Starting Healthy Sleep Habits

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Photo by: 41859davisharden.yesilmelek.com

Sleep plays an essential role in our mental and physical health. Even if you have adopted a healthy dietary habit and regular exercise in your daily life but it is not followed by adequate sleep, it will be in vain. When you have a good quality night’s sleep, you will perform better, feel more alert, optimistic, and get along with people better. On the other hand, not getting enough sleep can be bad for your health in several ways. You may also find it difficult to concentrate and remember things. Your brain struggles to perform basic functions and your risk goes up for several illnesses such as diabetes, heart diseases, and mental health disorders.

 

Getting enough sleep is not only about total hours of sleep. Sleep quantity and quality are two different things. Quantity is the duration of your sleep, while quality is how well you sleep at night. In some ways, improving how long you sleep is easier than improving how well you sleep. In order to increase the quantity of sleep you just need to go to bed early or wake up later in the morning. To improve the quality of your sleep, you should focus on some nighttime routines and remove things that can disturb your nightly sleep.

 

However, sleep quality can be improved by changing some habits or activities before sleeping. To optimize your healthy sleep, you need to strike the right balance between how well and how long you sleep. You can adopt habits that encourage better sleep, start with these simple tips:

 

  • Limit your napping time

To have a better night’s sleep, it’s important to limit your napping time. If you napping too long or too late in the day, it can throw off your sleep schedule and make it harder to go to sleep at night. The best time to nap is shortly after lunch in the early afternoon and is not more than 30 minutes each day.

 

  • Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day

Setting a consistent sleep schedule is one of the essential parts in starting healthy sleep habits. Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day—even on the weekends. A consistent sleep routine helps productivity and improves your biological, mental, and emotional health.

 

  • Have a comfortable bedroom

To help you fall asleep quickly and easily is to make your bedroom a space of comfort. Get rid of anything in your bedroom that might distract you from sleep, such as noises, bright lights, an uncomfortable bed, or a TV in the bedroom. Also, keeping the temperature in your bedroom on your ideal set can help you sleep better.

 

  • Set up a night routine

Take time to unwind. Do the same thing every night before bedtime, like take a warm bath, read some book or listen to your favorite music. Your pre-sleep activity should be relaxing so your body knows when it’s time to go to sleep.

 

  • No coffee or soda after 4 to 6 hours before bedtime

Drinking soda or coffee before bed is like a double whammy for your sleep. Sodas and coffees are loaded with caffeine and lots of sugar. The caffeine can make it hard to fall asleep, and the sugar may affect your ability to stay asleep.

 

  • No screen time 30 minutes before bed

Blue light from your screen devices affects the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps you sleep and regulates the sleep cycle. Moving graphics and seemingly endless entertainment you get from your screen will make it harder for you to fall asleep. As much as possible, try to disconnect your phone or tablet for 30 minutes or more before bed.

 

  • Seek help from professionals if needed

Talk with your health care provider if you are often tired during the day, or lack of sleep makes it hard to do daily activities. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively.

 

 

References:

 

Berger, F., Zieve, D., & Conway, B. (2020, August 4). Sleep and Your Health. MedLine Plus.

Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000871.htm

 

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). (2011, September). In Brief: Your Guide to

Healthy Sleep. Retrieved June 15, 2020, from

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/sleep/healthysleepfs.pdf

Eric Carle, the One Who Brings Color and Light Into Our Childhood.

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written by Afni Febriani Muzdalifah

 

The world of literacy and art is just grieving the loss of one of the authors and illustrators of the famous children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, Eric Carle. Who does not know one of the writers and illustrators who has brought color and light to children in the world by bringing their very colorful and cheerful works. Eric Carle has created many illustrated stories that have become very famous around the world. Art helped Eric Carle create something that cannot be described in words. Eric Carle wrote stories for children in 70 books during his lifetime in bright, catchy colors as well as cheerful words.

One of his most famous works, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” tells the story of a caterpillar who is always hungry even though he has eaten a lot of food such as fruit, cakes, Swiss cheese, ice cream, salami, and various other foods until he got stomach ache which turns out to be part of the process of becoming a cocoon, then a beautiful butterflies. On the 50th anniversary of his book in 2019, Eric Carle said that he hopes for young readers who are afraid or doubtful about the future life to be patient and believe that someday they can grow and fly with the talents we have, “You — little insignificant caterpillar — can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent.”

Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, United States on June 25, 1929 and died on May 23, 2021. Eric Carle’s childhood was arguably not as beautiful as his works. When Carle lived in Germany, he was a Russian prisoner of war.  Even so, he finished school and continued his graphic arts education at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Stuttgart and successfully graduated in 1950. In 1952, Eric Carle moved back to New York City with only 40 U.S. dollars in his pocket and worked as a graphic designer at The New York Times until he enrolled in the U.S. Army when the Korean war happened.

Eric Carle began his career as an illustrated story writer. When he met children’s story writer Bill Martin, Jr. In 1967 they published their first collaboration entitled “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” In 1968, he published a self-written illustration book entitled “1, 2, 3, to the Zoo”. The following year, he wrote “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and it was the award-winning book which made him famous. Eric Carle received many awards and honors, including the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2001), the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association (2003), the NEA Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education (2007), and the Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators, New York (2010).

In 2002, Eric Carle and his wife opened the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art which contains works by Eric Carle and features work of children’s book illustrators from around the world in Amherst, Massachusetts. Some of his books have also been published into animated films which can be found on the “Illuminated Films” Youtube channel. Maybe we are ever wondering how Carle illustrates his book. Carle used tissue paper collage technique to illustrate more than 70 books to create bright colored pictures. He also teaches us how to use tissue paper technique on his website.

Eric Carle always receives hundreds of letters from his young readers because he always understand children’s feelings, thoughts, and emotions. One of the reasons for his success, besides his unique artwork, is because his readers always tend to relate their life and experiences with his stories and always inspire other illustrators.

 

Getting Along Well with Deadlines

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University life requires that students have to manage their time well. How you choose to spend your time can determine the success and failure of your academic career. As a university student, completing deadlines is a responsibility. Not only because assignments are one of the essential parts of your assessment, but they will also be a key part of most jobs that you will be working in after university.

 

Unfortunately, most students do not use their time effectively. Even when they have a lot of assignments to do, they keep delaying assignments and never get started on them until the deadline is less than 24 hours. So, it becomes so exhausting and has an impact on the quality of your assignment because you have to rush to finish it in a night. If you start working on assignments early, you’ll have enough time to edit your assignments and maximize the quality. When you manage your time well, you will be rewarded with good grades and praise for better assignment quality. Conversely, when you are exhausted and under-pressured, then you don’t have enough time to revise or proofread your assignment.

 

Here are some tips to spend your time more effectively without rushing to the last minute.

 

  • Set the deadlines

The first practical step that you can take for managing deadlines is to set aggressive time limits. Setting time limits is different from setting a date deadline. With a deadline, you can potentially spend 5 hours or more on an assignment. While using time limits, you can set yourself 2 hours maximum to finish the task. It will motivate you to complete your assignment and see that setting your own time is crucial.

 

  • Break down the task

A task usually has smaller parts that you can complete step-by-step. Do not try to tackle the entire task all at once, break it down into smaller and set the reasonable time you need to complete each step to keep your task manageable. Try to focus on one task first, once you’re done you can move on to the next task.

 

  • Set up reward and punishment

Another great tool to stay motivated to get deadlines done on time is by giving yourself a reward and punishment. If you have finished your assignment on time, give yourself a reward (e.g. ordering some food, watching an episode of a TV series, or reading some heartwarming novel). When behavior is followed by a pleasant outcome, we are more likely to repeat that pleasant outcome. By rewarding yourself whenever you have completed a task well, it will motivate you to work on your things effectively next time. On the other hand, if you fail to do your assignment on time, give yourself harmless punishment like no watching a TV series or no social media until you completed your assignment. It is important to make you stay motivated in completing your assignments.

 

  • Don’t keep the deadline to yourself

One of the essential components for getting along well with deadlines includes regular communication and providing status updates with your friends or family. You can tell them that you have set up deadlines for completing assignments or a project. They will keep an eye on you and remind you whenever you almost miss the deadlines.

 

Reference:

Self-studying a Foreign Language Effectively

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written by Willy Prasetya

 

Foreign languages have become part of our daily life. We often encounter foreign terms in daily conversation and in everyday objects like product labels and signboards on the street. As global mobility has become much easier, foreign languages become increasingly important. 

 

Unfortunately, many popular foreign languages have complex grammars, thus making it difficult for us to learn those languages. Indeed, there are tutoring services with various language learning programs. However, good quality programs may cost you a fortune, and only a few people can afford them.

 

Therefore, I will share some tips for self-studying a foreign language effectively. However, I need to emphasize that the process of learning any languages is not instantaneous. Although there are instant programs being offered, their main purpose is to help you pass language proficiency tests or to serve as a starting point. Improving and maintaining language proficiency still requires time, effort, and determination.

 

Set specific goals

Goals help you allocate your time and energy efficiently. It would be better if you set short-term and long-term goals. For example, to improve speaking skills for everyday conversation, you can set several short-term goals like the abilities of introducing yourself, storytelling, and expressing opinions verbally. By achieving short-term goals one by one, you will get a feeling of achievement at regular intervals. So, the motivation to learn the target language will be maintained.

 

Get exposed

After setting goals, you should get exposed to the authentic use of the target language. You should read a lot of texts, watch a lot of videos, and listen to a lot of songs or audios in the target language, particularly things related to each of your goals. The habit of reading, watching and listening to authentic target language use will enrich your vocabulary and make it easier for you to understand and use the target language in other situations.

 

In addition, there are at least three things that you can get through the exposure to the authentic use of the target language. First, you can study the grammar and vocabulary in real situations. Second, you can pay attention to how words and expressions in the target language are conveyed with particular pronunciation and intonation and how they impact listeners or readers. Third, you can also learn the socio-cultural aspects of the target language at the same time.

 

The key is curiosity. When you don’t know the meaning of a word or an expression, you should immediately look up its meaning and write it down if necessary.

 

Practice, practice, practice

Exposure itself is not sufficient for improving your language proficiency. You need to put what you have learned into practice. The easiest way is imitation and reading aloud. You can also take some exercises available on the Internet to sharpen your language skills. In addition, a wide variety of language learning apps and massive online courses also provide a lot of exercises and opportunities to practice your language skills.

You should also practice using the target language in real-life communication to know the extent to which your language use can be understood by others. In reality, despite minor grammatical errors, slight mispronunciation, or slightly inappropriate diction, your language use is mostly still understandable for other language users. The key is not to be afraid of trying and to always maintain the learner mindset. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn, so take every opportunity to see what could be improved.

 

If applied consistently in the long term, the three tips above will not be difficult because they will turn into habits. In fact, if you ask for tips from people who are proficient in a foreign language, their answers will usually be around the three tips above.

The thing that defines the success of foreign language learning is determination, and it is actually the most difficult thing to maintain. However, once you have set your heart on mastering the target language, you will do whatever it takes to achieve that.

A Little Stride To Find The Definition of Happiness

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Written by Fitriana Syarifa Ahmad

Edited by Fatwa Hapsari Alwihani

 

Back to the day when I was 18, In the middle of July. I stayed in my friend’s really plain dormitory for several days before I got my own. I had a couple university tests in jogja at that time. My friend’s dormitory was away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was in the northern part of ring road. It was quite outlying, but for some reason her dormitory was close to the Maguwoharjo Stadium. There was quite a long of heavy traffic running a straight line of imagery between the Stadium and the dormitory. It was pretty good though, because we found lots of traditional snacks on the roadside. Even though the location of the dormitory was in the outlying area, it did not cover the possibility of convenience for getting something you need such as food, home appliances and school stuff. That was a beautiful location for me as a novice since it was very easy access to get this and that.

 On my first day in my friend’s dormitory, I made a friend with a beautiful kind of person called Rahma, she was also my friend’s roommate. This girl was a bit taller than me. She had a beautiful binary eye and she behaved well. She welcomed me at that time. On that day, we had a hot temperature and she took me to have a fresh cold drink at the nearest supermarket. We had a really good talk, we shared our story, which university we applied for, our hobbies, our lifes and the same funny imaginary boyfriend. We did not need much time to get to know each other. Day by day we got closer and when I moved to my own dormitory she also helped me out to clear up my stuff, organized my room, and kindly brought me a lot of healthy food she made.

I got good news, surprisingly I was accepted into one of the private universities in Yogyakarta. I did not expect this, because at the moment I fought with the campus entrance exam question. That really stressed me out yet I did it well. Finally I received the college registration and student orientation schedule. However, I felt confused on how to go to freshmen’s week which was held early in the morning. The distance between the dormitory and the campus was far and I did not have a motorbike. Rahma kindly lent her motorcycle so I could use it for a few days. On the last day, I had a small accident, the motor bike scratched in the front. I did not tell her. I covered it as much as possible. When she took the motorbike she realized something, and I could not dodge it.  She was not angry at all, she just said that it was not about the scratch but the honesty. I heard those words and I felt like I was hit by thousands of hammers on my face, I apologized. Nothing changed after that, we continued to communicate and laugh together.

One day, after a few days without news, apparently Rahma was in a bad condition, she was really broken. I found out after she came and told me about what really happened eventually. She cried a lot. She said that both of her parents legally separated. She left the family. Another distress happened; she was also rejected by several part time jobs she applied for. There were always possibilities beyond things we expected. And this was the most horrible news. A few days ago she found a test that she was suffering from urine Inkontinensia. I could not give words. I just hugged her for 10 seconds at least until she felt calmer. I did not expect that life could be this heavy, she really had the perfect cookie-cutter life. Life was getting hard and hard like never before, I was sure about that. But I knew she was very strong, not everyone could be as strong as her if they faced the same problem.

I let her stay in my dorm for the rest of the day actually for certain purposes. She slept after crying out. She was really tired. I could feel that from her eyes. After an hour, she woke up. In this brittle and sensitive situation, I sat right beside her. I offered her to get out, take a walk, grab some food, have a good time, or even play video games. Whatever that was at least we have to forget that a little and be crazy as a young and free. But what happened after that is she just held my hand and asked me a simple question “What do you want when you grow up?” she said. Without any further ado, I answered that I wanted to be the president of the United States, making friends with Gigi Hadid or other famous people in Hollywood, I want to be a crazy rich person, and marry a pilot. Just that. Silly, but it was. She smiled, she said that my dreams were super complicated, instead she just had one thing, which was she wanted to be happy. “Thank god you can get everything you want, your father, your mom, your family and friends, they’re always there for you and they always have been. Look! Me! Another example of bitter life. Wherever, whenever you are, take your time to feel and to be happy, it is really important to feel happy. While you get your family intact and your friends always, you get the biggest love. And that is the whole perfect life, no matter how much money that you have, it doesn’t have the capability to buy what happiness is.” She said that with a lot of tears. She hugged me. I was feeling good and she was also getting better anyway. I just wanted to say thank you for the little lesson that was apparently the biggest awareness needed by humans. Thank you for being alive and giving me these beautiful words. God bless us!

Maintaining a Good Mood to Support Distance Learning

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Written by Lu’luatul Awaliyah

Edited by Fatwa Hapsari Alwihani

It’s been a hard year, dealing with the corona virus that has been prescribed upon us. It requires us to keep our distance in all matters, including learning. A full year we do distance learning, it is not uncommon for us to feel bored, right?

Moreover, we still have to do distance learning this semester, therefore it is important for us to build a good mood to support learning so that we can get proper knowledge. McMillan (2013) revealed that mood is the key that determines the acquisition of learning experiences. Thus, if we have a good mood, then we will have a good learning experience too.

Therefore, in this article I will share some ways on how to maintain a good mood in order to support distance learning.

 

1. Take Your Time

If anything, what we have now is time. Breath and Relax. Now is the time to seek and figure out who we are and what we want.  It is very important during this pandemic to use the best possible time, between study time, time at home, and refreshing time. In this case, we can manage our time by making a daily plan in the form of a schedule, so that what we do is in accordance with what portion we want to achieve on that day and so that it doesn’t widen everywhere. Furthermore, there are two ways to make better use of our time;

    • Being Productive

Current situation demands us not to involve in some kind of direct competition, organization, or internship. However, we can try online certification as an alternative. In this pandemic covid 19 eras, there are many institutions held online short courses or webinars. In particular, we can take the TOEFL or IELTS preparation course to improve our English skills and abilities. Thus, when pandemics end, we can take the test immediately.

    • Being Collaborative

Do small things that help people. We can work collaboratively with some communities and policy makers to help the others around us. We can create an initiative movement to assist children’s learning during the pandemic era.

 

2. Do What Make You Happy

The second way to stay in our good mood is to do things that make us happy. Everyone has their own way of being happy, so it depends on each of us. For me, there is an easy way to make me happy. That is doing my routine as in a normal life before pandemic. You can try these cycles;

    • In the morning, we wake up and do sports, cycle, and do things like normal times, because indirectly it will provide a good stimulus to us.
    • then, do the daily work that you have designed previously.
    • When we start getting tired, we can take a break, we can listen to music to relax our minds. In this case, Innes (2016) found that music-listening could boost mood and well-being. Anyway, please listen to music in English, so that even though we are resting, our brain can still learn to process the context and storyline of the music, learn English (of course), and we can learn critical thinking skills.

Tips: if you are confused about the type of work that gives you happiness, think about the kind of life that you want to lead, and let the vision lead the way.

 

3. Don’t Try to Do It All at Once

Do not try to do it all at once. Trying to do everything all at once can be counter-productive. Start with one thing each day: one thing that is most important, the one thing that would either make everything else easier. in the task alternating, we do get a lot of things done: but not trying to do them all at once, instead by choosing to work in phase, focusing on different things at different times.

If you have some schoolwork or homework, don’t procrastinate, set the schedule right away, and do it little by little, don’t pile up assignments and finish them all at once in one day. It can make you quickly bored and tired.

I realized that the key to achieving things is to prioritize and minimize the distraction that may get in the way of achieving the single most important thing we choose to do.

As also expressed by some lecturers at Ohio State University that they prioritize students’ mental health, student learning mood, happiness, and most importantly students can understand the material without burdening them.

 

4. Don’t Take It Personally

We are surrounded by family and friends. Do not do all the stuff alone. Never hesitate to ask for help. If boredom attacks us, we can have such a small talk with family. It may seem just a simple thing but it means a lot for some people to strengthen their family bonds. Moreover, most of us are physically separated with friends, we also can make a video call with them, wish them good health, and ask their opinion about something that pops up in our head. Try to communicate what we need; thus, they will understand and help us.

 

As a student, the most important thing in this pandemic era is how to maintain our good mood during learning activities. A good mood produces a comfortable feeling and it makes us easier to gain new knowledge. Good luck and hopefully it will be useful.

 

 

References:

Ayunda, M. (2018). Dear Tomorrow: Notes to My Future Self. Yogyakarta: Bentang Pustaka.

Bower, H, G., Monteiro, K, P., & Gilligan, S, G. (1978). Emotional Mood as a Context for Learning and Recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior Stanford University.

Burns, D, D. (2004). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Los Angeles: HarperCollins Publisher.

Chen, L., Zhou, S., & Bryant, J. (2007). Temporal Changes in Mood Repair Through Music Consumption: Effects of Mood, Mood Salience, and Individual Differences. Media Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/15213260701283293.

Goldingay, S., & Land, C. (2014). Emotion: The ‘e’ in engagement in online distance education in social work. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 18(1), [58–72].

Heid, Markham. (APRIL 26, 2018 10:12 AM EDT). You Asked: Is Listening to Music Good For Your Health?. TIME. Retrived on 28 Agustus 2020, 06:00 AM, from Time.com.

McMillan, W. (2013). Transition to university: The role played by emotion. European Journal of Dental Education 17, 169–176. Doi: 10.0000/eje.12026.

Reinecke, L. (2017). Mood Management Theory. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0085.

Camaraderie in Osaka

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Written by Salma Maulani and Miftah Haniful Ammar

We were cold and tired. Hours of walking with a heavy bag and luggage made our back aching and our feet hurting. We used to live in a tropical country where a personal car or motorcycle is common to support our mobility. All of sudden, we were in the middle of a windy winter night, in a foreign land where we barely speak enough of the language and we had to figure out the public transportation. On top of it all, we were still jet lagged.

We left our hometown on January, 8 2020 at 2.20 PM and landed at Kansai International Airport the next day, January, 9 2020 at 2 PM. Hours of transit with uncomfortable sleep, one of our team (the only girl with no experience in travel overseas) booked the wrong flight ticket, got lost in finding the hotel, and so on. It was only the beginning of our one-week journey in Osaka Japan.

 

 

At that moment, when it felt like the edge of our physical and mental limits, it was when things got interesting. It might have made our anger creeping up to our spine, where every word from others might be annoying and irritating. On the other hand, we need to survive and figure things out, we need to solve the problem, each decision has to be made with many considerations in a short time period. Strangely enough, in the middle of that windy winter night with tons of obstacles, our heart feels very warm. This experience taught us many lessons.

That night after we landed at KIX Airport, we took a nice warm shower and the thing that we had been dying to do for the last 24 hours, a good sleep in a comfortable hotel bed. Our first day came, time to begin the real journey. We started with breakfast at the nearest convenience store and get ready for registration as conference participants at Ritsumeikan University. We headed to Ibaraki, Osaka around 8 am. Figuring out the public transportation system was a big challenge for us. Obviously, we hopped on the wrong train for the first time. Many entrance and exit gates, local trains or rapid trains, transit stations, surely made our head hurt. We almost arrived late but we made it. The registration went well and because that day was Friday, as a muslim and most of the team members were males, we went to Ibaraki Mosque to do the Friday prayer. We walked until our feet hurt and got lost to find the right bus in order to find that mosque. This hardship that we had been through surely taught us how it feels to be the minority.

 

 

In Ibaraki Mosque, we met a very kind-hearted gentleman, Pak Hasan-it was his name after he became mualaf. While we discussed finding halal food as lunch, he offered a ride back to our hotel with his car because the nearest bus station is far. He also heard our discussion before and decided to treat us an Indian halal food. Our meeting with pak Hasan was a pure coincidence, we felt like he was the help given by Allah SWT. We were very tired after the long walk, we were hungry because we only ate at convenience store as breakfast before, and it is very hard to find halal restaurant with affordable price.

 

 

While we enjoyed our lunch, Pak Hasan told us the story of his journey in converting his religion to Islam. Why he converted his religion, what are the responses of his family, and many problems that he had been through. His stories taught us many life lesson, we became more grateful because we live in a country with the largest Muslim population in the world. At that time, Pak Hasan also told us that he wants to make a bigger mosque and spread Islam in Japan. We really support it and his story truly touched our heart.

The next day, the conference day went well and smoothly. We learned many things from other researchers around the world and we had a lot of fun discussions. It was such an eye-opening moment for us. We felt very happy and glad that we had this chance to meet and had a discussion with those amazing people. We even continue our discussion on the next day with Professor Virginia Peng from Ritsumeikan University.

 

 

On this Journey, we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto as well. We shopped in Dotonbori and took many pictures with the famous Glico Sign there. After the conference day, we can fully enjoy Japan as tourists.

 

 

However, if we could be honest, what matters the most from this Journey was not the pictures that we posted on our Instagram, it was not the skincare, clothes, gundam, snack or random Japanese things that we bought. It is not about the place or things but the heat pack that we shared, our simple breakfast chicken karage with microwaved instant rice made with love, the food treated by Pak Hasan, our conversation and discussion, our mini games while hours of transit and so on. What matters the most is the people, the experiences, the memories and what we learned from that.

 

 

This one-week Journey to Osaka Japan is surely deepen our friendship, teach us how it feels to be the minority, connect us with many amazing people, give us opportunity to practice problem solving, decision making and so on. It made us realize that being alone is okay but being together with the correct and amazing people is great. It was a fun journey with great camaraderie.

The Beginning

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Written by Marhamah Ika Putri
Edited by Salma Maulani

 

Since early dawn, Renata has been busy checking all of the requirements for the orientation activities held by her campus. Today was the day she started her first year as a freshman in one of the colleges located in Yogyakarta. The campus orientation and campus introduction will last for three days straight.

If Renata could be honest with herself, she was not that eager to follow the orientation. She had already imagined in her mind since the night before everything she has gone through for the next three days—including this day. It gets worse because the first day of the orientation scheduled before the sun came up until the sun set in the late afternoon. Without realizing it, she let out a long sigh. 

Renata made up her bed lazily before she went to campus by walking—it only took five minutes to walk from the boarding house to the campus. “Bude are going to tidy it up again later, anyways,” she mumbled as she locked the door. Renata was looking at the sky, the sun had not even set yet, she went down the stairs and opened the gate slowly. 

As Renata walked towards the campus, she saw so many people around her age wearing black skirts/trousers and white shirts just like she wore. Some of them walked along with their friends—some of them were walking alone like she did. Deep down inside, Renata actually felt a little bit worried how to make new friends because of her personality. She often felt shy at first impressions, talked less, and most importantly, she always felt afraid that they would think she was a weirdo.

However in fact, whether she would make new friends or not did not really matter to her. He used to be alone, and it always will be. Since high school, she has often heard—too many times until she forgot—people did not want to talk to him because they thought she always looked fierce and arrogant.

Though, she was never angry about it. Why would she be? She cannot change her face. She even laughed whenever someone was honest about it to her. For now, Renata is more worried about how she is supposed to endure the day with packed activities, which she thought was unattractive and filled with loud voices from the crowded stranger. She hated it.

The campus gate was getting closer. from a distance, she could see rows of people lining up to enter the campus area. There were many seniors there. Each of the seniors was wearing a blue jacket, and there were names tag filled with their name and their job desk. At first, Renata walked normally, then she ran hurriedly when a senior suddenly stared at her. Renata joined in the new line.

Finally, it is her row’s turn to enter the campus area. She was looking around the campus and she wondered why there were not many people. Then she realized it was 06.00 in the morning, there was only an elderly walking on the other side. While she was observing the campus, the seniors suddenly stopped her line. It must be the post where the seniors will check our belongings, Renata guessed. Exactly! all of the seniors started to check the freshmen belongings. 

Renata saw several girls get caught carrying make-up and it was being confiscated by the seniors. Why on earth are they still bringing it? Hopefully it will be returned to them at the end of the day, as she spoke indistinctly. Not long after that, a senior approached her and checked her belongings.

“Okay, this one is clear, next one!” said the senior. It took about 15 minutes to complete the entire screening process of the freshmen belonging to Renata’s line. The line continued to walk and entered a large field. There were many groups of rows on that field which have their own characteristics and Indonesian hero board sign as the code for each group.

Renata checked the distribution of the orientation groups as she walked into the field. She was in the ‘Jenderal Soedirman’ group, She began to look for her group. There it is, she whispered to herself while she walked to her row. Her group row still looked quite empty. There were only two other guide seniors—which surely Renata did not know who they were. 

“Kak—a common and polite way to call a senior—, I’m Renata from English Literature major, I am a member of this group”, she said to the senior. Renata was allowed to sit and wait for other members. 

Renata looked around, there were several guys she thought were from her group were already getting along with each other, they even laughed together. Then Renata saw the girls from her group, each of them seemed busy with themselves, without bothering to mingle with others. “Today is going to be a very, very, very long day”, as she was breathing heavily.

“Hello Kak, I’m Kirana. My name is written in the Jenderal Soedirman group”. Renata was looking at the girl that just arrived, with a happy voice talking with the seniors. Renata analyzed that girl from head to toe and their eyes met. Kirana smiled at her and Renata cleared her throat to ease the awkwardness.

Unexpectedly, that new girl walked toward Renata after she finished talking with the senior. Renata immediately fixed her sitting position and acted like she did not see her. “Hi, my name is Kirana, I saw you while I was talking to the senior” she greets Renata. Renata freezed for a moment and she realized that she needed to greet her back. “Hello, I’m Renata”, she gave a brief answer. Without Renata’s permission, Kirana suddenly sat beside her. Renata unconsciously put some distance between Kirana and tried to avoid making eye contact with her. 

“I saw you sitting alone here, that’s why I sit next to you, it is okay right?” asked Kirana. Actually Renata felt very awkward. Renata was unable to think clearly and on how to react towards Kirana, “Yeah, that’s fine,  it’s empty anyway” she answers briefly. Actually she had no idea how to act normally.

“I’m from English Literature major, how about you?” Said Kirana to break the silence, Renata nodded as she answered Kirana’s answer, “we are in the same major”. Suddenly Kirana holds her hand with a happy expression. 

“Yay! We are the same! Finally I found someone from the same major as me!”, Renata laughed awkwardly as she saw the excitement on Kirana’s face. Kirana was typically a girl who is energetic and has a cheerful personality, the opposite of Renata. Long story short, she listened to everything that Kirana said including her perspective about the campus and how she arrived late today because of her boyfriend.

“Renata, I hope we can have a good friendship!” said Kirana. Renata’s heart felt warm. He smiled slightly and nodded at her face. What Kirana said sounds very sincere and maybe this is a sign that today is the day they begin their friendship. While they are still having a fun conversation—or to be exact only Kirana who lead the conversation, suddenly a loud sound from the middle of the field tells them to gather closer.

“They asked us to go there, Let’s go!” Said Kirana. They immediately stood up and picked up their bag. Kirana casually grabs her hand to walk together which Renata never expected. She never thought that she would experience this on her first day as a college student. This is not as bad as I thought it would be, thought Renata. In fact, she gets a new friend and she hopes that this girl will be her best friend in college. She smiled widely as she tried to maintain her footsteps with Kirana.

Why is it Difficult to Learn English?

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By Alifa Rismayanti

Edited by Salma Maulani

Leonardoenglish.com

 

The majority of EFL students are facing many difficulties in learning English as one of the compulsory subjects in school. Moreover, there are many adults in EFL countries experiencing those difficulties as well.  It resulted in many individuals questioning the factors that cause English become a very difficult language for some people.

There are several reasons why non-native speakers are experiencing the learning process difficult, even some of them think that English is “the weirdest language”. The first reason is many words in English have double consonants but the pronunciation is very different. It leads to the confusion of many learners and frequently wondering “How do they say that?” or “how can I say this word?”. Let’s see on the given example below:

 

via boredpanda.com

 

Based on the example above, it is very clear that the same letter combinations can have a totally different pronunciation. The word “through” is read /θruː/; “Tough” is read  /tʌf/; “Throughout” is read /θru(ː)ˈaʊ /; “Thought” is read /θɑːt/; and “though” is read  /ðoʊ/. Each of those words has a different meaning depending on its context; as a conjunction; a noun; a preposition, etc. Moreover, these pronunciations can be more varied when it gets influenced with accents and dialects. For instance, the English language differences between the British accent and American accent. Albeit the words or phrases are the same, it can have different sounds or meanings depending on its context.

Regarding the pronunciation issue, there are also other cases that most people believe that double “o” letters meet in a word, the output sound is /u:/ or /ʊ/. For example, in the word “wood” the output sound is /wʊd/ and the word “school” is /skuːl/. However, in the word “blood” the output sound is /blʌd/. Those are the common challenges in pronunciation for most learners.

The second factor is English has a strange vocabulary pattern. For instance, the word “pineapple”, the tropical fruit that consists of aromatic and edible yellow flesh. The word pineapple has no correlation with the word pine (an evergreen coniferous tree) and apple (a round red or green skin fruit of a tree). Some people might have a hard time understanding the word because it does not make any sense.

 

Via memedroid.com

 

Besides pronunciation, grammatical issues also occurred to learners. For instance, to explain something that happened in the past, past tense is used. In order to use the past tense, the first thing that learners learn is usually adding “ed” at the end of the verb such as “work” becomes “worked”. However, irregular verbs do exist like the word “sink” becomes “sank”. It does not necessarily mean adding “ed” at the end of a sentence then the sentence becomes past tense.

Furthermore, there are a lot of grammatical rules that need to be learned in order to master the language. Beside English has 16 tenses, there are many other rules in grammar. Furthermore, there is also a possibility that the English grammar is different from the grammar of the learner’s first language. For example, in the sentence “this is a white shirt”, one of the grammar rules is to put the adjective first followed by the noun. However, in Indonesia language, the grammar is to put the noun first followed by the adjective. That is the case where there is a noun and an adjective, it will be more confusing if there are 2 or more adjectives to describe the noun. For instance, between “this is an old white shirt” and “this is a white old shirt”, which one do you think is grammatically correct? There is only one correct answer even when both sentences make sense.

As a result, in order to overcome the challenges mentioned above, it is very essential to familiarize and expose ourselves with English. It is very obvious that English  is an international language which can enable us to understand many different perspectives around the world and can also open up many opportunities to enhance ourselves in many aspects. Especially when we want to expand our career, many international companies are seeking multilingual professionals every year.

 

Reference :

Nuria Egam, Why Can English Be Difficult to Learn? Retrieved from
https://www.newcollegegroup.com/blog/can-english-difficult-learn/#:~:text=It%20has%20been%20called%20one,find%
20learning%20English%20particularly%20difficult%E2%80%A6

Squline, 18 Manfaat Belajar Bahasa Inggris di Era Globalisasi
https://squline.com/manfaat-belajar-bahasa-inggris/

Learn English with EnglishClass101.com, 5 Reasons to Learn English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YagwZCEjkds

Pictures by: https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-english-language-jokes/?
utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Dictionary by: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/

Six Tips to Combat Writer’s Block

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Written by Fitri Alfia

Edited by Salma Maulani

 

According to Oxford Languages, writer’s block is the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing. As most writers have experienced, whenever writer’s block comes, it will be a huge obstacle to face. It could ruin the mood and leave the story hanging without knowing how long it will take to overcome it. Some writers might know how to deal with it, but others might still struggle to figure it out. Hence, I am going to tell you my tricks to fight this writer’s block.

 

Step 1. Leave

Whenever I feel like I am stuck, I leave my writing. Then I forget it for a couple of days. I still remember I left my writing for about two weeks. I reckon this leave as a rest time.

During this time, I suggest you try to improve your mood and find the very first reason why you want to write the story.

 

Step 2. Outline

Some of you might think that writing the outline of the story is such a hassle and you might also have the confidence to write your story directly. However, it is very crucial to write the outline from the start because it is very helpful to maintain the story on the track and when the writer’s block comes you still know where your story is going. You don’t need to write it in complicated ways, just write the key points of every chapter you wanted to tell. You can take a look on the example below:

Chap 1: beginning/meeting/Prolog

Berry is a lonely Bear, lives in a jungle.

Chap 2: Chara A and Chara B get along together

Berry meets a rabbit named Bunny. They are interested in each other and become friends.

Chap 3: There’s a conflict

One day, Bunny leaves Berry alone without warning.

Chap 4: Climax/resolution

Berry is so angry until he knows that Bunny needs to go to find her little shoe. Bunny apologizes to Berry. Then, they make up.

Chap 5: Conclusion/Ending/Epilog

Berry and Bunny live together in a big jungle. Berry is not a lonely Bear anymore.

The example above is only the outline story of my version, you can make it as easy as possible or modify it to your comfort. I advise you to make a fixed format of the outline which covers up all the required parts.

Step 3. Research, Discuss

Wow, it sounds scientific. There is a saying “listen first before you speak, read first before you write”. The more books we read, the more ideas/plots/vocabularies we got. Therefore, doing research means that to read more various short/long stories from any writer. Try to identify what makes you interested in their story and keep reading it. Try to analyze the character, place and plot. Don’t forget to write it down on your notes.

The goal is to get more insight. Furthermore, we might accidentally get some fresh ideas after reading some books. In my case, it helps me build and modify the plot.

In addition, if you have friends from the same community, you can discuss your story with them. Discuss only the part in doubt. However, do not get discouraged from the critique. You are the writer. You have the absolute right to consider which part needs improvement. Don’t accept all advice and apply them at once. Choose wisely.

Step 4. Set Writing time

You might have other various activities than writing, that’s why managing the time, energy and mood to undergo all of the activities is important. Set your writing time in the most suitable time, energy and mood of yours. You could set it as you wish. It is totally in your hand to make it regularly every day or twice a week.

Personally, I prefer to write twice a day, at 2-4 pm and 8-9 pm. I put it into my schedule and make it regular.

Step 5. Posture and Surrounding

I don’t always write in a sitting position. Sometimes I write while lying down on my bed. Although writing in that posture is not good, I feel comfortable. However, please make sure to not stay in this position for a long time.  It could affect your posture and health if you do it regularly for a long term.

One thing for sure, Find your most comfortable position. You can lean on something whenever you need a break. If necessary, place a small pillow next to you.

Next, pay attention to your surroundings. Choose a comfortable place to write. Don’t forget to consider the noise distraction you might get. Some of us like it noisy when others need to be quieter.

Step 6. Begin to write again

Now, you are ready to start again.

Believe in yourself. You are a great writer who can build up a story from imagination and creativity. Remember that, if you can imagine it, you can write it. You will overcome this writer’s block. Let’s start again with a strong-willingness, strong-headed, and strong-heart.

Be confident in yourself that writer’s block is only a signal for break and rest. It is not to stop you from finishing your story.