In 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. 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. Yet, in fact, this prediction seems to be hard to be fulfilled due to several serious lacks in the process of learning. Here I will explain two serious problems, in terms of limited number of English teacher and method in use, which should be fixed in order to succeed young learners in learning English.
Firstly, a limited number of English teachers will impact to the teachers’ performance in the class. As we all know, a teacher has a crucial position in the learning process. The teacher is the one who lead and guide the student to gain knowledge and improve the skill. As Dra. Pratiwi Retnaningdyah, M.Hum., MA said an ideal class should contain of one teacher and about 20 students. With the number of the student, the possibility of succeeding the learning process will somehow increase because the teacher will be able to monitor the student one by one. But, in reality, English teachers of elementary schools are still very limited. For example, in one area of Sidoarjo regency, one English teacher must be responsible for conducting a learning process in at least 5 schools, 6 class each, with more than 30 students in every class . How will the teacher perform in her best if there are too many heads to be take care of? In this very case, the government should give more attention. Recruit more English teacher should be the best way soon to be done.
Secondly, the method being used in the English learning process now is conventional. Today, our English learning program is based on grammar which some education observer’s think is the major problem. This program focuses on grammar and makes it priority that most of the time, other English aspects, such as listening, speaking, and writing abilities, are being neglected. Grammar is important. But, again, do not make it become a wall that stops the student to have a thing in learning English. Students will feel afraid of English in advance when they are told to remember all tenses. They will no longer have passion to learn English. Thus, this kind of methods should be replaced. Make English learning process become interesting. For example, teachers should not correct every single grammatical error done by the students right after the students said it. It scares them out to make another mistakes that they will stop learning. Instead, ask the students to feel free to have experiments in learning English.
In summary, extending English learning to reach elementary school students must be followed by improving the lacks. As a recommendation, recruiting a number of qualified English teachers and applying suitable methods for elementary school student as young learners have to be done by the government, soon. Although the government has the biggest role in succeeding the program for they are the one who are in charge of education system, it also takes supports from all people. As a consequence, Indonesian qualified human resources who are able to compete in global world in the future are no more too good to be true.
References:
- (http://www.klubguru.com/2-view.php?subaction=showfull&id=1203980547&archive=&start_from=&ucat=4&do=konsultasi; accessed on September 18th, 2010)
- (http://www.cybertokoh.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=643&Itemid=9; accessed on September 18th, 2010)
written by Riska Ayu Wibisono
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