Teaching young Teaching young learners: little box of learners: little box of

surprisessurprises

Pussy Pussy Puddle Cat

Pussy pussy puddle catwhat do you thinkyou’re playing atmaking puddleson the matchairs and tablesdon’t do that!

Roger McGoughIllustrated by Satoshi Kitamura

Children enjoy this because you play with words and sounds and rhymes. It brings linguistic fun into the classroom.

I need to huff & puff like the Big Bad Woolf

Whilst the teacher was going over the story a little boy decided to huff and puff like the big bad woolf. Then the rest of the class did as well. Unplanned moments like these are a joy. The children chose when and how to manipulate language. It leads to an enjoyable language experience.

Piaget’s stages for childhood cognitive development

Age Stage

Birth to 2 Sensorimotor: experiencing the world through senses and actions

2 to 6 Preoperational: representing things with words and images and pretend play

7 to 11 Concrete operational: thinking logically about concrete events and grasping concrete analogies

12 onwardsFormal operational: thinking about hypothetical scenarios and processing abstract thought

David Crystal (1998) explains that we play with language. As soon as we are born, language play is at the very centre of things, for example in the baby talk used with children. This then moves to chanting and tuneless language play, followed by nonsense talk. From age 8 onwards verbal play is sophisticated with rhymes, riddles and jokes. Then comes longer story telling.

I like order and routine

By a certain age children have picked up the fact that there is order and structure to things around them. Children are hooked by the routines we create in class and this guides them along. Songs and story patterns can help this sense of order and routine and helps children navigate through a lesson.

Round and round the gardenRound and round the gardenLike a teddy bear;Like a teddy bear;

One step, two steps,One step, two steps,And tickle him/her under there!And tickle him/her under there!

Even within routine and structure there is space for sponteneity and the unexpected, which is part of ludic play. The psychologist Jerome Bruner pointed out that learning through play is immensely important in a child’s development. He argues that payful interactions have a clear-cut structure. They present children with a set routine, containing a limited number of important elements that are played over and over again until the child is fluent in them – or bored – and ready to move on.

Shoelaces

Sometimes it is important to incorporate simple life skills into the lesson as the need arises. On noticing children find tying up shoelaces still complicated, why not add this to your lesson. Create a chant and show them how to tie their shoelaces up. You mix linguistic with real life needs. Learning becomes more significant and meaningful.

Cross the shoelacesCross the shoelacesPull them tightPull them tight

Make two bunny earsMake two bunny earsGo through the loopGo through the loop

And there we goAnd there we go

Getting messy is fun!

We live in a world in which we want to sanitize everything. All must remain pristine and clean. But learning is a messy process, we run risks. Learning by experiencing new sensations and activities, such as mixing paint, is a far more rewarding experience than watching a YouTube vídeo on how to mix colours.

I want to take my toys to class

Allow children to bring their toys into class. This may help mediate the learning process and it bridges the affective gap a child might experience when they go from home to the language classroom. This is another way of making learning more meaningful and personal.

The Impressionist

On one occasion,my father painted the whole housea brilliant orange.We lived for a long time in a house,as he said himself,eternally dawning.

Adélia PradoAdélia Prado(Translated by David Cole)(Translated by David Cole)

Teaching young learners will always place the teacher in a position in which they are forced to think on their feet and look at things from a new perspective.

Children subvert learning processes.

Enjoy this subversion.

Let the teaching/learning experience with young learners constantly create a new dawn for you.

vbenevolofranca@gmail.com

This talk was presented at the ACINNE Conference in Fortaleza 2015 and LABCI Conference in Montevideo 2015.