Globalization has reduced borders among countries, cultures, and communities as a result of advanced technology and communication, which have had a particular impact on economic and social concerns that now affect the entire world. In a line with the rapid changes in almost every part of human’s life, the need of English teaching in Indonesia is also gradually increasing, includes Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL). The term of teaching English to young learners in Indonesian context here refers to a program in which children are early acquainted with English at the age of elementary schools. It is no wonder if then teaching English to young learners in Indonesia has been a widely-discussed issue in the light of language and educational development. Furthermore, it is now obtaining more attention both from the government and the educational practitioners. In fact, the Indonesian government has already included English in the National Curriculum named KTSP (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan) as a subject matter taught in the first grade of elementary schools. It is expected that children will be fluent in English at an early start. Accordingly, there will be several features in teaching English to young learners that teachers should deal with, three of which are evident: the characteristics of young English language learners, the kinds of teaching instructions, and the cognitive development of children.
The first special feature in teaching English for kids draws on the characteristics of young English language learners. It is undeniable that a majority of children in this phase are still developing. Thus, they are also still learning how to regulate and manage their behavior and feelings. Young children are usually spontaneous and flexible. They are natural mimics and will sometimes imitate their teacher without being told. For instance, when children lose interest in things, they will tend to behave in an unpredictable way. Children will quickly let their teacher know if they are bored through either their expressions or actions. Perhaps, they become restless or even distract their friends. By contrast, children might also feel excited with aspects of their language learning class. Ideally, they have a strong instinct to explore their surroundings. Take, for example, a teacher who is explaining about ‘space’ to his/her students. Apparently, almost all of the students are eager to ask a number of questions dealing with that topic. They, of course, are trying to grasp what their teacher says. Sometimes, they voluntarily come forward to draw something about the space on the blackboard or to share ideas to their friends. From these types of conditions, it can clearly be observed that every single student in the classroom is not exactly the same. Therefore, young learners need more careful supervision from the teacher.
Not only that, the kinds of instructional practices also cope with the special feature of teaching English to young learners. As has clearly stated before, young learners are truly different from teenagers and adults. Indeed, the learning instructions given in the class should also meet their needs. For an example, teachers engage their students in social context-based activities with their peers or friends. Suppose that the teacher would teach the students about greetings and leave takings. The students are then directed to carry out a simple activity in corporation with their classmates. They are assigned to talk with their pairs by using standard greeting and leave taking expressions. By demonstrating this kind of language teaching, the teachers will play a role on bridging the students to have accessible interactions along with their classmates. Besides that, the teaching instructions can be integrated into a fun learning model in the forms of songs, short-stories, pictures, and so on. For an example, the teacher wants to teach his/her students about ‘nature’. He/she can, indeed, use several eye-catching pictures to attract the students’ attention. Perhaps, the students would play a game by matching the pictures and the names of each. To make it more enjoyable, the teacher might also use songs or children nursery rhymes which are suitable with that topic and proper for their age. Overall, these kinds of teaching instructions would avoid monotonous activities so that no student finds language learning a drudgery or boredom.
Subsequently, the cognitive development of children also catches up with the special feature in teaching English to young learners. As Chomsky states “children in the range of 5-10 years old are still acquiring the structures of their first language” (http://www.ericdigests.org/). Thus, many aspects of their first language have not yet fully developed. On the other words, their language understanding has not perfectly reached the significant level in the language mastery, so that they have a weak base of learning a new language, which is English. Meanwhile, young learners are still pure. Bad habits and negative attitudes have not yet contaminated them. Their brains, indeed, are good to receive new stuffs which relate to their cognitive understanding. For instance, the teacher is going to familiarize the students with a topic of ‘household appliances’. In the classroom, it is possible if half of the students know nothing about household appliances. The others, however, are able to mention a simple kind of household appliance. Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to let them know about the household appliances which all are familiar with, such as a television, a broom, a spoon and so on. In this way, children may simultaneously start to acquire the language they are exposed to, especially for the sake of their cognitive development.
Briefly speaking, working with children, giving them the basic skills for cognitive abilities, encouraging them to be active learners, and teaching them in a fun way would start them a lifelong habit. That is why teaching English to young learners has special features in terms of the children’s characteristics, the teaching practices and the children’s cognitive development. As a recommendation, educators are supposed to have a thorough understanding of their student’s needs as well as the student’s cognitive development. Most importantly, the teachers should construct appropriate instructions that help the students retain the subject matter in mind for a longer time.
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Written by
Muh. Khoirul Anwar
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