Teaching English
for Young Learners
CHAPTER I
BACKGROUND
A. Introduction
There are many media is use in teaching learning process. Usually media is
use in teching english to young learners because use it the teaching learning
process will more easily.Young learners will be interesting and enjoyable in
class room. For example Realia. realia is various kind of visual media which
can be efectively use by EFL and EYL. Realia is a term
used in library science and education to refer to certain real-life objects. In
library classification systems, realia are objects such as coins, tools, and
textiles that do not easily fit into the orderly categories of printed
material. In education, realia are objects from real life used in classroom
instruction.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A. What is Realia
Real objects should be small enough to bring into the classroom but large
enough to be clearly seen. Real objects can be used for various purposes, such
as teaching pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar. For example, you can bring a
map into the classroom and use it to practice comparative and superlative
adjectives. (which country in Europe is bigger than Turkey? What is the longest
river in Turkey? Etc.)
Other examples of realia are clock faces, toys, brochures, magazines,
catalogues, newspapers, board games, posters, wrappers, labels and logos from
various products, records, stamps, coins, old tickets, postcards, timetables,
tv guides, calendars, containers, cans, bottles, flags, restaurant menus,
puppets, etc.
B. Realia and Culture
Content-Based English for Young Learners
Universities and
high schools throughout Asia hire foreigners to teach the languages
and the cultures of their home countries in content-based English courses. Many of those teachers complain that
commercially produced language textbooks, especially those for culture
content-based English language classes, are problematic. Common problems
include inappropriate levels for the target group, insufficient focus on active
language skills development, out-of-date information, and cultural topics that
do not match the interests of the both students and teachers. Thus, teachers often end up creating
their own teaching materials, but these materials may also have shortcomings
due to the inexperience of the materials designer, a lack of other enthusiastic
teachers to help with editing, and in particular a shortage of useful “realia”
to use with or to be adapted for teaching materials.
However, the
literature suffers from a serious lack of discussion regarding the connection
between realia and culture and how best to use realia for teaching culture in
content-based courses. In the culture content- based language classroom, realia
can be utilized for a valuable teaching purpose that has not received enough
attention in the ESL/EFL field. The
realia can be considered to be a cultural object that is very useful for
“cross-cultural analysis,” a way of studying similarities and differences among
cultures. (Corsaro, 1992).
Culture includes “language, ideas,
beliefs, customs, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art,
rituals, and ceremonies, among other elements” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004,
culture section, para. 1). Language
is obviously an essential aspect of culture, but it is rarely taught or
examined from a cultural perspective. Language
is usually studied in isolation, yet teaching language points in the context of
their cultural environment is optimal.
C. Needs Analysis
Before searching
for materials, teachers should do a needs analysis to discover what aspects of
the target culture that students want to study. There are many ways for a teacher to
discover the needs of students. One simple way is to give students a list of
target-culture related topics and ask students to rank them according to
preference. Another method is to
simply ask students to write the specific topics that they want to study.
In addition to
discovering the cultural interests of students, teachers must attempt to
understand their linguistic needs. Language tests used for grading purposes can
also serve as sources of diagnostic information regarding language needs of
students.
Furthermore, in
order to better assist students, a teacher should also consider the linguistic
needs of students for various language tests that students may take outside of
school. For example, a number of my students regularly come to my office to
request practice with the speaking section of an important examination called
the Standardized Test for English Placement (STEP); a high test score on the
STEP test can assist students with finding employment with companies that
require English skills.
D. Example of
Activities and Materials Based on One Realia
Food, shopping, and
the cost of living were three aspects of American culture that many of my
students expressed an interest in. Grocery
store advertisements are useful for teaching these. I brought twenty of these back
toJapan. The linguistic needs
that I wanted to focus on were names of common food items, terms for units of
weight used in America which are not used inJapan (i.e. pounds and quarts), American
money terminology, and expressing likes and dislikes. Additional cultural points that
students studied were differences and similarities in packaging, eating habits,
and shopping habits. To create
the condition for students to actively use the linguistic items in conversation
practice and to make them think about prices, additional teaching materials
needed to be created, as well as a scenario.
The scenario is a
role play in which pairs of students pretend that they are American housemates
who buy groceries together and plan meals together.Each student has only
thirty-five dollars to contribute for a week’s worth of food. Students read the grocery
advertisements and discuss which items to buy.They must fill in a chart with
the names and prices and quantities of the food item. Students cannot spend more than the
allotted amount of money and they must have enough food for three meals each
day. As homework, students took the advertisements into Japanese grocery stores
and compared prices, keeping in mind and adjusting for how the same items are
packaged differently. Students
were instructed to choose and compare the prices of five food items that are
sold in both America and Japan. In the following class, students
reported their findings to other students and discussed the cost of living in America and Japan.
Students participated very enthusiastically in this experiential learning
experience.
E. Searching for
Appropriate Realia
One solution for culture-content
based EFL teachers who are able to return to their home countries during their
vacation time or research time is to keep their eyes open for useful realia
such as magazines, adult education pamphlets, menus, newspapers,
advertisements, maps and voting brochures.Teachers must develop an awareness of
what can be utilized in a classroom.This involves both becoming more creative
as materials designers and also more sensitive to the target culture and to the
culture of the students.
Teachers involved
in materials development can benefit by developing two useful skills when
working with authentic materials: One
skill requires being able to spot and extract useful linguistic elements (i.e.,
grammar, vocabulary, vocabulary) for language teaching. Teachers must be aware
of what is missing from the linguistic knowledge or linguistic skills of
students and then find useful elements in the realia which can strengthen the
weaknesses of students.
The second ability
involves being able to notice and extract cultural information (i.e., beliefs,
food, clothing styles, values, and customs). In
regards to these cultural elements, the concepts of material and non-material
culture can be a useful guide. According to Goodmacher and Kajiura, (2005)
“Material cultural refers to things
people make with their hands or by machines…non-material culture consists of
products not made by hand – languages, religions and other beliefs, customs and
traditions (p.8). In this way of
thinking about culture and materials development for culture related classes,
what might be considered as a simple sort of realia, for example, a personal
advertisement, a comic strip, or a college brochure can, after a careful
analysis, be used to teach both material aspects and non-material aspects of
culture.
Most students can
learn to recognize and superficially understand many material objects fairly
easily. However, non-material
products are usually much more difficult to identify and understand. Creating exercises that train students
to be more sensitive to both aspects of another culture will greatly benefit
the students with not only understanding another culture but also with
understanding their own culture.
CHAPTER III
CLOSING
A. Conclusion
Real objects should be small enough to bring into the classroom but large
enough to be clearly seen. Real objects can be used for various purposes, such
as teaching pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar.
There are many examples of realia are clock faces, toys, brochures,
magazines, catalogues, newspapers, board games, posters, wrappers, records,
stamps, coins, old tickets, postcards, timetables, tv guides, calendars,
containers, cans, bottles, flags, restaurant menus, puppets.
The value of
authentic materials for English teaching in the average English language class
has been extensively discussed, but there is still room for more analysis and
creativity regarding the use of realia in culture-content based English
teaching. Teachers need to
increase their ability to find useful realia, to create teaching objectives
from the realia, and to design materials to help students to better understand
a foreign culture and to better use the target language.
REFERENCES
Tomalin,
B., and S. Stemplesky. (1993). Cultural
awareness. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
Tomlinson,
B. (2003). Introduction. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.). Developing Materials for Language
Teaching (pp. 1-11).London: Continuum
Diposkan oleh SYAMSUL HADI di 09:42
Teaching English To Young Learners is Both
a Difficult and Enjoyable Experience
by Monique Barb -
Teaching English to
young learners is both a difficult and enjoyable experience. It is difficult
for you as a teacher, because you always have to find new and interesting
methods and approaches in order to stir the learners' interest; but in the same
time it is enjoyable because you are given the chance of becoming child again,
of seeing the world through a child's eyes, when working with children.
As far as young learners are concerned they, mostly, find these lessons
enjoyable, as they are active parts in the process. They use the language in
order to communicate ideas, to play games, and later on to tell stories.
Learning a foreign language does not mean only to be able to speak, but also to
speak it correctly. This implies studying grammar and being capable to a
pply
it. Therefore it must always exist a connection between studying grammar and
vocabulary and using it in correct, creative conversation.
Knowing a foreign language is essential in the activity and life of any modern
person. This is why it is advisable to start learning it at a very young age.
It is well-known that children, young learners, learn more rapidly than older
ones and adults. All the information received at this age becomes an useful
thing for the rest of their lives. The first years of study are, perhaps, the
most important since now it is developed the child's attitude towards the new
language. This thing involves a lot of factors which interfere in order to
achieve its purpose - making the child love or at least enjoy studying English.
Coming back to the factors involved in the learning process I
must name some of the most important, to take into account:
· pupils' age and intellectual capacity
· motivation
· teacher's capacity of making oneself understood
So learning should be realized through pleasant activities, meant to stimulate
children, without feeling the irksome task of a common class.
Teaching English
To Young Learners is Both a Difficult and Enjoyable Experience written by
Monique Barb for FamousWhy.com
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Teaching English To Young Learners is Both a Difficult and Enjoyable Experience
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