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As we enter the new millennium, there is a great emphasis being placed on the
need for children to learn communicative english. Many schools across Japan have
already begun teaching English conversation. In so many areas, for example, sports
and music, the younger one starts to learn something the better. Tiger Woods is a
good example. He is a famous champion now but he started practicing golf when he
was just 3 years old.
It is exciting to see more and more children learning the
speaking aspect of English education. At this early age, they can acquire the
fundamental foundation that will enable them to develop into competent and confident
speakers of English. Who is going to help these young students learn to speak English?
People like you and I -- teachers. It was this need to help children learn and
teachers teach that I co-wrote SuperKids, a communicative English course for children.
The Importance of Recycling
As teachers, I think it is important to have a long-term perspective on
the acquisition of language in the EFL situation. The reason for this
is that in Japan, most students study once a week for about one hour.
The rest of the time they are thinking in Japanese and speaking Japanese.
The materials we use to teach should contain a syllabus that progresses
gradually and takes into account the importance of review, review and
review.
For a multi-level course it is important to recycle between 30-40%
of the previous level. This provides a realistic progression and one that
will help students to retain and use most of what they learn. I often
expect too much from my students and get frustrated when they can't use
language that they have just recently learned. I have to stop and remind
myself that most of their world is Japanese. It is not how much we teach
but how well our students can use what we teach. Teaching small amounts
with lots of practice and review leads to success for both the student
and teacher.
The Teachers' Manual
As a teacher, for me, the teachers' manual of any course is very important.
I have been teaching for 18 years in Japan and for every text I teach
I use the accompanying teacher's manual. It helps me with lesson
planning and gives me new ideas and activities to use in the classroom.
Teaching children requires thorough preparation and the manual makes lesson
planning easy. I would like to suggest a lesson plan format that can be
used in almost any teaching situation.
Begin with a Warm-up activity to review
the previous lesson and to help students shift from Japanese into English.
Next check any homework that has been assigned. Checking homework is another
good way to review. Next introduce the new target language. This involves
modeling by the teacher. Cassette tapes are very useful at this stage.
Having students listen to the target language makes production of the
language easier. After students have heard the target language I then
have them produce the language orally by repeating after me and/or the
tape.
Next comes practice of the material through a wide variety of games
and activities. Children like to learn when they are having fun. I try
to choose activities that personalize language. This usually involves
realia and lots of picture flash cards. When doing fun and games try to
keep in mind the purpose of the activity. Our goal as teachers is to help
students speak English and the activities we choose should help students
become more communicative.
I have had complaints from parents after their
children told them they only play games in class. It seems the children
only remember the games which is only one part of the class. I now stress
to my students the reasons for games and fun activities. They are playing
a game but the focus of the game is to speak English. The last part of
the lesson plan ends with a Wrap-up of the target language followed by
optional activities for further practice.
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