Ongoing observation task
Strategies to teach very young learners (preschoolers and first graders)
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When introducing new learnings, the age of students plays a significant role to the process: learners’ previous knowledge, abilities and skills may differ enormously. It is necessary to know well the starting level of our learners, and try to adapt to their possibilities.
It is clear that, as Phillips (1996) exposes, young children are more holistic learners. This means they use the language when they find a purpose for it, according to what it does or what they can do with it. As a result, activities have to be contextualised, and need to have a clear outcome. For example, young learners may be engaged to sing a song if they are going to perform it in front of their families, or to learn the necessary vocabulary to then play a game they love. Not only that, but the topic has to be appropriate for students’ age: activities which refer to things that can happen to them in their daily lives will be more appealing. Topics such as having a wobbly tooth, going to school or getting ill are just some ideas to start developing linguistic learnings.
Additionally, the activities should be simple, so the kids can clearly understand what they should do and are able to achieve them without developing an extra effort. Examples of simple activities are games they previously kow (memory, jigsaw, bingo…), relating activities, or those involving colouring. Language activities for young learners are generally grounded on the development of oral expression and comprehension. Since they are not able to read and write, even in their home language, it is recommended to start by establishing the basis and from there include more complex learnings.
Activities such as Total Physical Response (TPR), arts and crafts, drama, vocabulary games, storytelling or songs are the most appropriate, since are easily developed and stimulating for kids, because what they miss from the linguistic part can be understood thanks to images and movements.
Regarding the role of the teacher, he/she has to provide short and clear instructions, and use supports to make him/herself understood: gestures, facial expression, images, drawings and more importantly, lots of repetitions to make sure new learnings are well acquired. Moreover, the teacher has the important role to encourage learners to keep practicing and improving, and to stimulate them to enjoy and to maintain the interest for the learning of English.
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Awesome teaching strategies to get the silent student to speak
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When we are Primary Education students, having to talk in front of a whole class may definitely seem intimidating for some of us. Besides, other factors such as demotivation or personal problems may contribute to not participating orally in the class. As teachers, what we need to do is to address this student individually and try to know which is the reason for his/her silence; only by knowing the problem we will be able to provide the appropriate solution. Besides, the teacher has to be constantly supportive, encouraging and motivating.
To get a silent student to speak in a whole group conversation, it is preferable to start by asking him/her to speak in small groups. Working in groups where each person has a role contributes to having all learners participate actively. Likewise, pair activities are an appropriate starting point. An interesting example is reading in pairs, where learners have either the role of tutor or tutee for reading a text. Students not only improve their reading skills, but have to provide feedback to each other, and thus oral communication is promoted as well.
Oral presentations are another good strategy to make students speak. Oral presentations provide learners with a support to their speaking practice, and they have time to practice and therefore gain confidence on their domain of the subject. If the learner displays difficulties on understanding what is expected from him, it is sure he/she would not speak. To solve this issue, the teacher may provide models of the task the student has to perform, so he/she has an example to understand what has to be done and therefore feel more secure.
Once the shy student gains confidence and interests and starts to express him/herself within the group, we should maintain our support, as Verner (n.d.) suggests. Firstly, it is key not to urge him/her to speak. Silences are necessary during conversations, and are not a bad sign; learners need time to organize their ideas and see how they are going to express themselves. We should not aim at having a class constantly speaking, because this will only put more pressure onto learners and make them feel insecure. Besides, we have to be aware of over corrections. When a learner has to express him/herself in a foreign language it is undeniable that he/she may make mistakes. As teachers, we have to make sure our learners acquire the language appropriately, but correcting to many aspects of our student’s speech will definitely make him/her feel insecure. Rather, it is better to focus on just one aspect to correct (pronunciation, content, grammar…).
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Phillips, S. (1996). Young learners. Bristol: Oxford University Press.
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Verner, S. (n.d.). 8 Simple Tips to Encourage Student Participation During Group Discussions. Busy teacher. [online] Retrieved from: https://busyteacher.org/10061-8-simple-tips-encourage-student-participation.html
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