The Role of Informal Interaction in Teaching English to Young Learners

By informal interaction is meant the exchange of ideas, using spoken English, between teacher and learners and among the learners themselves.

BilIows (1961) was one of the first language teachers to stress the fact that a language has no life in itself. 'It must live,' he wrote, ‘in the mouth of the teacher in relation to the activity and situation of the classroom. It is a social skill. In other words, the teacher must really be himself (or herself), talking to real people about real things and then training the pupils to talk to one another about real things.

The concern here is not with interaction that may be part of the formal planned part of the lesson (although any lesson with young learners is likely to include interactional activities like games or drama) but with ways in which the use of English can be encouraged for real communication outside the main pedagogic event of the classroom. The proposal is that it is the job of the teacher to provide learning experience that will help the children to use spoken English for real communication about matters of interest.  

There are four main content areas in most lessons:

1. Language

2. Procedure

3. Subject Matter

4. Life.

The first of these areas, Language, concerns those times when a teacher is explaining or illustrating the language, or when the pupils are asking questions about the language, are practicing pronunciation or structures. In most English classes nowadays, this part of the lesson is conducted in English.

The second, Procedure, concerns those times when the teacher is managing the class, explaining what to do next, how to do it and so on. Some teachers use English for class management and others use the children's mother tongue, at least in the early stages.

The third, Subject Matter, concerns those times when the language is being used to convey some specific topic as part of the lesson. For example, if the teacher tells a story called The Frog Who Got Lost, the subject matter is: the frog and its adventures. In this case the teacher's intention might be to illustrate the use of the past simple tense, but the content area of language used in that part of the lesson is not tenses but the tale of the frog. In the language classroom, this part of the lesson would be conducted in English.

The final content category, Life, concerns communication between teacher and pupils about real life matters - not directly about the lesson. This category embraces the type of questioning Barnes called "Social" as well as any other type of communication about the real world. Thus, for example, if the teacher directs a particular student to "Open the window", or asks another, who has nothing to write on, "Where is your note-book?", or genuinely asks another, “Is your brother playing football on Saturday?", he/she is using language to talk about the real world that is part of the learners' direct experience. In the majority of foreign language classrooms, this type of informal interaction is conducted in the mother tongue rather than in English.

Source: http://articles.famouswhy.com/the_role_of_informal_interaction_in_teaching_english_to_young_learners/#ixzz1wKqzsCea

Glossary:

                Pedagogic                        : pedagogis

                Intention                            : maksud

                Embraces                        : pelukan

                Genuinely                        : dengan tulus

Exercise:

1.      What is the fact that emphasized by Billows of the language?

2.      Explain what are the major content areas that are important in learning?

Requirements for Teaching Young Learners

Teachers need to work with their pupils individually and in groups developing relationships. They need to plan a range of activities for a given time period, and flexible enough to move on to the next exercise when they see their pupils getting bored.

Teachers should be able to choose an appropriate topic and derive from it a set of learning tasks which pursue subject matter appropriate to a given age-group; to plan the activities in sequence, taking into account both whole class and small group forms of organization and a variety of both language and study skills. After analyzing the language demands of the activities, in terms of the discourse, skills, functions, structures, lexis, pronunciation; as well as the language needs of the pupils, using the same kinds of category, teachers have to match these demands and needs in such a way as to pinpoint what the main language problems of the lesson are going to be.

Considering the young age, under the discussion, there must be provided language support where necessary as to develop an understanding of language processes in talk, listening, reading and writing. Beside of creating a wide range of activity types teachers should also permit the children to develop freer practice where they work independently of the teacher.

Another point of interest for teachers is how to raise children's motivation. It is not very hard to motivate children and to raise their enthusiasm if interesting activities are selected. This aspect should be treated with a lot of attention, because pupils' motivation can be lost easily: monotonous, apparently pointless activities quickly bore young learners and make them lose their interest. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that young learners' motivation is more likely to vary and is more susceptible to immediate surrounding influences, including the teacher. As a conclusion it can be said that teachers must always be aware of the particularities of the children they are working with and in search of new and interesting methods.

Source:http://articles.famouswhy.com/requirements_for_teaching_young_learners/#ixzz1wKpa7czZ 

Glossary:

        Derive                 : berasal

        Sequence              : rentetan peristiwa

        Independently        : secara mandiri

        Enthusiasm           :semangat

        Monotonous           : monoton

        Particularities        : khusus

Exercise:

1.      What should be done by student and teachers to develop their relationship?

2.      Why motivate the students is important to do by a teacher?

Teaching the Three Little Pigs to EFL Young Learners in Indonesian

Three Little Pigs was taught to EFL kindergarten students in Tainan City in Indonesian. All the students had already studied English in private language institutes. And therefore, pre-test and post-test were needed to understand how much students learned in our teaching experiment.

Before teaching, it took us, me and my teaching assistant, five weeks to prepare for this teaching experiment, including finding one appropriate fairy tale, designing speaking and listening tests for pre-test and post-test, contacting any school for participating in this experiment, and arranging teaching schedule. Moreover, we adapted our storybook to fit those young learners' English levels and designing lesson plans.

I recorded and observed the class by reflection notes, DVD, and students' scores from speaking and listening tests. In order to know the effect of this teaching experiment on young learners' English listening and speaking, a dependent t-test was utilize to reveal the difference between pre-test and post-test.

The Effects of Using Multiple Techniques on Teaching

In the practical teaching, the utilization of multiple teaching techniques in teaching repetitive sentence patterns and rhythmic refrains of the folktale had strong effect on teaching young learners English listening and speaking. It indicates that it is effective for teachers to apply multiple ways to present folktales in order that young learners would be interested in and be familiar with the story content. Firstly, students got great improvement in listening as well as in speaking. Furthermore, young learners were comfortable with familiar folktales, which could decrease their anxiety. Some students seemed very nervous before starting learning English. It was very obvious that they looked relaxed when they knew that they wanted to learn the story, Three Little Pigs.

In addition, the story interested young learners so that they would absorb themselves in the story content. For instance, every time when the puppet, the big wolf showed up, young learners were nervous but excited. They would be eager to talk and participate in class. They enjoyed imitating the voice of the big wolf, too.

Moreover, playing puppets could stimulate them to be excited and to be willing to participate in role-playing. When the teaching assistant played the puppets, students would particularly pay attention to her and do role-play with her. For instance, when she said, "Please give me some bricks. I want to...," they would automatically say, "build a new house."

Although some sentences were too long for young learners to learn, it was effective to break down long sentences into prosodic elements for students to learn. Then the students were taught to chant and sing, such as "In! In! Come in! Let me come in. Little pig, little pig, let me come in." "Puff! Puff! Blow your house down." They easily memorized and retained the content through chanting and singing. The finding supports that choral speaking/chanting is a safe way and an interesting activity (Cross, 1999; Cullinan & Galda, 1994; Hill, 1999; Richard-Amato, 1988; Rothlein & Meinbach, 1991).

Doing action, which young learners enjoyed very much, was also a stimulating tool to remind them of the content. With this fun action activity, they could be more familiar with the music and sing songs better. It's more fun than reading aloud only; therefore, young learners had such high participating in class. For example, when the teaching assistant played music, they would start to sing and do the action automatically.

Last, the teaching assistant helped the children to identify repetitive lines and to point out repetitive words. She further motivated children to recognize rhyming words and elicit them to reproduce the repetitive words by playing games.

Source: http://hadirukiyah2.blogspot.com/2010/01/teaching-three-little-pigs-to-efl-young.html

Glossary:

                   Fairy                            : dongen

                   Tale                             : cerita

                   Repetitive                   : berulang

                   Refrains                      : bagian ulangan

                   Folktale                       : dongen rakyat

                   Absorb                        : menahan

                   Imitating                     : meniru

                   Bricks                          : menembok

                   Elicit                            : memperoleh

Exercise:

1.      What is needed to understand how students learn in a teaching experiment?

2.      How long will it take to prepare for trial teaching experiment?

3.      What affect that caused the students to apply various teaching techniques of folklore?

Realia and Culture Content-Based English for Young Learners

Universities and high schools throughout Asia hire foreigners to teach the languages and the cultures of their home countries in content-based English courses. Many of those teachers complain that commercially produced language textbooks, especially those for culture content-based English language classes, are problematic. Common problems include inappropriate levels for the target group, insufficient focus on active language skills development, out-of-date information, and cultural topics that do not match the interests of the both students and teachers. Thus, teachers often end up creating their own teaching materials, but these materials may also have shortcomings due to the inexperience of the materials designer, a lack of other enthusiastic teachers to help with editing, and in particular a shortage of useful “realia” to use with or to be adapted for teaching materials.

However, the literature suffers from a serious lack of discussion regarding the connection between realia and culture and how best to use realia for teaching culture in content-based courses. In the culture content- based language classroom, realia can be utilized for a valuable teaching purpose that has not received enough attention in the ESL/EFL field. The realia can be considered to be a cultural object that is very useful for “cross-cultural analysis,” a way of studying similarities and differences among cultures. (Corsaro, 1992).

Culture includes “language, ideas, beliefs, customs, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, and works of art, rituals, and ceremonies, among other elements” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004, culture section, para. 1). Language is obviously an essential aspect of culture, but it is rarely taught or examined from a cultural perspective. Language is usually studied in isolation, yet teaching language points in the context of their cultural environment is optimal.

Source: http://yogiwardhani.blogspot.com/2011/10/teaching-english-for-young-learners.html

 

Glossary:

            Commercially              : menguntugkan

            Inappropriate               : tidak tepat

            Insufficient                 : tidak cukup

            Shortcomings              : kelemahan

            Shortage                      : kekurangan

            Obviously                    : dengan jelas

Exercise:

1.        What the common issues that complained by the teacher in English language books that have been produced commercially?

2.       What is involved in this type of culture?

3.       What are the benefits of realia?

Tips for using grammar games in class successfully

Organization.  The first thing you should do when start teaching a preschool or elementary school ESL class is to figure out how to organize your class.  For the younger students you'll want to change your activities every five to ten minutes because they have shorter attention spans.  If you don't change your activities, they'll soon start losing interest.  As you get towards the higher elementary grades, you can expand the time you spend per activity.  The best way to gauge this is to pay attention to your class for the first few days to see what length of time works the best for them.  Additionally, try to have everything ready to go before the students enter the classroom.  That way you can go from activity to activity with minimal downtime.  This is essential as you can lose control of the class if you do not keep them occupied.

Expectations.  If you notice that your class is getting noisy or rambunctious, it's time to change activities.  Kids of this age like to be active; in order to balance out the energy levels in the classroom, alternate between active activities and quiet activities.  

Variation.  You want to make sure your activities appeal to all sorts learning styles, so even when you are using games to teach grammar you'll want to very the types of things you expect your students to do.  For preschool and early elementary grades, stick to games that use talking, listening, looking and moving.  For middle and high elementary, you can continue to use games that use talking, listening, looking and moving and add in some games that use writing and reading.

Respect.  To make games work for you and your class, be sure to operate your class with the utmost respect - both to and from students.  This includes teaching your students from the very start that you expect respect at all times.  This includes giving encouragement and following the rules.

Routine.  Even if you only have your students for a short time every week, establishing a routine will help the class go smoothly.  Children of this age (preschool through elementary school) thrive on routine and if they know what to expect next, they will be more able to participate in what's going on now.  Set up a schedule for the type of activities you'll be doing at any given time throughout the class whether it is a game, story or song or whatever you want to do.  Then, when you are planning your class, plug in the appropriate activities to each section of time.  You should also leave a little time at the end of the class period to allow the students to clean up and gather their things as well as time for you to recap the class praise the students and tell them good-bye.

Nurture.  Perhaps the most important thing you can do with your students is to nurture them everyday.  For each child in your class, find something you like about him or her and be sure to tell him or her.  Be encouraging, patient and kind while playing games and participating in activities and they'll like you as a teacher and a person which will in turn help them get excited about your class and what you have for them to do everyday.

Source: http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_Grammar_with_Games_in_the_ESL_Classroom.htm

Glossary:

      Gauge             : mengukur

      Occupied          : sibuk/sedang di pakai

      Rambunctious     : suka ribut

      Encouragement    : dorongan

      Smoothly         : dengan lancar

      Nurture          : pemeliharaan

Exercise:

Find the modal verb on the grammar song that you heard here

_________ it be the shadow’s call will fly away

_________ it be you journey on to light the day

We ________ as well be strangers in another town

We ________ as well be living I another time

We ________ as well be strangers

I __________ get you out of my head

I know I _______ be what I want to be

You _________ sigh and you ________ cry

The show _________ go on my make up ________ be fading, but my smile still stay on

It _______ be love, love, love

__________ I stay or _________ I go?

Teaching vocabulary by using games to young learner

Teaching vocabulary to young learners as mentioned above is not easy. Young learners have special characteristics so they need more attention. It is different from teaching adults. Vocabulary is list of words with their meaning and it also consists of collection of words. There are many words that children have to understand and remember. To help the children easy to remind and understand the words, the teacher should be creative. He or she has to find a suitable method and interesting activities to make them enjoy when they are learning.

According to vale and Feunteun (1998:2) children have a lot of special characteristics in learning. Children as young learners have special needs. They will learn best if they are participated and their work are appreciated and they have an opportunity to experience and experiment by themselves. Children are like playing, so it is more useful if the teacher uses games as a method in teaching vocabulary to young learners. Games are interesting activities that will make the students enjoy and easy to acquire the lessons. The best interesting activities that the teacher can use to teach vocabulary to young learners is game. Aydan Ersoz stated that games are motivating the children in learning vocabulary because games are very interesting and amusing. Games are not only used in teaching vocabulary but also in all language skills and many types of communication.

According to Lee Su Kim, there are many advantages of using games in the classroom:

• Games can break the usual routine of the language class.

• Games can motivate and challenge the children in learning process.

• In learning a language needs an effort. Games help the students to make the effort of learning a language.8

• Games are providing the students to practice in the four skills of English that are speaking, reading, writing, and listening.

• Games help the students to interact and communicate.

• Games create a meaningful context in using language. In choosing a game, the teacher have to consider some things such as time, material, the topic of the lessons, and the students it self. In this case, the writer has specified what game that is suitable for 4^th grade students to learn vocabulary easily.

Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/40698294/Teaching-Vocabulary-by-Using-Games-to-Young-Learners

Glossary:

                 Suitable                     : pantas/cocok

                 Appreciated              : menghargai

                 Amusing                    : lucu

                 Routine                      : kebiasaan sehari-hari

                 Effort                          : usaha/upaya

                 Interact                      : bergaul

Exercise:

Improve your vocabulary by complete the vocab crossword that you watch in the video here 

Using flash cards with young learners

Ø  Why use flash cards?

Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class. Gardner's research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards can be bright and colorful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinesthetic learners.

For children at reading age, flash cards can be used in conjunction with word cards. These are simply cards that display the written word. Word cards should be introduced well after the pictorial cards so as not to interfere with correct pronunciation.

Flash cards are a really handy resource to have and can be useful at every stage of the class. They are a great way to present, practice and recycle vocabulary and when students become familiar with the activities used in class, they can be given out to early-finishers to use in small groups. I sometimes get the students to make their own sets of mini flash cards that can be taken home for them to play with, with parents and siblings. 

Ø  Where to get flash cards?

·         Buy them - Some course books provide a supplementary pack of flash cards or they can be bought in sets.

·         Make them yourself - If you don't have access to professionally produced flash cards, don't worry, it's really easy to make your own even if you're not very artistic. You can use pictures from magazines, draw simple pictures or copy from the internet or clip art. The most important thing is to make sure they are all of the same size, on card (different colors for different sets) so you can't see through them. If possible you can laminate the sets as you make them and they will last for years. The advantage of making your own, apart from the fact that they're cheap and yours to keep, is that you can make sets for your specific needs. You may like to make a set to use in conjunction with a story book or graded reader, or even to accompany project work.

·         Students make them - I have recently begun to incorporate the production of flash cards into the classroom. After introducing a new lexical set, using realia or the course book, ask students to produce the flash cards for you. Give each one an item to draw. They can be mounted on card to make the set.

Ø  Activities for using flash cards

I have divided the activities into the following categories: Memory, drilling, identification and TPR activities.

Memory Activities

·         Memory Tester

·         Place a selection of flash cards on the floor in a circle.

·         Students have one minute to memories the cards.

·         In groups, they have two minutes to write as many of the names as they can remember.

Drilling Activities 

·         Invisible Flash cards

·         Stick 9 flash cards on the board and draw a grid around them.

·         Use a pen or a pointer to drill the 9 words. Always point to the flash card you are drilling.

·         Gradually remove the flash cards but continue to drill and point to the grid where the flash card was.

·         When the first card is removed and you point to the blank space, nod your head to encourage children to say the word of the removed flash card.

·         Students should remember and continue as if the flash cards were still there. They seem to be amazed that they can remember the pictures.

·         Depending on the age group I then put the flash cards back in the right place on the grid, asking the children where they go, or I ask students to come up and write the word in the correct place on the grid.

·         This activity highlights the impact of visual aids. It really proves that the images 'stick' in students' minds.

Identification Activities 

·         Reveal the word

·         Cover the flash card or word card with a piece of card and slowly reveal it.

·         Students guess which one it is.

·         Once the card is shown, chorally drill the word with the group using different intonation and silly voices to keep it fun. Vary the volume too, whisper and shout the words. Children will automatically copy your voice.

·         Alternatively, flip the card over very quickly so the children just get a quick glimpse.

·         Repeat until they have guessed the word.

TPR activities 

·         Point or race to the flash cards

·         Stick flash cards around the class.

·         Say one of them and students point or race to it.

·         Students can then give the instructions to classmates.

·         You can extend this by saying "hop to the cat" or even "if you have blonde hair, swim to the fish" etc.

·         You can also incorporate flash cards into a game of Simon Says. "Simon says, jump to the T-shirt" etc.

Source: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/using-flash-cards-young-learners

Glossary:

            Appeal                         : menarik hati

            Proportion                   : perbandingan

            Kinesthetic                  : kinestetik

            Pictorial                       : bergambar

            Interfere                      : mengganggu

            Handy                         : berguna

            Siblings                       : saudara kandung

            Supplementary            : tambahan

            Laminate                     : memecahkan dalam lapisan tipis

            Incorporate                  : mencakup

            Mounted                     : berkuda

            Drilling                        : melatih/mengamuk

            Silly                             : konyol

            Glimpse                       : melirik

Exercise:

Fill the blank area in the following flash card, based on your listening here

v  A library is

A place where you ____________ books

v  A movie theater is

A place where you _________ movies

v  A park is

A place where you _________ with friends

v  A pool is

A place where you _________ swim

v  A post office is

A place where you _________ a letter

v  A restaurant is

A place where you _________ eat

v  A school is

A place where you _________ a lot

v  A supermarket is

A place where you _________ food

v  A toy store is

A place where you _________ toys

v  A train station is

A place where you _________ a train

v  A zoo is

A place where you _________ animals