 |
| Contexts for learning English (Google Images) |
Many teachers I have talked to believe that the ideal situation for children learning a second language is to live in the country where the language is spoken, to be surrounded by it and to acquire it naturally through using it every day. If we analyse this suggestion, we can identify a number of different conditions which are associated with this ideal learning situation.
- Time
Children will have plenty of time for learning English and it can be spread over several years
- Exposure
They are exposed to English all around them, both m and outside of school
- A real need for English
They have a need to use English in order to survive on a daily basis, e.g. to make friends, to study in school, to shop, to travel, etc.
- Variety of input
They are exposed to a wide variety of uses of English, e.g. spoken and written, English for thinking, for interacting, for getting things done, for imagining
- Meaningful input
They will receive plenty of meaningful language input through experience of English not as a subject to be learned, but as a means of communication, where the focus is on the meaning not the form of the language.
Comparing situations
Here are three different situations for learning English. Which situation is closest to the one in which you teach?
Situation A
Junko is an eight-year-old Japanese girl Her parents are working in England. She attends a Japanese school. After one year, she has picked up quite a lot of English from the au pair girl who works for the family and from the children who live next door. She can chat away quite happily with other children and she often translates for her mother when they go shopping to the market. Her mother finds it difficult to speak English.
Situation B
Rosa is an eight year-old girl who lives in Colombia in South America. She learns English at school. She does not hear or use any English outside school. She is not sure why she is learning English, except that her parents think it is important At the end of one year of English, she knows a few words of English.
Situation C
Dorji is an eight year-old boy from Bhutan in the Himalayas. He is in Class 2 and he is learning all his subjects through English. Outside school, he will see some shop signs in English and he may watch English films at home on his video with his parents. By the end of two years, he already knows a lot of English and can use it to communicate with his teachers, who speak to him in English.
These three situations represent different opportunities for learning English Situations A and C seem the most favourable for learning English because they allow more exposure to English and more opportunities for using it.
Compared to situations A and C, situation B offers
- a limited amount of time spent on English
- no need or reason for using English
- a formal learning environment with the focus mainly on correctness
- a limited and controlled language input
However a great many children learn English successfully in school contexts like B So we need to consider the best way of making the classroom a positive learning environment. Our role as the teacher is likely to be very important in doing this.
Here are some suggestions for how to create a more favorable environment in the classroom Which ones can you use in your classroom? What other ideas do you have?
- Make your classroom a lively place through the use of attractive wall displays, displays of pupils work, a book corner, etc.
- Motivate pupils to want to learn English by using interesting and enjoyable learning activities, e.g. project work, games, drama
- Create a warm and happy atmosphere where teacher and pupils enjoy working together
- Help pupils to develop personal reasons for learning English, for example by encouraging out-of-school class activities, e.g. pen friends, projects, reading story books
In order to be able to create the right conditions for language learning in your classroom, you need to develop an awareness of how children learn foreign languages. You may already have many ideas gained from your own experience, from your reading or from training. It may be helpful to re-examine these ideas in order to develop your teaching further