Grabbing Students’ Attention in the Opening of Class

Opening is an important thing in teaching learning process. In the opening of teaching, teacher should know how to make students interested to the opening. If they have interested to the opening it will be easier to lead them to the topic. Although, the opening is should be related to the topic that the teacher will teach. To make students interested to the lesson, the teacher should make the opening that can grab students’ attention. Besides, the activity in the opening should make all of students engage in classroom activity. According to my experienced and my observation during school experience program, nowadays the students more like fun activity in classroom, and it usually can motivate them in learning. The activities that can make the students motivated are games, brainstorming that related to their real life, etc. I think the more important thing is use authentic material, such as related our material to the real life, so they can illustrate it.
I have experienced teaching English in senior high school during school experience program. I taught about expression giving instruction. In the opening, I did open-ended questions. I asked them whether they ever giving instruction to others or not. I gave them the situation example such as in restaurant. Then, the students are motivated to tell about their experience in giving instruction. Moreover, they mention me as a teacher who gave them instruction, such as asked them to pray before class and asked them to do task. From their expression in answer my question, I think the students have known and ever practice the material in their real life and I think the opening that I conducted was success to make students interested and engage to the material.
Actually in my opinion it is not easier to grab students’ attention in the opening of class. It is because I ever did not success to grab students’ attention in the opening. It was because of the characteristic of students were passive and it was the first day I taught them, so I did not know them enough and the students did not interested to the activity that I gave to them. So, I think beside the activity in the opening should be in a creative way, the teacher also should know the characteristic of the students so that the activity can make students interested and engage with it.