Yang Mengikuti Mayit Sampai ke Kuburannya Setelah Kematiaannya, dan yang Tetap Tinggal Bersamanya di Kubur

Diriwayatkan oleh Muslim dari Anas bin Malik bahwa Rasulullah bersabda, “Ada tiga hal yang mengikuti mayit, lalu yang dua pulang dan yang satunya tidak. Yang mengikutinya adalah harta dan keluarganya lalu keduannya pulang, dan yang tetap tinggal adalah amalannya.”

Diriwayatkan oleh Abu Nu’aim dari hadits Qatadah dari Anas bin Malik bahwa Rasullah bersabda, “Ada tujuh hal yang pahalanya tetap berlakubagi seorang hamba setelah meninggalnya dan ketika ia berada dikubur. Yaitu, orang yang pernah mengajar ilmu, yang mengalirkan sungai, yang menggali sumur, yang menanam pohon korma, yang membangun masjid, yang mewariskan mushaf, atau yang meninggalkan anak shaleh yang mau memohonkan ampunan untuknya setelah ia meninggal dunia”.

Hadits Qatadah ini gharib, karena hanya diriwayatkan secara tunggal oleh Abu Nu’aim Abdurrahman bin Hani’ an-Nakh’I dari al-Azrami Muhammad bin Abdullah dari Qatadah. Tetapi, hadist ini juga diriwayatkan oleh Imam Abu Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Yazid bin Majah al-Qazuwaini dalam sunan-nya dari hadist az-Zuhri.

Diriwayatkan oleh Muslim dari Abu Abdullah al-Aghar, dari Abu Hurairah bahwa Rasulullah bersabda, “Sesungguhnya termasuk amal dan kebajikan yang menyusul seorang mukmin setelah kematiannya adalah ilmu yang ia ajarkan dan yang ia sebarluaskan, anak yang shaleh yang ia tinggalkan, mushaf yang ia wariskan, masjid yang ia dirikan, rumah yang ia bangun untuk ibnu sabil, sungai yang ia alirkan, atau sedekah yang ia keluarkan dari hartanya sewaktu masih sehat yang menyusul setelah ia meninggal dunia.”

Diriwayatkan oleh Abu Hadiyah alias Ibrahim bin Hadiyah bahwa ia mendengar Anas bin Malik mengatakan bahwa Rasulullah bersabda, “Sedekah yang kamu keluarkan atas nama mayitmu akan dibawa oleh malaikat dan dan diletakan diatas talam terbuat dari cahaya. Kemudian berdiri diatas bagian kepala mayit yang ada didalam kubur, lalu ia berseru, ‘Wahai penghuni kubur yang asing, keluargamu mengirimkan hadiah ini kepadamu, maka terimalah.’ Malaikat lalu masuk kedalam kuburnya sehingga kuburnya diperluas dan diberi cahaya didalamnya. Si penghuni kubur berkata, ‘Semoga Allah memberikan balasan terbaik kepada keluargaku.’ Penghuni kubur disampingnya berkata, ‘Sayang sekali aku tidak meninggalkan seorang anak atau siapapun yang mau mengingatku dengan mengirimkan sesuatu.’ Ia merasa sedih, sedangkan yang lain merasa gembira berkat sedekah.” Ini hadist dhaif (lemah) yang terdapat dalam as-Silsilat adh-Dhaifat (486).

Basyar bin Ghalib bercerita,”Aku bermimpi bertemu Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah, seorang wanita yang sangat tekun beribadah. Aku sering mendoakannya. Ia berkata, ‘Hai Basyar, hadiahmu sudah aku terima dalam sebuah talam yang terbuat dari cahaya ditutupi sebuah sapu tangan dari sutera. Begitulah, hai Basyar, doa orang-orang mukmin yang masih hidup kepada saudara-saudara mereka yang telah meninggal dunia. Doa mereka diterima seraya dikatakan, ‘Ini hadiah si fulan untukmu.”

Sumber: Al-qurthubi, Imam, Rahasia Kematian, Alam Akhirat dan Kiamat, AKBARMEDIA, 2011

USING BLOG IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER

1. What is a blog?

A blog (short for weblog) is frequently updated website that often resembles online journal. It’s easy to create and update a blog it requires only basic access to the internet, and a minimum of technical know-how. Because on this, it is one of easiest ways to publish student writing on the WWW. It’s almost as easy as sending an email.

Nowadays, blogs can also display photos and some people are using them with audio and even video, but this article will concentrate on the basic, showing how a simple text-based blog can be used to great effect with your English language learners.

2. Types of blogs used in language teaching
   Aaron Campbell (2003) has outlined three types of blogs for use with language classes:

a.      The Tutor Blog is run by the teacher of a class. The content of this type of blog can be limited to syllabus, course information, homework, assignments, etc. or the teacher way may choose to write about his or her life, sharing reflections about the local culture, target culture and language to stimulate online and in-class discussion. In this type of blog, students are normally restricted to being able to write comments to the teacher’s post.

b.      The Class Blog is a shared space, with teacher and students being able to write to the main area. It is best used as a collaborative discussion space, an extra-curricular extension of the classroom. Students can be encouraged to reflect in more depth, in writing, on themes touched upon in class. Students are given a greater sense of freedom and involvement than with the tutor blog. A very good example of what has been done with this type of blog is Barbara Bieu’s ‘Bee Online’ http://beeonline.blogspot.com/ and ‘Bee Online 2’ http://beeonline2.blogspot.com/

c.       The Learner Blog is the third type of blog and it requires more time and effort the teacher to both set up and moderate, but is probably the most rewarding. It involves giving each student an individual blog. The benefit of this is that this becomes the student’s own personal online space. Students can be encouraged to write frequently about what interest them, and can post comments on the other student’s blog. For examples, see the links to learner blogs from the class blog and tutor blog example above.

Of course, teacher who decide to use blogs often use a combination of Tutor or Class blog and Learners blogs, with hyperlinks connecting them.

3. Why blog?

So, why should you blog with your students? There are many reasons you may choose to use weblogs with students. One of the best reasons is to provide a real audience for students writing. Usually, the teacher is only person who reads student writing, and the focus of this reading is usually on form, not content. With weblogs, students can find themselves writing for a real audience that, apart from the teacher, may include their peers, students from other classes, or even other countries, their parents, and potentially anyone with access to the internet.

Here are some other reasons for using blogs:

a.      To provide extra reading practice for students.

This reading can be produced by the teacher, other students in the same class, or in the case of comments posted to a blog, by people from all over the world.

b.      As online student learner journals that can be read by their peers.

The value of using learner journals has been well documented. Usually they are private channels between teacher and student. Using a blog as a learner journal can increase the audience.

c.       To guide students to online resources appropriate for their level.

The Internet has a bewildering array of resources that are potentially useful for your students. The problem is finding and directing your learners to them. For this reason, you can use your tutor blog as a portal for your learners

d.      To increase the sense of community in a class

.A class blog can help foster a feeling of community between the members of a class, especially if learners are sharing information about themselves and their interests, and are responding to what other students are writing. 

e. To encourage shy students to participate.

There is evidence to suggest that students who are quiet in class can find their voice when given the opportunity to express themselves in a blog.

f.        To stimulate out-of-class discussion

.A blog can be an ideal space for pre-class or post-class discussion. And what students write about in the blog can also be used to promote discussion in class.

7. To encourage a process-writing approach

Because students are writing for publication, they are usually more concerned about getting things right, and usually understand the value of rewriting more than if the only audience for their written work is the teacher.

8. As an online portfolio of student written work

There is much to be gained from students keeping a portfolio of their work. One example is the ease at which learners can return to previous written work and evaluate the progress they have made during a course.

9. To help build a closer relationship between students in large classes

Sometimes students in large classes can spend all year studying with the same people without getting to know them well. A blog is another tool that can help bring students together.

4. Where to start the blog?

There are a lot of sites where you can set up a blog for free, but perhaps the best known and one of the most reliable and simple blogging tools to use with students Blogger (http://blogger.com) .it takes only fifteen minutes from setting up an account to publishing the first post using this valuable tool.

The teacher set up the tutor blog or a class blog. With a Class blog, students will need to be invited to participate by- e-mail. Learner blog accounts can either be set up beforehand by the teacher, or done at the same time with a whole class in a computer room. The former gives the teacher more control of student’s accounts, but some advantages of the latter is that learners are given more choice (of username, design of the blog, etc) and a greater sense of ‘ownership’ of their new virtual writing space.

5. Tips for managing learners blog settings

a)      Use the ‘Settings’ in Blogger to add yourself (under members) as Administrator of the learner blog. This is invaluable if students later forget usernames of passwords, and can also help if inappropriate posts are published.

b)      Make sure you change the setting and turn the ‘Comments’ feature on. This will allow the others to respond to things the students write on their learner blogs.

c)      Also in ‘Settings’, you will find an option to receive an email whenever a student publishes their blog. This will save you time regularly checking learner blogs to see if any of your students have posted. Another way of being informed of this is to use the ‘Site Feed’ function (discussed further below).

6. Keeping students interested

Many teachers who start to use blog find the novelty factor is enough to create student interest in starting to use them. However, blogs work best when learners get into the habit of using them. If learners are not encouraged to post to their blog frequently, they can quickly be abandoned. A failed experiment here, the teacher in the role of facilitator is vital for maintaining students’ interest. Here are some ideas to how this can be done:

a)      Respond to students post quickly, writing a short comment related to the content. Ask question about what learner writes to create stimulus for writing.

b)      Students should be actively encouraged to read and respond (through the commenting feature of the blog) to their classmates.

c)      Writing to the blog could be required, and it may form part of the class assessment. Students should be encouraged to post their writing homework on the blog istead of only giving it to the teacher.

Manfaat Membaca Buku

Membaca buku, koran, majalah atau dari media yang lain, akan melatih otak kita untuk memusatkan pikiran. Otak kita diajak untuk memperhatikan kata demi kata yang ada pada teks tersebut. Karena kalau kita kehilangan bebeapa kata saja, bisa jadi kita tidak akan bisa menangkap keseluruhan maksud dari kalimat yang ada. Kalimat-kalimat yang menarik akan merangsang saraf otak kita untuk bekerja dan mengamati hal menarik tersebut. Ada penelitian yang membuktikan bahwa membaca buku bisa mencegah kita dari penyakit pikun. Mungkin karena kita selalu diajak berpikir ketika kita membaca, sehingga otak kita bisa tetap aktif.

Dr. Aidh bin Abdullah al-Qarni, dalam bukunya, “La Tahzan” mengungkapkan tentang banyaknya manfaat membaca, yaitu di antaranya sebagai berikut :

• Membaca menghilangkan kecemasan dan kegundahan.
• Ketika sibuk membaca, seseorang terhalang masuk ke dalam kebodohan.
• Kebiasaan membaca membuat orang terlalu sibuk untuk bisa berhubungan dengan orang-orang malas dan tidak mau bekerja.
• Dengan sering membaca, orang bisa mengembangkan keluwesan dan kefasihan dalam bertutur kata.
• Membaca membantu mengembangkan pemikiran dan menjernihkan cara berpikir.
• Membaca meningkatkan pengetahuan seseorang dan meningkatkan memori dan pemahaman.
•  Dengan membaca, orang mengambil manfaat dari pengalaman orang lain: kearifan orang bijaksana dan pemahaman para sarjana.
• Dengan sering membaca, orang mengembangkan kemampuannya; baik untuk mendapat dan memproses ilmu pengetahuan maupun untuk mempelajari berbagai disiplin ilmu dan aplikasinya dalam hidup.
• Membaca membantu seseorang untuk menyegarkan pemikirannya dari keruwetan dan menyelamatkan waktunya agar tidak sia-sia.
• Dengan sering membaca, orang bisa menguasai banyak kata dan mempelajari berbagai tipe dan model kalimat; lebih lanjut lagi ia bisa meningkatkan kemampuannya untuk menyerap konsep dan untuk memahami apa yang tertulis “diantara baris demi baris” (memahami apa yang tersirat).

Banyak manfaat yang didapat dengan membaca, mulai sekarang mulailah membaca kawan.

Consideration in preparing test items

One essential step in planning a test is to decide why you are giving the test. (The word "test" is used although we are using it in a broad sense that includes performance assessments as well as traditional paper and pencil tests.)

Airasian (1994) lists six decisions usually made by the classroom teacher in the test development process:

1. What to test,

2. How much emphasis to give to various objectives,

3. What type of assessment (or type of questions) to use,

4. How much time to allocate for the assessment,

5. How to prepare the students, and

6. Whether to use the test from the textbook publisher or to create your own. Other decisions, such as whether to use a separate answer sheet, arise later.

Overall consideration when planning classroom tests:

1. Define the purpose at this time.
2. Specify the performance and processes to be observed and tested
3. Select the type of test items or the methods to be used to observe and to test the performance.
4. Develop the initial drafts of the test exercises.

What should be specified ahead of time?

1. Formats of test items to be used

1. Choice formats-objective items true-false, multiple-choice, matching exercise
2. Short answer/completion format
3. Essay format
4. Performance observation formats-checklists, rating scales, sign and category system
5. Interview, in-depth observation
6. Long-term activity formats-project, extended written assignment, laboratory exercises

2. Number of items of each format:

The amount of time available for testing. Tests with more items are more reliable that shorter tests.

3. Types of performance to be observed:

Develop a test blueprint to specify the various levels of performance to be observed

4. Number of performance within each type:

The number of objective within each taxonomic category is delineated.

5. Content to be covered by the test.

The test blue print can be the vehicle for delineating the content or topics the test will cover.

6. If each objective has been taught and studied conscientiously, then the test should be of appropriate difficulty.

Criteria for judging testing procedures

1. Validity

The test determines the extent to which each pupil has attained the important objectives.

2. Reliability

1. The consistency with which a given testing procedure reports a pupil’s performance

1. Longer tests are more reliable than short tests.
2. Essay questions are less reliable than objective procedure

2. Possible sources of unreliability:

1. Fluctuations of judgments of the quality of a pupil’s work

3. Objectivity

A test procedure is said to be objective if two or more observers of pupils performance can be agree on the report of the performance.

4. Comprehensiveness

1. The extents to which a test can be a representative sample of behaviors from the objectives of instruction contribute much to the success of a test.
2. Taxonomy with a content outline and a test blueprint help to ensure that the behaviors are tested.

5. Ease of construction and scoring

How easy it will be to devise the test task and to score them

6. Economy of pupil time

Some procedure such as interviews and individual observation of pupil performances require longer time to complete.

7. Economy of teacher time

Essay test, term papers, project and written work require much teacher time to grade and evaluate.

USING “AUTHENTIC MATERIAL” IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE

1. Introduction

Using authentic materials is one of the mainstays of an imaginative and motivating higher level course, but rarely features at levels lower than intermediate. There are several reasons for this, primarily a kind of fear that students will panic when faced with language that is largely unfamiliar, and a feeling that to prevent this the language should be edited to the students' level. This is an unnecessary fear, as using authentic materials can be rewarding and stimulating for both teacher and students.

Authentic materials, when appropriately selected an implemented, can be used to develop task that depart from formulaic language learning and provide a bridge between the linguistic skill of learners and their professional knowledge goals. Such materials, in their various formats, can provide a wealth of linguistic and conceptual content to learners who are focused on specific applications of their linguistic skills.

2. Definition of Authentic Materials

There are number of definitions related to authentic materials and there are presented here: (1) an authentic text is a stretch of oral language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and designed to convey a real message of some sort (Morrow in Anthony 2006), (2) authentic texts (either written or spoken) are those which are designed for native speakers; they are text designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language in question (Harmer in Anthony 2006), and (3) a rule of thumb for authentic specially produced for propose of language teaching (Nunan in Anthony 2006)

3. Why should we use authentic materials?

Why should you use them and how can they fit into your classroom? Let us look at some of the reasons for using them. Perhaps the most important is the students' motivation and interest. One of the powerful reasons for learning a new language is to get closer to its speakers, to understand them better and take part in their lives, in other words the integrative motivation. Second, Authentic materials are even more relevant for students who have the aim of going to the country itself. If they are to function in the foreign society they will have to get accustomed to all the trivial reading items that they will encounter every day.

4. Criteria for selecting authentic materials

There are a few factors which teacher should consider when choosing authentic materials for classroom use. Some of the factors are listed here: interest, purpose of language learning, cultural appropriateness, language level, and quality of the materials (Valensi et all 1994).

1. Interest

Authentic are not created for classroom purpose. They are taken from real life and are going to be introduced in the artificiality of the classroom. So teacher has to ensure that the topic of the authentic materials chosen addresses the needs and interest of the specific group of students being taught.

2. Purpose of language learning

The goal of language learning for that particular group of learners should be kept in mind while deciding which materials to use in class. If the learners going to use English for the limited purpose of communicating within their country as second language learners the choice will be different from those who would like to go abroad for further studies. The utility value of the materials is a very important consideration. The teacher has to consider if the information included in the materials chosen are of value to the students.

3. Cultural appropriateness

Some of the materials are based on the native speaker’s culture and for some learners it may be quite alien. Then the problem of explaining the culture to the students takes up a lot of class time and less time is devoted to the actual task based on the authentic material. Hence a teacher has to consider, whether the students have the background knowledge or cultural schema for the topic, while selecting materials.

4. Language level

A group of students may be at the beginner, intermediate or advance level of learning a new language. While choosing the materials the most important factors is the level of the language used in the materials. These materials are taken from real life and not manipulated for the specific purpose of teaching a language in a classroom. The input has to be comprehensible to the students. At the same time the input should be challenging enough to sustain their motivation. So materials which are at the level of difficulty of the students or slightly above the students’ present level should be selected. If it is too below their level, they may not learn much from it, and if it is too above their level they will not be able to understand and interact with the materials. If the text contains too many colloquialisms, methapors, symbols, hidden or double meanings, or idioms, it should be used only with advanced learners and not beginners.

5. Types of authentic materials

Authentic materials can include audio, video and printed materials. Multimedia materials involving video, audio, and graphical presentations can also be included. Any of these types of materials which are used for communicating specific message in real life will fall under this category. The message may be addressed to native speakers or to those who use this language as second language in their country for communication. Some of the materials are listed here: Authentic Audio Materials, Authentic Visual Materials, Authentic Printed Materials, and Authentic Multimedia Materials.

1. Authentic Audio Materials

Authentic audio materials consist of: (1) music, news and other audio materials available on the internet, (2) TV programming include movies, commercials, quiz show, cartoons, news, and weather, (3) radio including advertisement, music, and sales pitches, (4) taped, (5) meetings, talks, (6) announcements in airports and stores, and (7) professionally audio-taped short and novels.

2. Authentic visual materials

Authentic visual materials consist of:

1. Images and graphs available on the internet
2. Photographs
3. Painting and drawings
4. Wordless street signs
5. Pictures from magazine
6. Postcard
7. X-rays
8. Coins and currency
9. Clock, phone

3. Authentic printed materials

Authentic printed materials consist of:

1. Web based printed materials available on the internet
2. Newspaper (article, movie review, advertisement, astrology columns, sport report, obituary columns, advice columns, etc.)
3. Lyrics to songs
4. Restaurant menu
5. Street signs
6. Food product labels such as cereal boxes, candy wrappers
7. Tourist information brochures
8. University catalog
9. Telephone books
10. Maps
11. Magazine ( TV guides, comic books, catalog)
12. Greeting card, letters
13. Grocery coupon
14. Pin or T-shirt with message, school notice.

4. Authentic multimedia materials

Authentic multimedia materials consist of:

1. TV, video programs of various kinds
2. Podcasting in internet and
3. Web based programs involving multimedia use.

6. The advantages in using authentic materials

There are several advantages of using authentic materials especially in classrooms where English is used as second language.

Authentic materials consist of (Anthony 2006):

1. Expose learners to a wide range of natural language
2. Brings reality into the classroom and makes the interaction meaningful
3. Connects the classroom to the outside world and brings the real world the artificiality of the classroom
4. Makes the teaching and assessment focus on skill rather than facts of language
5. Makes the teaching and learning of language move away from delivering a set of facts to be memo-rized for examination purpose
6. Help teacher access readily available, attractively packed, in expensive resource
7. Add variety to classroom activity
8. Help students practice the skill learnt in the classroom in the outside world when they come across similar materials in real life.

A number of research studies have proved that the use of authentic materials result in an overall increase in motivation on learn a more positive attitude towards learning, as well as increased involvement and interest in the subject matter. Authentic materials are perceived by the learners as useful, lifelike and interesting.

To sum up, authentic materials: 1) have positive effect on learner motivation, 2) provide authentic cultural information, 3) provide exposure to real language, 4) relate more closely to learners’ needs, and 5) support more creative approach to teaching.

7. Conclusion and suggestions

1. Conclusion

The result of the study are: 1) authentic materials can be effectively used in ESL (English Second Language) classroom, 2) when it is used effectively, authentic materials help bring the real word into the classroom and significantly enliven the ESL class, 3) exposing the students to cultural features generates a deeper understanding of and interest in the topic, 4) on one hand, the students develop their ability to zero in on relevant information, and on the other, they learn how to disregard what is not relevant, and 5) as students pool their individual strengths they gain confidence in being able to function in an English-speaking society.

2. Suggestions

It is suggested to the teacher that: 1) when bringing authentic materials into the classroom, it should always be done with a purpose, 2) students would be more confident and more secure when handling authentic materials as long as the teacher gives them with pedagogical support, 3) authentic materials should be used in accordance with students ability hoping that students would be able to grasp the general idea of the text.