English Zone (EZo): A Fun Activity in Learning English Speaking Skill for Young Learners

This research aims to describe the implementation of English Zone (EZo) activities in learning English speaking skills for young learners. Employing qualitative descriptive study, this research included observation of teaching and learning process, and interview that was administered to 10 students from Kampung Sawah, West Hadimulyo. Ten meetings were observed thoroughly. Each observation took place in English language classroom every Sunday at Al-Fatimah Mosque. This research presented the implementation of English Zone (EZo) to young learners and students’ responses to the implementation of EZo. The findings illuminated the powerful ways in which EZo was able to improve students’ speaking skill. The students were having fun in the classroom which made them actively participate IN speaking practice with their friends or teachers. The findings further highlighted that EZo showed a good result in improving students’ confidence during their speaking practice. EZo helped them to speak more and decreased hesitation. They felt more relaxed to speak.


INTRODUCTION
In this globalization era, English increasingly become the most worthwhile language to be learnt. As an international language today, English is widely spoken in many countries. Because of the demands of the world, people are not only expected to be able to speak their own language but also expected to be able to speak English.
In Indonesia, English is recognized as a foreign language. Therefore, English has become an obligatory subject from junior high school level up to university level in Indonesia (Abadi, 2015, p. 13).
Speaking is the most important parts to be mastered since our lives can't be separated with communication to the others (Prawerti, 2015, p. 256). Moreover, speaking is also a skill that requires not only linguistic competences but also sociolinguistic competence including the understanding of when, why, and how to produce language to express ideas (Laisouw, 2019, p. 16 Teaching speaking is a great challenge for every teacher, especially in teaching English as foreign language (Abdulah, 2019, p. 46). Therefore, the teachers have to use interesting techniques in order the students will be motivated.
Teaching English for young learners is very crucial since the earlier learn foreign language, the greater chances for language proficiency. It is supported by Fromkin (cited in Negara et al., 2014, p. 2) who stated that young learners before the age of puberty who are exposed to more than one language seem to acquire all the languages equally well. There are many bilingual and multilingual speakers who have acquire their languages early in life. If the child is exposed to additional languages at an early age, he or she will learn those languages. The second step was whilst activities. The teachers reviewed the lessons from the previous meeting. The next was the core of learning or materials on that day. The teachers engaged young learners with physical activities by coordinating commands, speech, movement and writing. The initial instructions were given in the form of writing, in order to record the material that had been conveyed in learning. In the implementation, the teachers provided examples to young learners with the total physical respond (TPR) method, then they trained to directly practice it in turns. In learning process, the teachers usually sang a simple English song as follows: The teachers gave an example in singing the song both from word and gestures. After young learners saw and listened to the song, they were asked to practice it together. They were asked to do it one more time. It can help them to easily remember the materials in the song. So, the young learners can improve their speaking well. After that, the teachers gave an example of simple conversation related to the materials in the song.

The young learners' responses to English Zone (EZo) Activity
The data was gathered from interview which was administered to 10 students.
After transcribing the interview, it was found that most of the young learners'

CONCLUSION
Based on the finding and discussion, the researchers make conclusion as follows: 1) The implementation of English Zone (EZo) were conducted for 10 meetings. In each meeting, the teachers divided into three steps, namely pre activities, whilst activities and post activities. 2) Young learners' responses to the implementation of English Zone (EZo) are positive. From ten (10) young learners that the researcher interviewed and analyzed, it was found that they were able to improve their speaking skills after participating in English Zone (EZo). They became a good participant in practicing their speaking with their friends or teachers in English Zone (Ezo). The young learners had a good level of confidence. They were able to give their opinion and asked questions from the material of speaking performance with their friends. English Zone (EZo) motivated young learners to speak more because English Zone (EZo) could make the young learners enjoyed the learning process and made them more relaxed. They were not underestimated by the tutor even though they did so many mistakes. In conclusion, English Zone (EZo) was a fun activity to help young learners learn English.