The results of the “English Proficiency Index (EPI)” Global Survey conducted in 2019 by the International Education Company showed that Indonesia was ranked 61 out of 100 countries surveyed.
The survey findings are quite alarming. Therefore, the role of an English teacher is very important. With the Minister of Education and Culture’s policy regarding the simplification of the Learning Implementation Plan (RPP) in Freedom of Learning and the widespread Coronavirus outbreak (Covid-19) over the past few months, requires teachers to make adjustments especially related to updating methods and developing comprehensive teaching materials and interesting for students.
Teachers realize that making lesson plans often adds to the administrative burden because the lesson plan for one meeting is made in 5-8 pages so that teachers tend to copy and paste only. It resulted in a lack of compatibility between the lesson plans that have been made with the implementation of teaching because the existing lesson plans are not good enough to be used as a guide in implementing learning. Also, the learning methods in the RPP often depend on the composition in the textbooks so that it seems monotonous. This has an impact on the lack of student motivation in participating in the learning process.
As a concrete step to improve the RPP, on April 23, 2020, TelU organized Online Knowledge Sharing entitled “Creating One-Page Lesson Plans and Incorporating Games as an Alternative Teaching Method” for Tsanawiyah (MTs) teachers in the English Madrasah Working Group Teachers (KKG or MGMP) 2 City of Bandung. This activity is part of Community Service (PKM) organized by lecturers and students of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Telkom University. Initially, PKM activities took the form of workshops, but with the condition of the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) in the city of Bandung, the workshop was changed to knowledge sharing or seminars through the Zoom Pro application facilitated by Telkom University.
Presenters of this PKM activity are Dr. Ir. Agus Achmad Suhendra and Mrs. Ima Normalia Kusmayanti, M.Pd. from the Engineering Management group of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Telkom University, and Ms. Retno Hendryanti, Ph.D. from the Network and Multimedia expertise group of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Telkom University. The material presented is (1) Freedom of Learning and (2) Making One Sheet RPP with Game Method as an Alternative Fun and Fun Learning Method. The speaker gave an overview of the concept of freedom of learning and its reflection on the making of the lesson plan as well as the three main components in the one-page lesson plan. Participants seemed enthusiastic and actively involved in the question and answer session and discussion, especially related to the creation of a one-page lesson plan.
“The enthusiasm was very good, the teachers were enthusiastic because the material was indeed needed, and participants also gained experience using online media face to face through zoom. Free learning materials and lesson plans are also responded with enthusiasm because teachers want to know the form of implementation at the SMP / MTs level,” explained Lecturer of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Tel-U, Sari Wulandari.
The PKM activity was attended by 24 participants from 16 MTs in Bandung. The head of Bandung City KKM 2, Mrs. Dra. Hj. Rokhayati, M.MP and The head of the KKM 2 English MGMP Bandung, Mrs. Ani Sumiani, S.S., M.Hum also present to support the participants and organizing committee. Not only did they obtain valuable material on the design of a one-page lesson plan, but participants also experienced the experience of online knowledge sharing.
“The achievement to be achieved is the ability to develop and optimize lesson plans as a guide in implementing teaching with a games approach so that English teaching can run efficiently and effectively,” said Sari Wulandari.
From this PKM activity, it is expected that MTs teachers can make preparations for learning English better and can build student learning interest to be higher by incorporating game methods as one of the learning strategies in the classroom. From the results of a survey of PKM activities, there were two requests for further PKM activities, namely (1) continued coaching related to the creation of one-page lesson plans; and (2) further introduction and exploration of some games that are suitable for learning English for MTs students.