26 birth to adolescence: 1 sensori-motor stage; 2 pre-operational stage; 3
concrete-operational stage; and 4 formal operational stage. Children at primary level are already in the third stage, concrete-
operational stage. Children in this stage are at age of 7 to 11 or 7 to 12 Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011. According to Henniger 2009, children in this stage are
less egocentric and their ability to see other‟s perspective is gradually established.
Furthermore, they are still developing their ability to think logically and also starting to make generalizations from the environment although it is limited
Henniger, 2009 and Nunan, 2011.
d. Teaching English at the primary level
Teaching English at primary level means teaching English to young learners whose ages are ranged from 7 to 12. Teaching English to young learners
is not the same with teaching English to adults. The remarkable difference is the motivation owned by young learners and adults. Brewster et al. 2004 reveals that
young learners do not have the same kinds of motivation as adults in learning English. Therefore, in teaching young learners, teachers need to engage them well
in the learning process. Moreover, engaging children well in the learning process is needed since children‟s concentration span is shorter than adults Brewster et
al., 2004. It means that teachers need to create various attractive activities to engage the students in learning activities.
Moreover, children have their unique characteristics and are still in their psychological and intellectual development. Hence the way English is taught to
children should be different from adults. Rel ated to the children‟s psychological
27 and intellectual development, Nunan 2011 reveals that in designing learning
activities and creating tasks and materials for children, their psychological and intellectual development and also their characteristics need to be considered. In
addition, each child has their own learning styles which need to be considered too Clarke, 2010. Therefore in designing learning activities, teachers need to vary
the activities in order to suit to the students‟ learning styles. Classroom management in teaching English to young learners cannot be
seen as a trivial thing since it will influence the smoothness of the overall teaching-learning activities. When the class and the students are under controlled,
teacher can teach better and might achieve the teaching objectives well. Oliver and Reschly 2007 maintain that classroom management is important. They
reveal that The ability of teachers to organize classrooms and manage the behavior of
their students is crucial to achieving educational outcomes. Although sound behavior management does not guarantee effective instruction, it
establishes the environmental context that makes good instruction possible Oliver Reschly, 2007:1.
Hence, teachers need to have good classroom management skills in order to establish classroom context which enables learners to learn well.
Assessment is a necessary part of teaching and learning though it may threaten the children since it is not suitable with their nature Ioannou-Georgiou
Pavlou, 2003 . Cameron says that assessment brings a strong “washback” effect
on children lives which then can influence their interest and motivation in learning English. Therefore the methods and techniques of assessing young learners should
be selected appropriately so that the assessment is valid, reliable, and fair.
28 Teaching English to young learners is different from teaching English to
adults and it cannot be seen as a trivial and easy job. Children might be very unpredictable during the teaching-learning process, sometimes they are nice, but
sometimes they are spoiled, naughty, and egoistic. Therefore, English teachers for young learners should not only have good knowledge and techniques about
teaching but also passion and patience in teaching children.
3. Lived Experience
