English Summary Mastering the basics PDF

English: Mastering the basics Lesson 1: English young learners, Course books **Teaching English to young learners** Young learners need / want to... - Move around - Learn in a playful way - A motivating learning environment - Repeat language a lot - Experience success and progress...

English: Mastering the basics Lesson 1: English young learners, Course books **Teaching English to young learners** Young learners need / want to... - Move around - Learn in a playful way - A motivating learning environment - Repeat language a lot - Experience success and progress - Learn language in context supported by visualisation and other scaffolding - Learn holistically that involves multiple senses - Continuous intensive exposure to the new language and rich language input - Express themselves even with limited language competences (non-verbal way of communication) **Important methods** Method: A method answers the question of how teaching and learning are organised. 1. [Communicative language teaching (CLT)]: In foreign language lessons, students acquire and develop communicative skills in the areas of listening, reading, monologue and dialogue speaking and writing. - We are in the communicative language teaching era. CLT is therefore like the signpost that shows us the direction of hoe we should teach. 2. [Total physical response (TPR): ] - it is similar to how L1 is learnt - it introduces language in a contextualized way - it involves action and movement (holistic learning) - it goes well with thymes, songs and stories - it does not put pressure on learners to speak (silent period) - they can show what they have understood without using language 3. [Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): ] - For example: Learning in English how a volcano erupts. - It is motivating (they can learn about something new) - English is used to learn about a topic (not just grammar) - English is used now in a meaningful way - it allows for learning across the curriculum 4. [Task-based Learning (TBL): ] - For example: Presentation about the favourite band. - It has a clear focus on meaning and purpose - English is used now in a meaningful way inside the classroom - It encourages learners to use language creatively and to personalise language - Learners can show and present what they have learnt [Framework for language learning (M-M-M):] 1. Meeting language: Encounter new language 2. Manipulating it: Practise and apply language in different ways and contexts 3. Making it your own: Use the internalised language [Eclectic approach:] Many language teachers do not us on single approach. This mix and match approach is called an eclectic approach, that means an approach which mixes techniques from different approaches. **Course books** Ein Bild, das Text, Screenshot, Schrift enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung Lesson 2: Classroom language, Scaffolding, Lexis **Classroom language** - - - Compare languages (grammar structures) - Discuss and reflect on learning and progress - Mediate between languages - Introduce and explain a test - Assign complicated homework - Severe non-English related classroom management issues or problems that occur (accidents) - Selecting vocabulary (Frequently used words): Lexis needs to be interesting and relevant for the students here and now. - Collocations and lexical chunks (for example: eat/bake/cut/slice/toast bread) - Semantic networks: Words are not learnt in isolation, they are... - Linked to other words, both in meaning and in form - Connected to each other across languages - Lesson 3: Lexis, Lexico-grammar **Lexico-grammar approach** [Why should lexis and grammar be taught together?] - Lexis has an internal grammar, hence knowing a word also implies knowing about its form. - Language should be taught for communicative purposes: Words have their own grammar and have specific grammatical relationships with others. - Grammar should always be looked at from a functional view. Grammar can be seen as patterns of language through which meaning is created and shared. - Grammar and lexis are stored in a similar place in the mental lexicon, so we should use these synergies. [What is the advantage of teaching chunks rather than single words?] - Support the fluency and accuracy of language production (stored and retrieved as one item) - Successful interaction, idiomatic use of language, flexibility [What could you call the main principle in a lexico-grammar approach?] **Four principles to guide lexis teaching** 1. [The principle of multiple encounters:] Repeated exposures are necessary to consolidate a new word in the learners' mind. - 2. [The principle of retrieval (abrufen]): - 3. [The principle of cognitive depth]: The more one thinks about and uses mental information, the more likely it is that one will retain that information. The more on engages with a word (deeper processing), the more likely the word will be remembered for later use. - 4. [The principle of associations:] The human lexicon is believed to be a network of associations (students can relate words to others). **Stages of teaching lexis** 1. [Conveying meaning:] A direct translation might be the fastest way to convey the meaning, however, it may also be the least effective one in terms of recall since learners are not cognitively involved. - 2. [Attending to form: ] - - 3. [Practising, consolidating and organising: ] - - 4. [Using lexis in a meaningful context: ] -  **Differentiation in vocabulary learning** Modify quantity: reduce/increase amount of vocabulary items, amount of time, repeated exposures Modify quality: Some are expected to... - understand the meaning of words when presented to them in spoken/written English - produce the word in English - spell some words correctly Modify way of studying/teaching vocabulary: - planning in time for vocabulary in the lesson - providing or letting them draw visualisations - inventing absurd stories together - accompanying words by gestures - teaching them and making sure that they master strategies - displaying important words on cards in the classroom - playing games which help them revise - allowing learners to collaborate Lesson 4: Grammar **Young learners and grammar** [Interlanguage/Learner language:] It is a developing language system with leaners' evolving rules and patterns and hypotheses about rules in the new language. It's an unconscious process and not fixed. It's important that learners get feedback and train language explicitly in order to not get stuck in their learning process and incorrect language fossilizes. It is influenced by: - previously learned languages - formulaic language, classroom experience - feedback [The need for grammar: ] - Grammatical accuracy and precision matter for meaning (I wear glasses vs. I am wearing glasses) - Without attention to form, grammar will not be learnt accurately and problems with basic structures continue Fossilisation (I am taller as my friend I am taller than my friend) - Grammar instruction is particularly relevant for those features that differ from L1 Interference (Then walks the woman home Then the woman walks home) [In a nutshell: Young learners and grammar] - Grammar is necessary to express meaning - Grammar ties closely into vocabulary learning/teaching - Grammar learning can evolve from learning lexical chunks - Grammar can be introduced through meaningful talking - Grammar can be taught without technical labels - Grammar plays a more prominent role at upper primary **Ways of grammar introduction** Ein Bild, das Text, Screenshot, Schrift, Zahl enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung [Teaching grammar] 1. Explicit: The rules that have to be learned are given attention to. (more used in upper primary) - - 2. Implicit: Content to be learned is presented holistically, without theoretical explanations. Learners process it by themselves (similar to L1 acquisition). often taught in lower grades in primary school **Grammar teaching** [Three steps in explicit grammar teaching: ] 1. Noticing new language input (inductively and deductively): For example, "Wimmelbild" describe what you see 2. Structuring knowledge of new language, learners manipulate language in controlled practice 3. Proceduralising: Learners use new language (for example: Write a text about a job you find interesting and describe it) [Teaching functional language] The function of a language item is its communicative purpose. We can describe language in terms of its form (grammar/lexis) or how we use it (function).  [How to support grammar learning] - Provide correct models: Expose learners to relevant structures by using listening, reading materials and through your own teacher talk. - Provide language production support (output scaffolding): Sentence starters, writing frames - Help learners revise and edit their written work - Encourage learners to notice specific features and find out rules themselves - Provide meaningful practice: Include songs, games, rhymes and other activities which require natural repetition of the language structures. - Give helpful feedback: Learners should know where they stand and can learn from their mistakes. [Grammar teaching for children with learning difficulties] - Competence to express meaning has priority over accuracy of form. - Generous reduction/leaving out of grammar learning is situatively purposeful. - For extremely weak learners: Inductive exploring of grammar rules is replaced by teaching the forms deductively. Lesson 5: Receptive skills (Listening, Reading) **Introduction to the four skills** Ein Bild, das Text, Diagramm, Reihe, Screenshot enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung - Our aim: Integrate all the skills. - In dealing with young learners, it makes sense to start off with listening and reading and then move on to reading and writing. **The process of listening and reading** Bottom-up processing Top-down processing --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language is the starting point: We need to decipher the words in order to understand the meaning. Meaning is the starting point: We use our preknowledge related to the topic, expectations and ideas that come to our mind regarding the title of the text or looking at pictures. These individual resources help us to understand the message. The less we know about it, the more we need to rely on the bottom-up processing. The more we know about a topic, the more use we make of top-down processing. Extensive listening / reading: Learners read as much as possible, mainly for enjoyment. - Set up a library / listening corner with: graded readers, picture books, children's literature and science books which are accompanied by records Intensive listening / reading: In detail with specific aims and activities to develop receptive skills (Listen for gist / skimming, listen for specific information / scanning). - Design many different activities to focus children's attention on specific aspects: Puzzles, quizzes, gap-filling activities, charts etc. **Specific issues when teaching listening** - No idea what the topic is, no context pre-knowledge - New vocabulary, abstract words - Variety of accents - Hesitations "um", "er"; unclear pronunciation - Speed - Background noise - No repetitions - No visual help - Comprehension question are not in the same order as in the listening passage [Sources of listening] Teacher talk, communication between learners, listenings and videos provided by course books, Spotify, Youtube, Netflix, TikTok, Online learning programmes, Guest speakers, Listening corner - Use input scaffolding techniques (speed, volume, repetition, chunking, translating) to help learners understand your oral input! **Specific issues when teaching reading** Children already know a lot about reading from their L1, but German and English have a very different grapheme-phoneme correspondence (sounds of letters or syllables). - Learners are not yet fluent at reading in German - Learners need to know how words are pronounced in order to be able to decipher written language - Reading in English requires the use of strategies which they might not know from lower grades - Long text can be overwhelming and demotivating [Initial stage: Two popular approaches to teaching reading] Phonics approach: The goal is to help children decode written language, thus, to sound-out-words and to notice sound-relationship. Whole language approach: The goal is to introduce words holistically, thus, to teach meaning and the sound of a word at once. [Initial stage: Words and chunks level] - Teach frequent instructions and decorate the classroom with functional print: Flashcards, posters, labels for equipment - Match words and pictures - Categorise and find words [Initial stage: Sentence level] - Match sentences and pictures - Read and draw / colour in - Sequence sentences, put them into order - Match questions and answers [Later stage: Text level] - Let learners re-present content through non-verbal medium (colouring, drawing, diagrams) - Let learners identify true or false statements - Let learners choose the correct answer from a,b,c,d - Let learners match sentences to text / characters / pictures - Let learners sequence parts of text - Let learners write a title, subheadings - Let learners predict or summarise a story - Let learners solve quizzes, riddles or logicals **Pre-while-post activities** [Pre-activities] - Introduce / activate necessary vocabulary - Provide them with context, activate their context pre-knowledge - Use pictures to encourage them to guess the topic - Make learners predict what will happen - Direct their attention to specific points they have to focus on - Provide scaffolding which supports their understanding - Remind the learners to use strategies [While-activities] - Listen and perform actions (TPR) - Listen / read and draw / colour in / label / match - Listen / read and order Pictures / sequence short texts - Listen / read and predict what will happen next - Read a text in cooperative ways - Listen / read and take notes (key info) - Answer questions [Post-activities] - Check solutions of while-activites - Let learners share / discuss content, opinions, ideas - Reflect on used strategies - Provide follow-up activities to recycle new word and structures **Strategies** [Pre-strategies for learners] - I look at pictures, titles,... - I brainstorm what I know about the topic - I ask questions: What would I like to know about this topic? - I predict what the listening / reading could be about - I read through the questions / activities [While-strategies for learners] - I remain attentive even if I don't understand everything - I work our meaning from context - I focus on words I know - I concentrate on the gist - I note key words / main information - I listen / read to text several times [Post-strategies for learners] - I ask questions about uncertainties - I share knowledge about the content with a partner - I note a few new words / structures - I use mediation to summarise the key messages of a text **How teachers can facilitate listening and reading** - Choose interesting, age-appropriate, authentic texts at a comprehensible level - Create a low-stress atmosphere - Inform the learners that they are not expected to understand every single word - Provide pre-while-post activities to enable learners to understand the text - Introduce and make learners try out different strategies - Use different activities to check comprehension Lesson 6: Productive skills (Speaking, Writing) **Stages of development** Speaking -- a challenging skill: It happens in real time (react directly) - Using grammar, vocabulary and functions - Using the correct register - Using features of connected speech - Being fluent - Using interactive strategies Writing -- a challenging skill: It is a time-consuming process - The creative skills - The technical skills: spelling punctuation, syntax,... - The process of writing - Understanding of audience and purpose of writing 1. [Reproduction: controlled practice] - - 2. [Reconstruction: communication practice] - Examples speaking: Do you like chocolate? Yes, I like chocolate. No, I don't like chocolate. - Examples writing: My mother's name is..., I live in..., My hobbies are... 3. [Construction: production] - Examples speaking: talking about personal experiences, presenting an animal, inventing a role play - Examples writing: inventing/finalising a story, presenting information about an animal on a poster, writing an email/letter - Include activities that provide a baance between focus on form and meaning, hence between control and creativity or repetition and real communication. **Principles and tips for teaching** [Tips for developing speaking] 1. In the beginning, learner's language production is mainly reproductive. Learners need to hear and repeat new language items several times (using drills). - Teach rhymes or songs so that learners have something to take away with them. 2. Much of the English that learners produce are ready-made chunks of language (Could I borrow your pencil, please? / Excuse me, I have a question / Hello, good morning). - Use and repeat such language regularly, it gives the children the feeling that they can speak. 3. Learners need models of language and scaffolded activities to say what they want to say. - Use mini-dialogues or skeleton-texts that learners can use and adapt. 4. Create a relaxed English learning atmosphere so that learners feel comfortable at experimenting with the new language. 5. Ask open questions and use open-ended task. Provide language support so that each child can contribute something according to his/her level of English. [Speaking strategies] Monological speaking: Use notes, use model sentences, speak sentences quietly and aloud to me beforehand, read out the text Dialogical speaking: Ask for repetition, pay attention to facial expressions and gestures, use opportunities to speak, try to express words differently if I don't know the exact word [Developing writing skills] Early stages (Copying of words has to be correct from the beginning): Label drawings and pictures, complete simple crosswords, write a simple sentence to describe a picture/that support a story, write birthday cards for friends Later stages (Allowing room for the revising process fosters acquisition): Write more than one sentence, create simple questions, write about favourite animal, describe the bedroom, carry out surveys, write letters, create a poster [Writing strategies] Pre-write: Pre-knowledge about the topic, plan the writing process, availability of language support While-write: Structure ideas, copy the displayed words correctly, use dictionary, ask for feedback Post-write: Revise writing, try to remember feedback from others when writing another text **Conclusion** Speaking and writing in English should... - Be meaningful and engaging. - Be feasible (doable). - Have a clear purpose or aim. Encourage and support productive skills - Create a relaxed, supportive, low stress atmosphere - Use the target language as often and naturally as possible - Do pre-, while- and post-activities - Provide language support - Teach strategies Lesson 7: Connecting the four skills **Integrating language skills** It makes sense to start off with the auditive/oral skills (Listening and Speaking), then move to the written skills (Reading and Writing). Integration... - presents language skills as interlocked -- exactly as they are in real life - links language skills for the purpose of real/authentic communication - focuses on the language as a whole - is a modern approach - facilitates language acquisition - allows to develop learners' fluency and accuracy as well as their sociocultural and communicative competences **From listening to speaking** - Sing songs with the learners (TPR, Popsongs learners are interested in these songs) - Linguistic resource: They introduce or revise language, contain repetition, improve pronunciation, encourage children to use chunks of language - Psychological resource: They are fun, promote learning in a playful way, give a feeling of comfort - Cognitive resource: They help to develop concentration, allow for predictions - Cultural resource: They provide often an authentic source for cultural learning - Social resource: They are entertaining, group bonding, help to develop a class identity - Informative resource: Can be rich of content - (Listening) games: Bingo, Human memory, Chinese whisper, change seats if you..., Simon says..., Information gap activity, Taboo, Who am I? - They add variety to the range of learning situations - Change the pace of a lesson and help to keep the learners' motivation - Provide "hidden" practice of language patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation - Help to improve attention, concentration, memory, all the language skills - Increase learner-learner communication - Create a fun atmosphere **From reading to writing Connecting the four skills** **Working with stories** [Developing listening skills in and through stories] - Give the children confidence to listen. - Help children develop story-listening strategies: listen and predict, infer an opinion or attitude, work out the meaning from the context, recognise discourse patterns and markers, listen and transfer information - Structure the listening process into the pre-, while- and post-listening steps. - Set a specific listening activity [Developing reading skills in and through stories] - Read words for pronunciation practice - Practice reading new words - Read to reconstruct test or as a prompt for reading - Listen and read - Read and think/solve a problem [Developing speaking skills in and through stories] - Look, listen and repeat - Listen participate - Read aloud - Memory game - Retell the story - Look and ask - Guessing game - Questionnaire and survey - Role play [Developing writing skills in and through stories] - Writing at word-level: labels for pictures, crosswords, word puzzles, charts, word webs, menus/shopping lists - Writing at sentence-level: captions for pictures, speech bubbles, questions and answers, rewriting scrambled sentences correctly - Writing at text-level: diaries, descriptions, instructions, letters etc. [Steps and activities for working with stories] 1. Pre-listening/reading: Raise interest, activate pre-knowledge, pre-teach new words and structures, predict, collect ides, help learners recognize discourse patterns 2. While-listening/reading: Repeat, match, discriminate, paraphrase, perform actions/instructions, answer the questions, draw/colour, guess, label, transfer information 3. Post-listening/reading: Share opinions, do activities to practice new words and structures, check and summarize, discuss, solve a problem, formulate follow-ip questions, deconstruct a story, reconstruct a dialogue, test your classmates, write a follow-up, act out... Lesson 8: Spelling and pronunciation **Writing is tricky** Arguments against writing in lower primary Arguments in favour of writing in lower primary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Focus on oral skill in primary Learners want to write (send messages, write stories etc.) Literacy development is still going on in L1 Learners are exposed to written language in their everyday lives English has an irregular grapheme-phoneme relationship, thus is a very unphonetic language (pronunciation not the same as spelling) Writing helps to organise spoken utterances (Spoken: Huusdät? = Written: Who's that?) Writing skills could be overrated Writing supporst visuals, tactile learners -- it helps them to remember words better Learners may get used to incorrect spellings which is difficult to change Let learners become familiar with English spelling through copying correctly from the beginning **Spelling** German and English have a very different grapheme-phoneme correspondence. English is a very unphonetic language, thus sounds are represented by a variety of different spellings. The sound "sch" is spelled in different forms (see picture). [Typical spelling mistakes] - Spelling words as they sound (wont instead of want) - Mixing up the sequence of letters (appel instead of apple) - Reversing the sequence of letters (was instead of saw) - Missing out a letter (wich instead of which) - Using the wrong letter (showt instead of shout) - Adding an extra letter (whent instead of went) - Using a 't' instead of 'ed' (lookt instead of looked) - Can't remember when to use 'ck' or 'ke' at the end (lick instead of like) [Implications for teaching] 1. Phonological awareness 2. Starting out with copying: Worddoku, match-exercices 3. Teach spelling strategies: Dictation, Fold a piece of paper, Snail, Pyramids 4. Be clear what lexis learners need to write correctly (tell learners which words): Train these words in class and as a homework, check and provide feedback on learners' spelling process with games 5. Tips for learners who struggle with spelling: - Involve different learning channels (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) - Training of lexis - Learners clap syllabus of words - Training of frequent grapheme-phoneme patterns - Metalinguistic reflections: You know how to write 'fair'. How do you write then 'chair'? - Use rhymes to recognise patterns - Writing training with gaps in words 6. Tips for learners with dyslexic tendencies: - Use colourful overlays / print texts on pastel-coloured papers - Use a suitable font (no serifs), large font size - Write texts with a 1.5 line spacing - Cover certain parts of a textbook page that is overloaded - Read texts out loud 7. Tips for spelling corrections: If a writing product is presented it should be written correctly. - Highlight words that learners can correct themselves. - Paraphrase those passages that are difficult for self-correction. - Add your comments in pencil or with blue or green pen (red can look a bit aggressive). 8. Using translation tools: - Translation tools can help to find unknown words or improve texts. But learners need then to work with these texts and learn the meaning and form. - Translation tools only word if texts are typed in correctly in German. - Learners need to be sensitive that there are words that have different meanings in different languages. **Pronunciation** Pronunciation means knowing about individual sounds (Letter A sounds like: bath, snake, cat), sounds in connected speech, word stress (catastrophe), intonation (This is my bag!). [Why do learners make pronunciation errors?] - A particular sound may not exist in their mother tongue (thin, then, bath, other) - Problem of perception "wheel vs veal" - Intonation (isn't it? / isn't it!) - Wrong stress patterns ([rest]aurant, hot[el], [in]teresting, de[ve]lop) - Connected speech (All of 'em?) [Implications for teaching] 1. A rule of thumb for teaching pronunciation +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Younger learners | Older learners | +===================================+===================================+ | Implicit, global approach | Implicit approach, plus explicit | | | activities | | By exposing children to English, | | | they develop familiarity with the | From time to time awareness | | sound, rhythm and intonation | raising activities can be used to | | pattern of the language. | point out particular features of | | | pronunciation. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Use classroom language, | Use classroom language, | | instructions, games, stories, | instructions etc. | | songs, rhymes, chants, dialogues, | | | chunks | \+ specific activities that focus | | | on pronunciation | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Example: | Example: | | | | | 1, 2, 3 -- honey, peas, chocolate | Find the odd one out: bee -- he | | taste good to me! | -- sea -- his -- key | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ 2. Intelligibility: Consonants clusters ( shock -- sock), Contrast between short and long vowels (sheep -- ship) 3. Teach individual sounds: Compare sounds between English and German (fish -- Fisch), Experiment with sounds, Point our incorrect Swiss-ish pronunciation patterns 4. Focus on difficult words 5. Focus on sentence level 6. Teach pronunciation in fun ways: Tongue twisters, songs, rhymes, chants - Give learners a model to imitate. - Maximize learners' exposure to English.