Kampus Mengajar Angkatan 1 Tahun 2021: Egia’s Story

Departemen Sastra Inggis

[Egia Krista Br Ginting] 

25 July 2021

Pengabdian Masyarakat, Learning and Students/Pembelajaran dan Aktivitas Mahasiswa

SDG 4, SDG 8, SDG 10, SDG 17

Kampus Mengajar was initiated by The Indonesian Ministry of Education, Nadiem Makarim. Kampus Mengajar as part of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Mengajar (MBKM) policy. Kampus Mengajar allowed university students to teach elementary school students for 12 weeks or three months in the outermost, frontline, and disadvantaged regions (3T regions) affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. This program helps students to learn, to gain experiences and to develop as social beings.

In Kampus Mengajar, students are not only given the opportunity to teach in schools, but students are also expected to be able to help adapt technology, assist teachers, assist with administration, and organize schools so that the school can develop for the better. 

I am Egia Krista Br Ginting and here is my story.

I was sent to elementary school, SD Negeri 044824 Rumah Kabanjahe, Kab. Karo, North Sumatera. During this program, I collaborated with my new colleagues from various universities, such as Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Universitas Prima Indonesian Sumatra Utara, Universitas Medan Area, and Universitas Katolik Santo Thomas Medan. Each of us had individual schedules in doing our activities at school. We could visit the school whenever we wanted, even if it was not our schedule to teach or come to the school. I was given a chance to help the teachers for a fifth grade. Sometimes I also substituted other students who could not teach or do their task because of having classes at their campuses. 

The program was my first experience in teaching elementary school students and here I learned a lot about how to teach and manage classes well. I also learned to teach all elementary school subjects such as mathematics, science, history, and other subjects. At first, it was quite challenging for me because I needed to learn about Buku Tema or Thematic Book, which connects several subjects in one meeting. Thus, I had to prepare some exciting and unique media to teach them because most elementary school students like interesting media and fun learning activities. Sometimes I provided them with a variety of games to help them understand the lessons easily.

Indeed, I had a lot of experiences when I joined the Kampus Mengajar program, especially since teaching elementary school students was not in my plan. I had to learn to be patient when dealing with various characters and their behavior in class. I tried my best to mingle and build relationships with them. I also applied some of the knowledge I gained in the English for Young Learners course to deal with students when assisting the homeroom teachers teaching in class.

[Foto Kegiatan]

(Picture 1: The first meeting with the students)

(Picture 2: Learning activities using flannel board media)

(Picture 3: Doing games to support student learning)