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Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Tugas Akhir ini memaparkan analisa permasalahan yang saya temui dan hadapi pada saat saya menjalankan kontrak magang sebagai guru Bahasa Inggris di PG/TK Kuntum pada bulan Juni sampai Agustus 2012. Permasalahan utama yang saya hadapi dalam mengajar anak usia 4 tahun adalah kesulitan dalam membantu mereka mempelajari dan mengingat kosa kata Bahasa Inggris.
Penyebab dari permasalahan yang adalah anak-anak kurang fokus dalam mengikuti pelajaran di kelas, mereka merasa asing dan tidak
terbiasa menggunakan Bahasa Inggris didalam kehidupan sehari-hari, dan saya tidak tahu bagaimana cara mengajar yang efektif kepada mereka. Akibatnya saya membutuhkan banyak usaha dan waktu untuk
mempersiapkan materi untuk membantu anak-anak mengingat kosa kata, beberapa anak menjadi tidak mau mengikuti pelajaran di dalam kelas karena mereka menemukan kesulitan mengikuti materi pelajaran, dan beberapa anak menjadi tidak menyukai pelajaran Bahasa Inggris.
Untuk menyelesaikan masalah tersebut, terdapat tiga solusi yang dapat dilakukan dikelas. Pertama, saya memberikan pengulangan kata. Kedua, saya dapat memberikan kegiatan yang menarik dengan
memberikan gambar dan juga permainan kepada anak-anak. Ketiga, saya memberikan soal-soal dalam test dan memberikan penghargaan berupa hadiah kepada anak-anak yang dapat menjawab dengan tepat.
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT ... i
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... iv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Background of the Study B. Identification of the Problem C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study D. Description of the Institution E. Method of the Study F. Limitation of the Study G. Organization of the Term Paper CHAPTER II. PROBLEM ANALYSIS ... 6
CHAPTER III. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS ... 9
CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSION... 15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX:
FLOWCHART
Cause 1: the children lacked of concentration during the lessons
Cause 2: were not familiar with English language as it is rarely used in their daily lives
Cause 3: I did not know how to teach vocabulary effectively to the students so that they could not memorize the words.
Potential Negative Effects:
1. some of the students may get bored and underestimate the lesson.
2. Learning process runs slowly.
Potential Negative Effects:
1. the teacher should spend much time to create different fun activities to attract
students’ attention. 2. the children may tend
to focus more on the pictures or games instead of the words.
Potential Positive Effects:
1. The children will find it easier to
remember the new words through playing in a fun atmosphere.
2. The class will not be boring.
Potential Positive Effects:
1. the teacher can make sure if the children have memorized the
vocabulary or not 2. the students can enjoy
learning the words they arefamiliar with. Problem:
the difficulty in helping
four-year-old students to learn and memorize new English vocabulary
Effect 1: I needed more effort and time in preparing the material to help the children to memorize the vocabulary Effect 2: Some students were
unwilling to follow the material in class because they found it difficult to keep up Effect 3: Some students did not
enjoy learning english.
Potential Solution II:
the teacher provides various, interesting
activities such as employing pictures and games in class.
Choosen Solution:
All solutions
Potential
Solution I:
The teacher facilitates the students to listen
and say the words a couple of times through different
activities.
Potential Negative Effects:
1. some children may become afraid of the test and do not like English lesson due to the fact that it makes them get stressful. 2. the children who do not
remember and cannot answer the test may ignore the words.
Potential Positive Effects:
1. they are trained to improve their memory in the form of test.
2. they will be motivated to answer the test because they will get the reward. Potential Solution
III:
the teacher gives a test and a reward for
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
A.
Background of the Study
In this global era it is really necessary to learn English language as it
is needed in a lot of countries. Schools are thereby facilitating students to
be proficient and skillful in English language. Considering its importance,
schools teach English to children since kindergarten stage.
Learning English language cannot be separated from learning
vocabulary. It may be true, as Richards and Rogers mantain, that
“Vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of foreign language
learning” (32). Furthermore, it is stated by Brummitt-Yale in “Effective
Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary” that “It may seem common sense that
the more times we are exposed to English word, the stronger our
understanding becomes” (par.2). By learning and mastering English
vocabulary, the students can recognize, memorize and understand
English language better. Dene states that “An increased vocabulary will
help students communicate with others” (par.1). Therefore, it is advisable
to make students’ English vocabulary increase by not only making them
learn the words during the lesson but also saving them in their memory so
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Maranatha Christian University However, learning and memorizing English vocabulary might be difficult
for some children. Kelly maintains that “Some children have difficulty
processing and memorizing” (par.1). Moreover, Drake states that
“Learning new words is easy but remembering them is much more difficult”
(par.1). Since one cannot instanly be capable of acquiring the new
language, the teaching methodology then holds an important role.
When I was teaching at TK Kuntum during my apprenticeship, I found
most of my students in TK A had difficulty in learning and memorizing the
vocabulary well. No matter what and how I taught them, they still
considered it difficult to learn and memorize the vocabulary. Thereby, I
would like to discuss the possible solutions to overcome the difficulty in
helping some four-year-old students in learning and memorizing new
vocabulary in English language.
B. Identification of the Problem
In this paper, I would like to analyze the following research
questions:
1. Why was it difficult for me to help some four-year-old students in
TK A memorize new vocabulary in English language?
2. How can the problem affect the teaching and learning
vocabulary in class?
3. How is it to overcome the difficulty of helping four-year-old
C. Objective and Benefit of the Study
Based on the statements of the problem that have been mentioned,
the objectives of the study are to find the causes and the effects of the
problem and to present the best solutions to deal with the problem.
The benefit of this paper for the teachers at PG/TK Kuntum is to give
the information about how to help the students of 4 year olds in
learning and memorizing new vocabularies in English language. For
the readers, they can hopefully gain new insights in teaching
kindergarten students. Last of all, as a writer, if someday I want to be a
teacher in kindergarten, I will know how to overcome similar problem,
and I will also increase my knowledge in English teaching
methodology.
D. Description of the Institution
In the brochure entitled Menerima murid Baru Tahun Ajaran 2012 –
2013) PG/TK Kuntum was established in 1988. This school is located
at Cipaganti no 144, Bandung. Kuntum is an abbreviation of Kuingin
Tumbuh. It is a school that has a goal to give its students the best
education since their early age. This kindergarten has five classes,
namely Kelas Mungil for two year olds, Kelas Kecil for two and a half
until three year olds, Kelas Besar for three and a half year olds, TK A
for four year olds, and TK B for five year olds. This school offers to
enhance the knowledge and creativity of the children though reading,
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Maranatha Christian University other varieties of teaching techniques. It provides a Mandarin class,
English class, Math class. Moreover, Kuntum’s goals are to build
students’ good attitude and to make them have confidence, as well.
(source: brochure entitled Menerima murid Baru Tahun Ajaran 2012 –
2013)
E. Method of the Study
I employed my apprenticeship journal based on my apprenticeship at
TK A Kuntum to help me to get the information required. I also did a library
research for my paper through some books and articles from the Internet
in order to get data to support my analysis.
F. Limitation of the Study
This paper will focus on how to overcome the difficulty in helping some
four-year-old students in learning and memorizing new vocabularies in
English language. The subjects of the research are five four-year-old
students at TK A Kuntum and I as one of the English teachers. The
teaching duration is two hours each day. School days are from Monday to
Friday. My period of apprenticeship started in July and ended in
September 2012. In this paper I would like to discuss the causes of why it
was difficult to help the four-year-old students learn and memorize words,
the second is about the effects which are related to the problem, and also
G. Organization of the Term Paper
This Term Paper consists of four chapters, preceeded by
Acknowledgments, Abstract, and Table of Contents. The first chapter is
Introduction, which consists of 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 Paper. The second chapter contains problem analysis. Then,
the third chapter is potential solutions, which includes two positive effects
and also two the negative effects of the solutions. The fourth chapter is
Conclusion, followed by bibliography and the appendix, which contains the
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Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to present the best solutions to overcome
the problem. The problem is when doing my apprenticeship as an English
teacher at TK Kuntum, I had difficulty in helping some four-year-old
students who had a problem in learning and memorizing new vocabulary
in English language. The causes are the children lacked consentration
during the lessons, they were not familiar with English language as it is
rarely used in their daily lives, and I did not know how to teach vocabulary
effectively to the children. The effects are I needed more effort and time in
preparing the material to help the children to memorize the vocabulary,
some children were unwilling to follow the material in class because they
found it difficult to keep up, and some children may not enjoy learning. The
three potential solutions arethe teacher facilitates the students to listen
and say the words a couple of times through different activities, the
teacher provides various interesting activities such as employing pictures
and games, and the teacher gives a test and a reward for those who can
answer correctly.
Based on the analysis, the best solution among the three potential
chapter. I prefer choosing all of the three potential solutions because the
three solutions are important to overcome the difficulty in helping the
students to learn and memorize new English vocabulary. The first solution
is the teacher facilitates the students to listen and say the words a couple
of times through different activities so that the teacher can make sure if the
children have memorized the vocabulary or not and the students can enjoy
learning the words they are unfamiliar with. The second solution is the
teacher will give an interesting activities so that the students will find it
easier to remember the new words through playing in a fun atmosphere
and the class will not be boring. The three solution is the teacher will give
a test and a reward for the students who can answer correctly so that they
are trained to improve their memory in the form of test and they will be
motivated to answer the test because they will get the reward. Therefore,
applying the three solutions to help the students learn and memorize
English vocabulary better is needed to overcome the problem, and bring
benefits to the students.
To sum up, the teachers, should give their best performance to make
their students memorize the vocabulary well. Furthermore, they need to
build and rise the quality as well as creativity in teaching kindergarten
students particularly in English class. Hence, the students can learn and
Maranatha Christian University
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Maranatha Christian University
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