Speaking is one of the ways for people
to communicate with other speaker of the other language and culture.
This one fact makes speaking become important in our life. Through
speaking everyone will express their ideas, express opinion, and giving
explanation to someone in real communication. If someone wants to
communicate with other, she or he should master speaking English well.
Besides that, English as one of the subject to be taught from Elementary
School up to University level. Moreover, the general aim of teaching
speaking is to be enable the students to express their opinion in
English.
Based on the writer’s experience during teaching
practice at Junior High School 25 Padang, most of students get some
difficulties in speaking class. Many factors such as poor of grammar,
and their environment that do not support their speaking ability might
cause this. Another factor is students are too ashamed or shy to say
something in English.
Actually, these problem may cause by the
teacher in teaching English especially in speaking class such as the
teacher did not use the effective strategy to make the condition relax,
enjoy, and creative in speaking class. So, the students felt boring, not
interested. In addition, the teacher could not manage the classroom for
the students to be conductive.
Related to the problem above, the
teacher should do something to make the speaking class be better and
choose a strategy that suitable with this condition. It can help the
teacher in teaching speaking and make the student’s interest to study
English. Therefore, those, the teacher can teach the students by using
some alternative strategies, some of them: PMI strategy, Cocktail
strategy, Problem Solving and Talking Stick strategy. Problem solving
strategy is process for students to learn how to solve a problem. While
talking stick strategy is a strategy that can be used to make the
students can speak and interact in each other, or a strategy use by
Native American, to let everyone speaks their mind during a council
meeting, a type of tribal meeting. It was commonly used in council
circles to decide who had the right to speak. When matters of great
concern would come before the council, the leading elder would hold
talking stick and begin discussion. Mentioned about the combination of
problem solving and talking stick strategy that it will help teacher to
high the student’s speaking.