Should English teacher wait to teach the content areas to students whose English is limited? Should science and social studies be taught later when the students are older, more fluent and can read the text all by themselves? It is true that science projects are interesting and learning about various cultures are exciting, but can the students interesting and learning about various cultures are exciting, but can the students English grammar and vocabulary? Wouldn’t it be an unnecessary struggle to try to teach something that is clearly beyond the students’ limited English?
Sometimes it is difficult to decide how far would you bring science and social studies into an English class. I believe that English or any other languages should be introduced to the class more than just grammar or structures. I also believe that learning a language should be an integral part of a person’s learning in his life. A language is a tool to communicate so it should be applicable to explain or explore other things in the world.
Therefore the English lessons at Semi Palar try to follow the same themes as the school’s programmes. It is such a delight when the students try to explain in English something that they have understood in Bahasa Indonesia. It is true that their grammar is not perfect and their words’ choice is weird because of their limited vocabulary but the most important part is that they try to communicate in English.
When people are interested in something, they usually try to learn more about the thing that holds their interest. The same thing happens to the students when they are learning about the things that they find interesting. For example when they are talking about animals they try to find out more about the animals by asking questions. As the discussion is conducted in English they try to learn more about the animals in English. Through this way they learn more phrases and words in English. And the amazing thing is that they keep those new English phrases and words in their memory, longer than if they are deliberately told to memorize something.
Children are naturally curious about new things. It is fairly easy to attract their interest but it is quite a challenge to keep this interest alive and turn it into a habitual curiosity to learn more. It is something we need to keep on trying to apply not only in learning English but also in learning other things inside or outside the classroom because inquisitive children are potential candidates for lifelong learners. In this case English should not be treated as the end product of a learning process but as a communication tool to express oneself and to learn more about things in life.
In the process of learning English, it is often found that children have the amazing ability to find ways to convey what they mean to say within their limited vocabulary. It is such a thrill when the children in their eagerness to convey their ideas try to communicate using whatever way they have at their disposal. They use gestures, draw pictures, say the key words repeatedly or even say words in Bahasa Indonesia with an English accent. They create new phrases or terms which are grammatically incorrect. This urge to communicate plays an important role in learning English. Our focus should not be on the inexact usage of English but should be on their process of making communication. In their process of making communication, the children are actually building up their grasp of English because they are actively constructing the sentences or phrases all by themselves. Grammatical and spelling correction is definitely necessary but it should not dampen the children enthusiasm to communicate.
Learning is a process so it is difficult to present a concrete evidence that it really happens. Worksheets and test paper’s marks only represent parts of the learning result. Assesment in the form of number or letter can only be given to tasks aiming only in accuracy. When English is used as a communication tool to explain ideas about specific topic that is being discussed in the classroom then mark could not be given. How much do we value the students’ struggle to express their ideas in English? Could it be put into numbers? Correction and assesment on written tasks are always focused on grammar and spelling, but never focused on ideas.
The long-term aim of learning English is for the students to speak English and write in English confidently, correctly and fluently. However, young children cannot be expected to be accurate and fluent at the beginning of their English lesson. They need lots of motivation and encouragement before they have confidence to communicate in English. At this stage they certainly make many mistakes, but the priorities should be on building their confidence and encouraging them to try to communicate in English. It is an undeniable fact, that children who speak and write more, tend to make more mistakes than those who speak and write less. Therefore mistakes should be regarded as a sign of a learning process in progress.
[ms. Miming | 2008]
