AGUSTINA RAHMAWATI (INDONESIAN SCHOOL OF BANGKOK)

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELECTING ‘CORE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ IN PREPARATION OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AT THE INDONESIAN SCHOOL OF BANGKOK : MULTILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

The background of this research is the demand of parents to see their children communicate in English more fluently, as well as the school's mission to equip students to adapt to the global world. The unique conditions and situations at school in which students have various family backgrounds, levels of English communicative competence and skills give framework on how bilingual education was conducted. First grade students can be very fluent, and tenth grade students are not always better than grade one due to students' condition, family backgrounds and previous schools. Core students and teachers were selected to initiate using English in school environment, and further, this group was assigned to help other school members to use English for communication at school. The aim of this research is to see its effectiveness to improve students' and teachers’ English skills, initially from speaking and listening skills. While student opinions about the implementation of the program vary, 95 percent of students consider that initiating bilingual education by choosing core students and teachers is effective.

Ny name is Agustina Rahmawati. I am a teacher at the Indonesian School of Bangkok. I teach English at Elementary and Secondary.