Teaching English to children has become a worldwide phenomenon due to the international expansion of English teaching combined with general commitment of governments worldwide to reduce the starting age of learning English and include it in the curriculum in the primary school (Pinter, 2006, p.3). As English has become the common language in the world, it has also become one of the components of primary and even pre-school education in the English as a Foreign Language teaching contexts. In teaching English to young learners, age plays a crucial role in what we teach and how we teach it, since a young learner class is different from older learner and adult class in terms of the learners’ language learning needs, language competences, and the cognitive skills. It is highly important to show the differences of these three learner groups keeping in mind the fact that every learner is unique and such lists can only reflect generalizations (Harmer, 2007). According to Lynne Cameron (2001, p.1) there are some characteristics of young learners which distinguish young learners with older learners or adult learners. First, children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners. Second, as a learner children wants to please the teacher rather that their peer group. Third, children can interest to something more quickly and also lose interest more quickly. Fourth, children less able to keep themselves motivated on tasks they find difficult.
Based on the characteristics above, teacher plays a key role in the success of any teaching English to young learners programme (Pinter, 2006, p.3). Teacher can adjust the way their thinking about language they teach and activities in the class room and teacher can apply suitable or effective lesson...
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... and accomodation. In learning, assimilation and accomodation connect between new information and children`s existing knowledge to construct their knowledge of the world.
The third strength from the teaching learning video
The fourth strength from the teaching learning video was suatability the teaching materials with grade of students based on piaget`s stage of development. Based on students` age, they are categorized in concrete operational stage (from seven to eleven years of age). In the video, teacher provide a map and students need to read it to deliver the birthday invitation to the correct person. It is in line with Piaget statement about concrete operational stage in Pinter (2006, p.7) that childrens start to think logically and try to apply logical reasoning in several areas of knowledge at the same time (such as math, science and map reading)
The students are building on the knowledge they have gather from their daily routine, and are able to more easily grasp the concept of place value. Furthermore, in Piaget theory “children need many objects to explore so that they can later incorporate these into their symbolic thinking” (Gordon, & Browne, 2010, p. 106). The teacher gave students a variety of materials to understand the lesson in a pleasurable way. Equally important, the students’ scheduling was derived from Piaget as the students had “plenty of time to explore” (Gordon, & Browne, 2010, p.
Short, D., & Echevarria, J. (2004). Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners. Educational Leadership, 62(4), 8-13. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
During my practical experience; I have carried out different activities and learning experiences to produce to the children and during the activities, instead of the children discovering the correct outcome by following the instructions that have been set out for them, the children use their own understanding and their own thinking to find the correct answer in their own way. Piaget’s theory is also useful in my practical experience because I have set up activities that have been suitable for children that are in a different developmental stage than others such as when carrying out a mathematics activity I have adapted the activity to make it simpler for the younger children to understand and that is by using small numbers for the younger children and larger numbers for the preschool children. As the age range of children in my practical experience is varied, my activities have to be suited to the different stages of the
...e into consideration the characteristics of young English language learners and their language development, the learning conditions that are most effective for these learners, and the kinds of instruction that best meet their needs.
The volumes of Piaget’s work provide an in-depth view of how children create knowledge.” (Mooney, 2013 Pg. 78) In other words, Piaget thought children learned best when they are actually doing the work themselves and creating an understanding of what is going on rather than be given instructions. Piaget also believed that children need every opportunity to do things for themselves. “For example, children might be interested in how things grow. If a teacher reads them a finely illustrated book on how things grow, this instruction will increase the children’s knowledge base. But if the children have the opportunity to actually plant a garden at school, the process of taking care of the plant will construct a knowledge of growing things.” (Mooney, 2013 Pg. 79) Piaget stressed the importance of play as an avenue for learning. In Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, children aging from 2-7 are in the preoperational stage. “Children form ideas from their direct experiences in life. This is why telling children something is less effective than finding a way to help them think their own way through a problem.” (Mooney, 2013 Pg. 86) Gross-motor development, fine motor, language-communication development, social-emotional development is the 4 crucial stages for a child’s development. In a classroom is important to ensure opportunities for the children to grow individually in
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
The third stage is the Concrete Operational stage (7-11 years); this is when children are starting to solve problems mentally and develop concepts and are beginning to get better at understanding and following rules. Piaget’s fourth and final stage is the Formal Operational Stage (11 years and over); this stage is where the child is able to think not only as in the terms of the concrete, but also think in the abstract and is now able to think hypothetically. Piaget’s theory is one where children learn in a different manner to that of adults as they do not have the life experiences and interactions that adults have and use to interpret information. Children learn about their world by watching, listening and doing. Piaget’s constructivist theory has had a major impact on current theories and practices of education. Piaget has helped to create a view where the focus is on the idea of developmentally appropriate education. This denotes to an education with environments, materials and curriculum that are coherent with a student’s cognitive and physical abilities along with their social and emotional
Piaget (1952, see Wadsworth 2004), Piaget viewed the intellectual growth as a process of adaptation to the world through the operations of assimilation and accommodation. Using schemas, assimilation is dealing with a new situation. When schemas do not work, accommodation is the needs to be change of a new situation. When working with a child who is nice and kind with respectful showing good behaviors to others in the class. Someday their behaviors change by disobeying the teachers rules a mean to other kids. As a teacher they notice that it is something out of their character because it is not something you would of expect from that child with the changes in their
Primary schools that introduce language learning at an earlier phase may do so for a number of purposes, but it is because of the benefits of learning a language at a younger age that this paper has chosen Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) as its target scheme of work. For the purpose of this assignment the focus language will be French (but the strategies to be discussed will apply to any MFL). The ideas within the scheme of work will be critically discussed as part of university experience, school practice and relevant research.
The main concept of Jean Piaget’s theory is that he believes in children being a scientist by experimenting things and making observations with their senses. This approach emphasizes on how children’s ability can make sense of their immediate everyday surroundings. Piaget also proposed that children perceived to four stages based on maturation and experiences. Piaget’s theory was guided by assumptions of how a learner interacts with their own environment and how they integrate new knowledge and information into existing knowledge. Briefly, he proposed that children are active learners who construct knowledge from their own environment. They learn through assimilation and accommodation in complex cognitive development. Furthermore, interaction with physical and social environments is the key and development occurs in stages. An example of Jean Piaget theory carried out in the classroom is that giving children a great deal of hands-on practice, by using concrete props and visual aids. Taking into consideration and being sensitive to the possibility that
Social interaction takes place mainly to move a young child away from egocentricism. In addition, Piaget stated that a child either held the mental structure for conservation, for example, or he did not. And also as part of their cognitive development, children develop schemes, which are mental representations of people, objects, or principles. These schemes can be changed or altered through what Piaget called assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the information we already know. Accommodation involves adapting one's existing knowledge to what is perceived. Disequilibrium occurs when new knowledge does not fit with one's accumulated knowledge. When one reaches what Piaget called equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation have occurred to create a new stage of development.
Teaching students a language that is foreign can really be challenging for students as well as for the teachers. The dynamic rule for implementing instructing in a diverse class to English-learners is to use resourceful life skills such as diligence, hard work and patience. There are also methods that are involved in teaching English as a second language that can be creative for the teacher, yet beneficial to the student. First building a strong foundation that is essential to English learners will promote the language acquisition process. To do this teacher’s should always start with preparation. Advance preparation is essential in order to provide necessary adaptations in content area instruction and to make content information accessible for second language lear...
One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.
In most institutions of learning today, the classes are made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. These have different traditions and also speak different languages. In a typical classroom, the majority of the students will speak the same language. The teacher must then employ strategies which will accommodate all the students in the class. This will ensure that every learner gets the best quality of education. This will enable them to be better prepared for career and expressing themselves. In this paper, strategies to assist learners of the English language in their literal development for third grade learners. In the paper, three strategies that can be used by the teacher will be discussed. New strategies and research that will help the English language learners to gain in depth mastery of the language will also be discussed. Due to the widespread learning of the English language in most schools, addressing issues of the language learners is of vital importance. Teachers should have the understanding that cultures are what give someone identity and therefore no student should leave their culture for another. Instead, there should be the blending of different cultures so that students can appreciate and learn from each other.
There are several parts that make up the cognitive development theory and the first of which being assimilation.