~

er 1

Key issues in
teaching young
learners

186
 1. Introduction
In this final chapter, key issues related to teaching young learners are
explored. While there are many issues we could discuss in this chapter,
I have chosen to focus on ones teachers face on a regular basis. Teaching ESL
or EFL to young learners is an evolving field, and many efforts are being
made around the world to improve the process for both teachers and students.
In this chapter, you will read about ways to work with children and to

I effectively manage their behavior in the classroom. You will also become
more aware of the special needs that learners have including different intelli-

I
T
gences. You will also learn about working with children on a one-to-one basis
as well as the dangers that children face when they work on the Internet.

lI 2. Classroom management
One of the biggest challenges facing teachers of young learners is class-
room management. On one hand, you want to be a kind and loving caregiver
for your students. You don't want to be a taskmaster children fear. On the
other hand, you want to maintain order in your classroom so that instruction
,.
!-
can take place. Creating the balance between a caring environment and one
!
where there is control is not an easy task for any teacher. However, it's
especially difficult for new teachers. In this section, we will look at some
classroom management strategies that will facilitate an environment that is
conducive to learning.

Establish clear rules at the beginning of the year.

Children appreciate knowing what your expectations are. It's important
to have rules that are stated in positive terms and establish what the children
are expected to do clearly. At the beginning of the school year, and whenever
you feel the students need to review the rules, demonstrate or point out
expected behavior. For example, Watch how I keep my hands to myself when
I walk. or Look at how all of the children at this table are listening.
There are a number of things you should do with the establishment of rules.
First and foremost is to fmd out what your school's policies are regarding rules.
Your supervisor should be able to tell you if a set of rules exist. There may also
c be a list of rules in the teacher's handbook. You also need to find out whether
fl\
rules have been sent to parents in their native languages. These may or may not
~
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t.·.·

f~
••
.·•·..·•....
...·•• ·.·
•·

be exactly the same rules as in the teacher's handbooks because one set of rules
t:; may have been updated without the others also being updated. Whenever pos-
I sible, the rules should be consistent among different teachers. The consequences
for breaking the rules should also be consistent among the faculty and staff.

Key issues in teaching young learners 187

 It is also important to communicate the rules to learners as well as their
parents. The list of rules can be sent home to students in their native lan-
guage. However, you shouldn't assume that the parents have taken the time
to go over the rules with their children. Therefore, you should also read and
explain the rules to your students. I personally like to demonstrate the rules
in front of learners. The rules can also be posted in the classroom in English
with hand-drawn pictures to illustrate them.

Look at the chart. Change the negatively stated rules to positively stated
ones. The first one has been done for you.

Share your rules with a classmate or colleague.

Teach the concept of appropriate and inappropriate

behavior.
Th~terms good behavior and bad
behavior are relative and can be
problematic. When you tell chil-
dren that they are being bad, they
often internalize it that they are
bad children and not that their
behavior at that moment could be
interpreted as bad. As a teacher of
young learners, you need to moni-
tor yourself to make sure you com-
ment on the appropriateness of
your learners' behavior and not on
the children themselves. For your
learners, it's important that you
spend time discussing the concept
The teacher is complimenting her
of appropriate and inappropriate
students' appropriate behavior.
1 88 Chapter 9
behavior. For example, you may want to teach children that it is inappropriate
to shout or run in the classroom, whereas it can be very appropriate to shout
and run with their friends outside on the playground.

Offer rewards judiciously.

Often teachers will give children rewards for good work. Unwittingly, by
misusing rewards, teachers can contribute to an atmosphere of competition
that is unhealthy (Paul, 2001). It is important to instill in your learners some
sense of pride in their own accomplishments rather than a reliance on exter-
nal gratification. Having said this, there are times when rewards are in order.
If a child has gone from consistently not finishing her work during the
allotted time to finishing it on time, then you might want to let her select a
special sticker to attach to her paper.
Personally, I am concerned about the use of candy as a regular reward.
Providing sweets for parties or special events is one thing, but doling out
candy on a regular basis sends the wrong message. Besides candy not being
good for children's teeth and contributing to obesity-a problem that unfor-
tunately is becoming more pronounced in children in many parts of the
world-giving candy as a reward teaches young learners that sugar and sweets
can be used as a way to reward oneself. As an alternative to candy, you can
give stickers or an extra five minutes of recess time.

Plan more than you think you will need~

Always be sure to have enough activities to keep children engaged, paying
attention, or on-task. Nothing leads to chaos more quickly than children who
don't have anything to do. You may want to prepare a set of back-up activities
that you or a substitute teacher can use at a moment's notice. It is easier to not get
to all your planned activities than to come up with an engaging task while a class
full of fidgeting students is eagerly looking at you and asking, "What's next?"
Also, these tasks should not be photocopier dependent. You may be in a
teaching situation where you think you can dash into the office before (or
even during) class and make copies. Photocopiers break down at the most
inopportune moments. It is useful to have a stash of activities planned that do
not require you to run off pages for each learner. Look at Figure 1 (page 190).
These are the types of activities that you may want to put aside in case of
emergencies.

Key issues in teaching young learners 189

 Figure 1 Back-up activities

Balance activities.
Most children do not have very long attention spans. Also, not every child is
going to enjoy or learn from the same type of activities. In order to keep children
engaged, you will want to include a balance of activities. By balanced I mean that
you wanf some noisy activities and some quiet ones, some large-group activities
mixed with some small-group or individual activities. Figure 2 is a list of balanced
activities that would keep learners engaged during a 40-minute class period.

Figure 2 Example of balanced activities

190 Chapter 9 I
I
You are teaching the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears (pages 34-35) to a
class of seven-year-olds using the balanced activities outlined in Figure 2. Write
a detailed lesson plan about what you would do for each activity.

Share your lesson plan with a classmate or colleague.

Provide specific feedback.

Correcting behavior and providing feedback is an important part of your
job as a teacher of young learners. The type of feedback you give children
should be specific and related to what they are doing. For instance, if a child
is looking out the window and not paying attention, you will want to say
Charlene, you have been looking out the window for about five minutes. Instead you
need to look at your paper so that you can get your work done. or I really like the way
the children at this table are sitting. Everyone is looking at the board and waiting
patiently for the next set of instructions.
When you have given feedback and the misbehavior continues, there are
a number of different recourses at your disposal. You can separate the child
from the rest of the learners or send the child to the office for a time-out.
However, you have to be careful to never embarrass or shame the child who
is misbehaving. Talk to other teachers who are also working or have worked
with the child to find out what they have tried in the past. Finally, you can
talk to the parents or schedule a meeting between the parents, the school
administrator, and yourself to discuss the situation and possible remedies.

1. Make a list of three positive and three negative behaviors that occur in a
classroom with six-year-old children; for example, learners who are paying
attention.
2. Now take each behavior and describe it using very specific language. For
example, I notice that three children are looking carefully at the board while I
am writing. In order for children to know that it is appropriate behavior I might
add, I am very pleased.

Share your answers with a classmate or colleague.

Know when to use the child's native language.

When I did my student teaching, a supervising teacher was very adamant
that I should not use the children's native language with them, even though
both the students and I spoke Spanish. She was upset one day when she
walked in and heard me speaking Spanish to them. I pointed out that there

Key issues in teaching young learners 191

 had been tears on the playground and it seemed more appropriate to be a
caregiver at that moment rather than a teacher. In emergency situations, it is
appropriate to use the child's native language or to find someone who is able
to communicate with the child in her native language.
However, while teaching, I try to use only English because I feel it makes
me a better teacher. By staying in English, I am forced to deliver better
instructions, and I will often use more varied types of input instead of always
giving spoken instructions. For example, I may pantomime the instructions
or draw pictures on the board of what I want students to do.
Unfortunately, that only takes care of part of the question. The other part
is what should be done when children start using their native language? This
will happen and often children unwittingly drift into their native language
when they are excited about a game or other activity. When it does happen,
I will say to the children, This is an English language game. or This is an English
book. I prefer to do this for two reasons. First, I am not demeaning the chil-
dren's native language by saying they should not speak it. Second, they also
become aware that the game or the book is what dictates the use of English.
This way, I can also easily remind learners about specific phrases they need
to use in order to play the game or talk about the book in English.
Finally, when children are entering or leaving the classroom and naturally
talking to one another in their native language, I do not stop them-especially
in an EFL setting where English is not their main form of communication.

3. Special needs
Many learners in classrooms have special needs that require some sort of
intervention. These needs range from visual and hearing impairments to other
specific problems which will impact learning. In recent years, more attention
has been paid to the special educational needs of learners who are bilingual
and/ or attempting to learn an additional language (Baca and Cervantes, 1998;
Winzer and Mazurek, 1998). On a personal note, I am especially interested in
special needs as they relate to ESL and EFL students because my father was
a second-language learner in the U.S. and also completely blind in one eye.
Even with these special needs, he learned the strategies necessary to tackle
complex academic material and graduated from Stanford University at the top
of his class.
Teachers of young learners are more likely to encounter special needs in
the classroom than teachers of older learners for two reasons. First, the vast
majority of children in the world-unless they have severe disabilities-attend
school. Unfortunately, older learners with learning disabilities may have dropped
out of school. Second, young learners with special needs may not yet have
developed or been taught the strategies necessary to tackle academic subjects.

192 Chapter 9
Therefore, you may be the first person they encounter who can help them learn
these strategies.
While children with severe special needs will probably not be in your class
without their own caregiver, you may have a child who is visually or hearing
impaired. (Signs of vision impairment are found on page 74 and hearing
impairment on page 23.) In addition, you may have students who have
dyslexia or an attention deficit disorder. As a teacher, not a medical
professional, you cannot and should not even attempt to make a diagnosis of
either of these conditions. However, you can tell the appropriate educators at
your school if you sense that a learner may have a special educational need.
Once a diagnosis is made, you can work with a specialist to develop a reper-
toire of strategies that can be used to help the learners with the special needs.

Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a learning disability that impacts children learning their native
language as well as learning EFL or ESL. One of the most famous people to
suffer from dyslexia is the actor Tom Cruise. Historically referred to as word-
blindness, the term dyslexia is based on the Greek language meaning difficulty
with words. The cause of dyslexia is not known but there are known links to
heredity and to early hearing loss. There is both mild and severe dyslexia.
For example, a student with dyslexia may confuse left and right. It should be
noted that if a child is left-handed, that in and of itself is not related to
dyslexia. Another example of dyslexic behavior may be a student who is able
to read a word in one paragraph, but when the word appears in a subsequent
paragraph, the student is at a complete loss.
Regardless of the degree of dyslexia, early diagnosis of the problem and
focused instruction are key. EFL teachers may find it inappropriate to pro-
vide learners with English-language literacy instruction until they have mas-
tered literacy skills in their native language. If, for example, a child is having
trouble mastering symbols- such as letters or characters in his own language-
it doesn't make sense to load him with an additional set of symbols before the
original ones have been mastered.
Unfortunately, many EFL teachers may find themselves in a country
where most primary school teachers have had little formal training to effec-
tively meet the needs of dyslexic learners. Or they may feel that there are no
resources available to help learners who may be dyslexic. If this happens to
you, chances are once you start talking to teachers who specialize in teaching
reading to young learners, you will find someone or a group of people who
are aware of dyslexia and may even have resources to help.
Figure 3, taken from the British Dyslexia Association's Web site (see page
202 for the address) is a list of indications teachers pay attention to.

Key issues in teaching young learners 193

 Figure 3 (continued)
194 Chapter 9
 • Still occasionally confuses b and d and words such as no/on
• Still needs to use fingers or marks on paper to make simple
calculations
• Poor concentration
• Has problems understanding what he/she has read
• Takes longer than average to do written work
• Problems processing language at speed
Primary school age non-language indicators
• Has difficulty with tying shoelaces, tie, dressing
• Has difficulty telling left from right, order of days of the week, months
of the year, etc.
• Surprises you because in other ways he/she is bright and alert
• Has a poor sense of direction and still confuses left and right
• Lacks confidence and has a poor self-image

Figure 3 Indications of dyslexia (British Dyslexia Association, 2005)

Attention Deficit Disorder/ Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder
When I ask groups of experienced teachers of young learners if they have
ever had a child with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), they instantly nod their
heads. Even though teachers cannot and should not diagnose children with
this disorder, you may recognize a number of signs and symptoms. You need
to report any situation where you see a child displaying numerous indicators
of ADD or ADHD.
If a child is diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, you need to work with the
specialist provided by the school to develop a plan to meet the child's needs,
yet at the same time, you do not want to disrupt the rest of your learners.
Figure 4 will help you recognize signs and symptoms of ADD and ADHD as
well as become familiar with strategies to help the learners in your classroom.

Signs and Symptoms of ADHD and ADD

• Fails to give close attention to details or makes careless· mistakes ·
• May have poorly formed letters or words or messy writing

Figure 4 (continued)

Key issues in teaching young learners 195

 Figure 4 Signs and symptoms of ADHD and ADD; strategies for working with
children with ADHD or ADD (Adapted from Learning Disabilities Association
of America, 2005)

196 Chapter 9
 ... :·:.:· :'> ·.. ·.: -:: :::·:::·::-.::<··,:::"· ,· :..
. ·. · .. : •
: ·.. '
.. >i:. ··..:.: :·.:::::·::::-:. :~ .·: :~.:~/:.\~.:·~·::- :.

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4. Multiple intelligences
For many years now, Howard
Gardner of the Harvard Graduate
School of Education has drawn
attention to the different ways that
people can be smart (Gardner,
1985). He has identified seven
original areas of intelligence:
mathematical-logical, inter-per-
sonal (understanding others),
intra-personal (understanding
one's self), bodily kinesthetic, ver-
bal linguistic, musical, and spatial.
Subsequently, an additional intel-
ligence, naturalist (ability to dis-
cern patterns in nature), has been added to the core list.
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is very important for teachers
working with young learners because it provides a framework for looking at
children's strengths. It is very sad if a child is saddled with a laundry list of all
of the things that she can't do before she even has a full set of teeth. With
Multiple Intelligence theory, teachers can look at and build upon learners'
strengths.
Teachers tend to teach to their own preferred intelligences (Nicholson-
Nelson, 1998). You will want to include activities in your day-to-day lesson
planning that stretch each child to excel and feel success. For instance, you
may want to include a logic puzzle with geometric shapes for students who
have logical-mathematical intelligences. For intrapersonal students, you
might create learning stations where they can work alone. For children with
verbal intelligence, you might want to make sure that they have sufficient
time to spend at the writing center. For bodily kinesthetic learners, you might
want to have them dance to English-language songs. For students with verbal

Key issues in teaching young learners 197

 linguistic intelligence, you might want to provide them with extra English-
language books to read or give them word puzzles to do. For students with
interpersonal intelligence, you may want to include activities which require
them to work with partners or in small groups. For students with naturalist
intelligence, you may want to include science books about nature.

Choose one activity from Chapter 2, 3, or 4 and state how you would adapt the
activity for each type of intelligence.
Share your answer with a classmate or colleague.

5. Tutoring
You may be in a situation where you are giving private English-language
lessons to children on a one-to-one basis. In many ways, teach~rs find tutor-
ing more difficult than working with several children for a variety of reasons.
First, you have to provide constant energy and attention which isn't necessary
when children are together and can get some of this from each other. Second,
parents may have unrealistic expectations about the amount of material that
can be covered in a session. Third, children may be referred to tutoring
because they are having trouble in school. They may have special needs
which have not been diagnosed, or if they have been diagnosed, adequate
recommendations for how to address them have not been provided.
It is important to have realistic expectations regarding what can be cov-
ered and learned in a tutoring session and in a series of tutoring sessions.
From the beginning, you need to sit down with the parents and negotiate
what the expectations are from your perspective as well as from theirs. For
example, you may find yourself explaining to parents that you can not make
a child, who has n ever spoken English, fluent in six months.
You should also match the activities to the language cognitive level and
intelligences of the learner. Select activities and content based on the learner's
interests. This may mean extra time planning your lessons since your
learner's interests may be unique. For example, you may find yourself search-
ing online for the English names for horseback riding equipment. Finally,
observe how much the student is able to absorb during a session as well as
the learner's interest level during each activity.

Just as it is important to have a plan for a class full of students, it is also neces -
sary to plan when you are teaching students on a one-to-one basis. If you were
asked to tutor a nine-year-old for the first time, what information would you want
to have in advance?

198 Chapter 9
 Outline the language background, age, and gender of a young learner. Then make
a list of questions you would want answered before your first tutoring lesson.
Finally, create a lesson plan for the first hour-long lesson.

Share your answers with a colleague or classmate.

6. Technology
The expansion, or rather explosion, of the Internet has been invaluable
for teachers of young learners. If you are living and working in a country
where there is limited access to English-language materials, then you are
probably delighted at all of the resources that you can now access via the
Internet. For example, throughout this book, I have provided numerous Web
sites that can help you become a better equipped teacher. If you do have
Internet access, I would strongly advise you to spend a couple of hours a
month searching the Web for n ew information on teaching young learners.
While the Internet can be a useful
tool to use with your learners, safe
sojourning on the Internet is an issue that
should be taken into account when set-
ting up technology-based programs for
young learners (Lewis, 2004) . Before you
allow children in your classes to use the
Internet, be sure that you have the skills
and expertise to properly supervise them.
You would not allow young learners to
explore the neighborhood around your
school without adequate supervision.
The same amount of caution must hold
true for the Internet. Without adequate
supervision, children can easily become
victims to Internet crime and can visit
sites which are very inappropriate for
The teacher is supervising his them. Before allowing students to use
students when they are on the computers in your classroom, at the very
Internet. least make sure you know how to set and
use the parental blocks.

Key issues in teaching young learners 199

 In addition, it is very easy for anyone, especially children, to accidentally
download a computer virus. Following all of the safeguards for computing is
difficult enough for an adult, let alone for a young learner. It is important to
use a strong firewall and virus protection program and to perform virus scans
on a regular basis.

7. Professional support
As was mentioned previously in this chapter, teaching English to young
learners is an evolving field. Traditionally, teachers were either trained as
English-language specialists or as specialists in the education of young chil-
dren. Very often, these two teacher education programs did not even exist in
the same higher education institution. Because of this, it has and is taking
longer for the specialty of teaching ESL or EFL to young learners to evolve.
I would recommend that anyone teaching young learners ESL or EFL to
join a professional organizer aimed at helping teachers work with EFL
and ESL learners.
Two of the most well-known professional organizations designed to sup-
port teachers working with students who are learning English as a second,
foreign, or additional language are Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages (TESOL) and International Association of Teachers of English as
a Foreign Language (IATEFL). TESOL has done a great deal of work to
advance the profession of teaching ESL to young learners in the United
States. Their efforts for teaching EFL to young learners have not been quite
as comprehensive. IATEFL, on the other hand, is focused on EFL and in
recent years has been putting more and more emphasis on young learners.
Both organizations have affiliates in many different parts of the world and
have Web sites (see page 202).
In addition, there is another professional organization aimed at helping
teachers of school-age learners. The Association of Supervision and
Curriculum Development (ASCD), which has affiliates in many parts of the
world, is aimed at helping teachers. On a daily basis, ASCD sends out
SmartBriefs via email. SmartBriefs is a summary of articles on interesting
educational developments from around the world.

200 Chapter 9
8. Conclusion
In this chapter, I presented a number of different issues that impact teach-
ers working with young learners. I discussed classroom management because
it is necessary to create an optimum environment so that learning can take
place. Next, I discussed special needs because many children do have special
educational needs which should be addressed so that learners can maximize
their potential. In the same vein, multiple intelligences were discussed
because this theory helps teachers look for the strengths within each child. I
also talked about tutoring and the use of the Internet because these may very
easily impact your work in the young-learner classroom. Finally, I suggested
several professional organizations that teachers of young learners can join for
extra support and information.

Murray, B.P. 2002. The New Teacher's Complete Sourcebook. Grades K-4. New York,
NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
This book provides highly effective suggestions for both setting up and managing a
classroom. Although it is aimed at new teachers, the information is also valuable for
veteran teachers.

Nicholson-Nelson, K. 1998. Developing Students; Multiple Intelligences. New York,

NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
This book offers invaluable information for teachers wanting to address learners'
different intelligences in the classroom. This book focuses on activities which not
only cater to learners' different intelligences but also help learners develop higher-
order thinking skills.

ASCD SmartBrief (www.smartbrief.com/ascd/indexJsp)

This is the location to sign up for free SmartBriefs described on page 200.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

(ASCD) (www.ascd.org)
This non-profit professional organization with more than 170,000 members
advocates the best possible educational practices for all learners. ASCD has
affiliates in many different parts of the world .

Key issues in teaching young learners 201

 The British Dyslexia Association (www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk)
This site calls itself "the voice of dyslexic" people. It is a non-profit organization that
provides basic information on dyslexia as well as links to a number of different sites.
Although the information is aimed at people in the United Kingdom , it does have
links to worldwide organizations designed to help individuals with dyslexia.

Education World (www.educationworld.com)

This site provides a wide variety of resources for teachers working with school-age
learners. In order to access quick activities , look under lesson planning and five-
minute fillers.

International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign

Language (IATELF) (www.iatefl.org)
This professional organization is aimed at helping teachers working in non-English
speaking settings. It has a very active interest section for teachers working with
young learners.

Learning Disability Association of America (http://www.ldanatl.org)

This nonprofit association with members throughout the United States and 27 other
countries serves as an advocacy organization for individuals with learning
disabilities. This site provides a wealth of information about learning disabilities.

Walter McKenzie's Multiple Intelligence Pages

(http:/ /surfaquarium.com/mi)
This site provides useful information about the different intelligences.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (www.tesol.org)

This professional organization based in the United States is aimed at helping
teachers working with students learning English in both English and non-English
speaking countries.

20 2 Chapter 9
Baca, L.M. and H.T. Cervantes. 1998. The Bilingual Special Education Interface.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.
British Dyslexia Association. Indications ofDyslexia. [updated 2 March 2004;
cited 6 May 2005]. Available from
http:/ /www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk/extra320.html.
Gardner, H. 1985. Frames ofMind. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Learning Disabilities Association of America. Attention Deficit
Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADDIADHD). [updated 2 March
2004; cited 6 May 2005]. Available from
http :1/www.ldanatl.org/ aboutld/ teachers/ understanding/ adhd.asp.
Lewis, G. 2004. The Internet and Young Learners: Resource Books for Teachers of Young
Students. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Murray, B.P. 2002. The New Teacher's Complete Sourcebook. Grades K-4. New York,
NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
Nicholson-Nelson, K. 1998. Developing Students; Multiple Intelligences. New York,
NY: Scholastic Professional Books.
Paul, D. 2003. Teaching English to Children in Asia. Hong Kong, PRC: Longman
Asia ELT.
Winzer, M. and K. Mazurek. 1998. Special Education in Multicultural Contexts.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.

Key issues in teaching young learners 203