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of language instruction. Teaching English as a second language to children, therefore, is not merely excessively exposing the children to the target language.
The success of teaching English to young children requires specific skills and intuitions that different from those appropriate for adult teaching Brown, 2001:
87; Harmer 2007: 82 and Whitehead, 2000: 120. In addition, students at this level have little or no prior knowledge of the target language. Therefore, the teacher
becomes a central in the teaching learning activity. Brown 2001: 87-91 suggest five category to give practical approach to teaching young children. They are
intellectual development, attention span, sensory input, affective factors and authentic, meaningful language.
a. Intellectual Development
According to Piaget 1972 as quoted by Brown 2001: 88 and Merry 1997: 48-50, children are still in an intellectual stage which is called concrete
operations. As a teacher, therefore, explaining rules, patterns of sentences, and other abstract concepts about language must be done carefully. Children are
centered on the here and now, on the functional purposes of language. They certainly cannot grasp the terms, definition or linguistics concepts which explain
about language. Brown 1999: 88 gives rules for classroom as guidelines related to the children’s intellectual development. The first one is that the use of
grammatical terms like present simple or present progressive should be avoided. The second one is that stating rules in abstract terms should also be avoided. As
an example, the teacher should not state that in making an interrogative sentence PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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do or does should be added. That rules is in line with Harmer 2007: 82 who explains that young children have difficulties to grasp grammar rules. Third,
giving examples for explaining certain patterns are the way to introduce grammatical patterns to children. Halliwell 1992: 3 sustain that children are able
to understand what is being said to them even before they understand individual words because they can understand by intonation, gesture, facial expressions,
actions and circumstances. Finally, repetition is used as the way to cooperate between ears and brain. Difficult concepts or patterns require more repetition that
adult need. Certainly, maintaining students’ interest and attention of the repetition should be kept intact.
b. Attention Span
One of the main differences between adults and children is attention span. Whereas adults’ attention span is long, children attention span can be short when
they have to deal with boring, useless or very difficult teaching material. Since language lessons can be sometimes difficult for children, teachers’ job is to make
the lessons interesting, lively, and fun. Nunan 1999: 148 suggests that in order to maintain the students’ attention and to attain the objectives of the lesson, teacher
should focus on the learners need in which the teacher should defining the needs, determining the objectives of the lesson and selecting appropriate teaching
techniques. Therefore, Brown 1999: 88-89 suggests ways to maintain students attention. First, activities should be designed to capture children’s immediate
interest because children focus on the immediate here and now. Activities which PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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require the students to think very hard will be rejected by the students because of their boredom. Second, various activity should be employed to maintain
children’s interest and to keep children’s attention alive. Halliwell 1992: 7 introduces the term imagination as a mean to maintain the students’ attention.
Although language teaching should be concerned with real life, promoting fantasy and imagination can be very useful for teaching young children. Third, teacher
should be animated, lively and enthusiastic about the subject matter. Children need this exaggeration to keep their spirit maintained and their mind alert.
Halliwell 1992:6 states that it is because the children’s instinct of being fun. Fourth, humor will also maintain students’ attention. However, appropriate humor
to children should be used instead of adults’ humor. Finally, children are very curious to learn. Raising students’ curiosity will maintain the students’ attention
and focus.
c. Sensory Input
