In the response to the needs of developing human resources, the teaching of English as a foreign language has been extended to reach the elementary school level. It is officially stated in SK the Minister of Education and Culture No. 060/U/1993 on February 25th 1993 about the possibility of teaching English for extra subjects in the elementary school level started from the fourth grade. The hope is that students will get more exposure to English. For the example is Willarda Dwi Ananda, a fourth grade student in Elementary School of Wlingi, who is able to introduce herself in English clearly. By looking at the example, we can say that the foreign language learning in elementary school could give a good effect for the education development for the young learners. However, there are still several problems which come out from this teaching program. Those problems are limited professional English teachers, unavailability English teaching media and an unsupported environment.
The first problem is the number of professional English teachers which is limited. According to Brook (1967), the teachers need to have a good skill in English and has been trained to teach English in elementary schools. In addition, the number of teachers who have those criteria is still limited and most of them choose to teach in a city. Unfortunately, the schools which are located in a rural area do not have a good teacher just like Brook has suggested. For instance, the English teachers in the elementary school of Bulugunung, Magetan are not proficient in English. They do not have a good education background and are not trained to be teachers (http://data_list_refleksi.php.htm). If this problem happens in many rural areas in Indonesia, the hope of the English teaching program in elementary schools will not be able to be reached perfectly. Besides, the students’ development of English skills will not be the same from one place to another place. As the sequence, a new problem which is an education intersection will come out in Indonesia.
The second problem is unavailability English teaching media. The example of English teaching media here are English books, English posters, pictures, CDs about English material and also games using English. Those media are not many available in Indonesia and the prices of them are not cheap enough to afford. Because of it, the government has to prepare a big fund to be able to provide these media to every single school in Indonesia. Moreover, the problem of unavailability English teaching media happens in many schools in this country. For instance, a speech of Kasihani E.Suyanto who states that the number of English textbooks in Malang City and Regencies is not enough and the 42,85% of them are in bad condition. It seems that Indonesia has a huge problem in providing English teaching media for its students.
The last problem is an unsporting environment for the students to improve their English skills. As an illustration, the one who lives in a big city where the city facilities are more open has more opportunity to improve their English. They have malls and theaters where many English posters are stick on. On the other side, the ones who live in rural areas cannot easily find any English posters and even most of families do not have televisions as the information source. Besides, not all the parents of Indonesian students know English. Students who have difficulties in English or need to practice their speaking will not be easy to find the one to whom they can share or talk to, especially when they get back from schools. This environment will make the English skills of the students does not improve well.
The English teaching program for elementary school students is a good effort to improve the Indonesian education. Unfortunately this program does not run perfectly due to some problems Indonesia still has, such as limited professional English teachers, unavailability English teaching media and an unsupported environment. The Indonesian government should have a better preparation to run the program. They should prepare the fund to train the teachers, provide English teaching media and improve the public facilitation in rural areas in Indonesia.
By Ninuk Retna Sumiarsih
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