Pre-service teachers’ voices of international teaching practicum in Indonesian elementary school

International teaching practicums help pre-service teachers (PSTs) advance professionally in teaching and gain multicultural competence. This study aims at describing an investigation of challenges and problems faced by the pre-service teachers during their international teaching program in an Indonesian elementary school and how to cope with them revealed by the PSTs’ voices. This qualitative case study started with conducting a survey questionnaire covering various aspects of results, challenges, and problems regarding the aspects of pedagogical, content knowledge, technology, and cultural gaps faced by seven international pre-service teachers (PSTs) from the Netherlands. The survey results were then further examined through in-depth interviews with the PSTs, and thematic analysis was conducted to examine the data. The findings showed that there were three categories of problems faced by the PSTs: issues from the students, problems from the PSTs, and problems from the schools or stakeholders. The PSTs could adapt to the situation and find solutions to the problems. They tried to be “Indonesians,” enjoyed every activity and difference, and communicated with the right person to solve problems. The study also revealed that the PSTs hoped that the lecturers could have spent more time at school and given them more advice. They wished the university could improve the scheduling system and give them a chance to teach in more than one school to be able to experience different school cultures. This study recommends further investigation of how a good international teaching program should be developed and managed.


INTRODUCTION
English instruction has been urged to begin at a young age due to growing recognition of the language's importance in the age of the global marketplace.The early primary grades in many nations have included English as a compulsory subject, and kindergarten is now expanded in the English language learning cycle (Hashemi and Azizinezhad, 2011;Nikolov and Mihaljević Djigunović, 2011;Roothooft, 2017).In Indonesia, the Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) movement had flourished since early 2000 when the government of Indonesia decided that English be given officially in elementary schools, and this phenomenon is captured by some studies highlighting the offering of English in some parts of Indonesia's primary schools as a local content (Diem, 2014;Sutarsyah, 2017;Zein, 2015).However, the government eliminated English from local content in primary schools with the 2013 curriculum, which resulted in a major point of contention among education stakeholders nationwide regarding whether or not it is necessary to include English as a compulsory subject or a local content subject in the elementary school curriculum (Habibi & Sofwan, 2015).Therefore, some primary schools in Yogyakarta still maintain English as either a supplementary or extra-curricular subject.
Since there is no formal curriculum set forth by the government, these schools are working in partnership with a state university in Yogyakarta to teach children English.In later development, this state university also cooperated with overseas universities to develop the program further through international teaching practicum (ITP), providing pre-service teachers (PSTs) international learning experiences.For PSTs to advance professionally, an international teaching practicum is the most rewarding experience possible.Jin et al. (2020) state that an international teaching practicum encourages and supports interns to engage in short-term, intense international teaching placements in foreign cultures, curricula, and professional practices in order to gain cross-cultural understandings and experience of other educational systems outside of their own familiar teaching and learning environments.Meanwhile, Allen et al. (2010) mention that the purpose of these alliances is to pool "resources, knowledge, facilities, and decision-making to achieve a common goal," and successful alliances result in fruitful professional experiences for pre-service teachers.Furthermore, pre-service teachers have the opportunity to watch and interact with real students, teachers, and curriculum in natural settings during their international teaching practicum (Huling, 1998).Along with the pedagogical aspect, some studies reveal that international teaching practicum allows interns to have better self-criticism, flexibility, tolerance, patience, politeness, independence, and the capacity to adjust to a new culture (Parr and Chan 2015;Willard Holt 2001).In addition, increasing knowledge, comprehension, and affirmation of various cultural ideas and values can be gained from this program (Cushner & Mahon, 2002;Harbon, 2007).
Those benefits are also appreciated by a teacher education university in the Netherlands which has since 2013 dispatched a selected group of students to have an ITP program to Yogyakarta University to have a TEYL program to complete a credit transfer, with the primary goal of gaining experience in teaching English to elementary school kids.Indonesian and Dutch universities have different schemes for preparing English teachers for children.The Dutch students have performed teaching practicum during their first five semesters of college, honing their instructional techniques in teaching English.On the other hand, Indonesian students who are interested in acquiring English instruction for children have formal interactions with children starting in their sixth semester when they participate in the EFC practicum.It can be said that whereas the preparation model in the Netherlands is more practical, it tends to be more theoretical in the Indonesian university.This different scheme is potentially causing a mismatch between the PSTs' wants and university partners with the classroom activities leading to the ineffective goal achievement of the ITP program.
During the ITP, the seven PSTs were guided by field tutor lecturers and tutor teachers taking roles as mentors who must help them improve the needed competencies.The assistance and program needed cover socialization about the school's culture (rules, curriculum agreement, school's vision and mission), development of knowledge and advanced skill needed in teaching, and assistance to personal development (confidence, coping with stress, etc.).The extent to which the preparation and assistance provided have positively or negatively impacted has not yet been further investigated.Ideally, practitioners are able to learn from teachers at school.Yet, there is no guarantee that the teachers at school possess the expected skills, either pedagogical, professional, social, or interpersonal competence.Indonesia's hiring and placement process for elementary school teachers is still not very well streamlined, allowing students to practice being guided by a less qualified teacher.
Teaching English as a foreign language to Indonesian students is a challenge which must be faced by practitioners.To start with, young learners have different characteristics from adults (Brewster et al., 2002;Scott & Yterberg, 2004;Wells, 1986).Harmer (2007) revealed that children learn differently from adults.They understand the meaning as a whole and not the meaning per word and learn from their surroundings, seeing and experiencing things.They learn from their surroundings, seeing and experiencing things, and they comprehend the meaning as a whole rather than the meaning of each word.Another trait is demonstrating inquiry and interest in everything.They have a short attention span, require extra care from the instructor, and enjoy talking about themselves.The PSTs who exhibit these qualities are more likely to provide special attention and differentiate learning tools, learning methods, and activities.Apart from the child characteristics, another challenge lies in the language of instruction used in the class.The international students have not yet grasped Indonesian; on the other hand, children are still unfamiliar with the English being taught.Therefore, it possibly creates problems in the learning process, primarily in classroom management.In addition, the government's decision to exclude English from the curriculum structure of Kurikulum 2013 might trigger problems related to technical things such as syllabus, RPP (lesson plan), material, media, assessment and administration since they have no guidance and rules from the curriculum.Not to mention that the rules of the school and the effectiveness of the instructors' instruction have a significant impact on them as well (Ansyari, 2018;Land & Rubin, 2018;Sahin-Taskin, 2017).
The cultural difference should also be carefully examined in the development and execution of the program, for the lack of cultural awareness can trigger a fatal result.In fact, the PSTs would handle Indonesian students with different backgrounds in nature and society.Both partners involved must be fully aware of this cultural difference and make use of it as a potentially developed aspect of the program; otherwise, this culture shock might create significant problems during the running of the program.Interacting with Indonesian teachers and society, which tend to be "closed" and cautious in offering suggestions and recommendations, is a challenge for the interns, whose European culture tends to be "open.".Whereas during the teaching practicum, the PSTs need real suggestions and criticism to improve their skill and quality.The relationship of teacher-student or lecturer-student in the Netherlands tends to be horizontal and égalitévery different from Indonesian, especially in Yogyakarta.If these are not prepared beforehand, there will be a misunderstanding and miscommunication, which will result in learning failure.
The program has been considered to benefit both parties.However, it does not mean that there is no issue with it.During the implementation of the program, there has not been any comprehensive empirical study on the implementation and the effect of the program on the PSTs, tutor teachers, and students.Similar to other activities such as needs analysis, planning, and implementation, evaluation is one of the important key chains in an instructional program.A comprehensive evaluation can expose the fact on how the program is carried out, its strengths and weaknesses, its problems and challenges, and eventually answer whether the objectives of the program have been reached effectively as well as the satisfaction of the involved parties with their achievement.
The primary goals of the study were to seek the challenges and problems found during an international teaching practicum and how to cope with them, particularly as revealed by the voices of seven PSTs' who participated.The term 'voice' here reflects the PSTs' experiences, ideals, and information, and it represents identity.Listening to their voices as they discuss their experience in teaching English to young learners from various cultural backgrounds would serve as the ideal empirical foundation for the latter study, which aims to develop a better cooperative international teaching practicum system.

METHOD
The study is classified as a qualitative case study aiming at developing a description and deep analysis of a case, including an event, program, or activity involving more than one individual (Creswell, 2007).This study was looking into the personal experiences of the seven PSTs, specifically how they saw their ITP teaching experience as different from other types of teaching experiences.This would imply that the PSTs ought to emphasize their experiences during ITP in a Yogyakarta primary school and not their experiences during other forms of teaching prior to or following.The PSTs were expected to assess the difficulties they encountered and how they overcame them during their teaching practice to achieve the intended objectives of ITP, which included offering both professional and cultural experiences.
This ITP program aimed to give PSTs who had received EFL training the chance to acquire teaching experience abroad was a joint project between Dutch and Indonesian universities.It was carried out in a public elementary school in Yogyakarta, of which English teaching has been well-established, and the classes used in the research are English classes of grades 1 to 5.
The research participants were seven PSTs from a Dutch university majoring in primary education teacher who were completing an English teaching practicum in a public elementary school in Yogyakarta.They consisted of six female and one male student.Two mentor teachers, both English language instructors, were assigned to the PSTs, and they were required to watch the PSTs' instructions each time they taught the class.Before creating the lesson plans and creating the teaching and learning materials for a particular lesson, the PSTs would typically talk with and confer with the mentors.In addition, as field supervisors and researchers, four lecturers from the Indonesian university participated.They reviewed the lesson plans, at least once observed each PST throughout their ITP, and provided comments and recommendations for the PSTs to further enhance the quality of their instruction.Creswell (2007) mentioned that the process of a case study consists of the identification of cases or cases from the researcher, identification of data collection technique, identification of data analysis technique, interpretation, and report of the research result.The data analysis was started by checking all documents, qualitative surveys, interview scripts, videos, and field notes from the observation.The data were then classified and categorized based on the types of data needed to answer the research problem.It can be done by reflecting on the research construct.After all the data were classified and categorized in a specifically designed table, the groupings were then proceeded to a narrowing category.This process was done several times until the expected data reflected in the research construct were obtained.To facilitate the data classification and relevance, the researcher must know the keywords obtained from the available script and document.Data triangulation was used to analyze the outcomes of data processing from different angles to verify and assess their validity.If the research findings correctly reflect the situation and are backed by data, the study is considered valid.Data source triangulation is the method of triangulation employed in this study.So that it can serve as the foundation for making decisions, full data must first be verified from a variety of sources, in this case, the parties involved, including teacher mentors, supervisors, and school administrators.It is anticipated that the data obtained using this method will satisfy the conclusion-drawing construct.This triangulation procedure is carried out concurrently with fieldwork so that researchers can fully capture data.Therefore, it is anticipated that the data gathered will be viable.

Results
Being relatively new to the teaching field, PSTs are uninformed of and underprepared to deal with the complexities inherent in this line of work (Long et al., 2012), and they must find a balance between the profession's theory and practice (Bates, 2002;Smith, 2000).They are still going through the process of building their identities, beliefs, and frames of reference for the teaching profession during their induction years (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011).Despite the benefits, PSTs might face some challenges as a result of this international teaching practicum.Therefore, according to researchers, carefully thoughtout preparation and ongoing responsive support from external organizations and local partners are essential for international teaching practicum.
Major and Santoro (2016) reveal that building partnerships in international environments may be impacted by the complexity of relationships in postcolonial settings where cooperating teachers may not share the same first language, culture, or ideas of what constitutes optimal practice with pre-service teachers.Meanwhile, Kabilan (2013) discovered that there wasn't enough time during international teaching practicum, depriving the pre-service teachers of worthwhile learning and teaching opportunities.Kabilan et al. (2020) further emphasize the importance of incorporating multiculturalism's components and aspects into future ITP and teacher education programs.
The issues and difficulties in the case study of the international teaching practicum addressed herein relate to pedagogy, content knowledge, technology, and culture.During the practicum, the PSTs dealt with some problems from three categories: problems from the students, problems from the PSTs, and problems from the schools or regulations.

Problems from the Students
The very basic problem is, of course, the different languages and cultures.Similarly, Taylor (2017) states that the main difficulties that PSTs of international teaching practicum remain confronted with are those related to sociocultural differences, which cause them to experience cultural gaps and unease.The PSTs admitted that they needed plenty of time to understand the students, what they need and what they want.This is supported by Kabilan's finding (2013) that there was not enough time during international teaching practicum to allow for meaningful learning and teaching opportunities for the preservice students.Indeed, the PSTs thought that some students did not understand the lesson delivered because of the language barrier since they did not speak the same language.
Most of the students were very shy and quiet.They started to be brave and more active after a few weeks of the meeting.Even though they were shy, sometimes they were quite noisy in the class yet not brave enough to express their opinion individually and preferred to answer questions altogether, so the class became boisterous.As an example, the first graders were very noisy, and the PSTs found it difficult to control them.Here is her response to the questionnaire: "Grade 1 could be very loud, so sometimes it was hard to calm them down." According to the PSTs, they had to spend time to be acquainted with the students and build up their confidence to talk about any problem they faced during the practicum.Sometimes there were one or two students who felt very difficult to understand.Another difficult thing was handling a student who suddenly cried in class without an obvious reason.Those realities had to be handled with patience and consciousness.When things were uncontrollable, they would call their mentor, the English teacher.They also discovered that the barriers of language and culture made it difficult when there was a dispute between pupils.They knew they had to deal with it, but they just did not know how to.Another problem came from remembering the students' names due to their unfamiliarity with Indonesian names to them.This affects their proximity to the students.

Problems from the PSTs
English is a foreign language for the PSTs.Their major problem is teaching without using their mother tongue.Another is the difficulty in giving clear instructions to the students.Since the students cannot speak English, at some moments, the interns found it difficult to make the students clearly understand a concept or an instruction.They did not understand the same language each other.The PSTs then tried to use gestures (body language) and facial expressions to explain a lot of things to the students.
A further obstacle faced by the PSTs is doing and teaching a lot of things which are also new for them.In their textbooks, they discovered many objects which are only found in Indonesia, thus creating another problem for them.Finding proper and interesting material for each level also became their problem.In addition, they had to make their own materials and could not fully use the media in the classroom.Some exercises in the book were too difficult for the students, so they had to adjust them by creating new material.

Problems from the School and Regulations
During their international teaching practicum, the PSTs faced some problems with the school and regulations.Since there was only one meeting each week, the PSTs were unable to interact with the school and especially the students in-depth.The duration of teaching in Indonesia is longer than in the Netherlands, acquiring the PSTs to make an adjustment.Because of some conditions like limited school facilities, the PSTs were unable to use IT-based media, which they are good at, resulting in their inadequacy in teaching.
Indonesia is a hot tropical country.So, they felt tough when they had to teach in a small class with many students without an AC.In the Netherlands, the classrooms are very different, where a computer and a digital board are available.Books and notes are kept at school, not brought home.With regard to the seating arrangement, students in the Netherlands sit in groups, while in Indonesia, they sit in rows and pairs.As a result, the PSTs had to rearrange the seating before they could begin instructing, which significantly cut into their instructional time.

Discussion
In every implementation of a program, an evaluation should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the program in achieving its objectives.Evaluation is identical to the final result, but the actual scope includes the input and the process of the program implementation (Kumano, 2001;Tayibnapis, 2000;Worthen and Sanders, 1981;Zainul & Nasution, 2001).
During their international teaching practicum program, to deal with problems faced, the PSTs employed various methods.Those methods can be classified into three clusters: 1) developing and applying various learning techniques and strategies, 2) developing positive psychology, and 3) asking for help from lecturers, teachers, and tutors.Below are further explanations.

Developing and applying various learning techniques and strategies
The teaching practicum is done in each grade of elementary school and forces the PSTs to handle various students with ranges of age and characteristics.They must refine and switch up their teaching techniques, which eventually improves their pedagogical skills (Kabilan et al., 2017;Sojkin & Michalak, 2018).Chien (2014) and Güngör (2016) also argued that teaching practicum enables PSTs to improve their pedagogic competence by assessing their teaching abilities, focusing on classroom management, the effective use of the target language, giving instruction, materials design, and activity preparation.Along with that, the difference in language and culture also often triggered another obstacle for the PSTs.This issue is in line with the results of several earlier investigations (Chasanah and Sumardi, 2022;Kabilan et al., 2020;Pawar, 2017;Yulia, 2019).Below are some efforts performed by the PSTs to cope with the problems in the teaching and learning process. Carry out the reflection of the learning process, revision or change on materials which is difficult to understand  Repeat the materials so that students understand the learning pattern.
In order to understand the cultural difference that exists between students, tutors, school principals, and other related parties, the PSTs use a variety of strategies to develop their level of cultural awareness and intercultural competence.This is in line with some previous studies finding that intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006;Hunter et al., 2015), culturally responsive teaching methods (Dantas, 2007), and greater knowledge of other cultures and cultural practices can all be developed through international practicum experiences.

Developing positive psychology
International teaching practicum develops the PSTs' good psychological aspects, including mutual respect, learning from one another, comprehending one another's cultures, and adjusting to various educational perspectives and beliefs (Ahmad et al., 2019;Azizah, 2016;Kabilan, 2013;Lai et al., 2015;Sciaky, 2015).The PSTs applied a positive psychology approach to calm themselves down and to get attention at school.The psychology approach involved suggestions to keep thinking positively and be happy so that they were always motivated in teaching.Further, they also tried to keep reminding themselves that each child is unique and different, so they should always accept the fact and convince the students to keep learning.To calm down the students, the approach used was trying to make every learning session to be as fun as possible.Additionally, they made an effort to improve students' selfassurance by rewarding them with praises and encouraging words and forming a close bond with them.

Asking for help from lecturers, teachers, and tutors
The final thing the PSTs did when they found any problems was asking helps from their lecturers, English teachers at school, or even tutors from the State University of Yogyakarta.Regarding the teacher's attendance in the classroom during the learning session, almost all PSTs (5 persons) stated that the teachers helped them handle some technical problems during the learning session quite often.According to the PSTs, "You can call the real teacher if it doesn't work".They could depend on the teacher because she would be ready to help explain things if they presented the materials and tried to explain them orally and with gestures, but the students still did not understand what they meant and what to do.Kim and Choi (2019) discovered that favourable interactions with locals during casual and private encounters assisted them in resolving the issue.The PSTs, therefore, feel more welcomed if they have strong relationships with the locals and blend in with their surroundings.Similarly, Major & Santoro (2016) claimed that genuine partnerships among related parties with shared practicum supervision responsibilities are essential for the program's development.In addition, task authenticity, task expectations, and emotional involvement were three issues presented by Allen (2011), who emphasized how important the relationship between the PSTs and mentor instructors is for success.

The Expectation towards Schools and Universities
The cooperation from both universities has given the PSTs chance to implement their skills in teaching English to elementary school students.They felt happy about the chance because they could improve their teaching skill, especially towards students who do not communicate using their mother tongue, as well as learn other countries' cultures.They could also feel the two education systems from two countries on the subject of either regulations or the application on the field.Additionally, the courtesy and support given by schools and universities also helped them through the teaching practicum.
Their expectation to be realized in the future is that the cooperation can be maintained because they obtained huge benefits, such as the development of themselves, the development of their teaching methods, the mastery of a foreign language (Indonesian), and knowledge of culture.Concerning the period of the cooperation, they wished that it could be longer so that they could do teaching practicum longer as well.They thought that the given time for practicum (two months) did not run effectively due to some holidays and classroom activities.The teaching practicum period in the mid of the second semester was reduced because of the midterm test and day off due to the final exam for the sixth graders; hence they felt the teaching practicum was not the maximum.The teaching schedule was also changed several times; thus, they had to adjust their materials.They hoped that the information could be given prior to the change and was not sudden so that they could have a more optimal teaching practicum.This issue with time constraints in similar programs is consistent with the study finding by Woods and Kwo (as cited in Orland- Barack & Yinon, 2007) that the preparation program's structure frequently leaves little time for reflection and performing reflective activities.The fact that there were 7 PSTs in only one school also reduced their chance to teach because they had to share the classes from each level.They anticipate being able to practice teaching in two distinct institutions in the future, which will help them greatly improve their ability to instruct.They are also able to get a taste of various school rules, different student personalities, and various English instructors by doing this.These should help them become more knowledgeable and adept at instructing and interacting with others.
On the matter of teacher tutors in the classroom, the PSTs felt that they were quite helpful.According to Sahan (2017), for pre-service teachers to acquire the necessary teaching skills, they require support from qualified instructor training.This is consistent with Kaur et al.'s study (2021), which found that the interns received sufficient guidance from the mentor teachers, enhancing the value of the experience.They often assisted the PSTs during the teaching practicum in the classroom.It helped the PSTs in conditioning the students to be ready for the lesson.When there was a personal conflict between students, they also contributed to handling it and prevented it from ruining the learning session.Also, the interns hope that tutor teachers can check their lesson plans and give them feedback.They argued that this could help them in the practicum to deliver the materials more effectively and make the students easily understand them.Evaluation and feedback after teaching are also expected from the teachers because the interns want to know their strengths and weakness in their teaching to improve their skills.
It is also hoped that the lecturers, as their field supervisors, to give them more feedback and suggestion for their teaching practicum prior to their teaching practicum.It can aid the interns in minimizing their weaknesses in teaching.The presence of lecturers in the classroom to monitor and guide them is also expected to help them improve their skills.During their teaching practicum, the lecturers merely came to the class to do supervision two to three times.It is expected in the future that, supervision will be done more often.By doing so, the lecturers will be able to know the progress of the interns in delivering materials, giving instructions, handling students, and managing the class.The arrival of the supervisor lecturer not only offers academic guidance and instructions but also has a beneficial effect on the mental state of the practising pupils.Kaur et al. (2021) found that PSTs experienced homesickness, nervousness, anxiety, fear, unfamiliarity, and unease during their practicum.The supervisor's presence lessened not only unpleasant feelings but also boosted good feelings.Even so, they believed that the lecturers already gave them many suggestions and advice to solve their problems in their teaching practicum.
To conclude, the program was altogether beneficial for the PSTs in improving their teaching skills, learning different cultures, and boosting their confidence.Therefore, it is expected that the cooperation can be continued with some improvement, especially on the duration of the teaching practicum, for the reason that the more they teach, the more they improve their teaching skill.It is also expected to have a more certain schedule for the sake of preparation initial to the teaching practicum.Furthermore, they also look forward to more suggestions and advice for their lesson plan and teaching practicum in the classroom from both English teachers at school and lecturers as their field supervisors.Similar findings regarding the significance of support networks from local teachers and their supervisor lecturers for students practising international teaching were discovered in several prior studies (Clark & Byrnes, 2012;Edwards, 2011;Kaur et al., 2021).

CONCLUSION
Generally, the implementation of the teaching English practicum has run well and smoothly.It is undeniable that Indonesia and the Netherlands possess different backgrounds of culture, including educational management, which can trigger problems.The study exposed some problems faced by the Netherlands students during their teaching practicum in Indonesia, along with the solutions.In addition, the research also revealed their hope towards the running of the program in the future.The problem of different cultural backgrounds becomes one of the basic problems, yet the PSTs have struggled hard to adapt to the situation in Indonesia.As a result, they can accomplish their work.
Regarding the challenges and problems, there are three categories of problems faced by the interns: problems from the students, problems from the PSTs, and problems from the school or regulations.They managed to adapt to the situation and solved their problems by trying to "be Indonesian", who enjoyed every activity as well as differences, and communicated with the right person to solve their problems.The PSTs wished that the tutor lecturer could have had more time at school and given them more feedback.They also hope that Yogyakarta University can improve the scheduling system and give them chances to teach at different schools.Therefore, to guarantee the program's success, it is anticipated to have more careful preparation for the international teaching practicum with supporting components.
This research offers some implications for the urgent need to bring and integrate multiculturalismrelated topics or subjects into the training of English language teachers.All students profit from promoting diversity, awareness of multicultural education, and culturally responsive teaching practices.Furthermore, increasing multicultural awareness and inclusion not only promotes acceptance and helps students flourish in a world with increasing diversity, but it also helps students with different backgrounds and needs succeed.Therefore, they won't encounter major intercultural communication challenges if they practice teaching both in their own country and abroad with a variety of various cultures.Finally, to accomplish the objectives of this ITP and ensure the continuation of related programs in the future, careful planning, efficient coordination, and communication from the PSTs, their university, the intended university, the school where the practicum is held, teachers, and supervisors are also highly anticipated.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Problems faced by the PSTs during their ITP