THE TEACHER’S TOOLS (PROCEDURES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES, ETC.) IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING as Seminar on ELT Final Project

THE TEACHER’S TOOLS (PROCEDURES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES, ETC.) IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Introduction

Here in Indonesia, mostly English is still being taught as a foreign language. The teachers still often use the first language to teach the materials, especially to the beginner learners, for example to the elementary school and the junior high school. Well at least the comparison between the English and Indonesian usage in the class is 50:50.

Nowadays, the student-centered approach is being emphasized use. Even in the field that approach isn’t really use broadly, but here the teacher should act as a facilitator. For that, we have to always stay up to date and invent or at least use the latest tools, whether it is the procedure, method, and technique. The teacher has to have novel ideas in the way he/she teach their students to avoid a monotone and static teaching-learning process.

In this article, I emphasize to my ELT experiences in teaching beginner learners in the first grade of junior high school. Here, they love to learn with concrete materials, for examples they like to see or exercise an authentic materials that showed by a videos, short films and songs. So I usually prepare and deliver my teaching material mostly to the listening and speaking skill, while the writing and the reading skill sometimes used only in the evaluation.

Overview of Language Teaching Methodology (An Experience)

The word "methodology" is itself often misinterpreted or ill-understood. It is usually given lip-service as an explanation for the way a given teacher goes about his/her teaching, a sort of umbrella-term to describe the job of teaching another language. Most often, methodology is understood to mean methods in a general sense, and in some cases it is even equated to specific teaching techniques. It does (or should) in fact mean and involve much more than that. I've found that Brown's (1994:51) definitions (reflecting current usage at the time and drawn from earlier attempts to break down and classify elements to do with methodology) are the most useful:

Methodology

The study of pedagogical practices in general (including theoretical underpinnings and related research). Whatever considerations are involved in "how to teach" are methodological.

Approach

Theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings. In my teaching I try to use the communicative approach which is nowadays widely used in the language teaching internationally. Teaching English as a foreign language also refers to the Communicative language teaching (CLT), an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages or simply the communicative approach. Out of the many approaches and methodologies available to the language teacher, the Communicative Approach has proven one of the most successful in providing confident learners who are able to make themselves effectively understood in the shortest possible time. It is therefore the teacher’s responsibility to create situations which are likely to promote communication, and provide an authentic background for language learning. The approach tends to be a student-centre than a teacher-centre. A teacher’s main role is a facilitator and monitor rather than leading the class. Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more--becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). The teacher sets up the exercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, the teacher must step back and observe, sometimes acting as referee or monitor. A classroom during a communicative activity is far from quiet, however. The students do most of the speaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise is active, with students leaving their seats to complete a task.

A lot of students or learners in EFL class love using the communicative approach just like it shows in the result of the Kavaliuauskiene’s research in his journal English for Specific Purposes: Learners’ Preferences and Attitudes more than half of the learners favor a communicative approach to perfecting their language skills. They prefer working in pairs/small groups, taking part in projects and practicing English by talking to their peers. As Widiawati said in her journal: The Teaching of EFL Speaking, In Indonesian Context: The Sate of the Art, role-play and dialogue make students speaks as naturally and communicatively possible.

Method

A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to be primarily concerned with teacher and student roles and behaviors and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials. They are almost always thought of as being broadly applicable to a variety of audiences in a variety of contexts.

Curriculum/Syllabus

Designs for carrying out a particular language program. Features include a primary concern with the specification of linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials to meet the needs of a designated group of learners in a defined context. The KTSP curriculum is my basic in determining the lesson plan that I will make

Technique

Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives (http://www.englishraven.com/). On my experience in teaching the junior high school students, especially they who still in the first grade, they prefer to study outside the class, whether it’s in the library, laboratory, or even in the school’s park. They feel bored being almost a whole day in only in the class. So they excited learning outside the classroom.

As I said earlier, the students love to learn with concrete materials, for examples they like to see or exercise an authentic materials that showed by a videos, short films and songs. So I usually prepare and deliver my teaching material mostly to the listening and speaking skill, while the writing and the reading skill sometimes used only in the evaluation. The techniques that often be used is listen and respond, listen and repeat, and even games that mostly loved by the students.

The Scenario of Teaching (Lesson Plan)

RENCANA PELAKSANAAN PEMBELAJARAN

(RPP)

SMP/MTs : SMP Negeri 3 Pandeglang

Mata Pelajaran : Bahasa Inggris

Kelas/Semester : VII (Tujuh) / 2

Standar Kompetensi : 8. Memahami makna dalam teks fungsional dan monolog pendek sangat sederhana yang berbentuk descriptive/procedure untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan terdekat.

10. Mengungkapkan makna dalam teks lisan fungsional dan monolog pendek sangat sederhana berbentuk procedure untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan terdekat.

Kompetensi Dasar : 8.2. Merespon makna yang terdapat dalam monolog sangat sederhana secara akurat, lancer dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan terdekat dalam teks berbentuk descriptive/procedure.

10.2. Mengungkapkan makna dalam monolog pendek sangat sederhana dengan ragam bahasa lisan secara akurat, lancar dan berterima untuk berinteraksi dengan lingkungan terdekat dalam teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedure.

Indikator : 1. Merespon informasi dalam teks berbentuk descriptive

dan procedure.

2. Menentukan ciri kebahasan teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

3. Mengungkapkan berbagai informasi dalam teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

4. Menyebutkan fungsi komunikasi teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

Jenis Teks : Descriptive/Procedure

Tema : Around us: food, drink, and clothes (Unit 7)

Aspek / Skill : Listening/Speaking

Alokasi Waktu : 4 x 40 menit

1. Tujuan Pembelajaran

Pada akhir pembelajaran siswa dapat:

1. Merespon informasi dalam teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

2. Menentukan ciri kebahasan teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

3. Mengungkapkan berbagai informasi dalam teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

4. Menyebutkan fungsi komunikasi teks berbentuk descriptive dan procedur.

2. Materi Pembelajaran

1. Countable Nouns

e.g. I eat a banana every day.

I like bananas.

Banana” is a countable noun.

We can put an ‘s’ on a countable noun: „Bananas”

ü A countable noun can be

1. singular (banana) or

2. plural (bananas)

ü Countable nouns are things we can count.

ü We can say ‘one banana’ ,‘two bananas’ etc.

1. Uncountable Nouns

e.g. I eat rice everyday.

I like rice.

Rice is an uncountable noun.

ü An uncountable noun has only one form. (rice)

ü Uncountable nouns are things we can’t count.

ü We can’t put an ‘s’ on an uncountable noun.

ü We can’t say ‘one rice’, ‘two rices’, etc.

2. There is/ There are some

Study the following table:

We use ‘There is some’ when the noun is uncountable. (meat, cheese.)

We use ‘There are some’ when the countable noun is plural. (rulers, pencils.)

3. There isn’t/There aren’t any

Study the following table:

We use ‘There isn’t any’ when the noun is uncountable. (milk, coffee.)

We use ‘There aren’t any’ when the countable noun is plural. (dishes, watches)

HOW MUCH…? / HOW MANY…?

1. How much + uncountable noun

E.g. How much ham?

2. How many + countable noun

E.g.: How many rashers and sausages?

4. Metode / Teknik : Listen and respon, Listen and repeat, games (mix and match), quiz.

5. Langkah-langkah Kegiatan

1. Kegiatan Pendahuluan (15 menit)

- Salam tegur sapa

- Mengabsen siswa

- Warming-up dengan menunjuk beberapa siswa untuk menyebutkan minimal 5 kata benda (nouns).

- Secara bersama-sama menyebutkan kata benda yang ada di ruangan.

2. Kegiatan Inti (55 menit)

1. Guru memberikan lembar materi kepada siswa, 1 lembar untuk 2 orang.

2. Siswa menonton beberapa video yang diputar oleh guru.

3. Siswa dan guru bersam-sama mengidentifikasika makna dan fungsi video yang telah ditonton.

4. Guru dan siswa membahas kata sulit yang terdapat dalam penjelasan.

5. Siswa merespon dan menjawab pertanyaan tentang materi countable dan uncountable nouns yang terdapat dalam video.

6. Siswa memberi contoh fungsi-fungsi dalam materi countable dan uncountable nouns.

7. Guru membagikan lembar kuis kepada siswa yang dikerjakan secara individu.

8. Siswa mengunpulkan lembar kuis yang telah dikerjakan.

3. Kegiatan Penutup (10 menit)

1. Menanyakan kesulitan siswa selama PBM.

2. Menyimpulkan materi pembelajaran.

3. Membagi siswa menjadi dua kelompok.

4. 5 orang dari perwakilan kelompok mengkategorikan gambar dan kata-kata yang telah dpersiapkan guru ke dalam countable atau uncountable nouns.

5. Memberi tugas siswa untuk dikerjakan di rumah.

6. Sumber Belajar

1. Buku teks yang relevan: English on Sky Book 1 for Junior High School Students Year VII (SMP & MTs), Erlangga 2004.

2. Poster-poster yang berkaitan dengan materi.

3. Materi dari website yang bersangkutan dengan materi.

7. Penilaian

a. Teknik : - Tes tulis

- Tes lisan

- Unjuk Kerja

- Penugasan

b. Bentuk : - Pertanyaan lisan

- Pertanyaan tertulis, melengkapi

- Tugas rumah

c. Instrumen :

I. Put the correct form of the given words into the spaces.

1. John is eating some __________(potato).

2. Is there any ___________ (water) in the jar?

3. Mother says, ‘Gogo, please give me some __________ (jam).’

4. There are some _________ (fish) in the river.

5. There aren’t any ______________(tomato) on the table.

II. Put the correct answer into the spaces with “some” or “any”.

1.There is not ________sugar in the coffee.

2.There are ___________ stars in the sky.

3.There aren’t ________ roses on the table.

4.Father says, ‘Please give me ________ oil.’

5.Is there ________ orange juice?

III. Choose the correct word / expression and complete the sentences.

some – how much – how many – any

1. ______ sandwiches have you got?

2. Is there _________ milk in the fridge?

3. ________ sugar do you need?

4. _________ friends have you got?

5. Mary makes _______ nice scones for tea.

Conclusion

Lesson plan is really essential for the teacher to prepare their teaching. But before that they have to analyze what their student’s need and what kinds of class situation that they want to have in their learning. Usually the students love to learn with concrete materials, for examples they like to see or exercise an authentic materials that showed by a videos, short films and songs. So I usually prepare and deliver my teaching material mostly to the listening and speaking skill, while the writing and the reading skill sometimes used only in the evaluation. The techniques that often be used is listen and respond, listen and repeat, and even games that mostly loved by the students.