In the fall of 2004, I got a grant from the American embassy to do an online course at the University of Maryland entitled Teaching English to Young Learner with professor Joan Shin. Alot of people in my country underestimate distance learning. However in such a well-organized course I feel that I’ve worked and learned more than in any other course that I’ve taken in a classroom.
While I was working on this course I felt that I was on the right track regarding teaching young learners. I learned more about the characteristics of young learners and that gave me a deeper understanding of the approaches and activities to use when teaching them. I learned that young learners like hands-on activities and variation. The activities should stress on communication. Teachers shouldn’t focus on teaching the rules of grammar explicitly. What teachers can do to facilitate children’s learning of language rules is to expose them to many listening and reading activities and to give them the chance to interact and engage in meaningful language tasks to bridge the gap between knowing language rules and using them.
Second, when teaching vocabulary, teachers should use gestures, movements, facial expressions, flashcards, pictures, realia etc… Students should meet the word in different contexts and use it to ensure understanding. What was new here for me is that in my country we were taught that we shouldn’t ever use our native language when teaching a foreign language, while I learned that it is possible to do that. I also learned that students benefit a lot from the things they’ve learned in their native language. Moreover, stories are a great vehicle to teach young learners because they are motivating and they provide a context for language.
As to teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking, I learned that it’s a good strategy to integrate two of these skills in a lesson. I can start a lesson with reading or listening activities and then these activities will lead to speaking and writing activities. Of course, a teacher may focus her lesson on one skill such as writing. Anyways! When teaching any of the skills, a good way to start the lesson is to motivate students with a warm up activity. Then teachers should build students’ schemata by asking them personal questions and relating the content to their background knowledge. Students can also preview and predict what they’re going to read about. During this stage, teachers should pre-teach key vocabulary words. Students may guess the meaning of other words from context clues. Then students start reading. In this stage students read more than once. They discuss events and point to problems. In the after reading stage, teachers can start discussion circles in which they give a discussion starter and students discuss what they’ve worked on. During this stage, students may also revisit the text, work over grammatical structures and so on. Students may also write or present something based on their reading. As to teaching listening, the steps of pre-listening, during listening, and after listening should be followed. Teachers can use the top down or bottom up strategy to teach listening.
As to teaching writing, the teacher can follow the writing process. Students pre-write, write drafts, revise, edit, proofread, and finally publish their writing. Students may also write in the journals or do independent writing. It’s a good idea to display their work on the bulletin board or put them in the classroom library for others to read. Young learners need extra resources to read beyond their books. It is useful to start a classroom library and encourage independent reading.
Checking understating should be done frequently. To check understanding, teachers shouldn’t ask students questions like “Did you understand?” Checking understanding should be done through meaningful questions which are directly related to the objective worked on. Students may also produce a written work or do an activity to show their understanding.
As to planning there are certain elements of a good lesson plan. A good lesson plan must include clear behavioral measurable objectives, warm-up activities, presentation, practice, production, assessment and follow up activities. It is also good to mention the materials needed for implementing the lesson plan. It is beneficial to incorporate the five Cs of communication, culture, connections with other disciplines, comparisons with students, native languages and cultures, and use of the foreign languages in communities outside the classroom. So when planning lessons it’s better that they revolve around a common theme. Content – based instruction enriches foreign language teaching. It promotes higher levels of thinking, gives the students the opportunity to use the language in a meaningful context, and provides a framework for teaching language.
As to the strategies to teach language in the classroom it’s good to vary the instructions. The teacher shouldn’t rely solely on teacher – student or teacher – class interactions. Pair work and group work should be used as often as possible. Studies showed that cooperative learning has a great effect on promoting achievement and language acquisition. Thus it should be used as often as possible.
This is a summary of the things I have learned in this course. In it I have mentioned things related to my students profile. If I have to write that I have learned in this course, I wouldn’t stop. I feel that I’ve developed a philosophy for teaching young learners and have professionally grown a lot and although there’s still much to learn and grow by.
While I was working on this course I felt that I was on the right track regarding teaching young learners. I learned more about the characteristics of young learners and that gave me a deeper understanding of the approaches and activities to use when teaching them. I learned that young learners like hands-on activities and variation. The activities should stress on communication. Teachers shouldn’t focus on teaching the rules of grammar explicitly. What teachers can do to facilitate children’s learning of language rules is to expose them to many listening and reading activities and to give them the chance to interact and engage in meaningful language tasks to bridge the gap between knowing language rules and using them.
Second, when teaching vocabulary, teachers should use gestures, movements, facial expressions, flashcards, pictures, realia etc… Students should meet the word in different contexts and use it to ensure understanding. What was new here for me is that in my country we were taught that we shouldn’t ever use our native language when teaching a foreign language, while I learned that it is possible to do that. I also learned that students benefit a lot from the things they’ve learned in their native language. Moreover, stories are a great vehicle to teach young learners because they are motivating and they provide a context for language.
As to teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking, I learned that it’s a good strategy to integrate two of these skills in a lesson. I can start a lesson with reading or listening activities and then these activities will lead to speaking and writing activities. Of course, a teacher may focus her lesson on one skill such as writing. Anyways! When teaching any of the skills, a good way to start the lesson is to motivate students with a warm up activity. Then teachers should build students’ schemata by asking them personal questions and relating the content to their background knowledge. Students can also preview and predict what they’re going to read about. During this stage, teachers should pre-teach key vocabulary words. Students may guess the meaning of other words from context clues. Then students start reading. In this stage students read more than once. They discuss events and point to problems. In the after reading stage, teachers can start discussion circles in which they give a discussion starter and students discuss what they’ve worked on. During this stage, students may also revisit the text, work over grammatical structures and so on. Students may also write or present something based on their reading. As to teaching listening, the steps of pre-listening, during listening, and after listening should be followed. Teachers can use the top down or bottom up strategy to teach listening.
As to teaching writing, the teacher can follow the writing process. Students pre-write, write drafts, revise, edit, proofread, and finally publish their writing. Students may also write in the journals or do independent writing. It’s a good idea to display their work on the bulletin board or put them in the classroom library for others to read. Young learners need extra resources to read beyond their books. It is useful to start a classroom library and encourage independent reading.
Checking understating should be done frequently. To check understanding, teachers shouldn’t ask students questions like “Did you understand?” Checking understanding should be done through meaningful questions which are directly related to the objective worked on. Students may also produce a written work or do an activity to show their understanding.
As to planning there are certain elements of a good lesson plan. A good lesson plan must include clear behavioral measurable objectives, warm-up activities, presentation, practice, production, assessment and follow up activities. It is also good to mention the materials needed for implementing the lesson plan. It is beneficial to incorporate the five Cs of communication, culture, connections with other disciplines, comparisons with students, native languages and cultures, and use of the foreign languages in communities outside the classroom. So when planning lessons it’s better that they revolve around a common theme. Content – based instruction enriches foreign language teaching. It promotes higher levels of thinking, gives the students the opportunity to use the language in a meaningful context, and provides a framework for teaching language.
As to the strategies to teach language in the classroom it’s good to vary the instructions. The teacher shouldn’t rely solely on teacher – student or teacher – class interactions. Pair work and group work should be used as often as possible. Studies showed that cooperative learning has a great effect on promoting achievement and language acquisition. Thus it should be used as often as possible.
This is a summary of the things I have learned in this course. In it I have mentioned things related to my students profile. If I have to write that I have learned in this course, I wouldn’t stop. I feel that I’ve developed a philosophy for teaching young learners and have professionally grown a lot and although there’s still much to learn and grow by.
No comments:
Post a Comment