English Education for Early Childhood

This article discusses English education for early childhood. A person's ability to use English is needed along with the progress of a country. That is why English as an international language was introduced as early as possible to students in Indonesia today. English education would be ideal if started at an early age, especially before the child turns 12 years old. Early childhood is a child in the range of about 2 -7 years. 

At that age is a golden period in the development of children's language skills. In this period, they can learn any language like native speakers and this period should be used as well as possible. However, children at an early age are still in a state of preoperational cognitive development that has high egocentricity, does not understand abstracts yet. only understand symbols and still think pre-logically. 

Therefore, English for children requires appropriate and effective methods in the teaching process. There are several appropriate methods and techniques for teaching English to early childhood such as in a communicative context. Among them are cultural contexts, games, singing and music, storytelling, artistic experiences, crafts and prioritizing physical movement. Among these methods and techniques, the song and motion approach is the most appropriate and successful method in English language education for early childhood.

INTRODUCTION

Foreign language education for children in America was popular in the sixties, but declined somewhat in the seventies. According to Hammerby (1982), English language learning and education is based on the idea that learning a second language is better if it is started early. That is, English is better learned by children since they are still in childhood, the sooner the better.

Foreign language learning in schools should be started as early as possible, it is easier to attract the attention and interest of children than adults. This assumption has not been confirmed by research, although from experience it appears that young learners are better learners and there is evidence that older children are more effective. in language learning. In this era of globalization, it is demanded that people who master English both spoken and written are required. 

These demands make parents compete to send their children to national or international schools that have a good level of English as a medium of language in the classroom. Apart from the psychology of the child's language skills, the age of the child, the teacher's education and the methods used, for parents, the most important thing is to send their children to English and international licensed schools so that parents will be satisfied and believe in the education.

 As a result, many children are frustrated and stressed. It's not that they don't master English but they become immature students who are forced to speak English. That's why the pronunciation and structure of the English they speak is sometimes wrong and weird. In fact, there must be consideration from parents to put their children to learn English well. The age of the child is one of the important considerations in learning English as a foreign language. Based on this explanation, at what age should children learn English as a foreign .

ENGLISH EDUCATION DISCUSSION

English has become an international language used in almost all areas of global life. English has also become a world language that dominates communication in connecting and transferring knowledge to the world. This gives the assumption that mastery of English is a very important requirement for today's modern society because mastering English makes it easier for someone to expand their interactions in the international world. As Fromkin (1990)5 said that English has been referred to as the lingua franca of the world. This strengthens English as an international language for communication in the world. 

The position of English in Indonesia is as the first foreign language. It has a different meaning to English as a second language. Mustafa (2007)6 states that a second language is the language that children learn after their mother tongue with the characteristics of the language used in society. Meanwhile, a foreign language is the language of another country which is generally not used in social interaction.