My Journey

1. my journey

2. first Stop
I really learnt a lot in this unit. The individual tasks as well the
collaborative ones, help me to improve my teaching skills.
How could teachers contribute to the role of out-of-school learning?
In order to exploit any potential advantages of an early start we should
consider:
• Teacher expertise (language proficiency; the ability to implement
approppriet methological skills)
• Sustaining motivation over time.
• The role of play in early childhood as part of the developmental
process
• Language learning in context (in everyday or playful situations)
• Every language teacher should be aware of what children are capable of
doing before planning lessons.
Reading material that have been helpful to my learning process:
 Enever, J. (2015) The advantage of disadvantages of English as a Foreign Language with
Young Learners.
 Mourao, S (2015) English in Pre-Primary. The Challenge of Getting it Right.
 Nunan, D. (2011) Teaching English to Young Learners
Reading material that I need to explore more throughly:
 Lightbown, P.M & Spada, N. (2013) How Language are Learned.
 Rixon, S (2015). Primary English and Critical Issues: A worldwide Perspective.

3. second Stop
I’m not completely satisfied with my individual work in this unit because I
couldn’t organise my time to read materials in depth. However, the
collaborative tasks and forums help me to fill the gaps. =)
…
How to applay behaviorism and foster critical thinking at the same time?
Principles and concepts explored:
• The relevance of having knowledge about theories of learning.
• Theories of learning provide ideas, principles, and strategies that apply
to working with children.
• Behaviorism (stimulus-response, behavior learns from the environments)
• Cognitive Constructivism. Piaget’s theory (Children acquire knowledge
through the active process of exploration)
Reading material helpful for my learning process:
• Early Learning Theories Made Visible.Beloglovsky & Daly (2015)
Illustration of Schema, Assimilation and Accomodation. Gray & MacBlain
(2015)

4. third Stop
Principles and concepts explored:
• Making theories visible for the teacher and in the classroom.
Vygotsky:
• The value of social learning. Child development as a result of interaction
between the child and the social environment.
• Imaginary play: precursor to abstract thinking.
• The teacher as a facilitator of learning
Scaffolding:
• Effective and reflecting questions.
• To support students
• Build on prior knowledge.
Multiple Intelligences: as a tool to integrate growth.
Brunner theory of learning:
• Children need experiences. The importance of representation (doing,
imaging, making things stand for something in a symbolic way)
Reading material that have been helpful for my learning process:
• Gray, C. & MacBlain, S. (2015). Learning Theories in Childhood
• Beloglovsky & Daly (2015) Early Learning Theories Made Visible.

5. fourth StopI am not completely satisfied with my individual work, I should have read
the material in depth to take the maxim from it. I strongly believe this
subject is amazing.
-How to establish ELAs in public Institutions?
Principles and concepts explored in the unit:
• Characteristics of Younger Learners and Older Learners (Pinter, 2016, in Nunan,
2011)
• The Early Years Foundation Stage (Planning, Observation, Assessment)
to foster learning.
• The need to provide an English Language Area (ELA) to promote
children’s use of the target language.
English Language Learning:
• ELL activities focus on language as a means of communication,
integrated to meaningful context, being spontaneous and naturally
develop by children.
The framework: Encounter-Engage- Exploit (How to teach EAL to Young
Learners)
I further need to revise: How to Help Children with their behaviour.
Reading material that have been helpful to my learning process:
• How to teach ESL Kindergarten. Anderson, S. (2016)
• The Giant Encyclopedia of lesson Plans for children 3 to 6. Charner,
K, Murphy, M & Clark, Ch. (eds) (2012)
• English Learning Areas in Pre-Primary Classrooms: and investigation of
their effectiveness. Robinson, P., Mourao, S. and Kang, N.J. (2015)

6. fifth Stop
I loved this unit.
How to create methods to assess children’s knowledge using creative and
multimodal evaluations?
Concepts and principles explored:
• Children learn and interpret the world through their intellectual
abilities, feelings, interests, imagination, creativity and senses.
• Children construct knowledge through: Enactive skills (object
manipulation & spatial awareness), Iconic skills (visual identification,
compare-contrast), Symbolic skills (abstract reasoning)
• Multimodality: Learners as signmakers using resources available to
them in their specific sociocultural context.
I need to revise:
• Big “C” creativity and Little “c” creativity.
• Adult-led activities.
Reading material that have been helpful for my learning process:
 Developing Young Children’s Creativity (Sharp, C. 2004)
 Multimodality, Creativity and Children’s meaning making: Drawings,
Writings, Imaginings. (Zannie Back, 2016)
Reading material for further reading:
 Learning and Teaching through play. (Kennedy, A. & Barbiett, L.
2010)

7. sixth Stop
I’m satisfied with my individual work in this unit as well as the collaborative
work.
When should an ESL teacher present viewing material in their Learners’ mother
tongue?
The Power of Narrative:
• Narratives help children to understand and make sense of their world.
• Narratives are significant forms of symbolic activity that impact on
children’s social, emotional and language development.
• Materials development is both a field of study and a practical undertaking.
Local and universal criteria should be develop to evaluate materials.
I need further revise:
• Imaginary play and multimodal narrative
Reading material that have been helpful for my learning process:
 Using songs Effectively to teach English to young Learners (Millington)
 Playing to Learn: A Review of Physical Games in Second Language
Acquisition. (Tomlinson et al, 2009)
Reading material that I need reread:
 How to teach English as a Foreign Language to Preschool and Kindergarten
Children. (Bedmarski, M., 2015)

8. seventhStop
I’m satisfied with my idividual performance in this unit.
…
While reading this unit, I wondered if Teachers make theorical sense of their
experiences through Narrative Discourse why is not there a time in the
curruculum to work on it?
…
Concepts and principles explored in the unit:
• Professional Identity
• Critically reflection
• Narrative Discourse a powerful element of learning.
…
Reading materials that have been helpful for my learning process:
 The transformative Power of Narative in Second Language Teacher Education
(Johnson, & Golmobek, 2011)

9. Manyexperiencesawait me. What is my next
destination ?