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| Talking their heads off (Google Images) |
In this example, Ram is introducing (six to seven-year-old) pupils in their first year of learning English to the concepts same and different He has placed a pile of objects in the middle of the room, e.g. bottle tops, match boxes, fir cones, etc. and the children are sitting round in a big circle.
T Give me two that are the same (pupil looks at the pile of objects)
Give me two the same matching (pupil picks up two bottle tops)
Very good, very good, boy (teacher pats pupil on the shoulder)
Right
Pps (clap loudly)
T Very good, boy Go now (sends him back to his place and chooses another pupil called Gembo)
Pps Yes, yes, Gembo (pupils agree with teacher's choice)
T Now you go and give me two different different things
P Gembo Dorji (says pupil's name,possibly to help teacher who is new and does not know all the names)
Pps Different (pupils try to prompt Gembo)
G Different
Pps No (Gembo picks up two similar objects and pupils tell him that he is wrong)
Pps Different - no (pupils tell teacher that the objects are not different)
- Do the children in the example above show any desire to communicate in English?
- Is there likely to be any difference between age groups (eg between six to eight year olds and 12 to 14 year-olds) in their desire to communicate?
- How will children's desire to communicate help them to learn a foreign language?
The pupils show a lot of eagerness to participate and express their ideas even though, as near beginners, they have very limited language. They use the limited phrases they have to communicate, eg Different - no.
Children are likely to vary considerably even among the same age group, with some children being much quieter than others In general, younger children (five to ten-year olds) tend to be more enthusiastic and willing to talk in class than older children. As children reach puberty, they get more embarrassed about talking in front of others. Peer approval becomes very important and they are very concerned not to make a fool of themselves publicly.
Children's desire to communicate is very powerful and this carries over into foreign language learning If they are engaged in an interesting activity, they will talk their heads off happily This is very useful for language learning because it means that pupils will get plenty of practice in using the language This may be one reason why in natural situations, children often seem to do better than adults, le their strong desire to communicate means that they immediately try to use the new language and so get more practice. Adults usually want to study it formally in classrooms first We need to think how to activate this desire in the foreign language classroom through the teaching methods and resources we use.