The Effective Ways To Engage 3-5 Year Old Children's Interest in Learning Vocabulary at Tumble Tots Preschool Bandung 2008.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Saat ini kemampuan berbahasa Inggris mutlak dimiliki oleh setiap orang karena bahasa Inggris merupakan bahasa internasional. Oleh karena itu saya tertarik untuk mengajar bahasa Inggris pada anak-anak sedini mungkin. Saya memilih untuk mengajar di pra-sekolah Tumble Tots. Tumble Tots merupakan pra-sekolah yang mengunakan bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa pengantar. Dalam menyusun tugas akhir ini saya membahas tentang masalah yang saya hadapi yaitu kesulitan anak-anak yang berusia antara 3-5 tahun untuk

berkonsentrasi dalam mempelajari kosa kata bahasa Inggris. Saya membahas topik ini karena berdasarkan pengalaman saya , anak-anak di usia 3-5 tahun sulit untuk berkonsentrasi pada saat pelajaran berlangsung. Selain itu guru pun harus mampu menciptakan suasana yang menyenangkan dan nyaman.

Terdapat beberapa factor yang mempengaruhi ketertarikan anak dalam belajar kosa kata dalam bahasa Inggris. Diantaranya yaitu cara penyampaian guru yang tidak menarik, anak-anak pra-sekolah sulit untuk berkonsentrasi dalam waktu yang lama serta anak-anak lebih menyukai kegiatan fisik.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language is an inseparable part of human life. Generally, every country

has its national language or dialect, yet English is an international

language, so having English proficiency is beneficial. This fact makes me

realize that is it better to learn English as early as possible. Learning

English from early childhood is very beneficial as children are able to

acquire any knowledge relatively easily and quickly, as stated by June R

Oberlander in his book Slowly but Steady that “the fastest time for human

brain to grow up[ is in the first three years” (iii).

In Indonesia teaching English to children has become quite popular.

Schools are now putting emphasis on the English language in their

curriculum. In Indonesia, English is treated as a foreign language, which

means that English is “…not spoken by indigenous people” (littlewood3).

However, the main aim of English teaching and learning is for the children

to achieve English competencies in listening, speaking, reading and

writing, supported by proper knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. I

agree with Susan Holden that “The basic knowledge in learning language

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2 Maranatha Christian University important thing in language learning. Shelley Ann Vernon states that “An

ideal vocabulary class for preschoolers is an active class which

encourages conversation where the teacher delivers something in a

natural way to allow the children to learn without stress or fear of possible

failure. The children listen and understand first. After a while they will

begin speaking individual words and short phrases” (Par 4).

It is true that “The more they hear and experience the vocabulary that

you are teaching them, the more likely they learn it, but who wants to sit in

a class simply repeating words and what they mean? Certainly it is not

three to five year olds…” (Richards 98). Thus, teachers need interesting

and physically active activities in teaching vocabulary to preschool student,

as Solveig-Alma H. Lyster states in her website that”…to create a fun

English class you need a battery of games, activities, stories and ideas up”

(Par 6). Based on the above theories, it is clear that the basic technique to

teach vocabulary to 3-5 year old children is repetition. However, it is

challenge for the teacher to find the effective ways to do repetition so as

not to make the children bored and be inattentive.

During my apprenticeship in Tumble Tots, I have to teach vocabulary to

children age 3-5 years old. In my class, there are 22 students. Having that

many students, I find it hard to get 3-5 years old children’s attention when I

teach vocabulary. When I deliver my material to the children in my class, I

do not know how to engage their interest and make them feel comfortable

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3 Maranatha Christian University make them be attentive to what I say. I realize that it is not an effective

technique; in addition, this technique is wasting time and all of the children

look bored and sleepy.

I find that my English vocabulary class has not yet become ideal, as

when I explain or tell new vocabulary to the students because they cannot

remember it. The students are also not participating well during the lesson.

I observe that there are some of them who are always busy with

themselves, crying, chit-chatting or getting sleepy. In my opinion, these

problems happen because the children cannot focus and be attentive; so

that they get bored with the material and the way that I use to deliver the

material.

Beside that, I believe the teacher’s attitude in handling problematic

students influences the student’s attention. I once experienced facing a

boy who was out of control. He ran about, jumped and disturbed his friend

when I was explaining the vocabulary. This made me angry, so I shouted

to sit down to him. I even threatened to glue him to hid seat so that he

would not able to run about. The boy sat down, but noticed he did not like

what I had done. During the lesson he just sat down and daydream

without paying attention to my teaching.

Based on my experiences that I have stated above, I am curious to find

out the effective ways to support my teaching children of 3-5 years old. I

would like to find out how to engage their interest, and make them enjoy

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4 Maranatha Christian University B. Identification of the Problem

In this paper I would like to discuss the following questions:

1. What makes children at 3-5 years of age inattentive while learning

vocabulary?

2. What should the teacher do to engage the children’s interest in

learning English vocabulary?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

The objectives of the study are to find out the effective ways to engage

3-5 years old children’s interest in learning vocabulary. Through the study,

I hope readers, especially teachers, can get some more benefits. They can

find out why children become inattentive. Moreover, they can get some

ideas on how to make children interested in learning vocabulary. By

applying these ways, the children will not feel bored or depressed, so, they

can be more interested in and enjoy learning vocabulary. As for Tumble

Tots, this study can give some ideas to improve the effectiveness of

teaching and learning process.

D. Description of the Institution

Tumble Tots established by a former teacher of Olympic Gymnastic

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5 Maranatha Christian University for children that were suitable not only for learning but also for playing. At

the moment, Tumble tots has a lot of branches such as in Singapore,

Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Tumble Tits is an English course that

tries to teach English and uses some interesting activities such as indoor

and outdoor.activities to train children fine and gross motor skill. Tumble

Tots also educate children since 6 months up to 5 year old and have 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

discipline.

Tumble Tots in Bandung was established in 2000. Tumble Tots is the

first international preschool in Bandung. In the first three years, the Tumble

Tots in Bandung has about 150 children and 2 kinds of classes for children

aged 2-5 years old. Now, Tumble Tots has about 350 children whose ages

are 8 months up to 5 year old and 4 kind of classes. This fact proves that

Tumble Tots has grown up very fast and is being trusted by people.

E. Limitation of the Study

I would like to focus on the ways that are used in teaching English

vocabulary to children 3-5 years old in order to make them interested in

and enjoy their learning process. I make some observations during my

apprenticeship, recorded in my apprenticeship journal and do library

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6 Maranatha Christian University F. Organization of the Term Paper

The term paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter I is the

Introduction which contains Background of the Study, Identification of the

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

Institution, Limitation of the Study and Organization of the Term Paper.

Chapter II is the Problem Analysis, which explains the causes and effects

about my problem during my apprenticeship. Chapter III is the Potential

Solutions, which discusses about the possible solution for my problem,

along with the analysis of potential negative and positive effects. Chapter

IV is the Conclusion, which explains about the best solution to the

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15 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the solution with the positive and negative effects. I try

to choose the best potential solution with minimum negative effects to

solve my problem. I choose to combine between the second and third

solutions, which are providing various activities based on children’s

multiple Intelligences and improving techniques in handling children.

According to my observation, what causes the children to become

inattentive while learning are non-suitable teaching techniques applied, the

children’s short attention span and their tendency to like physical activities

more than ‘sitting down’ activities. Therefore, providing various activities in

the lesson and improving teacher’s attitude are effective to minimize the

causes of the problem.

There are some reasons why I choose this solution. First, my choice is

supported by Dr. Howard Gardner that “Games, stories and music are the

best way to teach language to pre-school student” (7). Second, as stated

in Teaching Preschool article that “Games, songs, rhyme, and stories can

help their minds to absorb so much when they are learned” (Par 6). The

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16 Maranatha Christian University and as much as possible, the games should involve physical activity. The

games can be used to teach the key words in the stories or to review,

repeat and revise the vocabulary learnt. By doing this each child with

different multiple intelligences can experience equal chance to learn

English vocabulary. Beside, when there are various activities in one

lesson, the duration of each activity cannot be long. That can solve the

problem of the children’s concentration span.

To engage children’s attention more, the way of teacher’s attitude in

handling children should be improve, so that the teacher can put the

children’s interest in directions that will maximize their learning. As stated

in David Paul’s book Teaching English to Young Learner in Asia that “

children will be influenced by our example and follow our lead” (148). The

teacher s have to respect the children so they will respect the teacher in

return. This will build a good relation between the teachers and the

children. As a result, the children will feel comfortable with the class

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Brewster, Jean. The Primary English Teachers Guide. French: Penguin

English Guide,1991.

Copehart, Jody. The Discipline Guide For Children’s Ministry. USA: Group

Publishing Inc, 1997.

Holden, Susan. Teaching Children. CoughboroughLeicestershine: Modern

English Publications, 1980.

Littlewood, William. Foreign and Second Language Learning. Cambridge

University Press, 1984.

Paul, David. Teaching English to Young Learners In Asian. Hongkong, 2003.

Richards, Jack. Application of Linguistic to Language Teaching. Singapore

University Press for SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 1976.

T. Linse, Caroline. Practical English Teaching Young Learners. New York: Mc

Grow-Hill Company, 2005.

Electronic Publications

Vernon, Shelley. “Get exciting Result Using These Brilliant Games, Activities

and Stories so your 3-5 year old children love learning Enlish”.

2008. < http://www. Teachingenglishgames.com/3-5htm>

Vernon, Shelley. ‘Teaching ESL preschool”. Teaching English Games.

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