Kites and Procedural Texts

POLTAK SIMAMORA, a 9th grade student, was excited. He didn't think he could make a kite, while at the same time learning English.

THAT morning, Ibu Susilawaty, S.Pd, an English teacher at SMPN 5 Tarutung and also a district facilitator taught the basic competency: procedural texts to her students. She wanted to do something innovative. Usually, teachers teach procedural texts by lecturing the students. However, Ibu Susi didn't want to just lecture her students. She wanted to make the lesson interactive and interesting. She asked her students to make kites!

The classroom suddenly became lively like a handicraft room. There was colored paper, cord, glue, scissors and knives. They were the materials to make a kite. I asked them to bring their own materials and tools from home, said Ibu Susi. Ibu Susi began the lesson by writing up the targets of the day's lesson. She also encouraged her students to do their tasks well.

After that, Ibu Susi pinned a big paper on the wall. On the paper she had written some words such as frame, string, bamboo stick and so on. The words were related to kites and kite making. Those are the words that we will use in the lesson, explained Ibu Susi. Ibu Susi asked students to say each of those words. When students mispronounced some words, she would correct them. Next, she distributed the first worksheet. It contained English and Indonesian words. Students were asked to match a word in English with its translation in Indonesian. The session was meant to help students to understand those words. With this activity, students will know and be familiar with some key words, added Ibu Susi.

Ibu Susi asked the students to pronounce the words one by one. She made sure the students pronounced them properly. Next, Ibu Susi gave them the first work sheet. The work sheet consisted of words in English and Indonesian. The students were required to match those words. For example cross must joined up with the word salib. The pairing was based on the meaning of the word. "Pairing is intended to familiarize the are familiar with the words and learn their meaning," explained Ibu Susi further.

The pairing activity was interesting. They wanted to finish the work sheet as quickly as possible. The process of pairing was done in pairs. Ibu Susi checked the correctness of the words paired. She asked the students to review each others work. There was a ripple of noise. Apparently there were students who had made mistakes matching the words. The mistakes caused some merry laughter. After finishimg the first work sheet, Ibu Susie continued the lesson with a second work sheet. This time Ibu Susi gave a mixture of words that make up a sentence. For example: let-me-you-how to-make-show-a kite. Students were required to make these words into whole sentences. There were eight lines of words that had to be made into eight sentences. "These eight sentence are the steps to make a kite. The words in each sentence are word from the first work sheet, "added Ibu Susi.

According to Ibu Susi, the first work sheet helped students identify common words used in making kites. This identification process helped students learn the meaning of words and their use. While the second work sheet helped students know the steps to make a kite. "If they already know the steps to make it, then they will be able to make it," explained Ibu Susi. Students did the second worksheet in groups. They had to rewrite the sentences on big pieces of paper. These were then pinned on the wall and corrected together. Ibu Susi helped them making the sentences.

It was noisy again. It turned out that some students had made the sentences incorrectly. There were only two groups that managed to make all eight sentence right. Having finished making the sentences Ibu Susi gave them the third work sheet. Students were asked to order the steps to make a kite. This activity was done in groups. Students were more able to do this activity, because they already knew the meaning of each sentence. Once they were certain about the steps, the students set to work to make a kite. After that, one member of each group was asked to present their group's work. The representatives were holding the finished kite.

They explained the construction step by step. Applause broke out at once. Smiles and laughter sounded across the class. Students proudly showed off their kites. The bell rang for the end of the lesson. The students were enthusiastic. They could not wait to play with their kites on the school field.