“Madrasah binaan” (school assistance) has been an annual regular program held by Tarbiyah (Education) faculty to assist Islamic middle or high schools scattered across Kudus city. The assistance is included but is not limited to skill improvement related to the department appointed by the faculty. The program that may be held by each department is about giving a seminar to the teachers and the students within the school with current trending issues in line with educational purposes.

This year, in 2022, Tadris Bahasa Inggris (TBI), or the English Education Department of IAIN Kudus was mandated to commence its pilot project of madrasah binaan. A team consisting of TBI lecturers and students was assembled to run the program from planning, executing, and evaluating. The planning decided MA NU Raden Umar Said (RUS), located in Colo village Dawe regency, as the school for the madrasah binaan project.

Led by Alfu Nikmah, M.Pd the former TBI chief of department, the team did the first visit on June 16^th, 2022 to uncover the program suitable according to the school’s necessity. M. Zaenul Anwar, S.Pdi, MM, the principal of MA NU RUS, welcome the team’s arrival and discussed the condition in his institution. The meeting went well resulting in three upcoming seminar agendas under the theme of “Pelatihan Pengembangan Media Pembelajaran dan Karya Tulis Ilmiah”; academic writing, learning media, and social media awareness. The second visit to MA NU RUS on July 27^th, 2022 under the leadership of the newly inaugurated TBI chief of department, Taranindya Zulhi Amalia, M.Pd, marked the opening of TBI’s madrasah binaan program which was opened by KH. Abdul Kharis, S.Pdi is the head of Raden Umar Said institution. The agenda went on with the first seminar for the teachers under the title of “Mudah Menulis Artikel Populer Bagi Guru Madrasah” by Nuskhan Abid, M.Pd. The following day, another seminar for teachers entitled “Workshop Media Pembelajaran Digital” was conducted by Muhammad Arif Al Hakim, M.TESOL on July 28^th, 2022. The last seminar on August 10^th, 2022 was specially held for the students. It was “Maksimalkan Penggunaan Sosial Media Dengan Ciptakan Konten Kreatif Dan Edukatif “performed by Nabila Syafi’atulkhoir, a TBI 5^th semester student and prominent digital content creator.

After the series of assistance agenda through the seminar, the TBI team held a zoom meeting on August 22^nd, 2022 to briefly discuss a book chapter compilation as the milestone of cooperation achievement by TBI of IAIN Kudus and MA NU Raden Umar Said. The topic under-discussed was then come up in the final visit to MA NU RUS on August 31^st, 2022. Aside from the evaluation meeting, the team emphasized the completion of the book chapter which then was understood by the MA NU RUS principal. He agreed to mobilize the Raden Umar Said team to contribute to the book chapter compilation with the main theme “Inovasi Media Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris di Era Society 5.0”. At the same time, feedback and suggestion were also deeply talked about as the reflection to make both institutions' hard work worthwhile during the program. The madrasah binaan project by TBI 2022 was officially done that day, leaving an impression and experience.

There are lots of things to learn from the project. Personally from TBI, understanding the need of the target school is a must. Not only the skill to absorb but also the facilities to support the learning process e.g.: computer software and compatible LCD projector. Comprehending those needs in the early step enables the team to prepare better and give proper skills to meet the main purpose of madrasah binaan.