Teaching English to Pre-School Children and Children in a Primary School

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

    Lecture 2, 3 

  The Essential Course in the-Secondary School. 

Plan: 

1. Three stages in teaching a foreign language in schools.
2. Junior stage.
3. Intermediate stage.
4. Senior stage.

 

     We distinguish three stages in teaching a foreign language in schools: junior, intermediate, and senior. Since every stage has its peculiarities we shall dwell upon each one separately. 

Junior stage. This stage involves the 5^th and the 6^th forms. Pupils are eleven and twelve years old. They are usually eager to learn a foreign language. Indeed, the eagerness, with which pupils volunteer answers to the teacher's questions with frantically waving hands leaves little doubt that powerful motives are at work, among them the desire to display language aptitude, and intellectual strength, or simply to “show off” in front of the teacher and classmates. They want to speak the language and understand it when spoken. Pupils like to perform various exercises and the teacher can easily involve them into various activities during the lesson. The conditions for language learning are favourable enough: pupils have four periods a week in the 5th form, and three — in the 6th form. The class, as a rule, is divided into two groups of about twenty pupils. Oral language receives the greatest time and emphasis although at this stage pupils learn hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

     Proceeding from the fourfold aim of foreign language teaching, namely, hearing, speaking, reading, and writing, as the syllabus sets, the problem arises what to begin with.

There are two possible solutions:

(1) to begin with teaching all the language skills, i. e., oral language (hearing and speaking) and written language (reading and writing);

(2) to begin with teaching oral language first.

     1. When we begin teaching reading, writing, and speaking simultaneously, pupils have to overcome many difficulties in acquiring the language, among them unfamiliar sounds of the language different from those of the mother tongue; peculiar intonation, stress, and rhythm; the new alphabet which includes strange letters, familiar letters that stand for different sounds; a complicated relationship between letters and sounds, some new concepts fixed or reflected in words (Russian — иди туда, иди сюда, English — go there, come here); the peculiar word-order in various types of sentences and so on and so forth. To provide the necessary conditions for the assimilation of such a complex thing as a foreign language in all its activities, the teaching process is rather slow. First, pupils assimilate the elements, namely, sounds and letters (how to pronounce this or that sound, how to put down this or that sound in symbols, how to write this or that letter, how to write the words the child learns, how to read words, word groups, sentences, what this or that word means, what thought is expressed in this or that sentence). Then they come to “the whole”. The work pupils do is of analytical character. They learn elements first to get a “whole”. For instance, pupils learn sounds and letters in their relationship in order to be able to read a word; they learn words, their meaning, spelling, pronunciation, grammar forms in order to be able to use them while reading a sentence, or writing a sentence, or saying it. They learn how to put the words together to express this or that thought orally or in writing, etc. Consequently, the process is from the elements of the language to speech, and from analysis to synthesis.

     The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that pupils get acquainted with all the language activities (reading, writing and speaking). The advocates of this approach say that one phase of a language helps the other. Thus writing helps reading; they both help speaking, and speaking helps reading. Language is, an organic unity, each language, activity is intimately related to every other activity. Language learning involves all types of memory: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic from the very beginning.

     There are some disadvantages in this approach, however, and we must not overlook them. They are the following: there are too many elements pupils have to assimilate before they are able to understand sentences pronounced by the teacher or read by themselves. They have but little idea of the oral language they study for a long time (at least for a month or more); many children of eleven soon get tired, of the analytical work and lose interest in the language; besides, the teacher in his attempt to make pupils work easier (there is too much for them to memorize) conducts his lessons, as a rule, in the mother tongue, some elementary commands (sit down, stand up, and three-five more expressions) are an exception since teaching reading and writing requires a lot of time (pupils are slow in doing this, thereby speaking is neglected, which is, of course, undesirable when the aim is the command of the language). The most dangerous of all disadvantages mentioned above is the loss of interest in the subject and of the desire to learn the language. “No one can learn what he does not want to study” (P. Hagboldt). This is especially true when we deal with children.

     The significance of interest-in learning cannot be overestimated. It is the strongest motive in all our efforts. It concentrates our attention, enlivens our impressions, ensures repetition, and favours a wealth of associations. Some psychologists even speak of the "law of interest". According to this law the most interesting parts of a subject most strongly resist the tendency to be forgotten.

     “No teaching is so poor as that which puts the class to sleep” (P. Hagboldt). Perfect integration of the various language activities is an ideal, and like all ideals, unattainable but worth striving for.

     To minimize the disadvantages the simultaneous teaching of all language activities possesses, a few introductory lessons at a purely oral level are conducted. Besides, of all the skills preference is given to the development of oral language in the junior stage, thus pupils are engaged in an exchange of ideas, however primitive they are from the very beginning. The linguistic material is presented orally which is important for developing hearing and speaking skills. The oral-aural competence of the pupil helps him in reading and writing, the latter in their turn support and reinforce hearing and speaking. This approach is reflected in the textbook for the 5th form by S. K. Folomkina and E. I. Kaar.

     2. When we begin teaching hearing and speaking first in the 5th form pupils have to overcome but one difficulty, namely, they learn first how to speak and understand the foreign language when it is spoken. Teaching reading and writing is postponed for a while. In this case there is an opportunity to concentrate pupils' attention upon hearing and speaking: Fortunately, ability in oral language may be developed, before ability in written language. Bearing this in mind some teachers prefer the following sequence in teaching beginners, that is, from oral language to written language; they conduct the oral introductory course in the 5th form, and follow the oral approach in teaching a foreign language afterwards. The advocates of the oral introductory course in the 5th form believe that it will lead to radical changes in foreign language teaching in schools (where for many years the simultaneous teaching of language skills has been practised) and make the teacher revise the method and techniques he uses. It is practically impossible to make the teacher deviate from the methods and techniques he is used to, though they have not proved as effective as they were expected to be. The use of the oral introductory course changes the methods and techniques the teacher applies.

     The advantages of the oral introductory course in the 5^th form are as follows:

     1. The oral introductory course allows the children to get a clear idea of how the language sounds from the very first steps. The pupils follow a natural sequence in language assimilation from hearing to speaking and later on to reading and writing.

     2. The oral introductory course stimulates pupils' interest   as   they deal with the language in its communicative function. For children a language is first of all speech. Therefore when they begin to learn a foreign language, they naturally want to speak it and hear it spoken. We know how eager the children are to learn a foreign language in the 5^th form when the school year begins, and how disappointed they become when it appears to be not what they have expected. The oral introductory course permits the teacher to instruct pupils in comprehension of elementary commands, requests, statements, and questions from the very beginning, on the one hand, and in saying something in a foreign language, on the other.

     3. Pronunciation in teaching a modern language is known to be the most important skill to be developed when instructing beginners.  In the oral introductory course much attention is given to teaching pronunciation. The imitative abilities of children are great enough to be relied upon in teaching pronunciation successfully.  Besides, during the oral course hearing and speaking are in focus, therefore children   have plenty of oral practice. Hearing and speaking improve their pronunciation.

     4. At present much attention is given to finding ways of more effective teaching. The effectiveness depends to a great extent on how well “feed-back” (from the pupil to the teacher) is established, that is, whether a response from the pupil is elicited. If the pupil's response indicates he has accurately received and recorded the previous information the next increment of information is presented. If the pupil's response is of low fidelity or accuracy — it is slow, inaccurate, fumbling, etc., —corrective information is provided. In oral language there is a constant communication between the teacher and the pupil. Therefore the feedback is permanent.

     5. The oral introductory course provides an efficient activization of teaching from the very beginning. During the lesson pupils should be active. They must listen to what the teacher and their classmates say. Their memory, thinking, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic analysers are at work. That is why many teachers turned to the oral introductory course in the 5^th form to gain better results in foreign language teaching. To meet the requirements of the teachers a new textbook for the pupils of the 5th form has been compiled. This is the textbook by A. P. Starkov, R. R. Dixon which is now in use.

     When teaching the pupils orally the method used is the aural-oral method. The teacher must strive towards establishing direct connection between words, sentences in the foreign language and the concepts and thoughts they convey. However, this does not mean the teacher cannot use the mother tongue during the lesson. He uses it for conveying the meaning of some words, structures, and for those explanations and commentaries which provide the necessary comprehension of the language material. For example, the teacher presents a sentence pattern: This is a desk (the translation may be given). In this sentence there are two sounds the pronunciation of which should be shown [ð], [d]. The rest are assimilated through imitation.

     The mother tongue, however, should not be an essential link between the foreign language and the thoughts it expresses. The mother tongue should only be utilized when it can help to ensure necessary comprehension. The extensive use of the mother tongue, translation in particular, however, deprives the oral introductory course of its sense and value. The principle of visualization is of great importance in teaching beginners. Audio “visualization” is provided when the pupil listens to the teacher’s and the classmates’ speech. For example, the teacher presents a new word.  The word is a chair. 

     Teacher: This is a chair ... a chair...

       Is this a chair? Yes, it is.

       Is this a table? No, it is not. It's a chair.

       Is this a .chair or a table?

       This is a chair.

       What is this?

  It's a chair. 

     Pupils listen to the teacher. They retain the new word not only as a whole but as an element of familiar structures. After that the teacher asks the pupils to repeat the word a chair in chorus, then individually, then in sentences. The new word must be heard and pronounced at least 30—50 times. The teacher's speech should be of a normal speed, and he must not repeat the same sentence or question several times. The slow uttering of the question is not desirable, because the pupils get time for inner translation and they are not prepared for hearing and comprehension of the foreign language. Objects, pictures, gestures should be extensively used at all points of the lesson. The assimilation of language material on the part of pupils depends on their activity during the lesson.

     Pupils memorize the language material in a form suitable for communication provided they hear and reproduce it again and again. New habits can be formed only by many repetitions. When conducting the oral course individual work is carried on. Work in pairs should be used, too.

     During the oral introductory course the teacher uses sentence patterns as units of instruction. He starts working at a sentence pattern and then attracts his pupils' attention to the elements this particular sentence pattern involves; for example, the sound is given in a sentence, the pattern is given in a situation. No analysis is used. Later on when reading and writing are introduced, some analysis and generalization may take place.

     The duration of the course is one of the problems that is not solved yet. It depends on many factors, such as:

     1. Number of pupils in the class. In overcrowded classes the oral introductory course should be shorter than in small classes of 10—15 pupils because the teacher cannot give due attention to every pupil and ensure oral practice for everyone. The consequence of this is that some pupils cannot assimilate words, phrases and sentence patterns which they grasp only by ear. They need printed matter to be able to see all this. Reading and writing are helpful since auditory perception is reinforced by visual perception.

     2. Pupils’ aptitude. There are pupils who can grasp words, phrases and sentence patterns in a foreign language by ear without any difficulty, and they can use them easily in conversations due to good imitative abilities.   There is no need for reading and writing to reinforce the pupils’ auditory perception. If the class consists of such pupils, the oral introductory course may be longer than in ordinary classes.

     3. The teacher’s qualifications. The oral method of teaching a foreign language requires qualified teachers who have good command of the language they teach, who can manage the class, who can work with audio-visual aids and materials when presenting and consolidating linguistic material and who can use modern methods and teaching techniques in order to stimulate pupils’ activities in listening comprehension and speaking. The more experienced the teacher is in this respect, the longer he is able to teach pupils hearing and speaking without turning   to reading and writing for 
the reinforcement of his pupils' auditory perception.  However, to meet modern requirements in teaching foreign languages in our schools, and to be considered “the oral introductory course” it must not be shorter than 4 weeks (16 periods). In the textbook by A. P. Starkov, Z. V. Starkova the oral introductory course goes on for a term (the first two months).

     The oral introductory course allows the teacher: (1) to develop pronunciation habits and skills both in articulation and intonation since pupils are taught spoken language only; the teacher can give his full attention to teaching correct pronunciation by saying each sentence very carefully and quietly, by asking the pupils to say it correctly following the pattern, by listening intently to detect faults in the pronunciation of his pupils so as to help each pupil in his effort to pronounce as close to the pattern as possible; (2) to introduce the material necessary for conducting lessons in English, namely, greetings, requests, orders, names of school objects and actions, words and expressions which are necessary for commenting, for instance, good, very good, better, but not good enough, wrong, right this time; (3) to create the situations in which pupils may speak about themselves and their friends, about objects and things they can see and use in the classroom, and so on.

     The oral introductory course is designed for developing pupils’ skills in hearing and speaking before they are taught to read and write in the target language. This makes the learning of the language easier. Teachers who want to follow this approach in teaching English should select the textbook for the 5th form by A. P. Starkov, R. R. Dixon. In the Teacher’s Book they will find all necessary directions as to how to teach children during the oral introductory course. When pupils have acquired habits and skills in listening comprehension and speaking during the oral introductory course, the oral approach is suggested in teaching the foreign language. 
 
 
 

  The Essential Course in the-Secondary School. 

     Intermediate stage. This stage includes the 7^th and the 8^th forms. Pupils are thirteen and fourteen years old. They already have some experience in learning a foreign language.  If pupils have had good achievements in language learning, they are usually interested in the subject and work willingly both in class and at home. If their proficiency in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing is poor they begin to lose interest in the foreign language. Their desire to learn depends fully on the teacher's ability to involve each pupil in language activities during the lesson by asking questions which require thinking on the part of the learners, by presenting new facts that may be interesting to pupils, by stimulating their hearing and speaking with audio-visual materials which should not be too childish in form and content since pupils at this age think they are nearer to grown-ups than to children, and sometimes feel insulted when the teacher “dares” to use pictures or techniques he has used in the junior stage. In other words, they want to be treated as adults.

     Pupils give preference to those exercises which require thinking on their part; therefore, the teacher should change the relationship between drill and creative exercises in favour of the latter. Since learning a foreign language requires drill, this must be provided through seatwork when each pupil learns for himself. The teacher's chief concern is to supply pupils with exercises, explain what and how they have to do these, provide time for solitary work, think of the proper techniques for checking and evaluating their work. At this stage most of the drill exercises can be done through mass work and work in pairs. The teacher wanders around the room while the pupils are involved in seatwork. As to creative exercises, they are to be performed under the direction of the teacher. To do an assignment pupils need a period of time for thinking after the task is set so the teacher must provide the necessary time.

     Praising good work and encouragement are desirable since these stimulate the pupil’s language activity and his desire to learn, whereas criticizing, constant interruptions for corrections; demands for repetition irritate pupils and make them dislike the subject.

     In this stage pupils have three periods a week in the 7^th form, and two in the 8^th form. However they may have two more periods as an optional subject. The time allotted to learning a foreign language, including pupils’ homework, should be evenly distributed between oral language and written language, and be in the ratio of 1:1. This means that half the time is spent on learning to speak, whereas the other half on learning to read and write in a foreign language.

     Oral language is used both as a method of instruction and a means of communication as in the junior stage. As far as the material for developing auding and speaking is concerned, pattern dialogues, texts, and study guides should be more widely used. Moreover, oral exercises must be more communicative, therefore the teacher should seek ways for creating real or close-to-real situations. When hearing is taught care must be taken that comprehension drills do not become exercises of memory and recall, except in cases when pupils have to memorize the material which is drilled.

     The topical arrangement of linguistic material allows the teacher to extend the use of audio-visual aids and audiovisual materials including educational films. The teacher also turns to pupils’ experience and he may use it as a starting point for discussion. It has been proved that pupils lose their interest in a language that is presented to them by means of endless repetitions, pattern practices, and various substitutions. Consequently, in the intermediate stage speech exercises should prevail. Pupils want to use the target language as a means of intercourse. The teacher should do his best to create the necessary conditions for their conversations. At this stage both forms of speech - dialogue and monologue - are developed with preference to unprepared speech.