English in the Elementary School

In response to the needs of developing human resources, the teaching of English as foreign language has been extended to reach the elementary school level. This means that students learn English much earlier as they are young learner. The hope is that the students will get more exposure to English and as a consequence, the expectation to get a better learning is more open. It has been mentioned in the rule that has been mentioned by the Minister of Education No. 22, elementary school students must have ability in English. The government, especially the Minister of Education think that English which is given for elementary school students can be used to keep up with other nations, especially developed nations. Unfortunately, the government has not well prepared for English language teaching in elementary school yet. There are several things that must be prepared before teaching English as foreign language in elementary school can reach its expectation.

            First, we should prepare the teacher. Most teachers in elementary school were graduated from non-English language teaching program. It does not matter if they want to teach English. For example: teachers who teach English are given English course. The headmaster of elementary school held English course for the teacher and it must be no fee. So the teacher will be more motivated.

            Second, the materials of the lesson must be based on the level of the students. It means that the teachers must know whether the materials are suitable for the students or not. As example: teacher should not give grammar/tenses lesson to the students of elementary school. As the exchange, teachers give lesson about time, verb, adjective and example of conversation in daily life. The lesson should be given with fun and joy. By a good presentation, the students will be more motivated to study English because they think that English is fun.

            Third, keeping the trust of students’ parents and society also important, especially in the thing like school payment. Today, the government has given subsidy for education I our nation. And sometimes for state elementary school, it is free from monthly fee. The truth is, there are some elementary schools which get the subsidy still take payment from students’ parents. In an illustration, the staffs in school use the subsidy from the government for their daily life and their fun. So, they ask for payment to the parents to fulfill what they should do for the school activities. They use many kinds of way to get money from students’ parents include lies. For students and parents who are rich, sometimes they do not take it seriously. But for the students and parents in the middle and middle-lower economical level, it will be a serious problem because they have to work harder to pay for school.

            In summary, the ministry of education and also the headmaster of the elementary school must well prepare everything to support teaching English as foreign language program in elementary school, such as: the teachers, materials, and keep up the trust of society in education. There are other things that must be prepared before teaching English as foreign language can reach its expectation. At least several points that have been mentioned before were done to get teaching English as foreign language well prepared. So, English education in our country can be better.

Moehamat Hendrik S