Action Pack 2

Text version of the PowerPoint Presentation

Title: Slow Learning: Fast Learners

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Slide 1

Sample:

A picture of the cover of Action Pack 2, Student's Book 2

Slow Learning:
Fast Learners

Comments:

Slow Learning: Fast Learners

Many young learners in primary schools have only

a few lessons of English a week. What children,

and their teachers, need is engaging material which

 will captivate the imagination.  They also need to

be involved in meaningful and enjoyable tasks

which create sense as well as plenty of opportunities

to encounter the same input in varied and exciting

ways. This workshop will show how students can

 make progress with only a few lessons of English.

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Slide 2

Sample:

Perfect conditions for perfect learning

essential conditions

desirable conditions

Comments:

As a warm up lets look generally at what makes

 language learning effective in the classroom. We

all have our own experiences of learning a language.

 What made learning easier for you in the classroom?

 Was it the teacher, the materials or you that made

the difference.

In pairs lets make a ‘wish-list’ of the conditions

 that make language learning effective. And

I will give you 2 words to help – desirable

and essential. Brainstorm the conditions that

you think are desirable and essential for learning

to take place. These ideas do not have to be too

 detailed.

After 3 mins get some feedback from

participants. List in 2 columns the desirable

and the essential conditions on an OHT.

Now compare these with Jane Willis’s

conditions for language learning.

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Slide 3

Sample:

Conditions for Language Learning

I. ESSENTIAL

1. EXPOSURE  to a rich but comprehensible input

of real spoken and written language in use

2. USE of the language to do things

(i.e. exchange meanings)

3. MOTIVATION  to listen and read the language

and to speak and write it (i.e. to process and use

 the exposure)

II. DESIRABLE

-          INSTRUCTION in language (i.e. chances to

focus on form)

Figure 1  Conditions for Language Learning

(Willis 1996)

Comments:

According to Jane Willis (1996), there are certain

basic principles that can help us select and devise

useful classroom activities that are more likely to

stimulate learning. These conditions are summarised

 in the diagram shown in Figure 1.

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Slide 4

Sample:

Realities of classroom learning

Little amount of input can be given at one time

 Not enough English lessons

 Very slow learning curve

 Learners not always aware of how to make best

use of input and time

Comments:

Sadly school environments and formal leraning

situations do not always lend themselves either to

 achieving positive learning outcomes.

Just think about how much students can learn at

 one time – the number of new words they can learn

 in an average lesson, the new grammar points,

the amount they get to read or listen to.

There simply isn’t enough time to do everything

that we want to in the class or that students need.

When students have 2 or 3 lessons a week on

English how many minutes is that? How much

of hat time is actually spent productively, how

much is spent given/reeieving input?

Result is a very slow learning curve and limited

opportunities for output. Students progress slowly

and may become frustrated by lack of visible progress.

Add into that that many students are not always aware

 of how to learn. They may do things in the class

which they think they are learning from but which

may not be the most effective way of tackling a task.

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Slide 5

Sample:

Differences and Needs of Young Learners

More?

Less?

Comments:

Compare teaching young kids to teenagers. What are

 the main differences and needs of the two groups?

 Do this section as a ‘More-or-Less’ listing. Ask

participants to work in pairs. Brainstorm lists e.g.

‘you need more activities in a lesson for young children’,

‘Young children have less concentration than

 older children’ etc.

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Slide 6

Sample:

More                                       

Activities

Movement

Variety

Fun

Curiosity

Indirect learning

Less

Concentration

Self-control

Proficiency

Cognitive understanding

Comments:

Give participants about 5 minutes to brainstorm and

then collect these on the board or OHP. Discuss

 the reasons for these lists.

 Can any of them be connected together as reasons

 for other characteristics? e.g. more activities

because less concentration

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Slide 7

Sample:

Some Teachers’ Questions About Young Learners

What are the objectives of teaching English to

young ones?

What kind of activities and tasks are most suitable

 for this age group?

How can I add enough variety to my lessons to

 keep pupils interested?

Comments:

There are some key questions which as teachers we

 may want to focus on once we have thought about

the children we are teaching.

What are the objectives of teaching English to

young ones?

What kind of activities and tasks are most suitable

 for this age group?

How can I add enough variety to my lessons to

 keep pupils interested?

We will try to answer these questions through

this session.

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Slide 8

Sample:

 An extract from Teacher's Book, Unit 1, Lesson 2

The Outcomes  Box

Comments:

Teaching strategies and techniques
Good teaching strategies and techniques include

 the planning and stating of carefully balanced,

varied learning sequences with clear achievable

 objectives, so children know what is expected

 from them. They will also include using the mother

 tongue, as appropriate, to contextualise and support

 learning, so children can relate something new to

something familiar and thereby develop a sense of

 security; providing clear, meaningful, concrete

 contexts in which to present language; providing

plenty of repetition, recycling and reviewing; using

plenty of mime, signs, gestures, expressions to

convey and support meaning; involving children

actively in the learning process as much as possible

through the use of action rhymes and songs, stories,

 colouring, making things, dancing, drawing, total

physical response activities and games; stimulating

children‘s senses as much as possible through

multi-sensory aids.

Action Pack 2 offersteachers clearly defined outcomes

 and objectives for each lesson. Here is an example

 from Lesson 2. You can see that there are functional

objecties as well as lexical and grammatical ones.

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Slide 9

Sample:

Aims and Objectives of Teaching Young Learners

Awareness .....

Express .....

Arouse interest ....

Not afraid to .....

Confidence in ….

Comments:

What do teachers consider different about the aims

and objectives for younger children learning foreign

languages? Can an 8 year old be expected to ‘become

 familiar with the special values of a different culture

 'or ‘ use the language in everyday situations’? 

 Do the participants notice anything about these

attainment targets? Notice the vocabulary used

‘awareness’, ‘express themselves’, ‘ arouse interest’

 ‘not afraid to’. These requirements suggest that with

younger children the aims and objectives of L2 teaching

and learning, are attitudinal, rather than linguistic or 

academic. In other words the aims are more to do with

children’s feelings and reactions to foreign languages.

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Slide 10

Sample:

Input-output

‘Much learning does not teach understanding.’

                Heraclitus

                Greek philosopher (540 BC - 480 BC)

Comments:

Results are what all teachers and students want to

achieve. Output is very much determined by the

quality of the input we give.

I hope that I have shown that it is not only the quality of

the language that we give the students as input, but the

quality of tasks, and the advise we give learners about how

to achieve the most from the task, which leads to successful

output.

Involving the whole child
Children have highly inquisitive minds and enjoy

learning through play and using their imagination by

observing and copying, doing things, watching and

 listening.

Children also learn a lot of their first language by

physically responding to their parents' instructions

in real and meaningful contexts. The parent says,

"Look at that dog" or "Give me the ball" and the

child does so.

These interactions between parent and child always

have a clear reason for the communication.

This is very a different learning situation from asking,

"What is the past tense of 'give'?" The only reason for

 this question is to test the child's memory. It is not

fun and it does not involve the child's senses.

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Slide 11

Sample:

Basic Procedures to Realise Aims

TPR

Games

Songs

Interaction

Comments:

Demonstrate several activity types which might be

useful in teaching young learners. The activity types

could be : TPR, Story telling, info gaps, grids

Songs, rhymes and chants
Many primary aged learners respond very well to songs,

games and chants. These young learners can find it very

difficult to remember how to say complete phrases in a

foreign language when they are first learning, but they

remember whole songs and chants with ease. Action

songs like 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' provide

fun drills of language for parts of the body. Or you can

make up your own action songs by putting target language

Shorts and T-shirt
Shoes and socks
Shoes and socks
Jumper hat and trousers
Jumper hat and trousers
Skirt and dress
What a mess!

When accompanied by gestures and actions, songs

and chants appeal to different learning styles such as

aural and kinaesthetic. Older learners may be self

conscious about singing but chants and raps can still

work well and, once again, involve lots of repetition.

 How do these match to the aims of YL teaching/learning.

Now match these to the aims of teaching young children

 foreign languages and of early education in general.

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Slide 12

Sample:

Make a book

An illustrated example of the steps of making Origami

(folding paper) to make  a book

Comments:

Book making is a simple yet fun example of project

work for young learners. It is not only a good place to

draw and write new words but also imcreasees children’s

 motor skills in handling the paper origami.

Ask participants to make a book and then brainstorm

way in which it might be used – diary, vocab book,

topic book, module book, My Life book, My family

book etc.

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Slide 13

Sample:

Project work

1. Pre-product activities

to engage/promote

involvement

2. Interaction -

do stuff together

3. Central

stimulus

4. Build it up -

steps

5. Product -

examples

of products

6. Explain the

process at

the start

7. Give something

 of yourself

Comments:

Some advantages of project work are:

Increased motivation - learners become personally

involved in the project.

All four skills, reading, writing, listening and

speaking, are integrated.

Autonomous learning is promoted as learners

become more responsible for their own learning.

There are learning outcomes -learners have an

end product.

Authentic tasks and therefore the language input

 are more authentic.

Interpersonal relations are developed through

working as a group.

Content and methodology can be decided between

the learners and the teacher and within the group

themselves so it is more learner centred.

Learners often get help from parents for project

work thus involving the parent more in the child's

learning. If the project is also displayed parents can

see it at open days or when they pick the child up

from the school.

A break from routine and the chance to do

something different.

A context is established which balances the need

for fluency and accuracy.
Haines (1989)

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Slide 14

Sample:

Variety of activities

A picture from SB, Unit 5, page16

A picture from Activity Book, Unit 9, page 19

Comments:

Task design
Tasks should provide a reasonable degree of effort or

challenge within the linguistic and cognitive abilities

of each child, and have short-term goals and clearly

identified steps leading to successful completion, as

well as purposeful outcomes allowing immediate

feedback and positive reinforcement. In order to

design tasks, teachers need to be able to judge whether

 the level of demands made on each child is appropriate

and also to identify the types of demand made. These

 relate to concepts and notions of language, such as

shape, size, colour, location, cause and effect, and

language functions, such as describing, classifying,

sequencing, predicting etc. Teachers also need to be

aware of the kinds of concepts which their pupils can

cope with at specific stages of their development.

Furthermore, each learner possesses their own learning

styles and intelligences and some tasks may only be

suitable for specific learning styles or intelligences,

making them difficult for learners who do not possess

these or have low levels of specific types of intelligence.

Differentiation of tasks is also central to successful

 methodology and needs to be done in a way that the

 areas of experience, for example, a topic or theme,

will be the same for each child but the depth in which

it will be covered will be different.

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Slide 15

Sample:

Some Parents’ Questions About Young Learners

What are the benefits of knowing a second language?

Why is it better for children to learn a language in

elementary school?

How are languages taught to children?

Will a second language interfere with the child's

mother tongue ability?

Comments:

Ask the participants to consider the questions not as a

teacher but as a parent? How might parents react

differently to the questions?

The responses raise a whole series of further questions

 and concerns about teaching young children languages.

Theses reactions can range from the idea that learning

 languages early will solve all the children’s problems

 in future life (and the parents too sometimes!), to the

openly hostile when parents think that learning another

 language will be damaging.

What can we do as teachers to inform teachers? Well

it means we have to give parents and sometimes

colleagues at school, a rationale for teaching English

young learners.

We can provide evidence of the benefits to children

but we have also to make parents’ expectations

realistic as well as explaining to them why we

teach in the way we do.

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Slide 16

Sample:

Top ten ideas for parents

Be involved.

Be positive. Be a good role model. Accept your

responsibility as parents.

Encourage students to do their best in school.

Find a balance between schoolwork and outside

activities. Be aware of things that affect classroom

performance.

Provide resources at home for learning.

Understand and support school rules and goals.

Speak to the teacher!

Comments:

Top ten requests for parents
Here is a list of advice you can give to parents

Be involved. Parent involvement helps students learn

and helps teachers work with your child to help them

 succeed.

Be positive. Encourage children to do their best, but

don't pressure them by setting goals too high or by

scheduling too many activities.

Be a good role model. Show your children by your

own actions that you believe English is both enjoyable

and useful. Read more and use television, videos and

game systems creatively for education.

Accept your responsibility as parents. Don't expect

the school and teachers to take over your obligations as

parents. Teach children self-discipline and respect for

others at home -- don't rely on teachers and schools to

 teach these basic behaviours and attitudes.

Encourage students to do their best in school. Show

your children that you believe education is important.

Ask about homework, check it has been done. Don't let

them miss classes unnecessarily.

Find a balance between schoolwork and outside activities.

Emphasise your children's progress in developing the knowledge

 and skills they need to be successful both in school and in life.

Be aware of things that affect classroom performance:.Try

to limit the negative effects of late nights and long hours of

extra activities.

Provide resources at home for learning. Make sure

you have English language books, comics and magazines

available in your home.

Understand and support school rules and goals.

Take care not to undermine school rules, discipline,

or goals.

Speak to the teacher! As soon as you think there's a

 problem, contact the school. Don't wait for the end

of term or parents' day.

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Slide 17

Sample:

Why start early then?

Learning a foreign language enhances other learning

Language learners are better problem-solvers and more

creative

Children develop better strategies for language learning

and thus reach higher proficiency levels

Comments:

The 1992 Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers,

 the College Entrance Examination Board reported that

students who averaged 4 or more years of foreign language

 study scored higher on the verbal section of the Scholastic

Aptitude Test (SAT) than those who had studied 4 or more

years in any other subject area. Also Collier found that

younger immigrant children to the US attained were

 indistinguishable from native speaker quicker that older

arrivants in their academic success. Collier, V.P. (1987).

Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic

purposes. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 617-641.

Some evidence also suggests that children who receive

second language instruction are more creative and better

at solving complex problems.

Use of appropriate language learning strategies often results

in improved proficiency or achievement overall or in specific

 skill areas (Oxford et al., 1993; Thompson & Rubin, 1993).

Patkowski, M. (1982). The sensitive period for the acquisition

of syntax in a second language. In S. Krashen , R. Scarcella

and M. Long (eds.) Child-Adult Differences in Second

Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. ED.

 Successful language learners tend to select strategies that

work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored

to the requirements of the language task

 (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). These learners can easily

explain the strategies they use and why they employ them

(O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).

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Slide 18

Sample:

Research suggest there is a critical learning period

Late starters have significantly stronger influences

from mother tongue – pronunciation, accuracy in

grammar, communicative competence

Comments:

Another key concept to consider in second language

acquisition is the critical theory hypothesis. The

hypothesis states that if people aren't exposed to

a primary or secondary language by the age of 12,

Performance is either very low or is varied highly

between each individual. Krashen, S. (1985) The

Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications.

London: Longman

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Slide 19

Sample:

Teachers’ Headaches Solved
with Action Pack!

Walk-into-the-class lessons

Simple “learnable” steps

Colourful visually and topically

Write-in SB and AB

Simple, clear Teacher’s Book

No cassette-recorder needed

Comments:

Reveal points on OHT one by one. Ask participants

to put up their hands if they discussed this headache.

 Comment on each point as it is revealed. Stress the

difficulties within the context of Jordanian school

realities. Workload at school, private lessons, mixed

 classes, no small groups, classrooms we work in.

Share a few stories from own experience.

Classroom management skills
A well-managed classroom will be one where routines

are established, the teacher is firm but fair and

establishes a secure, non-threatening learning

environment. He or she will explain methodological

 approaches to avoid a mis-match of expectations

and to establish clear ways of working, and will

 praise all effort, however small. Classroom

dynamics will be analysed and seating arrangements

planned accordingly. Teacher talk will be analysed

in order to keep this clear and simple for instructions

and demonstrations, to be sensitive to the level of

challenge different questions imply and to pitch them

 appropriately for individual children, and to avoid

 excessive teacher talk, which can be confusing.

Pupils' attention will be focussed so they keep on

task and teachers will be aware of the behavioural

effect of activities which settle or stir, occupy or

 involve, and sequence these appropriately.