NEW CLASSES IN NOVEMBER 2008

Independent English Course opens new classes for Beginner students and Children’s classes. So far there have been around 50 new students joining the new classes. They come from SMPN 4 Bogor, SMP Taman Siswa Bogor, SMPN 6 Bogor, SD Pengadilan , SD Cimanggu, SMP Budi Mulia, SMP Bina Insani and some other schools. They are ready to have fun English classes which will help them to speak English correctly and fluently. For new students coming from elementary schools, some activities are arranged to make them love English. For SMP classes, the new students target to be able to speak simple English such as greeting, introducing themselves, describing something, describing someone, expressing feeling, etc. by the fourth week of December 2008. Happy studying.

DO YOU GIVE UP WHEN STUDENTS DON'T WANT TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

(Contributed by Ms Ramadhani Nuryunawati, S.Pd

Almost all students are interested in learning English for the first time. The students feel fun, happy and have got very strong motivation to learn English. They know that English is the most familiar foreign language in Indonesia. Along with the time, their point of view about learning English changes. They don’t like English anymore. They think English is too difficult to learn, uninteresting and boring. They also think English is complicated. Without blaming anyone, we point out that this is the teacher’s duty to support them.

The skills in learning a language are Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. Writing and speaking are the productive skills, as they produce something in a form of written and spoken. Listening and reading are passive skills. They are called passive as they do not produce something except their understanding from what somebody says or writes. Although they are different, the students cannot separate these skills when they learn English. Although the time is for speaking class, the students still also listen or even read and write something that they’ve got while their friends are speaking in front of the class. Learning a language is a unity; it’s unique and it could be interesting.

Talking about one of the speaking skills, students consider speaking as the most difficult skill in learning English. On the contrary, people use a language to exchange information and to communicate with other people. Through speaking, students’ vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and other things are going better and better. The more the students practice, the better they speak English. That’s something that the students do not realize. Their mindsets make them afraid of English. They only have grammar etc. in their mind when they hear English.

Speaking activity can be done in a very simple way. For example, use some English expressions in daily life. A teacher usually gives a topic to the students to talk about. The topic is interesting (that’s what you say in your mind), but what do the students have in their mind? For the active students, it’s not a problem at all. How about the passive students? In the writer’s opinion they will say “What should I say? I have no idea”. Do you always find your students are not active in their speaking class? Or maybe your students do not want to speak English in your class? You have to know what the students’ problems are.

There are some reasons why students are unwilling to be active in their speaking ability. Here are some reasons that usually come out from the students who are always afraid to speak. The first is your students’ motivation. Usually, the students haven’t got high motivation in learning English. That’s your main duty to support your students. The second is your students think that English is difficult. For some students, there are some difficulties in learning English. For example, student A has got a problem with her or his pronunciation, students B has got a problem with her or his grammar. The third is your students feel shy. The next is your students haven’t got their self-confidence. The last is the students are afraid of making mistakes.

There are some tips for English Teachers to STIMULATE their students to speak English….

1. Make the best atmosphere. Don’t make them stressed.
Learning should be fun and enjoyable. Don’t ever make your students stressed.
2. Build up their self-confidence
3. Make some tight rules in your class; proper punishment is allowed.
The tight rule in your class is one of the ways to stimulate your students to speak English. You can start this rule from a very simple thing. Students are not allowed to speak “bahasa Indonesia” in your class, except when they really don’t know what the English vocabulary is. Nevertheless, when a student wants to ask something in Indonesian, he still has to ask for a permission to do it.
E.g. Your student wants to go to the toilet. Don’t allow him or her if he or she doesn’t speak English.
Student A wants to borrow something from his friend, but he doesn’t speak English. Their friends act as if they can’t hear his or her voice. He will have an effort to ask others how to borrow something in English.
4. Supports students or help students if they have some difficulties when they speak.
Sometimes students are stuck by the time they are speaking as they forget or don’t know what the words are in English. You may ask the other students. If they don’t know, help them by giving the synonym or the antonym of the vocabulary.
5. Force students to speak
People are usually able to do something by the time they are in an emergency state. Sometimes you may force your students to speak out, even for one word only.
6. Play a quiz or a game related to the topic / material to stimulate them to speak in English.
(Students like games and quiz)
7. Give them praise a lot for their effort or plus point if they are active
Each student likes getting a high mark; stimulate them through the class activity. Those who are active in speaking will get a plus mark.
8. Don’t ever underestimate your students
Each student has got their ability. Sometimes they are good at listening and speaking, but they are not good at writing.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY?

(Contributed by Ms. Ramadhani Nuryunawati, S.Pd.)

English is one of thousands of languages used for communication. What does make English so special? Why do so many people around the world learn English? It’s because English is a global language. A lot of countries use English as their first and official language and some others use it as the second language.

What about Indonesia? Why do many Indonesian people learn English? Even though English is still considered as the foreign language in Indonesia, Indonesian people realize that English is important to be learned. That’s why English is also included into Indonesian school curriculum. There are so many reasons why people learn English. Some people learn English because they need it for their jobs. Others learn English because they want to study abroad. Students learn English because they have to be ready to face the global world which uses English as a global language by the time they graduate.

There are four skills in learning a language; listening, speaking, reading and writing. English language learners have to be able to listen, speak, read and write in English when they want to use English. Actually there are not only the four skills which are important; vocabulary is also important. How are learners able to learn English without understanding the vocabulary? Learners will not be able to listen, speak, write and read in English if they do not know the vocabulary. In fact, the learners learn English for a very long time. On the contrary, they still feel difficult to learn English. So what’s the problem? They might have problem with their vocabulary enrichment. In other words, learners are lack of vocabularies. Learners are often lazy to learn new vocabularies or unfamiliar words. Lack of vocabulary often makes learners be stuck and think that English is difficult and complicated.

So, what’s the way out? Improving your vocabulary is one of the keys to make learners feel easier to learn English. How to improve learners’ vocabularies? There are three simple things that learners have to concern about in learning new or unfamiliar vocabulary: emotions, will and notebook.

The first thing is emotions. Those who are in bad mood in learning will not be able to absorb the materials effectively. So please, make yourselves enjoy, feel fun, and happy by the time you are learning English. The second is your will. There is a way if there is a will. Your will makes some efforts to learn English effectively. There will not be effort or curiosity if you don’t have a strong will. The last thing is notebook. You will need it any time. Your notebook helps you to learn new or unfamiliar vocabulary when you’ve got your spare time. Read your notebook for a minute by the time you haven’t got anything to do. It will really help you to improve your vocabulary.

Here are some tips for ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners to IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY….

1.Start to learn new or unfamiliar vocabulary right now!! Don’t make random list of your new or unfamiliar words. Instead, make them in a group of words.
ü Food:: apple, mango, watermelon, pineapple, and so on.
ü Verbs :: What do you do in your house?
Mencuci : Wash
Menyapu : sweep
Makan : eat
Minum : drink
2. It’s better for you to learn vocabulary in context, because there are some words in English that have got more than one meaning. Writing the examples in a sentence will help you memorize the meaning of the word.
ü Kurma :: I like date very much
ü Kencan :: Terry has got a date with his girlfriend today.
3. Learn your specific vocabulary list related to your job, daily activities, school or your hobby.
ü Your hobby is swimming. Your mind will try to find the words
Kolam renang :: Swimming pool
Pantai :: Beach
Penjaga Pantai:: Baywatch
ü You are a student. Try to learn new vocabulary in your class. For example: some verbs that you always do in your school time.
Belajar :: study
Duduk :: sit
Mendengarkan :: listen
4. Write your new or unfamiliar vocabulary in your notebook. Choose the small notebook to make it easier to bring with you.

## GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY YOUR ENGLISH LEARNING TIME ##