How can students practice speaking English language a Home?

Friday August 5th 2022

For many years students have asked me, “What should I do to become a great speaker of English?” I answer by telling them about my star students, the ones who speak English so naturally that it sounds like they have spent time abroad in an English speaking country. What is their secret? Well let me tell you, there are many strategies that we can use to help our students become great speakers of English.
First and foremost, the single most important thing that helps students become great speakers is consistency. The students who are excellent speakers usually have one or two friends with whom they practice speaking English, every day! Yes, every day. Although they don’t need to practice for a long time, they should have around 10-15 minutes of conversation time each day with a friend, sibling, or family member who likes English. It might work best to choose the same time every day; for example students might choose to speak English at their snack time or tell a few English stories before sleeping, depending on the age of the student. The best speakers speak a little every day and they have fun with it. They don’t worry too much about mistakes, but they focus on the communication aspect.
Secondly, students need to practice speaking about something that is meaningful and interesting to them. It’s so easy to forget about boring details, so let’s instead choose topics that our students love. Students who are actively talking about an interesting topic will be able to talk more and remember more vocabulary. For example, if a student loves animals, he can read a book about different kinds of animals and then describe the most exciting one, using some new vocabulary words. If a student loves gaming, he or she can describe what happened in the most recent game or even invent a game and explain the rules. These short but meaningful conversations can really help students to be comfortable and excited about speaking.
Finally, students will make many grammar mistakes on the journey to becoming a better speaker. Don’t worry too much about small grammar mistakes. Most students will learn the correct grammar form after hearing it repeated correctly many times by a teacher, family member, or English media. If we correct our students after each small mistake, they might feel discouraged about learning English. It’s more important to point out big mistakes in a friendly way (such as using the past tense V2!), and let the smaller mistakes go so that the students can express themselves freely and openly.
Hopefully with consistent practice and interesting conversation topics, we can encourage our students to speak freely and become great speakers!

Testimony

Prof. Dra. Hj. Suwarsih Madya, M.A., Ph.D.

Amidst the globalized situation which poses challenges of which one is a possible threat to identity, yet provides ample opportunities to excel for those who possess the prerequisites, we need to equip our children as the continuing generation with necessary competencies—affective, cognitive, psychomotor and interactive. In other words, we need to help them grow and develop into total persons and this can be achieved through the whole-child development approach which ensures the development of all potentials. In addition to this is the need for developing some competence which enables the children to communicate globally. All of this will ensure that the children will develop their citizenships both at the national and global levels. How can this ideal development be realized?

If you want to find out about how efforts are made to develop children’s whole potentials, you can come to SD Islam Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta. Here you can see how the four-year old school has grown fast due to the stakeholders’ trust to send their children to study here. With only 54 children in the first year, this school now has 185 students. These students are educated to respect and preserve the social-cultural environment by learning the local language (Javanese, including the script) and arts (dance). Simultaneously, they certainly learn the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) and national content, which is unquestionable since it is compulsory, and English, which has now become a global lingua franca; thus, a prerequisite for successful global communication. More importantly, children in this school also learn to practise their religion consistently. So, in this school children’s identity is rooted in the local culture, with nationalism and global awareness being inherently developed together with reliogiosity.

Does the whole-child development approach at SD Islam Al Azhar still give room for children to excel? In my belief, when all their potentials are developed, children will have a greater chance to excel and I can see the truth in my belief in this primary school. In the last two years, the students have made great achievements in various competitions held at the local and national levels–gold medals in English, math and science competitions (national), silver and bronze medals in IT competitions (national), silver and bronze medals at colouring and swimming competitions (local) to mention some.

In conclusion, SD Islam Al Azhar has given evidence of the right efforts of true education to develop both intelligence and character.

Prof. DR. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.

Testimoni Sebagai Orang tua menyekolahkan anak Di Al-Azhar 55

Sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi orang tua untuk memberikan pendidikan yang terbaik bagi putra putrinya. Tantangan untuk mendidik anak di Era Global dan Digital pun semakin besar, kita tidak bisa lagi membendung segala perubahan yang begitu cepat terjadi, dan harus mempersiapkan anak-anak supaya bisa survive dan sholeh/sholehah tentunya. Saat ini dunia bagaikan kampung, dimana tidak ada batas-batas untuk melakukan transaksi kehidupan, untuk itu anak harus bisa berkomunikasi dengan bahasa universal sebagai modal utama. Disamping itu, pendidikah Ahlak dan Aqidah harus diberikan secara dini sebagai dasar anak dalam menghadapi gejolak gelombang kehidupan. Atas pertimbangan tersebutlah, kami selaku orang tua memilih untuk menyekolahkan putra kami tercinta Hikari di Sekolah Islam, yang menggunakan dua bahasa pengantar, yaitu Al-Azhar 55.

Prof. DR. Budi S.Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.