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In a learning process, the students need a teacher to facilitate them in understanding the knowledge and achieving the goals of learning process. Brown
also gives his conclusion about learning: learning is as process of acquisition and memorizing something to get the information. That means that learning is a
process of receiving information or knowledge, saving the knowledge in storage system and then applying the knowledge by doing some activities or practices.
Learning needs to be active, consciously focusing on the material and able to practice in real situation. Learning is actually permanent but sometimes the
learners are easy to forget the material, therefore learning involves some forms of practices and also reinforces it Brown, 1994:7.
From the definitions of learning above, it can be concluded that learning is a process of accepting and understanding knowledge by doing some activities in an
informal or formal situations. Learning is content of studying, understanding and then practicing something. It may also
change the students’ behavior, because by learning something they will get the newest information and they might practice
it.
C. Teaching English to the Children
Teaching English to the children is different from teaching English to adult. The children tend to change their mood every other minute, and they are
extremely difficult to sit still. The children prefer playing to studying but they are able to imitate what the teachers say or do. On the other hand, they are able to
accept the lesson given by the teacher. According to Wendy A. Scoot and Lisbeth
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H. Ytreberg 1990: 1-2, pupils are categorized; five to seven and eight to ten years old. Five to seven years old, pupils are assuming that they are in the level
one the beginner stage. They also have each characteristic as follow; -
First characteristic is the pupils are able to talk about what they are doing. This mean that the pupils are able to tell their experience, but they do not
understand what the aim and why they must do it, such as; they do not understand what the aim of studying in the school. It is shown that they tend
to play in the class. -
Second characteristic is the pupils are able to tell about what they have done or heard. Actually, the students in this age like to tell everything about what
they have done and heard, but sometimes they do not understand and they cannot filter what they have heard. For example: they tend to tell everything
that they know although it’s not real and less polite.
- Third characteristic is the pupils are able to plan the activities. The children
usually active in this age, they like to do everything. They are also able to make a plan activity such as making an appointment with their friends,
doing their homework etc. -
Fourth characteristic is the pupils can argue for something, tell you why they think like that and what they are thinking about. Actually the children
are mostly active in this stage, so they are able to give some arguments about their agreement and disagreement. For example: they will complain if
the teacher does not give mark to their assessment.
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- Fifth characteristic is the pupils are able to use their vivid imagination. In
this age, the pupils are usually reaching out their imagination. They like dreaming something and sometimes it is irrational, for example: when the
teacher explains about astronaut, they will imagine to be an astronaut, etc. -
Sixth characteristic is the pupils are able to use a wide range of intonation pattern in their mother tongue. Usually they are expert in their first language
and it makes they get the difficulty to understand the second language. Therefore, the teachers must be patient in teaching the students. The
teachers also have to perform the process of teaching and learning in creative way to achieve the goals in teaching the students.
- Seventh characteristic is the pupils are able to understand direct human
interaction. In this stage, the pupils know how to interact each other. They have understood how to use language properly and how to associate to the
other. Eight to ten years old children can also be called a beginner, or they may
have learned the foreign language for sometimes. In this stage as Scoot and Ytreberg 1990: 3-4, the pupils are having some characteristics as follow:
- First characteristic is the pupils are able to tell the different between fact and
fiction. Actually they do not understand clearly about fact and fiction, but they are able to tell the difference of them.
- Second characteristic is the pupils are communicative. They like to ask
everything. They tend to be active, because they want to know everything.
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Especially, if the teacher teaches an interesting lesson, they will excite to focus on the lesson.
- Third characteristic is the pupils are able to make some decision about their
own learning. They know what they have learned. Basically, the pupils are able to understand the lesson quickly. They are able to understand the
instructions in the class and make decision about their own learning. For example: they are able to do their homework individually by looking for the
answer in the textbook. It means that they are capable to appreciate what they have learned.
- Fourth characteristic is the pupils are able to develop their mind to give a
feedback of situation in the class. They are able to understand and also complain something weird that they find in the class.
- Fifth characteristic is the pupils are able to work in group and learn from
other. In this stage, the pupils have realized that they must cooperate to do their task together. They also realized that they are able to learn and share
something from their friends Scoot and Ytreberg, 1990: 3-4. Brown also states
“to success in teaching the children a second language is required specific skills and intuition that are different from those appropriate for
adult teaching ” Brown, 2001:87. It means that the teacher must have a method
that suitable for the children. It is expected to draw the students ’ attention to join
the lesson process. The children are different from adult, the teacher should learn more about children’s characteristics to get their attention. How much they enjoy
the class will develop the st udent’s capability in mastering the materials.
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Based on the statement above, Wendy A. Scoot and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg 1990: 5-7 also give some best ways to teach the children:
- The first way is the teacher does not only rely on spoken word only, but also
giving more activities and some objects which enable to make the students understand the lesson easier. The teacher can add some objects such as:
pictures and some objects around the school to support the teaching and learning process.
- The second way is playing with the language. The teacher must be creative
in delivering knowledge, because the students are usually interested to join the lesson if they enjoy. The teachers are able to use songs, storytelling, and
games to create an interesting lesson. Therefore, it is able to make the students pay more attention to the class
. -
Third way is using language as language. Most eight to ten years old have awareness about their own language. The information which is delivered
often accompanied by other clues such as some facial expressions and movement. These clues are useful to help the learners in understanding the
language. -
Fourth way is making variety in the classroom. The teachers must be creative and are able to create variety in teaching, for example; to make
variety of interesting activities, variety of delivering the knowledge to avoid the students get bored and lazy in the class.
- Fifth way is routine. The students in this age are very easy to forget the
lesson, because sometimes the students do not pay attention to the lesson.
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Therefore the teacher must often drill and repeat the materials many times to make them remind and familiar with the material.
- Sixth way is encouraging the students that learning is not a competition but
cooperation. The teacher is able to give more encouragement to the students about the cooperation, give the students opportunity to work in-group, but it
does not mean that they must work in-group all the time. In this way, the teachers have to avoid giving a reward and prize to the students.
- Seventh way is in using grammar. The teacher must introduce grammar as
simple as possible and interesting. For this age, the teachers have to deliver the knowledge gradually, because the children have the level of difficulty in
learning the pattern of grammar . How good the student’s ability in
mastering the foreign language is based on the teachers’ performance in the
class. -
Eighth way is in giving an assessment. Giving formal assessment is important in knowing the student’s progress. The teacher may tell the
students’ parents about what their children have done. This assessment is also able to help the children to know their work and encourage them to
learn more Scoot and Ytreberg, 1990: 5-7. Based on statements above, it can be concluded that teaching children is
different from teaching adult. The teacher should know the student’s characteristics first, understand them, and then look for the best way to teach
them. Besides, teacher’s skill gives the big effect to the students in understanding
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mater ial, because how the teacher’s capability in conveying material will affect to
the students ’ attention.
D. Teaching Simple Present Tense
