Development Stage For Learners

Hello Guys.......

Welcome back to my blog :)

How's life? I hope you always stay healthy in any condition.

So... in this blog, I want to share or want to talk about the Development Stages for learners.

Let's check it out!

What is Teaching English to Young Learners?

Teaching English to Young Learners (TEYL) is a way to introduce English as a foreign language to young students. While children may not have an understanding of why it is important to learn a second language, there are many reasons that answer the question, “Why teach English to young learners?” For instance, creating a fun and positive learning environment can equip kids with a strong foundation for success in more advanced courses later in their academic careers.

Development Stages:

This section looks at how children learn at different stages of development and how activities in the classroom need to address their cognitive, motor, language, and social development.

Children between four and twelve years old are very different as language learners, so here we take a look at how children learn at different stages of development and how activities in the classroom need to address their cognitive, motor, language, and social development.

Children: 4-6 year-olds

Chants

Chants are great as children

• learn to work together
• pick up chunks
• get to listen to lots of meaningful languages
• have a reason to use English
• find them funny
• move their body
• enjoy repeating them

   

Songs

Classic songs like Old MacDonald had a farm (see related pages below)are very popular with young children. This is a version of the song that encourages students to produce long vowel sounds. It also practices the numbers one to four.  Farms are pretty universal. Young students enjoy making the animal noises and farm animals are a nice lexical set.

Stories

There are many storybooks based on animals. Children love listening to stories about animals especially If there are colorful, child-friendly visuals to help them follow the story. You can also use cuddly animal toys while story-telling to get and hold the children’s attention.

Games

Children all love games. 4 – 6-year-olds have still to develop cooperative skills, so introducing games that involve turn-taking helps to develop these skills. Do not despair if they get impatient or want to take each other’s turns – they are still learning to be less egocentric and need lots of opportunities to allow these skills to develop (see related pages The animal game below).

Children: 7-9 year-olds

Chants

Children at this age group still love chants but can add their own verses too. This stimulates their creative skills and gives them a sense of achievement when they can produce their own (see Five little speckled frogs song in related pages below).

World knowledge

The quiz at the bottom of the page requires not just linguistic knowledge, but also knowledge about animals.

Wall displays

By now many children are developing their writing skills and becoming proficient drawers. They also get a great sense of achievement from seeing what they have created.

A mini-project on animals is easy to set up. Each child chooses an animal they like. They draw a picture of the animal and write sentences based on a model* provided by the teacher. The pictures are neatly mounted on the classroom walls. Invite parents in too to see these lovely displays.

model:

• …………… is a big/small animal
• …………… lives in the jungle / on a farm / in my house
• ………….. eats leaves / other animals/ …………..
• ………….. can fly / run/swim etc etc

Children: 10-12 year-olds

Projects

By now it is clear that students have very different approaches to learning and have distinct preferences and interests. A project on animals can ensure all are satisfied.

Students can choose to work independently or with a partner(s)

Get students to choose an animal, or the creative ones can create a new one!

Students choose whether to create a wall display, a book, or a presentation on their animal

Their work can include illustrations, their own or ones they find

Their project can be a factual description about the animal including information found in books, the internet, etc or it can be a story about the animal. It could also be a poster calling for the conservation of a particular species

Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners:

1. Teaching speaking and writing 
     a) not know what their teachers explain
     b) Lack of vocabularies
     c) Using their accent in speaking English
     d) problems with their first language (illiteracy)
     e) Easily get bored when learning either speaking or writing

2. Motivation
    a) How to motivate students to love English
    b) The biggest challenge is to get them to learn
   c)     In the classroom, they like appreciation or a present to increase their motivation
    d) Teachers and parents should be involved to motivate them.

3. Differences

a) Group differences such as culture, language, socioeconomic status, and gender
b) Individual differences such as intelligence, ability differences in the classroom, cognitive styles and learning preferences, temperament, and personality.
c) Exceptional students such as learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, mental retardation, Emotional disturbance, attention-deficit disorder (ADD), and giftedness and talent

4. Teaching large classes

    a) Difficulties in managing and controlling students in the classroom
    b) Difficulties in delivering material

    c) Fatigue

5. Discipline
    a) Children who lack of discipline at home
    b) Children who chat with their friends while studying.

So, that's all for today

See you on the next blog :)

Stay Healthy guys!

Source :

https://www.tefl-online.com/tefl-jobs/online-tefl-articles/why-teach-english-young-learners/

https://englishbookgeorgia.com/blogebg/how-children-learn-at-different-stages-of-development/

https://espsitikiftiah.blogspot.com/2017/01/challenges-in-teaching-english-to-young.html