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Contents:
Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 2
I. Theoretical part………………………………………………………………… 3
1. The very young language learners……………………………………….. 3
2. Receptive and productive skills………………………………………….. 4
3. Total physical response…………………………………………………... 4
4. Music and rhythm…………………………………………………………5
5. Stories and drama………………………………………………………… 6
6. Creative activities………………………………………………………… 8
7. Nursery rhymes………………………………………………………….... 8
8. Classroom setting and atmosphere………………………………………....9
9. Teaching material……….…………………………………………………10
10. Lesson planning…………………………………………………………....11
11. Rewarding children………………………………………………………...12
12. Parental/carer involvement…………………………………………………13
II. Practical part………………………………………………………….................14
1. Lesson plans………………………………………………………….......... 15
2. Self-reflection………………………………………………………............ 26
3. Theme based activities………………………………………………...…… 27
3.1 Colours………………………………………………………………..…27
3.1.1 Rainbow…………………………………………………............27
3.1.2 Fruit………………………………………………………….......28
3.2 Clothes…………………………………………………………...............28
3.3 Transportation…………………………………………………………....29
4. Nursery rhymes…………………………………………………………........30
4.1 Here We Go Round the Mulbery Bush…………………………………..30
4.2 It’s Raining, It’s Pouring………………………………………………... 31
III. Conclusion…………………………………………………………..................... 33
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Introduction
“Some people see things as they are and ask ‘why’? I see things as they have never
been and ask ‘why not’?”
George Bernard Shaw
English has become more and more accepted as an international language. It is
increasingly included in primary curricula and is lately considered to be included in pre-
school curricula.
The aim of my final thesis is to share information about an early second language
introduction in pre-school education.
In the first part I discuss some typical characteristics of young learners and suggest
appropriate methodology and techniques which are suitable for this age group.
In the second practical part I would like to share my own practical experience in
teaching English in a kindergarten.
The last part concludes with summarizing the aspects of an early language start and
its positive role in children’s future education.
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1. THEORETICAL PART
1. The very young language learners
The very young language learners mentioned in this work are children who have
not yet started attending a primary school. They are between the age of 4-6. Children at
this age group seem to learn easily by playing various games, imitating the world in
their ‘let’s pretend’ play. They use imagination for inventing their own stories.
When they are introduced to an English language, they seem to be learning it with
the same easiness as any other activity because they do not analyze the sentence
structure and they pick up the words spontaneously. They acquire the language using
their senses, through hearing it from their teacher, copying and imitating.
Teaching young learners requires different approach from that used for older groups
on a primary level or for adults. We know that small children do not use analytic
thinking, they do not think about language in long sentences trying to translate them
word by word. Teachers instinctively use a different stategy: they exaggerate their faces
expressions, word utterance, and use body language.
Teaching a second language to children also requires a good knowledge of their
own individual language and manual abilities. Just as Davis and Lipscombe (1992, p.
11) mention that “Most five- or six- year olds will be familiar with concepts such as
bigger than/smaller than, matching/spot the difference, numbers, etc., while some four-
year olds may have difficulty because they are still getting to grips with these concepts
in their own language. Most five- or six- year olds will have no problem at all with the
colouring in, connecting the dots, counting, etc., while four-year-olds may not even be
albe to hold a pencil properly. ”
We should not be too demanding, each child’s differences should be respected and
our requirements adjusted accordingly. The motto for teaching English to very young
learners could be: “Less is sometimes more”.
Another important factor which defines the group of young children is the need for
an individual attention which will be demanded by some children. Some will even try to
do anything to get closer to us like for example showing her/his favourite toy in the
middle of the lesson or hold your hand, but not all of them are this fearless and the
others need it just as much.
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There is always a good opportunity to give them individual attention when they are
involved in some silent activity like drawing or colouring. We can go round speaking to
each child individually about what they are doing and may be try to elicit some
vocabulary.
Another factor infuencing especially teacher’s lesson planning, is children’s short
attention span. We shall not be surpriced or take it as a personal rejection when a child
‘wanders off in the middle of song or story to play with a toy. It does not mean that
she/he is not interested in our lesson, but simply because probably some other child had
the toy before and she/he sees that now it is the only chance to get hold of it.’
(Reilly,Ward, 1997, p.6-7)
To hold attention of a whole group of small children for a long time is hardly
imposible. In this case, our lesson activities should change every five to ten minutes
depending how much children are absorbed in it.
2. Receptive and productive skills
When we speak about receptive skills we usually mean those which one receives,
listening and reading. Productive skills are those one produces, speaking and writing.
Since we are talking about pre-school children, we are left with listening and speaking.
The order of the two skills is not random. As Morris and Ramsden (2005, p.13) say:
„Children’s receptive ability is way in advance of their productive skills as it happens initially in mother tongue. All they need is to receive lots of comprehensible
input and be involved in activities where they show understanding non-verbally.
Production must not be forced. It comes when child is ready. Some children will speak
from the very first week, but the majority will gradually start to sing songs and say
significant words once their confidence in the new sitation is established.“
We should remember that by including repetitive songs, rhymes, games and also
with lots of choral work in our lessons, children will have a chance to produce language
without the stress of having to speak individually.
3. Total physical response (TPR)
Very young learners learn typically through touch, bodies and facial expressions.
They have not developed the sense for abstract thinking. Therefore, teachers find very
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useful to know what TPR is. When a teacher says: ‚Michael, stand up, please‘ and
Michael stands up, it is the example of a total physical response. TPR is very important
in getting children to follow our instructions in craft activities, in miming a rhyme, song
or an action.
As Richard Frost from the British council in Turkey, BBC, British Council [online,
cit. 31.7.2006], found at www:
<http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/tpr.shtml> states that
„TPR was created by Dr. James J Asher. It is based upon the way that children learn
their mother tongue. Parents have 'language-body conversations' with their children,
the parent instructs and the child physically responds to this. The parent says, "Look at
mummy" or "Give me the ball" and the child does so. These conversations continue for
many months before the child actually starts to speak itself. Even though it cannot speak
during this time, the child is taking in all of the language; the sounds and the patterns.
Eventually when it has decoded enough, the child reproduces the language quite
spontaneously. TPR attempts to mirror this effect in the language classroom.“
TPR is great in revising chunks of language in form of ‚physical exercise‘ which is
included regularly in each lesson. Every time we play such exercise, we can add a new
action. For example we can start with simple words like ‚stand up‘ or ‚sit down‘ and
finish with more complicated ones like ‚run fast‘ or ‚ride a bicycle‘. Children always
love these kinds of exercises and we can use them anytime we feel they need it.
Moreover, they do not require any special equipment or material.
4. Music and rhythm
Songs are excellent in familiarizing children with sound patterns and intonation of
English. Together with the TPR activities they are a good way of shifting from a
concentrated work into more lively one. When we listen to a song we intuitively start
moving our body, tapping our fingers, clapping our hands. All this can help children in
acquiring good intonation and rhythm in English.
Here are some more reasons why songs should be the core of a language
teaching stated by Selby and McKnight (2006, p. 10):
� „The use of song parallels language learning experiences in their native language.
� The association of words with atmospheric or rhythmic music makes them far
easier to remeber.
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� The irregular position of the stressed syllable in English can be remembered
without fail through well-written songs
� Sentence structure can become second nature by association with musical
phrases.
� Songs with actions maximise the kinetic effect of learning:oral, aural, visual and
movement coming together
� Songs learnt in childhood remain with us into adulthood. This makes song an
ideal way to learn and retain the foundations of a second language.“
Children will naturally follow the actions of the songs before they know the lyrics. It
is not important at this stage as the words will follow later and will be more confidently
linked with an action. Sufficient repetition is the key to a success. They are ideal for a
topic based lesson where they can provide backround during craft time or worksheet
time at the tables. We can use the songs also as a form of reward.
The best idea for singing time is if we can use some musical instruments. It makes
it all much easier if the teacher can play a musical instrument. However, if we do not
possess such gift, an ordinary drum, wooden sticks, a triangle, a tambourine or a rattle
will do the magic. Most kindergardens are in possession of these. Some musical
instruments can also be made during craft activities. Children can bring their own
‚kinder surprise‘ eggs and fill it in with various material such as beads, lentils, millets,
wheat seeds, buckwheat seeds or sand. Each child can have her/his own unique
rhytmical egg to play with.
Teachers shall not worry if some children do not join in singing or miming the
actions or clapping their hands. In most cases those are exactly the once who are the
most active in playing English at home.
Motto for singing with very young learners should be:
‚If you want your children to sing, you must sing too!‘
5. Stories and drama
Children are great listeners and they love stories. They have been used to listening
to them since they were babies. Stories are connected with relaxation and they help
children feel at ease. They evoke a pressure-free atmosphere and thus, language
acquisition is enhanced.
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We should make sure that the story is established as a routine time. It will help
children recognize when to calm down and concentrate. In some lessons we can read
stories or we can tell and in other lessons we can just use the CD.
Told or read, never forget to use your dramatic skills, facial expressions and body
language to help children understand the text more easily.
Andrew Wright (1995, p. 28-71) in his book suggests some great ideas for
storytelling. He devides the activities into three parts:
� activities before the story
� activities during the story
� activities after the story
He says that before the story we should pick out the key words which are essential
to the story and which the children may not know. Then we shall think if they are easy
to mime or to illustrate with a picture and finally decide whether we want to teach them
before or during the story. If we decide for the pictures, we may want to use some of our
children’s work to boost their self-confidence and creative skills. The pictures must
obviously be big enough and clear enough to be seen and recognized from the back of
the class.
As Andrew Wright gets to the point of activities after the story, he mentions
children acting out as the teacher retells it. We shall first divide the story, with
children’s help, into different scenes. Second, discuss what we will need and allocate
the roles.
“Objects in the classroom or the children themselves can represent objects in the
story: a cupboard can represent a mountain, and children can represent trees, doors, or
anything. This planning phase is a way of checking their understanding of the story.”
(Wright, 1995, p.59)
This is also a great opportunity for shy children to get involved in the story as they
can join in as passive objects in the story such as the above mentioned doors or trees.
Retelling the stories over and over again not only help the children memorize it, but
also encourages the less lively children to participate in filling the gaps and correcting
our mistakes which we deliberatelly make.
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6. Creative activities
Art and craft activites are an important part of the pre-school curriculum. They
stimulate child’s imagination and also develop their hand-eye co-ordination.
Instructions should be given in English and supported by lots of demonstration.
Children love colouring-out, cutting-out and sticking activities although for some of
them it may be really difficult to cut the line straight or to colour in picture accuratelly.
Creative activities are usually demanding in terms of material, lesson time preparation
and classroom management. In case a child makes a mistake, they always want more
material. Thus, it is advisable to prepare some more than we need.
When we finish the project, we should have a place in the classroom which is
always used for display of what was made. This gives children feeling of pride. It might
also be a good idea to create an art galery using the pictures and invite parents to an
exhibition.
7. Nursery rhymes
Just as Czech children learn similar rhymes in their mother tongue, it seems logical
to give them same oportunity in English. English nursery rhymes are a great sorce of
different activities. They are usually short, rhytmical, tell a funny story, thus easy to
remember. By singing the rhymes children easily grasp the correct intonation,
pronunciation and rhythm of the language. The lyrics broaden children’s vocabulary in
many fields and provide them with correct word collocations. Rhymes also offer a
cultural backround that children may benifit from in their further education. When Tim
Murphey writes about the importance of song and music, he mentions that “songs stick
in our minds and become part of us.” (p. 6, 1992)
Children seem to be drawn to the rhythm and tune. They do not need to understand
the rhymes word by word just as children do not understand every single word in their
own mother tongue. Just think how many children know what ‘kalamajka, mik, mik,
mik’ means or ‘en ten tyky, dva špalíky, čert vyletěl z elektriky’.
There are many rhymes which involve finger plays or simple movements that help
reinforce the language and understanding. Many rhymes can be acted out using puppets,
cut-out characters made in craft time activities or wooden marionettes. Just as Chriss
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Burrows [online, cit. 31.7.2006] found at:
<http://www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/presarticle3.pdf?cc=cz> says:
„Children love to dramatise the rhymes by acting out the roles of the different
characters. Making puppets or masks for role-play also brings the language alive.
Miming and movement activities will reinforce the language and understanding of each
rhyme. The majority of rhymes are action rhymes and children love putting in the
movements as they sing the words. You can make up the movemets yurself or let the
children invent some. Here is an example of a popular action rhyme:
Two little dickie birds,
Sitting on a wall;
One named Peter,
The other named Paul.
Fly away, Peter!
Fly away Paul!
Come back, Peter!
Come back, Paul!
The children use their two index fingers to be the two birds. They start the rhyme
with both fingers. As they say each bird’s name they wiggle one finger. As they say ‚fly
away‘ bend the appropriate finger down so it is hidden in the hand. With the words
‚come back‘ show and wiggle each finger again.“
Children also love drawing and colouring out the rhyme’s characters in worksheets.
Those can be taken home for further practicing.
8. Classroom setting and atmosphere
Children positively respond to surroundings which are nice and familiar. (Scott and
Ytreberg, 1990, p. 11) They are easily excitable and restless with short attention spans.
It is better to organize the classroom to meet our purpose rather than fight against it.
We should change activities every time we can feel children need it. Physically active
exerises should be followed by peaceful activities and vice versa. Some teachers may
want to use a musical instrument to signal a change of activitiy or a specific phrase sung
in a familiar tone.
Routines are the key to a succesful lesson. It gives children feeling of security and
fewer oportunities for distraction.
The physical classroom organization is important just as much. As suggested by
Phillips (1993, p.10) in an ideal world the classrom would have an area of easily
movable desks and chairs, an open space for action songs and games, a quiet corner for
10
reading or self-study. Such conditions are rarely possible, but at least we can try to
devide the classroom into two parts. One for lively activities where children can run
freely, and the other one for quiet activities like drawing or colouring in. Often the five
minutes spent on moving furniture is well rewarded during the ativity.
Psychologicaly speaking, language classrooms need to be according to Williams and
Burden, “places where learners are encouraged to use the new language to
communicate, to try out new ways of expressing meanings, to negotiate, to make
mistakes without fear, and to learn to learn from successes and failures. Emotionally, a
suitable environment for language learning should be one that enhances the trust needed
to communicate and which enhances confidence and self-esteem.” (p. 202, 1997)
9. Teaching material
It is up to every teacher to decide if she/he is going to use a coursebook or be
dependant on her/his own material supply. Our market is full of attractively done
coursebooks, but no matter how good they may be, a good teacher will always need to
adjust her/his lessons according to her/his children. We may decide to get involved in
more drama activities, which needs some dressing up clothes or we decide to do more
craft work because children love it and we are in need for more theme-based
worksheetes. In short, no matter how well the coursebook is created, there is always
something to change or add (Ur, P., p.183, 1996).
Every teacher knows how crucial material is. There will never be enough paper,
crayons, pencils, chalks and all other bits and pieces. However, it does not mean it all
needs to be bought in a shop. Lots of material is for free. We can ask our friends,
colleagues or the children’s parents for co-operation. We can start collecting large
cardboard boxes which when cut are great as a solid bottom for many children’s
drawings, making lovely frames or flashcards. Supermarkets and large chain stores are
great supply for various boxes of different kinds from the smallest ones up to the
biggest sizes. We can also collect some old pieces of clothing like hats, scarves, dresses
to use them in our drama activity lessons. A large cardboard box can serve various
purpose from a ‚peek-a-boo‘ place to a house or a castle in drama activities.
The variety of free material is large. We can find some inspiration when reading
Reilly and Ward (1997, p.30):
11
� old Christmas and greeting cards form making collages and decorations
� empty food packets which you can put in a shop
� silver paper (for making robots, spaceships, etc.)
� yoghurt pots to mix paints in, to act as cups in a restaurant, etc.
� old wrapping paper
� old magazines and catalogues
� old newspapers (to cover floors and desks during messy activities)
� left-over wallpaper (to cover notice-boards)
� old wrapping paper from presents
� string, wool, thread (hair for puppets)
� bottle tops, lids (to draw round)
10. Lesson planning
Small children are usually full of enthusiasm and energy and the language lessons
will be full of changes of activities. Most of the time there is no time for thinking and
we must react very quickly to these changes. Scott and Yttreberg (1990, p.97-98) state
the reasons why good teachers plan their work:
� It saves time: we can adapt the plan for future use
� we get quicker at preparing work with experience
� we become aware of how much time activities také
� it is much quicker to check at the end of a lesson what actually happened
� we know what we will need for each lesson
� we can more easily see how to balance our lessons
� it gives security and confidence, which is passed on to the pupils
� it allows us to use more of our energy and enthusiasm to enjoy what we are
doing instead of worrying about what to do next, or looking at the next page of
the book.
� We can sometimes sit back and observe what is going on instead of planning the
next activity
� As pupils get older, they become more aware of how well-prepared the lessons
are, and they like to have well-prepared lessons.
When we prepare the course syllabus we can take into concideration the
kindergarten’s syllabus as well. It enables us to cooperate with the school‘s teachers and
share some of the material so children can recycle their vocabulary not only during
English lessons.
Our individual lesson plans should be based on how much time we have for our
lesson, what part of the day it takes place and on the children’s previous activities (for
example if we know that children are going to visit the ZOO next week, we may want to
get children involved in more animal-like activities).
12
However carefully we plan, and whatever form our plan takes, we should be ready
to adjust our plans according to the situation. There are many reasons why we may need
to do so as Jeremy Harmer (p. 319, 2001) mentions in his book The Practice of English
Language Teaching and he calls them:
� „Magic moments: moments of unexpectedly developed conversation when
children enjoy the activity so much, they want to repeat it. We should be ready to
decide whether we allow the moment to develop or rather deny them life because
they do not fit into our plan.
� Sensible diversion: another reason for diversion from our original plan is when
something happens which we simply cannot ignore. It may be a child’s
surprising announcement that she/he got a puppy last week and we need to
decide whether we také the opportunity to teach language that has suddenly
come up.
� Unforeseen problems: some children might find the topic or activity we thought
interesting incredibly boring or an activity may take more or less time than we
expected.
In any of the above scenarios it would be almost impossible to cary on with our plan
as if nothing had happened.“
It is clear from the above mentioned that however well we plan, our plans are
always just a suggestion of what we might do in the class. We shall not teach the plan,
but our children.
11. Rewarding children
As Lipscombe and Davis (1992, p.13) say:
„Children love to be told they are doing well, and they love you to notice if they think they are doing something well. They are very receptive to body language, so good
performance should be met with broad facial expressions and gestures. If a child has
spent hours at home colouring a picture, make sure you show approval. Even if the
child has not produced something particularly good, if he or she has obviously made an
effort, try to reward it.“
Rewarding is a form of feedback which is necessary as a motivational element and
for the children’s self-confidence
We can use phrases like:
� Oh whow! Well done!
� Very good!
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� Excellent!
� How nice!
� That’s a nice picture!
� Great job!
Physical rewards such as stickers, stamps or pictures may also be concidered.
However, we should bare in mind that such approach promotes too much competition
amongst children and language learning according to Scott and Ytreberg (1990, p.11) is
a situation where everyone can win. Children compete naturally with each other – to see
who has finished first etc., but this is something different.
It may be a better idea to approach each child individually during quiet activities
and comment on her/his great effort followed by an eye wink.
At the end of the school year we can evaluate our children’s work by creating a nice
colourful certificate.
12. Parental/Carer involvement
Most parents and carers are always enthusiastic to learn as much information as
possible about their child’s progress. It is a good idea to create an English notice board
in a room where parents pick up their children from school so as they are kept updated
on what is happening in their child’s lessons as well as about the teacher’s goals.
Lesson plans may be hung up along with extra copies of blank worksheets with
instructions written in mother tongue in case the child loses her/his own copy and wants
to redo the activity at home. Song lyrics will be greatly appreciated together with a
reference on where to buy English related material.
Teachers may find useful to invite parents/carers to their English lessons to
participate in the activities with their children.
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II. PRACTICAL PART
In the practical part I am going to present some of my lesson plans, samples of
single theme based activities for listening and speaking and some activities using
nursery rhymes which I used in my teaching practice during 1997-1999 at MŠ Veselá
školka in Šumperk.
Lessons took place within the school’s own classrooms twice a week. Each lesson
took 30 minutes. I had two groups of 4-6 year olds, one of which had 10 enthusiastic
children. It was my pleasure to cooperated with a team of helpful and supportive
teachers.
We had nearly ideal conditions for our lessons – one large room devided into two
parts one of which was used for lively, physical activities and the other one for quiet
worksheet activities.
There was a group of parents/carers some of which were keen on helping me in
terms of material such as papers and copying worksheets. Some of them were interested
in learning English together with their children at home. For those I began to create
special ‚lesson plans‘ accompanied with Czech instructions including explanation of
difficult pronunciation and later a special activity book with more teaching material
inside. One mother decided to attend the lessons with her child. She became an
invaluabe help during the lessons.
15
1. LESSON PLANS
Starter Unit - Introduction
Lesson 1 Song text: Hello song
Hello, hello, it’s so nice to say
hello, hello, and have a nice day
Good-bye song:
Good-bye, good-bye I don’t like to say
good-bye, good-bye and have a nice day
(taken from Max and Millie’s song cassette, Longman, 1993)
Hello song time
Sit in a circle with children. Hide Bunny rabbit in your magic bag and pretend that
you are looking for him and start calling Bunny’s name Bunny, Bunny, where are you?
Look at children and ask them Where is Bunny? Bunny! Bunny! Where are you? Try to
make children help you looking for him. Then say Ahhh, here you are. In the bag. Oh,
he’s sleeping (make sounds of someone sleeping very loud –children like this part)
Come on, Bunny. Wake up! Wake up, Bunny! But Bunny is still sleeping. Now try to
make children help you. Bunny, Bunny, wake up! Take him out of the bag and say
Hello! Hello Bunny! Bunny says Hello! Hello children!
Materials
• CD and player • Bunny rabit puppet • Musical intrument jinglebells rattles
• Worksheet (see Table time)
Language spoken: hello, good-bye my name’s sit down, stand up
Language understood: What’s your name? What is it? Where are you? Wake up!
16
This is the right time to give children their ‚musical instruments‘. Play the CD, sing
along and greet every child individualy. Children automatically start singing too. It is
not important that children do not understand all the lyrics. They will pick up only
‚hello‘, which is enough for the start. The rest will become understandable during the
whole course.
Introduction
Now it is time to introduce ourselves to each other. Hello. My name’s ……(use
your name). Turn to Bunny and say What’s your name? At this stage children will
probably start shouting his name because they remember it from the beginning of the
lesson. Bunny greets each child individually Hello. My name’s Bunny. What’s your
name?
Time for exercise
Suddenly, we can hear jinglebells ringing. It’s time for exercise! Demonstrate the
activities and say Stand up! Sit down! Do it slowly at the beginning so that children can
absorb the correct pronunciation. As children become familiar with the commands you
can encourage them to say the commands themselves. Finish with Sit down! Now the
children are ready to move on.
Table time
Come and sit down. Sit down at the table.
Present the workshet. Have your own worksheet ready so that children understand that
they should draw themselves in the frame and say
This is Bunny. This is me. My name’s ……
My name’s ……………..
17
Good-bye song
If some children are not finished with colouring, let them do it as their homework. Find
Bunny puppet and tell him sadly Bunny, it’s time to say good-bye. Wave Bunny
goodbye and arrange all children to sit in a circle on the floor. Bunny goes round the
children shaking their hands syaing ‚good-bye‘ to each one individually. Encourage
children to say goodbye to him too. After that, Bunny goes to his bag and we may start
to play the song.
An optional activity
1. If we want to make the ‘My name’s activity’ more fun, we can ask children to
pretend that they are some well-known characters. You start the activity with
Bunny asking ‘What’s your name?’ and you will answer for example: ‘My name’s
Bobek.’
(Lipscombe and Davis, Max and Millie’s 1, Longman, 1992)
18
Starter Unit - Introduction
Lesson 2 Hello song time
The same procedure as in Lesson 1, followed by recycling ‘What’s your name’
after the song with Bunny asking some of the children who feel confident to speak.
Time for exercise
The same procedure as in Lesson 1 + introduction of a new command Run!
This time you can also try to mislead the children by doing the wrong actions. Say
Stand up! and remain sitting on the floor. It is a great fun and children love correcting
their teacher.
Magic bag time (vocabulary presentation)
Say in a mysterious voice What is it? It’s a magic bag. My magic bag. Pretend that
the bag is flying in the air (you may decide to play some soft music on the backround to
Materials
• Flashcards or real toys: rabbit dog cat mouse
• CD and player • Bunny rabbit puppet • Musical intrument jinglebells rattles
• Worksheet (see Table time)
Language spoken: It’s a… rabbit, dog, cat, mouse
Language understood: Run!
19
enhance the atmosphere of magic) What’s inside? A cat! And start revealing the
flashcard or a toy very very slowly so that children have time to guess what the word is.
Repeat the word again and by holding your ears as if you cannot hear using your
mimicks, make children repeat the word after you. Do the same with the rest of the
flashcards and put them one by one on the floor.
When finished, you may want to test children if they remember the vocabulary by
pointing at the flashcards and saying It’s a.....?. Children will try to say the correct
word.
Table time (presenting worksheets)
(illustration Max and Millie’s flashcards,Longman, 1993)
And now TABLE TIME! Sit down at the tables, please. Let the children colour-in the
worksheets freely asking them individually What is it?
Good-bye song
If some children are not finished with colouring, let them do it as their homework. Find
Bunny puppet and tell him Bunny, it’s time to say good-bye. Wave Bunny goodbye and
put him in his bag. Encourage children to say goodbye to him too.
Now, come, sit down and sing along. Play the song and say goodbye to all children
individually.
Some optional activities
1. Ask one child to sit in front of the other children. Show the rest of the children a
cut out cardboard flashcard of one of the learnt animal so that the child in front
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cannot see it. The called out child will then put her/his hands behind her/his back
and will try to guess by touching the card’s shape what animal it is.
2. Take a flashcard and cover it with a paper. Reveal the picture very slowly so
that children have time to guess what it is.
Unit 1- My Body
Lesson 1
Hello song time
The same procedure as in previous lesson except that this time we can let some
children to ask for names themselves using a Bunny puppet.
Materials
• Flashcards or real toys: rabbit dog cat mouse
• CD and player • Bunny rabbit puppet • Musical intruments jinglebells rattles triangle
• A magic bag • A magic wand • A magic hat • scissors • glue • Worksheet (see Table time)
Language spoken: Run! eyes, ears, nose, mouth
Language understood: Jump! head, shoulders, knees, toes
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Time for exercise
The same procedure as in previous lesson with adding a new command Jump!
Time for magic (vocabulary recycling)
Start this activity by putting a ‘magic hat’ on and holding a ‘magic wand’ and say
in a secretive voice Magic time. You can play some esotheric music on the backround to
enhance the magical atmosphere. Start doing the magic Abracadabra..! Abracadabra...!
A cat! Take a cat out of the bag. Pretend that you were turned into a cat and start
meowing and purring. All children imitate. You use a triangel to turn them back into
children.
Do the same with all the animals. Then put the flashcards on the carpet and do the
chorus word repetition with children by pointing at the animals. A cat. It’s a …?When
finished, put all the animals back to the magic bag
This time you may want to do it all by yourself, but later as children get used to
the action, they will want to do the magic themselves. It is a great opportunity for shy
children who usually do not speak much, because in this activity they are not
themselves, but they are MAGICIANS!
(everytime I started this activity I used a short piece of song by Enya, Lothlórien,
Shepherd Moons, 1991)
(inspired by children’s TV series, Storymakers, BBC Prime, 1997)
Whispering game (vocabulary recycling, pronunciation & intonation practice)
Let children sit in a row and tell them that you are going to whisper a name of an
animal that they already know to the child sitting next to you and that she/he must
whisper it to her/his neighbour who must whisper it to her/his neighbour and this way
the word gets to the last one sitting in a row who will finally say the word aloud.
Time for a song (presenting new vocabulary)
Song text: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes
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Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes Head and shoulders, knees and toes Eyes and ears and mouth and nose This song is a typical example of a TPR activity. Start the activity first without music.
Say the words very slowly with putting stress on the correct pronunciation. Children
repeat not only the actions, but the lyrics as well. After practicing for some time, play
the music and children sing along.
Table time (worksheet presentation)
(illustration from Max and Millie’s Playbook 2, U12, Longman, 1993)
Ask children if they have ever seen any moster in their lives and how does such a
monster look like?
Hand out the worksheets and ask children Take out your scissors, please. Take out
your glue, please. Each of your command is folowed by the action so that children
know what to do. As children are working, you may go round and talk to them
individually commenting on their work, for example: Ohhh, nice eyes..
If running out of time, ask children to finish their monster at home.
Good-bye song
The same procedure as in the previous lesson.
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Unit 1 - My Body
Lesson 2
Hello song time
The same procedure as in previous lesson except that this time we can let some
children to ask for names themselves using a Bunny puppet.
Time for exercise
The same procedure as in previous lessons with adding a new command Jump!Run!
Touch your head, shoulders, knees, toes. Touch your eyes, ears, mouth, nose.
Whispering game (vocabulary recycling, pronunciation & intonation practice)
Now it is time to calm children down by presenting the whispering game. Tell
them that you are going to whisper a word that they already know. This time it will be
Materials
• Flashcards or real toys: rabbit dog cat mouse (in case of an optional game)
• CD and player • Bunny rabbit puppet • Piggy puppet • Musical intruments jinglebells rattles triangle
• pencils or crayons • Worksheet (see Apendix 3)
Language spoken: Run!, Jump! eyes, ears, nose, mouth head, shoulders, knees, toes
Language understood: Touch your….
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about their bodies. The last child will then try to point to the part which the word relates
to. You may wish to tell the children that if the word gets spoilt on the way, it does not
matter much. This game is only fun and it is difficult to pass the word without seeing
the lips movement.
Bunny show – (improvised sketch for recycling vocabulary, enhancing understanding,
pronunciation awareness, speaking practice)
Now it is time for the Bunny show. Tell children that our friend Bunny has a friend
named Piggy. He is his best friend, but sometimes Piggy does not understand what
Bunny says because he speaks in his ‘piggy’ language. That is why he may do some
things wrong…
When introducing Piggy to children there is a chance to recycle some of the old
words like ‘Hello’, ‘What’s your name? and ‘My name is…’ After we finish the
introduction, Bunny and Piggy start having fun together playing a game:
B: Piggy, touch your head.
(Piggy touches the magic hat)
B: No, no, Piggy. Your head!
P: Ohhh, my head, yes of course. (Piggy finally touches his head)
B: Yes, Piggy. That’s right!
You can invent your own sketches. They should not be too long though. Children
enjoy watching Piggy doing things wrong. It shows them that making mistakes is a
naturall process and that learing a different language can be fun, too.
This activity is deliberatelly aimed at some problematic areas of English
pronunciation. It makes children think about the word sounds and their meaning.
Children love to perform their own sketches. If there is enough time, you may wish
to do so, if not leave it for the next lesson when children can start the Bunny show
themselves.
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Table time (worksheet presentation)
And now it is time for tables. Present the worksheets saying This boy is (say some
of the children’s name) Petr. He’s playing a game. He’s touching his head, his (touch
your ear to elicit the word from children)…? Yes, shoulders. He touches his…..? Knees,
that’s right and he touches his…? Toes. Hand out the worksheets. Ask children Take
out your pencils and colour in the pictures, please. Children colour in the worksheets.
You go round them talking to each child individually.
Good-bye song
The same procedure as in previous lessons.
Optional activities
1. Time for a song ‘Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes’
2. Time for magic (rabbit, dog, cat, mouse)
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2. Self-reflection
Children welcomed the idea of the Bunny rabbit puppet. It helped me build an
effective bridge between my goal – teaching English and the children’s heart. Bunny
was also used to establish routines in the classrom.
Although the lessons may have seemed to be running without any major problems,
soon after the first introduction lessons, I still felt the need for some self-reflective work
in order to keep track of situations or activities which did not run necessarilly according
to my expectations. I began to create personal notes within my lesson plans. It helped
me understand how each child could be different and that not all of them learnt the same
way.
My notes included the following questions:
� Did they like Bunny rabbit? Who did not?
� Did they like the song Who did not? Why?
� Did they understand my instructions? Who did not? How can I improve the
exercise next time?
� Did they like the craft activities? Who did not? Why? How can I improve?
� Was there any behaviour problem? When? Why? What can I do next time to
prevent it?
� Did they participate in the activity? Who did not? Why?
� Did they remember the vocabulary?
� Did they speak when prompted?
� Were they able to concentrate when necessary?
� Did they revise any exercise with their parents at home? If so, who and what?
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3. THEME BASED ACTIVITIES
3.1 Colours
3.1.1 Rainbow Aim: colour recognition, weather awareness
Description: the children colour in the rainbow and sing a song about colours
Material: flashcards – sun, cloud, worksheets (see below) with a rainbow,
pencils
In class: 1. Ask children what happens if there is the sun (present the flashcard)
and raining clouds in the sky
2. Hand out the worksheets.
3. Tell children they are going to hear a song about a rainbow where the
colours follow like this: (say “red” and start drawing into your
worksheet or on the board). Children follow and repeat the colours
after you.
4. Play the song and children point at the colours in their worksheets as
they sing.
(inspired by Reilly, Ward, Very Young Learners, OUP, 1997) The song text: Red and yellow and pink and green purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow
sing a rainbow
sing a rainbow, too
(Max and Millie’s Song Cassette, Longman, 1992)
At the end of the lesson I let the children draw their own sun, cloud and rain,
collected them and used some of their work into my ‘picture database’ for some further
creating flashcards or collages.
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3.1.2 Fruit
Aim: children learn/revise colours
Description: the children colour in the fruit according to instructions
Material: fruit fleshcards, worksheets (see below) with fruit, pencils
In class: 1. Revise fruit vocabulary using fleshcards
2. Ask children to take out the pencils and hand out the worksheets
3. Tell them you are going to tell them the fruit’s colour. They must
listen carefully to pick up the colour and colour it in.
Say: Apple. It’s an apple. It’s a red apple.
(illustrations and inspiration taken from Max and Millie’s Playbook 1, Longman, 1992)
3.2 Clothes
Aim: children learn new vocabulary: T-shirt, sweater, jumper, hat
Description: cutting out clothes and dressing up a paper boy
Material: scissors, pencils, glue, worksheets (see Apendix 6)
In class: 1. Talk about the daily routines with children. Ask them what time do
they wake up etc. leading the conversation to the point of dressing up.
Tell them that this time they are going to change the role with their
parents and pretend that they are grown-ups and their parents are their
children. They can use commands: ‘Put the T-shirt on, please!’
‘Put the sweater on, please!’
‘Put the jacket on, please!’
2. Children take out their pencils and start colouring in.
(At this point you may want to decide to revise colours they have
learn so far by asking them to colour in the T-shirt red..etc)
3. Children cut out worksheets and start dressing up their own ‘child’
(inspired by West, Bravo! Starter, Heinemann, 1995)
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3.3 Transportation
Aim: children learn new vocabulary: bicycle car, bus, train, plane, ship
Description: children pretend to travel using the above mentioned means of transport,
colour in worksheets
Material: pencils, scissors, worksheets (see below)
In class: 1. Ask children if they have ever travelled by bicycle, car, bus, train..
2. Explain to children that there is an action to accompany each mode
of transport and that you are going to demonstrate.
3. Create a space in the classroom where the pupils can stand without
touching each other.
4. Say the word and do the action.
5. For car, put your hands in a driving position, as if they were on the
steering wheel.
For bicycle, make your hands go round like pedals.
For train, arrange children to stand one by one in a row holding their
waists and going round the classroom making the noise like a train.
For plain, strech your arms as wings and go running round the
classroom
For ship, sit down on the floor and do paddling movements with
your arms.
6. Hand out the worksheets and children can colour in the objects.
7. You may want to decide if you want children to colour the objects
freely or follow your instructions in order to recycle the vocabulary.
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This activity involves lots of fun and children try hard to remember all the actions.
If we want the game to become even more interesting, the caller can call the words
quickly or repeat the same words two or three times or ‘tease’ the others by threatening
to say ‘bus’ and actually saying ‘bicycle’.
(Judy West, Bravo! Starter, Teacher’s Book, p. 47, Heinemann 1995)
4. Nursery rhymes
Nursery rhymes offer a lot of teaching resource. The majority of rhymes are short
and uncomplicated, which is a bonus when teaching younger children. Children do not
need to understand the meaning of every single word. It is enough to know what is
happening in the rhyme. What is important is the ability to listen and to imitate the
correct pronunciation and intonation. Rhymes offer a lot of repetitive vocabulary and
word collocations and are easy to remember.
4.1 Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
This song can be used for recycling the vocabulary about morning routines.
Children dance around in a circle holding hands whenever they sing the verse beginning
“Here we go round the mulberry bush.” They stand still for the verses beginning “This
is the way..” and perform the actions.
Song text:
Here we go round the mulberry bush The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush Here we go round the mulberry bush Early in the morning. This is the way we wash our hands Wash our hands, wash our hands This is the way we wash our hands Early in the morning. (repeat the first verse) This is the way we wash our face Wash our face, wash our face
This is the way we wash our face Early in the morning. (repeat the first verse) This is the way we brush our teeth Brush our teeth, brush our teeth This is the way we brush our teeth Early in the morning. (repeat the first verse) This is the way we brush our hair Brush our hair, brush our hair This is the way we brush our hair Early in the morning.
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Children love this song because it involves a lot of movement and they learn the
actions surprisingly fast.
A lot of digital photos were taken during my lessons which were used in creating
worksheets. Children’s reaction was positive and they were proud of colouring and
cutting out themselves. Some of them were interested to know exactly how to say what
they were doing in the picture in order to be able to tell their parents everything in
English. Moreover, it was a good way of teaching them pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’, ‘he’,
‘she’ which children picked up easily from the contex as well as making them aware of
different grammar structure.
4.2 It’s raining, it’s pouring
This song is great when there is bad weather outside. It can be sung while watching
the rain pouring down. The song is ideal for body movements.
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Suggested movements:
It’s raining, it’s pouring, Wiggle your fingers downwards like rain falling The old man is snoring, Pretend to snore He went to bed and bumped Lay your head on your hands and
his head then rub your head And couldn’t get up in the Pretend to try to pull your head morning. from the pillow
(Reilly, Ward, Very Young Learners, p.113, OUP, 1997) This song offers a lot of opportunities for ‘Let’s pretend’ games. Children love rain and to
make it more realistic, I used a water sprayer to evoke the real raining atmosphere.
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III. CONCLUSION
In my final thesis I am trying to refer to some positive aspects of an early language
introduction to very young learners using appropriate methodology and techniques.
My teaching practice together with the theoretical base helped me realise that very young
children are in a possession of unique abilities in acquiring second language using natural
spontaneous playful way characteristic for their age. They repeat sounds and intonation or
imitate movements without any awkward feeling which is so typical for primary students.
They use all their senses in the process of learning being completely uninhibited to the
language.
It is up to us, teachers to be able to create appropriate language-friendly environment, to
prepare our children for life in a community with diversity of languages and cultures and to
teach them mutual respect and cooperation.
With the help of suitable methodology, appropriate techniques and essential
motivation, we may lay foundation to their further positive attitude towards learning second
languages not only on the primary level but also in their ongoing life-long studies.
Writing this final thesis and going deeper into the subject convinced me once again that
the very young childrens’ ability to learn languages is enormous. I am convinced that a good
quality early start may have a significant influence upon the childrens’ future world
perception seen from broader perspectives.
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Bibliography:
Harmer, J.: The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman, 2001
Murphey, T.: Music & Song. Oxford University Press, 1992
Phillips, S.: Young Learners. Oxford University Press, 1994
Reilly, W., Ward, S.M.: Very Young Learners. Oxford University Press, 1997.
Scott, W.,A., Ytreberg, L., H., Teaching English to Children, Longman, 1990
Ur, P.: A Course in Teaching Learning. Cambridge University Press, 1996
Williams, M., Burden, R.,L., Psychology for Language Teachers, Cambdridge University
Press, 1997
Wright, A.: Storytelling with Children. Oxford University Press, 1995
Textbooks:
Morris, J., Ramsden, J.: Here’s Patch. Macmillan, 2005
Selby, C., McKnight, L.: Hippo and Friends. Cambridge University Press, 2006
West, J.: Bravo! Starter. Heinemann, 1995
Davis, R., Lipscombe S.: Max and Millies’s Teacher’s Guide 2. Longman, 1993
Internet sources:
URL 1. Methodology – Total Physical Response [online]. 2006 [cit. 31.7.2006] Available from WWW:<http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/tpr.shtml> URL 2. Learning English with nursery rhymes [online]. 2006 [cit. 31.7.2006] Available from WWW: <http://www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/presarticle3.pdf?cc=cz
Source of inspiration:
The Story Makers, children‘s series, BBC Prime, 1997
