As an annual routine, a public lecture was hosted once again by English Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta on Friday (10/25/2019). As the previous occasions were featured by great speakers, this year English Department invited another outstanding speaker, Mr. David Perrodin, a lecturer at Eastern Asia University in Thailand. As for the material, he chose to raise the theme “Improving Self-Confidence in Speaking English”.

This lecture started at 09.00 am and was opened directly by Dr. Ubaidillah after delivering his welcoming speech. In this 2-hour long lecture, Mr. David Perrodin presented the importance of mastering English nowadays. He explained that as an international language, English holds an important role in many aspects, such as economy, education, politics, tourism, and so forth. He also added that many job vacancies nowadays require English proficiency. Therefore, having proficiency in English seems to be a must if we want to see the world beyond our current zone.

After explaining the importance of English for modern life, Mr. Perrodin also talked about the importance of the proper English teaching and learning method. He believed that English would be easy to learn if the teaching method is interesting, whereas with the wrong and boring method, learning English could be a nightmare.

Because language is a means of communication, the best way to learn language is to try communicating. To practice this, Mr. David Perrodin actively invited the audiences to speak during the public lecture, He started with several jokes and simple questions then followed by a mini-game where the audiences could train their imagination and English ability in a fun way.

Mr. David did not only interact with the students, but also with the lecturers. He even invited all lecturers presented on the event, including the Head of English Department, to join a catwalk with students at the end of mini-game session. This indeed gained many excitements from the audiences. The active interaction between the presenter and the audiences proved that the best language learning method is direct communication instead of the usual rigid learning style.

This public lecture seems to be one of the Jum’ah (Friday) blessings for English Department of State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. Not only that they gained new knowledge, but also they could experience the joy of learning English without being haunted by grammar. Besides, the mini-game proposed by Mr. David Perrodin also strengthened the relations between students and lecturers. Overall, this event went successfully and the audiences’ enthusiasm kept filling up the room during the public lecture