Motivation, Methods and Materials for Young Learners of English

Motivation, Methods and Materials
for Young Learners of English
Facilitators:
Dr. Josephine O’Brien, Zayed University
Dr. Hala Salih Nur, ELI, University of Khartoum
1

Topics for the workshop
 Who – nature of YLs
 How do YLs learn?
 Why teach YLs English?
 Where – the environment we create for YLs?
 How should we teach YLs – methodology?
 What materials should we use and When?
 How can we create and vary our resources for YLs?
2

Handout 1
General thoughts about teaching YLs
1. The methodology used to teach YLs is similar to that used for teaching adult learners.
2. YLs need more mothering than teaching and young inexperienced teachers can manage this well.
3. Teaching English to YLs requires not just the ability to manage children but also a good working knowledge of the language.
4. Teaching YLs requires insight into how they make sense of the world and how they learn.
5. Children need to be taught just simple language and it is enough if they are just taught the basics.
6. YLs have a high range of skills and abilities that can be developed in the language classroom.
7. YLs are likely to be more adaptable than older learners.
8. Negative experience in learning a language at a young age can affect all subsequent language
learning.
9. Younger children learn languages better than older ones; children learn better than adults
10. Foreign language learning at school should be started as early as possible.
11. Children are mini-adults and they learn in the same way.
12. It is easier to motivate and interest children than adults.
3

Who are our Young Learners (YLs)
 Children aged 6 -12 years
 Early years – new to education – new to school –
affects how we plan and teach
 Developing literacy in the L1
 Learning to cope in an unfamiliar environment
 Learning school discipline
 Learning to cooperate with others and realize they
have to share
4

YLs characteristics?
Do you agree and what might you add to these?
 Likely to be curious, trusting, imaginative and creative
 May be shy and nervous or alternatively noisy and disruptive
 Likely to be open, warm & spontaneous
 May be easily excited and like to move around, like action
 May not be used to a routine
 Likely to enjoy listening to songs and stories
 Many love to mimic and imitate
 All are developing abilities that need support and guidance
 Likely to want to learn and practice
 May get bored quickly
 May not enjoy sitting still for too long
 May feel afraid and apprehensive
 May bully some of the quieter students and try to intimidate others
 especially about possessions
5

How do YLs learn – styles (handout 2)
6

How do YLs learn?
 Learning styles of YLs
 Visual – pictures, images, spatial
 Aural – listening to sounds/ music
 Verbal – words, speech, learning to write words
 Physical – using body, hands, touch
 Logical – reasoning, understanding systems
 Social – interpersonal – learn in groups
 Solitary – intrapersonal – working alone
7

Who should teach YLs?
 Teaching YLs is not for everyone?
 How do you feel?
8

Handout 3 - our experience?
 Strengths that a young learner brings to the language
learning situation
 Problems that may arise when teaching young learners
9

Accommodating styles and times of the day
 Important to think positively as teachers:
 Important to find a balance between the noise and the
calm and let the children be clear about times for each.
10

How do YLs learn?
 Three very important 20th century psychologists in the
theory of how children learn:
 Piaget
 Vygotsky
 Bruner
 These have influenced very much how child psychology
is viewed and how courses are designed not just for
young learners but for all learners
11

Piaget’s theory of child development and
learning (1896 -1980)
• Children’s thinking differs fundamentally to that of adults
(previous belief – child is mini-adult)
• Development precedes thinking and there are stages that
all children must go through
o Sensorimotor (0-2years) ego-centric, reflexive, instinctual
o Preoperational (2-7 years) –represents world in images and
words – begins to understand right and wrong
o Concrete operational (7-11) – ability to think logically about
concrete events – classify objects
o Formal (11 on) – more abstract and logical thought –
speculation, problem-solving, hypothesis testing
12

Piaget – theory of learning
 Learning occurs through schema theory – which he
described as a category of knowledge and the process
of obtaining new knowledge through:
o Assimilation and accommodation
o New knowledge creates disequilibrium
o The mind must accommodate this new knowledge by
assimilating and accommodating it to reach equilibrium
13

Vygotsky’s theory of child development and
learning
 Believed that community and society plays a vital role in
meaning making in child development
 Sociocultural approach – children develop through
learning in social and cultural contexts
 Cognitive development can vary depending on cultural
and educational input
 Environment is very powerful in child development –
importance of the guidance of an adult
 Learning and development happen simultaneously
14

Difference between Piaget, Vygotsky and
Bruner
 Piaget argues that the child has to go through various
stages before development happens whereas Vygotsky
and Bruner argue that a child does not have to wait –
much depends on social and cultural stimuli
 This short youtube video helps you understand:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-SXM8f0gU comparison
of Vygotsky and Piaget
15

Bruner’s theory of child development and
learning
 The aim of education is to create autonomous learners
 Three modes of representation:
 1. enactive – motor action based information
 2. iconic – mental images – visual representations are
stored
 3. symbolic – knowledge is coded and stored as language
 Theories of all led to the current approach to learning of
constructivism and scaffolding
16

How have these theories affected
education?
 Piaget, Vygotsky & Bruner influenced thinking about
education and the theory of learning influencing most
educational programs and called constructivism is based
on their ideas.
 We construct knowledge based on our experiences and
we make sense of that experience and input through
reflection and we adjust our schema as we take new
knowledge on board
 Gives rise to the idea of learning by doing and applying
knowledge to meaningful situations
17

Constructivism
 Most education syllabi designed on constructivist
principles now:
 Learn by doing – experiential learning
 Problem-based – how to apply learning to a real situation
 Building on existing schema – add new knowledge to the
known
 Accommodate a range of learning styles – kinesthetic –
very important with YLs
 Encourage creativity and innovation
 Teacher is mentor and guide (Montessori principles)
18

What does this mean for the classroom?
 Who is this?
 I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I
understand
19

Some quotes to reflect on
 Benjamin Franklin said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me
and I may remember, involve me and I may learn.”
 Socrates said: “Education is the kindling of a flame, not
the filling of a vessel.”
 W.B. Yeats said: “Education is not the filling of a pail; it is
the lighting of a fire.”
20

Importance of being active and learning
through experience
We remember:
20% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we see, hear and discuss
90% of what we see, hear, discuss and practice
 Reflect for a minute on how you learn?
21

What is scaffolding in education?
 Use of a variety of techniques to help students
progress towards understanding of topics and
development as independent learners
 Concept or skill is broken into separate discrete parts
and students get the help they need to learn each part
 Scaffolding works by building on what students can do
and then moves to help them with what they cannot do
22

So what is constructivism in terms of YLs?
 Scaffolding is fundamental here:
• Creating interest in the task – relating it to own life
• Giving support as the learner proceeds – repeat, recycle
• Breaking the task into digestible pieces
• Demonstrating purpose and goal of the task
• Managing the learner’s frustration if not successful at first
23

What YLs can and cannot do?
 Children can tell stories and imagine new worlds. They are very
creative and imaginative.
 Children can learn implicitly and unconsciously. Generally they learn
indirectly through play, interaction, repetition and recycling. They
are not bored by repetition.
 Children can learn best through activities based on familiar
situations: their school, their home, their games, their interests.
 Older children can classify, sequence, match and draw concrete
objects.
 Children cannot deal very well with abstract concepts and therefore
grammatical categories are difficult for them though they can learn
grammatical patterns through repetition.
 Children cannot understand how language works and cannot make
comparisons with their L1 initially.
 Children cannot memorize decontextualized vocabulary items very24

Why teach English to YLs from a non-
English speaking background?
 Nature of learner and learning experience – easier
to learn a new language at a young than after
puberty – true or not? (biological/ psychological)
 Instrumental motivation – importance of English as
global language in business and technology
 Socio-cultural factors – is English associated with
specific cultural values or can it taught
independently of cultural factors?
25

Where – the classroom environment
26

Where – the environment of YLs
L1 language learning
environment
L2 language learning
environment
Familiar and contextualized
Authentic
Motivated to communicate
for real purposes
Learned from inside out
Decontextualized and limited
to classroom
Artificial
Lack of purpose for
communication
Outside imposition
27

How is the first language acquired and can we
apply any of this to learning English?
 Can we adapt any of the features of L1 acquisition to L2
learning?
 Children learn the L1 initially
 by listening before speaking
 By mimicking sounds heard even when they do not understand
 By repeating over and over
 By focusing on communication and not correct grammar
 Universal stages of language development – example
generalize on a rule – exceptions come later
28

Replicating L1 acquisition
 Teach language in a meaningful context with focus on
communication
 Provide lots of real practice – children do not bore of
repetition
 Create a stress free and stimulating environment that
motivates the young learner
 Do not teach grammar explicitly – let it emerge from the
practice
29

How should we teach YLs – the best
methodology?
 Relate the language to the lives of the young people –
create a meaningful context
 Scaffold the learning – graft the unknown onto the
known
 Make the environment relaxed and stress free – we all
learn better when we learn in a comfortable
environment
 Use lots of visuals, realia and movement – remember
the stages in a child’s development
30

How should we teach YLs – the best
methodology?
 Start with the familiar and the known
 Check comprehension often – scaffolding
 Provide lots of opportunities for repetition – this helps
with assimilation of the target language
 Try to use English as much as possible and thus create
familiarity and comfort.
31

What materials should we use?
 Remember Vygotsky, Piaget and Bruner:
 Go from the known to the unknown
 Use realia that is familiar to learners
 Make it interesting – colourful, engaging
 Use imitation, repetition, physical movement
 Have lots of interaction with each other
 Try to get to know their names quickly – be personal
32

Materials
 Depends on the age of the learners
 Replicate acquisition of L1 for the very young
 Begin with listening and speaking
 Lots of modeling and repetition
 Let them leave the first day – able to do something in
English – greetings, a song ….
• We remember 90% of what we see, hear, discuss and
practice
33

Samples of materials –use the resources
you have
34

Learning names for parts of the body –
show me an eye/ ear
40

Children on the way home from school -
India
42

Animals – features – long ears
43

Long legs/ long hair/ long tail
45

Zoo animals pictures of zoo animals, a dice
and numbers 1 - 6
 Put pictures of animals on the board and number them
1 – 6
 One learner rolls the dice and whatever number it stops
at (1 -6) the learner should name that animal
 Teacher can write the name of the animal on the board
and students can do same in their books if they are
already able
46

Vocabulary development – make your own
book
47

Learning about food
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWd-6kUgG4U
 ♫ Are you hungry?
Yes, I am.
Me, too.
Let's eat!
 Are you hungry? (Are you hungry?) [Shrug your shoulders and then rub your tummy.]
Yes, I am. (Yes, I am.) [Thumbs up gesturing "yes" and/or nod your head "yes."]
Are you hungry? (Are you hungry?)
Yes, I am. (Yes, I am.)
Mmmmm, a banana! [Pretend to peel and eat a banana.]
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!
 Are you hungry? (Are you hungry?)
Mmmmm, watermelon! [Pretend you are holding a big slice of watermelon and then eat it.]
French fries! [Pretend to eat french fries one by one.]
Spaghetti! [Pretend to twirl spaghetti on a fork and eat it.]
Ice cream! [Pretend to lick an ice cream cone.]
 I'm full! [Pat your tummy with both hands and puff out your cheeks.]
48

Strip Stories
 Strip Stories – can be used to develop creativity and to teach important points
 http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/howtouse/story.htm
49

Class Trip Roller Skating
"Last Wednesday our class went roller skating. We all rode
the school bus. We roller skated. It was fun!"
50

Creating dialogues
 Use situations familiar to students:
 Use strip figures to create dialogues
 Use silent films to create dialogue – example Charlie
Chaplin / Mr Bean
 Learners may have some favourite characters from their
own culture
51

Memory game for grammar and vocabulary
 I went to market…
 This is a well-known children’s memory game, but it can be adapted for grammar practice.
In the traditional game, one person starts by saying I went to market and I bought a
pineapple (for example). The next person has to repeat what the first person said, and then
add one new item: I went to market and I bought a pineapple, and a dozen eggs… and so
on, round the class. Players who can’t remember an item are “out” and the game continues
until there is one winner. As it stands, the game is good practice of vocabulary, plus two
past tense verbs. But you can increase the grammar practice by slightly modifying the
formula.
 For example (to practise past simple):
 I went to London and I saw the Queen.
 I went to London and I saw the Queen, and I read The Times.
 I went to London and I saw the Queen, and I read The Times, and I climbed Big Ben. etc.
 (You can make it a rule that players are not allowed to use a verb that has already been
used). Other structures you can practise like this are:
52

Game for introducing past tense
 Another speaking activity for developing vocabulary and
past tense:
 I went to London and I saw the Queen.
 I went to London and I saw the Queen, and I read The
Times.
 I went to London and I saw the Queen, and I read The
Times, and I climbed Big Ben. etc.
 (You can make it a rule that players are not allowed to
use a verb that has already been used. You can also
substitute more familiar scenes than London).
53

Use your own pictures for generating
vocabulary and stories
 From the known to the unknown

Images of Sudan talking about food

Selling onions in the market (suq)

Classroom management
 Establish routines
 Make clear when an activity ends
 Give plenty of breaks – have physical response activities – touch
your ear – check understanding of parts of the body
 Provide attention getters – jokes, puzzles, tongue twisters
http://www.englishclub.com/kids/
 Refer to days of the week etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AvNq2CQnOI
 Make sure children know the routine of each day
 Use a variety of activities and develop all language skills
 Check frequently and make sure everyone understands
 Repeat and recycle language in a range of activities
64

End of the day routine and language development
There are lots of ways that I can say goodbye
Listen and I’ll show you some ways you can try
CHORUS
On Monday I may say "See you later"
On Tuesday I sometimes say "Goodbye"
On Wednesday I can say "See you tomorrow"
And on Thursday I sometimes say "Bye bye".
But when it’s Friday I stay home for the weekend
And don’t come back to school for a couple days
So on Friday “ Have a nice weekend!” is what I usually say.
I like to add a smile when I say goodbye
And it’s great to look towards the person’s eyes
Repeat chorus
When you say goodbye it’s nice to add a name ...“Goodbye Shelika”
You can try it too, as you play this game:
Find their eyes
Say their name
Give a smile
That’s the game
65

Important points
 Remember:
 Praise the children often
 Build a positive attitude to learning in general and language
in particular
 Build a comfortable learning environment for young
learners
 Have a familiar routine
 Help them build good learning habits
 Teach something about the other’s culture and way of life
in a positive way
66

Planning your lesson
 Some questions to consider before planning your class:
 Who are my learners?
 How old are they?
 What is their level of English?
 What do they know already – previous classes?
 How to recycle/ repeat from previous classes to check learning?
 How long is the class?
 What is the objective of the class?
 a new skill or development of a skill: listening, speaking, reading, writing
 a rule or formula: implicit practice of a grammatical structure e.g. routine
 a concept/fact/idea
 an attitude or a value
 a combination of two or three items.
 What materials are relevant?
 Visual, aural, text,
 What activities would enhance the teaching of this objective
 How are learners involved in doing?
67

Use the lesson plan supplied
 Some websites for teachers of young learners
 http://www.slideshare.net/DavidDodgson/making-connections-classroom-management-with-
young-learners-webinar-preview
 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/admin/making-connections-classroom-management-
young-learners-webinar-preview
 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/alexenoamen/classroom-management-young-learners
 http://www.englishclub.com/tefl-articles/young-learners-management.htm
 http://www.tesall.com/tesol-teaching/classroom-management-for-young-english-language-
learners/
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLu3_CypTg8
68

69
http://www.slideshare.net/castanlucy/dealing-with-young-learners
http://www.mes-english.com/
http://www.kizphonics.com/product-types/phonics-readers/
http://www.onestopenglish.com/clil/young-learners/
http://www.esl4kids.net/songs.html
http://www.oxfordtefl.com/oxford-tefl-courses/teacher-
development/teaching-young-learners/
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-kids

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