The Distance DELTA 2013

Extended Assignment:
Teaching English to Young
Learners
Teaching Young Learners (7-10 y.o)

Kateryna Kirichenko
18-Aug-13
EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

Contents
Part One............................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction: Why Young Learners? ............................................................................................................................ 2
YLs characteristics ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Bibliography...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Part Two. Needs Analysis ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Part Three Course Proposal.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Course Plan ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Part One
Introduction: Why Young Learners?
I have been teaching Young Learners (YLs) since the beginning of my English teaching career. I find it
challenging yet extremely rewarding. I have gained a lot of experience in this area of EFL and in the future
would like to become involved in material writing and teacher training, such as CELTYL.

When I moved to Oman I started teaching Arab children. This presented a big challenge for me because
this is the first time I teach children who don’t know English alphabet and have problems with reading and
writing. I have taught quite a few levels here already and noticed that across the levels and ages there are
a lot of students who even after they have learned to speak still can’t read. This makes learning the
language extremely difficult for them. Last year I went to TESOL Arabia conference where I learned that it
is a problem in other countries in the region too.

I will teach complete beginner YL classes again and I would like to be well-prepared. This is why I chose
specialism Young Learners (7-10 y.o).

YLs characteristics
Teaching YLs in general is quite different from teaching adults. S. Thornbury divides the special
characteristics of YLs into three groups – cognitive, affective and social. (Thornbury, 2006)

Below are some of the most important for English Teachers (based on my own experience and derived
from reading on the topic) characteristics of YLs and their implications on classroom practice and syllabus
design:

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

Cognitive:
 YLs are better at holistic rather than analytic language learning. Only as they get older, they
become able to deal with disembedded language. (Read, 2007).
Classroom Implication:
Teachers do not need to use metalanguage and explain grammatical rules. Most of the
time, the students simply learn chunks of language. They see language as a means of
communication, not as an abstract science. The only time when explaining grammar could
be appropriate would be if a more mature student asks about it and the explanation needs
to be as simple as possible. (Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg, 1990)

 Children of this age are still developing their knowledge of the world, concepts and
language (both L1 and L2).
Classroom Implication:
Activities need to be based on children’s experiences at home or at school. There should be
connection between what the children already know about the world and the language we
teach them so that they can talk about their knowledge and express their opinions.
Also, according to Vygotsky’s theory of Zone of Proximal Development - "the distance
between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving
and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult
guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86), we need to
design tasks within the ZPD so that children can complete them with appropriate support
from the teacher and/or peers.

 YLs have a short attention span. Children easily get bored and consequently disruptive in
class.
Classroom Implication:
They need shorter activities varied by pace, organisation, voice, movements, etc to keep
them engaged. All task need to be balanced in terms of demand and support. Halliwell
(1992) describes ‘stir and settle” activities that need to be taken into account to manage YL
classes successfully by alternating active and energetic activities with quieter, calming tasks.

 YLs have greater ambiguity tolerance. They are used to making sense of things without fully
understanding them.
Classroom Implication:
This can have both positive and negative effects on learning process. On one hand, they
don’t try to understand every word in the story but are satisfied with being able to
understand general meaning. On the other hand, it can present difficulties– children often
do activities without fully understanding them. This can easily go unnoticed by the teacher

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

(Cameron, 2001) and in long term cause problems when the teacher tries to build up on the
language he/she assumes the students already know.

Affective:

YLs are not self-conscious about speaking “incorrectly” or expressing themselves through
limited means. They have a great ability to use whatever language they have creatively to
communicate. They create words by analogy and often invent words. (Halliwell, 1992).
Classroom Implication:
Teachers need to create opportunities for the students to experiment and to provide
feedback.
 Children are intrinsically motivated. This means that they are motivated by engaging
activities and tasks rather than by extrinsic factors such as exams, parent’s wishes, etc. They
are pre-disposed to learning through playing and doing. This has been supported by many
EFL writers, including James M. Bourke (2006) and Cameron (2001).
Classroom Implication:
Games, projects, role plays, crafts, stories and other fun activities need to be included in the
lessons, and in the syllabus to make them experientially appropriate for the children
(Bourke, 2006)

Social:

 Children at this age still lack social skills.

Classroom application:
Group and pair work can be difficult to set up. Therefore it needs to be introduced gradually
and students need to have opportunities to work alone (Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H.
Ytreberg, 1990).

Bibliography
Bourke, J. M. (2006). Designing a topic-based syllabus. ELT J .

Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. CUP.

Halliwell, S. (1992). Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. Longman.

Read, C. (2007). 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Macmillan.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Macmillan .

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg. (1990). Teaching English to Children. Longman.

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

Part Two. Needs Analysis

Part Three Course Proposal

This course is a synthetic syllabus with topic-based, communicative and task-based syllables.

The decision to use these types of syllables comes from considering the students as individuals (this age group is
intrinsically motivated so topics of interest and hands-on tasks will provide the motivation; teaching children to read
would promote learner independence) and as members of a learning group (role plays and pair/group work would
make the language meaningful for them) (Tricia, 2000).

Since I haven’t been able to conduct needs analysis this Course Plan might be altered later when I have access to the
class. However, as it says in many documents, it is very hard to pinpoint the needs of children under the age of 12,
so I have chosen the topics following the text book we use at our school and the songs and stories based on my
experience.

Institutional requirements and constraints

The YL courses in our school are 24 hours, three hours lessons with two 10 min breaks, once a week. While I believe
that YL classes are more effective if they were more often and that 3 hours is probably too long for students of this
age, this is what it is in our school.

The YL programme in our school is based on Kid’s Box textbook series. Therefore the topics in my syllabus are from
the Kid’s Box 1 book, to ensure that the students are prepared for the next level.

Course Plan (draft)

Goals

By the end of this course the students will...

 be introduced to English language as a mean of communication

 be able to talk about topics of interest using vocabulary and structures provided
 be able to recognise basic phonemes of English language and start associating letters with sounds

Routine
Beginning: We all sit in a circle. Using the gesture sing the song:

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

Hello, hello, hello and how are you?

I’m fine, I’m fine,
I hope that you are too.

1. Teacher throws a ball to one student and says: Hello, how are you? S answers: I’m fine, thank you!
Use this to review other functional language or vocabulary. Repeat with others.
2. Song for fun. TPR. Can be used for review.
3. Phonics. Review and new. Games.
4. Writing practice – worksheet. Stand up, go to your desks. Give out stars for their
worksheets/drawings.
Break
5. New Vocabulary. In a circle with FCs and/or realia.
6. Stand up, go to your desks. Draw and write. Give out stars for their worksheets/drawings.
7. Sing a song.
Break
8. Read a story.
9. Vocabulary and games based on the story.
10. Craft or role play

Ending: Children pack their bags, clean the tables, put the chairs under the tables and line up at the door.
Song:
Good bye, good bye,
See you next time.
Teacher opens the door
NB all worksheet go into their portfolio folders

Lessons
1. Hello. How are you? What’s your name? My name is...
Active vocabulary: Numbers 1-10. How old are you? I’m 8. Pronouns I, You.
Writing: Your name (draw yourself and write your name. Put the pictures up on the wall). Also as a
diagnostic – what they can/can’t do, motor skills.
Passive vocabulary: How many? Children, girls, boys, teacher, picture.
Song: ABC song (YouTube video)

2. Review: Greetings and my name. Numbers.

Active Vocabulary: Colours. I like/I don’t like. It’s... (blue) What colour is it? Do you like...?
Passive Vocabulary: My favourite, grass, etc – from the story
Songs: Rainbow song to practice colours and Up, down song by C. Graham with TPR as a stir activity.
Story: Cat's Colors by Jane Cabrera
Phonics: CVC with A and U

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko

3. Review: Colours
Active Vocabulary: Animals (Bear, fish, panda, bird, cat, dog, horse, camel, frog, etc )
Passive Vocabulary: What do you see? I see a ...
Song:
Story: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By B. Martin, Jr.
Phonics: CVC with E and I

4. Review: Animals
Active Vocabulary: Actions. I can/ I can’t. Adjectives
Passive Vocabulary:
Song: I can dance (Panda song)
Story:
Phonics: CVC with O. Review all CVC.

5. Review: Animals and actions.

Active Vocabulary: Family. Pronouns he. she, they, we. This is my mother.
Passive Vocabulary: adjectives to talk about people. Hop, leaf, pond,- from the story
Song: We are family (Kids Box 1 DVD)
Story: Frog Family
Phonics: Magic E

6. Review: Family
Active Vocabulary: Toys. Doll, Train, plane, teddy, tablet, laptop, I’ve got.
Passive Vocabulary:
Song:
Story:
Phonics: CVC with p and b

7. Review: Family
Active Vocabulary: Foods.
Passive Vocabulary:
Song: from LearnEngish Kids website
Story: The enormous sandwich
Phonics: all phonics review

8. Course review

Materials:

Flash cards, story books, magnetic letters, CVC cards. realia, crayons

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EA Teaching Young Learners Kateryna Kirichenko