Cultural elements to be considered in teaching English for the SLTA, students' book I by Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan

Nowadays, the most important objective of learning English as a foreign language for students at High School are below expectation. Most students cannot comprehend easily when they read English books. One of the reasons is due to the English teachers’ failure in explaining culture in the relation o teaching English. They rarely consider cultural elements in teaching English. Although language and culture are explained separately, they have to be considered as a unit because language is actually one of the elements of culture. The teaching of cultural elements is to help the students understand English people and eventually like reading English books. The lessons can taught by comparing two or more cultures. Activities to introduce English culture do not necessarily have to be done in class time. They can be completed outside class, in many instances as homework or assignments. For example, the students are assigned to find the differences between Indonesian seasons and Europe an sessions, and to make a comparison between them. In teaching a foreign language the English teachers should have proper knowledge about culture and its relationship with language. By reading cultural books, the English teachers are able to increase their knowledge about foreign country and its culture. It will be very useful to attend discussions or seminars which are led by native speakers or by people who have been in that country. For Senior High School students, the English teachers may give some outside readings or dialogues about the country written in foreign language. In this way the students are able to improve their knowledge of the language and the foreign culture as well. Culture elements are introduced little by little under discussion. The students are given deeper insight of the culture of the people when they learn more about language. This can be read in chapter four in English for the SLTA Students’ Book I which the writer consider important. The conclusion is that language is not only a part of culture but also express culture. As a matter of fact, hopefully, our curriculum could be constructed correctly in such away that the cultural elements are also be considered in the teaching English program.