Teaching English in the Primary School

Insights in EFL teaching methodology for young learners

Marianthi KotadakiSchool Advisor for English Language Teachers

Ilia, Peloponnese1

The lesson

Unit 2, Lesson 1, Activity

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likes and dislikes + verb + ing

sports and other activities

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Warm up and preparation

• Days of the week• Matching activity + example• Student’s book activity 3.• Verb + ing: transformation activity using the

information of the matching activity.

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Presentation of the new language

• Introduction to “I like”, “I don’t like” using the information of activity 3. SS put faces and practice the same.

• Introduction to “he/she likes”, “he/she doesn’t like” with examples. Pair work practice.

• Introduction to “we/they like” “we/they don’t like” with class examples.

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Guided practice

• Practice using funny animal pictures (all persons)

• Written practice

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Productive use of language

• Guided written production using pictures and cue cards.

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Who are our students?

Younger learners• First couple years of schooling• Understand meaningful

messages but don’t analyse language yet.

• Have limited reading and writing skills, even in L1.

• More concerned about themselves than others.

• Have limited knowledge of the world.

• Enjoy fantasy, imagination and movement.

Older learners• Well established in school and

comfortable with school routines.• Begin to take interest in the

language as an abstract system.• Become to grow awareness of

themselves as language learners.• Developed skills as readers and

writers.• Grow awareness of others and their

viewpoints.• Have a growing awareness of the

world around them.• Begin to show an interest in life

issues. 7

2 approaches to YL teachingSynthetic approach

• Focus on language

• Presents an inventory of language components taught separately which the learner synthesizes or reassembles to produce grammatically correct , comprehensible utterances.

Analytic approach

• Focus on learner

• Creates an inventory of communicative tasks related to the communicative contexts in which the language occurs, based on learner needs.

• Such approaches offer more potential than synthetic approaches.

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Teaching vocabulary

• Use direct and indirect teaching

Direct teaching: providing explicit definitions and examples of word meanings.

Indirect teaching: providing guided discovery activities to help learners figure out the meaning of the words themselves).

• Teach vocabulary before doing an activity (it aids comprehension and acquisition of vocabulary).

• Teach to use context clues appropriately.

• Present multiple exposures to new vocabulary items.9

Teaching grammar

• Grammar: the way language manipulates and combines words in order to form longer units of meaning (Ur, 1988).

Morphology and syntax.

• “We need to simplify and even oversimplify grammar for learners in the beginning stages. They will have only a partial understanding at this stage. We should help them perceive patterns and regularities that can be developed over time as learners ‘grow their grammar’. It is a ‘consciousness-raising’ period. Increasing the load to the learners has to be done gradually. One of the quickest ways of killing motivation is by overloading beginning learners”.

(Nunan, 2005a, 2005).10

Step 1

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Step 2

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Step 3

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Step 4

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Teaching writing• Writing starts from copying letters and

words to producing a range of text types and genres

(reports, instructions, narratives)

• Writing is for preserving information and transmitting information.

• Writing is dependent on thinking and reasoning skills.

• Writing reinforces oral language development (supports other areas of language learning)

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The process approach to writing• Discussion (class, small group, pair)• Brainstorming; making notes; asking questions• Fast writing: selecting ideas; establishing a viewpoint• Rough drafting• Preliminary self-evaluation• Arranging information; structuring the text• First draft• Group/peer evaluation and responding• Conference• Second draft• Self evaluation; editing; proofreading• Finished draft• Final responding to draft (White and Arndt, 1991)

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The mechanics of writing depend on:

Age of learners Levels of oral proficiencyNature of their L1

Early stages: copying, tracing, especially through games

Later stages: more challenging word, sentence and text-level writing

(gap filling, completing familiar texts with key words removed, replicating familiar texts, producing familiar real life texts).

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Something to think about“While students certainly need to learn how to pass exams, they also need to perceive writing as a tool for learning, a tool that can be useful to them throughout their professional and personal lives”

(Raimes, 1993).

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Ten Helpful Ideas for Teaching English to Young Learners1. Supplement activities with visuals, realia, and movement. Children are very much

linked to their surroundings and are more interested in the physical and the tangible.2. Involve students in making visuals and realia. It helps engage students in the learning

process.3. Move from activity to activity. young learners have short attention spans. Do not spend

more than 10 or 15 minutes on any one activity because children tend to become bored easily.

4. Teach in themes. Moving from one activity to others that are related in content and language helps to recycle the language and reinforce students’ understanding and use of it.

5. Use stories and contexts familiar to students. Find ones that are appropriate for your students based on their language proficiency and what is of interest to them, because they may have limited knowledge and experience in the world.

6. Establish classroom routines in English. Young learners function well within a structured environment and enjoy repetition of certain routines and activities.

7. Use L1 as a resource when necessary. The teacher should spend class time focusing on those target language objectives rather than spending time trying to make a difficult word or expression comprehensible in English

8. Check comprehension often. 9. Provide the students opportunities to personalise.10. Grow global citizens. It helps keep your classroom fresh with new ideas and generate

collaboration. 19

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The alphabet of a good FL classroom by Carol Read A is for Affect

B is for Behaviour

C is for C-Wheel

D is for Development

E is for Energy

F is for Flexibility

G is for Grammar

H is for Holistic learning

I is for Imagination

J is for Jazz chants

K is for Kinesthetic learning

L is for Learning to learn

M is for Multiple Intelligences

N is for Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP)

O is for Oracy

P is for Praise

Q is for Questioning techniques

R is for Relationships

S is for Storytelling

T is for Technology

U is for Understanding

V is for Vocabulary

W is for Writing

X is for Xenophobia

Y is for Young Learners

Z is for Zone of Proximal Development21

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British Council video tips for teachers

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