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The activity is like what happens when one is learning one’s mother tongue. Students have frequent experiences in obeying commands during the
early years of learning the mother tongue. Those experiences appear to play an important part in the learning of vocabulary. For example, students learn word
‘touch’, it is difficult to teach them that word. Therefore, teachers can ask the class to obey simple command that contain ‘touch’.
1f. Games
A well-chosen game can help the students acquire English words. Games are very helpful because they can make students feel that certain words are important
and necessary because without those words, the object of the game cannot be achieved.
1g. Choral Singing
The students sing along with their friends and the way teacher convey the meaning of the lyric by acting out individual stanza or by using puppets or props
Gordon, 2007. Otherwise, using action songs, it will give opportunity of moving bodies while singing since young learners are physically very active Llach
Gomez, 2007. Moreover, songs are associated with relaxation and fun so the teachers can create comfortable and stress free environment.
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1h. Role-plays
Role-plays enable students to visual and experience occurrences and contexts that are removed from their day-to-day lives. “Role-play activities can be
effective for investigating and learning the vocabulary of natural and social sciences,” Gordon 2007. For example students can learn vocabulary related to
health and well-being by reenacting as visit to the doctor or learn about rain forest by creating a tropical jungle in the classroom.
1i. Hands-on Projects
Students learn by doing. Students interpret the meaning of context-reduced vocabulary when they observe natural phenomena first-hand while participating
in inquiry-based learning experiences. Hands-on consist of two stages; group activity and teacher guided reporting. “During group activity, students
demonstrate a natural phenomenon. Then, during guided reporting, students try to describe observations formulate their hypothesis, and also try to draw
conclusions.” Gordon, 2007. It provides highly specific contextual fruitful experiences for concept clarification and provides rich opportunities for problem
solving when they enable children to use academic language to analyze their observation and to draw conclusion.
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2. Verbal Explanation 2a. Personalization
Instead of memorizing list of words and their meanings, personalizing vocabulary lessons greatly help students’ deep processing. It is when teachers
connect vocabulary to young learners’ lives. “Ask students question that will help them to relate new words to their own lives. This will help them to remember the
words and hopefully will help them to use the words in their own speech and writing.” Cameron, 2001, p. 128.
2b. Translation
“Sometimes a new word is first explained in the foreign language or with pictures, but is then immediately translated in the first language.” Cameron, 2001.
Learners will soon realize the pattern of their teacher’s explanations and learn that they don’t have to concentrate on working out the meaning because the translation
is predictable given afterwards. As a general principle, it would seem useful to avoid translation as regular way of explaining new words, and try other techniques,
both for variety and for promoting learning Cameron, 2001.
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METHODOLOGY A. Context of the Study
The context of the study is Satya Wacana Students Center in Salatiga which used English as their medium of instruction. My focus will be in Bloomers
classes 5-6 years old students since these classes have science lesson every Tuesday which teach basic concept of science using simple experiment.
B. Participants
The participants are the teachers. I’m going to observe and interview two teachers who teach in the same level Bloomers classes to get to know more
about techniques in teaching vocabulary in science class. Different classes and different teachers may need and use different techniques.
C. Instruments
Here, I use camera and video recorder to document or take picture of the activities during the observation related to the research issue. The observation
aims to identify and describe what techniques that the teachers use when teaching vocabulary in science class. Then, the instruments for the interview are the result
of video recording, interview guide and voice recorder to record the interview
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sections. The interview is stimulated record interview because it accommodates teacher reflective practice when they use vocabulary techniques. This interview
aims to know the teachers’ educational background, techniques teaching vocabulary, why the teachers use particular techniques, and how the teacher deal
with problems in teaching vocabulary.
D. Data Collection Procedure
The data is taken by observing teaching and learning process and interviewing two kindergarten teachers at SWCC then doing documentation and
transcription. First, I observe each teacher twice during the science class, 30 minutes of each class. So, there will be four observations. After that, I interview
each teacher after the observation has been done. The interview is done after the observation to get more information and clarification of the observation result.
E. Data Analysis Procedure
This study employs a descriptive-qualitative design. After each teacher was being observed and interviewed, I noted the video of the observation,
transcribed the interview and then analyzed. The analysis is organized by categorizing kind of techniques in teaching vocabulary based on the result of
observation and interview transcription. Then, each technique is described and
