Teachers' lack of skill hampers English teaching

Teachers' lack of skill hampers English teaching

JAKARTA (JP): Poor communication skills among most English
language teachers in Indonesia is undermining the teaching of
English in schools, a linguistics expert said.

"English teaching in Jakarta is facing a great number of
difficulties because of a lack of qualified English teachers
here," Gerda K. Wanei, dean of the Education and Teaching
Department of Atmajaya University, told The Jakarta Post over the
weekend.

Under the revamped 1994 school curriculum, English is taught
from the fourth grade of primary school until senior high school.

"Actually the goals of the curriculum, to teach English from
an early age, are very good.

"Children aged between six and 13 find it very easy to learn
a foreign language because their sense of encoding, storing and
retrieving is very strong," Gerda said. "They can absorb
vocabulary and practice active language communication."

The new method of English learning puts greater emphasis on
communication ability and less on grammar.

"Little kids must be taught to learn English in an enjoyable
way. The teachers must be articulate and full of ideas," she said
during a seminar, titled Psychological Pedagogic Aspect of
Primary School English Teaching, held at Atmajaya University on
Saturday.

Gerda said the most common hurdle to developing an effective
method of learning English was that teachers did not have the
appropriate teaching background.

"Most English teachers here come from a variety of
backgrounds, including mathematics teachers, student dropouts and
retirees. They are asked to be English teachers just because they
can speak a little English. This only makes things worse."

Less than 10 percent of students who graduate from the
teaching department become teachers, she said.

"Many of my students choose different careers, such as
marketing or public relations."

Rita Johan, another speaker from the university, told the Post
that the learning material for primary school students has to be
as simple as possible.

"How can the students learn English if the teacher does not
understand what they're talking about?"

"Singing, dancing and games will raise the children's
curiosity and increase their desire to learn more because they
love English.

"Don't ask children to memorize vocabulary because it will
only make them learn English like robots."

The teachers have no choice but to improve their skills due to
the growing use of English, she said.

"They can't implement a conservative method of teaching any
more. Children are smart. It is embarrassing if little kids are
smarter than their teachers."

Rita said the government's decision to introduce English into
the primary school curriculum came rather late.

"I still remember in 1976 when the government officials chased
away teachers who taught English in the primary schools. It was a
kind of 'forbidden thing' just because it was not included in the
curriculum."

Some 70 teachers from 65 public and private primary schools in
Jakarta attended the seminar which featured a presentation on how
to teach simple English to children.

"Hopefully, this kind of training will help overwhelmed
teachers to prepare better material for their students," she
said. (07)