How To Approach New Preschool Pupils at Tumble Tots Preschool Bandung 2008.

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ABSTRACT

Pendidikan merupakan hal yang sangat penting di dalam

kehidupan kita. Tanpa pendidikan manusia akan menjadi bodoh. Pada saat ini, khususnya di Indonesia, pendidikan merupakan hal yang penting dan orang tua sangat mementingkan pendidikan bagi anak-anaknya. Bahkan saat ini sebagian orang tua telah menyekolahkan anaknya sejak berumur 8 bulan.

Orang tua tentunya ingin anaknya mendapatkan sesuatu yang sangat berguna untuk perkembangannya melalui sekolah. Tapi

bagaimana jadinya apabila anak tidak dapat mengikuti pelajaran karena ia menangis akibat takut akan seseorang yang belum dikenalnya atau juga takut karena melihat guru laki-laki. Hal ini harus dapat diatasi oleh

pengajar agar anak bisa mengikuti pelajaran dengan baik. Pengajar perlu mencari tahu alasan-alasannya dengan berbicara dengan orang tuanya.

Setelah kita mengetahui permasalahannya, maka kita dapat menerapkan cara-cara untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini. Ada beberapa cara yang bisa dilakukan untuk melakukan pendekatan dengan anak tersebut misalnya, pengajar bisa mengacuhkan anak tersebut tuntuk sementara waktu, memberikan mainan atau membacakan cerita yang menarik. Apabila pengajar langsung berinteraksi dengan anak itu maka anak akan semakin takut. Hal yang paling tepat untuk mendekati anak tersebut adalah dengan membiarkan anak menghampiri kita terlebih dahulu, walaupun pendekatan ini membutuhkan waktu yang cukup lama akan tetapi dapat membuat hubungan pengajar dan anak menjadi dekat.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of study

Every country in this world has its national language. Language is

very important in this life. Normally, if there is no language in this world,

there would be no communication. As there are hundreds of languages in

this world, it is hard for us to learn all the languages. However, nowadays,

as English has become the international language, communication among

people throughout the world may be carried out by means of using English

as the language of communication.

Many people want to learn English to be able to communicate with

other people from other countries in the international language. In many

schools in Indonesia, English has become one of the main subjects. (Even

many preschools have started to include English as a subject to be taught

at school.)

At present, many parents try to find the best preschool because

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future, and one of the best preschools in Indonesia, especially in Bandung,

is Tumble Tots.

I choose Tumble Tots as the place for my internship because, at

Tumble Tots, English is introduced to preschool pupils. The preschool

teachers must also speak English every time they teach the pupils.

I did my internship there for four months and I taught pupils of age 1

to 4 years old. During that time I had difficulty to approach some of the

pupils because I did not know how to approach them. Therefore, in this

Term Paper, I am going to write about how to solve this problem because

it is important for me and for teachers to have good relationship with the

pupils.

B. Statement of the problem

Approaching preschool pupils is not an easy job as we must know

suitable strategies. When I did my internship, I faced a problem while

teaching the pupils.

There are some questions which refer to my problem:

 How can I approach new preschool pupils?

 Why are there some pupils who are afraid of a male teacher?  What should the parents do when their child is afraid of a male

teacher?

The situation I faced when I did my internship made me depressed and

confused because I did not know how to handle the pupils. I always felt

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parents blamed me and told the owner that I should not stay in the class

and that I should avoid meeting the pupil for one or two weeks.

If a pupil cried, the situation in the class became very noisy

because the other pupils would cry too. I became more confused because

I was still a new teacher and did not know how to deal with it.

C. Objectives and benefits of the study

My purpose in writing this paper is that I can point out the best

solution to approach preschool pupils who are afraid of a male teacher. I

will analyze how to get closer to them.

The advantage for the readers is I expect that after they have read

my term paper they can get more knowledge about how to approach

preschool pupils and can handle them properly.

The advantage for the institution is the teachers at Tumble Tots can

know how to handle this kind of problem so that the pupils will enjoy the

lesson.

D. Description of the institution

Tumble Tots was established by a former teacher of Olympic

Gymnastics from England, Bill Cosgrave, in 1979. He created an English

course for children that was not only suitable for learning but also for

playing. Now, Tumble Tots has a lot of branches, such as in Singapore,

Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Tumble means rolling and Tots means

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preschool institution which teaches English using interesting indoor and

outdoor activities, including gross and fine motor skills to educate pupils of

6 months up to 5 years old.

There are four classes at Tumble Tots:

1. Gym babes (6 month – walking)

2. Walking to two (walking – 2 years old)

3. Two to three class (2-3 years old)

4. Play group (3-5 years old)

Tumble Tots has a motto “Skills for Life”, which means Tumble Tots

has a purpose to build the personality of the children to become more

confident, independent and disciplined. Tumble Tots now has two

branches in Bandung, at Maulana Yusuf Street no. 8 and Buah Batu

Street no. 18.

E. Limitations of the study

In this Term Paper, I got the data from two books about psychology

and child development. The titles are Psikologi Anak Bermasalah and

Psikologi Perkembangan Anak dan Remaja.

Besides these books, I gained the data about children and their

problems and the solutions for their problems from an eHow article on the

Internet.

Besides those sources, I also got more data from my experience

when I taught the pupils, from my colleagues and from the parents of the

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F. Organization of the Term Paper

I would like to divide this Term Paper into four chapters. The first

chapter is Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the

Statement of the Problem, the Objectives and Benefits of the Study, the

Description of the Institution, the Limitations of the Study, and the

Organization of the Term Paper.

The second chapter is Cause and Effect, in which I will analyze the

causes and effects of the problem that I faced. The third chapter is the

Potential Solutions, which gives solutions to my problem and the positive

and negative effects of those solutions. The fourth chapter is Conclusion,

where I will write about the best solution to the problem based on the

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Approaching new pupils is not always easy, especially if you do not

have enough knowledge about the pupils and do not have an experience

as a preschool teacher. I faced this problem when I did the internship.

After I observed my problem, I noticed that the problem I faced has causes

and effects. In the previous chapters I have written about causes and

effects of the problem and also the potential solutions to solve the problem

based on the data and my experience.

In this chapter I will write about the best solution for the problem as

my chosen solution. I chose the solution based on the data that I got. The

chosen solution is letting the pupils approach the new or male teacher

first, with the teacher then talking to the students in a gentle voice. This

solution has been discussed by Gunarsa in her book. She believes that

the students who feel unsafe or unfamiliar with a person must be handled

by the teachers by ignoring them for a few weeks and letting the pupils

approach first. (94)

Based on the article called “eHow with Deal Childhood Fears”, the

teacher and the parent must understand that all children become fearful

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This solution is really effective although it needs quite a long time to

make the pupils feel comfortable with the new male teacher. The parent

also has to encourage the pupil by telling them that the teacher is nice and

not a bad person. The pupil will not be afraid of a male teacher if both the

parent and the teacher can have good cooperation. If the parent cannot

cooperate with the teacher, it will be hard to solve the problem.

After I analyzed the problem, I conclude that the pupils who are

afraid of a male teacher have different causes. Some of the pupils lost a

father’s figure and the best solution to approach the pupils is letting the

pupils approach the teacher first. I also suggest that the teacher must be

sensitive to their problem and solve it as soon as possible before it is too

late. The parent should not react too much like overprotecting the pupil by

asking the teacher to stay outside the class and avoid meeting that pupil.

This situation will make the teacher feel guilty and can influence teacher’s

performance. The parent must also have a lot of information about the

problem that her child faces and be able to find the best solution together

with the teacher. Good communication between the parent and the

teacher will be helpful to solve the problem because the teacher will be

willing to help that pupil.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources

Gunarsa, Yulia Singgih D. Psikologi Anak Bermasalah. Jakarta: PT. BPK

Gunung Mulia, 1976.

Gunarsa, Singgih, and Yulia Singgih D. Psikologi Perkembangan Anak

dan Remaja. Jakarta: PT. BPK Gunung Mulia, 1986.

Electronic Sources

“eHow Relationships and Family Editor: How to Deal with Childhood

Fears.”ehow.com. 2005. 14 May 2008

<http://www.ehow.com/how_2071477_deal-childhood-fears.html>.

Seminar