How far is your school?

On Thursday 8:37 I sent another sms to all ex-participant of "Diklat Fasililitator Guru Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris Tingkat Mahir April 15 to 25, 2008 "It's me Win. I posted your sms at www.gurumadrasahtsanawiyah.blogspot.com. How far is your school? How do you go to school? What strategies does your school have to improve students' quality? My school is about 11 kilometers away. I go to school by motorbike. I need 10 to 15 minutes to get there depends on the traffic. We have oral test for english and arabic is done once in one semester. How about others? Here are their replies (the messages are displayed in cronological order-the earliest to the latest).
1. Mr. Makinuddin (Pontianak) wrote:"Well, it's about five kilometers from my house to school. We go to school by motorcycle and it takes seven minutes. There is one class in each grade that is tried out as bilingual class in which english is used to present the lesson.

2. Mrs. Luthfy (Balik Papan) wrote: "My school is not far from my house. It takes about 10 minutes by motorcycle. What I've done 2 improve students' competencies is by applying various kind of teaching methods.

3. Mr. Zarkasy (Jambi) Hi. Mr. Win I know it's you. Do you know me? (ofcourse!) It's about 25 minutes from house by "Ojek" How are you bro?

4. Mr. Makmun (Purworejo) "My school has internet, but I never visit it. But I'll try to see it tomorrow. My house is about 17 kilometers away (how do you go to school?)

5. Mr. Bisri (Kebumen) "I'm at home. Thanks for the info. It's conventional. I tell waka kur. to access this. surely it'll be beneficial for our madrasah.

6. Mrs. Sudarti (Babel) Thanks Mr.Win I always wait for your information to improve our ss quality. (I sent another sms asking about how far is the school and how does she get there)

7. Mr. Adi (Banten) I am sorry I didn't answer your previous sms, I just have had pulsa. It is about 140km, I ride motorcycle to get there. We have held Tahfidz Juz'amma and Praktikum Ibadah Amaliyah every semester.

8. Mr. Ghofar (Bali) My school is not far from home, about 2 kms, I go there by motorcycle, my school is one and the only madrasah tsanawiyah in my regency (wow...!, so must be the best...) He added besides teaching I am also instructors of 3 extra curricular activities, they are scouting, martial art or pencak silat and youth red cross (Palang Merah Remaja).

9. Mr. Ahmad Muhtadi (Semarang) Hi I am glas to read your sms. I saw the videos and it reminds me what I have done in diklat. Thanks for your sms and http://www.gurumadrasahtsanawiyah.blogspot.com/. Then he added Sorry for my replying late. I think our school is at medium level for the quality. We don't have special strategies for the students, but just like the other schools (in the same level). We always enrich the students vocabularies in any methods. Ok, I'll try to open the web you had informed me. Thanks. (His school can be reach in fifteen minutes by motorcycle).

10. Mrs. Farida (Sulteng) wrote:I'm sorry pak win. I did not see your previous sms, I left the hand phone in my bag. Well my school is about 5 kms from my house,I go to school by motorcyle and to improve my students competencies I give them any suggestion on how to learn the language and sometimes we make English communication activities. Ok maybe Pak Win has any more suggestion on how to improve the students, please share with us. Thank you.

11. Mr. Mawardi (Aceh) Hi.. Win. thank you for posting it. Now I am very busy in preparing my thesis. Going to school is easy for me because I live in school area and now I try to be FIESTA Teacher like LIA's teachers. (We pay a visit to LIA and LIA adopt FIESTA stands for Fun and Friendly, Interactive, Explorative, Systematic, Technology Savvy and Authonomous)

12. Mr. Ali Sadikin (Bengkulu) Thank you, for remembering me. I will write an article on strategies to improve students's competency and Insya Allah I will send you via e-mail.

13. Mr. Dedi Halim (Jabar) wrote I'm so sorry, my school is not far from my house, I walk to school, You know I am trying the strategies I got from Campus pusdiklat, the result is ok. Have you tried it?

14. Mrs. Eny (Pangkal Pinang) called me and thanked me for sending the sms. She is recuperating.

15. Mrs. Enidar (Padang) called me and said that she could not reply the sms via her cell phone. there must be something wrong with her handphone.

16. Mrs. Elfi (Sumut) wrote Sorry, I was cooking while you're sending your message. My school is 10 kms from my house. I go to school by motorcycle. Our strategy in improving students' competencies is by giving course after school intensively. How about you?

17. Mr. Harsoyo (DIY) wrote Thanks, my school is not far, it's only 2 km. okey I just want to share the following things (1) we must be disciplined,(2) we ask them to pray dhuha, dhuhur together everyday, mujahadah cause the people who was success in the world 76%, social contributes 20% and IQ contributes 4 percent. For teaching and learning we use mind mapping, brain storming and total physical response (TPR).

18. Takarina (NTT) Please,send your sms via hp only, because I've never opened internet. My school is about 17 kms from home. I go to school by motorcycle. To improve English instruction I apply the teaching model that we have got from Diklat Depag. She added Maybe today I've not opened it but someday I'll try to open it.Thanks alot.