Lesson 1 Characteristics of a young learner

Plan

1. Two groups of young learners

2. Children:4-6 year-olds

3. Children:7-9 year-olds

4. Children:10-12 year-olds

1. Two groups of young learners

Young learners are children from 5 to 12. According to the researchers the key objectives of early foreign language learning are: linguistic, psychological, cultural, cognitive and social. Teaching the young learners requires different techniques as these children have different characteristics which can be categorized in two groups.

The first is the very young ones i.e. from aged 7 years and less. These children have a very limited vocabulary and have not even mastered the grammar of their mother tongue. They have shorter attention span, are very curious, lots of imagination, easily distracted, full of energy and want to do things themselves.

With this in mind, the techniques applied are lessons with short stories, rhymes, songs as well as lots of repetition.

The second group is the 8 to 12 years old. Some of the characteristics of this group are: fast growing children, interested in varied activities, and love to discover things. They are interested in facts - like history and geography, and are very creative. They also like to read, write, pretend, imitate and want adult approval and are in “age of activity”.

Hence since they respond well to being asked to use their imagination, they may well be involved in puzzle-like activities, making things, drawings things, in games, in physical movement and songs.

2. Children: 4-6 year-olds

Table 1

Children: 4-6 year-olds

In this section, find out how 4-6 year-old children learn and develop.

Characteristics	Implications	Needs
Pre-school or just beginning school	Not used to classroom conventions	Training in class routines e.g. listening to teacher
Limited motor skills	Clumsy control of pen/scissors etc.	To develop motor control e.g. coloring, copying
Learning holistically	Whole child needs stimulation	Opportunities to move, sing, play, explore, touch, etc.
Cannot distinguish between different parts of language	Cannot analyze language	Exposure to chunks* of language e.g. chants, stories, classroom language
Limited reading/writing skills in L1	Introducing reading/writing in English	Lots of listening/speaking activities. Fun introduction to English letters and words
See no need to communicate in English	Students use L1 exclusively	Reasons to speak English e.g. games, chants
Like stories, fantasy	Bored with many topics	Stories, fantasy, fun

*chunks of language = words that naturally come together e.g. ‘thank you very much’, ‘glass of water’, ‘have a nice day’ – that are easily learnt, repeated and do not need analysis.

Chants

A chant is vocabulary spoken over a background of music or rhythm. They are useful because something about the music energizes the students, and they have to pronounce the word in a rhythm. Chants are great as children:

-learn to work together

-pick up chunks

-get to listen to lots of meaningful language

-have a reason to use English

-find them funny

-move their body

-enjoy repeating them

Chants are easy to make up. This is an example of a chant for 5-6 year olds. They had already begun learning animals. Teacher and children can chant it together and do actions for the different animals. (pretend to splash water etc)

My name’s Fred and I’m a frog – jump, jump, jump

My name’s Kate and I’m a cat – miaow, miaow, miaow

My name’s Fergie and I’m a fish – splash, splash, splash

My name’s Micky and I’m a mouse – squeak, squeak, squeak

My name’s Benny and I’m a bird – flap, flap, flap

This is a lovely chant with a rhythm that children enjoy. They can stretch their arms out to show ‘big’ and bring their hands close together to show ‘little’. It also helps to develop:

Motor skills - children will enjoy coloring in the pictures that come with the chant. Coloring demands concentration, eye/hand coordination and hand control – all important pre-writing skills

Word recognition - when beginning word recognition they can draw a line between the animal words – cat, mouse etc and the pictures.