Gender Voices

Ini bukan tulisan yang membahas buku karya David Graddol & Joan Swann meski judulnya jelas kucopy dari buku mereka.

Tadi siang, dalam kesempatan 'English Conversation Club', seorang rekan kerja memberi activity 'jigsaw listening'. Dia ambil kisah yang bisa dikategorikan 'urban mystery' yang telah mengalami tell dan retell berpuluh-puluh kali hingga tidak jelas apakah itu benar adanya, atau hanya isapan jempol belaka. In short ceritanya begini:

A young married couple -- named John and Joanny -- went from Texas to Kansas by car. On the way, Joanny got bored since it was quite a long journey, and along the way, they didn't see anything but empty land. To overcome the boredom, Joanny listened to music from the car radio. After listening to some music, suddenly Joanny was schocked by news from the radio announcer. The announcer informed that there was a maniac who escaped from a mental hospital. Besides a maniac, he was also a cold-blooded killer who had killed 6 people sadistically. To end the shocking news, the announcer said that everybody had better beware, stay inside the house, locked the door and windows properly, and not roam around the streets.

Joanny suddenly got panic. Kansas was still long way to go. Moreover, suddenly the weather changed. It rained very heavily. The sky got darker. Until suddenly, the car broke down. John tried calming his wife, but Joanny still felt very restless. Then John offered Joanny to run, to look for a house to ask for help. But Joanny could not run because she was wearing a beautiful dress and high-heeled shoes (mekso banget yak? LOL) So John asked her to stay in the car, while John himself was looking for some help. Joanny had to stay in the car with all doors locked. She had to cover up herself with blanket so that no one could know that there was someone inside the car. She was not to open the doors of the car but only when John was back. He would knock on the window three times.

In the middle of the night, Joanny heard knock on the roof of the car: one ... two ... three ... the knock didn't stop. Someone outside the car didn't stop knocking; therefore, Joanny didn't open the door.

After morning came, Joanny suddenly heard the sound of a police car's siren wailing; it stopped not far from her car. Then, she heard a police officer said, with a loud speaker, "Joanny, you are safe now. Please go out of the car slowly. Walk to us, but don't turn your head back."

Joanny agreed. She went out of the car, walked towards the police officers waiting. However, she was really curious why she had better not look back. Out of big curiosity, Joanny looked back. And ... there ... on the car, she saw John's body was hanging under a tree. He was dead.

Pertama, jumlah siswa yang ada dibagi menjadi dua kelompok. Cerita di atas dibagi menjadi dua bagian. Kelompok pertama mendapat bagian pertama, kelompok kedua mendapat bagian kedua. Kemudian, mereka harus saling cerita bagian masing-masing agar mendapat cerita yang utuh.

Dikarenakan waktu masih panjang, maka kita memberi activity selanjutnya. We asked the students to continue the story, dengan menjawab pertanyaan:

1. who killed John?

2. why was he killed?

3. what was the relationship between John's death and the maniac?

Kita membagi siswa menjadi empat kelompok, Dengan sengaja aku membagi kelompok berbeda jenis kelamin: dua kelompok terdiri dari laki-laki, dua kelompok lain terdiri dari perempuan. Mengapa begini? Aku yakin dengan cara berpkir yang berbeda, mereka akan berimajinasi kisah yang berbeda pula.

Dan, begitulah. Kisah yang dihasilkan sangat berbeda. 'Gender voices' nampak jelas di sini.

Namun berhubung aku sudah ngantuk berat, aku belum bisa berbagi kisahnya di sini. Hmmm ... and besok bakal ada bazaar di depan rumah, yang pasti aku bakal ikutan sibuk. Setelah itu ... lupa dah!!!

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