Inggrit Tanasale | Inspiring Students to Engage Others Across Oceans

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My Journey to #AchieveMore

I come from a very far-flung island, Ambon city, located in the eastern part of Indonesia. Although it is a tiny island that is sometimes missing on the world map, Ambon has been the center of industry and education among the neighbor islands. Over the past ten years, I have taught the English Education Program at Pattimura University in my city, and my program is the only English program for training pre-service teachers. Our graduates are sent back to those neighbor islands to be English teachers. I have witnessed many of my island students, from working class with limited English skills, bring their enthusiasm to be an English teacher. For some of them, the reason is they want to be a tenured teacher hired by the government on their island; this job promises financial security for their future; this is their happy ending story. Therefore, some pre-service teachers, who come from far away, want to pursue a teaching degree rather than striving to be competent in English teaching. This reality drives me to improve my teaching with various methods and strategies to engage my student in learning English and how to teach English. I also choose to be a living example of an educator to inspire my students by showing my vulnerability and passion for teaching English such as sharing my literacy narrative. This narrative reflects my literacy journey as an Islander like them, so in love with learning English and finally became a language educator. My dream hasn't ended. Through English, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Composition and Applied Linguistics at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. I hope my students can dream beyond condition by creating their literacy journey of learning and teaching English.

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