Analysis of objectives and the content of textbooks for very young learners.

1. Hippo and

Friends

2. Small Talk

3. Super Me

Hippo and FriendsBy Claire Selby with Lesley McKnight, published by

Cambridge University Press in 2006.

(Complete Beginner- Hippo and Friends is a three-level pre-school course for 3-5 year-olds.)

The aims (objectives) of this textbook are:• To teach English in a way that is fun and

enjoyable • To make age-relevant vocabulary easy to learn

and to remember• To provide materials which integrate English to

the pre-school curriculum

Methodology

• At this age, children generally enjoy singing songs. They memorize the words throught songs. Children also love stories. A story provides a context to help children understand the application of new words.

•There are also games which help memorize new words.• This textbook includes easy-to-use materials: Audio CDs,

Photocopiable extras, Flashcard and Story posters

Unit structure

Sing and learn. In this lesson teacher presents the main vocabulary, hear and sing the song and reinforce the vocabulary with the sticker worksheet.

Listen and learn. In this lesson teacher presents the story, using the story poster.

Do and learn. This lesson revises the song and the story with activities.Say and learn. Here a section called Talk time specifically encourages

children to give one word responses to questions or to complete a phrase.

Moving on. Last lesson draws together the song and story elements. The children sing the song again and make a storybook to take home.

Contents:

Starter unit: I can say hello!

Unit 1 : Ten pencilsUnit 2 : A faceUnit 3 : Our little house Unit 4 : FamilyUnit 5 : The weatherUnit 6 : Spring coloursUnit 7 : Wild animalsUnit 8 : Bananas!Unit 9 : The sea is blue

Extra units : Halloween, Christmas, Easter

Vocabulary

• Vocabulary is very simple, in each unit there are 4 or 5 new words.

• E.g: Hello, goodbye, hippo, monkey, dog, cat

• At the end of each unit is a revision of vocabulary that children have learned.

Small TalkBy Myriam Monterrubio

and Marcela Salido. Published by Marcmillian press in 1994.

• This course has 3 pre-school levels. This textbook is second level for 4-5 years old children.

Objectives

• Learning process should follow a child´s natural developement

• To consolidate learning, present new vocabulary• Themes and activities are focused on the world

aroun the child.• Emphasized are oral and comprehension aspect

of the languageThis course involves this three cognitives areas:1. Listening2. Visual3. Kinesthetic

Methodology

• This textbook uses situational methodology.

• The authors says: ´´Child is not an adult in developement but a well-formed individual, with his own personality and individual character.´´

Whole course is divided into three levels:• Kinder 1, Kinder 2, and pre-primary

level. The book contains casettes where is vocabulary, songs, rhymes, dialogues between the protagonists

The book structureBook is divided into units by each

theme:1. Greetings2. Beautiful colours3. Shapes4. Big and little

5. My Body6. Where´s my Bunny?7. My Street8. Left and Right9. The Candy Store10. Toys, Toys,

Toys11. The Weather12. In the Park13. In the Garden14. Granpa´s Farm15. Final Review

Vocabulary:

• Vocabulary is easy-to-learn and simple. E.g: colours: orange, green, pink shapes: circle, triangel, square

Super me 2

By Lucia Tomas and Vicky Gil, Oxford University Press in 1998. This course is a two-year English course for 5 to 7 years olds in kindergarten.

Aims • to make English enjoyable not only for the children but also for teachers.

Methodology

• The course consist of essential and optional components:

• Essential: Class Book, Fun Book, Cassette, Teacher´s resource pack (Teachers Book, Story Book)

• Optional: flashcards

The book structure

• The Class Book and Fun Book are each divided into nine units , including Christmas and Easter unit which is very interesting for the children. Because they love to sing christmas carols. Learn how they call in English snowflake, angel, christmas tree, egg, rabbit and so on...

• Each unite focuse on particular theme.

Topics are:

1. Lucy´s birthday2. Lucy´s tree house3. At the shopping

centre4. At the adventure park5. At the Zoo6. In town7. On holiday8. Christmas9. Easter

The Class Book:

It contains all the basic presentation material for the course.The class book activities are largely listening activities (chants songs dialogues and role-plays)

• Point activities (find and count named objects, color and complete according to instructions).

• There is not presented any words on the class book pages. Each activity is signprinted with an icon to indicate the nature of the activity. The pages are color-full.

The Fun Book:

• Its similar to the work book.

• The children work there on theire own: drawing, writing numbers, colouring, there is also cutting and pasting activities and variety of puzzles and games and the lyrics for extra songs

Vocabulary

• Vocabulary is simple, and easy to remeber. There is about 20new words (numbers from 1-20, colors,food) in each unit + same new phrases like :What´s this? Please give me a... I like...

Conclusion

• All these three textbooks are very colourful, what chatches children´s attention. Include many activities which involve they kinesthetic skills. Interesting stories and songs develope their imagination and language skills.

Thank you for your attention!