Direct Speech vs Indirect Speech

Indonesian Teachers Need More Training

            Teachers reveal that the real problem in Indonesian education is the poor quality of the country’s teachers. This is because teachers, mainly those in elementary schools, rarely participate in training to update their skills and knowledge. Retno Listiyarti of the Indonesian Teachers Union Federation ( FSGI ) said the government should schedule a longer preparation period before implementing curriculum 2013.

            Both England and Singapore, she said, spent three years in preparing, doing trial runs and evaluating their new curriculums before applying them. “I heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period. How can that be possible ? How can that run well? Even UNICEF ( United Nations Children’s Fund ) spent five years creating 10.000 similar teachers in Indonesia,” she said.

            Retno cited Education and Culture Ministry data that showed that 62 percent of elemtary school teachers nationwide had not undertaken any training at all, including those teachers who were about to retire. “By way of comparison, a teacher in Singapore is obliged to take 100 hours of training per year,” said Retno. Amid such conditions, Retno, who is also a high school teacher in Jakarta, said that she considered the government’s plan to implement the new curriculum an impossible mission. “The new curriculum applies a ‘thematic and intergrated’ approach, which we already have in the current curriculum [ implemented in 2006 ].

            The concept is not working in the country, especially in remote areas, because teachers there don’t have the skills or supporting materials to adopt such an approach,” she said, adding that the new curriculum would become yet another of the ministry’s paper tigers. “The upcoming curriculum is going to be another document on the shelf, and it won’t be perfectly implemented across the country.”

            Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh said that around 49.000 teachers from 30 percent of the 148.000 elementary schools nationwide would be participating in a national training on how to implement the new curriculum, according to reports by Antara News Agency. The training, which will total 52 hours, comprises 33 hours of face-to-face sessions and 19 hours of mentoring sessions. Deputy Education and Culture Minister for Education Musliar Kasim said that his team had been working on producing teachers’ guidance books, which underwent a massive print run on March 17.

            Itje Chodidjah believes the government must be very careful in its selection of trainers, should it insist on implementing the new curriculum within the next four months. “Let’s just say that the implementation is a done deal. The next important thing is for the government to select master trainers in this limited time,” she said. The government, said Itje, has to be certain that it can find highly qualified national instructors who really understand how to impart the new curriculum’s concept to the master trainers.

            “Furthermore, the government must also ensure that the master trainers have the ability to swap concept language with functional language when they deliver the curriculum concept to teachers who have varying levels of ability,” she explained.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/03/24/indonesian-teachers-need-more-training.html

1. Statement

a.       “I heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period”, said Retno Listiyarti.

Indirect Speech    : Retno said that she had heard that the government plans to create 40.000 national instructors in a limited time period.

Explanation         : If a sentence is directly expressed in terms of Direct Speech statement, so it must be changed into the form of statement in indirect speech. Past tense in direct speech is changed into past perfect in indirect speech.

b.      “A teacher in Singapore is obliged to take 100 hours of training per year”, she said.

Indirect Speech    : She said that a teacher in Singapore was obliged to take 100 hours of training per year.

Explanation         : Present tense in direct speech is changed into past tense in indirect speech.

2. Question

a.       “How can that be possible?”

Indirect Speech    :  She wanted to know how that could be possible.

Explanation         : Interrogative sentence in indirect speech changes become affirmative sentence and question mark (?) doesn’t use again. If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, inquire, wonder, or want to know in indirect speech. The question word “how” still is used in indirect and it fixed in the middle of sentence then it followed by affirmative sentence. The present tense is changed into past tense.

b.      “How can that run well?”

Indirect Speech    : She wanted to know how that could run well.

Explanation         : Interrogative sentence in indirect speech changes become affirmative sentence and question mark (?) doesn’t use again. If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, inquire, wonder, or want to know in indirect speech. The question word “how” still is used in indirect and it fixed in the middle of sentence then it followed by affirmative sentence. The present tense is changed into past tense.

3. Imperative

a.       She said, “Let’s just say that the implementation is a done deal.”

Indirect Speech        : She suggested saying that the implementation is a done deal.

Explanation         : “Let’s” normally is used to indicate a suggestion and in indirect speech “let’s” is changed into “suggest”. In indirect, imperative is changed into infinitive sentence. The verb is changed into gerund.

b.      She said, “Don’t leave me alone”

Indirect Speech    : He asked not to leave him alone.

Explanation         : If reporting verb which is used “say”, “say” changes to ask, tell, and wonder in indirect speech. To make an infinitive negative, put not in front of infinitive.

Nama    : Mia Rusliana

Kelas     : 4 SA 04

NPM      : 14611454