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TEACHING ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH SONGS Anggita Sarah Sembiring Yuliana Putri Muetya Permata Dara Faculty of Language and Art State University of Medan ABSTRACT This paper explores theoretical knowledge which aims to provide insight into teaching English to children as an interesting thing, this is very important because English is one of the international languages and is very widely used in every country. Teaching English to children or young learners must be full of fun so that they are interested in learning. So as an educator, the teacher must make the learning process of English become as interesting, exciting and challenging as possible. Young students have good memories and quick responses. They are active and easy to imitate because they are in childhood. They like to learn by playing and doing activities actively and naturally. In the country of Indonesia, globalization has become a term that has often been echoed lately given the excesses that have been generated in all aspects of national life. The era of globalization is characterized by one of them with the swift exchange of information across nations through various media. Foreign languages have become one of the vital communication media in this era. Mastery of foreign languages is one of the important conditions so that the young generation of Indonesia is not only able to survive but also be able to compete with other nations in this era. One foreign language that gets serious attention from the government as well as the community at large is English. Therefore, teachers must have a way of teaching English to young students using interesting techniques. There are many techniques that can be applied, but for this research we used the song as the method. Teaching English to young students is to make them master English as well as possible for example they can master some vocabulary, tenses, grammar, and so on. So that they have no difficulty in learning English in the future.

INTRODUCTION In the current era of globalization, we are not only demanded technology literacy but also must have other skills that support. One of them is active communication skills with English. As we know English is an international language used as a communication tool between countries. So important is the role English in the international world, English is included in one of the subjects taught in each institution formal education ranging from elementary school to college level in Indonesia. In its implementation, there were several obstacles encountered such as students have difficulty understanding these foreign language subjects. This matter reasonable considering that the position of English in Indonesia is as foreign language. To overcome these obstacles, a technique is needed effective, appropriate and interesting learning so that the students motivated to learn this foreign language. Effective learning is a learning that allows students to be able to learn with easy, fun, and achievable learning objectives established (HR, 2015: 6). For this reason, teachers are required to be able to create unusual learning atmosphere. In other words, the learning process not only interpreted as a teacher teaching a material to the participants students while students listen to explanations from the teacher but instead a teacher must create a living teaching and learning atmosphere (students actively participate in teaching and learning activities with fun

situations). To create an English class atmosphere fun, one of which is the use of songs for the media learning. In order to use songs for learning media, one the teacher must be observant in choosing the type of song, the level of ease of the song, meaning songs, and level targets and character of students. This is necessary because the use of songs that are not suitable and without seeing the target (level students), it will feel less useful. This is because no achieving the desired learning goals. In this case the target students who will be taught English are level student primary school or young learners. Based on the explanation above, the purpose of the research is entitled "Teaching English for Young Learners through Song". This study discusses examples of children's songs, the benefits of using children's songs, and effective steps in use children's songs for learning English for students. This type of research is library research, namely a series of studies relating to the collection method library data, or research whose research objects are explored through a variety of library information (books, encyclopedias, scientific journals, newspapers, magazines, and document). LITERATURE REVIEW DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION

To make students more interesting in learning English, we can do several things so that students are interested in learning English. We can use the listening method, which we can do or play a song to be used as teaching material for students and we can see how students can listen, write and read through music or songs. So, the things that teachers can do in the classroom as a teaching technique or method are. 1. Guess the lost vocabulary in song lyrics. This method is usually done when studying in class when we want to practice listening and writing skills of students. How, we share a piece of paper containing song lyrics with parts that are intentionally left blank. Then, we will play the song several times and ask students to listen carefully to the song. After that, students will be asked to fill in the blank verses according to the vocabulary they heard. This method is good enough to be applied because indirectly, students will learn to analyze sentences when guessing what words are empty in the stanza. 2. Ask students to sing the song in front of the class. Songs, it turns out, can also be used as a means to train students' speaking skills. We can assess the extent of the ability to recite students' English vocabulary while at the same time exercising their confidence in speaking in front of the class. This activity is quite fun because each student will get the opportunity to sing a song they like in front of the class. Later, other students will act as juries ’by checking the words in the lyrics to determine the points students are singing in front of. So, besides reciting the lyrics correctly, students are also required to memorize them. 3. Write down the overall song lyrics from the results of listening. This activity is a little more difficult than the two methods above. In this activity, students will be asked to write the lyrics they heard without help at all. This activity is effective to see the extent of students' ability in listening and also to check the spelling of students when writing the lyrics they hear.

In order for effective use of songs for learning process in English, there are several things that must be considered, for example; (1) level of student ability, (2) type of song, some songs are not suitable to be used as learning media, for example the pronunciation is

not good or even wrong, (3) level of difficulty (language complexity) contained in the song. We can use various types of songs according to our needs in class. Song can be categorized into activity song, animal song, counting song, food song, learning song, lullaby, patriotic song, parody, sport song, traditional song, and etc. Please note that not all songs in English can be used as learning resources. Songs whose music is too dominant for example, or songs that contain too many metaphorical languages, slank language, are not good for children. Choose songs that are simple and in accordance with learning needs (curriculum, for example). Also choose songs whose lyrics can be heard clearly also pronunciation (pronunciation) is correct. Because students will use the song as a model, of course they have to find the best model. If the teacher is going to sing it must be ensured that the teacher will give a good model for the students. There are some of the advantages of teaching English using singing are as follows: 1. Through songs will motivate children to love learning English. 2. By singing children become happy and easier to understand the teaching material

delivered. The ability of teachers to choose songs and create movements that are appropriate to the age of child development will also have an impact on the success of the process of learning English in early childhood. 3. Through varied singing and learning activities, educators can foster children's interest to be more happy and active in learning, and even make it easier for children to understand the teaching material presented. 4. Children are made happy, not bored, and interested in participating in the learning process. Thus singing is an activity that is very liked by children. (Miranti, Engliana and Hapsari, 2015: 169) Considering the above, song media is considered to have many positive sides that can be used for learning English in general and for elementary school level in particular.

CONCLUSION In fact, many teachers complain that they have difficulty in arranging classes, for example because students are too active in playing and playing in the classroom, difficult to organize, easily bored and lose motivation and concentration, quarrel with friends, and so on. On the other hand, students often feel less happy and enthusiastic in learning English because of the way that the teacher's explanation is too structuralist. So, songs can be a good learning resource for language classes English. It would be nice if this was realized by English teachers to be used as well as possible so that the quality of language learning would be even better. Using text books alone is not enough. Teachers are required to be creative in creating class activities that can foster a child's sense of pleasure in English. Because this pleasure is a basic ingredient that is very important so that the achievement of English language skills can be more satisfying.

REFERENCES

Brown, D. 2000. Teaching by Principles. Brewster, J., Ellis, G., Girard, D. 2002. The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. England: Penguin English. Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learner. Cambridge: CUP. Scott, W., and L, Ytreberg. 1990. Teaching English to Children. London: Longman. HB, Zulfahmi. 2013. Indikator Pembelajaran Aktif Dalam Konteks Pengimplementasian Pendekatan Pembelajaran Aktif, Kreatif, Efektif, Dan Menyenangkan (Pakem). Jurnal AlTa’lim, Vol. 1, No 4: 278-284.