1. The Theoretical Part

1.1 Characteristics of teaching young learners

For the successful teaching of English in primary schools, above all, it is essential for the teacher to understand the young learners characteristics, instincts, and interests in their cognitive, linguistic, and emotional aspects, because this will play a crucial role in how the teacher builds a lesson, how he or she can make sure that the young learners are fully involved in the learning process, how he or she achieves the objectives of a lesson, and how they respond. In this respect, these lines, in the first place, get the English teacher not only to understand general characteristics of the young learners, but also to recognize the qualifications as a primary English teacher.[3] Secondly, the goals, the contents, and the syllabuses of primary English teaching are roughly discussed in terms of the English curriculum in primary schools. And finally, as the main topic of this paper how to build a lesson for primary English teaching is more specifically discussed, in terms of teaching procedures including its key stages and their sub stages, the learners interactions and activities at each stage, and teaching skills and techniques at each sub stage, and so on. They have short attention span. So teachers should vary their techniques to break the boredom. They should give varied activities as handwriting, songs, games etc. They are very active. Role play, dialogues, games involve them in competitions. They respond well to praising. We should always encourage them and praise their work. They differ in their experience of language. Treat them as a unit, don’t favor those who know some English at the expense of those who do not know. They are less shy than older learners. Ask them to repeat utterances, resort to mechanical drills. They are imaginative. Use realia or pictures to teach new vocabulary related to concrete meanings. They enjoy learning through playing. Young learners learn best when they learn through games. Let games be an essential part of your teaching. They enjoy imitating and skilful in listening accurately and mimicking what they have heard. They respond well to rewards from the teacher. They are imaginative but may have some difficulties distinguishing between imagination and real world.

1.2 The developing child

Activities which impose what the teacher would wish to take place, but which are beyond the child’s level of development, are difficult and even in some cases impossible for the child to understand. They often result in a restless classroom, or discipline problems in large classes. Without a knowledge of a child’s various stages of cognitive, emotional, physical, social and language development, and an ability to recognize these changes, it is difficult for teacher to plan an effective program me. Piaget’s view that all children pass through the same stages of cognitive development but at different rates, still provides a comprehensive outline for the study of intellectual development. Experienced teachers of young beginners are conscious of these different stages and know how to recognize developmental changes as they take place. Changes can take place within a week or even within a lesson, which means that teachers need to be flexible, adjusting lesson plans where necessary to cope with new developments. In some cases there seem to be periods of concentrated and sometimes rapid development followed by periods of little advance.[4] The rate of development may not necessarily indicate a young child’s ability. An intelligent child may be a slow developer or even a late developer. Children who make little progress may have some physical difficulty which may not have been recognized. The length of time a child can concentrate on doing one activity also varies from child to child. Some young children can only manage to concentrate for about five minutes, others for very much longer periods of up to fourteen or fifteen minutes. Once children have lost interest in an activity and their attention has wandered, little or no more learning takes place. It is best to change an activity before children lose interest so that they are left wanting more and looking forward to the next opportunity to do the same activity. Over- exposure to an activity leads to boredom. As children develop, so their span of concentration with his need to move physically. The rest of this section considers key areas of development in the child that the teacher must be aware of, pointing to some of the important themes to consider. Language1 development is a major subject in its own right. It is, however, important to realize that a child’s ability to use his first language is a crucial factor in the learning process. The degree to which he can use Language1 to communicate will reflect on his ability to acquire Language2. Teachers need to know the level of Language1 ability is not sufficiently developed, teachers can jointly plan activities common to Language1 and the English lesson. They can also advise parents on suitable language experiences which should help improve the child’s use of language experiences which should help improve the child’s use of language.