Магистрант
Калыбекова Н.И., к.п.н. Тургинбаева Л.В.
Региональный
социально-инновационный университет, Казахстан
Южно-Казахстанский
государственный педагогический институт, Казахстан
FOREIGN
LANGUGE LEARNING IN PRESCHOOL SETTING
The early childhood
years represent a critical period in learning and development. At this age,
children are very receptive to learning a second language. Ideally, for
effective language learning to occur, a stimulating and rich linguistic
environment is required. Thus, children need to be given many opportunities to
be actively engaged and interact with others. This can be quite a challenge in
the foreign language classroom, as typically children learning in this context
have little exposure to the language outside of the classroom. One way to
remedy this is to utilize project-based learning to enhance foreign language acquisition by giving children
opportunities to interact with each other in the setting in which they explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously
developing language skills while working in small collaborative
groups, therefor creating language-rich environment [1]. Young children are
born learners. They love to explore and soak in new experiences. Preschool
teachers can use projects to enhance children’s natural curiosity, because project-based
learning is filled with active and engaged learning, it inspires preschool
children to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying.
Research also indicates that preschool children are more likely to retain the
knowledge gained through this approach far more
readily than through traditional textbook-centered learning. In addition, preschool
children develop confidence and self-direction as they move through both
team-based and independent work.
In the process of
completing their projects, children also hone their organizational and research
skills, develop better communication with their peers and adults, and often
work within their community while seeing the positive effect of their work.
Project learning is also
an effective way to integrate technology into the curriculum. A typical project
can easily accommodate computers and the Internet, as well as interactive
whiteboards, digital still cameras, video cameras, and associated editing
equipment.
Adopting a
project-learning approach in your classroom or school can invigorate your
learning environment, energizing the curriculum with real-world relevance and
sparking students’ desire to explore, investigate, and understand their world.
Lower an activity for preschool learners is presented
as an example:
The Happiness Cake
1. Ask everyone to think for a moment about the ingredients for happiness.
Tell everyone to imagine they are going to bake a happiness cake. What
ingredients and what spices would they put in? Ask them to work alone and write
down the ingredients and spices for their cake. Allow five minutes for this.
2. If you have a small class, ask each member in turn to tell the others
about the ingredients and spices for their cake. You tell them your list last.
If you have a larger class, divide it into groups of six to dozen, and get them
to do the same. Monitor the groups and when they have finished, ask them to
report back to the whole class. Again tell them your ingredients and spices
last.
Project-based learning has
advantages like the increased motivation when learners become personally
involved in the project; all four skills, reading, writing, listening and
speaking, are integrated; authentic tasks and therefore the language input are
more authentic; interpersonal relations are developed through working as a group;
learners often get help from parents for project work thus involving the parent
more in the child’s learning; if the project is also displayed parents can see
it at open days or when they pick the child up from the school; a break from
routine and the chance to do something different [2].
The disadvantages of project work are the noise which is made during the
class, also projects are time-consuming and the young leaners use their mother
tongue too much, the weaker children are lost and not able to cope with the
task and the assessment of projects is very difficult. However, every type of
project can be held without any difficulties and so with every advantage
possible [2].
The organization of project-based learning seem may be difficult, but if
teachers do it step by step it should be easy. They should define a theme,
determine the final outcome, structure the project, identify language skills
and strategies, gather information, compile and analyze the information,
present the final product and finally evaluate the project. Project-based learning demands a
lot of hard work from the teacher and the young learners; nevertheless, the
final outcome is worth the effort.
Nevertheless, it can be seen that project-based learning has more
positive sides than negative and is effective during the educational process. Preschool
learners are likely to learn a foreign language with the help of projects and
have more fun.
To conclude, project-based
learning is effective, interesting, entertaining and should be used in preschool
setting.
Литература:
2. Project work in English language teaching. [
Дата обращения – 23.01.2017]: http://project-work-in-english-teaching.blogspot.com/2011/10/project-work-in-english-teaching.html