Essay is one of the crucial aspects that students must prepare in determining whether they will advance or not to the next selection process in Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) 2023. To make sure the participants from University Al-Azhar Indonesia (UAI), Office of International Affairs has collaborated with Thafhan Muwaffaq, S.S., M.Lit., The Lecturer at English Language and Culture as well as The Awardee of LPDP Alumnus to conduct supervision classes for essay to them. There are four main questions that they must answer based on IISMA’s requirements. Hence, this program is expected to give several foundations for the participants in pointing out their story as the candidates of UAI in IISMA 2023.
The first meeting on January 25, 2023, Mr. Thafhan shared the tips on how to write about academic and non-academic achievements, including the process and skills involved in the students’ previous or current degree program. During this section, everyone was given the chance to speak one by one about their accomplishments. He explained that achievement is very variative and it is not only about GPA. The participants’ stories were explored by Mr. Thafhan to seek their authentic achievement that they are really proud of and indeed has an impact on society.
By the same token, Mr. Thafhan asked the participants to outline their plans to engage with local and international communities during the IISMA program. The approach can be from a diverse range of forms such as their talents, passions, interests, and etc. The crucial point that students must highlight is how the approach they will use as Indonesian can blend with international culture or which is known as cross-cultural activity.
Mr. Thafhan also involved the students to share their stories in facing difficult challenges during their studies and how they solve them. They were given some understanding that it is very normal to everyone to have problems in life and no one can avoid that. Nevertheless, the action to recognize as well as solve the problem will define how strong enough a person is. That is an important aspect for future IIISMA awardees to show that sense of strength and a proof that they can survive if they are given a chance to study abroad.
The second meeting on February 1, 2023, Mr. Thafhan gave the assignment to participants to draft their essays with 350 words in 10 minutes. He, then, gave several instructions to them that once they finish their writing, they have to hand it to other participants to read. The purpose is to make sure whether everyone understands what is the essence from the message of their writing and it is kind of the power of proofreading. As known, proofreading is best left as the very last step before submitting a participant’s essay in the application process. After that, everyone delivered their thoughts to the essay that they read. The participants were asked to submit their essay to google form that was provided by him. Thus, he provided supervision to one by one and gave some comments to be improved to each of them.
The final meeting on February 8, 2023, Mr. Thafhan continued to supervise participants’ essays which are based on the schedule intensively. During the supervision, everyone was emphasized to elaborate their ideas in each paragraph by formulating three important elements: what, why, and how into their essays. Finally, by having this section, all the participants are expected to maximize their essay’s revision so it can be used in the interview simulation that will be held on February 11, 2023. (TSH)