GROWING UP WITH LITTLE LEARNERS
Our little children are constantly growing up in height and in knowledge, and we, as teachers are part of that development. Teaching very young learners gives you the opportunity to grow, professionally and personally talking, as you have and learn new experiences that provide you certain knowledge not only about how children learn, but also about children in general, behaviours, abilities, disabilities and ways to improve and deal with them. And, this is what out topic refers to.
Education is an important key in life, a key that should be given to us since we are little kids. In this blog we focus on some tools that can make teacher's activities more successful and effective. As we know, teachers face many difficulties when teaching very young learners, so in this blog you can find some tips that you can practice and include in your lesson plan.
In this record we let you know more about children's behavior and how to deal with them by putting into practice the knowledge about DEL. Also, you can find some tips to know what to do when things go wrong in class, children's behavior, lesson plan, and more information that can help teachers in order to improve the way they teach.
Planning is very useful for
all Teachers as it allows them to make a well organized program about the
classes, topics, practices and evaluations, considering in advanced the time
they will take and thinking about possible troubles they might affront while
performing them. The most useful and important part in the lesson plan when
teaching VYL is the presentation of the grammar notes and vocabulary as they
have to carefully design the activities which they will use for the students to
have a good understanding about what is being taught.
Planning a lesson brought
for us a new great experience that even when it was kind of complicated to
carefully think not only about the best ways to teach the topics, show and
practice the grammar section, but also think in the advanced visualization of
any inconvenient we might face, it was really nice to plan a class thinking on
the kids and their reactions at developing the activities.
Both types of education have
benefits for students. Some advantages of online education are: they have a
flexible schedule, self management, they are able to monitor their own study
and media learners, maybe they learn better by watching videos.
Traditional teaching have
some advantages too: face to face classes where they can interact directly with
teachers, they can be in a peaceful place and pay more attention. There is also
an important fact about traditional classes, and it is that students do not
need to have internet connection to attend their classes. Students use internet
in order to research extra information for their homework assignments for
example, but not as if they had to be online for attending classes.
Both methods can be together
when we teach; it is just a matter of balance.
The most obvious salient
trait of NEST is their English language, of course because they are natives
speakers they have a natural intonation, rhythm when they speak, also they are
rich in vocabulary. They have many phrasal or idioms in their mind that they
can use whenever they want without doubting, but NON-NEST have some
difficulties when they want to talk in a colloquial way because our mind have
think as quick as possible to talk and sound natural without troubles. I am not
saying that NON-NEST are not good enough, but they have to make a hard work and
have a lot of experience to make it better that a NEST speaker.
NON-NEST speakers know more
about grammar because they had to learn the structure of every single sentence
first in order to speak well, on the contrary NEST speakers talk correctly
because they learn in that way but when they realize about what are they
talking maybe they don’t know which structures they are using. Sometimes
learners can have problems when they are learning and NEST don’t consider those
as difficulties, unlike NON-NEST have gone through the same process they
understand very well that feeling and try to help students with pieces of
advice.
Children usually are very
enthusiastic, happy, energetic and kinesthetic, and the ones I know definitely
are like that. There are just some who behave differently, probably because
they are shy, but most of them behave as I first described. I see my little
neighbors, for example, most of them love playing soccer, riding bikes, and
running from side to side. They talk and ask about anything they like or do;
however, they also like to play with electronic devices such as Nintendo, Wii,
Play Stations and for sure, cell phones, tablets and computers where they can
find different types of applications. Nowadays, children have a variety of
entertainment sources, and they definitely know how to take advantage of them.
Generally, children are very
curious and, as the chapter says, they usually ask about everything they see.
Also, they have knowledge about the limits between the real word and an
imaginary one according to their ages; the little ones still believe they are
or can become super heroes and some others already know that super heroes only
appear in science fiction stories and movies; children I know are as the chapter perfectly
describes. I used to have the opportunity to spend time with children on
Saturdays because of the church, and I could prove how energetic children are
and how entertained they get when we teachers look for activities that are
according to their ages and environment. As the chapter mentions and divides
children stages based on their ages, they live, learn, see, act and react in
totally different ways.
By Fernanda Flores
Most of children that I know
are really imperative, they like to talk a lot about what they do, and also,
they have a lot of energy every day as if they never get tired. For example, around
my house live many children of different ages, but I can see some differences
between every age of the children of my neighborhood. Some the youngest
children every afternoon are running or playing with sand and wet earth, but
older children prefer technology that they don’t like to play too much with
other children and they only play online video games or spent most of the time
on internet, YouTube, and other apps. They are really smart using cell phones
or tablets that I can say they know more than me about that. Some of my little
friends like to talk to me about their daily routine and about what they watch
on the TV, I usually like to explore their imagination by asking many questions
but the answers are different depend on the age they are. In other hands,
people call children naughty because they like to touch or take whatever object
around them, but I prefer call them curious, maybe they are learning by
touching because of the interest they have in some objects. Learning doesn’t
mean memorize paragraph or something like that. In Montessori Method children
are free to do whatever and learn by themselves and the teacher is only a
guide.
The characteristics of the
chapter are similar to the ones I can see in the children that I know, for
example kids around 8 to 10 years are able to explain to you about how people
act in the society, also they can understand your point of view about life
easily and difference the fiction and the reality, but really young people
cannot understand you very well about what are you asking for. Some children
prefer to play or work alone and they don’t like to have too much relation with
others. In each group of children, there is a lider that give instructions to
the others even if they don’t know that are liders. They have the capacity to
plan activities like games and explain the rules to the ones that don’t know.
They are learning and taking roles into small groups of people even if they
don’t realize what are they learning.
Listening
As children love moving
around, for the listening activity we would choose a mime story. As we all
know, this activity requires not only the students, but also the teachers to do
the actions described in the story, so we would catch their attention and keep
them attentive to the story we tell them due to the mimes they are ask to do
and might be excited to perform from the story.
Oral
work
Role plays are one of the
most enjoyable activities developed by children, and one of the most effective
as well. By performing role plays not only do children orally practice the
vocabulary and structures, but they also interact with their classmates at the same
time they learn how to work like a team and take roles that help them getting
ready for their social lives as they are growing up.
Reading
For the practice of reading skills, it is very useful to use “Reading aloud” activities since it bring more benefits than “Silent reading” activities. If you wonder why, well, it is because at the time children read aloud they are more likely to be helped by the teacher in case the can´t pronounce any words. Also, it is a way to help students lose the embarrassment of speaking in public since they are VYL, and brings to them a lot of more confidence on themselves.
Writing
Taking into account that
sometimes it can look kind of boring for students, for writing practices is
better to combine two activities into one, so that it can look ore attractive for them. For example, we can
mix a “Copying book” exercise and a “Fill-in” one. What we would do to make
them work together is to first give the students a piece of writing for them to
transcribe it to their notebooks; this would help students not only to get
familiarized the way words are written, but also to take a look at the tenses
and sentences structures they are given. After they have rewritten them,
students would be given one more piece of writing which should be the same
piece they were given before, but with blanks to be filled up with them with
the suggested verbs; in here, by having a previous experience with the text
they should be able to identify with tense and verb form needs to be used. In
that way you are making a double practice of their writing skills and keep them
more attentive to what there are writing.
The class went out of control: This is one of
the most common difficulties when you are teaching because if you don’t have a
balance with the students you are going to lose the control easily. Why a
balance? Maybe you like to teach in a funny way, but teachers have to know when
the appropriate chance to do it is. You cannot be too much flexible with
students because they are going to be disrespectful with you, but also you
cannot be too much serious because they are not going enjoyed with people they
don’t like. Teachers must have to leave
personal problems outside the classroom and try to be relaxed during the class,
also maintain a clear and orderly environment inside. Another thing teachers
can do is to clarify to the students which things they are able to do and which
ones are forbidden. Teachers have to take into account that students need
personal space because sometimes is tedious when someone is controlling you, so
it is a matter of balance. If your class is completely out of control you can
make an attractive activity that calls everyone´s attention, after that
continue with the lesson plan.
An activity took too long: when an activity
takes more time than the one teachers established in the lesson plan, I think
the best option is to finish it because you had established the objectives of
that activity. If you think those objectives are really important that students
need that activity in order to understand relevant information, you must have
to finish it because they are going to learn even if you have to explain fast
other topics that are easier to understand. On the contrary if the activity is
funny and people enjoyed it as well, but you are not teaching important things
with that you must cut it and tell the students you are going to make this
activity next day, then you can continue with the next step of the lesson plan
to get the objectives which ones you expected before.
An activity did not work: teachers have to plan the
activities with a lot of anticipation and take into account which resources
they are going to need to perform that in the classroom, also they have to
anticipate possible problems that can happen and their solutions for each of
them. In case the activity doesn’t work, teachers have to prepare the plan B,
and also a plan C. If those plans don’t work too, teachers have to use their
creativity and improvise something that interest the students, for example
people like the challenge, so teachers can make an activity challenging their
students. Another think that catch the attention is the mystery because they
are waiting for what will happen.
An activity was too difficult: First at all,
if teachers are going to perform an activity with their students they have to
try it many times before as if they were children, and check that it is
possible to finish. If the teacher couldn’t finish that activity, students are
not going to do it too, so it is better change it. When you perform the
activity before you are able to see which steps students need in order to
finish it. You can tell them which part of the activity is easier and start
with that giving them pieces of advice how to be successful. Another thing is
not get frustrated if they cannot do it, because this can cause them stress and
give up. A price is one of the best ways to keep the motivation of the
students. Motivated students are able to search some little strategies that can
help them to complete something, and this strategies help them to understand
better.
This
tips are important and I think some of them can help when you are teaching because
all the time you are going to find some complications in the classroom and
teachers have to know how to solve those difficulties. For example when
children are not paying attention you can make a little interesting activity to
catch their attention. If an activity is too difficult, the teacher can replace
it with another easier for children.
There was an external disturbance: There are some events organized by the school principal and coordinators that are usually communicated to the teachers until the last moment such as fumigation, a simulacrum and that type of activities which can definitely affect the development of the class and the activities you have planned. For this, I suggest people to have some extra activities that include more than one skill ready for these situations.
The class went out of control: We have said in previous statements that children are enthusiastic and energetic, so that is a necessary fact to be taken into account at the time of planning our classes because that might make the class go out of control. If there is something I would definitely count with for this type of situations is a couple of beautiful puppets. There are too main reasons why children run out of control: they are too bored that they desperate and start walking, shouting and playing around the classroom or they are too excited and full enthusiasm. What matters the most is that both cases can be fixed in the same way: calling their attention with anything them entertaining. As I said, I would use puppets, my suggested activity is to use them to tell a catchy story so that they can sit all together in a circle and listen to the story, preferably about animals for you to make the animals sounds and ask your little students to imitate them as well. There’s no child who can resist to this type of activities.
An activity took too long: When an activity is taking too long, you, as a teacher, need to make a decision rather you stop it and complete it later or you continue until finishing; based on the importance and effectiveness it brings to the comprehension of the topic. In case it were not the necessary to finish it in that moment and see that students have already understood the dynamic of how to do it, I would ask them to bring it as a homework for the next class.
You have extra time: Sometimes things do not result as you’ve planned and it can be attributed to different reasons; students finish the activity before than expected for example. You can take advantage of it and develop a different activity making a deeper practice in the topic, it is pretty important that you count with an emergency group of extra activities. For example, playing the hot potato is a good way to leave the stress from spending the class with grammar notes and other activities, and at the same time you continue practicing by penalizing students with questions related to the topic seen.
The activities we would use
are:
Hand puppets: Puppets
are very useful and appropriate for performing dialogues as they catch the
students’ attention while they indirectly or directly learn the structures and
new vocabulary. We would use these puppets to perform a role play in which we
make use of the structures required to have a better comprehension of the tenses
that are being taught, also by using time expressions and phrases to make a
complete sense among sentence and structures.
Card games:
Card games are very entertaining for children, and also a perfect way to catch
their attention on new vocabulary, for example. For this, we would divide the cards
into two groups, one group with images and the other one with the names of the
nouns or verbs performed in the images. This game would be played as a memory
game in which the two groups of cards would be placed disordered on a table and
the students would have to look for the pairs by associating the images with
their corresponding names.
Word-sentence cards: Also by playing this game we can see and consider how much students have learned and understand the use of structures and tenses. We create sentences and separate them into words only. Then, we give them to the students in a disordered way so that they can put them in the correct order and form the sentences.
|
Tool |
Useful |
Useless |
Reason |
|
Puppets |
x |
|
They are entertaining and useful for teaching. |
|
Class mascot |
x |
|
They are good to use in classes as children love toys. |
|
Paper dolls |
|
x |
It’s better to use dolls and clothes from other material for this type
of activities as the paper ones might be ruined more easily. |
|
English corner |
x |
|
Having an English corner makes the students have a little place in
which they can know about more about English and American culture. |
|
Cardboard boxes |
x |
|
They can be used by students as a way to collect and keep the new
vocabulary they learn. |
|
Picture cards |
x |
|
Students associate pictures to nouns and learn them faster. |
|
Card games |
x |
|
They improve their memory not only at choosing the correct ones in the
game, but at remembering through the cards how objects, food, countries, etc,
are named. |
|
Board games |
x |
|
Board games are usually used to relax, but they also can be useful for
teaching vocabulary and tenses structures. |
|
Word/sentence cards |
x |
|
They are very useful for beginners and you can tech them common
phrases and sentences by using all this type of cards. |
|
Transparencies |
x |
|
It is useful to save space and keep information for our students if we
count with the required technological device. |
|
Calendar |
x |
|
At the same time you show importance on special days, you make
students get more familiarized with dates, culture and celebrations. |
|
Clocks |
x |
|
Students play and learn moving the hands of the clock and telling
their little classmates what time it is and how they can move from hour to
hour. |
1. The young language learner because you need first to know your students
and this chapter tells you about that, about common behaviours children
have and an idea of what you might expect from your students. Also,
by knowing your students you can choose the activities you will develop
for them to better understand considering that they will be the most accurate
for them.
2. Topic-based work as you cannot teach and practice things which are
out of context and do not match with each other. You need to plan your
activities acoording to the topices, tenses and themes you have chose for your
class since the very bignning.
3. Planning your work, it is true that from time to time you need to improvise due to some issues that you just cannot manage, but it doesn´t mean that you won´t plan your classes. Before you start a class you must have a clear idea about what you are going to teach. You even have to take into account the possible inconvenients you mighyt have to affront during the class like the ones we mentioned some points above.
In my opinion Didactics of the English Language give us the opportunity to learn how to understand student needs, problems, how they feel and all the difficulties you can face inside and outside the classroom. Some people can think this subject is not too much important or you don’t have waist too much time thinking in this. But for me to become an English Language Teacher you must know how people act, which problems you have to work with, which role you have in the student´s life. I learned that this subject has the same importance as grammar or any other subject in this mayor because if you have a lot of knowledge about grammar and structures, but you don’t know how to treat people, the enthusiasm you have to put in every class, you are not going to be an efficient teacher. I can see myself as a teacher in a near future and I would like to improve those mistakes that my teachers made with me, and this subject teach me how to make that difference, also be in my students shoes as if I were one of them.
By Sofía Guardado
The Didactics of the English Language has been for me such a source of knowledge about many of the areas that each teacher should know in order to be successful. This subject is very useful for students who are in the process to become English teachers as it provides us a guide for us to plan classes. Also, in this interesting and important subject you can learn the situations you have to be ready to affront and deal with, with activities that are more appropiate for students, the time you should take and balance you should have between grammar notes and practice. Besides, there are some important characteristics and attitudes from teachers that we have to avoid and some other tyhat we should take into account while teaching. I've learn many things from this subject, and by taking a look at it and comparing it with teachers I´ve had in the past I see that there are things that teachers do are really good and some others aren't good at all, now I also see how important empathy among teachers and students is, so I would like to work on all of that strengths and weaknesses in order to become a successful teacher in the future.
|
SELF
EVALUATION IN DEL |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Understand student needs |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Teach an efficient class |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Create a lesson plan, including each activity |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
The role of teachers and students in the classroom |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Teaching English to very young learners |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
The way students learn |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Knowledge about TPR |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Learning remarkable terms and topics |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Class management and atmosphere |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
Teacher behaviour |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
49 |
|
SELF
EVALUATION IN DEL |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Understand student needs |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Teach an efficient class |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
Create a lesson plan, including each activity |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
The role of teachers and students in the classroom |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Teaching English to very young learners |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
The way students learn |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Knowledge about TPR |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Learning remarkable terms and topics |
|
|
|
x |
|
|
Class management and atmosphere |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Teacher behaviour |
|
|
|
|
x |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
48 |
In
this course I learned efficient information that I didn’t know about teaching
but I would have liked some experiences in classes with children because I have
had the opportunity to teach them but without knowledge about a lesson plan or
what to do when an activity goes wrong. I only ´prepared the class and the
activities but inside my mind without anticipating possible problems and their
solutions, so I think this subject helped me a lot.
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