Belajar Vocabulary Anak-Anak

Anak-anak biasanya suka bermain, untuk itu saya mencoba untuk mengajak anak-anak belajar sambil bermain. Kali ini  anak-anak menambah perbendaharaan kosa kata Bahasa Inggris sambil membuat topeng. Dan yang pasti  untuk membuat topeng ini tidak mengeluarkan biaya yang mahal.  

Topeng yang akan mereka buat ini adalah topeng singa yang terbuat dari bahan kertas. Pertama-tama mereka mempersiapkan  semua bahan dan alat yang di butuhkan, seperti kertas, pensil warna, gunting dan lain-lain. Mereka menyebutkan bahan dan alatnya  satu-persatu dengan belajar bunyi dan tulisan dalam Bahasa Inggris tentunya harus di pandu oleh pembimbing. Bersama pembimbing mereka melakukan drilling activitier. Mengulangi terus menerus kosa kata Bahasa Inggris dengan memegang benda (bahan atau alat)  yang dimaksud secara langsung.

Kosa Kata membuat topeng singa:

Contoh :

              - Singa             =  Lion

              - Kertas            = Paper

              - Gunting         =  Scissors

              - Tongkat lidi   = Stick

              - Isolasi            = Tape

                                                                   
                                                                    - Pencil Warna = Color Pencil

              -Warna             = Color

Setelah belajar kosa kata anak-anak di arahkan untuk belajar memberi warna di kertas yang sudah di pola gambar singa oleh pembimbing. Setelah selesai mengarsir / memberi warna pada kertas, anak-anak di bimbing untuk menggunting kertas sesuai pola yang sudah ada membentuk topeng singa.

Topeng singa pun akhirnya jadi. Saatnya anak-anak menggunakan topengnya , lalu mereka belajar memperkenalkan diri :

Contoh :

                A : Hi, I'm Masha Lion

                B : Hello, I'm Shiva Lion

Dengan Belajar seperti ini, anak-anak diharapkan dapat menikmati belajar kosa kata dalam Bahasa Inggris. Mereka mengalami sendiri dan harapannya kosa kata itu tertanam di memori mereka. Dan tentunya anak-anak akan menjadi lebih suka dengan  Bahasa Inggris.

3 don'ts in Teaching English for Children

Based on my experience, there are few things should be avoided in teaching English for children. Moreover, the children are coming from an environment with no background of English at all. So far, I have tried much efforts to find the best way how to teach them in a better way and gain better result also, of course, I joined online course, found many articles about it, searched various teaching resources for them, and so forth. In certain ways, some of teaching methods and materials suit for children in certain conditions, but it is not always suitable for my students. As the example, I used to make star chart to motivate children in learning English, but in real practice this technique is not appropriate for my students. I gave them a challenge game for them to review vocabularies and the winners would get a star stick. Here, my students did everything to get the star and an appreciation from other friends, but what they did was making a secret note and cheating. In more frightening condition, when a child got less star or nothing at all than others, he/she would be bullied by other friends. So, I think we should be more aware about the background condition of our children. 

3 'DON'Ts' must we do in teaching English for children:

1. DON'T create competitive situation too much

Students usually like games or challenges so much, but it is necessary to see if they need them or not. The best way is letting the children learning English in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, feeling free to ask and studying together with their friends. 

2. DON'T use high level instructions

Students/children sometimes have less input of words and life experiences. This can be because of family background or surrounding. Though we have a good method/technique/material/worksheet/game if they do not understand what we say, it will cause a chaos situation and it is very exhausting for teacher. I think choosing the simplest material is the best way, of course, it is based on the condition of the students.

3. DON'T treat children differently

Children need much attention and it is very natural. They want their teacher gives all attention and appreciation just for them not for others. They will call you many times to ask for attention and evaluation. If you haven't given them 'yes' answer yet, they will call you again and again. In fact, the children always try by themselves to the best one in front of others. 

Well, I only wrote my experience, if you have other ideas both pros and cons, please share with me. I would be very happy accepting all of your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

At Trenggalek Green Park

Trenggalek Green Park

'Blind Trust' Game

Doing a challenge game

Students play outdoor game

Preparing the game

Discussing the answers

Today is a hot day. My students had an outdoor game activity to learn English at Trenggalek Green Park in Sumbergedong. We left early in the morning and prepared to have fun activities there. The topic was everything in the park. We strolled around the park and took a note of everything in the park, such as flower, stone, bench, play ground, swing, dustbin, notices, children, jogging, WIFI corner,  and so forth. Then, my students studied about some vocabularies related to the park. Teacher showed some picture flashcards and they learnt the words. After that, students had a challenge game and worked in group of three. They decided the first, second, and third player. The first player did the first challenge card of word search in 2 minutes, then took the second challenge card for the next player, the time setting was also two minutes. Then, they ran to the teacher to take the last card and gave it to the last player. He/she only had two minutes to finish the last challenge. Group with the most right answer was the winner. 

Next, they had 'blind trust' game. Here, each player had to find the card based on his/her partner direction and their eyes were closed using a scarf. The partner gave a direction like go right, go left, go straight, step forward, step backward. The player who could find the card first was the winner. 

After doing these activities, the students felt very happy even though the sun shone very brightly. Thanks a lot my dear students and see you on the next game! 

Grammar Board Game

Students play game of grammar

Grammar Board Game  

Sometimes, grammar is very complicated for students at my English course. They are easy to get stressed and confused about grammar. Yesterday, they learnt the use of Present Continuous, Past Simple, and Future Simple. Teacher created a board game to review the use of the three tenses in an easiest way for them, because my students like English learning through games a lot. The board game consists of oval shapes with sentences in them. The sentences correspond the tenses with missing of adverb of time, for example, they wrote a letter; she is singing, they will go to Yogya. The shapes have three colors (red, yellow, and green) indicating the tenses. Red is for present continuous, yellow is for past simple, and green is for future simple. 

A player moves a counter on a board

Procedures:

1. Students work individually and sit in a circle based on the order of player.

2. A player throws a dice and moves his/her counter based on the number on the dice.

3. Tell to the students that when they land on the shape, they must read the sentence loudly and they must complete the sentence with the adverb of time (yesterday-past sentence; now-continuous sentence; tomorrow-future). If the player says 'yesterday' he/she steps two backwards; if the player says 'now', he/she stay on the shape; if the player says 'tomorrow', he/she steps one forward. The winner is a player coming firstly to the 'finish'.

Practices To Make Questions

Children and teenagers of EFL students love games or fun activities in learning English. Through games, they consider that English is easy and fun. Sometimes, students think that English is frightening and very hard to learn. That is why, to introduce English at early age or for teenagers, who live in a village, through fun activities and friendly atmosphere is very important. Here, I have some experiences of fun activities in practicing making a question that have been practiced by my students at my English course. They felt happy and wanted to learn English more and more (being addicted).

1. Practicing Wh- Question

Here, teacher prepares a set of card in medium size. On the card, there are some words that would be the answer of question words likes what, when, where, who, how many, and how. The words can be some vocabularies that are familiar to the students, for example; in the morning, at school, my mother, cooking, at 5 o'clock, and so forth. Then, students work in pair, they sit face to face and take a card in turn. Each player should make a question referring to the word of answer, if the opponent can answer the question corresponding to the word will get the card. Player with the most card will be the winner. 

This is for example you can give to the students:

The word card: In the morning 

The question: When do you usually have breakfast?

Here is the example of cards that you can copy and cut.

IN THE MORNING	CAT	LIBRARY
INDEPENDENCE DAY	ON SUNDAY	FIVE PENCILS
FOOT BALL	IN THE CLASSROOM	YESTERDAY
A CAR	AT THE ZOO	A CHICKEN

2. Practicing Yes/No Question

Students stand in a circle and there is a student who is in the middle of the circle as the one to be. Give each student, except the one in the middle, a picture card about a topic you choose, for example fruit. Students on a circle must not show their card to the one in the middle or you can close the eyes of student in the middle of the circle using a scarf. After that, you tell to the student in the middle that she/he must ask and point to a student a question starting with the phrase "Do you like...?" If the pointed student gives 'yes' answer, she/he will be the one in the middle of the circle, and so it goes on until time set up finishes. Student, who never stands in the middle of the circle, will be the winner. 

Present Perfect Tense

1. Pola Kalimat
    (+) Subject + have /has + verb 3 + object
    (-)  Subject + have/has + not + verb 3 + object
    (?) Have/has + subject + verb 3 + object

Contoh :
    =  Saya telah membeli sebuah buku
         (+) I have bought a book.
         (-) I have not bought a book.
         (?) Have I bought a book?

2. Penggunaan
    - Present perfect digunakan untuk menyatakan suatu peristiwa yang sudah selesai pada waktu               lampau dan tidak jelas waktunya.
    - Present perfect digunakan untuk menyatakan peristiwa/kejadian yang telah dilakukan berulang-         ulang.

contoh :
   - I have already moved to my new house since 1999( Saya telah pindah ke rumah baru sejak tahun        1999).
   - She has already visited Lowo cave twice. (Dia sudah  mengunjungi  goa Lowo dua kali).

3. Keterangan waktu
     For                                   : Selama
     For two weeks                 : Selama dua minggu
     So far                               : Sejauh ini
     Never                               : Tidak pernah
     Already                            : Sudah
     Since                                : Sejak
     Up to now                        : Hingga sekarang
     Until now                         : Hingga kini
     Up to the present              : Hingga sekarang
     Just                                   : Baru saja
     Still                                   : Masih
     Recently                           : Baru-baru ini
     Lately                               : Akhir-akhir ini
     Not .....yet                         : Belum

4. Catatan
     1. Kata kerja bantu dalam present perfect tense :
         Have untuk subject; they, we, you, I
         Has untuk subject; he, she, it
     2. Untuk menanyakan waktu dalam tense ini sering menggunakan kata how long (berapa lama).
         contoh : How long have you written this novel? (sudah berapa lama kamu menulis novel ini)
     3. Kata kerja yang dipakai adalh kata kerja bentukke tiga (past participle)

"a" and "an"

Kapan kita menggunakan artikel “a” dan “an”?

Look at this table below.

a

Digunakan jika ada kata benda yang dimulai dengan huruf “a, i, u, e, o”

Example : It is an apple

It is an orange

an

Digunakan jika ada kata benda yang dimulai dengan selain huruf “ a, i, u, e, o”

Example : It is a book

 It is a pencil

Latihan 1! isi titik-tik dibawah ini dengan  “a” or “an”.

1. It is ………….umbrella.
2. It is …………avocado.
3. It is ………….motorcycle.
4. It is ………..bag
5. It is ………….watermelon
6. It is …………umbrella.
7. It is …………computer
8. It is………..banana
9. It is ………….orange.
10. It is ………….ruler.

Greetings, Introducing, Leave Taking

Good morning, dears. I hope you are fine. Well, kali ini Mrs. Yuyun akan menulis tentang contoh percakapan menyapa orang lain, berkenalan, dan mengucapkan salam perpisahan.

1. Bertemu teman di pagi hari

    Renza : Hi, good morning, Sani.

    Sani    : Hello, good morning, Renza. How are you today?

    Renza : I am fine, thanks. And you?

    Sani    : Fine too, thank you.

2. Bertemu Bpk/Ibu guru di siang hari

    Zemma        : Good afternoon, Mr. Yuyun.

    Mrs. Yuyun  : Good afternoon, Zemma. 

3. Bertemu teman lama di suatu tempat

    Dita  : Hello, Iza. Long time no see. What's up my brother?

    Iza    : Hi, Dita. Happy to see you here. I'm great. And you?

    Dita  : Well, everything is good, but I'm little bit flu now.

    Iza    : Oh, poor you. I hope you will get better soon.

    Dita  : Thanks a lot, Iza. Let's go to my house if you free now.

    Iza    : Sure. Let's go!

4. Berkenalan dengan teman baru di kelas

    Haura   : Hello, I'm Haura. What's your name?

    Alya     : Hi, Haura. I'm Alya. 

    Haura   : Where do you live?

    Alya     : I live in Karangan. How about you?

    Haura   : Really? I also live in Karangan. Nice to meet you, Alya.

    Alya     : Nice to meet you too, Haura.

5. Berkenalan dengan teman baru 

    Fadil    : Hi, I am Fadil. 

    Zida     : Hi, I'm Zida. How do you do?

    Fadil    : How do you do, Zida? Where do you study?

    Zida     : I study at T-sbI elementary school. How about you?

    Fadil    : Really? I also study there. What class are you?

    Zida     : I'm in 2C.

    Fadil    : Wow....We're classmate then. Well, nice to meet you, Zida.

    Zida     : Nice to meet you too, Fadil.

6. Guru mengakhiri pelajaran di dalam kelas

    Mr. Tom  : Okay, students. Time is over now. Don't forget to study hard!

    Students  : Yes, Sir. Thank you.

    Mr. Tom  : See you next week and take care on the way home!

    Students  : See you later, Sir.

7. Rafel ingin pamit pulang setelah bermain dari rumah temannya, Khanza

    Rafel      : Khanza, my mother calls me. I have to go home now. 

    Khanza   : Do you? Well, it's okay. Thanks for coming.

    Rafel       : You're welcome, Khanza. Good bye

    Khanza    : Bye bye, Rafel. See you.

    Rafel        : See ya.

8. Prika berpamitan akan pergi tidur dengan ayahnya

    Prika   : I'm sleepy, I want to go to bed now. Good night, Daddy.

    Daddy : Sure. Good night, dear. Have a nice dream.

    Prika   : You too, Daddy.

My Experience of Teaching English for Children

Here, I would like to share my experience in teaching English for EFL of young learners. They are coming with their own unique backgrounds and characteristics. Sometimes, facing them is not always easy as we imagine. Well, yesterday, we had an English course of elementary students for about 12 students and the topic was clothing. Teacher prepared a lesson plan before coming to the class. They did flashcard activities to practice and review the clothing vocabularies, such as repeating words, ‘missing card’,  ‘grab it fast’ game, ‘guess what’, and coloring. First, teacher showed all the flashcards and students repeated the pronunciation of the names of clothes. Teacher repeated this activity about twice or three times. The flashcards used in this activity were colorful large cards with word and picture on them. Students practice the names of clothes. After that, they played a game called ‘guess what’ inspired by British Council. Teacher showed a card slowly behind a board and students guessed what the word was. Student with the right answer won a point (students had a difficulty in pronouncing a word in English). 

In this English course, teacher thinks that there should be some activities to review the names of clothes, so that they can memorize as many words as possible. The next activity was ‘missing card’, teacher took five cards and showed to the students quickly. They repeated the pronunciation of those words from the teacher and in the middle of showing the cards; teacher hid a picture, then asked “what’s missing?” (Translating to L1, because my students do not know the meaning and for the second time, students still had difficulty of right pronunciation). The last activity was ‘grab it fast!’. Students were divided into two teams which lined up. First player of each time must run the picture calling out by the teacher and grabbed it fast. Team with the most card won the game and they got star sticker. 

In these games, students were really engaged and enjoyed all the steps, but when they called out a word of clothing names, they had a difficulty in pronouncing some words. They still made mistakes about the right pronunciation though they had practiced for many times. I think it is because the topic is new for them and never learnt before. Besides that, we still need to translate the words into L1, even though there is a picture corresponding a word on the card. Some of students, even, do not know certain names of clothes in their L1. It is another problem of teaching English for EFL students. As you know, my students live in a small village at suburban area of a city in Trenggalek, East Java, Indonesia. They have limit information or knowledge about English. So, here I would like to ask you, do you have the same experience as me? And how can you solve all the problems you have? What is the proper technique to teach my students about right pronunciation and vocabularies based on my experience above?

Percakapan Bahasa Inggris Tentang Liburan

 

Ajeng : Hello Grisel! (Halo Grisel)

Grisel : Hey there Ajeng (Hey juga Ajeng)

Ajeng : I've heard you went to Yogyakarta again, is it true? (Aku dengar kamu mau pergi ke yogya lagi, apa benar?)

Grisel : Yes that's right! (Iya betul)

Ajeng : Oh My God. I really wan't to go to Yogya. It's a great place to shopping especially batik. Any way, I know you had visited Yogyakarta for many times, did you still enjoy it? (Oh Tuhan, aku           benar-benar ingin pergi ke Yogyakarta, tempatnya sangat bagus untuk belanja khususnya Batik, Aku tahu kamu sudah pergi ke Yogya untuk beberapa waktu, Apakah kamu menyukai/menikmati? 

Grisel : Yeah, I steal enjoy it, especially when shoping in Malioboro, so many thing. I bought in there. (Ya, aku tetap menyukai ketika belanja di malioboro. Banyak barang yang di beli untuk kita) 

Penggunaan Present Continuous Tense

1. Kejadian yang sedang berlangsung sekarang atau kegiatan sementara.
    Contoh :  Budi is writing a new book. ( Budi sedang menulis buku baru)

2. Rencana di masa depan yang sudah pasti waktunya (pribadi).
    Contoh : I am going to Jakarta at 06.30 tomorrow. (Saya akan pergi ke Jakarta       jam 6.30 besok)

3. Perubahan atau perkembangan yang sedang berlangsung dalam rentang waktu       yang lama. Contoh : Facebook users are increasing day by day.

Rumus Present Continuous Tense

Berikut rumus present continuous tense untuk membuat kalimat-kalimat

A. Positif:
     subject + to be (am, is, are) + Verb – ing + object
     Contoh : I am watching TV now

B. Negatif :
     subject + to be + not + verb – ing + object
     Contoh : Mrs. Yuyun is not going to Jakarta atau
                   Mrs. Yuyun isn’t going to Jakarta

C. Tanya :
     to be + subject + verb – ing + object
     Is Mrs. Fada cooking in the kitchen ?

     Dalam pembentukan tense ini, dibutuhkan :

A. Bentuk “to be”

1. Tunggal,
    I am (orang pertama)
   You are (orang kedua)
   He / she / it is (orang ketiga)

2. Jamak,
   We are (orang pertama)
   You are (orang kedua)
   They are (orang ketiga)

B. bentuk kata kerja “-ing”
    Contoh :
    go + ing = going

C. Keterangan waktu (adverb of time) yang sering digunakan dalam Present Continuous tense : now, right now,       at the moment, just, still dan tomorrow (digunakan khusus untuk yang menunjuk suatu perencanaan).

Contoh:
    a. I am writing a book now.
    b. We are eating noodles at the moment.
    c. She is still waiting for her son.
    d. Tomorrow, they are going to go to Jakarta.

D. Selain itu, kita bisa juga menggunakan tense ini untuk suatu rutinitas sementara, contoh :
He is working at home this week because he is sick.
Keterangan waktu yang digunakan dalam bentuk ini adalah this week, theese days, this month, etc.

Latihan Present Continuous Tense

Berikut latihan Present Continuous tense bahasa inggris.

Latihan : terjemahkan kalimat ini kedalam bahasa inggris

1.Grizel sedang tidur sekarang
2.Fada sedang mengerjakan tugas itu
3.Reta sedang menonton sebuah film di televisi
4.Mereka sedang bermain layang-layang di halaman sekarang
5.Dila sedang berjalan-jalan

6. Dan sebagainya, latihan sendiri yaaa....!!

'KRUCIL' Puppet Show in Trenggalek

Javanese singer is singing a traditional song

Dhalang or the storyteller/puppeteer 

On Sunday this morning, there was a Krucil puppet show at tourist object of Hutan Kota (city forest) in Trenggalek, East Java, Indonesia. The performance of puppet supported a government program of planting trees in city forest of Trenggalek to avoid natural disasters, like landslide and flood. The Krucil puppet show performed the story of Menak Sopal, the King and the founder of Trenggalek regency. The Javanese female singer (Sinden) sang a Javanese song telling about the spirit of protecting the forest. Through this program, Trenggalek has participated in protecting the forest as the heart of the world living and avoiding the occurrence of natural disaster as well.  

The Audience

The Krucil puppe

Father=Ayah Mother=Ibu

Menambah perbendahaaraan kata dengan menghafal kata-kata di sekitar keluarga (familiy) kita. Ada Ayah (father) ada ibu (mother) dan seterusnya

No	Inggris	Indonesia
1	Bride groom	Pengantin laki-laki
2	baby	bayi
3	bridge	pengantin perempuan
4	just married	pengantin baru
5	family	keluarga
6	relatives	kerabat/sanak/saudara
7	father	ayah
8	parent	orang tua
9	grand mother	nenek
10	mother	ibu
11	grand father	kakek
12	child	anak
13	son	anak laki-laki
14	daughter	anak perempuan
15	sister	saudara perempuan
16	brother	saudara laki-laki
17	younger sister	anak laik-laki
18	younger brother	anak perempuan
19	elder sister	kakak perempuan
20	elder brother	kakak laki-laki
21	aunt	bibi
22	uncle	paman
23	cousin	saudara sepupu
24	nephew	kemenakan laki-laki
25	niece	kemenakan perempuan
26	grand child	cucu
27	grand dougther	cucu perempuan
28	grand son	cucu laki-laki