Do you teach children? If you do, you undoubtedly have an opinion or two about the ways children learn language best. Those opinions will form the basis of your own personal philosophy of teaching English as a foreign langauge (TEFL) for children. So, before going any further, put on your thinking cap and fill in the following opinion survey with numbers from 1 (best) to 10 (worst).
Young children learn EFL by
__ doing the things they like to do
__ following a carefully designed syllabus
__ hearing a model and repeating
__ listening and acting
__ playing and doing things in the language
__ practicing correct language patterns
__ singing and chanting
__ starting early
__ talking about what's important to them
__ trying to say things and making mistakes
If you are like me, you probably easily marked the three or four "best" ways, and another two or three "worst" ways, while the others fell into a "well, sometimes" range in the middle. But it is very likely that your ranking is different from mine, and at least a little different from the teacher in the next classroom. Of course, it depends on whether your own class is very young children of ages three or four, or those "almost adults" of ages 13 or 14. Yet, even if we are talking about children of the same age, competent teachers will still have different opinions about the best method to use. Why is this?
We all are different
Teachers of EFL to children in Japan come to the profession from many different walks of life. Some were teachers of adults who started to teach kids. Others are children's teachers who have added EFL to what they teach. Still others are parents who want their own children to learn English, so have decided to start classes for kids. And then there are those with no EFL training at all, who are here in Japan for other reasons, but have been asked to teach a class or two of children in the neighborhood.
Each teacher has different ideas about how to teach EFL to children. These ideas come from many different sources. One of the strongest influences on teaching style is how the teacher herself learned EFL or another foreign language. Those who learned a foreign language through a grammar/translation method tend to use it; while those who learned with lots of drills, in an audio-lingual environment, are more likely to believe that is the best way. If we have had any training in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), TEFL or elementary education, it also influences the methods we use. If we have children of our own, we might observe how they learn and adapt that to our EFL teaching. Finally, the text we are using and its teacher's manual are often strong influences on what we do in the classroom. Each teacher has a different background and different language learning experiences, and these translate into different ideas about methods. The important question is, however, how can we best translate our ideas about the best ways children learn into concrete lesson plans and activities?
Adapt the activities
Look at your answers to the opinion survey again. Now, think about the last class of children you taught. Compare what you did in class with your opinions about the ways children learn best. How do they mesh? Did all or most of the activities in the class fit with your ideas? If they didn't, how can you change the lesson plan, or adapt the activities, so they do fit in with your developing philosophy? Let's look at a couple of common classroom games and see how they can be changed.
BINGO
This is a game many of us have played at parties. Do you play it in class also? In its original form, it fits three of my own ideas about how children learn best: by doing things they like to do, by playing in the language, and by listening and acting. Yet we can easily adapt the game to fit other philosophies. Here are a few suggestions:
Children learn best by hearing and repeating: Use a picture Bingo game to introduce new vocabulary or structures. After the teacher calls the name of the picture or says the target structure, using the picture, children repeat it before covering it on their cards.
Children learn best by practicing patterns: Use picture Bingo to practice the patterns. Have children in turn say the target structure that fits any picture, and all then cover it.
Children learn best by singing and chanting: Each Bingo square represents a line from a song or chant the children have learned, in words or in pictures. Kids either repeat after the teacher or call out the lines themselves.
Children learn best by talking about what's important to them: Have children make original statements that are true about pictures. Try it with pets, foods, or activities, and structures such as "I like/don't like...," or "I want/don't want..., because..."
MEMORY or CONCENtrATION
This is another classroom favorite for all levels of learners. In its original form, children search for two matching cards from a set that are placed face down on the table. It's something children like to do and it can involve playing in English, if we set it up carefully. Adaptations for other philosophies include:
Children learn best by hearing and repeating: Each pair or small group of children has a single set of cards placed face down on the table. The teacher uses another set to call out the names of cards. Children repeat after the teacher before trying to find the matching card.
Children learn best by practicing patterns: Each card has something else, representing a way to use the target structure, on its reverse side. These are all unique -- each card has a different picture or word. On his turn, a child may not touch the card himself, but instead says the pattern two times, using the two cards he wants. Another student turns over the cards.
Children learn best by singing and chanting: Children say a simple chant before turning over the second card, such as "Where is it? Where is it? Where's the pencil?" or "I want it! I want it! I want the ruler!"
Other parts of a philosophy
Of course, methodology forms only one part of a philosophy of EFL for children. We need to consider children's motivation and also goals: of the children, their parents, and the teacher. These are beyond the scope of this short article, but will be discussed in the JALT 97 workshop. In the meantime, try another short opinion survey about children's motivation:
Children come to EFL classes because
__ it will be useful in junior and senior high school
__ learning a new language is fun
__ their parents want them to
__ they like the teacher
__ they like their friends in the class
__ they want to talk to foreigners
How can we adapt our lesson plans and activities to fit this part of our philosophy, too? In the workshop, we will examine and evaluate various parts of philosophies, as well as activities and techniques, with the goal of developing a philosophy and adapting our lesson plans to suit it.
We can all benefit from examining our own beliefs about teaching children and developing a personal philosophy. With such a philosophy, we can better evaluate the activities we encounter in teacher's manuals and magazines, or see at presentations. Rather than indiscriminately using the most recent game we have come across, we can adapt the game, making changes that will improve it for us and for our students. And that's what effective teaching is all about.
Aleda Krause's workshop is sponsored by Prentice Hall Japan. She is co-author of the children's series SuperKids and coordinator of the JALT Teaching Children N-SIG.