Collins Introducing English to Young Children: Reading and Writing
Opal Dunn
A practical teacher guide book for teaching young children to read and write in English.Introducing English to Young Children: Reading and Writing, is a practical guide book, showing teachers how to use the highly-motivating Playful Approach when starting to teach reading and writing to pre-school and lower primary-aged children. There are ideas for creative and meaningful projects and help for teachers to plan, manage and assess lessons. The book explores how children move towards becoming autonomous learners using strategies they have acquired in their first language.
Collins HarperCollins Publishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith London W6 8JB
© Opal Dunn 2014
The right of Opal Dunn to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
eBook ISBN 978-0-00-755686-1
Source ISBN 978-0-00-752254-5
Version: 2014-07-14
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Contents
Cover (#u1bac215f-fe84-5933-8752-b6aa52ceb4db)
Copyright (#uc81ba570-ec4a-559a-b41f-14121758eb14)
Title Page (#ub5792d9b-c60b-582e-abe5-c4f11ee871d2)
About the author (#ua1a9c159-6d0b-552b-a150-96d85423b5ac)
About this book (#ufcd19ed0-fbc6-573d-892e-8c3c56af1d6c)
List of figures (#u27f92459-bc93-50b3-8932-758c87d480b0)
1 Acquiring language – The Playful Approach (#ubbbe82c0-1918-5fa2-8189-13e5899e4169)
1.1 Absorbing another language (#ulink_05070668-53e3-5b6a-ac4b-812fbe55dc5e)
1.2 Transitions (#ulink_0935dfc8-e67a-53e8-8406-898f99d28374)
1.3 Play as a form of learning (#ulink_1b828011-b173-5761-a2b4-007e0f884c04)
1.4 The Playful Approach (#ulink_83d3507a-4932-593d-9993-1c311aa0d2c8)
1.5 Free-choice time (#ulink_aac2bcdf-47ce-5599-92fe-0e716097688d)
2 Tuned-in teaching (#u3b6b4525-234c-5077-85c1-ade1bf3ea3fc)
2.1 Acquiring English (#ulink_ba612c68-7708-557d-832b-971eba4a93fe)
2.2 Tuning in (#ulink_75fbece6-5768-5404-a64f-01690ce00ff6)
2.3 The child’s expectations of the teacher (#ulink_9e27f535-6082-583c-82f6-cc1d2a81db60)
2.4 Enabling learning (#ulink_243e4183-9a7e-5a87-9e7b-94a8817ad25f)
2.5 Motivation and emotional literacy (#ulink_124c6c83-eb14-52be-a44a-12bbdccac06f)
2.6 Monitoring and assessing (#ulink_9f90830e-772f-51c2-835e-9c7f672833f1)
2.7 Teacher input (#ulink_10a27b40-bfd8-5de9-b2e0-2cfe76aa1a8c)
3 Listening to the maturing child (#uc0443051-5663-5e41-a0a4-0148d213311d)
3.1 Self-educators (#ulink_29ffaaa6-9224-572a-87b1-baeeb2db5630)
3.2 Motivation (#litres_trial_promo)
3.3 Evaluating success (#litres_trial_promo)
3.4 Autonomy (#litres_trial_promo)
4 Cooperating with parents (#litres_trial_promo)
4.1 Tuning in (#litres_trial_promo)
4.2 Parents’ involvement (#litres_trial_promo)
4.3 Teaching for a test (#litres_trial_promo)
4.4 Bringing English into the home (#litres_trial_promo)
4.5 Assessments for parents (#litres_trial_promo)
5 Planning, managing and assessing (#litres_trial_promo)
5.1 Planning lessons (#litres_trial_promo)
5.2 Managing the autonomous learner (#litres_trial_promo)
5.3 Self-assessment (#litres_trial_promo)
6 Extending spoken ability (#litres_trial_promo)
6.1 Developing autonomy in the classroom (#litres_trial_promo)
6.2 English input (#litres_trial_promo)
6.3 Extending vocabulary (#litres_trial_promo)
7 Introducing reading English (#litres_trial_promo)
7.1 Reading as a skill (#litres_trial_promo)
7.2 A multi-strategy English reading scheme (#litres_trial_promo)
7.3 Finding out about words (#litres_trial_promo)
7.4 Teacher’s role (#litres_trial_promo)
8 Introducing handwriting (#litres_trial_promo)
8.1 The role of handwriting (#litres_trial_promo)
8.2 Beginning handwriting (#litres_trial_promo)
8.3 Initial assessment (#litres_trial_promo)
8.4 Stimulating children to handwrite (#litres_trial_promo)
8.5 Style (#litres_trial_promo)
8.6 Materials (#litres_trial_promo)
8.7 Handwriting size (#litres_trial_promo)
8.8 Handwriting programme (#litres_trial_promo)
8.9 Beginning handwriting for L1 non-handwriters (#litres_trial_promo)
9 Learning to spell (#litres_trial_promo)
9.1 Spelling (encoding) (#litres_trial_promo)
9.2 Introducing spelling (#litres_trial_promo)
9.3 Assessing spelling (#litres_trial_promo)
9.4 Introducing syllables (#litres_trial_promo)
9.5 Recognising patterns of ‘onset and rime’ (#litres_trial_promo)
9.6 Developing analogy strategies (#litres_trial_promo)
9.7 Learning new spellings (#litres_trial_promo)
9.8 Involving parents (#litres_trial_promo)
9.9 Fun facts (#litres_trial_promo)
9.10 Introducing first grammar concepts (#litres_trial_promo)
9.11 Word origins (#litres_trial_promo)
10 Projects and activities (#litres_trial_promo)
10.1 Why projects and activities? (#litres_trial_promo)
10.2 Selecting projects and activities (#litres_trial_promo)
10.3 Parents’ involvement (#litres_trial_promo)
10.4 Suggested projects or activities (#litres_trial_promo)
10.5 Assessing (#litres_trial_promo)
11 Enjoying reading and writing creatively (#litres_trial_promo)
11.1 Attitudes to creative writing and reading (#litres_trial_promo)
11.2 Starting from the child’s ideas (#litres_trial_promo)
11.3 Modelling and scaffolding (#litres_trial_promo)
11.4 Types of books children can make (#litres_trial_promo)
11.5 Towards fluent reading (#litres_trial_promo)
Final thoughts (#litres_trial_promo)
List of terminology (#litres_trial_promo)
References and further reading (#litres_trial_promo)
Appendix (#litres_trial_promo)
Searchable Terms (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
About the author
Award-winning author Opal Dunn has many years of experience in teaching children aged up to 8 years, and has trained teachers all over the world. She has also authored picture books for nursery and young primary children, organised Bunko (mini-libraries) for bilingual, multilingual and double children (children growing up with two languages and two cultures) and has written information books and articles for parents. Opal is the co-founder of IATEFL YLT SIG (Young Learners & Teenagers Special Interest Group of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language).
About this book
In the evolution of man spoken language preceded written language.
(Anon)
Introducing English to Young Children: Reading and Writing gives guidance for the transition period from pre-school English experiences to the more formal first years of written literacy in lower-primary education, up to the age of 8 or 9.
At this lower-primary age there are noticeable holistic and developmental changes, not only physical, but in attitude. Children start to feel they are more grown up. They want to be independent doers and learners. They are beginning to be aware of themselves and what they can do, and how, with effort, they can achieve and make progress. They need help to progress and to develop their own autonomy and we, as teachers, need to tune in to them and listen to their needs if they are to mature holistically and feel good.
For the child, English is still not a school subject; it’s another way of communicating and talking within the class, school and beyond. Young children continue to pick up English in the same way as they learned their first language (L1), if the adult helping inserts the Playful Approach to motivate them. However, language content and enabling activities, although more advanced, are still linked to self-discovery.
The teacher’s role remains important, as the teacher is still the main source of new input of English. However, teacher-talk has broadened to introduce a wider vocabulary through mediating and modelling situations. Direct teaching is now included in quick, focused tutor-talks that give explanations about language. Young children need help to develop their self-learning strategies if they are to become independent learners.
Young readers, who have developed their own multi-strategies to read, spell and write in L1, are impatient to do the same in English. Since they already understand the mechanics of reading, there is no need to teach them in the same way as non-reader English children. Readers only need help to find out how to transfer and reuse their existing reading strategies to read a new content. Once introduced to a multi-strategy approach to decoding English that they can speak, these children teach themselves to read. They have no need to start, like English-speaking non-readers, from the very beginning of the Synthetic Phonics Method.
Learning language continues to depend on the triangle (consisting of child, teacher and parent) for interactive support and motivation. Suggestions are made for how to involve parents’ innate language-teaching skills in the home to consolidate children’s learning. The window of opportunity to help children absorb English with enthusiasm is limited. By the age of 10, with the onset of puberty and the influence of peer-group pressures, their learning environment changes.
This book is about helping children acquire a good grounding in the basics of reading and writing English – and enjoying it. The many explanations and practical suggestions can be used to support a textbook or a teacher planning a school programme. What I have written is what I have observed, experienced and enjoyed with young children.
There is no substitute for caring human interaction and adult help for learning at this stage. However, as teachers we have to be aware of the increasing appeal of screens. To keep children’s interest, we need to fire up and then stoke children’s curiosity about the world in which they will need English.
Help me to do it myself.
(Montessori)
List of figures
Figure 1 (#litres_trial_promo) A class framework
Figure 2 (#litres_trial_promo) A suggested Hidden Syllabus
Figure 3 (#litres_trial_promo) Recognising whole words
Figure 4 (#litres_trial_promo) High-frequency words
Figure 5 (#litres_trial_promo) Classroom labels
Figure 6 (#litres_trial_promo) Writing a rhyme with cards
Figure 7 (#litres_trial_promo) Little books
Figure 8 (#litres_trial_promo) Storyboard for a mini-book
Figure 9 The 37 rimes which make up nearly 500 words
Figure 10 (#litres_trial_promo) 37 Basic phonograms
Figure 11 (#litres_trial_promo) A class newsletter
Figure 12 (#litres_trial_promo) Letter Faces
Figure 13 (#litres_trial_promo) Handwriting positions for right- and left-handers
Figure 14 (#litres_trial_promo) Ball and stick handwriting method (not encouraged)
Figure 15 (#litres_trial_promo) Chinese Characters
Figure 16 (#litres_trial_promo) Writing on tracks
Figure 17 (#litres_trial_promo) Structured programme for introducing small letters in simple print style
Figure 18 (#litres_trial_promo) Structured programme for introducing capital letters
Figure 19 (#litres_trial_promo) A child’s signature
Figure 20 (#litres_trial_promo) A note to parents
Figure 21 (#litres_trial_promo) A writing pattern
Figure 22 (#litres_trial_promo) Writing patterns for young non-readers
Figure 23 (#litres_trial_promo) A spelling sheet
Figure 24 (#litres_trial_promo) My map
Figure 25 (#litres_trial_promo) A class exhibition poster
Figure 26 (#litres_trial_promo) A storyboard
1 (#ulink_c7aad52d-4ae2-59ff-b891-c7b36950ac48)
Acquiring language – The Playful Approach (#ulink_c7aad52d-4ae2-59ff-b891-c7b36950ac48)
1.1 Absorbing another language (#ulink_05070668-53e3-5b6a-ac4b-812fbe55dc5e)
1.2 Transitions (#ulink_0935dfc8-e67a-53e8-8406-898f99d28374)
1.3 Play as a form of learning (#ulink_1b828011-b173-5761-a2b4-007e0f884c04)
1.4 The Playful Approach (#ulink_83d3507a-4932-593d-9993-1c311aa0d2c8)
1.5 Free-choice time (#ulink_aac2bcdf-47ce-5599-92fe-0e716097688d)
1.1 Absorbing another language
A young child’s ability to absorb language unconsciously, and seemingly effortlessly, is quite remarkable. It is even more astounding that the same young child, if given the right opportunities, can absorb two or three languages at more or less the same time, and use them with his or her different co-speakers correctly.
When I was 3 years old, I spoke three different languages to three different people. I am told I never mixed up the speakers. I just talked, but I didn’t know I was speaking different languages until I was much older and my family told me. I can still speak these languages.
(Japanese lady, aged 45)
Young children, if circumstances are right for them, are innate, unconscious language learners. They are conscious of learning about the content of an activity, but not the language (or languages) they are using. At 5 or 6 years old they may tell you how many languages they speak and give examples, but they are not conscious of actually learning them in the way an adult is.
Children refine their language-learning strategies as they mature, depending on the type and quality of language support within their experiences. They then have the ability to reuse their language-learning strategies unconsciously, if motivated to learn another language – such as English. Most do this with confidence if they are shepherded by adults to take part in enabling activities, and are exposed to a similar quality of language support to that of their L1 acquisition.
By the age of 6, young children are familiar with most of the structures of their L1, although they are still absorbing new words and phrases. During pre-school children may have been introduced to different forms of spoken English or they may start an English programme during the first years of lower primary school. In all cases they innately expect to reuse their language-learning strategies to absorb spoken English through listening to it, as they take part in meaningful, playful activities. To young children learning language is not a task – it is not instructed, even if it is adult led. Young children have not yet developed the cognitive maturity to understand and use English taught as an abstract, grammar-based subject. Most of them cannot yet recognise the difference between a verb and a noun in their L1!
1.2 Transitions
Teaching methods in the first years of compulsory schooling depend on local society and cultural expectations. Parents and extended families often have culturally influenced opinions about how and when children should learn another language – in this case English.
Transitions (by which we mean the changes incurred by moving between schooling levels throughout compulsory education) alter the child’s administrative status as a student. Transition is based on the child’s date of birth rather than his or her level of maturity and readiness for change in methodological approach. There are few examples of free-flow schooling, where status and individual development are coordinated, making transition smoother for the child.
Transition from one school level to another generally entails an immediate adjustment to a more abstract style of learning, with teacher-led instruction and new expectations – even though there may be no change in the child’s cognitive maturity, which continues to develop at its own rate following well-researched milestones.
The challenges in transitioning from home to pre-school are not likely to be great due to the close collaboration between family and pre-school staff. Both use similar supportive language patterns which are understood and expected by a young child. There is, however, in many societies, often a more marked difference between educational methods used in pre-school and those used in primary school (the first year of more formal compulsory education). This change is felt, if not verbalised, by the child in:
teacher–child relationships
types and use of language
types of teacher instruction.
There is a new distance between the teacher and child, which young children feel. Gone are the many opportunities for caring, intimate, one-to-one dialogues with the teacher.
Although there may be a change in teaching style when a child enters primary school, teachers still have to focus on increasing the level of spoken English in preparation for the introduction of formal literacy, reading, spelling and writing. To do this successfully, teachers need to continue planning enabling activities in which children can use their existing language-learning strategies. Without these opportunities children find it difficult to pick up language to their full potential.
Parents virtualise start of normal school by uniform and a school bag. Play is seen as recreation and children are not sent to school to play.
(Stewart)
Transition to compulsory schooling is ritualised within many societies through material possessions like a uniform and a school bag, as well as in daily language within the extended family. Family discussions and expectations have changed to match the entry into formal schooling. Family members might say You are going to big school now. Listen to what the teacher says. Put your hand up if you want to ask a question.
Parents’ comments about their young child’s changed status are often influenced by their own school experience. Some parents support their children through transition by talking about their new English experiences with them in L1. Parents’ understanding and mediation during transition to compulsory schooling is important as parents know, intimately, how their child learns as they have shepherded their language development since birth.
1.3 Play as a form of learning
Play is the highest form of learning and helps children to apply what they learn in an integrated way.
(Bruce)
Incorporating opportunities for play within new activities helps children become more confident, as well as leading them to become more divergent, reflective, inventive and persistent thinkers.
As the teacher’s role is to provide a selection of enabling opportunities in which to acquire English, the atmosphere and teaching style in English lessons may be different from content-based lessons like Maths or Science. Some parents feel that since their children are now in compulsory education with a timetable divided into major subjects, instruction should now be more formal and should begin to resemble secondary school methods. Their reaction when their child refers to ‘playing’ in the English lesson can be of annoyance and they may openly criticise the teacher for not ‘teaching’, saying something like I did not send my child to primary school to play! Play is for break time. I expect my child to learn English.
‘Play’ is an umbrella term. In English the word play is broad and the meaning can be confusing. It can be used to talk about participating in a wide range of activities:
play football (fixed rules and expectations)
play time (free choice recreation at pre-school and primary school)
play ‘Snakes and Ladders’ or ‘Grandmother’s Footsteps’ (culture-based children’s games with a set of known rules)
play the piano (the formalised learning of a musical instrument, following music rules)
play on a games console / tablet / smartphone
The concept of play and its role in childhood differs from culture to culture; it can also differ between boys and girls. In some societies individual play is not valued as a way of learning, so some young children may not have developed skills to play by themselves and may wait for instructions from parents, teachers or other adults.
In a child’s mind, the physical activity of play is like adults’ work – children are intrinsically motivated to physically try out things, to find out how they work. However; to adults play can be seen as frivolous since it has no obvious aim, and in some cases has no adult presence.
Play is learning through doing: taking part in shared activities with a supportive adult or older child whose language the child can absorb unconsciously. A division between play and work only exists in the minds of adults who think in terms of formal teaching and instruction. For young children the two are blurred until the age of 5 or 6, when children begin to become aware of actually ‘learning’. Any distinction made by children might arise from external symbols of a formal approach (such as sitting at a desk or using a textbook) but not from the content of an activity. Even if the content is more formal (such as a spelling test), playful use of voice and language by the teacher can make children feel that the experience is fun and they may even describe it to others as playing a game.
The main characteristic of play — whether of child or adult — is not its content but its mode. Play is an approach to action, not a form of activity.
(Bruner in Moyles)
A skilled teacher, like a young child’s mother, regularly turns routine activities into what children think of as play, simply by using playful language. Furthermore, the playful nature of many language-learning activities is accentuated when contrasted with the more formal teacher-led instruction of other school subjects. This approach may account for the popularity of English teachers in primary schools.
1.4 The Playful Approach
To teach using the Playful Approach is demanding and tiring. The playfulness results in teacher–child bonding, but in a more mature and respectful way than in the pre-school years. This teacher–child relationship can contribute to the beginning of life-long attitudes to English, and such attitudes are formed early – before the age of 8 or 9. Later in life, adults often recall the name of their first English teacher.
The Playful Approach needs to be underpinned by:
a hidden syllabus, influencing programme planning (including tutor-talk)
assessments (short within the lesson, and longer after the lesson)
flexibility (to respond to individual children’s interests)
knowledge about words and language
modelling the use of new language and how to interact socially
enthusiasm for discovery and learning language.
Language needs action as an accompaniment or the situation has no meaning for the children.
(Krashen)
Motivation is vital for all learning, whether it involves new or familiar content. Through the Playful Approach teachers can motivate and remotivate – although remotivation should be monitored as it can have a negative effect if overused.
Parents of very young children still learning L1 are skilled at inserting playfulness into regular activities to make each day’s routine fun and motivating. Parents become adept at turning a routine like getting dressed into a simple game by inserting playful language, as well as using different voices and intonation to add surprise, wonder or suspense. Many parents say playful things like:
Does the sock go here? [putting it on the child’s hand]
No, no, silly me!
You show me where it goes!
That’s right
Good!
Where’s the other sock? Here it is …
How many socks are there? Two or three?
Let’s count …
This approach, used innately by parents, must be transferred to English teaching so that young children can reuse their self-language-learning skills effectively to absorb the new language. The Playful Approach in class involves the use of playful language during an activity to turn it into a fun and interactive experience for boys and girls. Although playful language relates to the content, it does not alter the content or the content-related language.
The Playful Approach can be used when presenting new material and also when re-presenting material to be consolidated. In planning an activity, it is important to also plan the language that goes with it, including any accompanying playful language. Of course any plan needs to be flexible, adapting to children’s reactions. Without planning language input, opportunities to extend language can be missed.
As the young child becomes more mature and lesson content becomes more structured, the degree of playfulness needed to motivate gradually decreases, limiting the use of the Playful Approach to the introduction of new material and routine remotivating activities.
1.4.1 Language techniques for the Playful Approach
Language can be adapted to fit individuals, pairs, groups or a class.
Language is supported by a hidden syllabus – a structured guide to increase acquisition. Teacher-talk can be flexible to follow children’s interests and needs. Tutor-talks explaining new material need to be pre-prepared, so information can be focused and structured.
Language motivates by inserting suspense, surprise, mystery. It remotivates, when focus has been lost, by extending short attention spans.
Language arouses curiosity, inserts wonder, challenges ‘how’ – leading to critical thinking and creativity (for example, Imagine if there was no sun? What if …?).
Language encourages effort (for example, Try again, I know you can do it That was good but next time let’s do it better.).
Language challenges (for example, If we have no electricity, what shall we do?).
Language encourages enthusiasm (for example, Wow, that’s great? I like that).
Language supports exploring and discovery (for example, Look at the size of this whale!).
Language inserts humour – play within play – arousing and creating it, and responding to it.
With regard to translations, these should typically only be given once so that children have to focus and listen carefully. Where possible, teachers need to develop children’s gist understanding – a technique they are still developing in L1 to follow new ideas. Where further translation is needed, teachers often find that one child eagerly translates for other children. This means the teacher often has no need to revert to using L1. If there is no ‘child translator’ the teacher can repeat, supporting with more modelling. Children usually understand more than they can say.
1.4.2 The Playful Approach within games
Games sometimes lack speed but by including playful language English teachers can regain focus and momentum without changing the game content. For example, they could say Whose turn is it now? Ok … who can find the ball? The language teacher who includes playful language in games:
creates suspense and excitement (for example, Will I get a six? … YES!)
adds energy to speed up formal games (for example, How many have you got? Oh, Toru can get more. Hurry, I’m next. No, sorry, it’s your turn.)
focusses on both winners and losers (for example, You did well. Next time I think you might win.)
creates an enjoyable game-like atmosphere (for example, Oh, can you get a red one? Let’s see …)
sums up progress regularly and predicts possible outcomes, sometimes incorrectly, to amuse (for example, Now everyone has five cards. I know who is going to get six cards first. It’s …!).
Much of the content and ways of working in English games and activities may be unfamiliar to children, as culturally they may be quite different from L1 games. However, at a later stage children like to prove their ownership of an activity or game by showing they can manage it by themselves and take control, even if the teacher has initiated play and set the scene. Adults need to respect this and patiently wait during the initial tries, whilst the child self-corrects through trial and error, rather than jumping in with the correct solution. Overt correction of game playing in front of others can dent children’s pride and demotivate! Children need to reflect, reconsider and redo if they are to be creative.
Once children know how to play a game well, they often act as home-play tutors to their family when playing games in L1 or English. Much to the delight and amusement of parents, their children naturally insert the games at home.
1.4.3 Poor play experiences
Teachers need to continually observe, assess and record children’s type and level of play and be ready to add guidance and add further challenge where needed. Where play is repetitive and at a low level of cognition, the teacher needs to get involved by sensitively interacting with new language or a relevant new object. This will stimulate interest and also scaffold a child’s next level of cognition.
Where teachers are not sensitive to children’s low-level satisfaction and achievement in an activity or game, children can lose interest and can easily become bored or frustrated, saying I don’t want to play. I don’t like this. Interest should always be restimulated before the end of the lesson, since a lack of volition can easily spread to attitudes at home and carry on to the next lesson. Loss of interest can also foster parents’ belief that English lessons are nothing but play and that their child needs more formal instruction.
The art of a skilled teacher is getting the right balance, by providing structure whilst supporting autonomy.
(Stewart)
1.5 Free-choice time
Young children need repetition. Children, without adult help or intervention, repeat games or activities until they gain ownership and control over them. This can most easily be seen in the playground during break time where – either by themselves, in pairs or in a small group – children play the same game with the same rules over and over again. Children need opportunities to experience repetition like this in the English classroom and also at home if they are to gain ownership and control.
‘Flow’ is a state of complete immersion in an activity.
(Csikszentmihalyi)
‘Free play’ was valued by Froebel, Vygotsky, Montessori and Bruner. In the 1960s Bruce renamed it ‘free-flow play’, to include the work on ‘flow’ by the psychologist Csikszentmihalyi.
In ‘flow’ experiences:
Children are totally in control and self-regulated.
They are completely immersed and engaged in intense activity
Children’s bodies and minds are stretched in a voluntary and possibly unconscious effort to achieve something.
They are free from adult direction.
They are confirming what they know and absorbing it more deeply
They gain self-satisfaction, confidence and an inner feeling of happiness.
Their concentration is so deep and they are so engaged that they are not aware of themselves.
Their involvement in the activity is unconscious, like breathing – they don’t have to think about it.
‘Flow’ can often occur during activities or games and is associated with achievement and intrinsic self-satisfaction, giving confidence and a feeling of happiness. When it occurs and the length of time it lasts cannot be predicted – all teachers can do is ‘set the scene’ by programming time for free-choice activities. Flow experiences commonly occur in Montessori-type settings, when children are immersed in using game-like materials. Adults may not always notice (or may never have noticed) a child deep in a flow experience.
Consider the following description of how children might modify an activity once they are immersed in a flow experience:
The teacher gives the children a complete set of pre-prepared word cards (such as foot and ball) which make up compound words (such as football). The children are asked to take turns putting word cards together to make compounds. The set might include:
foot ball snow man cup cake cow boy butter fly sun flower toe nail bed room black bird
After a while, the children decide to change the activity to a type of memory game, putting all the cards face down. They turn the cards over one at a time. Children have to keep all the cards in their hand if they can’t make a compound word, or put one down if they can. The winner is the child with the most compound words.
The value of revisiting an activity or game for young children, free from adult direction, is often undervalued in classrooms. Free-flow experiences can include book browsing, which gives children an opportunity to revisit and reread a book independently, organising and controlling their relationship with the story. Through this self-regulated, fluid and adult-free experience, children are able to confirm what they know and absorb it more deeply.
Too much adult-led structure can stifle originality and the self-motivation needed to think and create. A class with only teacher-led activities which do not include the Playful Approach can stunt children’s innate passion. As well as this, frequent chances to repeat activities are needed so that children have the opportunity to repeat patterns – which is crucial for learning.
Free-flow play is an integrating mechanism which brings together everything we learn, know, feel and understand.
(Bruce)
1.5.1 Planning free-choice activities
Time is limited in many English class programmes, but most teachers manage to fit in a free-choice period at least once a month (or if lessons are daily, once every two weeks). In some schools free choice takes up a major part of the lesson time, often taking place after the warm up, or after the summing up at the end of the lesson. In larger classes, children can be divided into two groups, one working with the teacher and the other enjoying free choice. The group changeover can take place within a single lesson, or in the next lesson.
Where teachers cannot fit a free-choice session into their programme, they can make opportunities for children to take activities home to help them revisit a game, book or other activity and experience a sense of flow.
Happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
(Anon)
Discussion about which free-choice activities will be available in the allocated lesson is an important part of the flow experience. In free-choice situations, children have the freedom to make their own choice from the activities on offer, including book browsing and games that they want to revisit. Teachers need to listen to children’s requests as well as making their own suggestions and noticing children’s reactions to them. This reflective preparation plays an important role for children.
Young children are used to self-regulating their play on screen. They are completely absorbed, returning again and again to the same video game without adult intervention or even sometimes understanding the accompanying language. They manipulate the game until they have mastered it and then happily move on to the next level or game without taking a break. This is another type of flow experience, which can set the level of children’s expectations for off-screen activities.
‘Flow’ has been associated with increased performance in work, sport and in school.
(Stewart)
In free-choice activities children can:
reflect and make choices (critical thinking)
self-initiate
self-motivate
self-manage, working at their own pace
concentrate, persist and remain focused
consolidate their learning, taking it to a deeper level (metacognition skills)
problem solve, discover and rearrange (creativity)
collaborate with a partner or group members (social and emotional growth)
work without interference, except for guidance and encouragement from the teacher when required
work without external pressure (no fixed process) or set aims or goals (no end products)
work without rules, except for usual classroom or game rules (no right or wrong, no need to conform to adult-imposed standards)
harness emotions and find out how to manage them
imagine and insert humour
work on building self-learning strategies
explore new paths
experiment and take risks
repeat activities as often as they like.
1.5.2 Managing free-choice activities
Arranging free-choice activity sessions within an English course helps to further holistic learning, since activities can take place in L1 but are accompanied by a ‘hidden’ English syllabus. It also helps to further develop a positive mindset to learning English, as it helps children feel in control of their learning.
During free choice some children revert to using ‘private talk’, thinking aloud and giving a running commentary to themselves (but for all to hear) about their activity. Vygotsky believed this unconscious, private talk helps to develop thought and self-regulation. It can be in L1 or English or a combination of both, entailing ‘code-switching’ to fit words from one language into the other where necessary. Private speech can reveal a lot about a child’s inner thinking and level of understanding, and with maturity this external talk becomes internalised.
To organise a free-choice classroom session, the teacher has to present a selection of activities or games which the children are already familiar with, and then manage the children’s individual choices from the selection on offer. The teacher can present two or three possible activities, depending on what he or she feels the class can manage. The children’s choices should ideally be made in the previous session, with children signing up for their chosen activity. As places are limited for each activity, some children’s first choice of activity may be full and they may have to make a second choice. The teacher may need to teach them to wait until the next free-choice session for their first-choice activity. For example, the teacher could say Only four names, please. Write your name here. This list is full now. What is your second choice? You can have your first choice next time.
This choosing process involves critical thinking and in the first instances teachers need to help children by modelling how to think through the decision-making process and how to make decisions. This discussion around selection helps to develop children’s social and emotional intelligence, as well as showing children how to appreciate the feelings and choices of others. Initially, the teacher has to lead in the choosing of activities, gradually building up a mode of child participation. With maturity and experience, children begin to organise their choices amongst themselves while respecting the feelings of others.
Within a free-choice session, the role of the teacher changes from instructor to consultant, eventually giving guidance only where necessary. Children should be in control and any interference, except to remotivate, could intrude in the child’s world of reflection as they relive their chosen experience at a deeper level. In flow moments the child is functioning at the highest levels: imaginatively, creatively, innovatively.
Where children have chosen to work in pairs or a small group, the teacher’s role is to encourage collaboration as well as awareness of feelings and relationships, while children gradually become more aware of what they and their peers know (metacognition). Different skills and competences are introduced as each child revisits known activities, exploring, discovering, repeating and practising skills.
Children may discuss amongst themselves in English or in L1. The teacher is there to recast back in English where they have used L1, or to inject a phrase or some vocabulary in English which can blend in with the activity.
Teachers have to bear in mind that in free play the process is more important than the product. Teachers should not always be looking for some representation of the child’s work (or visible outcome) as this could inhibit the child’s present freedom and their future attitude to free-choice sessions. During free choice, children have a real reason to use English. Teachers can discreetly observe and assess where children need additional practice with handwriting and/or developing their usage of descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs).
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and … SNAP! … the job’s a game!
(Mary Poppins, from the Disney film)
2 (#ulink_73a86286-a44d-5d69-af88-6ec2f110b8f5)
Tuned-in teaching (#ulink_73a86286-a44d-5d69-af88-6ec2f110b8f5)
2.1 Acquiring English (#ulink_ba612c68-7708-557d-832b-971eba4a93fe)
2.2 Tuning in (#ulink_75fbece6-5768-5404-a64f-01690ce00ff6)
2.3 The child’s expectations of the teacher (#ulink_9e27f535-6082-583c-82f6-cc1d2a81db60)
2.4 Enabling learning (#ulink_243e4183-9a7e-5a87-9e7b-94a8817ad25f)
2.5 Motivation and emotional literacy (#ulink_124c6c83-eb14-52be-a44a-12bbdccac06f)
2.6 Monitoring and assessing (#ulink_9f90830e-772f-51c2-835e-9c7f672833f1)
2.7 Teacher input (#ulink_10a27b40-bfd8-5de9-b2e0-2cfe76aa1a8c)
2.1 Acquiring English
Teaching young children effectively is not only about having natural common sense, it is about making sure that one has the knowledge and skills to interest children in the world about them.
(Engel)
The more we learn about neuroscience, the clearer it becomes that the human brain now develops much sooner than we had believed. Early stimulation can be highly effective. The spread of technology means many more young children can be exposed to English, a language different from L1, at an earlier age.
Although the Internet includes some very useful support material, we need to realise that a lot of content on the Internet is privately published and therefore not necessarily rigorously edited – in some cases information may be incorrect or not suitable for young children. For example, on some sites about the analysis of the 44 sounds of English, /oo/ is sometimes portrayed as representing just one sound rather than two (as in book and food). Many children already know this, however, through playing with language rhyming sounds, story refrains and rhymes.
Today’s young children may well have moved into the stage of being able to analyse and recognise patterns earlier than on Piaget’s original scale (see Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive developmental stages). This may be as a result of visual and oral exposure, especially from screens, from an early age. Due to children’s diverse home experiences, it is quite difficult for teachers to assess how these experiences have developed children’s self-learning strategies for language learning in either L1 or English.
2.2 Tuning in
In many primary schools learning language remains a different experience from learning a core-curricular subject like History. Learning language is still a shared activity – a dialogue between the child and the teacher, older children, parents and extended family. Vygotsky used the term ‘social constructivism’ to describe these moments when children and others who are more experienced make meaning together, by both concentrating on the context of an experience.
Without understanding the whole child it can be difficult to tune in to his or her needs. The English teacher needs to know something of the use of languages and the type of English-language interest in the child’s home, in order to measure how much support and encouragement can be expected for homework (which in primary school becomes a regular additional consolidation activity).
Parents also need to understand the teaching methods and their role in homework. Without understanding the importance of the Playful Approach to provide motivation, homework can become a dreaded task. Without cooperation and helpful explanations, parents may find it difficult to tune in to their child’s English lesson positively, or to understand the child’s progress. Parents might compare the English lesson with the teacher-led instruction used in the other subject lessons.
2.2.1 Teacher–child relationships
By primary school a child’s relationship with the English teacher has developed from that of a protective aunty-like figure in the pre-school years, to one of a caring teacher built on mutual respect. As primary-school pupils, children feel more grown up and more in control of themselves, ready to take responsibility. They now want to be independent and show they can make things happen, although they still need support and guidance from adults. Getting the balance right in the period between pre-school and upper primary is essential. The lower-primary years are an important bridge between the two, in which children need adult help to confidently develop over time their own self-learning strategies as they matures holistically. In helping the children, the teacher is not just thinking of teaching English, but also of adapting English input to the holistically-maturing children’s needs.
Teachers are children’s role models; they are the main source of the children’s input, guiding and tutoring them whilst sharing with them spoken and written language to meet their self-learning strategies, needs and levels.
Young children still want to please their teacher and their parents, too. They look for their approval as it gives them confidence and assurance that they are doing the right thing. Young children want to feel successful, and can now measure their own ability, contrasting it quite accurately with others in their class. They generally know the ‘ranking’ of children in their class and teachers may hear comments like Mari’s the best at English. Akira knows a lot of English words about food. Teachers often try to disguise group levels by calling them different animal names or colours, but children usually work out which is the top group! Children talk about who is the best openly amongst themselves and often explain it to their parents, too.
By lower primary most children are fluent L1 speakers and have been introduced to more formal L1 education (reading, writing, mathematics and science). At the same time they are still unconsciously absorbing more spoken English on which they base the acquisition of formal English literacy skills – reading, spelling and creative writing. Depending on the amount of exposure to English, many will have worked out how and when to use their personal language-learning strategies and unconsciously know which of their strategies are the most effective for them. Some may even be able to verbalise the way they like to learn.
If teachers themselves were introduced to English as an academic, grammar-based subject, they may feel inclined to introduce it to young children this way, too: through an abstract, grammar-analysis method with little chance for interaction or dialogue in spoken English. Although teacher-led instruction can often feel more fulfilling for the teacher (because progress is easier to observe and assess) teacher-imposed methods not involving interaction may not be as lasting or motivating for the child. Many young children also find imposed grammatical content difficult to understand, and thus absorb, as they have not yet been made aware of the grammar they are using naturally in L1.
Non-native-speaker adults need to be careful not to let how they were taught English influence their teaching or support methods, since young children need to self-acquire English using their finely tuned language-learning strategies. Research continues to confirm that language acquisition is linked to a form of physical self-discovery related to the cognitive maturity of the young child, whose brain is still developing. This seems to be the case in some situations throughout adult life, too. For example, many people find it easier to learn how to change a car tyre by watching someone who knows, rather than reading a manual!
2.2.2 The teacher’s role
The teacher’s main role is to enable the child to use and develop his or her self-acquisition language-learning strategies, whilst also allowing autonomy to grow. The teacher’s role expands as the use of English becomes more advanced; they become involved in delegating responsibilities, organising more complex activities and in the introduction of formal literacy.
The teacher still remains the main source and model of spoken English. The teacher also now becomes responsible for the spoken and written English used in the introduction of formal English literacy skills. Through teacher-talk and tutor-talks, children have opportunities to absorb different styles of English and later to use the language. However, the child’s acquisition of English is limited to the language the teacher uses and to the content of picture books. In lessons where teachers use only the textbook without talking around it or including extra activities, the child’s acquisition is hindered by the low quality or quantity of input.
Textbook language plus some general management and game language is really not sufficient. Nor is it the right type of English input to enable the developing child to start talking about his or her interests or emotions, or to begin socialising and cooperating with other children. Children may need short periods of silence for self-reflection, but long periods of silence when there is no opportunity to listen and learn any English from the teacher (their main source of English input in the classroom) is a waste of children’s learning time.
The use of different voices, intonation and language styles (descriptive, reported speech, etc.) is important as a teacher responds to changes within the classroom, or sees a need to remotivate. A sudden, whispered Listen, children. Let’s think about … can surprise and interest the class and quickly get their attention!
Once children have got used to picking up English, they appear to have refined how to use their self-language-learning strategies. Teachers should not underestimate children’s ability to pick up English, and shouldn’t let learning preconceptions limit the amount of input they given the children. Children are innate language learners and always understand much more than they can say. If they feel an overload they know how to switch off and wait to be remotivated.
The art of a skilled teacher is getting the right balance by providing structure whilst supporting autonomy.
(Stewart)
The teacher’s main role is that of:
Motivator: using the Playful Approach to stimulate and restimulate positive interest in activities and formal literacy.
Modeller: using teacher-talk to aid understanding of emotional, social and classroom behaviour, as well as modelling new activities.
Mediator: introducing new challenges including tutor-talks to explain formal literacy.
Manager: planning lesson programmes, guided by the hidden syllabus and assessment but also following children’s interests; indicating revision needs.
Monitor: assessing children within lessons and weekly to check progress and the need to revisit learning (this includes the summing-up sessions at the end of each lesson in which achievements and future plans are discussed).
Within all these categories there is more advanced use of language to ensure acquisition, formal literacy learning and progress in speaking.
Encircling all five roles described above are Materials, the base for enabling activities and formal literacy experiences. Many extra materials have to be collected by the teacher or sometimes, at the teacher’s request, by the family.
2.3 The child’s expectations of the teacher
A young child expects a teacher to be:
friendly
reliable
caring
full of enthusiasm and positivity
a source of knowledge (or to know where to obtain information)
an example of fair play in games (not accepting any form of cheating)
just and fair in all personal comments and assessments
respectful of any work in which effort and improvement has been made
ready to co-share when a child or pair cannot manage alone.
The teacher–child relationship continues to evolve as the child develops and as the teacher gradually changes from leader to sharer or co-partner, using language and management routines in cooperation with the child until he or she is ready to lead alone. The degree of teacher support changes to match the child’s progress, well-being (physical and emotional) and desire to do things autonomously. Within a single lesson language support can range from teacher-initiated and teacher-led, to shared-support, to child-led and child-initiated.
Teacher-initiated
Teacher-led
Shared-support
Child-led
Child-initiated
Children have their own views on teachers and they openly tell parents who is their favourite teacher and why. Good relationships with the teacher and with their peers contribute to the intrinsic enjoyment that motivates children to learn English. A supportive relationship shows that the teacher values the children’s ideas. It also encourages children to initiate sometimes, using phrases like I have an idea. Can I tell you? Children need to be confident that initiating is allowed in the English classroom, since, in some cultures, it’s not always encouraged in L1 lessons.
It’s also important to remember that children learn more from each other than from the teacher, as, from a child’s point of view, peers are easier to copy than an adult.
Children learn strategies from watching each other, and are more likely to imitate what someone quite like themselves does rather than an adult.
(Stewart)
Teachers need to constantly review:
the changing teacher–child and teacher–class relationship and how it develops within the year
how interesting they themselves seem to children – are they holistically ‘switched on’ to the children’s world (including ‘screen world’)?
how they present new content to children and develop their desired independence (autonomy)
how they structure content to help make learning easier
how they manage activities so that children have opportunities to work together and learn from each other (for example, with one child ‘teaching’ and peers learning)
how they make children and families aware of progress.
The best motivation to learn a language is not an abstract liking of its beauty or utility, but a liking for the person who speaks it.
(Taeschner)
2.4 Enabling learning
… prepared input that alters according to the child’s needs and interests.
(Whitehead)
Planning language input within a programme and lesson is paramount for progress. Thought has to be given to which language to reuse and where, as well as when and how to introduce new language. In addition, some language input needs to be structured very precisely so that children can absorb it easily and later use it themselves. However, ‘planned language’ also has to be adaptable to include impromptu language, as the teacher tunes in to the immediate interests and needs of the children during a lesson.
Children need quality, planned English input (and repetition of this input) if they are to pick up English to their full potential. This potential is often underestimated in comparison to that of children who learn languages outside the classroom effectively, rarely making mistakes. A child does not find learning language difficult like an adult; if he or she says it is difficult, it is generally a reflection of what adults have said!
Throughout the language learning process, the ‘feel-good factor’ is vital for motivation and new learning. Children live in the present and their well-being can change from lesson to lesson. Teachers need to tune in to their emotional state at the beginning of each lesson and adapt to it. Sometimes, if children are moving into a new developmental stage, teachers need to adapt quickly to satisfy their eager curiosity to absorb new information and ideas.
Focus (Attention) is a skill. Attention is embedded in well-being.
(Goleman)
Holistic learning for young children of 6 to 9 years is innate, rapid and continuous, following recognisable, common developmental patterns. By the age of 8 or 9 the child has matured considerably and has gradually begun to feel and portray his or her own identity. The child is more knowledgeable and can do more things alone, confidently repeating and consolidating known skills or discovering and trying out new ones. A child of this age is an unconscious self-educator and likes to be treated with patience and understanding.
2.4.1 Modelling language
Modelling the use of new language, or re-modelling known language and extending it to match new content, is important for learning. Acquiring language through structured modelling involves:
teacher modelling (child watches and listens)
co-share modelling (teacher and child work together)
child modelling (leading the speaking, with teacher encouragement and support).
Modelling can be consolidated through playing quick games. Consider the 'Pass it on’ game:
‘Pass it on’ game
Start the game ‘Pass it on’ by passing a packet or object to one child, saying This is for you. Please take it.
The child takes it and gives it to another child repeating This is for you. Please take it.
The other child takes it as quickly as possible and says Oh! Thank you very much.
He or she then goes up to anyone in the class and says This is for you. Please take it.
The new child takes it as quickly as possible and says Oh! Thank you very much.
He or she then goes up to anyone in the class and says This is for you. Please take it.
This continues until the teacher says Stop.
The child who has the packet when the teacher says Stop is out of the game for one minute.
To begin with, the teacher has to support each child as he or she speaks to make sure the English is correct, but once the game is known it can be played with two or three different packets being passed round the room at once!
2.4.2 The inclusion of enabling activities
Enabling activities need to be closely linked to assessment if teachers are to take children to the next level and work within the child’s latest ‘zone of proximal development’ (‘ZPD’). Vygotsky defined ZPD as the gap between what children can do on their own without help, and what they can achieve with assistance from an adult or more able peer:
Teachers must plan effective, structured enabling activities to match the developing child’s need for new motivation and consolidation. Children have the ability to comment on their own work and are often aware of how well they and others have performed. Motivation plays an important role in achievement and to assess effectively teachers need to know how to react to growth and development of learners.
To achieve progressive learning, the teacher has to plan a programme which includes enabling activities as well as natural opportunities for repetition and reflective free play (or free-flow play). Teachers need to find ways to arouse curiosity in both girls and boys, whose interests can sometimes become markedly different as they mature.
2.4.3 The parents’ role
Teachers have to be wary of how parents describe their children, particularly parents’ perceptions of their children’s qualities and faults. Sometimes parents may say, in front of their children, She’s very shy. He’s not a good at studying. Even though some children ‘perform’ in front of their parents, to please them, the teacher should not automatically accept the parents’ description or the child’s behaviour in this situation. Instead, teachers should find out for themselves – it could be that the child may want to act quite differently in the environment of the English lesson.
Although the lower-primary child is now more independent, the same basic triangle of influence and support (parent, teacher, child) remains important in English acquisition. New discoveries innately motivate children to try and express their thoughts, imagination and feelings with others in English. Discovering the world at this age is exciting, and both parents and teachers need to arouse curiosity and enable, as well as inspire, the desire to explore.
2.5 Motivation and emotional literacy
Motivation is the most important factor in determining whether you succeed in the long run. What I mean by motivation is not only the desire to achieve, but also the love of learning, the love of challenge and the ability to thrive on obstacles. These are the greatest gifts we can give our students.
(Dweck)
Children need to be motivated if they are to continue to self-educate at their own pace and find meaning through self-discovery. They now understands new concepts, with adults mediating less and less, but need to be stimulated to use their self-language-learning strategies to acquire, understand and eventually use a wider range of spoken English.
To motivate we need to arouse curiosity in children. Curiosity is aroused by seeing something new, or something different from what they expected. This arouses their interest to find more out about it. Children have an internal need for consistency, and they look for things to fit into their cognitive map of understanding. When something does not fit in, it causes tension or ‘cognitive dissonance’, which innately drives them to find out more so they can resolve the inconsistency and fit the new information into their thinking. During this process children are focusing, exploring and learning at a deep level, which researchers liken to a ‘flow’ experience (see 1.5 (#ulink_aac2bcdf-47ce-5599-92fe-0e716097688d)). Highly curious people show openness to new ideas, as well as an innate drive to examine and learn, and therefore expand their own cognitive map.
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
(Einstein)
Motivation and ‘emotional literacy’ are closely linked, and together help to create the ‘feel-good factor’ which is vital for self-learning. Goleman talks about emotional literacy as being the ability to experience and manage emotions positively, as well as recognise emotions in others and show empathy. If children of this age are not yet emotionally literate, it can be difficult to motivate them – and if they are not motivated, little or no self-acquisition of English can occur.
A child with little emotional literacy still finds the following activities difficult: working in pairs, group discussions, persuading, leading. Young children want and need to feel liked by other children in the class if they are to feel good.
Motivation can be thought of as ‘intrinsic’, where children motivate themselves, and ‘extrinsic’ where motivation comes from outside (with the teacher igniting it by setting the scene for an enabling activity).
It is accepted that the emotional mind can override the rational mind.
(Anon)
To start to manage their emotions, children need to:
feel physically secure and safe within the classroom
feel the teacher understands and recognises their emotions
know the classroom routine, so they can predict the next activity
know some basic English to talk about their emotions
know how to read emotions in others (children and adults).
Children need to be able to describe their emotions and thoughts in English if they are to develop a sense of well-being. If they have no simple vocabulary in English to express their emotions and thoughts, they may hide them or resort to talking about them in L1. If the teacher is not bilingual, he or she may not be able to understand unless another child is able to translate, or a parent tells the teacher. Words for feelings and thoughts can be picked up from teacher-talk – this can be in the form of teacher modelling, or from a planned game that introduces basic feelings in a context which children understand.
Children are constantly watching behaviour and learning how to show and handle their emotions through modelling and mirroring the teacher and other adults, as well as other children close to them. Consider this example:
Discussing feelings
The teacher introduces words for describing emotions by cutting out cardboard face shapes and sticking them onto short sticks. Each cardboard face shape has a different facial expression drawn on it: a sad face, a happy face, a surprised face, an angry face, etc.
The teacher shows the faces and asks the children to say how each face feels. The children learn to say He’s happy. or She’s angry. etc. They also learn to answer the question Are you happy? with Yes, I’m happy. or No, I’m sad.
The teacher then plays a game with the children, calling out words to do with feelings and children have to choose the cardboard face that matches the word.
Good relationships with teachers and peers contribute to enjoyment. The teacher needs to include enabling activities in which children can work together. Children learn more from other children than from adults, since they are similar to themselves and easier to copy. However, they are constantly watching adults’ behaviour and learning from it how to manage their emotions.
Emotions, and the way we show them to those around us, are culturally linked. Teachers should be aware, for example, that in some cultures a smile or laughter can cover up embarrassment or may be thought of as rude or inappropriate behaviour in class. In some L1 classrooms teachers may not expect children to show their emotions, so children have to be reassured that talking about feelings is normal and acceptable in the English classroom.
Within different cultures the use of silence, facial expressions, laughter and body language varies, and this should be carefully considered by teachers if they are to teach holistically – that is, to help the whole child mature.
When thinking about the emotional development of children, teachers need to include activities that help them begin to balance their emotions, such as using co-reading picture books that can be discussed together as a class. Free play, including book browsing, also helps children to self-manage their emotions. This is evident in the case of children (often boys) who like to learn to read through science books or books about their favourite imaginary superheroes.
Children need a rich language environment if they are to acquire language to their full potential and feel motivated. Motivation depends on the teacher’s choice of structured enabling activities, appropriate to the interests and maturity of the children.
2.6 Monitoring and assessing
Regular assessing analyses the efficacy of activities and the teaching programme, as well as recording progress and highlighting the need for repetition and review. It is through regular assessment that teachers remain closely tuned-in to each child.
Children need to know that the teacher wants them to respond in English. To be responsive, they need to have no fear of making mistakes and need to be aware that mistakes can be used as an opportunity for learning. Children also need to know that the teacher understands risk-taking, and that he or she welcomes new suggestions and gives praise for effort. If children know that the teacher’s response will always be positive, welcoming and encouraging, they will feel secure and begin to be responsive and show initiative. This is the best way for children to achieve their full potential in English.
As the child becomes more independent and confident, and more capable of taking responsibility in the classroom, the child–teacher relationship evolves into one of friendly, mutual respect. The child feels he or she can rely on the teacher to show personal understanding, listen to interests, welcome creative ideas and encourage efforts.
The only good kind of instruction is that which marches ahead of development and leads it.
(Vygotsky)
The teacher’s role in helping learners reach their potential depends on the relationship with each child. For children to begin to develop their self-educating strategies, they needs to feel secure when taking risks and know that their opinions and efforts to learn are valued – by peers as well as the teacher.
The right kind of experience and support can help children to become confident, creative, motivated doers and thinkers so that the early years build a strong foundation for all they will encounter in the future.
(Stewart)
2.7 Teacher input
Interaction with adults through talk involves children in the adult’s ways of thinking, and children’s efforts to understand lead them to attempt to express similar meaning.
(Tough)
The child’s innate aim is to speak as much English as possible and be able to read and write quickly. The child will, if motivated, be keen to use all the English they know and will find it frustrating when he or she is unable to convey thoughts, emotions and creative ideas.
The tuned-in teacher’s role is to support children in achieving their goals by showing how and when to use English – bearing in mind this might be different from when and how their L1 is used. For example, in some societies please and thank you are used differently from how they are used in English. Teachers cannot expect children to know that speaking in the lower-primary English classroom is welcomed, when in L1 classrooms the teacher might be the only person who ever talks.
Although individual face-to-face contact is still important for conveying messages, lower-primary children can now follow the teacher when spoken to in pairs, groups or as a whole class. Spoken and written language needs to go beyond any actual text content – it needs to include the sharing of thoughts in order to help children begin to think of themselves as learners and critical thinkers. They need to be encouraged to initiate talking about their feelings, emotions and ideas. Children are innate communicators if they like the people they are talking to, and feel they are liked, too.
2.7.1 Teacher-talk
The use of voice is crucial to the success of a lesson. The teacher’s commentary throughout the lesson (on what is taking place, what has been achieved and what is coming next) is a key part of input for revision, as well as for new spoken language. However, lower-primary children working together in pairs or small groups may also begin to talk amongst themselves in English. The teacher should encourage this, recasting what children have said and repeating it so all the class can hear. Teachers need to be ready to develop and expand any language produced by the children. For example: Aisha says it’s very cold today but Abdul says it isn’t. What do you think?
It is important not to over-question children as they soon begin to feel the teacher is giving them a test. Where possible, questions should be open-ended rather than having only a Yes or No answer. Open-ended questions lead to children giving a thoughtful and meaningful answer. Teachers should use Wh- question words whenever possible (who, what, where, why, when, which, etc.), for example:
What do you think about …?
Which is the best one?
What if he fell?
Where do you want to go? To the seaside, a big town, or somewhere else?
That’s interesting. Why a big town?
The use of the teacher’s voice is crucial:
to convey a calm, warm, feel-good atmosphere
to motivate and remotivate
to make use of the Playful Approach
to socialise behaviour
to co-share in pair and group work
to mediate and introduce new language activities
to repeat target language
to express emotion
to encourage the use of English
to reassure that ideas are valued.
2.7.2 Management language
The structures used in managing classroom activities are more complex with lower-primary children than with pre-school children. Management language has developed to include other situations, such as children playing games themselves in small groups, or taking part in responsible activities like tidying up.
Management language might sound like this: Now it’s tidy-up time. Hannah is collecting the pencils so please give your pencils to Hannah. Have you got all the pencils, Hannah?
2.7.3 Mediating language
Mediating language can be used to introduce new formal literacy, or something brought to a ‘My secret’ session during ‘Circle time’ (see 6.3.1 (#litres_trial_promo)). Mediating language might be introduced as follows:
The teacher, during ‘My secret’, shows the children his or her favourite flower and introduces associated vocabulary, such as flower, stalk, colour, roots, etc.
The teacher links this vocabulary with honey, showing how a bee visits a flower.
She introduces buzz and bumble bee, so children can hear how the word buzz sounds like the noise the insect makes.
2.7.4 ‘Teacherese’
Teachers of young children often modify their speech (either by simplifying or including L1) when interacting with children who are still new to learning another language. This is known as ‘teacherese’. Once children have a basic grounding in spoken English the amount of ‘teacherese’ needed diminishes, except when the teacher is introducing new language in an activity or in formal literacy. Although language content has increased by lower primary, the basic ‘teacherese’ strategies for dealing with code-switching and error correction remain the same.
A focused ‘teacherese’ session in a face-to-face dialogue can help comprehension greatly, particularly when a teacher finds a child has not understood and needs to revisit a topic.
2.7.5 Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a method of brainstorming, but in sustained, shared way. It helps children to focus and become conscious of their concentrated thought. Scaffolding can be used to revisit something that a child has not fully understood. Lower-primary children are more mature and they can scaffold with the teacher as a pair, in groups or as a class.
Co-thinking is exciting and motivating; it challenges a child, pair or group and takes them on to the next level. Often suggestions for follow-up ideas at home are included, for example the teacher might say Look for a photo at home. Let’s make a class book about …
2.7.6 Repetition
Repetition gives a chance to try again. Children need to learn the saying If at first you don’t succeed try, try, and try again (a saying originally popularised by Thomas H. Palmer in his Teacher’s Manual). Children naturally do try and try again if they are interested and motivated. Watch them learning a skipping skill or repeating a physical game until they get it right! Teachers need to engage them repeatedly so they continue trying.
It takes time to build up a classroom routine and there are sessions when there seem to be steps backwards rather than forwards. This is normal in learning, and children may have absorbed more than outwardly visible in assessing.
(Stewart)
2.7.7 Tutor-talk
Hidden behind general teacher-talk is the planned, structured syllabus of the mechanics of language – these mechanics can sometimes be verbalised using ‘tutor-talk’. The use of focused mini-tutorials can help children make progress at their own speed. Tutor-talk, although planned, can be introduced at any time within a lesson and can even be introduced further times within a lesson if appropriate. The teacher could say Do you remember, I explained that this word means …
Quick tutor-talks can be used to revise a point introduced previously, to correct a recurring mistake, or to explain pattern variations. For example, the teacher might say It’s different this time. For this, we say … Do you remember I said before that …?
It is through tutor-talk that the foundations of formal literacy are built. Quizzes and games may help to further pattern recognition, and a repertoire of these and other activities will help to consolidate the content of these mini-tutorials.
Piaget believed that learning depended on a child’s readiness to learn. Vygotsky recognised a child’s ability to learn with help.
2.7.8 Self-talk
The teacher’s input can take the form of an external monologue of internal thinking. This form of ‘self-talk’ is quite usual among stressed adults who need to clarify their thoughts! Thinking through a problem, seeing cause and effect or weighing up risk is something children have to learn from adults. In self-talk teachers give more than a factual commentary – they reveal aloud how they actually think, feel and deal with a problem, in order to move towards making a decision. The teacher uses self-talk to show children how to think critically and sum up, before arriving at a choice or decision. If the decision is wrong, the teacher also uses self-talk to show how to go back and rethink, in order to arrive at a new decision or choice. For example, the teacher might say Do I go here or do I go there? Oh dear! That’s not right. I think I’ll go back to the beginning. If I do this, what will happen?
Through the teacher’s regular repetition of these thinking-aloud language structures, children can absorb the language of thought and gradually begin to use it. Children, when encountering a problem, often give external monologues which reveal they have learned how to work through a decision-making process logically. A child might say Let me think. Do I go here or do I go there? What if I do this? I’ll try again. I have a good idea. What do I want – this or that? This is better.
Once familiar with the basic language of thought, children begin to create their own personal thinking language, and may code-switch some words into L1. If this happens, the teacher needs to recast what the child has said in English.
Thought is internalised language.
(Vygotsky
3 (#ulink_623af465-a49b-582e-9bbb-4e3f0257fab9)
Listening to the maturing child (#ulink_623af465-a49b-582e-9bbb-4e3f0257fab9)
3.1 Self-educators (#ulink_29ffaaa6-9224-572a-87b1-baeeb2db5630)
3.2 Motivation (#litres_trial_promo)
3.3 Evaluating success (#litres_trial_promo)
3.4 Autonomy (#litres_trial_promo)
3.1 Self-educators
Helping children learn better is not the same as helping them become better learners.
(Claxton)
Young children are self-educators if they are provided with enabling experiences. From about 5 years old, many children show signs or wanting to do things for themselves. Many of them already want to become independent, saying things like Let me try. I can do it. They are active agents in their own learning and develop personal strategies to help them progress (including language-learning strategies, which – with adult help – they can reuse to acquire English).
By the age of 6, without being formally taught, children have managed to develop a range of self-learning strategies with which to learn many things. ‘Learning to learn’ involves knowing and being able to use these self-learning strategies effectively. Effective learning at this age forms the foundations for life-long learning.
Strategies are sequences of behaviour, which are developed to enable us to do things in more effective and efficient ways.
(Stewart)
By the age of 7, many of the self-learning strategies for acquiring language are in place, since children are by now fluent L1 speakers. Children who already read and write in L1 have also acquired some self-learning strategies for coded L1 literacy.
As teachers, we need to foster young children’s ability to self-learn, helping them to work out how to transfer their self-language-learning strategies to absorb English successfully. By now, children will already have unconsciously transferred their strategies to pick up spoken English, but they need help to do the same when learning how to read and spell and later create written English.
Learning to reuse and broaden strategies to acquire English cannot be taught by imposed instruction. Children have to explore and experiment for themselves, but they also need to be helped through focused tutor-talk explanations and modelling that they can imitate. Children need time to find out how to use their strategies to solve problems, self-manage and persevere to achieve progress.
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