Specification of The Product Significance of The Study

2. They often learn indirectly rather than directly – that is they take information from all sides, learning from everything around them rather than only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught. 3. Their understanding come just from explanation, but also from what they see and hear and, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with. 4. They generally display enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the world around them. 5. They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher. 6. They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topics in the classroom. 7. They have a limited attention span. Unless activities are extremely engaging they can easily get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so. Slattery Willis 2009:4 also list the characteristics of children. They state that there are ten characteristics of children as learners. They are: a. They learn quickly in their original way. b. They have many variety ways of learning of children can be in the form of watching, listening, imitating, and by doing things. c. They naturally have difficulty in learning grammar and explanation about language. d. They try to make sense of situations by making use of non-verbal clues. e. They speak with their first language about what they understand. f. They can gradually imitate the sounds they hear quite accurately and copy the way adults speak. g. They are naturally curious. h. They love to play and use their imagination. i. They are comfortable with routines and enjoy repetition. j. They have quite short attention span and so need variety. From all theories mentioned by some experts above, it can be concluded that by understanding the all characteristics of the children will help material developer in selecting the appropriate material for the children. While for the teacher, it will help the teacher so much in transferring and delivering the material.

b. Principles of Teaching English to Children

Teaching children especially kindergarten children is not as easy as it sounds. To teach young children, Brown 2001: 87-90 proposes some principles that can be applied in teaching children. The principles to teach children are: 1 Intellectual development Techniques and activities used in English teaching should fit the children’s intellectual development. In learning a new language, children depend on the world around them as they are centre on the here and now and on the functional purpose of language Brown, 2001: 88. It means that presenting abstract notions should be avoided for children. They will not work well. As a result they will feel bored. 2 Attention span According to Brown 2001: 88, short attention span occurs when children have to deal with materials that are boring, useless and too difficult to them. To keep the children’s attention, activities should be designed to capture their immediate interest. 3 Sensory input The developed activities for children should cover the visual and auditory modes. Since children need to have all five senses stimulated physical activities like role plays, TPR, projects and games should be included. Those kinds of activities and sensory aids help children practice meaningful language and internalize the language Brown, 2001: 89. 4 Affective factors According to Brown 2001: 89 children still have many inhibitions in learning English even though they are often innovative in language form. It can make them reluctant to use the language in communication. 5 Authentic, meaningful language