1. Talking about Teaching Language to Young Learners
Lesson 3

2. OVERVIEW
Start to look more closely at the practical side of teaching young language learners
Think about ways to approach teaching vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation
Look at how to create a supportive environment that encourages young learners to learn about and reflect on their learning
Consider the use of topic and activity-based teaching
Think about planning activities across topic areas

3. Planning activities for YL
Capture the YL’s interest & motivate them with appropriate and engaging activities
Monitor the learning that may, or may not, be taking place & provide scaffolding and guidance for all aspects of their language learning
Planning activities for YL
Show them how to learn to learn, helping them become more aware of what they are doing in class activities
Encourage them to take a more reflective approach to learning the language

4. When Introducing Vocabulary to Young Learners….
…the meaning of the words
has to be made clear &
be supported by flashcards,
pictures, gestures or realia.
….a lot of vocabulary is learned
in chunks and phrases
E.g., Can I/have a ...?
(Can I have a...?)
….by uttering only one or two words,
there can be a sentence full of meaning
expressed if the child is supported
and encouraged to use communicative
intonation and gestures E.g., Repeat, please.

5. Vocabulary needs to be taught in context
1. Picture & flashcards shown to children as they hear words
Stories with new contextualized language
Games, where the need to use the words, chunks or phrases is linked to the motivation
Songs, where the new language is repeated in a fun way
The meaning of the words should be clear to the young learner
Vocabulary needs to be taught in context
The context could be given through:

6. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
Students need to hear lots of target language
from to
like
different speakers - their teacher, voices from video and audio recordings, or any guest to the class that speaks English with them.
hear the music of the target language and imitate the sound of English through the words they are learning.
songs, chants, stories, role-plays and games that encourage them to interact with the language by listening to and using it.

7. Considerations to be taken into account when Teaching Pronunciation
If children learn a foreign or second language early in their lives, they can attain near native-like pronunciation, but only if the models they hear are near native-like, too.
Just like adults, children may have trouble pronouncing certain English-language sounds, often they do not know how to form their lips and mouths to correctly articulate some sounds.

8. Considerations to be taken into account when Teaching Grammar
For younger children, due to their level of cognitive development, it is not conceptually appropriate to present grammar as a set of explicit rules and forms to be analyzed.
YLs benefit from “noticing” and paying attention to features of grammar presented as “chunks” of language in familiar contexts such as songs, dialogues, stories, and other contexts.
Few YLs benefit from memorizing rules and analyzing forms.
YLs under the age of 8 or 9 benefit from many repetitions of a grammar point in different, meaningful contexts
For more older children with more developed powers of analysis, grammar should continue to be presented in meaningful contexts and may include brief details about the grammar points for students to notice and think about.
The balance between fluency and accuracy in activities is what helps children acquire the grammar of English.

9. Teaching Grammar to Very YLs (listen & identify)
Teacher Talk: (Wave your hand over the page.) “Look! I see a park. I see boys and girls. The boys and girls are in the park.” Repeat. “The boys and girls are in the park.”
1. Teacher: (Point to the slide. Ask children to listen, point, and repeat) This is a slide.
3. Children’s Response: (Listen, point, and repeat.) This is a slide.
2. Teacher: (Point to the swings. Ask children to listen, point, and repeat.) These are swings.
4. Children’s Response: (Listen, point, and repeat.) These are swings.

10. Teaching Grammar to YLs (Present Simple)
Helping Hands
1.Read, Listen and sing.
Helpers
There are many helping hands in my family.
We like to help each other and our community.
Teachers help us learn a lot, and TV reporters, too.
My mother is a teacher. What does your mother do?.
Grammar in context
2. Listen, Point and say.
1. My father is a coach He teaches soccer.
2. My sister is a secretary She types letters.
Repetitions of a grammar point, using it as chunks.
3. Point, Ask and Answer 4.
What does your father do?
He’s a coach.
Oral & written production
5. Look and write.
What does she do? She’s a police officer.
What does he do? He’s a __________.

11. Making the English Classroom a Supportive Language Environment
3. Support learning through the organization of the classroom
1. Encourage learners to speak out (without fear of making mistakes)
2. Develop an environment of trust
4. Use a variety of materials and models to present the language
5. Provide lots of comprehensible and contextualized language

12. Encourage learners to speak out (without fear of making mistakes)
2. I goed to the park.
1. What did you do yesterday?
1.What did you do yesterday?
2. I goed to the park.
3. Oh, you went to the park!
3. Oh, that’s not good. It’s wrong to say I “goed”.
The boy is hypothesizing the regular past tense of the verb “go”.
The teacher’s correction could demotivate the learner discouraging him from trying to hypothesize in English again.
The same situation but this time, the modeled example given by the teacher would allow the child to continue on the hypothesis circle and realize from this feedback that he needed to adjust what he had said.

13. Develop an environment of trust
the language classroom needs to be a place where the young learner does
not feel threatened or frightened
the teacher needs to be patient as students trial things, and by modeling
back any changes they need to make in their language
creating and posting English classroom rules that all the YLs have discussed
and agreed to. E.g.: We will listen to each other patiently.
We will help each other say things in English.
Support learning through the organization of the classroom
The English classroom should support the students' learning by having:
examples of students' work on the walls
picture dictionaries and storybooks available to be used
lists of different types of words on the wall, such as describing words,
action words, joining words, question words, and so on
songs and chants (written on chart paper) available to review
labels on classroom items in English (door, window, desk) to help prepare
beginner students for the written language by introducing models of it

14. Use a variety of materials and models to present the language
Use a variety of means to expose YLs to different language models. E.g.
CDs with a range of different speakers
videos and DVDs that allow children to see the faces and mouths of those
speaking English
A variety of written models to stimulate the visual learning of the language
including books, posters, examples of children’s work, pictures with captions,
and labeled objects
Provide lots of comprehensible and contextualized language
Teachers must also remember the need to introduce lots of comprehensible
and contextualized language in the English class within meaningful and
purposeful activities
Classroom instructions (used repeatedly and with gestures) enable
students to respond to and use the language. (Johnny, please come here.
Hand out the notebooks to the students.)

15. Topic and activity-based teaching is based on topics (like food, pets, house, colors, and so on) within activities which allow the language to be introduced, practiced, recycled, consolidated and acquired by YLs
Many teachers and specialists in the EYL world believe that topic and activity-based teaching is
the most suitable way for children to learn and use the target language.
This is because of how children learn, develop and change during these early years.
Many English textbooks for young learners are designed around this approach.
A topic and activity-based approach to learning has children linking language to interactive experiences
where children talk about what they are doing, what they are seeing and what they are experiencing.
As teachers, we can encourage this interaction and natural way of language learning by planning suitable
activities and selecting topics that are especially interesting and relevant to our students.

16. These three activities present the topic of food, but are aimed at different age groups considering their cognitive stages and learning abilities

17. Teachers can teach the same topics to the same group of
Topic - Food Function -Talking about likes and dislikes
Teachers can teach the same topics to the same group of
children over a number of years (and recycle the language),
but as the children grow in age, linguistic ability and maturity,
we will be looking at different aspects of these topics, so the
input never has to be the same.

18. Stage 1: Select the Topic
When planning lessons around a specific topic , the teacher should consider five stages:
Brainstorming is one of the best ways to plan a topic and the
lessons that are linked to it.
Put the topic title in the center of a page.

19. Stage 2: Think of appropriate activities linked to the topic
Brainstorm the variety of activities that are suitable for the age group you are thinking about and are linked to this topic.
A lesson for 8 to 10 year-old-student

20. Stage 3: Consider the language for each activity Think about what language (vocabulary and structures) will be used in each activity.

21. Stage 4: Plan the focus/approach for each activity
Look at each of these activities and briefly consider the focus for each activity as well as the type of approach to take. Consider the class survey, and develop it as you would all the other activities in your brainstorm.
Activity: Carry out a class survey of favorite food
Language focus for this activity:
What is your favorite food?
Food vocabulary chicken
It’s (chicken).
My favorite food is (chicken).
Resources needed for the activity:
Children need paper and pencils / pens.
Teacher needs a board or flipchart to gather results
Outcome of activity:
A list of favorite foods of children
A result from survey
Timing of the activity:
10-15 minutes

22. Stage 5: Consider the order of activities
Look at how the activities flow together, considering vocabulary and structures and the challenges required in completing each activity. If you look at the brainstorm chart below, you will see that the activities have been ordered by how the language is introduced and developed.
After determining the desired outcome of each activity, the teacher will put together more detailed lesson plans that look more closely at the steps required to achieve the proposed goals.