Fun English Program with Elementary School Teachers of Fatih Bilingual School

Fun English Program is an English language learning program for elementary students that is open to the public. This program is divided into two classes namely speaking class and reading class. This program is carried out every week, which is every Wednesday and Saturday.

This program was made due to many children cannot study at school anymore during this pandemic. Therefore, FBS tries to help them by opening an English class that can be accessed by all elementary school students especially in Aceh, and they can still learn English even at home. 

The material taught in this class is basic English materials such as Greetings, introduction, Alphabet, and others because there are many elementary students who do not have English subject in their schools, and learning about these materials will help them to understand English easily.

Ms. Claudia said that there were many challenges in carrying out this program because teaching in a traditional class like with FBS students might be easier for her because she knew the students and their understanding about the material being taught but in FEP, the teacher never met their students, and only through video calls. Therefore, teachers should know their students to result a comfortable learning with the teacher.

“Actually, teaching in a traditional class and teaching a virtual class is disparate. Teaching online is more difficult, especially in controlling students and check their understanding directly and sometimes internet connection is also becoming a problem”, She added.

Although there are many obstacles and difficulties in this virtual classroom the teachers keep trying to make this virtual class as effective as possible, and make attractive class activities such as inviting them to talk, listening to their opinions, and also providing educational videos that can help them to understand the material better.

Ms. Claudia said “Teaching in this class is very fun, I meet new students who were very interested in learning English, and students’ enthusiasm was very good, they always attended every class both reading class and speaking class. I hope this program can help children who cannot learn at school and that there will be more children interested in learning English and in my opinion, this is crucial, because English is an important thing to learn especially in the future”.