English is Important, But Unfortunately...

With the notion that English is important I think every single student of English Department UNDIP agrees. I presume that they all realize that they need ability in English so as to succeed in various opportunities of advancement such as job and scholarship application, exchange student selection, etc. However, their willingness to improve their profificeny in that important language varies greatly. Some fully realize that proficiency does not come instantly and therefore work hard to improve it, while some others just seem do not care at all.

I have seen some students working hard improving their English through a variety of creative means such as practising it everyday with their peers, listening to an English broadcasting channel on a regular basis, and reading English newspapers available at the department office. They clearly show great spirit and enthusiasm. They realize that proficiency comes through practise; no matter how many vocabularies you know, how good your grammar skill is and how high your TOEFL score is, if you don't practise your English, you will never reach your highest potential.

During my leadership in EDSA last year, my committee initiated a program called English Day, in which every student and lecturer was encouraged to speak English. Through such a program, we wished to create an environment that would accomadate those who wished to practise their English and foster their English improvement. Sadly, few participated in the program. The majority of English students kept speaking in Bahasa Indonesia and Javanese language. After we resigned, the new committee continued the program and looked for a creative way to make it more succesful. However, again, only few spoke English during the English day.

Of course, neither I nor the committee of EDSA have the authority to force students to speak English. Besides, we certainly also cannot establish a system like that at my past boarding school, in which speaking in English (and Arabic) is a must and those who get caught speaking Bahasa Indonesia or regional language will be punished by the managers of the student body. At our campus, the will to practise English originates to one's will to improve it. There is no obligation, there will be neither reward nor punishment.

In an environment where many students seem unwilling to practise their English, I still believe that there are many others who are keen in improving their English. I often met some students who started conversation in English with me. Some others always texted me in English. I really appreciated their effort and it shows us that amongts those rocks, there are still some beautiful pearls and diamonds.

Now, as we realize that English is important, that proficiency in it can be reached through practice, and that our environment at English Department is somewhat unsupporting, we should have strong perseverance and maintain our enthusiasm to strive for our English improvement. We can start from very simple ways such as using English when texting our friends and having a small talk in English with our peers and lecturers. I believe that such simple yet effective ways can help us better our English and help us go far in the future.


PS: Whenever possible, please use English when texting me or starting a small talk with me . ;)