A Man Made Forest

A Man Made Forest

I really amazed when watching the ted talks videos especially with the speakers’ pronunciation and accent. It is really perfect. Beside that their gesture, their mimic, their intonation and their movement are appropriate to their speech. Their speech also can understand well. Furthermore, they can make the situation not bored and the audiences active. It is look like that the speakers have a high credibility in delivering their speech.

Well, first of all I want to tell you what I have learned from that video that the speaker is Shubhendu Sharma. He has a forest in the backyard of his own house. He is an entrepreneur who facilitates the making of this forest. They have help factories, farms, schools, homes, resorts, apartment buildings, public parks and even a zoo to have one of such forests. According to him, forest can spread over acres and acres of area. It could fit in a small space as small as your house garden.

He is also an industrial engineer. He specializes in making cars. In his previous job at Toyota, he learned how to convert natural resourches into products. Example: we would drip the sap out of a rubber tree, convert  it into raw rubber and make a tire out of it. But these products can never become a natural resurches again. We seperate the elements from nature and convert them into an irreversible state. That's industrial production. All the natural products become a natural resource again. This is something which he learned when he made a forest in the backyard of his own house.

To make a forest we start with soil. We touch, feel and even taste it to identify what properties it lacks. If the soil is made up of small particles it becomes compact. So compact, that water cannot seep in. We mix some local biomass available around, which can help soil become more porous. Water can now seep in. If the soil does not have the capacity to hold water, we will mix some more biomass - some water absorbent material like peat or bigas, so soil can hold those water and it stays moist.

To grow, plants need water, sunlight and nutrition. What if the soil does not have any nutrition in it? We do not just add nutrition directly to the soil. That would be the industrial way. It goes against nature. We instead add microorganisms to the soil. They produce the nutrients in the soil naturally. They feed on the biomass we have mixed in the soil,  so all they have to do is eat and multiply. As their number grows, the soil starts breathing again. It becomes alive.

They research old paintings, poems and literature from the place to identify the tree species belonging there. Once they know their trees,  they divide them in four different layers: shurb layer, sub tree layer, tree layer and canopy layer. They fix the ratios of each layer, and then they decide the percentage of each tree species in the mix. If we are making a fruit forest, we increase the percentage of fruit-bearing trees. It could be a flowering forest, a forest that attracts a lot of birds or bees,  or it could simply be a native, wild evergreen forest. We collect the seeds and ferminate saplings out of them. We make sure that trees belonging to the same layer are not planted next to each other, or they will fight for the same vertical space when they grow tall. We plant the saplings close to each other. On the surface, we spread a thick layer of mulch, so when it is hot outside the soil stays moist. When it is cold, frost formation happens only on the mulch,  so soil can still breathe while it's freezing outside. The soil is very soft that roots can penetrate into it easily, rapidly. Initialy, the forest does not seem like it's growing, but it's growing under the surface. In the first three months, roots reach a depth of one meter. These root form a mesh, tightly  holding the soil. Microbes and fungi live throughout this network of roots. So if some nutrition is not available in the vicinity of a tree, these microbes are going to get the nutrition to the tree.

Whenever it rains, magically, mushrooms appear overnight. This means the soil below has a healthy fungal network. Once these roots are established, forest starts growing on  the surface. As the forest grows we keep watering it. For the next two to three years, we water the forest. We want to keep all the water and soil nutrition only for our trees, so we remove the weeds growing on the ground.

As this forest grows, it blocks the sunlight. Eventually, the forest becomes so dense that sunlight cannot reach the ground anymore. Weeds cannot grow now, because they need sunlight as well. At this stage, every single drop of water that falls into the forest does not evaporate back into the atmosphere. This dense forest condenses the moist air and retains its moisture. We gradually refuce and eventually stop watering the forest. Even without watering, the forest floor stays moist and sometimes even dark.

Now, when a single leaf falls on this forest floor, it immediately starts decaying. This decayed biomass forms humus, which is food for the forest. As the forest grows, more leaves fall on the surface. It means more human is produced, it means more food so the forest can grow still bigger. This forest keeps growing exponentially. Once established, these forests are going to regenerate themselves again and again. In a natural forest,  no management is the best management. It is a tiny jungle party. This is how they create a 100 year old forest in just 10 years

Second, I want to share to you what I should have to do in teaching in the future. We have to watch that source to improve our speaking skill. After watching those videos, I have some prediction what I should do in the future in teaching my students in the classroom. They are greeting, introduction, engagement, awareness, communication, using visual aid, making a group discussion and closing.

First, I think the first thing I have to do before starting the lesson is greeting.  According to my students in Solo Mengajar, it is meaningful for them when teachers saying “hello” and calling their name. ln addition, they say that by greeting it means that teachers care about them personally. It also makes them motivated to do better in the class.

Second, I have to introduce the material that will be learned. It leads them to know what should to prepare to join the class. It focuses students’ attention to the lesson and purposes. It also convinces students that they will be benefit from the lesson. In introducing the material, we also can make a warming up to them. For the example if the material is about narrative text, I can ask them to predict what tenses used.

Third, the best way to teach students is to engage them.  If the students feel comfortable, it will be easy to make them understanding the material. For example if the material is about greeting, l should practice it. In another way l can ask them to try with their pair.

Fourth, be aware of the different abilities of my students.  Not all of them are at the same academic level. With knowing the differences, I can modify my lessons so that all students benefit from the material and not only the ones who can get it.

Fifth, I should communicative in the way my teaching. Communicative also the important thing to make the students not bored. It can be done by managing my eye contact.  I have to make me sure that all my students are pay attention to me. Beside that I will ask some question to them related to the material to make sure that they understand my explanation.

Sixth, another way in teaching my students is making a group discussion. The importance of group discussion is to enable the students to improve their skill. They also can share their knowledge so they can learn from each other. By making group discussion the students not only improve their listening ability but also increases their confidence in speaking. Furthermore, it also improves their ability to think critically and helps in problem solving.

Seventh, I will use visual aid to make my explanation stronger. It is important because students create a visual and interactive experience. As they become more engaged, they are more likely to understand the topic being thought.   It can be power point, statistic, picture and video, etc. However it can make my lesson not bored because of my speeches. 

Last, the lasting I have to do in my lesson is closing. To end my lesson, I will review my explanation to remember the students what have been learned that day also give some quotation. After that I will give them for questioning and answering time. Then I will say thanks for their participation and hoping that they understand the topic having explained.

What I have been talked is that forest can spread over acres and acres of area. It could fit in a small space as small as your house garden. We can create a 100 year old forest in just 10 years. Beside that, there are some way to do in teaching in the classroom. They are greeting, introduction, engagement, awareness, communication, making group discussion, using visual aid, and closing.