A case study of the teaching of english for children at TK Musumat 13 Malang

ABSTRACT

The teaching of English to young learners becomes a common phenomenon. In accordance with the 1994 Curriculum, English can be taught from the Elementary School as the local load subject. Nowadays, English is commonly taught to the younger learners, since there are many language courses and other formal education which offer the English program for the pre-school children. This phenomenon, nevertheless, still invites many arguments.

This study aims at describing the English teaching process in a kindergarten. TK Muslimat 13, as one of the kindergartens which has the English program for its students, was being investigated to investigate how the English teaching was conducted.

The research design used in this study is the descriptive design. The instruments used to collect the data were interview, observation, questionnaire and documentation. The subjects of the study were the headmaster, the teachers, all students of TK Muslimat 13, and the students’ parents. All of the data were collected in two months, from December, 2002 until ,January, 2003.

Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the English program in this kindergarten functions as the preparation for the students when they have English later on in the Elementary School. Students are expected to get familiar with English and have positive attitudes toward English. This kindergarten has no syllabus of their own. The English syllabus refers to other kindergarten’s syllabus and is conducted based on the teachers’ previous experiences in teaching similar subject. The material is English vocabulary and they are selected based on the Kindergarten’s Curriculum.

The media used for the teaching process were not various since the teachers used only pictures and realia. Since the objective of the English program is to make students familiar with English vocabulary, most of the teaching techniques applied are also based on that objective, such as repeating words, coloring pictures and doing quizes. The students responded well to the -English lesson when the teachers could bring teaching techniques that created enjoyment, for example, singing and coloring pictures.

All of the teachers have no English educational background which makes them lack in using English. This conditions brings great effect to the students’ English mastery, especially pronunciation, since the teachers cannot be good models for them. The headmaster, the teachers, and the students’ parents have positive attitude toward the implementation of the English program.