HELPFUL IDEAS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH
TO YOUNG LEARNERS
Markin M.V.
Multiprofile gymnasium # 41 named
after A. Pushkin, Taraz
“Children in language
classes need to be active rather than passive; they need to be engaged in
activities of which language is a part; they need to be working on meaningful
tasks and use language to accomplish those tasks.”
Sarah Hudelson[9,
P.12]
Teaching English to
Young Learners (TEYL) has become its own field of study as the age of
compulsory English education. An early start in English language learning in
foreign language contexts produces better English speakers. Levels of
proficiency seem to be dependent on other factors-type of program and
curriculum, number of hours spent in English class, and techniques and activities
used. If an early start alone is not the solution, then what can EFL teachers
of young learners do to take advantage of the flexibility of young minds and
the malleability of young tongues to grow better speakers of English? EFL
teachers of young learners struggle to keep up with this trend and seek
effective ways of teaching. “Understanding early childhood is essential to
knowing what children think and feel and how you can help them become joyful
learners” [7, P.10].
The teacher should
form the responsive relationship with each child, the interactions he/she has
every lesson and the materials and experiences he/she offers become the
building blocks for successful learning. In “Tips for Teachers of Children” by
Helene Jarmol Uchida, Japan teacher-trainer, stresses that “Elementary children
are the most gratifying age level to work with. Why? Because they possess three
very important conditions before they even enter the classroom: they are
naturally cooperative, curious and the least self-conscious of all students.”
[6, P.19]
The priority must be
the working relationship with children, taking the role of teacher, parent,
friend and organizer which can be achieved by the following recommendations and
helpful ideas:
- Give children
opportunities to help you (children begin to understand how to contribute
positively to group life when you invite them to help you).
- Encourage children
to help one another (when you treat children in loving, respectful, and
consistent ways, you promote their positive attitude towards not only other
pupils but learning as well).
- Include equipment
and materials that promote interaction and cooperation (offer large sheet of
paper for children to colour or paint on together while revising colours for
example).
- Allow children time
to cope with their difficulties, but be ready to help if you are needed. You
may be surprised by how much children can do on their own (independent research
of some new material).
- Work on activities
outside the class.
- Relate in ways that
built trust. Let children know that they can count on you. Keep your promises.
- Celebrate the child’s birthday
with a special snack or just by singing. Your acknowledgment is assign of
respect to the child and the relationship you have worked so hard to build during
the time you spent together.
There
are some important points that should be taken into account while teaching
young learners:
- Ultimate goal of any instruction
is not to teach isolated skills, but to impart strategies that children can use
to learn throughout their lives.
- It is important to treat children
as unique individuals. Give them a voice in the classroom to decide the topic
of the project or to choose which song to sing.
- Appropriate material for each age
group.
- Don’t work too fast through
material. Activities should be sort and the classes should be lively.
- Create well-planned, consistent
lessons. David Nunan of the University of Hong Kong is concerned about the
“great danger that children will be turned off English early if it is done
badly. In that case, he advises, “it shouldn’t be attempted. But if it is done
well, then kids love it and thrive! ”[2, P.36]
- Use eye contact to communicate
praise or disappointment.
- Correct them sensitively, taking
pains not to single out or embarrass an individual (have the whole group
practice the correct pronunciation together).
- Accept good tries. Don’t insist
on perfection. Mistake – making is an important part of language learning.
- Give plenty of approval. Stickers
and stamps, or even a hand-drawn funny face, are effective for recognizing a
job well done. The youngest children shouldn’t be formally tested and graded.
- Don’t always resort to
translation back to the mother tongue. This prevents students from staring to
think naturally in English and invites them to speak to you Russian.
- Try not to give explanations and
directions in the native language (use native language only if it is really
needed). This cheats pupils of their motivation to understand. They will become
lazy and wait for the Russian instead of reaching to understanding.
-Supplement
activities with visuals, realia, and movement. Young learners tend to have
short attention spans and a lot of physical energy. In addition, children are
very much linked to their surroundings and are more interested in the physical
and the tangible. As Scott and Ytreberg [10, P.2] describe, “Their own
understanding comes through hands and eyes and ears. The physical world is
dominant at all times.”
One
way to capture their attention and keep them engaged in activities is to
supplement the activities with lots of brightly colored visuals, toys, puppets,
or objects to match the ones used in the stories that you tell or songs that
you sing. These can also help make the language input comprehensible and can be
used follow-up activities, such as re-telling stories or guessing games.
Included with the concept of
visuals are gestures, which are very effective for students to gain
understanding of language. In addition, tapping into children’s physical energy
is always recommendable, so any time movement around the classroom or even
outside can be used with a song, story, game, or activity, do it! James Asher’s
method, Total Physical Response (TPR), where children listen and physically
respond to a series of instructions from the teacher, is a very popular method
among teachers of young learners. [4, C.25]
-Involve students in making visuals
and realia. One way to make the learning more fun is to involve students in the
creation of the visuals or realia. Having children involved in creating the
visuals that are related to the lesson helps engage students in the learning
process by introducing them to the context as well as to relevant vocabulary
items. In addition, language related to the arts and crafts activities can be
taught while making or drawing the visuals. Certainly students are more likely
to feel interested and invested in the lesson and will probably take better
care of the materials. [11, P.36]
If you cannot spare the time in
class to make the visuals you want to use, another idea is to consult the art
teacher at your school (if you have one) and combine your efforts. Then, when
students come to English class, they will bring their art projects to use. In
addition, before the lesson, you can warm up by having students explain in
English what they made in art class.
Some activities could use objects,
toys, stuffed animals, or dolls. A “show and tell” activity is a perfect way to
get students interested in the lesson with their own toys. The introduction to
the lesson could be a short “show and tell” presentation that gives students a
chance to introduce their objects in English. After this activity, get right
into the lesson using the objects the students brought in.
- Move from activity to activity.
As started before, young learners have short attention spans. For young
students, from ages 6 to 10 especially, it is a good idea to move quickly from
activity to activity. Do not spend more than 10 or 15 minutes on any one
activity because children tend to become bored easily. Scott and Ytreberg
[10,
P.102] suggest creating balance between the following kinds of activities:
quiet/noisy exercises;
different skills:
listening/talking/reading/writing;
individual/ pairwork/ groupwork
/whole class activities;
teacher-pupil/pupil-pupil
activities.
When teachers mix up the pace of
the class and the types of activities used, students will be more likely to
stay focused on the lesson, there-by increasing the amount of language learning
in class.
Having
taken into consideration the psychological character of teaching learners,
teachers should select activities and language experiences which are familiar
to them. For this purpose the teaching of the language material is carried out
through games , songs, drawing, gluing, cutting, working with picture cards,
pantomiming, dominoes, lotto using such materials as masks, toys, puppets,
their drawings, crayons, markers, cutouts, costumes and etc.
Variety
of activities will help you make learning great fun. There are some of them:
1. Play a game of “Toss the ball”. The
first player must choose a word, such as ball. Then, each time you toss the
ball, the player who catches it must say another word that begins with the same
sound. Vary the initial sound after four or five sosses of the ball: (ball,
bird, book, etc.)
2. Play games, such as looking for
specific colours and shapes about the class.
3. Play a game of rhyming charades
with your children. Take turns pantomiming different animals, such as a cat,
dog, pig, goat, or frog. Players must guess the name of the animal and then
offer a word that rhymes with that animal’s name: (cat/bat, goat/boat, etc.)
4. Play sensory games that require
looking, listening, and touching to help children become more aware of their
surroundings.
5. Dramatizing. Using drama and drama
activities has clear advantages for language learning. It encourages children
to speak and gives them the chance to communicate , even with limited
language. By taking a role, children can escape from their every day identity
and lose their inhibitions.
6. Singing songs.
7. Total Physical Response (TPR)
activities. Mario Herrera, teacher trainer reports “This approach is ideal for
young learners whose verbal abilities are still undeveloped and even the shyest
children like it because there is no speaking involved. It provides intense
listening practice of basic language as children physically respond to
commands. Children show they understand the action by acting it out and they
can feel successful at English from the very beginning. TPR lets you put
children ‘s natural energy to use to learn English.” [8, P.45]
8. Show that English is fun.
References:
1.
Caroline Linse, “The Children’s Response TPR and Beyond ,” the USA, 1993.
2.
David Nunan, “Children’s language and learning”, Hong Kong,1999.
3.
Erin Bouma, “Practical advice for teachers of young learners from the experts,”
Washington,
D. C., 1998.
4.
James Asher, “Total Physical Response,” Washington, D.C., 1977.
5.
Joan Kang Shin, “Ten Helpful Ideas for Young Learners,” the USA, English
Teaching
Forum, 2006.
6.
Helene Jarmol Uchida, “Tips for Teachers of Children,” Japan, 2001.
7.
Keiko Abe, “Teaching English to Children in an EFL Setting,” Yokohama, Japan,
English
Teaching Forum, 1991.
8.
Mario Herrera, “Balloons”, Washington, D.C., 2002.
9.
Sarah Hudelson, “EFL Teaching and Children: A Topic-Based Approach,”
Arizona
State University, English Teaching Forum, 1991.
10.
Scott and Ytreberg, “Thought and language,” London, English Teaching Forum,
1990.
11.
Thomas Kral, “Teacher development. Making the right moves ,” Washington, D.
C.,
1996.
12.
http://www.ridsource.com
13.
http://www.teachingstrategies.com
14. http://www.familyeducation
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