senior teacher Tleubay S.T.

Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

TIPS FOR TEACHING ENGLISH FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

Teaching pre-school and kindergarten is full of both rewards and challenges. Teaching young learners English as a second language presents a unique set of challenges. Many teachers with experience in elementary and middle school classes feel lost when they first start teaching kids younger than six years old, and for good reason; young learners are at a completely different developmental stage and running such a classroom requires a unique set of skills and mindset. If you get any of the main points wrong, the kids will start misbehaving, crying, fighting, creating a long and dramatic day.

Listening is the receptive use of language, and since the goal is to make sense of speech, the focus is on meaning rather than language (Cameron 2001), Saricoban (1999) states that listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. For learners, listening is how spoken language becomes input (i.e., is the first stage of learning a new language). In the classroom, this happens by listening to the teacher, a CD, or other learners. It is the process of interpreting messages – what people say.

Two theories of speech perception portray listeners as having very different roles. In the first view, listeners play a passive role and simply recognize and decode sounds, and in the second view, listeners play an active role and perceive sounds by accessing internal articulation rules to decode speech (Crystal 1997).Whether speech perception is active or passive, or a combination of both, Phillips (1993) says that listening tasks are extremely important in the primary school setting, providing a rich source of language data from which children begin to build up their own ideas of how the foreign language works. This knowledge is the source that YLs draw on to produce language.

Listening is the initial stage in first and second language acquisition. According to Sharpe (2001), the promotion of children’s speaking and listening skills lies at the heart of effective learning in all subjects of the primary curriculum. Therefore, ESL/ARL teachers have to make development of children’s listening skills a key aim of primary teaching and equip them with the best strategies for effective listening.

Linse (2005) also considers the teaching of listening skills as foundational to the development of other language skills. We should, however, be aware that any kind of listening comprehension activity needs to be well guided with clear aims. To this end, Ur (1996) argues that a listening purpose should be provided in the definition of a pre-set task. The definition of a purpose (a defined goal, as in the “wake up” example) enables the listener to listen selectively for significant information. Providing the students with some idea of what they are going to hear and what they are asked to do with it helps them to success in the task; it also raises motivation and interest. The fact that learners are active during the listening, rather than waiting until the end to do something, keeps the learners busy and helps prevent boredom.

Most primary school teachers generally use songs as a teaching technique, and Cameron (2001) claims that the use of songs and rhymes is also important for YLs I foreign language classrooms. Likewise, Johnstone (2002) claims that teachers of YLs may make an important contribution to children’s early language education by introducing their classes to recorded songs. Demirel (2004) makes the strongest claim when he argues that the most effective way to teach listening comprehension, pronunciation, and dictation to YLs is through teaching songs.

According to Cullen (1998, 1999), songs are significant teaching tools in teaching ESL/EFL because, as most teachers find out, students love listening to music in the language classroom and they often hold strong views about music. This affinity with music makes songs vital tools to create a safe and natural classroom ethos and overcome feelings of shyness and hesitation on the part of the learners.

Because of their limited attention span, YLs need a variety of activities. YLs are often shy, and they should join in classroom activities when they feel ready rather than when the teacher demands an opportunity that songs create (Djigunovich and Vilke 2000). The learning characteristics of YLs also reveal a need to develop a strong emotional attachment to their teacher. Listen and Do songs support this attachment since the students and the teacher are physically involved in doing the same actions; that is, they share a common experience. The students’ education, including language education, is a process in which they should be encouraged to contribute physically, emotionally and intellectually. This type of learning environment is the best achieved when the teacher creates a safe, non-threatening context within which learners can play with language.

References

1. Cameron L. 2001. Teaching language to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2. Cullen, B.1998.MIsic and song in discussion. The Internet TESL Journal4(10). http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Cullen-Music.html

3. Johnstone, R.2002. Addressing ‘the age factor’: Some implications for language policy. Strasburg. France: Council of Europe