Saturday, May 31, 2008

Learning Physics without Using Formula Seminar

Yohanes Surya

Yesterday I attended a seminar by Prof. Yohanes Surya, the topic was Learning Physics without Using Formula. It was an eye-opening to see how simple and fun physics could be.

When I was studying physics in junior high school, it was all about formula, inputting the correct number into the formula and hopefully getting the right result. I used to just memorise what went where without understanding the concept and principle behind the formula. I think a lot of teachers in Indonesia still teach their students this way, giving the formula and doing calculations. No wonder a lot of students get lost in the jungle of formula and hate physics.

When I went to study in Newman College, Perth, Australia, the teachers used completely different approach. Physics was about understanding the concept, doing experiments and explaining the application of physics in everyday life. It took me quite awhile to adjust to this kind of method, but at the end it was a very rewarding.

Prof. Yohanes Surya has a vision of changing the face of physics in Indonesia, a simpler and friendlier physics where students can learn and understand easily. Together with Gramedia, he has written some physics textbook for junior high school level. He also teaches the teachers how to teach the subject. Let's pray that he will be successful in his quest.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Friday, May 30, 2008

Seminar Your Great $uccess Starts from Now

tiket seminar thomas sugiarto

I attended Thomas Sugiarto's seminar on Wednesday night. At first I thought I'd not attend the seminar because I'd go home very late that night if I did. The seminar started at 7 PM and I was told that it would finish at 9 PM. However, when I was on the way out of the door, coincidentally the speaker, Thomas Sugiarto, just came in with his wife and kid. He told me that if I didn't attend, I'd regretted it because he was going to teach something very important and valuable. I told him that I'd need to give my driver dinner money because I only gave him lunch money. Then suddenly, Thomas Sugiarto pulled out his wallet and he gave me Rp. 20,000 and told me to give the money to the driver. Very surprising and interesting!

The seminar itself was very good because he spoke from experience. Speaking from experience has power to convince others because the speaker's beliefs and passion can be seen, heard and felt by the audience. Although I've heard most of the stories and anecdotes he used in his presentation, I still could learn a lot.

The most interesting part of his presentation is the diagram for internalization process of Believing, Learning and Action. The diagram shows the process from three separate circles illustrating Believing, Learning and Action become one big circle where Believing, Learning and Action integrates. You can see the illustrations and explanations in his book, "Your Great $uccess Starts from Now"  page 209-211.

If you are interested in attending his seminar, it will be held again in Jakarta on June 14, 2008. Please call Astrid on (021) 720 7579 or 0815 46060 888.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Kompas Gramedia Fair Jogja 2008 - Part 1

adi gunawan

Yesterday I went to Jogja to attend Kompas Gramedia Fair. My intention was to attend Adi Gunawan's seminar with the title "Rahasia Membuat Murid Ketagihan Belajar" (The Secret to Make Students Addicted to Learning). The seminar was FREE, sponsored by Kompas Gramedia for teachers from kindergarten to high school. It was an opportunity not to be missed!

The seminar was great. It was empowering, inspiring and entertaining. The content was very practical and could be applied straight away. The speaker, Adi W Gunawan is very professional and clearly an expert in his field. He has written 12 books and most of his books are best sellers in Indonesia. I learned a lot from this seminar.

Since I arrived quite early I decided to take the best seat in the seminar hall. The first row, right in the middle! A lot of people are uncomfortable even afraid to sit in the first row. I am grateful that I was taught to be comfortable sitting in the first row since I was 15 years old. It was my previous mentor, KG Lim and Gan Ah Seng who taught me this. The first row is the best seat because:

  • it is usually reserved for VVIPs, by choosing to sit there, you position yourself to be a VVIP - it shows self-confidence;
  • it is usually the most expensive seat;
  • it is where you can get the best view; and
  • sometimes there are special and wonderful surprises for front row seater

Voucher gramedia

Another great thing that happened to me was that by asking a question I got vouchers from Gramedia. I was so happy and I decided to share what I had received to teachers sitting next to me. I gave out a total of four vouchers because I thought they needed the voucher more than I do because I know how low a teacher's salary can be. I am glad that I can help others to learn. I also remember what's been written in Proverbs 11:24, "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withhold unduly, but comes to poverty"

Yesterday I experienced the law of attraction happening in my life. First, I've wanted to attend Adi W Gunawan's seminar since last month, yesterday I attended his three-hour seminar for free.  Second, I've been attracting money and gifts lately, yesterday I got free vouchers from Gramedia. Amazing!

Lessons:

  1. Always seek an opportunity to learn
  2. Develop a habit to sit in front
  3. Give generously
  4. Believe that the law of attraction does work

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Rules? The rule here is no rule!

motor parking

This motorbike was parked directly underneath NO PARKING sign. The sign clearly illustrates a motorbike crossed by red line and it says "No Parking Here", yet there was a motorbike being parked there.

Sometimes I amazes me how some people have no regard towards rules. Some people just think that they can do whatever they want regardless of the rules or their consequences. I think a lot of people start from breaking a very small rule. When they see how there is no bad consequences from breaking that rule, they start breaking bigger and bigger rules.

I often see complete disregard of rules in many places. For example, last month I saw some people smoking underneath a NO SMOKING sign in Jakarta's food court. Although there were many people who were uncomfortable because of it, they also did not dare to take any action because they did not want to have a confrontation. The security guard and the food seller also didn't do anything because they were afraid to offend the guests.

The other day when I was on the plane from Solo to Jakarta, the flight attendance announced that passengers should only turn on their mobile phones after they've left the plane. Although the announcement was very clear that it was for security reason, there were still so many people who turned on their mobile phones, and some even started making phone calls.

I don't want to start talking on traffic violation because there are just too many.

I believe that rules are important. Without rules, there will be chaos.

The question is "What should we do about this situation?" "What can we do about this situation?" We can start from ourselves. We do the right things and hopefully we can influence people around us to do the right things too.

 

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

My Experience Teaching Year 5 Students - Part 3

Teaching children is very interesting because it's so full of pleasure and pain...an emotional dynamic that is so strong and influential.

Sometimes, I was so frustrated because they seemed to be so out of control and I wanted to give up right away, and then suddenly they did or said something that made me so proud and happy.

There was one very good student who sent me a postcard saying "I Love You". I was so touched.

postcard from dea 

Sometimes, everything seemed to go well, and then suddenly some students did something disruptive and drove me to the verge of anger, hurt and frustration.

I think children are very good at reading and judging a situation and they can actually use it for their advantage to get what they want. How often do we actually fall into this trap without realising it?

When I told my mother about this, she told me that I used to make her feel the same say and I also used to do the same thing to her. Hmm karma...karma.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Monday, May 26, 2008

My Experience Teaching Year 5 Students - Part 2

I was quite curious about these students' motivation when I asked them to do homework, so I decided to try giving them an incentive. The homework that I assigned to them was to copy a passage and write the passage in Chinese. It could be done in around 15-20 minutes. I told them that if they did their homework and gave it to me that week, I'd give them A. If they didn't do their homework that week and gave it to me the following week, I'd give them B. If they gave it to me the week after, I'd give them C and so on. 

Some of the students decided to copy and write the homework in class that day and when they gave the homework to me, they asked whether they'd get A+ because they did it straight away. These students are usually the best ones in class. They are very motivated to achieve and they want to get things done fast.

Some of the students did their homework and gave it to me that week, so they'd get an A. Most of the students in this group are good students who are diligent in doing their work on time. However there are some that did their homework because they were motivated to get an easy A. They are the students that could see an opportunity and take action, because they know it's easier to get an A doing their homework than getting an A in test.

I asked the students who haven't done their homework, "Why don't you do your homework and gave it to me this week to get an A? If you give it to me next week, you'll get a B." They said, "We forgot there was homework, anyway it's OK, we are already satisfied getting a B."

The week after that, there were still a couple students who had not given me their homework. When I asked them, they said, "It's OK, getting a C is enough"

The following week, there were still some students who didn't do their homework and I told them that they'd get a D if they did not give their homework to me the following week. At the end, there were still a few students who never gave me their homework. These students do tend to perform badly in class and some even had attitude problems. I am quite curious how I would motivate these students because they do not want to achieve nor they were afraid of bad consequences. I wonder what they'd be like when they grow up.

There was one student who decided not to come to school on that particular day and he told his parents that he was afraid that I'd be angry because he hadn't done his homework. The parents actually came to school to meet with his teacher and asked the teacher to tell me that he was afraid to come to school. In my opinion, running away from problem will only delay the consequence and yet it will catch up with you sooner or later.

From teaching these students, I understand more about different types of people and how they are motivated by different things. What a valuable insight into human's personality and motivation!

I am grateful for the experience and the lessons that I learned during my time there.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Winning Door Prizes

Tiker seminar

Yesterday I attended an investment seminar by Peni Pramono. It is sponsored by SMP PL Bintang Laut Alumni Association called PABLO as part of publication for SMP PL Bintang Laut 50th Anniversary and reunion.

I bought three tickets for my mother, my friend and myself. Our tickets' numbers were 058, 060, and 061. When they announced the door prize winning numbers, one of the numbers is 090. At first I was disappointed because it was exactly how my ticket number would be if I put it upside down. 060 would be 090 and I would've won the prize so I thought. I kept covering the text "No. Tiket" and showed my number upside down to my mother and friend saying it was so close, see it's 090. While other door prize winners were collecting their prizes, the announcer suddenly said, "Sorry, there has been a mistake. I've read the number upside down. The winner is 060 and not 090." When I heard that, I jumped out of my seat with joy...Wow, I won! Yes! I won two swimming pool vouchers at Agas Hotel. I was so happy not because of the prize but because I won something. I gave my door prize to my friend because she'd be happy to take her children swimming. I gave 058 to my friend and she also won a door prize, two mugs from Bank Danamon.

It was amazing how we won two out of three tickets. I've been winning door prizes quite often lately. In the last seminar that I attended, I won a camera and before that a polo shirt. I think it is the law of attraction at work. The more I believe in winning, the more I win.

Lessons:

1. The law of attraction does work. Ask, believe and have faith that God has a wonderful plan for all of us.

2. Keep believing even when the situation is not as what you had hoped, the situation may turn in an unexpected way and you may still receive what you wish for...sometimes even better than what you had hoped for.

3. When you receive it, be grateful, say thank you and express your appreciation.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Friday, May 23, 2008

My Experience Teaching Year 5 Students - Part 1

IMG_1472

In the last couple of months, I taught Chinese language for Year 5 students in a private school in Solo. It was a very interesting experience.

There are about 150 students divided into five classes, so each class has around 30 students. I remember when I was in primary school, our class was quite big, at least 40 students in one classroom.

At first I thought I could handle the students well, then just after two days I found out that I was not adequately equipped to handle these students. I could see, hear and feel how different these students are from what we used to be when we were still at school. These students were so active, courageous and loud. Frankly, there was no moment of silence nor being still.

I wonder whether this is a similar situation to what other teachers experience in other classes or in other schools. If there are any teachers reading this, would you please write your experience in the comments? I would love to hear how other teachers would handle this situation.

Learn and Grow,

Inge Santoso

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Smile and Laugh to be Happy

old and happy

You can smile and you can laugh regardless of the situation in your life. Smiling and laughing are actions that we can take, we can do anytime anywhere. There is no rule that says that we can only smile and laugh when we feel happy, when we see good things in life, or when we hear good news. Why don't we smile and laugh more often?

Our thoughts and emotions affect our actions, and vice versa our actions affect our thoughts and emotions. Instead of smiling and laughing because we are happy, choose to smile and laugh to be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Uncluttering and Organizing My Books

Bookcase

Yesterday I spent the whole day uncluttering and organizing my personal library.

My book collection has grown considerably over the years. At the moment I have more than 1000 books excluding fiction and comics. I really love books and I rarely go to a bookshop without buying at least one book.

I've been crazy about reading since I was small and able to read. My reading habit is mostly shaped by my parents who encourage me to read as much as possible since I was very young. I remember how my parents only allowed me to use my pocket money to buy books. They also gave me unlimited budget to buy books when I was at school. They even taught me how to open and manage my own book rental when I was in primary school. I believe that parents have a very big role in shaping their children's reading habit.

Lessons:
1. Develop your children's love and respect for books and knowledge

2. Become a role model for your children, have a reading time together instead of watching TV.

3. Have a personal library at home and encourage them to take part in growing and organizing the library

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso