Early Childhood Development PDF

C LIL FOR EChE Block I: CLIC FOR VERY YOUNG LEARNERS: Early Childhood Development Esther Paños / Isabel López Cirugeda Introduction Early childhood development Golden STAGE Wi...

C LIL FOR EChE Block I: CLIC FOR VERY YOUNG LEARNERS: Early Childhood Development Esther Paños / Isabel López Cirugeda Introduction Early childhood development Golden STAGE With the right stimulus – development is maximal COGNITIVE PHYSICAL SOCIAL LANGUAGE (Saputra et al, 2020) Introduction General ideas: - Children grow taller with variations: genes, nutrition, income, ethnicity. - The brain continues to mature during early childhood. Myelination is notable in several crucial areas. Although myelination continues for decades, the effects are especially apparent in early childhood. - Impulsiveness and perseveration decrease, children become better able to learn. Better able to learn!!!! Physical development ü Improve dramatically during the 2-6 period ü Adults must provide safe space, time, equipment and Gross playmates ü Children learn best from peers who demonstrate whatever the child is ready to try ü Culture and locale influence particulars (sail vs ski) Motor Skills ü Harder to master than gross motor skills ü Writing is, in particular, a difficult task (those that require Fine a level of muscular control) ü Practice and maturation are key ü Like many other biological characteristics, such as bones, brains, and teeth— fine motor skills typically mature about six months earlier in girls than in boys. Physical development Motor Skills detailed by ages: § Run for pleasure without falling § Climb chairs, tables, beds,… 2 years § Walk up stairs § Feed self with spoon § Draw lines, spirals § Kick and throw a ball § Jump with both feet off the floor 3 years § Pedal a tricycle § Copy single shapes (circle, rectangle,…) § Walk down stairs § Climb laders Physical development Motor Skills detailed by ages: § Catch a ball (not too small, not thrown too fast) § Use scissors to cut § Hop on either foot § Feed self with fork 4 years § Dress self (not tiny buttons, no ties) § Copy most letters § Pour juice without spilling § Brush teeth § Skip and gallop in rhythm § Clap, bang, sing in rhythm § Copy difficult shapes and letters (S) § Climb trees, jump over things 5 years § Use knife to cut § Tie a bow § Throw a ball § Wash face, comb hair Physical development Motor Skills detailed by ages: § Draw and paint with preferred hand § Write simple words § Scan a page of print, moving the eyes 6 years § Ride a bicycle § Do a cartwheel § Tie shoes § Catch a ball REMEMBER: CONTEXT and CULTURE are crucial for their acquisition Teachers: get the most out of their potential Cognitive development Sensoriomotor Preoperational intelligence According to Piaget: children do not yet use logical operations (reasoning processes). Symbolic thinking: not just via senses and motor skills. An object or word can stand for something else, including something not seen, or pretended. Although vocabulary and imagination can soar, logical connections between ideas are not yet active, not yet operational. OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING… Cognitive development OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING Animism: The belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive. Centration: Children focus (center) on one idea, excluding all others. Example: Young children may, for example, insist that Daddy is a father, not a brother, because they center on the role that he fills for them. Egocentrism: Piaget’s term for children’s tendency to think about the world entirely from their own personal perspective. Cognitive development OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING Focus on appearance: The young child ignores all attributes that are not apparent. Example: a girl given a short haircut might worry that she has turned into a boy. Static reasoning: The young child thinks that nothing changes. Whatever is now has always been and always will be. Example: Many children cannot imagine that their own parents were ever children. Irreversibility: Preoperational thinkers fail to recognize that reversing a process sometimes restores whatever existed before. Example: a girl might cry because her mother put lettuce on her sandwich. She might reject the food even after the lettuce is removed –she believes that what is done cannot be undone. Cognitive development OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING CONSERVATION AND LOGIC Piaget: several ways in which preoperational intelligence disregards logic. Conservation: the notion that the amount of something remains the same (is conserved) despite changes in its appearance. (Extrated from: Berger, 2014) Cognitive development OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING According to Piaget, a child's cognitive development goes through 4 stages that determine what he/she can or cannot learn, BUT… Did he underestimate what a preoperational child can understand? Cognitive development OBSTACLES TO LOGICAL THINKING According to Piaget, a child's cognitive development goes through 4 stages that determine what he/she can or cannot learn, BUT… Did he underestimate what a preoperational child can understand? Cognitive development Empirical evidence: Which weighs more: two screws or six cork balls? After training… Cognitive development Empirical evidence: Which weighs more? 6 bananas 3 tomatoes This needs to be checked Cognitive development Empirical evidence: RESULTS: ü 45.12% of the answers are correct. ü Pupils who make mistakes - quantity vs. size (71.23% vs. 28.77%). ü No statistically significant differences between boys and girls. Cognitive development Empirical evidence Article Early reasoning about desires: Evidence from 14- and 18-month-olds Children observe the experimenter expressing disgust as she tasted 1 type of food and happiness as she tasted another type of food. Children were then required to predict which food the experimenter would subsequently desire. 18-month-olds correcftly inferred that the experimenter wanted the food associated with her prior positive affect (even when the experimenter’s desires differed from their own). (Repacholi & Gopnik, 1997) Cognitive development Empirical evidence Article Cognitive capacity of very young children Children younger than 4 years 6 months correctly discriminate the relative number of objects in two rows. This discriminative ability shows that the logical capacity for cognitive operations exists earlier than previously acknowledged. “Take the row you want to eat, and eat all the M&M’s in that row” The participants chose the one that had the most even if it was shorter (Mehler & Bever, 1967) Assembly Space for reflection and sharing among all members of the classroom. Assembly Relevant area of learning (short learning lessons). - Students are comfortable – sit on the floor. - Flexible. - It is not only about content, but also about student’s feelings. - Favor participation and interaction between children. - There are no strictly defined or standerdised learning aims. - Every day a child is in charge of helping the teacher (they feel this responsibility). TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS MOMENT!!!!!! References Berger, K. S. (2014). The developing person through the lifespan. Worth Publishers. Mehler, J., & Bever, T. G. (1967). Cognitive capacity of very Young children. Science 158(3797), 141-142. Repacholi, B. M., & Gopnik, A. (1997). Early reasoning about desires: evidence from 14-and 18-month-olds. Developmental psychology, 33(1), 12-21. Saputra, V. H., Pasha, D., & Afriska, Y. (2020, April). Design of English Learning Application for Children Early Childhood. In Proceeding International Conference on Science and Engineering (Vol. 3, pp. 661-665). SNEAKERS: Vector de zapatos deportivos creado por macrovector - www.freepik.es Block I: CLIL FOR VERY YOUNG LEARNERS Esther Paños / Isabel López Cirugeda Theories of development A theory is an explanation of facts and observations, a set of concepts and ideas that organize the confusing mass of experiences that each of us encounters every minute. Theories help us to understand our environment and the phenomena that take place, and they help us to make decisions (students aged 3-6). Theories of development DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY Group of ideas, assumptions, and generalizations that interpret and illuminate the thousands of observations that have been made about human growth. They provide a framework for understanding HOW and WHY PEOPLE CHANGE as they grow older. Previous knowledge Grand Theories PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY BEHAVIORISIM – Learning T COGNITIVE THEORY Grand Theories PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY 1st half 20 century Theories of psychology – applications in the BEHAVIORISIM – Learning T study of development COGNITIVE THEORY Mid-20th century * dominant comprehensive, enduring, & widely applied UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED?? Grand Theories PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY Inner drives, deep motives, and unconscious needs rooted in childhood are the foundation of psychoanalytic theory. These basic underlying forces are thought to influence every aspect of thinking and behavior, from the smallest details of daily life to the crucial choices of a lifetime. Grand Theories PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY FREUD: Development occurs in 6 stages each characterized by sexual interest and pleasure arising from a particular part of the body. Each stage includes its own potential conflicts. How people experience and resolve these conflicts determines personality lifelong because “the early stages provide the foundation for adult behavior” ERIKSON: 8 developmental stages, each characterized by a particular challenge, or developmental crisis. There are two polarities at each crisis. For most people, development at each stage leads to neither extreme but to something in between the two polarities (e.g. Trust vs Mistrust). The way a person resolve the challenge determines personality. Grand Theories BEHAVIORISM – Learning theory Opposition to the psychoanalytic notion of the uncounscious. Watson (1878–1958) if psychology has to be a true science, psychologists should examine only what THEY CAN SEE AND MEASURE: behavior, not irrational thoughts and hidden urges. BEHAVIORISM To study actual behavior, objectively and scientifically (observable behavior) Learning theorists believe that development occurs not in stages but in small increments ( people learn to talk, read, or anything else one tiny step at a time). Behaviorists study the laws of conditioning, the processes by which responses link to particular stimuli. Grand Theories BEHAVIORISM – Learning theory CLASICAL CONDITIONING (Pavlov): The learning process in which a meaningful stimulus (such as the smell of food to a hungry animal) is connected with a neutral stimulus (such as the sound of a tone) that had no special meaning before conditioning. (Also called respondent conditioning.) Example: - Infants learn to smile at their parents – associate with food and play. - Fear of entering a hospital by associating it with previous experiences.  White coat syndrome When past experiences with medical professionals have conditioned someone to feel anxious. For that reason, when someone dressed in white takes their blood pressure, it is higher than it would be under normal circumstances. White coat syndrome is apparent in about half of the United States population over age 80 (Bulpitt et al., 2013). Many nurses now wear colorful blouses and many doctors wear street clothes to prevent conditioned anxiety in patients. (21) White Coat Hypertension - YouTube Grand Theories BEHAVIORISM – Learning theory OPERANT CONDITIONING (Skinner): The learning process by: which a particular action is followed by something desired (which makes the person or animal more likely to repeat the action) or by something unwanted (which makes the action less likely to be repeated). (Also called instrumental conditioning) Example: - If the student does not complete the assignment, he/she does not have break time. Grand Theories BEHAVIORISM – Learning theory SOCIAL LEARNING (Bandura): humans sometimes learn without personal reinforcement. This learning often occurs through modeling, when people copy what they see others do (also called observational learning). Example: - Adults who, as children, saw their parents hit each other. Some such adults abuse their own partners, while others scrupulously avoid marital conflict. These two responses seem opposite, but both are the result of social learning produced by childhood observation, with one observing the benefits of abuse, the other noting the suffering. Grand Theories COGNITIVE THEORY 1980: psychoanalytic and behaviorist research and therapy were overtaken by a focus on cognition. According to cognitive theory, thoughts and expectations profoundly affect attitudes, beliefs, values, assumptions, and actions. Ideas, education, and language are considered part of cognition. Cognitive theory dominated psychology for decades, becoming a grand theory. Grand Theories COGNITIVE THEORY PIAGET: How children think changes with time and experience, and their thought processes affect their behavior. According to cognitive theory, to understand humans one must understand thinking. Cognitive development occurs in four age-related periods, or stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Grand Theories Extrated/Adapted from: Berger, 2014 / Created with Canva Grand Theories COGNITIVE THEORY INFORMATION PROCESSING: Inspired by the input, programming, memory, and output of a sophisticated computer. Instead of interpreting responses (as Piaget), it focuses on the processes of thought—how minds work before a response and then the many ways a response might occur. Cognition begins with input picked up by the five senses, proceeds to brain reactions, connections, and stored memories, and concludes with some form of output. Newer Theories GRAND THEORIES - LIMITATIONS Western Europe & North America 100 … Multicultural and Multidisciplinary SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY HUMANISM EVOLUTIONARY THEORY Newer Theories SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY Human development results from the dynamic interaction between developing people and their surrounding society. VYGOTSKY: Each person, schooled or not, develops with the guidance of more skilled members of his or her society, who are tutors or mentors in an apprenticeship in thinking. Newer Theories SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY VYGOTSKY – Zone of Proximal Development: - All learning is social, whether people are learning a manual skill, a social custom, or a language. - A mentor (parent, peer, or professional) identifies the learner’s zone of proximal development, which contains the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the learner is close (proximal) to acquiring but cannot yet master without help. - Through sensitive assessment of the learner, the mentor engages the mentee within that zone. Together, in a “process of joint construction,” new knowledge is attained.  Don’t reteach, too boring Extrated/Adapted from: Berger, 2014 / Created with Canva  ZPD ZPD ZPD Vygotsky: “What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone” Newer Theories SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY VYGOTSKY – Mentors: - Should take advantage of children's innate curiosity in the first years of life. - Children learn because their mentors do the following: - Identify their ZPD. - Present challenges. - Offer assistance (without taking over). - Add crucial information / learnings. - Encourage motivation. Newer Theories HUMANISM Stresses the potential of all humans for good and the belief that all people have the same basic needs, regardless of culture, gender, or background. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY Many human impulses, needs, and behaviors evolved to help humans survive and thrive many millennia ago. To understand human development, humans should acknowledge the lives of our early ancestors. Ex: many people are terrified of snakes. However, virtually no one is terrified of automobiles. Snakes cause less than 1 death in a million, while cars cause more than a hundred times that. The extreme reaction to snakes derives from instinctive fears that evolved over millennia, when snakes were common killers. ICT Images ICT The use of pictures in EChE - Guide students in the acquisition of routines. - Enrich the teaching/learning process. - Show not only objects or people but also values. - Images themselves can tell a story. - Help students think, imagine, etc. - Children use them to communicate. - Focus children attention. ICT Can we use an image from the internet freely? They must be public domain images ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines ICT Open source image search engines  Personal image database Free Stock photos by Vecteezy Summarize today’s class in one image … References Berger, K. S. (2014). The developing person through the life span. Worth Publishers. Doctor: Doctor icons created by Freepik - Flaticon Growth: Vector de etapas de la vida creado por freepik - www.freepik.es Make decisions: Worker icons created by Nikita Golubev - Flaticon Man: Gerente iconos creados por DinosoftLabs - Flaticon  C LIL FOR EChE Block I: CLIL FOR VERY YOUNG LEARNERS: Language Development Esther Paños / Isabel López Cirugeda Introduction Research associates early language with later academic achievement Understanding the factors related to children’s language development: implications for implementing education programes. (Pungello et al., 2009) COGNITIVE But SOCIAL (socioeconomic status) School – Minimizing effects Introduction LANGUAGE LEARNING is the main COGNITIVE ACHIEVEMENT of early childhood. Telegraphic sentences: Want cookie!, Where mum go? (without adjectives, articles and adverbs) 2 years old Able to say almost everything!! 5 years old Introduction (Extrated/Adapted from: Berger, 2014 / Created with Canva) Introduction AVERAGE CHILD: 500 (2y) – 10.000 (6y) More than 6 new words a day!!! Some children learn six times as many words as others. Comprehension is more extensive than speech Introduction Is it the only time when a first language could be mastered and the best time for a second? Introduction Critical-period hypothesis is… FALSE Many people learn languages after age 6 (Muñoz & Singleton, 2011) Introduction ECE – Sensitive period: § Brain maturation § Myelination IDEAL FOR LEARNING § Scaffolding LANGUAGE § Social interaction Learning two languages CONCERNS – Two main positions: Children who are taught two languages become SEMILINGÜAL – problems in language development. There is no evidence that children get confused if they learn two languages. (Genesse, 2008) The second position has gained incrasing research support in the past decade. In GENERAL: the earlier a child learns a second language, the more easily and quickly the learning occurs. Language The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way (Oxford dictionary) “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols” (Sapir, 1921) “A primary function of the human language faculty is to support linguistic conventions, and that these have an essentially communicative function.” (Millikan, 2005). Authors – asume that the function of language is communication. Communication COMMUNICATION means sharing information with others by speaking, writing, moving your body, or using other signals (Cambridge Dictionary) There are many ways of communication… Language functions REFERENTIAL or INFORMATIVE: to describe reality/situations/ - It is three o’clock. - It is raining. CONATIVE: to call the listener attention or change/influence his behavior. - Come here. EXPRESIVE or EMOTIONAL: language is used to expres feelings, emotions. Its main characteristic is subjectivity. - I am so happy! POETIC: the focus is on the form of the message, which is usually very elaborate. Two big apples Under a tree One is for you And one’s for me Language functions PHATIC: language is used in order to keep the communication. It allows to verify that the message arrives from the sender to the receiver. - Ok, ok,… - Perfect. METALINGUISTIC: language is used to talk about language. - Red is an adjective. - Table has two syllables. Curriculum Decree 80/2022 July 12th, which establishes the organization and curriculum of Early Childhood Education in the automous community of Castilla-La Mancha. OBJECTIVE f) To develop communication skills through different languages and forms of expression. KEY COMPETENCES - Competence in linguistic communication. - Multilingual competence. Curriculum MULTILINGUAL COMPETENCE At this stage, contact with languages and cultures other than the familiar one begins, fostering in boys and girls attitudes of respect and appreciation for linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as interst in enriching their linguistic repertoire. In this way, dialogue and democratic coexistence are promoted. Likewise, the beginning of the approximation of a foreign language in the second cycle of this educational stage, is carried out in accordance with the Recommendation of the Council of the European Union of May 22 2019 regarding a global approach to language teaching and learning. Curriculum At the end of the early childhood education stage, pupils should… OPERATIONAL DESCRIPTORS CP1. Recognize other languages apart from L1 or other spoken in their family, and take part into simple communicative interaction, in a guided way, in day-to-day contexts of the personal, social and educational contexts. CP2. Become aware of the diversity of linguistic profiles in their environment and experiment with them, in order to interact in a guided way in a new language. CP3. Be interested in the surrounding linguistic and cultural diversity, respecting differences and easing coexistence. Curriculum Content Social approach  Conative Emotional Referential Poetic Metalinguistic Phatic In the classroom…  Conative Emotional Referential Poetic Metalinguistic Phatic In the early childhood classroom… How to communicate in English with our early childhood students? Development of linguistic skills Oral comprehension Oral expression Listening Speaking Reading Writing Written expression Written comprehension Development of linguistic skills Oral comprehension Oral expression Listening Speaking Block ii. Task-based approach for ECE References Berger, K. S. (2014). The developing person through the lifespan. Worth Publishers. Genesee, F. (2008). Bilingual first language acquisition: Evidence from Montreal. Diversité urbaine, 9-26. Millikan, R. G. (2005). Language: A biological model. Oxford University Press. Muñoz, C., & Singleton, D. (2011). A critical review of age-related research on L2 ultimate attainment. Language teaching, 44(1), 1-35. Pungello, E. P., Iruka, I. U., Dotterer, A. M., Mills-Koonce, R., & Reznick, J. S. (2009). The effects of socioeconomic status, race, and parenting on language development in early childhood. Developmental psychology, 45(2), 544. Sapir, E. (1921). Language: an introduction to the study of speech. Brace. Block. II. TASK-BASED APPROACH FOR Ech EDUCATION Early childhood classroom  Evidence High-quality experiences in the early childhood classroom help students LANGUAGE LITERACY MATHEMATICS SCIENCE SOCIAL COMPETENCIES Support later academic success… (Bustamante et al., 2018) Additionally Development of key skills: SELF-REGULATION INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION Enhance of FINE and GROSS MOTOR SKILLS Early childhood classroom It is an optimal environment to stimulate and promote the development of students Early childhood classroom It is an optimal environment to stimulate and promote the development of students The global nature of learning in these years –favors the integration of different contents/skills/procedures. The great and varied kind of interactions that occur. The spatial distribution of the classroom – different areas satisfy different interests. The us of games as a learning tool. The work based on routines – help children become increasingly independent. Children sense of wonder – needs to be nourished. Are quality experiences implemented in EChE? Although preschool classrooms provide: WARMTH and SENSITIVITY toward children, managment of children’s ATTENTION and BEHAVIOR… Quality of teacher’s conceptual instruction: - Introduction of new ideas. - Language to describe them. - Feedback provided to children. EXTREMELY LOW EEUU (Cabell et al., 2013) Reasons: - Children with special needs. - No diagnosed special needs. - Cognitive and social diversity in these years. - Interaction teacher-child: one-on-one interaction. - Large groups. - Logistical challenges (resources, transition between activities, etc.). 44% of the day dedicated to no particular learning activities (Early et al, 2010). ERODE INSTRUCTIONAL TIME Let’s go deeper into the Ech classrooms…  Circle Corners time Shared book Guided and reading free play Circle time: approach Little reseach examining circle time (difficult to generalize) Whole-group activity of the day that features prominently in all comprehensive, evidence-based, cognitively oriented early childhood curricula. Space for reflection and sharing among all members of the classroom. Circle time: characteristics Most preschool teachers use circle time It involves about 15-20 minutes It occurs nearly every day Teacher-led activity. Teachers sit at the head of the circle of children (at child level/chair). Children may have a specific spot on the carpet/floor to which they are usually assigned. OR They may freely choose their seat. Children generally sit fairly close together. Circle time: goals May vary widly across teachers… Orientating children to the day. Acknowledging who is present/absent. Provide some information about the day to come. Short learning lessons Including Circle time: activities Greeting one another. Taking attendance. Discussion/updating the calendar. Discussing the weather – updating a weather chart. Singing songs (social/academic focus). Reviewing a morning message about the day to come. Reading a book. Previewing the rest of the day’s activities. Circle time: benefits  Relevant area of learning.  Students are comfortable.  Flexible.  It is not only about content, but also about student’s feelings.  Favor participation and interaction between children.  There are no strictly defined or standardised learning aims.  Every day a child is in charge of helping the teacher (they feel this responsibility). Concerns… 1. Content focused on REPETITION and MEMORIZATION. Redundant activities, and few opportunities for abstract, give-and-take conversations Calendar, weather,… Concerns… 2. Low linguistic richness of teacher-child talk. Teachers engage in multiple-turn converstions with children – low in language richness – controled by teachers, rather than children.  During free-play, teacher-child conversations are more extensive – Majorano et al., 2009).  Teachers simply repeat what children say – rather than elaborating on their remarks. Concerns… 3. Poor affective quality of circle time.  High frequency of disruptive behaviors (Zaghlawan & Ostrosky, 2011), resulting in obstacles to learning for the group as a whole (Ling & Barnett, 2013). Ex. raising a hand when a question was not asked or when the child did not actually have a response)  Limited research: negative view of circle time – children cited the length of time they had to sit still and the preponderance of listening rather than talking or playing. Organization of the Early Childhood Classroom Organization of the ECh Classroom CLASSROOM: There should be oportunities for children to engage in activities: - Planned by adults. - Those children plan and initiate themselves. PRIMARY EDUCATION Does the school promote the initiative? Organization of the ECh Classroom DIFFICULTIES  Need to maintain an orderly classroom.  Pressure of time and resources.  External expectations from headteachers.  External expectations from parents.  Number of students.  Limited space. Areas in Early Childhood Education GROSS-MOTOR SKILL ZONE: space to dance, climb, jump, and move things. The space should be large enough to inlcude structures such as a tunnel, slide, allow students for push-and-pull, riding toys… (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education DRAMATIC PLAY ZONE: children love pretend play. Provide them home props (common resources): kitchen appliances, living room furniture, or even theater area. (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education ARTS AND CRAFTS ZONE: wet area where children can experiment with sand, water, paint, paste, and other messy materials. It should be next to a water source and have a washable floor covering. (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education QUIET ZONE: personal space that permits intimate interaction with an adult, or a space for solitary play, looking at books or simply resting. Include: carpet, comforable chairs, pillows, low bookself for books, stuffed toys, etc. (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education OUTDOOR SPACE: for free and structured play. It can be seen as an extension of the indoor environment, with a garden, quiet area, etc. Include a covered outdoor space for playing during inclement weather. (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education OTHER: - Multipurpose room: napping, eating, large group activities. - Teachers’ workspace: provide space for teacher preparation and relaxation. (Butin & Woolums, 2009) Areas in Early Childhood Education Rebecca’s Classroom (26 children) “Our classroom is like a little cosy house”  Computer bay.  Construction area.  Office bay.  Comfortable area.  Interest tables.  Story-time carpeted area.  Mini-world low tables.  Structured play area.  Recycled materials bay.  Book corner.  Easel bay. Areas in Early Childhood Education Rebecca’s Classroom (26 children) Key points:  Set clear rules and routines.  Use circle time to bring everyone together as a ‘family’ group.  Experiment with arrangement of the furniture; try some areas for kneeling, lying down, standing and sitting.  Give the children time and space to explore, reflect and relax.  Have clearly designated bays with clearly labelled resources. Ech Corners: Definition It is a space in the classroom, which may o may not be fixed, in which free or directed, individual, small or large group activities are carried out. (Tavernier 1987) Corner working methodology Ech Corners: concerns Teaching strategies refer to the set of structures, systems, methods, techniques, procedures and processes used by teachers during their classes in order to assist students’ learning (Konopka et al., 2015) Procedures that help in achieving the interaction of teachers and learners with the content of the lesson and achieving its objectives (Ahmed, 2005). Ech Corners: concerns Many early childhood education classrooms are organised in corners but, for the most part, their use is more playful than didactic (Gutiérrez 2009). Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Ech Corners: examples Traffic corner Ech Corners: examples Kitchen corner  Ech Corners: examples Construction corner Ech Corners: examples Costume corner  Ech Corners: examples Construction corner  Ech Corners: examples Attention and rhythm corner  Ech Corners: activities Attention and rhythm corner  Ech Corners: activities Attention and rhythm corner Ech Corners: examples - Granada Ech Corners: examples - Granada Ech Corners: examples - Granada Ech Corners: examples - Granada Ech Corners: examples - Granada Science corner  English language specialist Should be aware of the corners and other resources available in each Ech classroom and plan contextualised “English” activities in the classroom. Different children, classrooms, topics,… but SIMILAR CORNERS! Shared book reading Shared Reading: “interactive experience of reading in a dyad (e.g., an adult and child reading together at home or in an early childhood setting, with the adult reading aloud and guiding with questions). It helps children develop the strategies necessary for effective, independent reading”. It enhances the development of:  Attachment.  Joint attention.  Early language development. (Dickinson & McCabe, 2003) SBR Requirements: - Participation of an adult (parents, older siblings, grandparents, early childhood teachers,…). - Regular activity that occurs across time. - The child participates: turning pages, listening, asking questions or reciting the story from memory SBR Variables: AGE : Research (different) - conclusion: shared reading promotes expressive and receptive language in young children, and the earlier the intervention begins the greater the developmental benefits (Dunst, et al., 2012). SBR Variables: Not only AGE & FRECUENCY but: the number of books at home, (it predicts the level of reading in families). RESEARCH - the effects of the number of books in homes, (27 countries), with diverse social, economic and political policies,  children with home libraries attended school for three more years than those children from homes with no books. RESEARCH - When books are part of the home environment, children are more likely to read for pleasure, have better vocabulary, access to information and broader experiences from their reading. SBR Variables: CONCLUSION: Number of factors that influence early shared reading practices, including how early a parent begins reading with a child, the communication strategies between an adult and child, the number of books in the home, parental attitudes to the importance of early shared reading and book gifting schemes. SBR Framework: Considering the relevance of book reading and its role in early childhood classrooms - We need an appropriate framework to guide us – BR should include: Book area: - Appropriate in size (space accommodating for 4-6 children is optimal). - Comfortable, neat and inviting. - Books: good number, variety of genres, difficulty levels, different languages. SBR Framework: Time for adult-child BR. Time - critical ingredient; take into account frequency and duration of interactions. Include one-to- one, small group and large group readings. Curricular integration. Connection between the ongoing curriculum –planned activities- and the books. SBR Framework: Nature of the BR event – Teacher style and approach to group management, timing, amount and kind of questions about the book. Connection home & classroom – Teacher should promote an impact not only at school but also at home – support reading at home: lend books / books in circulation. References Ahmed, W. (2005). General teaching methods, planning and educational applications. Presented by: Dr. Saeed Mohammed Al-Saeed, d. Abu Al Saud Mohammed Ahmed. Dar Al Fikr, (2nd Edition). Amman, 34-35. Bustamante, A. S., Hindman, A. H., & Wasik, B. A. (2018). Circle Time Revisited. How Do Preschool Classrooms Use This Part of the Day? The Elementary School Journal, 118 (4). Butin, D., & Woolums, J. (2009). Early childhood centers. National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. Cabell, S. Q., DeCoster, J., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2013). Variation in the effectiveness of instructional interactions across preschool classroom settings and learning activities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(4), 820–830. Dickinson, D. K., McCabe, A., & Anastasopoulos, L. (2003). A framework for examining book reading in early childhood classrooms. On reading books to children: Parents and teachers, 95-113. Dunst, C., Simkus, A. & Hamby, D. (2012) Effects of Reading to Infants and Toddlers on Their Early Language Development. CELLreviews, Volume 5, Number 4. Early, D. M., Iruka, I. U., Ritchie, S., Barbarin, O. A., Winn, D. M. C., Crawford, G. M, & Bryant, D. M. (2010). How do pre-kindergarteners spend their time? Gender, ethnicity, and income as predictors of experiences in pre kindergarten classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(2), 177–193. References Gutiérrez, M. B. (2009). Importancia de los rincones en el ámbito educativo. Revista digital ciencia y didáctica, 113. Konopka, C. L., Adaime, M. B., & Mosele, P. H. (2015). Active Teaching and Learning Methodologies: Some Considerations. Creative Education, 6, 1536-1545. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2015.614154 Ling, S. M., & Barnett, D. W. (2013). Increasing preschool student engagement during group learning activities using a group contingency. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 33(3), 186–196 Majorano, M., Cigala, A., & Corsano, P. (2009). Adults’ and children’s language in different situational contexts in Italian nursery and infant schools. Child Care in Practice, 15(4), 279–297. Tavernier, R. (1987). La escuela antes de los seis años. Martínez Roca Whitebread, D., & Coltman, P. (2003). Teaching and learning in the early years. Routledge. Zaghlawan, H. Y., & Ostrosky, M. M. (2011). Circle time: An exploratory study of activities and challenging behavior in Head Start classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(6), 439–448. Block I: CLIL FOR VERY YOUNG LEARNERS: Teaching Approaches Esther Paños / Isabel López Cirugeda How to communicate in English with our early childhood students? Development of linguistic skills Oral comprehension Oral expression Listening Speaking Reading Writing Written expression Written comprehension Development of linguistic skills Oral comprehension Oral expression Listening Speaking Let’s review some key concepts… Key concepts Constructivism?  CONSTRUCTIVISM No Teaching-learning methodology Yes Psychological theory on how people learn. States: in order to learn we rely on our previous knowledge – determines the way in which we integrate new knowledge Key concepts Learning occurs in the brain of the learner Students: protagonists Teaching is the most effective way to promote LEARNING (Geary, 2007) TEACHERS: have to generate the conditions and provide students with experiences that provoke learning, always in relation to specific objectives. Key concepts Students are not a blank page They construct their explanations – how the natural world works (according to their own experiences) Key concepts Guided vs unguided teaching Guided teaching Unguided teaching: Discovery Learning, PBL, Constructive Learning, etc. RESEARCH When analyzing the difference between guided and unguided PBL, find large differences in favor of the guided , i.e., PBL works quite well as long as the teacher guides the student in his/her learning process and provides him with certain information. Discovery Learning: When children learn with the guidance and instruction of their teacher, more of them reach the learning objectives than when following a non-guided method. (Hadzigeorgiou, 2002; Matlen & Klahr, 2013; Paños et al., 2022). Explanation of these results… Human Cognitive Architecture MEMORY: The faculty that allows us to learn. There is not one memory, but several memory systems. Differentiate:  Sensory memory: Gateway to all external stimuli that we perceive through our senses.  Short-term memory (working memory): Mental process by which we maintain and manipulate the information to which we are paying attention at any given moment. What are you thinking about?  Long-term memory: Allows us to retrieve information that we have previously perceived and to which we have stopped paying attention. (Baddeley et al., 2015; Cowan, 2008; Gathercole, 2008; Ruiz, 2019). MEMORY: The WM can only handle a few new concepts (three or four at a time, at most). However, this WM is infinite with the knowledge already stored in the LTM. In discovery-based teaching learning methods the knowledge that the learner is expected to acquire is all new, so the WM is overloaded, slowing down and hindering learning. It is important to guide and instruct the learner before and during the process, especially - inexperienced learners. Think of a chess player… To be an expert he/she has learned (INCLUDED IN THE LTM) thousands of moves. When playing – WM can use the moves practically at once. It is important to guide and instruct the learner before and during the process, especially - inexperienced learners. Make them EXPERTS Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: ROLE PLAY Students pretend that they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles. The teacher gives them information: who they are, feel, etc. “You are the waiter, you are the customer,…” Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: INFORMATION GAP Working in pairs. One student have the information that other partner does not have – they have to share information. TOMATO COOK TOMATO SPAGUETTI SPAGUETTI TOMATO ONION ONION OIL OIL SPOON SPOON Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: BRAINSTOMING Students produce ideas in a limited time. They must respect others’ ideas. STORYTELLING Students briefly summarize a tale/story. It fosters creative thinking. Helps them express ideas in the format: beginning, development, and ending. Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: Who’s who? Question-answer sequences Create yours. ECE love them!!!! Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: INTERVIEWS Prepare the interview – Provide a rubric to students. PICTURE DESCRIBING Give students a picture and make them describe it. Each group can work on a different pictures. At the end, a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class. Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: STORY COMPLETION It is a very enjoyable whole-class activity. Students sit in a circle. The teacher starts to tell a story, and after a few sentences he/she stops narrating. Students have to continue the narration. With young students work with familiar simple words or sentences. Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: REAL PICTURE BOOKS Students love this type of book. Their content can be adapted. Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: FIND THE DIFFERENCE Students can work in pairs. Each couple is given two different pictures and they have to discuss the similarities / differences in the pictures. You can also play the traditional game: find 5 differences. Speaking Activities to PROMOTE SPEAKING: PLAYING CARDS Cards are a great resource with multiple options in the ECClassroom. Memories, dominoes, matchmaking, etc. References Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M. W., & Anderson, M. C. (2015). Memory. Psychology Press. Candlin, C. N. (1990). Hacia la enseñanza de las lenguas basada en tareas. Comunicación, lenguaje y Educación, 2(7-8), 33-53. Chaney, A.L., and T.L. Burk. 1998. Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8. Boston: Allyn&Bacon. Cowan, N. (2008). Sensory memory. In J. H. Byrne (Ed.) Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference (vol. 2, pp. 23-32). Elsevier Ltd. Cunningham, S. (2016). How to write excellent ELT materials: The skills series. ELT Teacher 2 Writer. Gathercole, S. E. (2008). Working memory. In J. H. Byrne (Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference (vol. 2, pp. 33-51). Elsevier Ltd. Geary, D. C. (2007). Educating the evolved mind: Conceptual foundations for an evolutionary educational psychology. In J. S. Carlson and J. R. Levin (Eds.), Educating the evolved mind: Conceptual foundations for an evolutionary educational psychology (pp. 1-99). Information Age Publishing. Hadzigeorgiou, Y. (2002). A study of the development of the concept of mechanical stability in preschool children. Research in Science Education, 32(3), 373–391. Kayi, H. (2006). Teaching speaking: Activities to promote speaking in a second language. The internet TESL journal, 12(11), 1-6. References Matlen, B. J., & Klahr, D. (2013). Sequential effects of high and low instructional guidance on children’s acquisition of experimentation skills: Is it all in the timing?. Instructional Science, 41(3), 621-634. Muñoz, C., & Singleton, D. (2011). A critical review of age-related research on L2 ultimate attainment. Language teaching, 44(1), 1-35. Nation, P. (2003). Materials for teaching vocabulary. In B. Tomlinson (Ed) Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 394-405). A&C Black. Paños, E., Martínez Rodenas, P., & Ruiz Gallardo, J. R. (2022). La flotabilidad a examen en las aulas de infantil: evaluación del nivel de guía del docente. Enseñanza de las ciencias, 40(1), 161-177. Richards, J. C. (2010). Competence and performance in language teaching. RELC journal, 41(2), 101-122. Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N., & Means, B. M. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in School with computer-based technologies. The future of children, 76-101. Ruiz, H. (2019). ¿Cómo aprendemos? Una aproximación científica al aprendizaje y la enseñanza. Grao.