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Not all songs are suitable for teaching English, especially for children. Vernon 2010 states that the teacher should use appropriate songs which are sung by the
native speaker. Appropriate means match with the topics. Then he also states that the songs should not be too fast and difficult. The students will lose their interest in
listening to the songs since they cannot follow the songs. Lastly, the songs should repeat the same words all the time. Repetition can be extremely helpful in learning
new language.
d. Advantages of using Puppet
Most of students, especially elementary school students that are still in young age, like a media that is fun and colorful that can motivate them to study actively in
class. Then, puppet as colorful and funny things can help them to easily understand the material. The benefits of the use of puppets in the classroom are many and varied.
The use of puppets provides an opportunity for student to express their thought. Students who are working in a group to prepare and present a puppet play are
learning to work cooperatively with others, where there is give and take and sharing of ideas. The use of puppets can motivate student interest in the reading selection or
topic. According to Alam 2002,
“using puppet has special benefit to shy and nervous children and also gives the feeling of involvement and participation to the entire class.”
For many students the group work the use of a puppet can provide help with public speaking, especially for the shy or apprehensive student. The use of puppets is
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beneficial to the student who prefers to learn kinesthetically. Puppet activities keep students actively engaged with hands-on activities.
B. Conceptual Framework
English is one of the compulsory subjects for Elementary School students. According to the current curriculum, the School-based Curriculum KTSP the
purpose of teaching and learning process in Elementary School is to develop the students’ communicative competence, both in oral and written forms. SD N
Adisucipto II is one of the Elementary School which uses this curriculum. However, based on the observation and interview, the students still found some problems in the
class. One of the problems is the low mastery of speaking skills, whereas speaking is one of the skills that should be mastered by the students. For developing the students’
speaking skill, the teacher needs to provide fun activities in order to stimulate and encourage them to speak in the class.
Using English songs and puppets are suitable to be conducted in speaking class to improve the students’ speaking skills. First, it is neccesary to know how to
teach English in Elementary School which is different from teaching in Junior or Senior High School. In Elementary School it is important for the teacher to pay
attention to some practical approaches to teaching children, namely: 1 intellectual development; 2 attention span; 3 sensory input; 4 affective factors; and 5
authentic, meaningful language. Furthermore, in conducting the teaching and learning in the classroom teachers need to avoid explaining grammar explicitly and also
