Kristiana Tiwik Yayianti C9309045

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THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PROBLEMS FACED BY THE FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS

OF SDN MADEGONDO 03 IN LEARNING ENGLISH

FINAL PROJECT REPORT

Submitted as a Partial Requirement in Obtaining Degree

In English Diploma Program, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts

Sebelas Maret University

By:

Kristiana Tiwik Yayianti

C9309045

ENGLISH DIPLOMA PROGRAM FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA

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iv MOTTO

I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me

(Philippians 4:13)

GOD has made every thing beautiful in its time

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DEDICATION

This final project report is proudly dedicated to:

My Lord, Jesus Christ My parents

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vi PREFACE

All praises are to Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior of the world, the Lord

Almighty. Because of His blessings and wisdoms, I can accomplish my final project

report.

This final project report is entitled “The Internal and External Problems Faced

by the Fourth Grade Students of SDN Madegondo 03 in Learning English.” It is

made as a partial requirement in obtaining the English Diploma Degree.

In this final project report, I am interested to discuss the problems faced by

the fourth grade students of SDN Madegondo 03 and the solution of the problems.

I would like to thank for all lecturers of English Diploma Program, who have

taught me about English skills. I would also thank to SDN Madegondo 03 that gave

me a chance to have job training.

This final project report is far from being perfect. Therefore, I welcome any

criticisms, comments and suggestions from all the readers for the betterment of this

final project.

Finally, I hope that this final project report can give some information about

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to offer my highest gratitude to my Lord, Jesus Christ, for giving

me the strength and His blessing so that I am able to finish this final project report. I

also wish to acknowledge a great debt to:

1. Drs. Riyadi Santosa, M.Ed, Ph.D. as the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts,

Sebelas Maret University for approving this report.

2. Yusuf Kurniawan, SS, M.A, as the Head of the English Diploma Program.

3. Ida Kusuma D, SS. MA, as my academic supervisor.

4. Drs. Budi Waskito, M.Pd, as my final project supervisor. Thank you for your

time, guidance and advices.

5. My parents. You give me great strength and support.

6. All of the English Diploma lecturers.

7. Mrs. Devi and Miss Susi. Thank you for your help.

8. Mrs. Heny, the administration staff of English Diploma Program.

9. Mrs. Tri Widawati, the headmistress of SDN Madegondo 03, Sukoharjo.

10.All the teachers of SDN Madegondo 03. I do thank you for your kindness.

11.The fourth, fifth and six grade students of SDN Madegondo 03, Sukoharjo.

Thank you for accepting me to teach you during the job training.

12.My beloved brother. Thank you for your support and prayer. God always be

with us.

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14.All of English Diploma students, especially my friends in class B. It’s

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ix ABSTRACT

Kristiana Tiwik Yayianti. 2009. The Internal and External Problems Faced by the Fourth Grade Students of SDN Madegondo 03 in Learning English. English Diploma Program, Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts, Sebelas Maret University.

This final project is written based on the job training I did as an English teacher at SDN Madegondo 03, Sukoharjo. This final project discusses the problems in learning English faced by the fourth grade students of SDN Madegondo 03. Based on my observation, I found that some problems hampered the English teaching and learning process in the school. The problems came from the internal of the students and the external of the school. The internal problems were less motivation, less discipline, and lack of self-ability & confidence. The external problems were lack of

facilities, problems related to the teacher’s skill and unsupported environment. I also

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C. Some Problems in Teaching and Learning ... 13

D. The Causes of the Problems ... 17

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B. The Description of SDN Madegondo 03 ... 22

C. The activities during Job Training in SDN Madegondo 03 1. Class Observation ... 23

2. Making Lesson Plan ... 24

D. Explanation 1. The Internal Problems ... 26

a. Less Motivation ... 26

b. Less Discipline ... 27

c. Lack of Self-ability and Confidence ... 28

2. The External Problems ... 29

a. Lack of Facilities ... 29

b. Problems related to the Teacher’s skill ... 30

c. Unsupported Environment ... 32

E. The Solutions of the Problems 1. The Solutions of the Internal Problems ... 33

a. Less Motivation ... 33

b. Less Discipline ... 34

c. Lack of Self-ability and Confidence ... 35

2. The Solution of the External Problems ... 36

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b. Problems related to the Teacher’s skill ... 37

c. Unsupported Environment ... 38

CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions ... 39 B. Suggestions ... 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 44

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written. It is the most common system of communication. It allows people to talk

to each other and to write their thoughts and ideas.’ There are many languages

spoken by people in the world. One of them is English which becomes an

International language used by people to communicate with foreigner.

In Indonesia, English is one of languages taught in schools from

kindergarten to university. People realize that it is important to learn English since

English is used in many aspects of life, such as business, economic, news,

education, technology, tourism, etc. Therefore, government determines English as

one of lessons that should be taught in Elementary school, where the students

learn Basic English such as simple words and simple sentences. Students learn

how to pronounce, read and write English words. They also learn the meaning of

words. That is why teacher should teach them in correct way. If teachers do not

teach students correctly, it will give bad influences in their later studies.

It is not easy to teach Elementary schools’ students. They have some

problems whether it comes from the inside or outside the classroom. In SDN

Madegondo 03 where I took job training, the students had difficulties in learning

English such as the facilities that could support English teaching and learning

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were not available in the school, the students were not motivated to learn English,

there was an opinion that English was not as important as the other lessons, etc.

Those problems attract me to do the job training in that school. I want to explore

those problems and to find out the way to solve those problems. I discuss the

fourth grade students because this class is the most difficult class to handle.

Considering the situation above, I finally take “The internal and external

problems faced by the fourth grade students of SDN Madegondo 03 in learning English” as the title for this final project report.

B. Objectives

This final project report has some objectives, which are formulated as follows:

1. To describe the problems faced by the fourth grade students of

SDN Madegondo 03 in learning English

2. To find out the best solution in solving those problems

C. Benefits

I hope that this final project report can give benefits for:

1. Headmistress of SDN Madegondo 03

I hope this final project report will be useful for the

headmistress of SDN Madegondo 03 in order to make the

headmistress realize the problems that have been discussed. I hope

she will consider some suggestions given in this final project report so

that the teaching and learning activity in SDN Madegondo 03 can run

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2. English teacher of SDN Madegondo 03

Hopefully, this final project report can be the reference for the

English teacher of SDN Madegondo 03 in teaching English. I also

hope the English teacher of SDN Madegondo 03 can develop her

methods in teaching English and improve her skills to help the

students learn English well.

3. English Diploma Students

This final project report is expected to be useful for English

Diploma students to improve their knowledge, especially for those

focusing in teaching mainstream. I hope this final project report can

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All of the parts as mentioned above will be explained in more detailed below.

B. Definition

B.1 Teaching

Everyone has been exposed to teaching and most people believe they know what is meant by the term teaching. Teaching is such a common and complex occurrence, therefore, it is extremely important for each person to study carefully what is involved in the teaching task when it successfully promotes learning (Battle & Shannon, 1968).

Many authors describe the meaning, the principle, the methods and the

pattern of teaching. Howard in his book “Teaching in Middle Schools” describes

teaching as an activity that tries to help someone to acquire, change or develop

skills, attitudes, ideals, appreciations and knowledge. It means that teachers have

big responsibilities in every learning process. They should help learners receive

the lesson or the knowledge they give and help learners to develop their skills that

can give benefit in the learners’ real life.

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In doing teaching activity, teacher can use two dominant styles of teaching.

They are direct and indirect teaching. Direct teaching means that teacher presents

information to students, gives students directions and uses criticism (Dunkin &

Biddle, 1982:113). It generally calls as teacher-centered in which the teacher

decides all activities in the classroom. On the other hand, indirect teaching means

that teacher permits students to decide how to do the task he set to be

accomplished. His role in the classroom is to be a facilitator or mentor when

students need help (Dunkin & Biddle, 1982:97-98). Both of the styles are best be

used. In presenting or explaining material, teacher may use direct style that will be

more effective in getting students’ attentions. For a discussion, teacher may use

indirect style that gives a chance for students to think and discuss with their

friends how to do the task.

Beside the two teaching styles, there is a strategy called learning to learn

that can help students learn effectively. Brewster, Ellis & Girard in their book

„The Primary English Teacher‟s Guide‟ state that;

Learning to learn is an umbrella term for a wide variety of activities designed to develop learning strategies. It is primarily concerned with the processes of learning and aims to focus pupils’ attention on how they learn in addition to what they learn. It aims to develop self-awareness and gradually lead pupils to a conscious development of their own learning strategies, so they can become more effective and independent learners. It has basic concept in educational activity that successful learners have their own technique of learning whether it can be found with the support from teacher or not.

From the statement above, we can conclude that it is important for students

to have their own technique of learning so that if their teacher’s explanation is not

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learning strategies. Therefore, he can choose the best teaching method to create

effective activity in the classroom.

Those are the responsibilities of teacher in the classroom. Whereas Brumfit,

Moun & Tongue (1995) mention twelve functions of teaching whether it should

be done in the classroom or outside the school. They are:

1. Explaining, informing, showing how

2. Initiating, directing, administering

3. Unifying the group

4. Giving security

5. Clarifying attitudes, beliefs, problems

6. Diagnosing learning problems

7. Making curriculum materials

8. Evaluating, recording, reporting

9. Enriching community activities

10.Organizing and arranging classroom

11.Participating in school activities

12.Participating in professional and civic life

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students but also with the environment because the knowledge given to the

students will be realized as guidance in their life. Hopefully, teacher can give both

theory of subject-matter and moral lesson to students.

The twelve functions of teaching remind us (as a teacher) that we have to

do our best both in the classroom and outside the school. When teacher can do

those functions, it means that he is an effective teacher as Arends says in his book

‘Learning to Teach’ that effective teachers have personal qualities that allow them

to develop colleagues and to create democratic classrooms for children and

adolescents (Arends, 1998:12). However, an effective teacher is unsure the

improvement of students’ academic performances because it depends on the

students; their quality of prior learning, their study strategies and work habits that

can affect their academic performance (Crowl & Kaminsky, 1986:365). But,

teachers can try to find good teaching methods in order to create successful

students. Based on Rosenshine and Stevens (1986), there are ten strategies to be

an effective teacher in the classroom. They are:

1. Begin each new lesson with a review

2. State the goal of the lesson

3. Present new material in small steps

4. Give clear instructions and explanations

5. Give students much time to practice

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commit to user 7. Guide initial practice

8. Provide feedback and corrections

9. Provide explicit instructions for seatwork

10.Hold weekly and monthly reviews.

In short, to be an effective teacher is not easy. We should notice our goals

of the lesson, our methods in presenting material, our students’ practices and our

reviews before giving new material or before a lesson.

I find some definitions of a good teacher stated by students. It is written by

Jeremy Harmer (1998) in his book „How to Teach English‟. These statements

below may motivate us to be a good teacher;

1. They should make their lesson interesting so you don‟t fall asleep in

them

2. A teacher must love her job if she really enjoys her job that‟ll make the

lessons more interesting

3. I like the teacher who has his own personality and doesn‟t hide it from

the students so that he is not only a teacher but a person as well and it

comes through the lessons

4. I like a teacher who has lots of knowledge, not only of his subject

5. A good teacher is an entertainer and I mean that in a positive sense,

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6. A good teacher is…..someone who helps rather than shouts

7. A good teacher is…..someone who knows our names (Harmer, 1998)

Those statements show what kinds of teachers that students want. Students

can differentiate which one is a good or bad teacher. They asses us from our

personalities and our teaching methods used in the classroom. As teachers, we

should try to be the best for our students so that they will give a good appreciation

in our lessons and ourselves as an individual.

B.2 Learning

Learning is going on all the time whether it is directed or not. It begins at

(or even before) birth and continues until death. The use of term ‘learning’

mostly refers to educational activity although it can be used to other aspects of

life. There are many

definitions of learning stated by Brown in his book „Principles of Language

Learning and Teaching‟. They are:

1. Learning is acquisition or “getting”

2. Learning is retention of information or skill

3. Retention implies storage systems, memory, cognitive organization

4. Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events

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5. Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting

6. Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice

7. Learning is a change in behavior

In short, learning gives impacts in human life. Through learning people

know foreign languages & other cultures, create many beneficial tools that can be

useful in life, realize the good and bad behaviors and many more.

Learning will be more effective when there is a good control from the

teacher and a good participation from the learners. To make a good control in the

classroom, the teacher should recognize to the material, the students and the

condition of the classroom as Battle and Shannon explained in their book „The

new idea in Education‟

that learning will be most effective when:

a. The learning situations are related to life as realistically as possible

b. The learner gains confidence in his ability and also acquires favorable

attitudes and good works habits

c. The environment contributes positively to the learning situation

d. The learning experiences help the learner gain an insight through practical

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e. The learners are adapted to the needs, capacities, and interests of students

f. The students feel the need for the experiences and outcomes

g. The students are free from emotional tensions

h. The students are adapted to the normal growth of the learners

i. The situations provide satisfactory for student participation in planning

and learning.

want to discuss young learners at the age of eight to twelve years old, the age of

Elementary school’s students.

According to Wylie (1967), the generally character of the period of middle childhood (usually regarded as including the age six to twelve years) is typified as a period of realistic orientation in which the child “most eagerly investigates the

real world, acquires learning, is intensely curious, and acquires new skills”. In this

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Therefore, foreign language is also taught to children beside the other

school subjects. Hopefully, the teacher can give a basic knowledge of the foreign

language being taught.

While Scott & Ytreberg in their books „Teaching English to Children‟

explain the children characteristics of eight to ten year olds in the statements

below:

a) Their basic concepts are formed. They have very decided views of the

world

b) They can tell the difference between fact and fiction

c) They ask questions all the time

d) They rely on the spoken word as well as the physical world to convey and

understand meaning

e) They re able to make some decisions about their own learning

f) They have definite views about what they like and don’t like doing

g) They have a developed sense of fairness about what happens in the

classroom and begin question the teacher’s decision

h) They are able to work with others and learn from others

From the statements above, it can be concluded that young children have

some characteristics that can be developed to their learning styles. The teacher

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example: the activity should include movement, practice pronouncing words by

singing songs and telling stories, learn vocabulary from pictures and games, etc

(Scott & Ytreberg, 1990)

In conclusion, young learners are ready to learn new skills although they

learn slowly than adults, forget things quickly and get bored easily(Brewster, Ellis

& Girard, 2002) but they are easier to be motivated to study. It depends on their

learning style and the support from their teacher to find out the best methods to

teach them.

C. Some Problems in Teaching and Learning

A problem is goal-response interference. We need or want to achieve or

have something, and we cannot do it (Cruickshank, Bainer & Metcalf, 1999).

Everyone has problems. When a problem arises, there are two possibilities that

may happen. First, when we struggle to face and solve the problem, then we will

be stronger and better person. Second, when we give up and do not want to solve

the problem, it means that we do not want to receive any progress in our lives.

Foreign language taught in the school also has some difficulties to be

learned. The difficulties cause some problems that will affect the teaching and

learning activity. The problems usually come from the teacher, the learners and

the environment.

These are the problems faced by teacher existing from the teacher himself,

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1. Affiliation. It is defined as the teacher’s need to establish and maintain good relationships with others in school.

2. Control. It is the teacher need to have students behave well or appropriately.

3. Parents relationships and home conditions. Teachers recognize the important role parents and significant others play in the lives of students.

Therefore, they want to maintain constructive relationships with them.

4. Student success. It is defined as the need teachers have to help learners achieve both academically and socially.

5. Time. Teachers do not have enough time to do personal tasks because of the amount of work they must take home (Cruickshank, Banner & Metcalf,

1999).

It means that teachers may have many problems in school. The problems

may rise when the teachers explain material, plan curriculum, manage classroom,

build a relation with the students’ parents, etc.

Other problems are the problems related to the students’ inappropriate

behaviors in the classroom. Ur, in her book „A Course in Language‟ states those

problems;

1. Discipline. ‘I have discipline problems in these classes; I find them difficult

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2. Correcting written assignments. ‘I can’t keep up with the marking load’

3. Interest. ‘They get bored: I can’t find topics and activities that keep them all interested’

4. Effective learning for all. ‘I can’t make sure they’re all learning effectively; the tasks I provide are either too difficult or too easy for many

of them’

5. Materials. ‘I can’t find suitable material. The textbooks are homogeneous’- rigidly aimed at one kind of learners with no options of flexibility’

6. Individual awareness. ‘I can’t get to know and follow the progress of all

the individuals in my class: there are too many of them and they’re all so

different’

7. Participation. ‘I can’t activate them all: only a few students-the more proficient and confident ones-seem to respond actively to my questions.’

(Ur, 1996:303)

Further, she writes some statements of students stated by teachers in the

class. They are:

1. They just don’t want to learn

2. There’s one that just comes to make trouble

3. They can’t even read in their own language, never mind in English

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5. A few trouble-makers spoil it for all those who really want to learn

6. They’re just not interested in English

7. The only way I can get them to shut up is by giving them a test

8. I do choral repetition because that way I’m in control

9. They just laugh and make a lot of noise if we do group-work

10.If I’m friendly with them, they just take advantage

It shows that it is important for teachers to study the inappropriate behavior

problems done by the students so that they will understand the nature of such

problems and the possible ways of dealing with them.

While the problems that may be found outside the classroom are:

1. Less of school facilities

2. Lack of motivation from the teacher and the parents

3. Less of material supporting learning activity

4. Unsupported home conditions and environments

Those problems can affect the students’ success because they cannot make a good

progress in developing their skills with lack of motivation and support from their

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D. The Causes of the Problems

Problems do not happen without any reasons. We have known the

problems influencing teaching and learning activity. Now, I want to discuss the

factors causing those problems.

First, the problems concerned with the learners as individuals and

personalities. In every classroom, there are students with different personalities.

They are not alike in many aspects, such as attitudes, appreciations, interests and

habits of behavior. They also come from different families and environments.

Therefore, their characteristics, abilities and methods to study differ greatly.

That’s why it causes problems in the learning process because it is not easy to

cope with many different children’ personalities.

Second, the problems concerned with the nature of learning experiences.

In every learning process, the students need to experience the process to think in

solving problems, practicing some skills and feeling the emotional experiences so

that they can acquire the desire outcomes. The teacher may help them to study but

he cannot learn for them. Students with a lot of learning experiences will be more

succeed than the passive one. But, not all students want to focus on the lesson.

Some of them behave inappropriately and disturb the learning process such as:

talking in the class, whispering to a neighbor, drumming on a desk; trickling,

scuffling teasing; tormenting the child in the desk ahead; tripping others; hitting

one another with books, ruler, pencils or whatever may be in their hands;

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and pushing desks and furniture around (Elliot, Kratochwill, Cook & Travers,

2000).

These are the causes of misbehavior done by students in the classroom:

1. Students find schoolwork boring and irrelevant and try to escape it

2. Students’ out-of-school lives (family or community)

3. Students are imprisoned within schools that have authoritarian disposition,

which causes them rebel

4. Student rebelliousness and attention seeking are a part of the growing-up

process (Arends , 2001).

Therefore, the teachers who cannot motivate their students to experience the

learning process will find some difficulties in controlling the students’ behavior in

the class.

The next problem is the problems concerned with the motivation and

guidance of students. Students’ motivations in studying are different one to

another. The students who enjoy language learning and take pride in their progress

will do better than those who don’t. Lack of motivation may arise when the

students cannot enjoy the activity in the classroom, the teacher gives difficult

tasks without any explanations before, and the students do not like the lesson. The

teacher’s personality also can affect the students’ motivation. The descriptions of

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1 Appear anxious or defensive

2 Often stand or sit in one spot throughout the lesson

3 Are disinterested and disengaged

4 Avoid eye contact with students

5 Speak in monotone

6 Use time inefficiently; stall (Cruikshank, Bainer & Metcalf, 1999:311)

Then, the problems concerned with classroom management and related

activities. The teacher who cannot manage the students well will make poor

condition in the classroom. For example the teacher does not prepare the material

well that make the learning process useless, the teacher asks students to write in

the practice periods, the teacher asks students to write down of length notes, etc

(Wylie, 1967). Those time wasters can make the students behave inappropriately

because unsatisfactory teaching condition, material and method is the first factor

causing the disciplinary disorders. Therefore, inappropriate students’ behaviors

arise not only from the personalities of students but also from the teacher and the

environments.

The next problem is the problems concerned with the less of facilities in

the school. The factors causing this condition are the school does not have income

that can be used to provide complete facility supporting teaching and learning

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Then, the problems related to lack of motivation from parents. Similarly

with the motivation from the teacher, a good motivation from the parents also

gives a good impact in the students’ success. But, unfavorable home background

makes some students be forced to do a lot of activities in home. This condition

makes the students fatigued and sleepy in the classroom. Some parents also do not

care about their children’ educations that make the students do not have

motivation to study.

The last problem is the problems concerned with unsupportive home

condition and environments. Environment creates individual characteristics.

Therefore, if the environment does not have a good perception in education, it will

give a bad perception to the children not to be serious in the learning activity

because the children think that education is not important.

In conclusion, there are many factors influencing the problems in teaching

and learning activity whether it is caused by the teacher, the learner or the

environments. But, it can be solved with a good participation from the teacher to

choose the best methods that can motivate the students to study, from the learners

that control their behavior in the classroom and from the environments that should

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commit to user CHAPTER III

DISCUSSION

A. Introduction

In this chapter, I want to discuss some points related to the activities I did in

SDN Madegondo 03. I divide this chapter into three subchapters; the description

of the school, the activities during job training and the explanation.

B. The Description of SDN Madegondo 03

SDN Madegondo 03 is one of state elementary schools in Sukoharjo.

Located at Jl. Dr.Muwardi no. 1, Madegondo, the school is liked by some children

living surrounding it. It was established in 1978 on the area of 771 m2. SD

Madegondo 03 has eleven rooms. They are six classrooms, two ware houses, a

headmaster’s room, a teacher’s room and a school guard’s room. There are also a

small yard to do flag ceremony and a big yard to do sport activities.

In handling the school activities, SD Madegondo is led by Mrs. Tri

Widawati as the headmistress. She is responsible to manage and supervise all the

activities in SD Madegondo 03. In doing her jobs, she is supported by eleven

teachers and two staff helping as a librarian and a school guard.

To create the quality of the students and the school, SD Madegondo 03 has

vision and mission. The vision is to create young generations who have the best

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quality in study, behave politely and have the concept of faith. Then, the mission

is realizing education and teaching activities in order to improve the quality, the

cultural appreciation and the commendable behavior of the students.

C. The Activities during Job Training in SDN Madegondo 03

1. Class Observation

I did the job training in SD Madegondo 03 as an English teacher from

January 3rd, 2012 to February 29th, 2012. During the job training, I came to the

school every day (Monday-Saturday) whereas I taught on Wednesday and

Thursday. I taught fourth up to sixth grade, but I focused on the fourth grade

as the main observation. I did class observation in the classroom while

teaching. I observed the students and their classroom conditions.

The fourth grade’s classroom is in good condition. There are 17 tables and

17 chairs, including teacher’s desk, a blackboard and a cupboard. The wall,

roof and floor are clean. Although the books in the cupboard are scattered,

everything looks tidy.

On the first time I was introduced to the fourth grade students of SDN

Madegondo 03, I was surprised by their behaviors in the classroom. They gave

me great appreciation and attention. I thought that I must not work hard to

teach them. But, my judgment was wrong. When I was in the teacher’s room, I

heard their classroom teacher shout and hit the table loudly to make them

quiet. It changed my mind I should make an interesting material and create a

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for every teaching and learning activity I did. It will be discussed in the next

chapter below.

2. Making Lesson Plan

Lesson plan may be defined as the activities of a teacher that are

concerned with organizing lessons prior to the lesson. Such organization may

concern the students, material, tasks, aids, teacher language and so on. Lesson

plan, then, involves the ways in which the teacher draws these diverse

elements of a lesson into one cohesive whole (Todd, 1999).

Similarly with the statement above, I made lesson plan as the guidance for

me in teaching based on the topic discussed. Here is my lesson plan for the

first time I taught fourth grade students of SDN Madegondo 03.

LESSON PLAN

Grade : Four

Theme : Color

Duration : 90 minutes

Skill : Listening & Speaking

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- Bring printed color paper (origami paper) to present real color

- Ask questions about the color of the things in the classroom

10 minutes

3 Explaining the material in the hand book

- Write some grammar rules in the black board

15 minutes

4 Giving exercises and checking it together 40 minutes

5 Giving homework

- Coloring picture (Give them uncolored picture with the specified English colors on it)

- Solving symbols to be words, drawing it and then coloring it.

10 minutes

6 Reviewing the colors they had learned - Ask them to mention the colors

10 minutes

7 Closing 2 minutes

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commit to user D. Explanation

During the job training, I found some problems faced by the students of

SDN Madegondo 03 in learning English. Those problems include the problems

coming from the internal and the external of the students.

1. The internal problems

a. Less Motivation

Most students of SDN Madegondo 03 did not have great

motivation to study, especially to learn English. They had an

assumption that they were villagers that could not learn English well. I

saw that their vocabularies were limited; their abilities to pronounce

English words were less than good, their writing skill needed to be

improved, and their willingness to read books were inferior.

They had those kinds of problems because of some factors causing

it. First, they thought that English was the most difficult lesson to be

learned. They thought that it was impossible for them to acquire

English. Therefore, they did not do the best for their study. Second,

their teacher did not give them interesting material or attracted activity

in the class. They told me that their teacher just gave material and task

from the hand book and never did fun activity in the class. She often

asked them to study in serious way that made them less motivated in

study. Third, their parents and teacher did not ask them to learn

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do the activity in the class.

Therefore, they found difficult to memorize English words because

there was no willingness to learn English. They learned because they

studied the material that would be taught by their teacher on the next

day.

Those bad behaviors had become bad habit that was difficult to be

changed. They said that their teachers did not care about it. Thus, they

often did this negative habit.

Despite the undisciplined problems, they also had a problem

related to the inappropriate behavior in the class. When they felt lazy

to do the task, they would not do it. They just chatted or played games

with their friends. They did not care what I did, as their English teacher

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students that could not control their attitude in the class, such as taking

a walk or running in the classroom, teasing each other, saying negative

words, etc. This condition made this class the noisiest classroom in

SDN Madegondo 03.

Everyday, I hear their classroom teacher shouts or beats the table

with wooden eraser. It was aimed to make them to be quiet. When

they thought that a task was too difficult, they would copy their

friend’s work. They also did it when they had an examination, even

some of them cheated with their own ways, such as took the book in

the drawer and wrote some notes on a paper, table and on their hands

c. Lack of Self-ability and Confidence

I found this problem when I asked the students to read a text, to

answer my questions, to come in front of the class and to tell

something in English. Most of the students from the fourth to sixth

grade said that they could not learn English properly because they were

villagers. They did not believe with their abilities in speaking English

words. I found that they rarely practiced to speak English. They often

learned reading and writing skill and did not learn speaking and

listening activities. This condition caused pronunciation problems.

Some students were not also confidence with themselves. They

were too shy to ask questions when they did not know my instructions

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the class. Even the students with introvert personalities were too afraid

to come in front of the class and to answer my question. When I

approached their desks to check their works, they would be shy and

close their books. These problems made their development in learning

English run slowly.

2. The external problems

a. Lack of Facilities

English teaching and learning activity in SD Madegondo 03 could

not run well because of the incomplete facilities problems. There were

no language laboratory, tape recorder including its cassette, and

educational tools such as: flash cards, pictures, songs and games that

could support teaching and learning activities in the class. Listening

activity was never done because there were no tools to do it and the

teacher did not want to do it.

The students learned English just from the hand books with black

and white colors because there were no materials from the other

sources. It made me feel difficult to teach ‘colors’ because the students

could not find the real color. There were only black balls with two

words on it, the Indonesian and the English. I thought that the hand

books could not help the students learn effectively.

This condition was compounded by the inexistence English books

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but the books were old, obsolete, damaged, and uninteresting. The

students came to the library just to play hide and seek, not to read

books. Whereas, reading habit should be embedded to the students in

order to improve their knowledge.

The other equipments that could support English teaching and

learning were games, songs, flash cards and pictures. I could not find

those teacher’s aids in SD Madegondo 03. I saw that this school did

not ask any school fee to their students because this school got school

operational grants (BOS) from the government that helped the

activities in this school run appropriately. Unfortunately, this fund was

not used to equip the school facilities, especially to buy teaching aids

required to teach English.

b. Problems related to the Teacher’s skill

In every teaching and learning activity, a teacher has an important

role to control the activity done by the students in the class. Either the

teacher or the books are the main source of knowledge that can be used

to transfer knowledge to each student. The teacher, having a lot of

knowledge and good methods in transferring that knowledge to the

students, will give good impact in students’ success. On the other

hand, the teacher with less knowledge and less motivation to teach will

give bad impact to their students.

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Senior High School. But now, she is studying in UNIVET University,

Sukoharjo. Therefore, she did not have enough English knowledge to

teach her students. This condition made the students had problems

with spelling and pronunciation. I had observed the English teacher

when she was teaching the fourth grade students. I found that she did

some mistakes in spelling and pronouncing English words. She used

Javanese language in explaining material and never spoke in English.

Her vocabularies were limited that made her students think that she did

not master the material.

The other problems were unvaried teaching techniques. The

English teacher just sat on her desk and read the hand book to explain

the material. She would stand when she wanted to write something on

the blackboard. She presented material in 5-10 minutes. After that, she

asked the students to do some tasks. Then, she began to do her own

business and did not care about her class room’s condition. Most of the

students ran, shouted, went outside the class room, and made some

noises. I found that most of the teachers in this school did it. They gave

little explanation and then went to the teacher’s room to chat with the

other teachers. I thought that those were the reasons why the students

of SDN Madegondo 03 did not respect to their teachers and the older

persons.

I also found that the English teacher gave bad influences to the

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not be heard by children. That is why some students expressed those

bad words without any regretting.

c. Unsupported environment

All of the old teachers in SDN Madegondo 03 had perceptions that

English was an unimportant lesson that should be learned by

Elementary school’s students. They thought that English would not be

used in daily conversation. Therefore, they did not give good

appreciation with the English subject. The headmistress also ever said

that the English teacher would change the retirement class room

teacher two years later. Thus, every classroom teacher should be able

to teach English. Consequently, there was no teaching aids supporting

the English teaching and learning in this school. Whereas, there were

many tools supporting the other school’s subject, such as sport,

religious instruction, and computer lessons.

The other environment problems came from the students’ parents.

Most of the students of SDN Madegondo 03 came from the low

economical families. They often helped their parents to do many kinds

of activities in the house. They usually spent their spare time to play

with their friends, watch TV and play online games in internet café. It

made them sleepy and tired in the class. I thought that some of their

parents did not give good attention in their study. It could be found

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told me that their parents did not care about what they did. They let

them do what they want to do. It made some of them less motivation to

study. It also created a bad habit not to study seriously.

E. The Solution of the Problems

1. The Solution of the Internal Problems

a. Less motivation

In solving this problem, I tried to give information how important

English is. I gave motivation to the students that they could learn

English well if they studied seriously. I supported them to study hard

so that they could reach their goal in study and make their parents

proud of their successfulness. When they said that they were villagers

enable to learn English, I explained that I was villager too. But I had a

willingness to study therefore I could learn English better than them.

I also tried to create interesting materials and activities in order to

motivate them to study cheerfully. Interesting materials could omit

their negative perceptions on English. It could help the students to

have a good perception that learning English is fun. It could be seen

when I asked them to play a quiz, they tried to memorize the

vocabularies I had taught and tried to answer my questions in the quiz.

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case, I found that the teacher should give interesting material that can

refresh the students' minds.

b. Less Discipline

To avoid this problem, I made rules in the class. First, if they did

not do their home works, they should sing a song in front of the fifth

grade students. Second, if they did not bring their handbooks, they

should go to the library to do the other tasks. Third, for those who did

not want to study and pay attention to my explanation, I permitted

them to go outside the classroom so that they would not disturb the

other students. Fourth, I would not correct their works if they cheated

their friends’ work in the test. By those rules, they became more

discipline than before.

The simplest problem causing big problem happened when they

finished correcting the task together. They would run, walk around,

and shout to look for their works corrected by their friends. To solve

this problem, I just stood in front of the class and saw what they did.

They would realize that I wanted them to sit in their desk and be quiet.

In reducing the cheating habit, I tried to make four variations for

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before the test was begun. By doing these strategies, I found that most

of them had studied and were ready to have an examination.

c. Lack of Self-ability and Confidence

In teaching the students of SDN Madegondo 03, I tried to speak

bilingually (Indonesian & English). I hope that they would be

accustomed to English and saw that a villager (me) could learn foreign

language. I also asked them to do listening and speaking practices so

that they would realize that they could speak English.

To improve their confidences, I often asked them to come in front

of the class to write their answers on the blackboard and read a

dialogue when we checked a task together. By doing those kinds of

activities, I saw that their confidences were formed. The next

strategies, built a good relationship with the students. I tried to spend

my spare time to chat and share many things with them. Finally, they

became more confidence to speak with me and tried to answer my

questions in the teaching and learning activity.

Asking students to play games through learning also could be used

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could help the students to enjoy the learning process. Thus, they would

be attracted to learn English.

2. The Solution of the External Problems

a. Lack of Facilities

The first reason of this problem is that the school did not have fund

to realize complete facilities. To build a language laboratory and buy

the teaching aids such as a tape recorder and cassettes, the school

needs a lot of money. To solve this problem, the English teacher of SD

Madegondo 03 should work hard to prepare good and effective activity

in the class. For example: she does the listening activity with her as the

speaker that should have good pronunciation, look for some interesting

materials from the other recourses, etc.

Actually, listening activity could be done by playing an mp3 of a

conversation or songs of native speakers with a laptop. But, the laptop

was always brought by the other teacher and it was difficult to borrow

it. To look for pictures, games and songs the teacher could use the

computer with internet access in the teacher’s room.

To solve the uninteresting library, the headmistress should make

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librarian said that to have new books, SDN Madegondo had to wait for

the book given from the local government. Whereas, from my

observation, the school operational fund (BOS) given by the

government were more than the school’s need. I hope that the

headmistress can buy some books with the fund in order to attract the

students to have reading habit and use their break time wisely.

The other strategy was asking the sixth grade students to give a

book before they graduate from the school. The headmistress could

also make an announcement that they receive books from the people

around the school that want to donate their books.

b. Problems related to the Teacher’s skill

The English teacher of SDN Madegondo 03 should up date her

English knowledge so that she can teach the students effectively. She

also has to improve her pronunciation and speaking ability. Therefore,

she can teach English bilingually in order to make her students

accustomed to listen English expression.

Variation in the teaching technique can attract the students to learn

English. The teacher may ask them to sing a song, play games, and do

the other interesting activity that will not make them bored in learning

English. It will be better if she can reduce her negative habit done in

the class. She has to stop shouting to control the noisy class, stop

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teaching and stop giving bad influence to the students. I hope that she

can be a good teacher that gives good motivation, example, and lesson

to her students.

c. Unsupported environment

This problem is difficult to be solved because it is related to the

environments including the students’ teachers, parents and society. The

English teacher should change the negative perception that English

must not be learned by Elementary School’s students. They should

support the English teaching and learning in this school. The school

may provide some teaching aids needed to learn English, such as tape

recorder, English cassette, pictures and games.

The parents should motivate their children to learn English

seriously and reduce their time to watch TV and play outside the

house. The parents may ask them to study diligently in their spare

time. They should notice to their children’s educations and skills so

that their children have willingness to study hard to prepare their better

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Based on the result of the previous chapter, I can summarize some important

points. The conclusions are:

1. The internal problems in learning English were:

a. Less motivation

- The students did not have willingness to learn English.

- The students thought that English was the most difficult lesson to

be learned.

b. Less discipline

- The students often forgot to do their home works and to bring their

English handbooks.

- The students often did their home works in the classroom before

the teacher started the teaching and the learning activity.

- The students also had the problems with inappropriate behaviors in

the class.

c. Lack of self-ability and confidence

- The students did not believe in their abilities to speak English.

- The students were not confident with themselves.

- Some students were shy to ask for questions when they were

confused.

- Some of the students were afraid of coming in front of the class.

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commit to user 2. The external problems in learning English were:

a. Lack of facilities

- There were no facilities supporting the English teaching and

learning activity such as a language laboratory, a tape recorder

including its cassettes, and educational tools (picture, songs &

games).

- The handbooks could not interest the students to learn English.

- There was no English book in the library.

b. Problems related to the teacher’s skill

- The English teacher did not have enough English knowledge to

teach her students.

- The English teacher’s teaching technique was not interesting.

- The English teacher did her own business without thinking about

her students’ condition.

- She gave bad influence to the students by shouting impolite words.

c. Unsupported environment

- The old teachers in SDN Madegondo 03 had wrong assumption

about English.

- The students’ parents did not give them much attention to their

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3. The solution of the internal problems were:

a. Less motivation

- I motivated the students to study seriously and assured them that

they could learn English well if they had willingness to learn.

- I created interesting materials and activities to attract the students

to learn.

b. Less discipline

- I made some rules to reduce the students’ undisciplined behaviors.

- I stood up quietly in front of the class to make them quiet.

- I made some variations for the examination questions to avoid the

cheating habit.

c. Lack of self-ability and confidence

- I spoke bilingually in the class.

- I approached their desks to check the students’ works.

- I asked the students to come in front of the class continuously.

- I built a good relationship with the students to increase their

confidence.

4. The solution of the external problems were:

a. Lack of facilities

- The English teacher should work hard to prepare good and

effective materials.

- The English teacher should use the available tools (laptop &

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- The headmistress should make the library effective and add the

collection books.

b. Problems related to the teacher’s skill

- The English teacher should up date her English knowledge,

especially for the pronunciation and speaking skill.

- The English teacher should make some variations in her teaching

techniques.

- The English teacher should reduce her bad habit in the class.

c. Unsupported environment

- The old teachers of SDN Madegondo 03 should change their

wrong perceptions about English.

- The parents should motivate their children to study seriously and

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B. SUGGESTIONS

Based on the discussion and objectives at the report, I can propose some

suggestions. The suggestions are:

1. The headmistress of SDN Madegondo 03

The headmistress of SDN Madegondo 03 should know how

important English in the globalization era. Thus, she can realize the

problems hampering the students of SDN Madegondo 03 in learning

English. I hope that she can find the best solution to solve the problems. It

will be better if she provides more possible facilities supporting the

teaching and learning activity.

2. The English teacher of SDN Madegondo 03

The English teacher should develop her English knowledge and be

more creative in delivering the materials with limited facilities. She should

also motivate her students by giving positive statements, asking them to

play games, giving them interesting material and taking the other materials

from other sources.

3. The students of SDN Madegondo 03

The students should be more enthusiastic and serious to learn

English. They should not have bad perspective to the English subject. I