Depok-Darren Benardy, a student of the Universitas Indonesia, Occupational Therapy study program, Vocational Education Program, presents a new innovation in teaching English for school students. By utilizing the “LOCK IN!” trend and the “Starchamps” point system, he presents an effective and fun teaching technique. Darren’s teaching technique was included in the Indonesia Teacher Prize (ITP) Competition held by Ruangguru and Akademia by Ruangguru, from December 2024 to January 2025, and won a silver medal for the English Literacy & Proficiency category.
ITP is a competition to find the best teachers in Indonesia with the theme “Reasoning & Literacy Challenge”. The competition assessment includes pedagogical skills, content mastery, and understanding of pedagogical content. This year, the competition was attended by 641 participants consisting of teachers, students, and professionals from all provinces in Indonesia.
(Photo: Darren Benardy, Occupational Therapy student)
Darren said, “This competition gave me experience that teaching is not easy. Starting from preparing the material, mastering the material, to the ability to ensure that students can understand the explanation from beginning to end.”
In this competition, he created two micro teaching videos containing explanations of materials and discussion of questions. At the beginning of the lesson, he implemented the “LOCK IN!” trend by snapping his fingers to invite students to focus on the learning material. The material was delivered according to understanding and various references through the prepared deck; and with the “Starchamps” point system which provides prizes as rewards for the most active students.
According to him, the competition is unique because it features Double Texts type questions that contain true or false statements. Participants are expected to be able to teach like Ruangguru teachers by using three different colored markers and dividing the whiteboard for the material. “From this competition, I understand that each teaching material has a different delivery method. For that, teachers need to be more creative in delivering the material to make it interesting for students,” he said.
(Photo: Darren during a teaching simulation at the competition)
Director of UI Vocational Education Program, Padang Wicaksono, S.E., Ph.D, said that Darren’s achievement shows a combination of practical competencies taught by UI Vocational and theoretical abilities possessed by Darren. “I hope Darren’s teaching abilities can be implemented in real terms in society, for example through community service activities or others that have a direct impact on the Indonesian nation,” said Padang.
