My Reflection in Learning English

Last Thursday was the 3^rd meeting of English lesson. Suddenly, my lecture gave us a test. The test is we must write the English from some Mathematics’ vocabularies. And the result can be used to measure our ability in English and Mathematics. When I did this test, I got difficulties. Beside there are some words that I never know what its English are, there are also some words that I forgot its meaning in English.

After my work have been précised, I found that my result was so bad. It was surprised me. I was very disappointed in that time because I thought I can get better result. From this result, I can conclude that my competence in English especially related to Mathematics is not good enough. Sometimes, I ever know some Mathematics words in English. But because I rarely use it, I forget them. I confess that I rarely learn mathematics in English. The test makes me realize that if we are not accustomed using English in Math, we will get difficulties to increase our Math competence in global era.

Beside that, I can know that I don’t learn English completely. My ability is so bad. I need more references. I still need help from others who are better than me. There is one important thing founded from this test, my preparation in English lecture is less. I am lazy to study and look for mathematics information.

As mathematicians, we have to know about mathematics well. Beside that, we also must have a good ability in English. Because English is an important matter in this world. If we want to apply a job, we must have competence in English. If we want to look for scholarship, we must be good at English. A way to measure our ability in English is with TOEFT test. If our TOEFL result is good, our chance to get what we want like job and scholarship is easier. English can help us to introduce our work to the world.

Because both mathematics and English are important for us, we must be more competence in those lessons. It is not enough if we just get the materials from the lecturer. we must look for more materials from many sources. To increase our competence in English, we can use some references. We can get data from blogs, look for information from internet, learn TOEFL test CD. We also can try to write our words in English. Don’t be afraid if we are wrong. And don’t cheat others' work. We can express our idea with English. Because with English, our idea is more acceptable with other people from many countries. Using English in communication also helps us to increase our ability. And the most important is understand English itself.

Then, to develop our competence in Mathematics, we can do many things. We must understand mathematics. We must have mathematics thinking. What is mathematics thinking? First, put your assumption. Then, find the definition of the concept. The last is establish axioms.

Mathematics is not experiment. Mathematics is analysis. We must use thinking method to find solutions in mathematics. The truth in Mathematics is not based from belief but logic. We must be consistent.

Truly it is not easy to be an expert in English and Mathematics. We just need willingness and hard working. With this reflection, I hope I will develop my ability better than before.

The Meaning of Mathematics

Mathematics is common for us. We have learned this lesson since we’re at elementary school. But until now, I believe that most of us never know what’s the meaning of mathematics. Truly, ever body can define mathematics based on his/ her own point of view. A mathematics expert can define that mathematics is a body of knowledge. But for elementary school’s students, they can define that mathematics is a counting science. Yeah, mathematics is very complicated and it has a lot of definitions. So it is difficult to know what’s the real meaning of mathematics.

Beside knowing the definition, we also most know the type and the characteristics of mathematics. There are 2 types of mathematics. The first is pure mathematics and the others is applied mathematics.

The characteristic of mathematics is abstract. Mathematics just lies in our mind. Mathematics is just our understanding. As a science, mathematics has an object. The object is abstract idea. There are 2 ways to get abstract object:

1. Technical abstraction

There is difference between abstract and abstraction. Abstract can be the material of a thing, the price of a thing etc. But abstraction is just the value of something. In mathematics, we just talk about the value of the objects.

2. Idealization

Idealization is our perception about something. It is just assumption mathematics is an art. There is no perfect thing in this world. We just assume that a line is straight. But, there is no a perfect straight line. So, idealization is our assumption to get our own mathematics concept.

Mathematics’ objects can be divided into 2 parts. The first is formal objects. Formal objects is like mathematics methods(deductive, inductive etc). And the other is material objects. Material objects are the contains of mathematics itself. They are on mind which is fit with people minds.

Mathematics is a science with is formed deductively. The character of mathematics is think logically and consistent . A professor from Melbourne University said that mathematics has two characteristics. They are:

1. Conjecture ( our prediction)

2. Conviction (we must communicate the result of our math work)

Beside that, Professor Katagiri from Japan also define that Mathematics consists of 3 aspects:

1. Mathematical Attitude

It is related to mathematical thinking. Good attitude at mathematics are we must have critical thinking, we must be consistent and always have a question about mathematics.

2. Mathematical Method

There are a lot of method of mathematics. They are used to find the fact of mathematics. Some of them are deductive method, inductive method, syllogisms, and logic.

3. Mathematical Content

There is other definition about mathematics. Mathematics is realistic mathematics. They are horizontal and vertical mathematics. Math consists of two words. They are right and wrong. To prove the truth of math, we use direct and indirect proof.

That’s all about the meaning, characteristics, types and objects of mathematics. We can see that mathematics is very complicated. Mathematics is not only counting science. But also a science about how to think critically. Because the power of mathematics is our critical thinking.

AN INTRODUCTION TO BAHASA INGGRIS II

Last Thursday, February 26th 2009 was the first meeting of Bahasa Inggris II lesson. It's also the first time, i met Mr. Marsigit in lecturing. In my opinion, he is very interesting person. He made something different and new in our English lesson. He told us that he doesn't want to teach us with convensional method. So, for the first task, he asked us to make blog. it's new for me because i never have had a blog before. He told that after we make a blog for this lecturing, we must be his follower, http://marsigitenglish.blogspot.com. Truly, this blog isn't his main blog.
After he commanded us to make a blog, he told us about his blog. He has a lot of blogs. And in his main blog, there are sad songs/elegies about the condition of students, lecturers and also this environment. He said that these writing can't be understood well for us, as common people. Then, i opened his main blog. and i proof his words. I was confused when i read his writing.
Now it's time to talk English. Truly, i like English very much. But i have difficulties to improve my skill in English, expecially speaking. But, last Thursday, i had some advices from him. What should we do to study English? There are 5 things which have important role for our success.
The first is "motivation". It's the main thing that we must have. If we have a good willingness, we will enjoy to study something. Motivation is not only willingness, but also our feeling, happiness, our focus and our belief that we can. Motivation can help us to love English and make us more bravier to practice our ability. Don’t be afraid to try new thing.
After we have motivation, we will think about attitude. We must have good attitude. It means we must have strategy to develop our English skill. We must work hard to reach our want. And we shouldn’t give up when we try. Just show your best.
The other point is understanding. We must understand our destination. If we want to suceed at English, we must look for others source about the lesson. We can ask to our lecturers, our friends etc. We must understand what is the important parts which help us to be better. Then we must be more sensitive to understand others’ condition. We also must be responsible with our way. If we understand others, we can work with other friends easily.
The fourth is skill. Skill is our strenght. If we have skill, for example English. We should develop our skill. We can read books, hear everything related to english, learn from other people and our environment and write everything that we want in English.
The last point is experience. I think experience can help us to learn from the past. We can evaluate our mistakes and keep our right way. With practise our English, we will know our ability. We can see that we can. And experiences can make us better than before.
Those are the five things which can help us to achieve our success in English. But those all also can help us to reach all our dreams. I hope i can practice these ways. So, i can improve my ability. I think it is enough. At last, always pray to Allah.