Name : Kanita M.

Cita

NPM/Class : 14.1.01.08.0106/3-A

Subject : TEYL

The Characteristic of Young Learners, How to Get the Second Language, Strategy to
Comprehend the Language

After having two meetings of Teaching English for Young Learners (TEYL). I got
known that teaching young learners were different within teaching both adolescent and adult.
This essay has divided into three main topics. The first topic will tell about the characteristics
of young learners. And the second topic is about how to get the second language. The last
topic is about the strategy to comprehend the language.

The first topic is about the characteristic of young learners. Harmer (2007) stated
that children are from about the age of 12. Following to that statement, Utah (1999) listed the
characteristic of children in each age they were. In the five years old, children are very active.
They have a good sense of balance, and becoming more coordinated. They can kick a ball,
walk in a straight line, hop, skip. They also enjoy drawing, coloring, and participating in
activities and games. After that, the seven-year-old children have better muscular control
because they can develop the skills in certain games, hobbies, and activities. They full of
energy.
A year older, in the eight years old, they play organized games that require physical
skill. Moreover, they want to know the reasons for things. Thinks he or she knows much, but
is beginning to recognize that others may know even more. Meanwhile with the ten or
eleven-year-old children, they may be experiencing rapid growth, enjoy sports that require
strength, speed, and skill, social, competitive, and relies on best friends. most of them do not
like to be treated like a child.
The next topic was discussed about how to get the second language. According to
Krashen (1987) in Linse (2005), Language acquisition is the natural process used to develop
language skill in a childs native language. The home environment for acquiring a native
language often different from the classroom environment used to teach a second or foreign
language. A native language is often different from the classroom environment used to teach a
second or foreign language. When a child is acquiring their native language at home, the
focus is on the message being conveyed rather than of form or correctness of the language.
For example, when the native English speaking child says the word, Muma instead of
Mama, her mother would applaud the effort and not worry that the pronunciation was not
perfect. When a five-year-old is telling a story about something exciting that took placed at
camp, his grandmother would focus on what he was talking about rather than how he was
saying it.
The term language learning is often used to describe the more formal approach to
language instruction language earning usually refers to the language instruction that takes
place in a classroom. Focus is usually on the form of the language rather than on the message
being conveyed. For example, in a language-learning classroom, you might see children
learning phonics rules-hopefully using a game-format. It is important to note that even native
speaker spend time learning about their language. When it comes to language acquisition and
language learning, it doesnt need to be an either-or situation. The focus can be on the
message conveyed and the form of the language being used.
The last topic is the strategy to comprehend the language. There are many
strategies to comprehend the second language that teacher might be applied in the teaching
language to young learners. The first is vocabulary and language development, through which
teachers introduce new concepts by discussing vocabulary words key to that concept.
Exploring specific academic terms like algorithm starts a sequence of lessons on larger math
concepts and builds the students background knowledge. Then, guided interaction is the next
strategy that we can use to help the young learners comprehend the language. With this
method, teachers structure lessons so students work together to understand what they read
by listening, speaking, reading, and writing collaboratively about the academic concepts in
the text.
The third strategy is authentic assessment. With authentic assessments, teachers use a
variety of activities to check students understanding, acknowledging that students learning a
second language need a variety of ways to demonstrate their understanding of concepts that
are not wholly reliant on advanced language skills. The next strategy is explicit instruction, or
direct teaching of concepts, academic language, and reading comprehension strategies needed
to complete classroom tasks. For the fifth strategy we may use of meaning-based context and
universal themes, referring to taking something meaningful from the students everyday lives
and using it as a springboard to interest them in academic concepts. Research shows that
when students are interested in something and can connect it to their lives or cultural
backgrounds they are more highly motivated and learn at a better rate. And the final strategy
is the use of modeling, graphic organizers, and visuals. The use of a variety of visual aids,
including pictures, diagrams, and charts, helps all studentsand especially ELL students
easily recognize essential information and its relationship to supporting ideas. Visuals make
both the language and the content more accessible to students.

REFERENCES

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007. The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th Edition). London:
Longman

Linse, Caroline. 2005. Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. New York:
McGraw-Hill