intellectual ability. Hence, expanding their interests may be made the basis for many new and vital experiences for their future.
3. How to Teach Foreign Language to Children
Since the ways of children and adults learn have many differences, teachers need to know students’ learning characteristics. To be successful in
teaching a foreign language to children, teachers must understand some points should be implemented in classroom. According to Haliwell 1992, there are six
points that must be held by teachers in teaching English as a foreign language to children. They are children’s ability to grasp meaning, children’s creative use of
limited language resources, children’s capacity for indirect learning, children’s instinct for play and fun, the role of imagination, and the instinct for interaction
and talk.
a. Children’s Ability to Grasp Meaning
Haliwell 1992: 3 states “children are able to understand what is being said to them even before they understand the individual words. Intonation,
gesture, facial expressions, actions and circumstances all help them what the unknown words and phrases probably mean”. Knowing this fact, teachers should
support and develop this skill in order to help students in grasping the meaning of some English words, phrases, or sentences. Teacher can do this by making sure
that they make full use of gesture, intonation, demonstration, actions, and facial expressions to convey the meaning of what they are saying. Hence, teaching
English as a foreign language is not only by the teaching the linguistic aspect but also by revealing the real expressions or conditions.
b. Children’s Creative Use of Limited Language Resources
According to Haliwell 1992: 4, children not only have the ability to grasp the meaning of unknown words but they also have creativity of concepts.
They are creative with grammatical forms. This phenomenon is fundamental to language development. Hence, in order to make the most of the creative language
skill the children bring with them, teachers must be creative to stimulate them. It can be done by giving them a certain occasions in a form of games. That is why
games are so useful and so important. It is not just because they are fun. Haliwell states “games are partly because the fun element creates a desire to communicate
and partly because games can create unpredictability” 1992: 5. It means that when the children or the students have to get on with the games, they might make
some mistakes. However, there are good reasons why teachers must allow the students opportunities to make mistakes. The teachers’ roles deal with this
problem are observing their students while they are doing the games and making some corrections if they make mistakes.
c. Children’s Capacity for Indirect Learning
