21 reflections Richards and Farrell, 2005. According to them, individual strategies
are reflection, self-directed learning, and taking part in teacher support groups. Another way to support novice teachers is by encouraging them to share
the challenges they face in their first years of teaching and tell other people about what the experience Farrell, 2012. Thus, Farrell 2012 encourages second
language educators to collect the stories novice teachers share about their first years of teaching. From what they have collected, a corpus of the story of novice
teachers first years of teaching could be created. This would help novice teachers overcome the challenges they face and reflect on their own teaching experiences
Farrell, 2012. Similarly, Shin 2012 also reveals that by sharing their stories, novice teachers are able to reflect on their own teaching practices and it is
empowering.
2. Primary Level
In this section, constructs and concepts related to primary level particularly bilingual school are being reviewed and clarified. Those constructs and concepts
are: 1 bilingual education; 2 primary school in Indonesia; 3 primary level students‟ characteristics; and 4 teaching English at primary level.
a. Bilingual education
Bilingual education at the elementary is defined as “education that aims to promote bilingual or multilingual competence by using both or all languages
as media of instruction for significant portions of the academic curriculum” Genesse, 2004:548. According to Genesse 2004 the distinctive characteristic or
22 the hallmark of bilingual education is integrating language and academic
instruction. In her book entitled Bilingual Education in the 21
st
Century: A Global Perspective, Garcia 2011 differentiates bilingual education and traditional
education which teach a second or a foreign language. Below is the table of differences between bilingual education and traditional foreign- or second
language education by Garcia 2011:26. Table 2.1 Differences between Bilingual Education and Traditional Second- or
Foreign-Language
Bilingual Education Second- or Foreign-
Language Education Overarching Goal
Educate meaningfully and some type of
bilingualism. Competence in additional
language.
Academic Goal
Educate bilingually and be able to function across
cultures. Learn an additional
language and become familiar with and
additional culture.
Language Use
Languages used as media of instruction.
Additional language taught as subject.
Instructional Use of Language
Uses some form of twomore languages.
Uses target language mostly.
Pedagogical Emphasis
Integration of language and content.
Explicit language instruction.
According to Garcia 2011 the remarkable difference between bilingual education program and traditional second- or foreign-language program is that the
traditional second- or foreign-language program teaches the language as a subject, whereas bilingual education teaches content through an additional language other
than the children‟s home language. Garcia 2011 mentions that bilingual
23 education program uses the language which is other than children
‟s mother tongue as a medium of instruction. Further, Garcia 2011 also emphasizes the aim of
bilingual education is for developing multiple understandings about languages and cultures, and foster appreciation for human diversity through general education
which is taught in two or more languages. For the purpose of this study, bilingual education is defined as education
program which does not only to teach English in order to develop the students‟ foreign language competence but also to teach content through English or in other
words using English as the media of instruction. Though English becomes the language instruction, Indonesian is still being used to teach certain subjects which
cannot or too difficult to be delivered in English.
b. Primary school in Indonesia
