19 o
The material should be functional which indicates meaningful, relates to their needs and personal interest.
o The material should be explorative, containing many aspects, element to be
exposed. o
The material should be accessible in which it is understandable easily. o
The material should have no grammatical mistakes. Referring to children who are easy to memorize and imitate.
o The material should have physical content that can be acted out.
o The material should be not too long or too short which is to accommodate the
children’s short span of attention. o
If it is a text, the material have enough space, the letters should be readable the size of letters
o The material should have less distracter that might make them confused.
o If it contains a pictures, it should not be too well-formed of illustration which
might make them move their attention. Building on the basic principles of selecting materials above, Mustafa
2003 proposes some ideas about how to engage young learners in indirect learning or acquiring English by way of non conventional technique. The ideas include the
use of stories, games, TPR techniques, song, repeated shared readings using big books Language Experience Activities LEA, and sociodramatic play role play,
and other techniques media.
D. Essential Principles of How to Facilitate Children Learning a Foreign Language
Drawing from a comprehensive understanding of how to teach English to children, there are some essential principles of how to facilitate children learning.
As mention at the beginning there are six of children characteristics and how they learn, in this section we are going to give some ideas on what the teachers should do
to facilitate students to learn EFL.
The first, children are always active exploring their environments
physical, social, informational, ideological and accumulating knowledge and experiences. In this case, a teacher should facilitate them in exploring their
environment. A very powerful context of natural environment for communication in the classroom for example may involve the use of small-group or pair activities.
Children bring so much with them to the classroom that is often ignored or underestimated. They have experience of life, knowledge of their world. They can
work together to solve a problem or develop a response to a situation we design. There are many patterns for pair work; for example, we can give each student a part
of information necessary to find a location on a map, to choose an appropriate gift for parent, to identify another member of their class, and so on. Teachers may also
lead children’s exploring through story. In a story children may explore many things about their environment, social, informational, and ideological. Murdibjono
states that Stories introduce the children to language items and sentence construction, and stories offer a good available source for fluency in all four
language skills.
The second, Children know a lot of literacy before schooling. They
participate in literate activates in a wider social context. Childrens knowledge about literacy artifacts in their environment such as traffic signs, traffic lights, and brand
names of their favorite toys and foods represents and emergent literacy. Therefore,
20 the teachers have to encourage social interaction to provide print –reach
environment in English. Teachers may use media which can be a signal for children to learn the language. The quality and quantity of social interaction a child receives
can markedly affect rate of development. Introduce language at discourse level. English teaching might also be looked at from the perspective of multiword
chunks, developing learners ability to chunk successfully.
The third, children tend to learn things holistically, in the form of scripts
they learn from whole to part such as arranging words to form a sentence and putting sentences into a program. This tendency is reflected very well in childrens
play such as playing: “school teachers and students,” “a doctor and patients etc. Teachers should encourage the students to do the activities which are useful in
English. For instance, doing prayer in English before the lesson begin, sing English songs before going home, etc. By doing this, students will learn the language by
acquisition. As mention above, playing games are potentially useful tools to enhance children learning Even, the origin of games is believed can be traced to
everybody’s early experiences in their childhood. Games can be used as a method by which English teachers to young learners create a setting for language
acquisition. Besides serving as a context for language use, games also provide motivation and a sense of playfulness that brain research indicates can enhance both
learning and memory.
The fourth, Children learn best when they make their own choices. When
the decision-making is related to their needs the learning becomes meaningful for the children. Therefore, the teachers may let them do their own choices. The
activities should be varies so they can make some choices. Develop a supportive, noon-threatening, enjoyable learning environment. All learners are valued as
individuals, challenges and risks are supported, topics are relevant and interesting, activities are meaningful and purposeful, praise is given where and when it is due
and discipline if firm, consistent and fair. Since children tend to have relatively short span of attention, so the teachers should be able to combine various techniques
in explaining one topic. It means that we have also to combine activities which might be done by the students. Many activities done to make them have choices in
learning and more understand but still focus on the same thing. Brown 2001 also states that children’s short attention spans do come into play when children have to
deal with material that to them is boring, useless, or too difficult. Therefore it is suggested to make them interesting, lively, and fun by focusing of activities to keep
interest on the immediate here and now in terms of their immediate interest, a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive, a sense of humor to keep
children laughing and learning.
The fifth, children learn best as a community of learners in a non-
competitive environment. Children tend to do things and relate to others in a cooperative way unlike adults who can benefit from spirits of competition to boost
up their motivation for achievement. In this case, the teachers should develop a sense of community in the classroom, building upon the value of the group
experience of culturally significant language that is transmitted through group participation. Promotes them a community of learners where everyone has
something to contribute and learn from one another. Acknowledge that language is social. Gives opportunities for all children to attend to what is personally
meaningful, interesting, and functional and to share it with others.
21 Shared reading is one of the activities that may offer continuous
opportunities for children to learn the language. For example; knowing letters and sounds is a skill focused on in kindergarten. We can check children on their letter-
sound knowledge by asking them to recognize each letter and to give the sound for the letter. Since we want the children to gain confidence in their ability to develop
as language learners and users, so the teachers should keep the shared reading sessions lively, relaxed, and non competitive, and always focused on meaning. This
situation allows all of the students to learn and participate.
The last, children learn best by talking and doing in a social context.
Therefore, allow children to be active participants in the learning process. Support negotiation of meaning and collaborative talk. Collaborative talk is the key in
helping children to shape and arrive at shared meanings and understanding. The childs task is to construct a system of meanings that represent his own model of
social reality. This process takes place within his or her own head. It is a cognitive process. But it takes place in contexts of social interaction, and there is no way it
can take place except in thee contexts. Sociodramatic play and role play actually share one basic characteristic: they both provide a natural for meaningful
communication for young learners. Role play moves a step beyond the dialog and places students in a situation in which they are called on to cope with the
unexpected or with a new setting, using the material they have memorized through dialogs and other classroom activities.
E. Conclusion
