(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.
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.
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