Teaching young learners through integrated-skills approach Larisa Zinchenko secondary school of Khatsky

Young learners learning a second language  Develop skills that will help to create opportunities in future;  Acquire the lifelong ability to communicate with others;  Learn about different cultures.

What stops children from learning Feeling uncomfortable or under pressure Feeling confused by abstract concepts of grammar rules Activities which require them to focus for a long time Boredom Being over-corrected

How children learn languages Having more opportunities... Making associations With all their senses Exploring/experimenting Making mistakes Checking their understanding Feeling a sense of confidence Being motivated

Cognitive preference VISUAL LEARNING AUDITORY LEARNING KINESTHETIC LEARNING

Interaction preference INTERPERSONALINTRAPERSONAL

Analytical Processes DEDUCTIVEINDUCTIVE

Young learners are ACTIVE CONCRETE IMAGINATIVE

Young learners Cannot sit for a long period of time Learn with the whole body Learn through listening and imitating Love stories, songs and ‘pretend’ Want to have positive feedback

To keep young learners busy: Use English Change activities every 7 minutes Use body language ‘Recycle’ words to aid memorization Make your classroom friendly and positive Use TPR Use games, stories and play- acting out activities Focus on meaning

To encourage intellectual growth of young learners Develop their ability to categorize Encourage children to comment Encourage children to experiment Exploit their imagination Use different sized groups Encourage children to guess

Children: 4-6 year olds CharacteristicsImplicationsNeed Pre-school or just beginning schoolNot used to classroom conventionsTraining in class routine e.g. listening to teacher Limited motto skillsClumsy control of pen/scissors etc.To develop motor control e.g. coloring, copying Learning holisticallyWhole child needs stimulationOpportunities to move, sing, play, explore, touch etc. Cannot distinguish between different parts of language Cannot analyze languageExplore to chunks of language e.g. chants, stories, classroom language Limited reading/writing skills in L1Introducing reading/writing in English Lots of listening, speaking activities. Fun introduction to English letters and words See no need to communicate in English Students use L1 exclusivelyReasons to speak English e.g. games, chants Love stories, fantasyBored with many topicsStories, fantasy, fun

Children: 7-9 year olds CharacteristicsImplicationsNeed Beginning to be local and analyticalCan see patterns, aware of languageOpportunities to experiment e.g. making up own chants Asking questionsNeed answersFreedom to express themselves and learn more than language Reading and writing still minimal in L1Still need support and helpPractice and success oriented activities Still have problems sharingGroup activities not always successfulTeacher to guide them and chances to work alone Developing confidence to express themselves Students will have views on what they want to do / talk about Chance to state opinions Developing knowledge of the world around them Know more than we often give them credit for Chances to use what they know

Children: year olds CharacteristicsImplicationsNeed Longer attention spanGreater range of activities possible in class Opportunities to engage in tasks that require focus and commitment Knowledge of the world growingMore topics can be addressedStimulation e.g. information from internet or cross-curricular Thinking learning more seriouslyCan be given responsibilityChances to be independent Still childrenHave need for security and pleasureTeacher sensitive to their needs and mood More cooperative with peersCan do more group workVariety of grouping in class e.g. work on own, in pairs, in groups, as class Intellectual, motor and social skills developing Can be challenged moreActivities that challenge them Developing own learning strategies Children won ’ t all react in the same way to the same task/topic Chance to personalize their learning experience

Advantages of the integrated-skills approach  True picture of the second language  Language as a real means of communication  To track learner’s progress in many skills  Learning of the real content  High motivation  Language as an integral part of social and cognitive development

Types of the activities that can lead to speaking activities 1. Listening and identifying 2. Listening and doing – TPR 3. Listening and performing miming 4. Listening and responding games ’’Listen and do’’ activities

Listening and identifying

Listening and doing – TPR

Listening and performing miming

Listening and responding games

“Listen and make” activities “Listen and colour” “Listen and draw” “Listen and make”

“Listen and colour”

“Listen and draw”

“Listen and make”

Speaking with support  Using classroom in the real context  Saying rhymes, singing songs  Practicing new vocabulary  Playing vocabulary games  Practicing pronunciation of new sounds

Types of activities that can help young learners to develop cognitive thinking and fluency in speaking  Listing  Ordering and sorting  Matching  Comparing  Predicting and problem-solving  Sharing personal experience  Creative work

Speaking in pairs or groups children :  Get more opportunities to speak  Ask and answer questions  Learn a lot from each other  Gain confidence because they are speaking in private rather than to the whole class

Priorities when teaching reading and writing  Focus on meaning  Word recognition  Making the connection between familiar sounds and written words or phrases  Naming the letters of the alphabet  Predicting the pronunciation of a written work

Approaches to teaching reading in English 1. Phonic approach Teaching children the way the letter sounds, not the name of the letter 2. Activities to help children connect sounds with letters Memory games  initial letter games  feel the letter  make the alphabet frieze

Activities to help children recognize phrases  Make up group chants based on what the children already know and using the phrases the children can read out…  Pick out phrases that you can use for matching games from reading material.  Use picture cards and cards with labels or short phrases or description. Ask the children to find the picture to match the writing.

Reading activities using reading cards that can lead into writing activities Labelling pictures/objects Predicting from initial sound Matching words/phrases with pictures Re-arrange jumbled letters to make a word Classifying words into sets Ordering sentences in the correct sequence Guessing the missing word Games that involve recognizing words and meaning Copy/write from memory the word/phrase that matches the picture Write a label Finish the word st… Write the whole word Copy/write the name of all the people in the story Copy/write out story in the right order Copy the phrase/sentence putting in the missing word Bingo, writing races

Project work Having fun making a book  Let the children start by drawing a person or, for fun, an imaginary creature like a monster or a creature from outer space.  They can write a description using some hints.  They can write about something the person does.  Show how to make a big book.  This will give a lot of opportunity to use “listen and make” instruction.  Let the whole class make a big story book for another class.  They can share the work.

When children make things for others to see they:  have a real audience so want to write something interesting  have a real reason to be neat and tidy, have clear handwriting, to check spelling and generally to present their work well  can learn how to go over their work and improve it if they like