YSU STUDENTS INTRODUCED THEIR CREATIVE WORK OF SMART CLOCK VOCABULARY

24
Aug
2015

This today’s advanced era requires people to master foreign languages, particularly English. Therefore, it is suggested that English is taught to children at the early age. Teaching English for kids is optimum for children at the age of 4, because at that period, children reach half of their highest intelligence capacity. In addition, acquiring new vocabulary is an important stage in their English learning process. Their potential can also develop if stimulated with appropriate media to improve the acquisition of new vocabulary, while also paying attention to imposing discipline to them.

Considering the aforementioned criteria, several YSU students collaborated in a team of Karsa Cipta Student Creativity Program, namely Mega Ayu Wulandari, Aji Budi Rinekso, Budi Ayu Noviasari (English Education 2013), Septi Rohni Undari (Guidance and Counselling 2012), dan Setia Budi Nugroho Electrical Education Engineering 2012). They recently introduced their creative work entitled Smart Clock Vocabulary. This is an alarm clock which rings some English vocabulary.

The leader of the team, Mega Ayu Wulandari, stated that the alarm clock is designed for children, and thus the packaging is made attractive. In this device, an electronic circuit is inserted in a cloth doll. “Since acquiring vocabulary is important in learning English, I hope children today can learn through interesting media, so we present the device in the form of a doll as an option,’’ Mega said.

During the assembly of Smart Clock Vocabulary, Setia Budi Nugroho explained that the first stage begins with planning the work system, and then continues with designing the prototype. This design stage includes software and hardware design. After finished, it then continues to recording some vocabulary by native speakers, programming stage, and feasibility study as the final stage.

Regarding the detailed technical process, the Electrical Engineering Education student mentioned that the process starts with the construction of basic components, that is, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) as the place to put the main components, such as MP3 Player and ATMega. ATM Mega is the core or the chip of the basic circuit of Smart Clock Vocabulary. Meanwhile for the energy source, this device uses Li-Po battery.

Before running this device, first we must set the alarm, and then choose the category of the intended vocabulary. After that, the alarm in the Smart Clock Vocabulary will ring 5 new vocabularies in English. The vocabulary can be set for some repetitions.

Under the supervision of Sari Hidayati, M.A, the proposal entitled “Efektivitas Smart Clock Vocabulary dalam Pengembangan Kosa Kata Bahasa Inggris dan Penanaman Karakter Disiplin pada Anak Usia Dini” (Effectivity of Smart Clock Vocabulary in the Acquisition of English Vocabulary and Imposing Discipline for Early Age Children) is one of proposals that receive a grant from Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Education. Besides this proposal, there are 6 other proposals from Faculty of Languages and Arts YSU that passed the assessment.

Through this innovation, it is expected there would be further improvement of Smart Clock Vocabulary, so it can be far better, more sophisticated, and helpful for early age kids to learn English as well as to instill discipline for them. (Wulan)

submitted by admin