English books and translations

From Kompas

Since there is little interest in the English language among youngsters, as Kompas reported sometime ago, I would like to suggest that English teaching books add translations of the lessons in question. Translations of articles should be accompanied with questions, which the students could fill in.

Students often misunderstand the gist of a lesson in an English book, let alone master it. And they may be reluctant to bother their teacher with questions. A translation, on the other hand, would help them understand lessons in an English book.

A paragraph in scientific text books, written in both English and Indonesian, might hone their interest in English. It would also provide them with the opportunity to learn to translate.

Another way to raise youngsters' interest in English would be to research subjects they favor, like basketball, or Western actors in English.

The youngster in question would have to translate the article, or at least a few lines of the respective article.

It is of no importance whether the student does the lesson the right or wrong way, the real objective is to whet their interest in English. Suggest to the youngster to look for the meaning of a film title, or of an English song.

IKRAMULLAH

Bandung, West Java