Teaching English as Foreign Language in MAN I Surakarta

 By Azys Syaiful Anwar 

NPM: 08521108

This post is written as the TEFL lecture assignment of the teacher training and education program, Slamet Riyadi University.

Due to the teaching trainee program of my university, I’ve been placed as a trainee teacher in MAN I Surakarta. Although the program was only for three months, it has given me adequate experiences of teaching English as foreign language to teenager. 

MAN stands for Madrasah Aliyah Negeri . It is an Islamic state school which is equal to Senior High School. MAN 1 Surakarta is located on Jl. Sumpah Pemuda No. 25, Kadipiro, Banjarsari district, Surakarta city, zip code: 57136, Phone & Fax: (0271)852066. This school has a big concern on Islamic subjects. However, English is also taught as a compulsory subject. 

The school has the same programs with other senior high schools, such as science, social and language programs. Moreover, MAN I Surakarta also has a boarding school program which is considered as the program that accommodates certain excellent students. Luckily, I’ve been asked to teach the students of the boarding school program during my teaching trainee program. 

Generally, the students of boarding school program are very smart and clever. They do not only study in a regular class, but they also have to study in their boarding school. Moreover, there is a rule of the boarding school that asks students to optionally speak whether using Arabic or English. Since they are obligated to avoid the use of mother tongue in their daily conversation, they may acquire their foreign language better than any other regular students in this school. 

As a trainee teacher, I have a job to succeed the real English teacher for about three months. I’ve been asked to teach the basic competence of Senior High school students, such as text genres and certain expressions. During my teaching trainee, I used three phases teaching technique (PPP) which is combined with the communicative approach. 

According to Harmer (2001: 80), the PPP are presentation, practice and production. Through this way, the teaching learning can be teacher centered. During the teaching trainee program, I try to collaborate the PPP with communicative approach which emphasizing on the students’ activity to avoid teacher centered language learning. The communicative approach stressed significance of the language functions rather than focusing on grammar and vocabulary Harmer (2001: 84). Thus, it can support the teaching process of the basic competences of the students, the transactional and interpersonal skill. 

During the presentation, there is an important part called brainstorming. The brainstorming is the effort of directing students mind into the topic which is going to discuss. I usually give many interactive questions which are related to the topic after greeting and checking the students’ attendance. Then, the teaching process is continued to the presentation phase. During the presentation, teacher tries to model students about the topic discussed. For example, I try to describe one of the student’s appearances when I teach the descriptive text. Through this way, I can ask the other students to give opinion about the students who is being described. The students seem to be active and they know how to describe their friend based on the physical appearances. 

The next is the practice skill. The teacher puts the big emphasize to stimulate students to be active in learning, by giving some pair-work or group work exercises. It is very important because interaction between language learners can motivate each other to use their target language. Moreover, Byrne (1992: 76) states that it is recommended for a big class with many students should be divided into pairs/groups to provide students with an environment within which they can communicate easily and freely, and within they can work independently with less interfere from teacher. For more interesting teaching learning, we can also use games to practice the skill. 

The last phase is the production skill. It is a chance in which students can practice their skill individually. I like to use homework as the production of each student. Homework can motivate students to re-study the previous lesson. As a closing, I also make a review. I asked several students about some important notes of the current lesson. I make a conclusion and give a little preview of the next lesson. 

 

References:

Byrne, Donn.1997. Teaching Oral English. Kuala Lumpur: Longman.

Harmer, Jeremy. 2001 .The Practice of English Language Teaching Third 
             Edition. London: Longman