English as An Extracurricular Subject for Primary School

English is an international language which is important to learn due to the insistence of globalization. It is very useful that people now learn english as an International Language, because they will not face any difficulty when they access some news from abroad. In Indonesia, the people who have the ability of english are still less and learning english is very recommended in this modern age. However, it does not mean that english should be learnt in primary schools as an intracurricular subject. English itself is still a foreign language which is difficult to learn for children. This thing may make the students get confused while Indonesian itself has not been learnt in a maximum capacity. These are the reasons why english is not suitable as an intracurricular subject for primary school, students are focus on Indonesian as their second language in school and  english can be a burden subject for the students.

Firstly, students or learners should be focus on Indonesian as their second language. For most Indonesian people, bahasa is not the first language which they acquire from the environment, but their local languages itselves which have various kinds. Students should be taught Indonesian first and its culture including the customs as the main subject so that they get more patriotic. It will be irrelevant that english is taught in primary school as an intracurricular subject along with Indonesian. Moreover, learning Indonesian is not as easy as they acquire their mother tongues. They should first adapt the new environment which is quiet different from their owns, then they can learn that language step by step. However, in this era, Indonesian people whose the ability to speak Indonesian based on EYD are still less. Based on Akhadiah dkk (1991:1) She says that Tujuan pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia adalah agar siswa memiliki kemampuan berbahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar, serta dapat menghayati bahasa dan sastra Indonesia sesuai dengan situasi dan tujuan berbahasa serta tingkat pengalaman siswa sekolah dasar. It means that the purpose of Indonesian language learning is that the students have the ability to speak Indonesian correctly and in fluent way, and also the students are able to appreciate the language and its literature based on the situation and its purpose of the target language  including the knowledge of  the level of primary students. From the statement above, it is clear that Bahasa or indonesian Language for primary school is a means for developing the ability of the leaners in using the target language correctly based on the main function as a communication. Learning Indonesian in primary school is a vital subject for the students because it is the national language that they have to master according to its purpose and the use.

Secondly, english is a burden for the primay students. Despite they have to learn the second language, they also learn about foreign language at the same time. Surely, it will make the students get difficulties in learning proccess. English itself is very different from Bahasa based on its grammatical structure, pronunciation, literature, and the spelling. Students who are just entered the primary school, they must be insisted to learn english. It will be confusing that they have to be able to differenciate the second language and foreign language. For example, when they have to write somethimg in english which is extremelly different from Bahasa, it means that they have to be literacy in english. It is ok that some westerns who do not speak english as their daily life, they can learn it easily. There are many similar english words that appear from their local languages, but in Indonesia itself, it is the opposite. Moreover the pronunciation of english also does not match with Indonesian or too much different from Indonesian's pronunciation , it will enlarge the difficulty of learning english. The students will feel unconfident, they  think that english is a frightening language and also encumbrance.

The suggestion is that english should not have to be eliminated, but it can be an extracurricular subject. The students are free to choose the lesson or not based on their neeeds. It will be more useful because the subject does not depend on the curriculum which standardizes the minimum score that students have to reach but they can learn it in a fun way. They will not feel burdened and compelled because they can choose it as they like.

By making english as an extracurricular need, the students will not be mandated if they have to take the subject or not. Moreover the process of learning Indonesian language will go in a maximum way. They can learn Bahasa as their national language while making english as their secondary one of extracurricular subject.