Dealing With The Difficulty in Teaching English To Adults Learners At Rumah Cemara.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Tugas akhir ini berisi pembahasan masalah selama masa magang saya di Rumah Cemara ketika saya mengajar Bahasa Inggris kepada 10 -15 orang dewasa. Para peserta yang mengikuti kelas Bahasa Inggris adalah staf Rumah Cemara dan beberapa orang yang berasal dari pusat rehabilitasi yang dimiliki oleh Rumah Cemara. Kesulitan dalam mengajar Bahasa Inggris disebabkan oleh kurangnya pengalaman yang saya miliki dalam mengajar Bahasa Inggris. Kemampuan Bahasa Inggris para

peserta kursus yang kurang juga merupakan hal yang menyebabkan saya sulit mengajar Bahasa Inggris. Hal lain ialah, saya belum mengetahui karakteristik para peserta yang mengikuti kelas Bahasa Inggris. Kesulitan saya dalam mengajarkan Bahasa Inggris kepada orang dewasa mengakibatkan lamanya waktu yang saya perlukan dalam menyampaikan materi kepada para peserta. Akibat selanjutnya adalah para peserta juga tidak mengerti materi yang saya berikan. Akibat yang terakhir ialah kemampuan dari para peserta tidak berkembang secara optimal. Untuk menangani masalah tersebut, saya mempunyai tiga pilihan solusi. Solusi yang pertama adalah saya akan mempelajari latar belakang setiap peserta dengan berbicara secara pribadi kepada setiap peserta dan menyebarkan angket kepada mereka. Solusi yang kedua adalah, saya akan mengajar dengan berperan sebagai peserta. Solusi yang terakhir adalah saya akan menggunakan permainan dalam mengajarkan Bahasa Inggris.

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APPENDIX B

Example of Questionnaire for Adult Learners at RC

Adapted from Woodward, Tessa. Planning Lesson and Courses. Cambridege : Cambridge University, 2001.

1. Nama saya : 2. Umur saya: 3. Alamat saya: 4. Hobi saya:

5. Hal yang paling disuka:

6. Saya berharap dengan mengikuti kelas bahasa Inggris ini saya dapat: 7. Saya ingin belajar bahasa Inggris karena :

8. Saya suka belajar bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan cara: 9. Saya tidak suka belajar bahasa Inggris dengan menggunakan cara : 10. Materi bahasa Inggris apa yang saya ingin pelajari :

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Teaching English to adults can be quite challenging. It is rather

difficult to make them realize how important it is to learn English

nowadays. I notice that some adults complain that learning English at

their ages is the hardest thing for them. From that point of view, I tried

to motivate them by giving English lessons. Althans states, “Often your

adult students are studying English for a specific reason, either they

have to use English at work for meetings and phone calls with

foreigners or plan to travel abroad or communicate more with their

foreign friends” (par 9). Based on his statement, I notice that the desire

of the learners to be able to speak English is the reason for them to

join my English class. Therefore, I was eager to help them realize that

English language is the most spoken language and they deserve to

learn it.

I was teaching English language to adult people during my

internship at Rumah Cemara (henceforth, RC). RC is a community –

based organization which has a goal to increase the quality of life of

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working as an Assistant of Grand – Writing Manager and was in charge

of helping my supervisor in translating the spiritual book for the people

who come from treatment center and the personal hand book for the

foreign intern, and also teaching English. The lesson was held twice a

week. The class was from 2 PM until 4 PM at RC. The learners were

several staff from RC, some people who lived with HIV/AIDS and

former drug users from the treatment center. The range of ages of the

learners was 23- 35 years old and there were 10 to 15 adults joining in

my class. They learnt the materials such as ; the common tenses in

daily live ( Simple Present, Present Continuous, and Simple Past) ,

vocabulary, and simple conversation. The aim of giving them the

lesson is to help the learners speak English language confidently.

Teaching English to adults in RC was my my first experience of

teaching English. The problem that I found was I had difficulties in

teaching adults. I could not deliver the English lesson well. I did not

know how to teach adults without knowing their backgrounds and to

create a conducive situation in the class in my first day of teaching.

Based on the problem that I have already described in the previous

paragraph, I would like to analyze my difficulties in teaching English to

adults at RC as the topic of my term paper. The causes and the effects

of the problem are also presented with the best solutions to overcome

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B. Identification of the Problem

The problem that is being discussed is formulated in the

following research questions. The questions are:

1. Why did I find it difficult to teach English to adult learners at

RC?

2. How did the problem influence the teacher, the learners, and

the learning process?

3. How should I handle my difficulty in teaching English to adult

learners at RC?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The objectives of the study are, first, to find the causes of my difficulty in teaching English at RC, second is to analyze the effects of

the problem. The last objective is to find the best solution for my

problem.

The benefits of the study are addressed to myself, the institution

and the readers. For myself, by writing this term paper I will learn how

to handle the difficulties in teaching English to less fortunate adults (

people who lived with HIV/AIDS and former drug users).

The benefit for the staff at RC is they will get some some

information related to teaching English when there will be a staff who

continues the English class as a permanent acitivity. The staff at RC

can also apply the same ideas when they face the same problem in

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The last benefit of my term paper is for the readers. I hope after

reading my term paper the readers will learn the reflection of my

experience to teach adults and have a passion to teach adults. I

believe with my experience, the readers will know that teaching adults

can be challenging, but rewarding.

D. Description of the Institution

Based on RC’s website, RC is a community - based organization

dealing with people who live with HIV/AIDS and people who use drugs.

it was founded on January 1st _{2003 by five former drug users, they are}

Patrianto Handoyo, Hartanto M. K., Darwis B., Ikbal Rahman, and

Deradjat Ginandjar Koesmayadi.

RC has a goal to embrace people who live with HIV/AIDS and drug

users from all of stigma and discrimination to themselves. With this

goal, all of stigma and discrimination will no longer exists and they

(people who live with HIV/AIDS and drug users) could live properly with

normal people.

Located at Jalan Gegerkalong Girang No. 52 Bandung, RC has

become the largest network of people living with HIV and people who

use drugs in West Java, Indonesia. RC employs 45 staff, 70% men

and 30% women, in the 20-35 year range. Most of them are former

drug users and 85% are living with HIV.

Based on the data from Short –term Internship Orientation Packet,

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programs are The Harm Reduction Outreach Program and Peer

approach program. Harm Reduction Outreach Program is an outreach

program by RC staff to distribute clean syringe and condom for 2,240

injecting drug users, 3,256 prisoners, 214 female sex workers, 264

men who have sex with men (MSM), and 4,375 high-risk men (HRM) to

peer approach. Peer approach is the program to give a support for

drug users or people who live with HIV/AIDS by using simple approach

such as music performance, art and cultural exhibitions, football, fund

raising, and the latest programs are teaching English language, Math,

Writing to less fortune people (e.g homeless people, people who live

with HIV/AIDS and former drug users).

E. Method of the Study

For my term paper the data collection to support the analysis is from

field research and library research. For field research, I use the data

from my internship journal and my internship experience. I also

interviewed several staff at RC. For library research, I read several

books and some articles from the Internet to find some theories for my

analysis. The data is used to analyze the causes, effects, and the

potential solutions.

F. Limitation of the Study

The subject of the research is myself. I was teaching English

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3th _{January 2012 to 17}th_{February 2012. I worked under Grand-Writing}

Manager supervision as an Assistant Grand-Writing Manager. I taught

English class from 4th_{January 2012 twice a week for about 2 hours.}

The people who joined my class were several staff from RC and

people who were from the treatment center. The age range of the adult

learners is 23-35 years old.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

This Term paper starts with the Abstract,Declaration of Originality,

and Table of Content. Then it is divided into five chapters. In Chapter

One there are Background of the Study, Identification of the Problem,

Objectives and Benefits of the Study, Description of the Institution,

Method of the Study, Limitation of the Study, and Organization of the

Term. In Chapter Two, I analyze the causes and effects of the problem

as the Problem Analysis. After I describe the causes and effects of the

problem, in Chapter Three, I describe three potential solutions to solve

the problem along with the positive and the negative effects of each

solution. Chapter Four is the Conclusion, in this chapter I define the

best solution for my problem. In this chapter I also put the reason why

this potential solution is the best solution for my problem.

For the last part, I write the source of all theories in the Bibliography

and put the Flowchart and the example of a questionnaire in the

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

The problem that I found during my internship is I had difficulties in

teaching English to adults at RC. The causes of the problem are I had no

experience in teaching English to adults, the learners lacked of English

skills, and I did not know the characteristics of the learners. There are also

several effects of my problem. The effects are, it took extra time after the

class to teach the learners about the materials, the English skills of the

learners did not develop optimally, and the learners could not understand

the material. My difficulties in teaching adults lead me to do some

research about the causes and effects of my problem. When doing the

research, I found some potential solutions that I have mentioned in the

previous chapter. The potential solutions are, I will learn the backgrounds

of the learners in my class by having a personal talk and giving s

questionnaire, I will take a role as a participant in the class, and , I will use

games in teaching.

Based on the analysis, I will combine all the potential solutions.

Combining all the potential solutions will help me to overcome my difficulty

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I choose to combine all the potential solutions because they are

related to each other. It can be seen that all the potential solutions is a

serie of teaching process to adults. If I do not combine all of them, I will not

be able to teach the adult learners effectively. In “General Teaching Tips”

it is stated, “Effective teaching begins prior to the teacher entering the

classroom...Once in the classroom, the teacher must be able to apply a

number of different methods of teaching to reach students with different

learning styles” (par. 2). For instance, I will use the first potential solution

to know the background of the learners as the first step in teaching adults.

With this potential solution I will be able to know the characteristics of the

learners and make myself comfortable in teaching adults. Afterwards, in

the second potential solution, I will decide the role suitable for myself to

teach adults by taking a role as a participant. Without using the second

potential solution, the student will not accept me as their teacher and I will

not enjoy teaching English in class. The last step is determining how to

choose the acitivity in class. In the third potential solution I will use games

in teaching. With games I could make the learners be motivated to learn.

In the end, the combination of all potential solutions will help me in

teaching English to adults and communicating with them.

Finally, the combination of these solutions will help me to deal with my

difficulty in teaching English to Adults at Rumah Cemara. And I hope, if

there will be people who want to teach the adults at RC, they can apply

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Printed Sources

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Rumah Cemara: Short – Term Internship Orientation. Bandung: Rumah

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Woodward, Tessa. Planning Lessons and Courses. Cambridge:

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