Teaching English to Young Learners

Young learners should have fun with English! The purpose of this program is to introduce participants to the theory and practice of teaching young learners in the EFL classroom. Participants will engage in enjoyable activities designed specifically for young learners, such as songs, chants, finger plays, and storytelling. In addition, participants will discuss approaches for teaching language within a meaningful context and share effective techniques for making language input comprehensible and encouraging student participation. By the end of the program, participants will be energized and ready to make their young learners have fun with English.

S u m m a r y Storytelling, the art of narrating a tale from memory rather than reading it is one of the oldest of all art forms, reaching back to prehistoric times. Storytelling involves two elements – selection and delivery. Many EFL teachers are interested in sto-rytelling as a resource in teaching. A successful storyteller chooses adequate stories and must be a good performer, for the delivery is crucial and requires both preparation and rehearsal. Storytelling is the original form of teaching and has the potential of fostering emotional intelligence and help the child gain insight into human behaviour. Storytelling also promotes language learning by enriching learners' vocabulary and acquiring new language structures. Moreover, storytelling can provide a motivating and lowanxiety context for language learning. The storytelling tips given in this article are meant to help the teacher–as–storyteller as s/he prepares for a storytelling "perfor-mance" for students. Rationale Children learn and create their mother tongue not by sitting at their desks doing pencil and paper tasks in isolation from their peers, or drilling structures out of context, but by interacting with and manipulating language and by engaging in meaningful use of language in a community of language learners. As a matter of fact, some educators claim that the traditional reading skill time is difficult, and actually even painful for many children (Andersen, 2005). If fragmented skill lessons, workbooks, and endless worksheets are not the best way for L1 learners to develop their language and master the art of reading and writing, they must be much less appropriate for young foreign language learners who need to learn a whole new language. These students need to learn to listen, to speak, to read, and to write in a new language, often without exposure to English outside school. Because language is an interactive process, children learning a language need ample opportunity to interact in a meaningful, interesting context and play with the language while developing vocabulary and structures. They need the collaboration of their peers and teachers in creating meaningful contexts and negotiating meanings in those contexts.

Linguaculture, 2013

The article focuses on ways to apply storytelling to young learners and its effects on the development of L2 acquisition in the case of these particular learners. It also provides examples of stories and the ways that they have been used during the English classes. There is a focus on other skills, besides listening, while the length of the stories together with the difficulty of the activities related to them depends on the level of the pupils: the more the pupils advance, the more complex the tasks become and the longer the stories are. Besides the fact that the article exemplifies how to use stories while teaching English, it also mentions the success/lack of success of the stories and the pupils’ reactions to them.

Teaching english to very young learners through authentic communicative performances * Cómo enseñar inglés a aprendices muy jóvenes por medio de desempeños auténticos comunicativos

The Modern Language Journal, 2000

The MLJ reviews books, monographs, computer software, and materials that (a) present results of research in-and methods of-foreign and second language teaching and learning; (b) are devoted to matters of general interest to members of the profession; (c) are intended primarily for use as textbooks or instructional aids in classrooms where foreign and second languages, literatures, and cultures are taught; and (d) convey information from other disciplines that relates directly to foreign and second language teaching and learning. Reviews not solicited by the MLJ can neither be accepted nor returned. Books and materials that are not reviewed in the MLJ cannot be returned to the publisher. Responses should be typed with double spacing and submitted electronically online at our Scholar One Manuscripts address

2014

Learners of English should practice and improve their skills in Reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Some materials may promote the completeness of learning this second language acquisition. However, using storytelling for intermediate level students is a creative way to have the students reinforce more on listening the story, re-writing the script, comprehending the chronological order, and speaking the opinion on the content. In addition, telling a folklore or fairytale is interesting and easy to comprehend. These students presentation show how they can manage the body movement, facial expression, and inflexion for making the story understandable by the listeners. The activities may be varied for individual or group based on the situation of the classroom teaching and learning. Thus, the teacher should guide them with detail instruction, as consequence, the students know what to do and what to learn. This technique is known as learning by doing in which learners gradually im...

1st International Seminar Childhood Care and Education: Aisiyah’s Awareness on Early Childhood and Education - ISBN:978-602-342-045-2, 2015

Using stories for educational purposes is an effective teaching strategy especially for teaching young learners. Most young learners enjoy listening to the stories. Stories have power which can bring the young learners into a world of imagination and draw a colorful picture with many interesting characters in the story. Storytelling is one of the most useful techniques to attract young learners in learning process effectively. Telling stories have a good chance for young learners to discover experience of real life and the language learning experience together. Storytelling is a kind of teaching method which can help the young learners to knowledge, literacy, imagination, creation and critical thinking. Therefore,storytelling would be very useful to teach foreign language for young learners. It promotes expressive language development in oral and written form and present new vocabulary and complex language in the powerful form that inspires children to emulate the model they have ex...

Tesol Journal, 2012

During the early stages of learning a second language, children will utilize gestures, behaviors, and nonverbal responses to indicate understanding of the new language (Bialystok, 2001). Although children may be relatively nonverbal at this stage, it is important that they be included in a variety of activities that promote listening and comprehension. Creative drama lessons provide a natural opportunity for teachers to support the language development of English language learners through use of body language, gestures, and spoken language that is well-pronounced and utilizes concrete representations and visual aids as appropriate. Most experts agree that development of oral English proficiency is an essential first step toward reading development (Goldenberg, 2008). Young English language learners need time to adjust and feel safe. They also need opportunities to engage with others. The playful atmosphere

Journal of Research in Curriculum Instruction and Educational Technology

he purpose of this study was to examine the effect of using SCAMPER-based activities in teaching story in developing EFL primary stage pupils' Speaking Skills .The study adopted the quasi-experimental design that involved two groups ; an experimental group and a control group. The sample of the study consisted of sixty pupils randomly selected from six grades Fakhr Dakahlia Language School in Mansoura city, thirty pupils represented the control group and thirty pupils represented the experimental group. The current study was delimited to the Creative Speaking Skills. To fulfill this purpose the researcher designed and used two instruments; a prepost test for measuring the pupils' Creative Speaking Skills and a rubric. SCAMPER-based activities were administered to the experimental group for eight weeks, whereas the control group was taught in the traditional way. Results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control group in the post administration of the Creative Speaking Skills in favor of the experimental group. This revealed that the use of SCAMPER strategy led to a significant improvement in the pupils' Creative Speaking Skills. Therefore, it was recommended that Ministry of Education should hold trainings for EFL teachers in using SCAMPER strategy in teaching story, in order to help their pupils develop their Speaking Skills.

La enseñanza del inglés a través de historias: una forma divertida y significativa para que los niños aprendan el idioma Nohora Inés Porras González * Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia This article presents the results of a study on utilizing stories for teaching English as a foreign language to children in first, second and third grades. It was carried out in a Colombian public elementary school in Bucaramanga, Colombia. The proposal was initiated by a group of student-teachers at Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Seccional Bucaramanga. During the research process the student-teachers were required to plan the course syllabus, create their own stories according to the children's interests and likes, plan the lessons, and collect and analyze data. Although the student-teachers worked in different grade levels, the results of the study present similarities such as the children's motivation when the stories were told or read, increased participation in the different activities, comprehension of the stories, and acquisition of the new vocabulary.