TYL Week 2: Theories and L1 Development

Agenda I can Explain how the ideas of the following people relate to teaching young learners: Vygotsky, Bruner, Piaget, and Gardner Describe the similarities and differences between L1 and L2 acquisition.

Word of the Day: Constructivism Learning is a process of creating one’s own meaning from different experiences Students learn best, sometimes, by trying to make sense of something on their own You will help each other to construct meaning

What do you think the percentages are?

Confucius said . . . “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Chapter 1: Learning and Development

Activity 1: Graffiti Brainstorming Purpose: Review Chapter 1 in a collaborative way Co-construct meaning with classmates

Groups Vygotsky (pp. 10-11) Bruner (pp. 11-12) Piaget: Constructivism Piaget: Stages (pp. 6-8) Jessie Julie Brandon Eva Kanami Candy Yoshie Silvia Nanami Hiromi

Graffiti Brainstorming: Review Get into your groups. Decide who will be the first writer. Spend 2 minutes on each poster. = Change poster change writer

Review Task With your group, circle the 2 ideas that are MOST IMPORTANT for ESL/EFL teachers to know Why do we need to know these ideas? How will this knowledge affect the way we teach children? Share with us: “We circled ___ because ____.”

Piaget: Constructivism Constructivism: Children can’t always use new information that they’re told; they have to participate in constructing, or making, it themselves through action This can happen with actions and with thoughts

Schema Our “mental file cabinet” It’s all the ideas, experience, and information that we have stored in our brain Also called “prior knowledge” This collection of ideas is constantly changing and growing; this is what LEARNING is!

Example: Learning Actions How does a baby learn to get food from a bowl to his/her mouth? Parents can’t just tell them how They have to experiment by themselves with muscle control and direction finding This is learning—it’s not innate

How do children construct thought? Assimilation: Taking new information and making it fit into existing ways of thinking (schema) Example: Spoon child is given a fork for the first time She uses the fork the same way she would use a spoon

How do children construct thought? Accommodation: Changing one’s thinking about a new idea that conflicts with our old way of thinking Example: Spoon/fork child Realizes that the fork can be used for stabbing food—not just scooping it This occurs through action and experimentation

Another Example: Learning Thoughts

Piaget’s Stages Sensory Motor (birth to 2)—Learn through the senses and movement Pre-Operational (2-7)—logic starts on a very basic level; start to use symbolic language Concrete Operational (7-11)—Logic develops, but is still tied to concrete (not abstract) experiences Formal Operational (12 and above)—Logic and abstract thinking develop more

Piaget—People agree that . . . Children go from egocentric to less egocentric Children pass from less logical to logical Children go from concrete to abstract

Piaget—People disagree with . . . The degree to which children under 7 are egocentric (3 mountains) Conservation—the age at which children can understand this The idea that children go through these stages one-by-one; often, they show signs of two stages at once The idea that children “master” logical thinking in the formal operational stage (Many adults don’t fully understand logic!); logic depends on schooling

Vygotsky: Social Constructivism Agreed with Piaget but added a social dimension to constructivism

Vygotsky: Implications Challenge students, but give them lots of help Adults are not the only people who can help a student move forward in their ZPD classmates can, too!

Bruner: Scaffolding Scaffold: A temporary support structure to help students to advance in the ZPD You take a scaffold away when students can do the work independently

6 Highly Useful Scaffolds Visual scaffolding (pictures, motions) Pre-teaching vocabulary Give sentence frames Think-Pair-Share Pair high with low students I do, we do, you do

Questions? Share with your partner: Is there anything that you still don’t understand?

L1 and l2 acquisition

Question: What can L2 teachers learn from the L1 process? P. 18-19 -- PINK “Universal Processes in Language Learning” P. 19 -- BLUE “The Role of Input and Interaction” P. 20-21 -- ORANGE “The Achievements of the First 5 Yrs”—Paragraphs 1 and 2 P. 21 -- PURPLE “The Achievements of the First 5 Yrs”—Paragraphs 3 and 4

Order of Acquisition

Input and Interaction: Caregiver Speech / Comprehensible Input Parentese video How to Speak Parentese

Babies: At first, they don’t speak L2: Stephen Krashen: “Silent Period” Like infancy in L1: Listening and absorbing L2: Building up confidence and resources

5-year old native English speakers Still make grammar mistakes! He goed to the store.* Two apples and banana please.* I seen a little dog.*

Homework Chapter 5 and answers Handout pages: Read Video: Watch and post 1 paragraph to blog Quiz: Study what we talked about today! Short quiz next week!