One of the main reasons that I was looking forward to retiring from teaching was to get some time to teach my own children after a lifetime of teaching other people’s kids. Specifically, I wanted a chance to help my kids with math and English. Math because they seem to have problems with learning it the way it’s taught in Indonesian schools, which may have something to do with noisy classrooms according to my kids. And English because we’ve always spoke Indonesian as the home language so my kids have English language skills that run from basic to none at all. So, I’m now teaching the three youngest English everyday, or almost everyday depending on their schedules.
I’m not an English teacher (although I’ve taught English a few times as a subject), and I have limited experience with teaching ESL students, so teaching my kids English has been somewhat hit and miss with a lot of experimentation. I finally found a very good textbook in Surabaya back in January, and I’ve been using that with my kids. I’ve noticed a few things in our work over the past few months:
1) the oldest kids (the ones who spent time in an English language school and played with English-speaking kids) have the easiest time with reading and pronouncing English, while the youngest who rarely saw me during her first four years of life (I was teaching in Pakistan then and was only home on vacation) struggles with her English pronunciation. The oldest who was bilingual until she was 6 has the most American accent, while the other kids speak English with a heavy Indonesian accent. I expect that the accents will even out over time as they get more accustomed to speaking English.
2) All of them drop the “s” on plural nouns. They see the “s” on the words as they read them, but when the words are spoken, the “s” is missing. I’ve never noticed this before, but experiment with a few other Indonesian kids that I know who are learning English and they do the same thing. Ask them to spell the word and they include the s. Ask them to read the word, and it’s gone.
3) As their skills have progressed and they’ve become quite good at grammar, their use of English in everyday speech hasn’t shown equal development. They have to be prodded to use English. Their preference is obviously to fall back into their comfort level and speak Indonesian. I’ve noticed the same thing with adult friends of mine who speak English quite well but who will often revert to Indonesian in normal conversation.
4) I’ve noticed this cultural barrier to kids actually speaking English, at least around people that they know or in public settings. They don’t want to make a mistake and be embarrassed. It’s the fear Indonesians have of being made to be malu – basically losing face. Of course, if you’ve ever traveled around the country, you’ve come across young Indonesians who will want to practice their English with you, but this number is small compared to ones who may actually speak English quite well, but are embarrassed to make a mistake.
I’m interested in hearing comments from others on my experiences with teaching English, especially trained ESL teachers.
We are both teachers! On retiring in April 2011 I am able to devote myself fulltime to working for the Sebari foundation, aimed at teaching English language and internet skills in the tropical rain forests of Kalimantan and Sulawesi. We are founding schools of higher education, using volunteer native English speakers (students and young graduates) – primarily from Northern Europe, USA and Australia. We plan on opening our first school in Sintang in July 2012. Our basic idea is that responsible management of the rain forest environment in the last analysis will only possible when the local population have gained the knowledge and skills to compete in the 21st century. On our website sekolahinggris.com (currently only a design template) you can see more about these plans.
Your experience teaching English to your children sounds very interesting top us. I would appreciate contact with you in the future if you are interested in learning more about our projects.
Sounds interesting. Keep me informed as you develop your project.