Overcoming The Problem Of Ineffective Seating Arrangement In Kindergarten Level At Early Bird.

ABSTRACT
Sewaktu saya melakukan magang di kursus Bahasa Inggris Early Bird,
saya menemukan sebuah masalah dalam pengaturan tempat duduk
murid. Hal ini cukup mengganggu proses belajar-mengajar di kelas.
Masalah ini terjadi karena guru tidak menyesuaikan pengaturan tempat
duduk murid dengan aktifitas yang sedang dilakukan, guru tidak
memperhatikan karakteristik anak dalam pengaturan tempat duduk, dan
kurangnya kepedulian institusi terhadap pentingnya pengaturan tempat
duduk dalam kelas. Sebagai akibatnya, beberapa murid tidak bisa
mengikuti pelajaran dengan baik, sibuk mengobrol dengan temannya, dan
guru tidak bisa menangani para murid.
Untuk memecahkan masalah tersebut, saya melakukan penelitian dan
saya mendapatkan empat solusi yang bisa menyelesaikan masalah di
kelas untuk anak-anak kelompok usia 5 tahun di Early Bird. Solusi
pertama adalah guru terlebih dahulu merancang pola tempat duduk yang
akan digunakan pada hari itu sebelum kelas dimulai. Solusi kedua adalah
guru harus menggunakan pengaturan tempat duduk yang cocok dengan
kegiatan hari itu serta mengajak murid untuk terlibat dalam
pengaturannya. Solusi ketiga adalah guru mengadakan pertemuan khusus
yang berorientasi pada murid-murid, untuk membahas masalah
pengaturan tempat duduk murid dan mendapatkan pengetahuan yang

lebih dalam tentang pola tempat duduk murid. Solusi yang terakhir adalah
institusi mengirim seseorang yang handal untuk mengobservasi serta
memberi masukan yang membangun demi peningkatan kualitas guru.
Keempat solusi di atas efektif untuk membantu memecahkan masalah
yang saya temui di tempat magang. Menurut saya, solusi yang terbaik
adalah dengan melakukan keempat solusi di atas. Dengan demikian, guru
akan bisa meningkatkan kualitas mengajarnya sampai maksimal.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT..................................................................................................i
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY.............................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................iv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................1-6
A. Background of the Study

B. Identification of the Problem
C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study
D. Description of the Institution
E. Method of the Study
F. Limitation of the Study
G. Organization of the Term Paper
CHAPTER II. PROBLEM ANALYSIS.....................................................7-10
CHAPTER III. POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS............................................11-17
CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSION..............................................................18-20
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX:
A. FLOWCHART

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FLOWCHART
CAUSES
1. The teacher does not

change the seating
arrangements based on the
activities done in class
2. The teacher does not
consider the children’s
characteristics when
arranging the seats
3. The owner of the institution
is ignorant of the
importance of seating
arrangements

NEGATIVE EFFECT 1
o

The children might not like
the seating chart given by
the teacher.

NEGATIVE EFFECT 2

o

It might cause chaos then
lost of concentration during
the moving

NEGATIVE EFFECT 3
o

It will cost quite a lot of
money to hold studentscentered meetings

PROBLEM
EFFECTS

The teacher in Kindergarten
level at Early Bird does not
apply the effective seating
arrangement in class.

POTENTIAL SOLUTION 1
The teacher designs the
seating arrangement to suit
the children’s characteristics

POTENTIAL SOLUTION 2
The teacher designs
suitable seating
arrangements for different
activities and get the
children involved in moving
themselves into the new
seating arrangement

POTENTIAL SOLUTION 3
The teacher attends
student-centered meetings

EFFECTS
1. Some children cannot see

the teacher well and
cannot participate in
certain activites
2. The children keep talking
to their friends instead of
listening to the teacher
3. The teacher is not able to
control some of the
children

POSITIVE EFFECTS 1
o
o

POSITIVE EFFECTS 2
o
o

o

The teacher might feel
uncomfortable being observed
while teaching and cannot
perform well

POTENTIAL SOLUTION 4
The institution should send
someone to observe the
class regularly

Applying all of the
four solutions above

The children will not get
bored
The children will be able to
follow each activity well as
the seating arrangement
suits the activity

POSITIVE EFFECTS 3
o

o

NEGATIVE EFFECTS 4

The teacher can take
control of the students
The teacher will be able to
place the right child in the
most appropriate seating
position

The teacher will have more
knowledge about how to
handle children in class
The teacher will gain more
confidence in teaching

POSITIVE EFFECT 4
o

The teacher will get useful
feedback on teaching skills

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study
Nowadays the importance of English language cannot be denied anymore.
As Dr. G. Manivannan says in his article “Importance of the English
Language”, having English competence has been a major condition to
succeed in many fields, such as business, commerce, education, and even
religion (par. 9). Realizing the importance of English competence, recently
there have been many parents placing their children in English learning
institutions with a hope that their children will be able to master English.
One of the English learning institutions in Bandung is Early Bird. It
provides English classes for kindergarten children, elementary school

students, and junior and senior high school students. It was also the place
where I did my internship as a teacher and a teacher’s assistant. When I
became the teacher, the class teacher helped me as an assistant and then

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vice versa. There are two reasons why I chose teaching at Early Bird for my
internship. The first reason is because I like English and I really want to share
my ability with others through teaching. The second reason is because the
teaching and learning condition at Early Bird, with only few children per class,
gives me the opportunity to gain a useful teaching experience to the upmost.
However, the seating is not arranged well for the children in the
kindergarten class at Early Bird. The following chart shows the layout of the
classroom :
whiteboard

Book shelf

S

T

t

tv

T
a
b
l
e

a
g

C

C

C

C

C

C

e

door

T = teacher
C= child
In the class there are six children at the age of five years old. There are
usually three different activities in each 90 minute-class meeting, such as
story-telling, vocabulary exercises, and watching English programme on TV.
The children’s seats are not arranged to suit the activities. This negatively
affects the learning process since seating arrangement plays an important
role in determining the children’s participation in class. As is written by Colin
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Smith in his book Effective Classroom Management: “A Teacher’s Guide,
“Teachers should vary seating arrangement to suit the task in hand” (20), and
“Seating should be adjusted to the needs of the pupils and should be
arranged in an orderly and efficient way” (30). Moreover, as Suzanne Pitner
says in her article “How to Plan a Classroom Seating Arrangement”, “How the
teacher organizes the seating arrangement of the classroom has an effect on
the rest of the school year” (par. 1). Based on the quotations above, it is very
clear that seating arrangement is one of the important aspects in teaching
and teachers are required to arrange children’s seats well so that it can help
them to study well.
Therefore, in this term-paper I would like to analyze how to overcome the
problem of ineffective seating arrangement in Kindergarten class at Early Bird
because I realize that seating arrangement is a vital thing to consider when
teaching in order to have an effective lesson.

B. Identification of the Problem
In this paper, I would like to analyze several factors, as stated below:
1. Why is the seating arrangement in the kindergarten class at Early Bird not
effective?
2. How does the ineffective seating arrangement in the kindergarten class at
Early Bird influence the learning process?
3. How should this problem be overcome?

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4. What is the best solution to the problem of ineffective seating
arrangement in kindergarten class at Early bird?

C. Objectives and Benefits of the Problem
The objectives of this research is to examine why the seating arrangement
in the kindergarten class at Early Bird is not efffective, how it affects the
learning process, what should be done to solve the problem, and also what is
the best solution to the ineffective seating arrangement in kindergarten class
at Early Bird.
There are some benefits for the Early Bird institution, the readers of this
term-paper and me. The benefit for Early Bird is that my research will help its
teachers to know how to arrange the suitable seating arrangements. The
readers will get information on how to set effective seating arrangements in
class. Moreover, I hope that this research can be a useful information for me
in my future career.

D. Description of the Institution
Early Bird is an English institution that is owned by Mrs.Elly. It was
established in 2007 and is located at Jl. Pasirkaliki 71B, Bandung, Indonesia.
It provides English courses for children. In the beginning, Early Bird only
provided English classes for kindergarten children and elementary students.
However, it has developed its programs by providing classes for junior and

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senior high school students as well. Early Bird is equipped with instruments
and materials that are very useful for the students, for example, coloured
books which attract children’s interest, a story-telling stage inside the class,
animated story books, and many others. Besides providing English courses
for various levels, Early Bird also provides music courses for learning guitar,
piano, keyboard, and violin.

E. Method of the Study
In order to finish this term-paper well, I gathered data from my thirty-dayinternship at Early Bird. I observed one teacher and six kindergarten children
who were five years old. I observed how the seating was arranged in class,
how the teacher taught and controlled the class, and also how the children
followed the lesson. After each class, I wrote a journal about what I had
experienced that day. To analyze the problem during my internship, I
browsed the Internet for relevant ideas and I searched for information from
the books given by my lecturers and from those I borrowed from the library at
Maranatha Christian University.

F. Limitation of the Study
My research analyzes the ineffective seating arrangement at the
kindergarten level at Early Bird. My internship lasted from July to September

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2010. The subjects were one teacher and six kindergarten children in one
class.

G. Organization of the Term-Paper
This term-paper has several main parts. It starts with Approval Page,
followed by Abstract, Declaration of Originality, Acknowledgements, and
Table of Contents. The next part is Chapter I, Introduction, which contains
Background of the Study, Identification of the Problem, Objectives and
Benefits of the Problem, Description of the Institution, Method of the Study,
Limitation of the Study, and Organization of the Term-Paper. This chapter is
followed by Chapter II, which is Problem Analysis, Chapter III, about Potential
Solutions, and Chapter IV, which is Conclusion. At the end of this term-paper,
there will be Bibliography, and Appendix.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

During the internship at Early Bird, I found a problem that was quite
distracting while teaching, which was the ineffective seating arrangement.
This problem was caused by several things. The first one was that the
teacher did not change the seating arrangement based on the activity
done in class. The second one was the teacher did not consider the
children’s characteristics when arranging the seats. The last cause was
the institution’s ignorance of the importance of seating arrangements.
Moreover, this problem also had some serious bad effects on the learning
process that need to be solved. The first effect was some children could
not see the teacher well and they could not participate in certain activities.
The next effect was some children kept talking to their friends instead of
listening to the teacher. The last effect that I found was that the teacher
was not able to control some of the children.
In the previous chapter I have discussed four potential solutions and
each positive and negative effect. The first potential solution is that the
teacher designs and arranges the seating arrangement for children to
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suit the activities and children’s characteristics before entering the class.
The second potential solution is that the teacher has to apply suitable
seating arrangements for every activity and gets the children involved in
moving into the new seating arrangements. The third solution is the
teacher attends student-centered meetings. The last solution is the
institution should send someone to observe the class regularly.
After summarizing the contents of the previous chapters, I choose to
apply all of the potential solutions above together as the best solution. My
suggestion is the teacher first does the third solution which is attending
student-centered meetings, to gain new knowledge about teaching. After
that, the teacher can have some practice by doing the first and second
solutions, which are the teacher designs the seating arrangement to suit
children’s characteristics, and the teacher designs the suitable seating
arrangements for different activities and get the children involved in
moving into the new seating arrangement. Should the teacher prepare
different activities that require different seating arrangement, she can get
the children involved in the new seating arrangement instead of asking
them to go outside or step aside when the teacher changes the
arrangement.
When applying the second solution, the teacher must be careful with
the instruction and train the children first. For instructions, teacher can
create a trick that will attract children’s attention and get them to move
fast. My suggestion, which I have mentioned in the previous chapter, is
that the teacher first determines how many seating patterns that are going

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to be used that day and set certain sounds that represent each
arrangement, then applies it in the class. While the teacher is doing this,
the fourth potential solution can be done by sending a qualified person, the
owner for instance, to observe and give feedback to the teacher in class.
By having all these potential solutions done, the class teacher will be able
to improve herself in teaching maximally, especially in how to arrange the
seats in classroom.
In conclusion, the problem of ineffective seating arrangement in the
kindergarten class at Early Bird has brought bad effects on the students’
progress; therefore, teachers should pay attention to this matter. Knowing
how to improve teacher’s skills in seating arrangements and applying the
suitable seating arrangements for every activity will certainly help in
creating a better learning process.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed sources
Ilies, Beatrice-Georgeta. Classroom Observation in Teacher Training and
Development in Romania. London: Longman, 1994.
Smith, Colin. Effective Classroom Management: A Teacher’s Guide.
London: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.
Wright, Andrew. Storytelling with Children. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2002.

Electronic Sources
“Classroom Observation – Purposes of Classroom Observation, Limitations of
Classroom Observation, New Directions.” stateuniversity.com. 2011. State
University. 5 October 2010

“Classroom Seating Charts.” lessonplansinc.com. 2007. Education resource.
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.
“Classroom Seating Patterns”. teachingexpertise.com. 2005. Teaching
Expertise. 1 October 2010
.
Cook, Jessica. “Classroom Seating Arrangements and Behaviour.”
ehow.com. 12 February 2010. Sharing solutions. 27 September 2010
.
Law, Philippa. “Classroom Talk.” bbc.co.uk. 2007. British Broadcasting
Cooperation. 10 November 2010
.
Manivannan, G., Dr. “Importance of the English Language.”
usingenglish.com. 2006. Using English. 3 October 2010
.
Olsen, Barbara E. “Classroom Observation Tips.” studentteaching.org. 2008.
Student Teaching in Special Education. 24 February 2011
.
Pellowe, Bill, Kevin Ryan, and Robert Chartrand. “Seating Arrangements in
Language Classroom.” eltpodcast.com. 22 April 2007. English Language
Teaching. 10 October 2010
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Pitner, Suzanne. “How to Plan a Classroom Seating Arrangement.”
suite101.com. 2 June 2009. Insightful writers, informed readers. 25
September 2010
.
Ramsden, Alexandra. “Seating Arrangements.” uwsp.edu. 16 Desember
1999. English Education. 2 October 2010

“Seating Arrangements”. nwlink.com. 17 November 2008. Seating
Arrangements. 30 September 2010
.
Tripp, William James. “TESOL Training Course Articles: Seating
Arrangements in the Classroom.” tesolonline.com. 11 October 2006.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. 15 October 2010
.
Wagaman, Jennifer. “Preparing Your Classroom for the Start of School.”
suite101.com. 4 December 2008. Insightful writers, informed readers. 1
October 2010
.
Wong, Garret. “Ways That Seating Charts Can Promote Learning.”
articlealley.com. 3 August 2010. Free article directory. 30 September
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