Nowadays, English as an international language has been taught in the elementary school level. This means that students learn English much earlier as they are young learners. The hope is that students will get more exposure to English and as a consequence, the expectation to get a better learning is more open. However, to deliver the information in English to elementary students is not easy to do. Teachers must have methods to make them interested in learning English. In this case, I will explain several methods to teaching English in elementary school level, use the thematic units, make an interesting atmosphere, and reading aloud to the class.
The first is use the thematic units. Choose the method which is suitable for their ages. One of the methods mentioned by Dr. Jill Kerper Mora (2005) is that teachers use thematic units when working with English Language Learners. Instead of drilling children on grammar points, why not engage the children with interesting topics?. When students take a personal interest in a subject, their speaking and writing will be increased. To test, this theory, he just completed a two month unit on dragons with all of the ELL children that he works with from first to fifth grade. Through a movie, drawings from different cultures, and discussions, the children became completely engaged in the subject. First, they drew their own dragons, then they wrote dragon stories to go with their pictures. In the editing process, they were able to read the stories and correct the grammar in their writing. After making the final written corrections, they orally recorded their stories. Of course, the final products still contained many grammatical errors, but the students had found the errors that they were developmentally ready to process. It is this type of self-correction that can facilitate the learning of English and new grammatical forms.
The second is making an interesting atmosphere. A good classroom atmosphere is able to create a kind of infectious encouraging people to positive teaching and learning situations, while the lively and active atmosphere in the classroom can stimulate student interest in learning English. When the teacher gave the examples, students will gave responses and raise their hand. Then, invite students to discuss about the competition of the passive voice. Moreover, try to make several examples of interesting sentences. Unconsciously, they have mastered the present tense, simple past passive voice.
The last is reading aloud to the class. Language is primarily spoken. This is why the teaching of language, as an art imitating nature, must use the spoken or phonetic form of words as the primary means for teaching reading. According to Dr. David Allen White, reading aloud should be the first way of testing reading comprehension, of making the learner familiar with the role of punctuation marks, or engaging the learner in the full emotional experience that literature ought to yield, or providing an appreciation for the cadenced and hence ordered character of all works of the mind. One can teach a student to put a period at the end of a sentence by first identifying the end of a sentence as a place where one drops one’s voice. Not only should the students read aloud, but the teacher should also read to the class. This can be done at the end of the day. The children always look forward to a good story. It is also an excellent ay to train them to thoughtful listening.
Based on my explanation above, we know that English as an international language have been taught in elementary school. There are several methods to teaching English in elementary school are use the thematic units, make an interesting atmosphere, and reading aloud to the class. Teachers are able to use these methods to make students easy to understand English. These methods will help both teachers and students to have an interesting teaching and learning, so they can give feedback to each other. As we know, elementary students are need enjoy and interesting atmosphere in teaching and learning activity. That is why, teachers should find the best method for teaching in the class.
Sources:
Dr. Otto Willman, German writer, author of The Science of Education.
http:/www.edocere.org/articles/guidelines for teaching English.html.
http:/www.edu-cyberg.com/Literacy/reading.asp.
Written by
Diska Fatima Virgiyanti
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