TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG

LEARNERS
 Let’s break the ice!
Let’s find 5 common things.
Please discuss what are the
five similar things you all
have.
 K-W-L
What you think you What you want to
know know
 CONTENT
• Who are young learners?
• What are the characteristics of young
learners?
• How do children learn?
• Is the younger the better?
Who are young
learners?
 Between 5-12 (Cameron 2001)

Between 5-11 (Printer 2006)

• Refers to primary school age learners

• Primary age range is wide so

although we generally describe
students in this age group as
“young learners”, it is useful to
make a distinction between
“younger” (YYLs) and “older”
(OYLs) young learners.
Based on your own experience, describe some of the
differences between a 5-6 year old and an 11-12 year old
learner?

Older Young
Young Learners Learners
(around 5-8) (around 8-11)
 Differences between Adult and Young
Learners
in SL and FL

Would you expect to see such behaviour in adults learning

situations? Why not?

What techniques do you currently use that might be suitable for YLs?
 What are the
characteristics of
young learners?
 Characteristics of YLs
Children are: So Teacher
should:
1. Energetic and physically active
2. Spontaneous and not afraid to speak out
or participate
3. Curious and receptive to new ideas

4. Imaginative and enjoy make-believe

5. Easily distracted and have short attention
spans
6. Egocentric and relate new ideas to
themselves
7. Social and are learning to relate to others
 Characteristics of YLs
Children are: So Teacher should:

1. Energetic and physically • Use kinesthetic activities

active
2. Spontaneous and not afraid • Use songs, rhymes, chants and
to speak out or participate dialogs
• Use drama activities that encourage
students to be expressive
3. Curious and receptive to new • Arouse students’ curiosity with games
ideas • Use topics like exotic animals and
plants and international culture, e.g.
food, dress, music, holidays
4. Imaginative and enjoy make- • Use role plays and pretend games
believe • Use stories that involve fantasy and
imagination
• Have students use their creativity to
make their own pictures or puppets to
retell stories
• Let students play make-believe by
dressing in costumes and role playing
characters
 Characteristics of YLs
Children are: So Teacher should:
5. Easily distracted and have • Make learning fun
short attention spans • Capture students’ attention with brightly
colored pictures, photos and posters
• Use audio-visuals like songs, TV shows,
movie clips
• Move quickly from activity to activity
6. Egocentric and relate new • Encourage students to personalize new
ideas to themselves information and language, like the
acrostic name poem
• Relate new information and language to
students’ native culture and local
surroundings
7. Social and are learning to • Make learning interactive
relate to others • Incorporate group games and
cooperative activities
• Use a variety of different kinds of
interactions
How do children
learn?
Jean Piaget
• Swiss biologist and a teacher
Sensorimotor

• Birth – 2 years
• Understand world
through senses and
actions
 •Ages: Birth to 2 Years

•Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

•The infant knows the world through their movements

and sensations
The •Children learn about the world through basic actions

Sensorimo such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening

tor Stage •Infants learn that things continue to exist even though
they cannot be seen (object permanence)

•They are separate beings from the people and objects

around them

•They realize that their actions can cause things to

happen in the world around them
Preoperational

• 2-7 years old

• Understand world
through language and
mental images
The Preoperational Stage

•Ages: 2 to 7 Years
•Major Characteristics and
Developmental Changes:
•Children begin to think symbolically and
learn to use words and pictures to
represent objects.
•Children at this stage tend to be
egocentric and struggle to see things from
the perspective of others.
•While they are getting better with
language and thinking, they still tend to
think about things in very concrete terms.
Concrete Operational

• 7-12 years
• Understand world
through logical thinking
and categories
 •Ages: 7 to 11 Years
•Major Characteristics and
The Developmental Changes
Concrete •During this stage, children begin to
thinking logically about concrete events
Operation •They begin to understand the concept
al Stage of conservation; that the amount of
liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to
that in a tall, skinny glass, for example
•Their thinking becomes more logical
and organized, but still very concrete
•Children begin using inductive logic, or
reasoning from specific information to a
general principle
Formal
Operational
• 12 years onward
• Understand world
through hypothetical
thinking and scientific
reasoning
The Formal Operational
Stage
•Ages: 12 and Up
•Major Characteristics and
Developmental Changes:
•At this stage, the adolescent or young
adult begins to think abstractly and
reason about hypothetical problems
•Abstract thought emerges
•Teens begin to think more about moral,
philosophical, ethical, social, and political
issues that require theoretical and
abstract reasoning
•Begin to use deductive logic, or
reasoning from a general principle to
specific information
Vygotsky

This Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY
Vygotsky’s view of development
• Vygotsky argues that children learn through
social interactions, building knowledge by
learning from more knowledgeable others such
as peers and adults.
 Zone of Proximal
Development
(Learner can do with
guidance)

Learner
can do
unaided

Learner cannot do
 ZPD

What is
What can What is
already be known
not known
with
known assistance

Learning
 How children learn
Children are: So Teacher
should:
1. Learn by doing and interacting with the
environment
2. Need support of and scaffolding by the
teacher
3. Need a learning environment that is
similar to L1 acquisition
4. Learn language through lots of meaningful
exposure and practice
5. Do not learn language through explicit
grammar and explanations
 How children learn
Children… So Teacher should:
1. Learn by doing and interacting • Make learning active
with the environment • Use realia like food, toys and other
real objects
2. Need support of and • Simplify the task
scaffolding by the teacher • Keep children on task
• Model the task
• Control children’s frustration
3. Need a learning environment • Use authentic contexts and situations
that is similar to L1 acquisition that mirror real life
• Use activities with a real purpose and
reason to use English, like
storytelling, singing, plays, TV shows
 How children learn
Children… So Teacher should:
4. Learn language through lots of • Create an English-speaking
meaningful exposure and practice classroom environment
• Give plenty of comprehensible
input
• Train students to use classroom
language in English
• Recast any use of L1 in English

5. Do not learn language through • Avoid using grammatical terms and

explicit grammar and explanations rules that young learners will not
understand
• Help learners “notice” the grammar
by repeating and recycling new
language, i.e. Meet and Greet
lesson
The younger the
better?
 Younger is better when learning is::

• Natural • Supported appropriately

• Contextualized and part of a • Active and experiential
real event • Memorable
• Interesting and enjoyable • Designed to provide for
• Relevant personal, divergent
• Social responses and multiple
• Belongs to the child intelligences
• Has a purpose for the child • Offered in a relaxed and
• Builds on things the children warm learning atmosphere
knows but also challenges
the child
 Reasons for starting language
learning early:
• The value of increased time
• The possibility of better pronunciation and
fluency
• The possibility of greater global awareness
and intercultural competence
• The value of bilingualism
THANK YOU!