EduRantau: Summer Challenge

Liburan Musim Panas 2 bulan bagi anak-anakku bisa bikin “boring” kalau nggak ada kegiatan. Untung sekolahnya mengadakan Summer School dengan biaya terjangkau selama 1 bulan. Demikian pula -- sekolah “menantang” anak-anak untuk tetap belajar di rumah dengan iming-iming hadiah yang dibagikan ketika tahun ajaran baru dimulai.

Ya ...Summer Challenge, itu salah satu program yang ditawarkan guru kepada anak-anak. Mereka dibekali buku-buku bacaan, disuruh menceritakan isi buku itu ke dalam buku Journal Summer Challenge, ditambah tugas untuk menceritakan berbagai aktifitas si murid selama liburan summer, baik di dalam maupun diluar rumah.

Anakku yang baru 9 bulan pindah sekolah dari SDN Sokanegara 2 Purwokerto ke Barrett Elementary School Virginia nekat menerima “tantangan” Summer Challenge.

Kutahu si Alma yang baru kelas 3, bahasa Inggrisnya masih pas-pasan. Perbendaharaan kata alias “vocab”nya barangkali tak banyak bertambah dalam 1 tahun terakhir ini. Juga cara berpikirnya mungkin masih menggunakan logika dan cara dalam kultur bahasa Indonesia. Apalagi dalam bahasa cerita, sering kalimat harus taat pada "Tenses" yang bagiku sungguh memusingkan kepala. Ya itulah asumsiku. Apalagi ketika Ia menolak ketika buku jurnalnya kulihat, semakin kuatlah dugaanku kalau dia kesusahan dalam tugas "mengarang"nya.

Hingga suatu malam ketika dia sudah tertidur, kuhampiri buku jurnal berwarna kuning itu dan kubuka halaman pertama dan kubaca perlahan-lahan. Sampai beberapa halaman kubaca, aku baru tersadar bahwa kemarin ketika dia menolak aku ingin membaca hasil karangannya bukan berarti dia "malu" atau "takut" dinilai ortunya melainkan karena dia memang sedang asik mengarang dan ayahnya mengganggu. Beginilah anakku yang kelas 3 SD menuliskan karangannya:

Writing Entry 1

07/01/2010

Yesterday I went to the National Meuseum with my dad and my sister. In the Meuseum I saw many animals and dinosaurs fossils. There is also a miniature of dinosaurs.

I saw mamals like walrus, lion, zebra, heyna, and the other mamals, and I saw the real heights of a girrafe. I saw a T-Rex fossil. It was so so big, long, and tall. We saw people cleaning an old dinosaur bone with a tool from a dentist. I saw some fishes, too. I saw shark, octopus and the others.

Next we saw a movie inside the meuseum. It was called "Wild Oceans".We saw the movie with the 3-D glasses. The screen was 66 feet tall and 96 feet wide. The movie was about how a food chain was made.

Then we went home with a train. Next time in the meuseum I want to see a movie about dinosaurs and go to the gift shop. We rode a train to get home. I like to go to the meuseum, take pictures and see lots and lots of unique animals again.

Writing Entry 2

07/05/2010

Yesterday was my birthday. What I got from my birthday is hula-hoops, shoes, cake, and a library card. My parents took me to the Washington Monument to see parades and fire works. In the parades I saw Buz Bunny, Abraham Lincoln, and the other shaped ballons wears American flag clothes with stars and stripes. There's bands, groups of people from other country like Bolivia and India. The Indians brought a wood puppet that can wave with it two hands.

Next we went home to a little while, rest for a little while, and then go back to find a good place to saw the fireworks. It takes like two hours to get a good, perfect place to see it. We change places like 3 or 4 times. The first to third place is not great because the branch is covering the fireworks. Then the last place is not exactly perfect because its in the corner on a street. Then me and my dad go for a little walk to the street to see everybodys perfect place until the fireworks shows up. When the fireworks shows up all of the people stands up and cheering for the fireworks. Then we went home.

I love my birthday, not only my family celebrated it but all of the people celebrated it for me.