An English Syllabus Design for TK Nisrina Bekasi (Perceiving needs from parents, teachers, and students)

dr. santi c. jonhar, m. a., dr. atiq susilo, ma.;

The current trends show that the teaching of English is not only conducted in elementary schools but also in kindergartens. The research was initiated by the fact that English has been included as a program in teaching and learning process in kindergartens in Bekasi. However, that program is not supported by the availability of qualified teachers and English syllabus. This study is focused on developing English syllabus for Kindergarten in TK Nisrina Bekasi. It tries to answer the research problem about how to develop English syllabus which covers the learning objectives which meet the students' needs, the materials which provide successful achievement, and the teaching methods which guide teachers how the materials
are to be taught, and the evaluation which assesses how far the learning objectives are reached. This is a Research and Development study conducted in two activities; needs assessment, and syllabus development based on the information from needs assessment. The draft of the syllabus was evaluated by experts and the feedback were used to revise the draft. Field try-out was conducted to get feedback used to revise the draft. The final revision is the Final Product. The instruments used to collect the data were questionnaires, observation checklists, and interview guides.
The results of needs assessment showed that the teachers got confused to teach
English for young learners. They also had difficulties to find the materials for several themes and sub-themes and they feel that their English is not quite good. They also view that English is difficult. Besides that, parents also view that English is international language that should be learnt. Their children should learn English to prepare in the elementary school. Although English is difficult, by giving enjoyable and fun activities, English can be much easier for their children. From the data, the first draft of syllabus was made. Then it was revised after obtaining the feedback from the experts. The revision was made by adding the term used in the aspect of development; aspect of evaluation, list of vocabulary items, list of phrases and
sentences, and expression. The final product developed comprises (a) cover of syllabus, (b) schedules of English class for class A,B, and C, (c) List of vocabulary item, (d) List of Simple Sentences, and (e) List of Simple Instruction