Learning English is Interesting

As an international language, English is widely spoken by people around the world. It
is also the most commonly used language in sciences, books, magazines, newspapers and other media of news and entertainments. Because of its important role, English is considered as one of the most popular language subjects in many countries, including in our country: Indonesia.

For many years, English has been a compulsory lesson in Indonesia’s secondary schools. Its main purpose is to make students able to compete in the globalization era. The mastery of English will enable students to continue their study to university or hunt for jobs. In wider scope, it is for the sake of developing our country and interacting in international relationship.

Eventhough English is considered as a very important subject in school, the fact shows that it is still viewed as one of the most difficult lessons to learn. Students do not enjoy English class. They feel bored and afraid of participating actively in teaching-learning process. They sometimes hate English and are not interested to learn it seriously. That is why, many students graduating from senior high schools still cannot speak English well. In fact, they have been learning English for more than six years, since they were at elementary schools.

the main problem that makes students feel difficult in learning English is the teaching-learning process does not attract students’ interests. In other words, the situation of English class is not interesting. The class runs monotonously; teacher explains the materials and students just listen to the teacher. The teaching learning process often lacks of practicing. Students do not have enough practices to use English in conversation or in dialogues. Naturally, as a mean of communication, English should be placed as a practical or applied lesson. It is not just a theoretical subject. The teaching of English should emphasize on the students’ ability in using
English in communication.

So, the question is: how to make students feel interested in learning English? I think there are several ways to be applied in the teaching learning process. The first one, by using interesting media which can attract students’ attention. For examples: English songs, movies and games. Commonly, teenage students like listening to music, watching movie and playing game. The preferred themes are related with teenagers’ life, such as love and friendships. By linking the lesson with students’ daily life, students will not get bored. They will find that English is very
useful for their daily life. Students can enjoy English songs and movies because they understand English. They will have fun with English and finally they feel that learning English is interesting. The second way is by encouraging students to practice English, both spoken and written. For spoken English, students are given chance to get involved actively in conversation and dialogues. For written English, teacher suggests students to start writing in English, for example: making composition, writing letter, or posting and updating their status in English if they have facebook accounts. The last one is, keep practicing English; any time and any where. The more we practice
our English; the better we master it.

the conclusion is: learning English will be more interesting if
students have fun with English.

The Important of Answering Question with Full Sentence

For several years I have been teaching children to answer questions with full sentences, e.g. How do you go to school? I go to school by bus. I believe this is important mainly because low level learners (children and adults) spend a lot of time asking and responding to questions rather than initiating conversation without using a question. The main chance they have to produce meaningful non-question sentences is when they are responding to questions. As their English improves they can give longer answers to questions, e.g. How do you go to school? I go to school by bus. It takes 20 minutes. If students are capable of this, then I have found that I am less strict about them using a full sentence for the initial answer, e.g. How do you go to school? By bus. It takes 20 minutes. This is the closest to a native speaker's answer, which is probably the reason I found myself accepting it without really thinking about it.

There are two main problems I believe with an insistence on full answers. The first is that it is teaching them to do something that most native speakers rarely do. The second is that there are many occasions when students understand the question and know the answer but can't remember how to say the first part of the answer. Very often this will prevent them from answering because they feel they must give the whole sentence. In fact if they just gave the short answer, it would more closely resemble a native speaker's answer.

How can we get around this problem? One way is to only insist on full sentences when it is not an answer to a question. If we use a prompt such as a picture rather than a question to get the full sentence practice, then when students answer a question we can encourage them, or at least allow them, to use a short answer. Another way is to have some activities where speed and fluency are emphasised, and in these activities allow short answers. This will let students see that short answers are acceptable.

I have been playing a game (with two classes of three children who have been studying English for five years) that emphasizes quick, short answers. I have a 3-minute egg timer. I ask questions to one student for three minutes while another student records the number of answers and the third is in charge of the time. We rotate roles so that each student has chance to answer. They remember their scores from previous lessons and try to improve them. As well as practising short answers, it is also a good game for combining revision of old targets with practice of new targets. I occasionally use picture prompts for some questions but mostly there are no visual prompts.

I have found this game has worked well even with weaker students, and it seems to be very good for students' listening skills, especially guessing the meaning of the whole question from the keywords they hear. The students know they can answer questions with short answers, but so far I am still insisting on full sentences when answering questions relating to a new target at other times in the lesson. Whether this is the right thing to do or not, I am not sure.

Memasyarakatkan Bahasa Inggris

Bukan ada niatan menggantikan bahasa ibu kita yaitu Bahasa Indonesia tapi mengingat rendahnya tingkat kemampuan berbahasa inggris kita, mungkin sudah saatnya wacana ini kita angkat bersama-sama.

Bukan hanya dari kalangan instansi terkait tapi dari kalangan pelajar justru mempunyai peran yang lebih besar dalam hal ini.

Sikap mental yang masih malu malu dalam berkomunikasi dengan menggunakan bahasa inggris perlu di berangus mulai dari kita sendiri. Menumbuhkan sifat percaya diri memang tergolong agak sulit, tapi seiring dengan waktu saya yakin percaya diri akan muncul dengan sendirinya.

Jadi mari kita mulai dari sekarang.

Dapat Dollar Lebih Mudah Dengan Bahasa Inggris

Sudah bukan rahasia umum kalau dunia maya internet ternyata bisa juga jadi ladang uang bagi beberapa orang. Sebut saja mulai dari PTC (pay to click), PTR (pay to read), reseller dan lain-lain. Beberapa orang ingin dengan mudah mendapatkan uang receh dengan cepat bisa mencoba PTC. Dengan penghasilan sekitar 0,01 dollar pada setiap aktifitas mengklik, lumayan juga bagi pemula.

Tapi apa memang cuma recehan dollar yang bisa kita dapatkan dari internet..? Ternyata tidak juga. Terutama bagi Anda yang mempunyai kemampuan bagus dalam berbahasa inggris secara tulis, maka kesempatan untuk mendapatkan puluhan dollar menanti Anda.

Saya bukan bicara kosong dalam hal ini, karena saya sendiri sudah merasakan nikmatnya dollar pada program Pay to review. Puluhan dollar sudah singgah di account paypal saya. Jauh sekali kalau saya main pada program PTC.

Pay to review merupakan sebuah program yang memberikan kesempatan kepada penulis blog untuk mengulas suatu produk di blog mereka. Dengan memberikan ulasan seperti itu, tentu saja Anda di bayar dalam hal ini.

Jadi kalau Anda punya blog berbahasa inggris, maka Anda bisa mencoba mendaftarkannya di Blogsvertise, smorty, dll.

Selamat mendulang dollar

Tips Menguasai Bahasa Inggris Dengan Cepat

Kalau kita bicara tentang bahasa satu ini seakan tiada habisnya. Meski jarang menjadi satu topik utama dalam pembicaraan tapi sudah menjadi rahasia umum kalau banyak di antara kita belum bisa menguasai bahasa satu ini.

Kalau mau di telaah bersama, dari mulai TK kita sudah di hadapkan pada materi satu ini. Bahkan di kalangan universitas pun materi ini pasti menjadi bagian dari perkuliahan. Namun sayangnya, meski sudah bertahun - tahun mempelajari bahasa ini tapi tetap saja kita di hadapkan pada kebengongan saat di ajak berkomunikasi.

Berikut ini ada beberapa tips yang harus Anda lakukan jika ingin punya kemampuan bahasa yang dasyat :

• Milikilah sebuah diary (buku harian) dalam bahasa inggris.

Di awal tentu sangat susah sekali untuk menulis keseluruhan kalimat dalam bahasa inggris. Tapi mulailah dari yang Anda bisa. Dari satu kata ke kata yang lain. Untuk sementara lupakanlah susunan grammar yang sudah di ketahui. Tulislah secara bebas apa yang ingin Anda tulis. Mulai dari kegiatan hari ini atau hal menarik yang terjadi hari ini.

• Hapalkanlah 5 kata baru setiap hari.

Dari kegiatan di atas Anda bisa mencari 5 kata yang ingin Anda ketahui dalam Bahasa Inggris. Tulislah pada kertas khusus atau notes sehingga mudah untuk di bawa ke mana-mana.

• Konsisten melakukan kegiatan di atas.

Menurut pengalaman yang pernah saya ketahui, kemampuan Anda dalam berbahasa inggris akan meningkat dengan pesat setelah 6 bulan maksimal. Asal Anda melakukannya dengan semangat dan setiap selama 6 bulan. Pada beberapa pengalaman yang lain malah kurang dari 6 bulan Anda sudah mampu menguasai bahasa inggris dengan baik.

Jadi buktikanlah.