commit to user
Complete the paragraphs by using the correct past tense verbs
Mr. Daniel……..have a terrible day last Monday. You see, his entire life is in his appointment book and he…..lose it.
He…go to Yogyakarta for a recreation. In the hotel, he…look at his briefcase for his appointment book, but it…be not there. He…think
maybe he…put it in his bag, but it wasn`t thre either. After breakfast, he…report it to the police and…call his son. Then,
he…return to the hotel. At the hotel, he…get a surprise. There…be a massage from the receptionist. They…say they…find his appointment
book. He…leave it under the mattress.
4. Independent construction
The last part is an independent construction of the text. After the teacher gave explanation and some exercises to the students, the teacher
asked them to write their own experiences individually. The students should pay attention to the structure of the text, the tense used, etc.
D. Difficulties in English Teaching-Learning Activity
The writer realized that as the English teacher, the writer faced some difficulties in teaching English. Not only the teacher but also the students had
difficulties in learning English in the class. 1.
Difficulty faced by the teacher was class management. The teacher had the difficulty to control class well because there were some problems with some
students.
Noisy students: During the lesson, there were some students
making noise in the class. It will make the teaching-learning activity in the class less effective. Some students made conversation with friends, played
something, etc. While the teacher explained the material, some students did
commit to user not pay attention to the teacher. They had their own activity. It was very
disturbing the process of study. When the teacher gave some questions to noisy students and asked them to explain what the material explained
before, they could not answer questions. The teacher felt they did not
respect her and other students could not focus to the material. Lazy students: Most students felt lazy to follow and to accept the
material. They did not want to use their brain to think. They said the subject was difficult. Because of their laziness, they did not want to focus to the
material. They did not want to hear what the teacher had explained. Therefore, they did not know and understand the material. Although they
had prepared the book on the table, they did not open it. They felt bored with the class and did not have an interest to follow the class. They often
asked permission to go out the class. They said that they wanted to go to restroom. But, the teacher knew that they wanted to leave the class because
they felt bored with the class. Passive students: During English class, there were students who
did not want to follow the lesson. They pretended to pay attention with the subject. They just looked at the book, but they did not understand the lesson.
They did not respond with what the teacher explained. They did not have interest with the subject, even with the teacher or her technique in teaching
English. When the teacher asked them to read the text or to do exercises, some students just kept silent without saying any words. Even, the teacher
had explained the material clearly. She also gave them a chance to ask her
commit to user about the material. They answered “yes, understand”. Actually, they did not
understand what the teacher explained and they also did not want to ask the teacher any questions. They looked bored with the class. It might be caused
by less ability in English skills or lack vocabulary which makes them afraid of making mistake or they are shy to practice their English.
2. Difficulties faced by the students
Grammar: The teacher had explained the topic clearly. It was
about the recount. She gave explanation about what the recount text is, how to make the recount text, parts of recount text, the function and the grammar
structure of the text. In this topic, it used simple past tense. Therefore, the teacher explained about simple past tense. The teacher also gave some
examples about simple past tense in sentence form. For example:
- Triplek go to the beach yesterday.
- Triplek went to the beach yesterday. Verb2 adv. of time
In this structure, adv. of time used is past time. So it uses simple past tense. The teacher also explained them the key word to make past sentences and to
determine it was past or not. She gave adv. of time in the past time, such as yesterday, just now, an hour ago, last week, last year, etc. The teacher also
asked them to write and look for the verb in the past form V2. But, many students still felt confused with the grammar. They did not master it well.
Even, they did not memorize verb2 and adv. of time in the past. It made the teacher explain more than twice to students. So that, the teacher had to
commit to user explain grammar until students understood about grammar. Besides, some
students forgot to change from V1 to V2. They had difficulty to use simple present tense or simple past tense. For example:
- Saya makan roti tadi pagi.
- I eat bread this morning. Incorrect They should write „I ate bread this morning’, because it happened in the
past time. They also made mist
ake in writing the word “V2”. For example: - Balung leave Solo two hours ago.
- Balung leaved Solo two hours ago. Incorrect
They should write
“left” not leaved, because it was irregular verb”.
The teacher also taught them to change from positive to negative and interrogative sentences. Unfortunately, some students made a mistake write
the sentence. For example: + Baron finished his assignment last night.
- Baron did not finished his assignment last night. Incorrect ? Did Baron finished his assignment last night? Incorrect
Students still wrote V2 in the sentence. It means that they did not master grammar well.
They should write V1 if there was the word “did”, because it was past form.
- Baron did not finish his assignment last night. Correct ? Did Baron finish his assignment last night? Correct
commit to user In making a recount text, they should use simple past tense. But, some
students still used simple present tense in the text. For example:
Yesterday is Sunday. I worked overtime yesterday. He does not want to go out today. He prefers to stay with his family. He also wants to forget
his routine job. He asks I, mother, and father to help him to clean the garden. They want to plant some flowers. I help to prepare some snacks
for them. She wants to fry bananas and cassava crackers. I also prepare
a big jar of ice cendol.
Students still wrote V1 in the sentence. It means that they did not understand about grammar.
Vocabulary: The second difficulty faced by students is
vocabulary. In learning English, a broad vocabulary is needed. As the second grade students, the vocabulary they have is poor. They did not
master vocabulary well. When they found some new words and they did not understand the meaning of those, they will give up and stop learning. They
also felt lazy try to find the meaning on the dictionary. Some students did not familiarize with words: eat, go, sleep, buy, drink, etc. They knew the
meaning of the word in Indonesia in the V1 form. But, they did not know the meaning the word in Indonesia after the word was changed in the V2
past verb.
commit to user
E. Solutions for Difficulties in English Teaching-Learning Activity