Motivating young learners: ideas to keep things moving
Mariela Collado
This session looks at ways to make learning fun for children and to expose them to a wide range of language through stories, songs, chants, games and creative activities to make classes effective, dynamic and memorable.
Drama in education:role play in the language class
Mahrukh Bharucha
Drama in Education (DIE) is applied widely in the teaching of social sciences, literature, maths and science; but rarely used to develop a foreign language. This workshop aims to show how the theory of DIE is simple to understand and apply – and the practice, particularly with young learners, is a marvellous tool for every ESOL practitioner.
How to create activities that produce more input and interaction
Makiko Tanaka
In this workshop, participants will learn to create and devise activities that produce more input, interaction, and output among students. The presenter will demonstrate that the same questions can be both display and referential questions, and that the teachers can convert the same display questions to more meaningful and compelling referential questions by devising activities.
Grammar without jargon
Kanagadurga Dantu
With reference to teaching English to young learners who speak languages other than English, some explicit teaching of basic concepts is necessary. This paper presents how English grammar could be taught to the children without any ELT jargon, in a play-way method using the nursery rhymes they must have already been familiar with. This experiment had been conducted by me in my hometown Hyderabad in a few schools and the results were very encouraging. So I have written 5 books, to be used for students of I-V standards. It’s called Jingle Bells Grammar Series: Grammar through Nursery Rhymes and Stories. It has five books beginning with the nouns and going up to conversational techniques. By the time the five books are taught with some supplementary exercises, the children from non-English speaking backgroundwould master the basic concepts of English, become proficient in basic speaking, reading and writing in English and would feel comfortable to carry on their English studies without any difficulty. As the material consists of rhymes for teaching and stories for exercises and testing, they would learn English cheerfully.
Co-construction of learning in pair interviewing
Yumi Ohashi
The study attempts an analysis of pair-interviews as an assessment method for primary EFL. Sociocultural theory is adopted to provide the theoretical background for analysing learning opportunities emerged in the co-constructed interaction of pair-interviews. Three pairs of Japanese children aged 8 or 9 are interviewed, using an oral test the author prepared. In-depth analysis of the transcribed interaction provides a rich picture of children’s learning experience benefiting from both peer- and expert assistance; stretch the learner ability in the ZPD.
What does a lessin look like? Learning how to learn
Alan Pulverness
In Roger McGough's poem “First Day at School” the infant narrator imagines “lessins” as “small and slimy”. This talk will examine some of the key factors that enable the learner to understand why lessons are as they are and will explore the extent to which such awareness can be nourished at different ages and stages of cognitive and affective development.
Language lessons for the future
Mary Slatterly
This session will look at how insights from current educational research can inform classroom practice; how we should train teachers through modelling the methods they could use in their lessons; and how teachers can learn from their own classroom research.
The session has three main sections:
1.New thinking about how learning takes place and can be used in our language lessons e.g. brain based learning, planning input to suit different learning styles, appreciating children’s distinct intelligences etc.
2.Using best practice methods on training courses to provide teachers with a model to support their own teaching and use of English in the classroom.
3.How teachers can learn from their own classroom research and sharing their experiences with others.
During this presentation I will use visuals from recent classroom research.
Puppets in English lessons - motivating children and encouraging teachers
Mary Slatterly
This session will look at how
insights from current educational research can inform our language lessons
a specific methodology could help a teacher actualise effective language learning
children can use puppets to build their knowledge and confidence in English
working with a puppet can encourage a teacher to use more English in the classroom
It’s good to talk - developing speaking skills in young learners
Jeremy Wallenn
This talk will present some of the most recent research into developing oracy skills in young learners and describe the ways these theories can be put into practice, especially within an Asian context. Reference will be made to the recent changes to the Hong Kong curriculum and the impact this has had on the teaching of spoken English.
Putting theory into practice: interactive YL classroom activities
Simon Greenall and (Jamie) Zhang Min
Teachers find the motivation of primary learners is different from that of teenagers or adults. This workshop will provide interactive training on the following issues: key principles which govern classroom activities, topics which will interest young learners, and tasks which will motivate them. It will also look at the problems teachers can have when organizing activities and giving feedback to their students, and will suggest possible solutions. Finally, it will consider which practical activities best prepare the young learners for the Junior and Senior High curriculum.
From Chinese to English: children's reading problems and practical solutions
Helen Emery
This session investigates the problems encountered by children learning to read English as a second language, in particular when the L1 and L2 use different orthographies. The author will describe a variety of teaching methods, and discuss their effectiveness in helping children to acquire good reading skills. This session aims to offer practical advice to teachers, and welcomes active participation.
Immersing young learners in English at school: research and practice
Teresa Fleta
This presentation reports on the production and development of English as an additional language (L2) by young learners during the first years at school and on the pedagogical techniques used by a group of teachers. Immersing young learners in English and stimulating their “multiple intelligences” through songs, stories, movement and art, help to develop the four skills in the L2.
A survey on the relative contribution of Corrective Readingstrategy to autonomous comprehension of intermediate EFLers’classrooms
Omid Manzandarani
The purpose of this study was to determine whether Corrective Reading strategy improves autonomous comprehension ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners, or not. Hence, a group of seventy homogeneous students were selected. They were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. Then, both groups enjoyed a series of similar instructions except that the students in experimental group were required to explore the texts they were faced taking advantage of Corrective Reading strategy. Moreover, in the experimental group, Corrective Reading was implemented in the form of whole-class format. Each lesson was 45 minutes in length and intended to be taught by teachers 4 times per week. In this study the students used the books which they studied in their institute. Finally, in order to capture the probable significant effect of Corrective Reading strategy on comprehension autonomy of Iranian intermediate EFL students, a t-test was administered. The results rejected the null hypothesis, and indicated that Corrective Reading strategy positively affected Iranian intermediate EFL students’ autonomous comprehension ability.
(Dis-)continuity in EFL teaching between primary and secondary education: curricula, methods and didactic approaches
Edwin Baak
As in many other countries where English is taught as a foreign language, EFL programs in China see little continuity in the transition from primary to secondary education. Teaching a foreign language to learners at a very young age leads to various problems which can only be solved through special didactic approaches. Problems are least concerned with thematic choices. While didactic approaches have changed a lot in recent years, little research has been done into long-term effectiveness.
Any solutions for problems in Chinese EFL programs require a specific approach to create EFL programs with Chinese characteristics. English at primary school in China has a dual objective of teaching English as a foreign language and introducing Chinese pupils to foreign culture. However, Chinese educators feel that foreign EFL programs, especially those from the traditionally English speaking (BANA) countries contain elements which are not compatible with Chinese culture.
Chinese educators mainly look for solutions and help from English speaking (BANA) countries, although these countries have relatively little experience teaching EFL. The author would like to suggest that China might benefit from the experience of teaching EFL in countries where English is taught as a foreign language.
The lecture will present the Dutch experience teaching EFL at primary schools (Project EIBO), and consider both theoretical as well as didactic choices made in the Dutch context of EFL teaching to young learners.
Oral lessons in a Chinese classroom
Dodie Brooks
The organisation of oral lessons is crucial to students all getting a chance to speak English in a Chinese classroom. The present situation in Chinese classrooms is very formal and teacher-centered so that few students get a chance to speak. Research by Brumfit seems to offer a way out. But when tried it had to be modified as class sizes and lack of space make his arrangements difficult or impossible.
Helen Doron Early English -methodology and practice from 3 months
Olga Gornicka
This talk will present the theory and practice of Helen Doron Early English (HDEE). HDEE offers English courses for children aged from 3 months to 14 years in 26 countries worldwide. The talk will discuss relevant aspects of early child development in relation to the method and will present HDEE methodology and materials in an interactive way.
Learning, teaching, curriculum and physical language environment
Chris Defty
Taishun Yucai Primary School is part of a private education group and is based in Taishun County in Zhejiang Province. There are more than 1,000 children currently learning English at this primary boarding school. The school’s management would like to improve the learning of English throughout the school and have worked out a development plan to achieve this end. They are going to work on developing four key areas: Learning, Teaching, Curriculum and Physical Language Environment.
This presentation will look at the theory behind the development of these areas and then outline the measures that the school is planning to take to put them into effective practice. In particular, it will look at how to create child-centred learning and balance this with clear curriculum targets and a focused approach to teaching and learning. It will also look at ways of improving extra-curricular opportunities for language use throughout a school, involving learners in the organization and presentation of their work.
