National Holidays

Holiday is recently celebrated not only for the purpose of religious events, but also in pagan and historical celebration. For the historical purposes, every country has its own holidays to celebrate. Most of the countries in this world celebrate their greatest leaders’ birthday as an appreciation to those who has brought the victory to the country. For instance, Americans celebrate the birthday of President George Washington on the third Monday in February. Another example comes from Pakistan, which has an annual holiday on 25 December. It commemorates the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who was the founder and the first Governor of Pakistan. In India, people also have Gandhi Jayanti as a national holiday in which to pay tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. South Africa, one more example, has a national celebration on 18 July to commemorate its amazing leader, Nelson Mandela. All of the examples are in line with what Picoult (2013) stated that history is not about dates and places and wars, yet it is about the people who fill the spaces between them. By establishing some greatest leaders’ birthday as national holidays, the nation of a country will have the opportunity to honor the history and the men behind it. In short, having these national holidays will help the nation to plan their future by learning from the past (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC); taking all the positive values in order to create a better future.

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Thanksgiving Day; Yesterday and Nowadays

Thanksgiving is an American holiday which came up to its history in 16^th century. The modern Thanksgiving has things in common with the first one, which took place almost four hundred years ago in the English colony of Massachusetts. In 1620, the Pilgrims, who were a religious group from England, arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims came to the New World because their religion was different from the main religion in England. In the first winter, the Pilgrims’ lives was very hard. It caused almost half of the group died. They died of hunger, cold and disease. Yet this situation did not long last because the Indians of Massachusetts helped them during the next year. The Indians taught the newcomers how to hunt, grow corn and survive in the New World. When the next winter came, the Pilgrims had enough food. They were grateful and had a feast to give thanks. They invited the Indians, whom they shared food and friendship with, to the feast. In the feast, the Pilgrims and Indians probably ate deer while today Americans eat turkey. Although the food is probably different, the modern Thanksgiving and the first one have a similar spirit to celebrate.

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Learning English in Native and Non-native Country

Learning a language is becoming a big challenge for particular students, both in native and non-native country. One example, Indonesian students who learn English language in their own country will have another story of learning process when they learn the language in the English speaking country. Regarding this matter, students need to increase their awareness about the language learning environment which is appropriate to support their learning process. Therefore, it is important to let the students know about the types of language learning environment, that is learning a language as the foreign language and as the mother tongue. Students can decide which one of the environment that will help them to achieve their goal of learning. By analyzing the similarities and differences between both types of language learning environment, students will figure out how their learning process is being carried out effectively and efficiently.

The first similar thing of learning English in both native and non-native country is that the essential of the language which is a tool for communication. Language is defined as a form of communication using words, either spoken or written. Meanwhile communication is a process of exchanging information between two parties. Therefore, there must be two parties within particular area for communication to exist while language itself is used as the medium to exchange. In today’s world, English is treated as the global lingua franca due to the fact that it is a required international language in areas such as communications, science, information technology, diplomacy and also education. English, as a language, is used as a method of communication around the world, either directly or indirectly. English learners can use English directly as a tool for communication by direct or face-to-face interaction. However, it is also accepted that the language can be used to exchange information by using social media. Thus, wherever the English learners learn the language, it is always used as a tool to communicate ideas between two parties by using spoken or written words.

After knowing about the similarity, students should also notice the difference between learning English in native and non-native countries. One thing that differentiate them is the educational system of the native and non-native countries. It is undeniable that the educational system has an important role in students’ language learning environment. As Steiner (1988) said that students and the context of learning are the components of an education system. It means that the educational system should be well-conducted in order to create excellent students and also the learning environment. For instance, in America, the educational focus of the government is a decentralization to give a total authority to the states and the districts in managing their own instructional curriculum. By evolving the decentralization model, the educational management is executed based on the exact needs and aspiration from the society of each state and district. Generally, this policy is in line with one of its educational goals which is to improve the social condition of society. Moreover, the educational system in America has been created to help and prepare the students in developing their personal skills. Therefore, at the end of 19^th century, there is a claim for changing the curriculum and the learning method by directing the attention to the different needs of each student. Thus, the students will have a big opportunity in deciding their learning choices and priorities.

Different from America’s educational system, Indonesia has its own educational system. In short, Indonesian students will have a different learning environment if they choose their mother tongue country (Indonesia) as an environment to learn English. Although the implementation of decentralization model is also running in Indonesia, but it still has several problem that should be considered by the government itself. As Rohman and Wiyono (2010) said that the decentralization in Indonesia has several crucial points which are related to the implementation, such as the misdistribution of educational service through the numbers of provinces in Indonesia and also the frequent changing of curriculum itself. Additionally, the focus of Indonesia educational system is the character building and the intellectuality of the students. In line with this, the government, in this case The Minister of Education, has improved the curriculum of education in Indonesia into the focus of three aspects of learning, they are cognitive, affective, and behavior. In short, learning here is to create a student which is good in every aspects of life.

In short, knowing about the characteristics of the types of language learning environment is very important for students. Both native and non-native countries have their own strengths to help students in learning a language. So, the students can take the benefits from the similarities and differences of both language learning environments. Yet, they should not only rely on a specific point that a country has been served. However, the final goal here is to help the students in figuring out which environment works best for them in order to achieve the best result in learning.

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