The Use of Fun Activities For The 4th Grade Students in Teaching Grammar At SDK-1 BPK PENABUR in Order To Make Them Able To Produce Correct English Sentences.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dewasa ini, Bahasa Inggris sangat diperlukan dalam melakukan kerjasama bisnis baik dengan perusahaan lokal maupun dengan perusahaan internasional. Memiliki kemampuan berbahasa Inggris yang fasih secara lisan dan tulisan juga sudah menjadi salah satu syarat dalam melamar suatu pekerjaan dalam suatu instansi. Oleh karena itu, anak-anak perlu disiapkan sejak dini untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris seperti yang telah dilakukan oleh SDK-1 BPK PENABUR.

Penulis yakin mengajarkan Bahasa Inggris kepada anak-anak tidaklah mudah, terlebih lagi dalam mengajarkan tata bahasanya. Mereka sering merasa jenuh dalam proses pembelajaran, sehingga penulis merasa kegiatan yang menyenangkan diperlukan untuk menciptakan suasana kelas yang nyaman sekaligus memberikan semangat kepada anak-anak untuk belajar. Kegiatan yang menyenangkan ini berfungsi untuk merangsang anak-anak untuk lebih tertarik dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris.

Penulis memutuskan untuk melakukan penelitiannya di SDK-1 BPK PENABUR karena SDK-1 BPK PENABUR merupakan salah satu sekolah yang paling diminati. Untuk mendapatkan fakta tentang kegiatan yang menyenangkan yang telah diupayakan oleh pengajar, maka penulis melakukan wawancara dengan guru yang mengajar Bahasa Inggris di kelas 4 yaitu Ibu Hilda.

Berdasarkan hasil wawancara, penulis mendapati ada beberapa kegiatan yang dilakukan selama pembelajaran. Kegiatan tersebut mampu menciptakan suasana belajar yang menyenangkan di dalam kelas. Anak-anak pun cenderung lebih aktif untuk belajar Bahasa Inggris. Kegiatan itu pun membantu anak-anak dalam menyusun tata bahasa Inggris dengan benar.

Akhirnya penulis mengambil kesimpulan bahwa penerapan kegiatan menyenangkan seperti permainan dapat meningkatkan minat siswa untuk lebih aktif dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris. Mereka juga dapat lebih memahami tata bahasa Inggris lebih baik dari sebelumnya. Penulis merasa guru-guru Bahasa Inggris perlu menggunakan kegiatan menyenangkan sesering mungkin dalam proses belajar mengajar agar anak-anak dapat lebih aktif dalam belajar Bahasa Inggris.

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ABSTRACT………i

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY………...…ii

PREFACE………..iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS………...v

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION………..1

I.1. Background of the Study I.2. Identification of the Problem I.3. Objectives and Benefits of the Study I.4. Concise History of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR I.5. Service of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR I.6. Limitations of the Study I.7. Layout of the Term Paper CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW………...6

CHAPTER III: PERFORMANCE OF THE RESEARCH………...10

III.1. Method of Study: Small-Scale Research III.1.1. Choice of Instrument III.1.2. Data-gathering Process III.1.3. Presentation of Data CHAPTER IV: RESULT AND DISCUSSION OF THE RESULT………....15

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS………..16 BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

I.1. Background of the Study

English grammar is one of the important aspects for those who learn English especially for young learners. That is why English grammar lesson is provided in almost all elementary schools. However, young learners usually get difficulties in learning English grammar so the teachers have to divide the grammar and teach it step by step as clarified by Mario Rinvolucri in 1991 that “TEFL relied heavily on a systematic approach in which the foreign language was cut up into structural pieces and fed to the student under certain conditions….” (Frank & Rinvolucri, 1991:4) Therefore, I feel that in teaching English grammar to young learners, different activities are needed. I propose to state my basic view on activities: “Teachers can see them as supplementary practice of structures in a framework where grammar is determined….” (Frank & Rinvolucri, 1991:1, 2)

Young learners are usually active so they love to do many activities. To make English grammar more acceptable for young learners, the teachers can use fun activities to create a comfortable atmosphere during the lesson. This

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is also supported by Christine Frank, who states, “Finally the activities help to encourage a positive atmosphere in the class where awareness of other students will result in tolerance and trust, which for us is the optimal learning situation.” (Frank & Rinvolucri, 1991:2)

I am interested in observing fun activities that are used in teaching grammar for 4th grade students because in this stage, the student starts to learn grammar. I choose SDK-1 BPK PENABUR because it is one of the well-known schools in Bandung. Applying fun activities will develop children’s enthusiasm and will encourage them to produce sentences correctly. Based on this, I want to show the influence of fun activities in relation to how often they produce correct English sentences during the English class at SDK-1 BPK PENABUR.

I.2. Identification of the Problem

1. What kinds of fun activities are used by the teacher of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR in teaching English grammar to their 4th grade students? 2. To what extent do the activities help the students to produce correct

sentences?

I.3. Objectives and Benefits of the Study I.3.1. Objectives of the Study

1. To find out what fun activities are used by the teacher of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR in teaching English grammar to their 4th grade students.

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2. To measure how far fun activities used by the teacher could help the students to produce correct sentences.

I.3.2. Benefits of the Study

1. To obtain the knowledge of the use of fun activities in teaching English grammar to 4th grade Elementary School students.

2. To increase other teachers’ and my awareness about the importance of fun activities in teaching English grammar.

I.4. Concise History of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR

SDK-1 BPK PENABUR was established on July 19th 1950 by Eesrte Zending. Therefore, it was initially called Zending School then in 1951 the name was initially changed to become SDK-1 BPK PENABUR. At first it was located at Jl. Jendral Sudirman 246, then it moved to Jl. Kebonjati 188. In 1972 it moved back to Jl. Jendral Sudirman 246.

At the beginning, Jl. Jendral Sudirman 246 was used by three schools: SDK1, SDK2, and SDK3. In 1955, students of SDK3 were united with students in SDK1 and SDK2. Then in 2002, SDK1 and SDK2 were united to become SDK1 BPK PENABUR. At present, the headmistress of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR is Mrs. Kristin. There are six grades in SDK-1 BPK PENABUR with the total number of students being over 900.

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SDK-1 BPK PENABUR has a lot of facilities to support the teaching and learning process. The facilities are comfortable classrooms, an art room, a dance room, a science laboratory, language laboratory and an appreciation room. Each classroom is completed with lockers, LCD and DVD.

SDK-1 BPK PENABUR has a mission of creating a fun learning process to maximize the students’ abilities. In addition, they have a vision of preparing a highly qualified individual to compete in global competition.

I.6. Limitation of the Study

In this term paper, I will focus on the use of fun activities in teaching grammar. I limit my discussion on the teaching to 4th grade students at SDK-1 BPK PENABUR. I will discuss fun activities which help students to produce correct English sentences.

To get necessary information for the discussion, I will do the interview to the teacher who teaches English to 4th grade students.

I.7. Layout of the Term Paper

This term paper starts with the Abstract, a concise summary of the entire paper in Indonesian. This Abstract is followed by the Preface, in which I acknowledge the work and contribution of other parties. After that, I will give the Table of Contents, followed by its five chapters:

Chapter I is the introduction to the analysis Chapter II contains the library research

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Chapter III holds the performance of the research

Chapter IV contains the result and discussion of the research

Chapter V contains the conclusion and my comments and suggestions. In the final part, I present the Bibliography and the Appendices successively.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

After having interviewed the 4th grade English teacher at SDK-1 BPK

PENABUR, I come to the conclusion that using fun activities in the classroom can help the students learn English grammar in order to produce correct English sentences. I find out that using games is exciting for the students and it makes the classroom’s atmosphere fun and enjoyable. Therefore, the students should be introduced to these certain kinds of activities. I also notice that in a pleasant atmosphere, the students are encouraged to be creative in producing correct English sentences more easily. So it will be better if the teacher gives fun activities more often because it can make the students understand practical English grammar better. I think that it will be fine to apply more fun activities.

I agree that using games can make the students understand English grammar easier and produce correct English sentences. I suggest that the teacher should give the students opportunity to develop fun activities by themselves. The teacher and the students should participate in creating fun atmosphere to learn English grammar. For example, in the

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miming game, the teacher should give a good example first, and then she could allow a student to come in front of the classroom to show a movement and their friends have to guess what he is doing by saying it in a good sentence. Each student has a turn to show a movement.

Finally, I expect this term paper can be useful for the other teachers in SDK-1 BPK PENABUR and motivate them to apply fun activities in teaching English grammar. The purpose is to make the teaching and learning situation more enjoyable so as to avoid the students’ boredom.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Broughton, Geoffrey, et al. Teaching English as Foreign Language. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd, 1978.

Brumfit, Christopher. Teaching English to Children from Practice to Principle. Essex: Longman Group UK, Ltd, 1996

Frank, Christine and Mario Rinvolucri. Grammar in Action Again. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International (UK), Ltd, 1991.

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Longman Group UK, Ltd, 1991.

Hurlock, Elizabeth. B. Child Development. Singapore: McGraw-Hill International Book Company, Ltd, 1984.

Paul, David. Teaching English to Children in Asia. Hong Kong: Longman Asia ELT, 2004.

Wallace, Michael.J. Training Foreign Language Teachers. USA: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Wenden, Anita.L and Joan Rubin. Learner Strategies in Language Learning. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International (UK), Ltd, 1987.

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2. To measure how far fun activities used by the teacher could help the students to produce correct sentences.

I.3.2. Benefits of the Study

1. To obtain the knowledge of the use of fun activities in teaching English grammar to 4th grade Elementary School students.

2. To increase other teachers’ and my awareness about the importance of fun activities in teaching English grammar.

I.4. Concise History of SDK-1 BPK PENABUR

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I.6. Limitation of the Study

To get necessary information for the discussion, I will do the interview to the teacher who teaches English to 4th grade students.

I.7. Layout of the Term Paper

Chapter I is the introduction to the analysis Chapter II contains the library research

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Chapter III holds the performance of the research

Chapter IV contains the result and discussion of the research

Chapter V contains the conclusion and my comments and suggestions. In the final part, I present the Bibliography and the Appendices successively.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

After having interviewed the 4th grade English teacher at SDK-1 BPK PENABUR, I come to the conclusion that using fun activities in the classroom can help the students learn English grammar in order to produce correct English sentences. I find out that using games is exciting for the students and it makes the classroom’s atmosphere fun and enjoyable. Therefore, the students should be introduced to these certain kinds of activities. I also notice that in a pleasant atmosphere, the students are encouraged to be creative in producing correct English sentences more easily. So it will be better if the teacher gives fun activities more often because it can make the students understand practical English grammar better. I think that it will be fine to apply more fun activities.