A ROLLER COASTER RIDE

A REFLECTIVE ESSAY ON PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION COURSE

Despite being challenging, 2022 has been a good year for me because it was the year I finally decided to pursue my master degree. My own motives to choose a new setting to learn and grow my pedagogical, professional, personality, and even my social skills as a teacher are one of the factors to be taken into account. Even though I am aware that it is quite challenging to work at a school and study in university at the same time, I am confident that being in an academic setting will be beneficial to me. A lecture for the Philosophy of Language and Education course is where I learned one of the most meaningful lessons.

I initially believed that the study of language philosophy was a highly challenging subject. I had this feeling due to the meetings' limited subjects and conversations, I experienced this for a number of them. I tried to read the papers and look up other references, but I was still absolutely perplexed. My friends and I had different points of view. Mam Nurul, the lecturer, thankfully did not leave us in the dark. I was able to absorb the information since she provided a clear and concise explanation. Even so, I recorded Mam Nurul's voice during the lecture in addition to writing down what she said. I listened to the album multiple times at home.

After several sessions, I eventually realized that philosophy of language is a relevant subject for me since it develops my critical thinking, which is excellent for my personal development. Moreover, this course gets me fascinated about anything, even if it's only a dot (.) or the article “the”. Definitely, in the context of 21st century skills, critical thinking is unquestionably essential, and for me as a master student, being critical and curious should become a way of thinking. Additionally, as a teacher, being critical is very beneficial for me. As a result, this course has been very helpful in assisting me in realizing the need of paying attention to every aspect in my surroundings.

The discussion turned to education topics after the issues of language philosophy were finished. My friends and I were given the task by Mam Nurul to present education system and ELT in a certain nation. I was quite pleased with this session since I thought the themes were fascinating and my friends and I selected the countries based on our individual motivations. One of my friends picked Korea because she loves K-POP, and another friend picked Saudi Arabia because she had studied Arabic during her life in an Islamic dorm. The conversation throughout the sessions went smoothly. I thought Mam Nurul's plan to liven up the class discussions was a great one. Even though, I initially thought the second round's theme would be education philosophy. I assumed the conversation would center on educational theory or ideology that results from an educator's philosophical outlook, experiences in the classroom and in life, and research into a variety of fields of study that are connected to education, as well as how educators can use this information to assess which schools are growing. However, I enjoyed the topics given and they were very meaningful and interesting.

All in all, I am grateful to have been assigned such a wonderful and inspiring lecturer as Mam Nurul, who truly understands our confusion and weakness. For me, learning the Philosophy of Language and Education course is like riding a roller coaster. It provided me with both challenges and valuable lessons.