they want to read and interest them.

My Own Translation.

THE SCRIPT OF THE FOLKLORE OF CINDELARAS

(Once upon a time in East Java there was a kingdom which was ruled by a king named Raden Putra. Raden Putra was very wealthy and powerful. His hobby was cock fighting. Raden Putra has a queen and some mistresses. One of the mistresses has the nature of jealousy in her and she wants to seize the queen place. To realize her intention she defamed the queen.

So, how is the rest of the story developing...?? Let’s enjoy the performance of the following drama...)

ACT 1

SCENE 1

(In one of the palaces room, the MISTRESS sit on the luxurious old chair...)

PHYSICIAN          Pardon me, Your highness. Why did Your Highness summon me?

MISTRESS                 PHYSICIAN, I would like to be the KING’s queen. I am bored being

the KING’s mistress. Therefore, I want to get rid of the QUEEN from the palace! I will pretend to be sick which is caused by the QUEEN who deliberately poisoned me because of her jealousy of me. And you PHYSICIAN must help me to carry out my wishes.

Do you understand, PHYSICIAN?

PHYSICIAN              I undesrtand Your Highness.

MISTRESS                Well! Well! If you have already known. Let the KING know

that I am sick right now.

PHYSICIAN              With pleasure, Your Highness. I’ll carry out Your Highness order

immediately.

(Shortly after, the royal PHYSICIAN immediately delivered to the KING that the MISTRESS is sick. While, the MISTRESS pretended moaning in pain)

ACT 2

SCENE 2

(The PHYSICIAN do his task and go to meet the KING in the palace verandah...)

PHYSICIAN               (Running) Pardon me, Your Majesty. There was one of the mistresses

who was sick. And the sickness was the result of the drink which was given by the QUEEN.

KING                         (Surprise) What do you mean? So, my MISTRESS’ sickness was caused by the drink which was given by my QUEEN?!

PHYSICIAN            : It’s true, Your Majesty.

KING                       : What? Is it really true, what must you say, PHYSICIAN? Didn’t you make it

                                    up?

PHYSICIAN            : What I have to say is correct, Your Majesty.

KING                        :(Walk into the room and surprised) Dinda, is it right what the

PHYSICIAN has said? Is it true that the QUEEN has poisoned you?

MISTRESS             :(Moaning with pain). It’s true, Your Majesty. I am ill after I drank the drink which was given by the QUEEN. The royal PHYSICIAN said, the drink that I drank contained poison.

KING                        : (angry) The QUEEN is really too much! How can she tries to kill

you. Guards! Call the QUEEN to come before me right now!

GUARDS                 : Alright, Your Majesty. I will carry out Your Majesty’s order

immediately.

(After sometimes, the GUARDS have already arrived with the QUEEN in the palace verandah to meet the KING)

GUARD                   : Pardon me, Your Majesty. The QUEEN has already presented in

front of Your Majesty.

QUEEN                    : (Innocently) What’s wrong with you, Your Majesty, why did you

summon me?

KING                 : (Angry) You are really too much, Dinda! You purposely put poison in the MISTRESS’ drink because you are jealous of her. Is that right? You want to kill her, right? You are murderer!

QUEEN                     : What? Pardon me, Your Majesty. This, this is slander, Your Majesty.

I have never given drink to Your Majesty’s MISTRESSES.

KING                         : (Angry) I don’t believe with all of your excuses! I don’t ever want to

see you in front of me again!

GUARDS!

GUARD                     : I am, Your Majesty.

KING                          : Bring the QUEEN immediately to the forest and kill her!

QUEEN                       : What? (crying)

                                    Please, forgive me, Your Majesty. I really have never done everything

that have been alleged to me. That’s a slander! That’s a lie!

KING                         : (Angry) GUARDS! Pull the QUEEN out of the palace right away! I don’t ever want to see her again!

GUARD                     : Alright, Your Majesty.

                                    (Pull the QUEEN) Let’s go, QUEEN. Pardon me, Your Highness. I

only carry out the KING’s order.

(In the end, the GUARDS took the QUEEN out of the palace and took her to the forest. But the GUARDS didn’t have the heart to kill the QUEEN who was pregnant)

ACT 3

SCENE 3

(In the forest...)

GUARD                     : Calm down, Your Highnes. I know the MISTRESS’ foul intention

and I won’t kill the QUEEN. I only bring the QUEEN to this forest. I’ll

report to the KING that I had killed the QUEEN. And I’ll smear my

sword with the rabbit’s blood so that the KING believe that Your

Highness have already dead.

QUEEN                    : Thank you, GUARD. You are very kind.

                                   I really won’t forget your kindness.

GUARD                    : I naturally should do this, Your Highness. I don’t want the

QUEEN who has kind hearted to be slandered by the KING’s mistress.

So, I have finished smearing my sword with the rabbit’s blood. Now,

I will return to the palace. (holding the sword)

QUEEN                    : Alright, GUARD. Thank you, for your help.

(When he got to the palace, the GUARD face the KING straight away)

ACT 4

SCENE 4

(In the palace...)

GUARD                    : Pardon me, Your Majesty. I have done your order, Your Majesty.

KING                         : Where is the proof, GUARD?

GUARD                    : (showing his sword to the KING) Here it is, KING. My sword has

already covered with the QUEEN’s blood.

KING                        : Well! Well! You have done my order correctly.

(After hearing the bodyguard reports, the KING and the MISTRESS felt satisfied and happy because they thought that the QUEEN had already passed away.

A few months later the QUEEN gave birth to a healthy and handsome baby boy. His name was CINDELARAS. CINDELARAS has grew to be a strong and clever child. He likes to play in the forest. One day, he found a chicken egg)

ACT 5

SCENE 5

(In an old hut in the forest...)

CINDELARAS         : (Holding the chicken egg) Mother....! Look! I found a chicken egg.

QUEEN                    : Oh, that’s right my child. Take care of the chicken egg until it hatches. Later, it will be helpful for you.

CINDELARAS         : Yes, Mother. I will take care of it such as mother’s advice.

(After a few days, CINDELARAS’ egg hatches and became a male chick. The chicken grows bigger and bigger. Just like his father, CINDELARAS is like cock fighting.

He went to one village to another to do cock fighting. His cock was very strong and always win to againts other cocks. CINDELARAS became famous. Everyone heards the story about a young boy and his cock)

ACT 6

SCENE 6

(In the palace verandah...)

GUARD                   : (Running) Pardon me, Your Majesty. I heard from the residents that

there is a child who has a very remarkable cock. That child’s cock is always win whenever fight againts the cocks’ of other resident.

KING                        : (Underestimate) Heemm. What did you say? Is the owner still a

child? Which village does the child come from?

GUARD                    : Pardon me, Your Majesty. According to the news that I heard, that

child lives in the forest.

KING                       : Heemm. I am so curious. GUARD! Bring that child to the palace to

meet me right now!

GUARD                    : Alright, Your Majesty. I will carry out your order right away, Your

Majesty.

(After sometimes, the GUARD has already successfully brought CINDELARAS toward the KING)

KING                          :(Heemm. Hi Child! Where is your cock? They said that your cock is

very famous and the greatest cock and also unbeatable by anybody’s cock. Come on, now fight my cock!

CINDELARAS          : Pardon me, Your Majesty. I want to comply with Your

Majesty’s challenge. But, I have a requirement.

KING                        : What is your requirement?

CINDELARAS        : The requirement is if I win the competition, the KING must

give half of your kingdom for me.

KING                        : (mumbled)

(This young child is very smart in giving a requirement. My cocks are

selected cock and treated very well. It is impossible that this child’s cock will win)

Alright young man. I agree with your requirement!

And how if your cock is the one who is loss?

CINDELARAS         : If my cock get loss, I am ready to be beheaded.

KING                         : Alright young man, we will start the fight.

CINDELARAS          : Alright, Your Majesty.

(Then, the very fierce fight between the KING’s cock and CINDELARAS’ cock began. The KING had tried to choose his best cock to CINDELARAS’ cock, however...)

KING                          : (mumbled)

(Wuaaahhh! That child’s cock is very great, it beats my

cock very easily and until battered. What the resident said was right.

That child’s cock is really unbeatable!)

(Everyone was shocked looking at the race. They were even more shocked when CINDELARAS’ cock crowed and said...)

CHICKEN                 : Cock-a-doodle-doo...! I am CINDELARAS’ cock, who lives in the

forest, but he is Raden Putra’s child!

(The cock crowed loudly many times. Everyone who watched the cock fight were very surprised.

Even the KING was very surprised. Then, the KING called CINDELARAS)

ACT 7

SCENE 7

(In the palace verandah...)

KING                        : Hi child! Come closer here!

CINDELARAS         : Alright, Your Majesty.

KING                         : What is your name? And where is your home?

CINDELARAS         : My name is CINDELARAS, Your Majesty. I live with my mother in

the forest.

KING                        : What is your mother’s name?

CINDELARAS         : My mother is the QUEEN in this kingdom, Your Majesty.

KING                        : (surprised)What did you say?

                                   Is what you said correct?

CINDELARAS         : It’s correct, Your Majesty.

(CINDELARAS mentioned his mother’s name and the KING be taken by surprised)

KING                        : (mumbled) Is it right that he is my child?

                                     He said that this child lives in the forest, however I paid attention from

a moment he arrived in the palace and he behaved like a nobleman’s child.

GUARD                    : Pardon me, Your Majesty. In the past when Your Majesty ordered me

to kill the pregant QUEEN, I can’t stand to kill the QUEEN because I know that the QUEEN only got slandered by the MISTRESS who wants to be the QUEEN.

KING                      : What? GUARD! Is that true?

GUARD                  : Correct, Your Majesty.

(Hearing all of those, Raden Putra was very angry)

KING                         : GUARD! Show me right now where does the QUEEN lives?

GUARD                    : Alright, Your Majesty. I will carry out Your Majesty’s order

immediately.

KING                       : Come on CINDELARAS, you also follow me and show us where do you live.

(And after sometimes, the KING, GUARD and CINDELARAS arrived in the forest. When they arrived in front of the QUEEN’s hut, the QUEEN was sweeping the yard, the KING recognized her right away and called her)

ACT 8

SCENE 8

(In an old hut in the forest...)

KING                        : Dinda, please forgive me, Dinda!

QUEEN                     : (suprised) Haah?? Kanda?! How did you know I was here?

KING                        : I came here with your son and the GUARD.

                                    Dinda, please forgive me, Dinda. I have heard about the truth from the

GUARD. I felt sorry for being mad so hastily and never listened to

your explanation.

Dinda, let’s go back to the palace. Together with our son,

CINDELARAS.

(The QUEEN was speechless and can only be silent on what happened. And the GUARD nor CINDELARAS felt move on the KING and QUEEN meeting)

QUEEN                     : Alright, Kanda. Dinda had already forgiven Kanda for a long time

ago. Let’s start a new life again.

KING                         : Thank you, Dinda. You are a very kind-hearted woman. I felt sorry

for neglecting you.

(Finally, the KING and the QUEEN together with their son, CINDELARAS along with the the GUARD went back to the palace. The KING reaffirmed the QUEEN’s place and punished the wicked MISTRESS. From then on, RADEN PUTRA, the QUEEN and CINDELARAS live happily ever again in the palace. After the KING passed away, CINDELARAS replace him to be the king. He ruled fairly and wisely)

The Indonesian version text retrieved from http://aliyakeisha.blogspot.co.id/2014/01/naskah-drama-cindelaras.html

Introductory Paragraph

Fostering Student's Motivation in Foreign Language Reading

For many students, reading is a very daunting task specifically when it is done for the specific purpose of foreign language reading. They believe that reading in a foreign language is a very challenging task and this was happening because of several reasons, including their inadequate knowledge of that certain language, their attitude toward reading itself and their styles as well as strategies in doing the reading assignment. However, those difficulties are not something that cannot be handled and will remain there permanently. As a matter of fact, it is something that definitely could be overcome by the students themselves with the help of their teacher. Teacher must be able to motivate and encourage their students to love and enjoy reading in a foreign language reading. In our opinion, there are a number of ways the teacher may use to boost their students interest in foreign language reading. Those ways are as follows; try to make the foreign language reading task as enjoyable and fun as possible, try to create in students' mind the believe that foreign language reading is an integral part of their study success, and make the foreign language reading class as effective as possible.

Summary Task

Mori Setsuko (2002). Redefining Motivation to Read in Foreign Language

Reading in a Foreign Language, Volume 14, No. 2, October 2002, 1539-0578

Setsuko Mori, in his article “Redefining Motivation to Read in Foreign Language”, explains that the most important factor in the success of the reading program is reading motivation itself. Foreign language reading motivation is the issue addressed in “Redefining Motivation to Read in Foreign Language” by Setsuko Mori. The author adopts the original questionnaires from the theory of reading motivation in L1 by Wigfield and Guthrie's (1995, 1997) to obtain the data for his study, however most of the questionnaires in Setsuko Mori's study is slightly different from the one used by Wigfield and Guthrie as a result of the differences in the objects of the study and the setting. The participants in this study were university students learning to read in a foreign language. The findings of the statistical analysis suggest that there are four sub-components in motivation to read in English, specifically (1) Intrinsic Value of Reading in English, refers to how much the joy and fun delivers when reading the specific task given (2) Attainment Value of Reading in English, it refers on how individual perceive the importance of success in a given assignment (3) Extrinsic Utility Value of Reading in English, it refers to the effectiveness of the task given and (4) Expectancy for Success in Reading in English, it refers to the individual's strong believe of their skill to do something. The author conclusion is that foreign language reading is literally very similar to those of general mode of motivation and that there are correlation between reading motivation and reading behaviour. Therefore, the author suggested that we should not easily label students as being either interested or uninterested in reading.

Summary Assignment

Ridgway Tony (2003). Literacy and Foreign Language Reading.

Reading in a Foreign Language, Volume 15, No. 2, October 2003, 1539-0578

The article of “Literacy and Foreign Language Reading” by Tony Ridgway stated that the objective of the article is to give a guidance to the teacher of foreign language reading a technique of coping with familiar occurrences in the reading class, such as the use of improper strategy in dealing with a text by many students even those with high level of language proficiency. The thesis of the essays is that the progress of the literacy in a certain community will be prevented by some assumptions on literacy which favour more on cognitive elements better than socio-cultural consideration. Styles and attitude in reading is the issue addressed in “Literacy and Foreign Language Reading” by Tony Ridgway with the subheading of literacy or literacies. The author delve into the recent progress of mass literacy globally, the dissimilar concepts of literacy which occur within and between cultures, and he also argues that those two things will influence on how people approach a text. In this paper the author concluded that literacy consists of several skill set including (1) skills, the ability to do something well; (2) strategies, a plan designed to achieve something; (3) styles, a distinctive way of doing something; and (4) attitudes, a certain way of thinking or behaviour toward literacy. Furthermore, the writer also explains that there are other aspects which may affect people's literacy level such as their cognitive elements as well as their cultural diversity. Thus, he further elaborates that cultural environment and family upbringing will have a certain impact on someone level of literacy and these may influence on how people read a text completely.