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Welcome to the section called TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN. Here we will learn some important aspects about the introduction and use of English language with children.

Any new interesting aspect or experience that I come across with, I'll edit it some day.

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Suggestions for managing the class with children (from my own experience):

1. Children like to put their attention on things that seem innovative or involve concentration.

2. Children like to sing (they learn through songs).

3. Children are creative and like to give ideas for making my teaching activity better. 

4. The goal of the class is very important.

5. Ask them to give you a summary of the class.

My best activities:

The game in which they had to ask and answer faster. We model this activity with a girl representing the traffic light that said the time during the green light and the red light. During the red light, the student gave 5 seconds so that the 2 pedestrians could ask and answer. I could call this activity: Ask and answer in the traffic light. (September 2018).

Students use the FLASHCARDS to create rythms. It was amazing and fascinating!

Cross puzzles 

Assembling cars

Making a bicycle

Seven pump

Games that involve exploration

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AUGUST 2020. During the pandemic situation presented arounf the world, I was invited to work on a project based on Phonetics and Phonology. All the information is captured on a Power Point file. 

Here our first slide.

SEGUNDO DE SECUNDARIA vowel chart.jpg

August 30, 2020. 

Talking about phonology.

Be careful with the idea that we speak with sounds depicted in the vowel chart. In my opinion, that is not possible.

Cuidado con la idea de que el hablante hace uso de los sonidos en el diagrama de las vocales cuando habla. Según mis investigaciones, eso no es posible.

TEACHING CHILDREN: The goal of the class and the goal of the activity are very important.

Teach children to give you a summary of the content of the session. It works better if they talk about it and they write it.

Do not forget to use visuals to cath their attention constantly.

Read, read, and read. Boost children's reading.

October 1, 2017

Understanding certain characteristics of language development is important for teachers because they could make their teaching more interesting as it is based on the learning rhythm of their students, especially children.

 

August 2018.

Sería importante hacer saber al lector que para comprender mejor el fenómeno de la enseñanza-aprendizaje he tenido que insertarme en la enseñanza misma en escuelas primarias. He descubierto cosas tan interesantes como la conducta que los niños de Quinto Grado presentan hacia la aceptación o el rechazo del aprendizaje de la lengua inglesa. Descubro que si es posible que el alumno aprenda siempre y cuando el maestro logre aplicar de manera exitosa los materiales que contribuyen al enriquecimiento de la clase de inglés. Estos materiales se irán mejorando con el paso del curso en cuestión. De preferencia, sugiero que estos se piloteen con el fin de conseguir el objetivo deseado.

Uno como maestro aplica, de una u otra manera,  parte de su metodología con la metodología de la misma institución. Esto es sumamente importante porque nos ayuda a seguir un camino que ya ha sido andado y probado por otr@s maestr@s.

SCROLL DOWN each of the following SITES.

DESLIZA la barra de cada uno de los siguientes SITIOS.

The following site "Lolly and Yoyo" presents a series of songs for children. Remember, songs are an excellent tool to make our children learn. But, please, write the goals you want to achieve with each song.

El sitio de "Lolly and Yoyo" nos presenta una serie de canciones muy lindas que podríamos usar en la clase de inglés. Después de tener la canción que usarás en clase, escribe los objetivos que esperas alcanzar con el uso de esta.

https://lollyhopwood.bandcamp.com/album/an-adventurous-day

How important is it for you to know the different children stages and their cognitive development?

What type of intellectual and phisycal activities can children perform?

What activities do children learn quickly?

 

Characteristics about Children’s’ development involved to physical, motor, cognitive and linguistic aspects.

Introduction

According to Carolyn Meggitt (2006), individual child’s performance can be affected by a number of factors such as anxiety, illness or tiredness. This is because every child is unique and possesses his own characteristics that can also tend to develop their character and learning process. That’s why scholars in the study of children see them from different insights so that they can explain how the changes in them tend to be related to their contexts or surroundings.

Stages of Intellectual Development in Children and Teenagers

Some scholars such as Megitt (2006) take into consideration the children development, they, the children, have no the capacity to reason as an adult does until they turn to 15 years old or so. In education fields, the knowledge of the children abilities and lacks as well as their development provides elements that can help us to manage physical and intellectual activities that promote their better performance, and so contribute to their healthy growth. That’s why; it’s important to know the different stages that a child passes through during his childhood.

As a matter of provide more important information, I have added the chart called Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development shown in Annexes section at the end of this document. It’s important to mention that Piaget has been recognized by his recording on the intellectual changes in children. The chart describes the sensory motor period (0-24 months), the preoperational period (2-7 years), the period of concrete operations (7-12 years), and the period of formal operation (12 years and onwards), as well as their different stages by taking into consideration their age.

Children’s physical and motor aspects

The growth of the brain and body, motor skills, and refining the senses and health are some of the aspects that growth brings about. Regarding that these aspects are essential for the development of the children from birth to 3 years old; parents should know the type of activities that can strengthen and refine them. Children’s awareness of the environment changes significantly because the brain tends to recognize and act over new situations because it develops in complexity. Activities like crawling, walking, running and jumping are learnt quickly.

When the child grows (6-11) years, his body and intellectual skills have reached a stage in which her growth rate will slow temporarily. According to Sean Brotherson child’s muscles and motor skills have also reached the ability is truly amazing to adjust to the world: learning to see and recognize others, rolling over, holding some things, and crawling. As we know some of these activities are complex physical tasks that require strength, coordination and perception.

Children’s’ cognitive and linguistic aspects.

Angela Oswalt states that children have the faculty to increase their language amazingly during their first years of life. According to her children at age 3 have a vocabulary that consists of roughly 900 words. And they are able to recognize or say between 8,000 and 14,000 words by age 6, which is also amazing. So, we can understand that their linguistic skill allows them to comprehend adults and improve their communication with people around them and model new forms or structures.

It’s possible to understand that the linguistic factor are improving day after day because a child who has the ability to catch and use words, will have the possibility to continue assimilating what is said around them. Although there could be times in which the acquisition or learning process slow in some more than in others and that may be a matter of education, contexts, or habits in which they are involved. But, the essential is the way in which we develop and the interesting of these processes.

Conclusion

From my point of view, I want to say that there’s a lot to know about the different stages talked in this paper, a lot to learn of the children’s characteristics, and a lot to know about authors and scholars who dedicate much of their time to help us understand childhood processes.

Bibliography

Meggitt, C. 2006. Child development. Heinemann.

Schneider, W. Schumann-Hengsteler, R., and Sodian, B. Young children’s cognitive development. [Google book version] retrieved from http://books.google.es/books?id=mrS6CMn5U8gC&pg=PA1&dq=Children+cognitive+development&hl=es&ei=J3c3TN-XF4Sdlgfj7IHWBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-previewink&resnum=1&ved=0CC4QuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=Children%20cognitive%20development&f=false

Toddler at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toddler

Sean Brotherson, Understanding Physical Development in Young Children retrieved from http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/famsci/fs632w.htm

Stages of Intellectual Development In Children and Teenagers at: http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/piaget.shtml

Angela Oswalt. CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND PARENTING: EARLY CHILDHOOD retreived from http://www.bhcmhmr.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=12761&cn=462

Annex 1

Class Management and Atmosphere 

Introduction

Many are the factors that can affect or contribute to create effective classroom management. Among them, we find students’ background, teachers’ background, teachers’ training, collaborative work, disruptive students, etc. Regina M. Oliver and Daniel J. Relschly (2007) talk about recommendations related to teacher quality and effectiveness in his daily work and classroom management.

Conclusion

Students are benefited from classes conducted by well-prepared teachers who have the ability to effectively manage classrooms because of their previous effective training. The correct preparation of specific and general teachers will help educational programs to obtain better results based on the teachers’ capacity to understand and control students’ behaviors who sometimes are removed from instruction because of the lack of knowledge about how they should be treated.

One of the problems that teacher could unconsciously create while using constant correction in children is the fact that children’s spontaneity and natural enthusiasm for a task may fail. That’s why; teachers training programs should visualize these possible inconveniences and provide enough mechanism to the most appropriate way to help children.

Bibliography

Oliver, R. and Relschly, D. (2007). Effective Classroom Management. Retrieved from /distancia/dMat/getfileM.php?id=37382&com=8747

Teaching children English in a dynamic, fun and effective way. Retrieved from http://www.seduca2.uaemex.mx/ckfinder/uploads/files/primary_art_nixontom.pdf

CLASS OBSERVATION

Introduction

Observation of a L2 class is one of the ways to know how the teacher teaches. The idea is to watch and to monitor a language lesson which will provide us understanding of teaching, learning, and classroom interaction. The English class shown in the video, in this case, is given to children and the teacher seems to be an English native. On the other hand, the class seems to be preppared to be one of those for learning English as a second language.

 

Language Classroom Observation Form

Class: Teaching Kindergarten Kids English

Instructor: ————————— # of students: 4

Observer: Ruben Arellano Tecontero. Date: October 2014.

Rating Scale (In my opinion, the class in the video deserves the following grades marked with a box in green).

4 - Outstanding; 3 - Good; 2 - Fair; 1 – Poor

 

A. PREPARATION

1. The instructor had a clearly discernible lesson plan. 4 3 2 1

2. There was an appropriate balance of structured and open-ended/communicative activities. 4 3 2 1

3. The exercises and activities were introduced in context. 4 3 2 1

4. The plan was geared toward real/authentic language use. 4 3 2 1

 

B. LANGUAGE USE

1. The instructor used the target-language in the classroom appropriately and effectively.  4 3 2 1 / NA

2. Use of English was appropriate to student needs. 4 3 2 1 / NA

 

C. LESSON PRESENTATION

1. The lesson was presented effectively and clearly. 4 3 2 1

2. The activities/exercises chosen to achieve the objectives were effective. 4 3 2 1

3. There were smooth transitions between activities. 4 3 2 1 / NA

4. The time allotted for activities was appropriate. 4 3 2 1

5. The amount of teacher talk and student talk was appropriate. 4 3 2 1

6. The type and amount of teacher feedback was effective. 4 3 2 1 / NA

7. Cultural instruction was integrated into class activities. 4 3 2 1

 

D. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

1. The use of small groups/pair work during each activity was appropriate. 4 3 2 1

2. The seating arrangement facilitated learning. 4 3 2 1

3. The use of audio-visual & tech materials was effective. 4 3 2 1

4. The instructor divided his attention among students appropriately. 4 3 2 1

5. Student participation was on task. 4 3 2 1

 

E. CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE

1. Student participation was active and lively. 4 3 2 1

2. The class atmosphere was warm, open and accepting. 4 3 2 1

3. The instructor was sensitive to students' difficulties and abilities. 4 3 2 1

 

F. USE OF TECHNOLOGY

1. Use of technology (video, audio, web materials) was appropriate given the material being presented.. 4 3 2 1

2. Use of technology was particularly creative, i.e. it accomplished something that could not have been done as easily with other media. 4 3 2 1

3. Use of technology is limited in the classroom, but used appropriately outside the class (e.g. for email, drilling, background, etc. 4 3 2 1 / NA

 

COMMENTS

About the issue number 3 (There were smooth transitions between activities) in the lesson presentation, I may say that the teacher surely uses smooth transitions between activities; however, the video didn’t show us those and that’s why I graded it with an NA (No Apply). Another NA was given to the same lesson presentation but this time on “The type and amount of teacher feedback was effective”. Here, it was difficult to know how much, how, and when the teacher applies the feedback, which should be interesting to know it, indeed.

When we refer to the use of technology, we are also contemplating the use of CD players which for these activities it was an important tool. I set another NA to the use of technology, because I could not see the possible lesson plan from which I may understand better whether the teacher gives homework via internet, for example. But, I am sure that the teacher at this level gives some internet pages to be used for supporting the linguistic aspects that are required for kids this age such as phonemics, ABC, and more songs.

In general, I’d like to suggest some other clothes for the teacher. Clothes that could better match with the topic or context in the lesson although this condition probably depends on the institution requirements for teachers’ clothing or presentation. Finally, I have to say that the class in the video was something, this is, I like it very much and will surely contribute to generate my own ideas related to teaching kids this age.

Conclusion

One of the ways to learn to analyze our Teaching Process is through observation. Observation activities help us in our everyday practice because we can improve our ideas about teaching. During the class we observed, we collect information by using a class observation format. Some of the aspects of the lesson were relatively easy to observe and others may be inferred since the children seem to be certain practice.

In my view, children can sometimes be a challenge to teach. However, the teacher should be able to use all their energy and make them creative. The session in the video looks very interesting, dynamic, and motivational because the experience of the teacher who was able to grab the attention span for the activities developed like the songs and the vocabulary games.

As far as I concerned, the class was following the topic-based learning approach which help the teacher to ameliorate children’s distraction as the scholars have stated. In this class, the children were involved in the classroom activity and their attention was focused on the song and on the teacher’s guidance. I could observe that the teacher used vocabulary which was strategically set for the class as well as the teaching material.  

References

Teaching Kindergarten Kids English. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwCwj21MdlY

Video and classI observed.

Teaching Kindergarten Kids English

How much reflection do you do on your teaching style?

Do you take into consideration your students' different learning styles?

REFLECTIVE TEACHING

Introduction

Reflective teaching has to be with what happens in teachers’ classroom with the intention to improve what is observed and evaluated. Reflective teaching is about a wide range of points to be discussed with the goal of reflect upon them. For this task I have decided to focus on only two of those points. The first one will be about cognitive and learning styles from the book Reflective Teaching in Second language Classrooms available at http://es.scribd.com/doc/43899992/Reflective-Teaching-in-Second-Language-Classrooms-Cambridge-Language-Education. The second one is about the teacher’s roles which I consider important because of its variety of roles.

Cognitive styles or learning styles

Learners also hold the capacity to respond to learning situations which are encompassed in the cognitive styles. So, the learning styles that Knowles (1982) mentioned are based on the four different types of learners:

Concrete learning style; learners are mostly interested in information that has immediate value. They are curious, spontaneous and willing to take risks.

Analytical learning style; learners like to solve problems, and enjoy tracking down ideas and developing principles on their own.

Communicative learning style; learners prefer a social approach to learning. They look for personal feedback and interaction, and learn well from discussion or group activities.

Authority-orientated learning style; learners are kind of responsible and dependable. They like and need structure and sequential progression. They relate well to a traditional classroom. They prefer the teacher as an authority figure.

Memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective and social strategies are all important to be taken into consideration in order to be more accurate while teaching the language.

Approaches to classroom investigation

The approaches to language investigation have all a grade of importance because all of them tend to provide information of the way teachers teach in classrooms. These approaches are six:

Teaching Journals, lesson reports, surveys and questionnaires, audio and video recordings, observation, and action research.

Teaching Journals: According to Richards and Lockhart (2007), one of the ways to register the teaching events can be recorded in journals. These journals contain written information which has the aim to produce critical reflection on the teacher’s work. Journals are for promoting our critical reflection

Lesson reports: According to Richards and Lockhart, the lesson reports are structured inventories. The goal of using them is for monitoring our classes. They are quick procedures and they account what happens in our classes and how it goes. It’s said that it’s not an accurate account of what occurred during a lesson.

Surveys and questionnaires: They are important because they allow us to know the students’ attitudes towards group work. Learners answer the questionnaires in which they are asked how useful the group work activities are.

Audio and video recording of lessons: These approaches may provide subject impressions of our lessons; however, they are significant because we have accounts of what we have explored during our lessons.

Observation: There are two kinds of observation; observation by student teachers of a cooperating teacher’s class, and peer observation, in which one teacher observes a colleague’s class. The purpose is to visit the teacher’s class and observe elements of teaching.

Action research: It refers to teacher-initiated classroom investigation which seeks to increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning, and to provoke change in classroom practices.

Conclusion

The process of reflection is essential. We shoukd reflect on evrything around our English classrooms. One may decide to focus on a particular type of students or to look at a feature of our teaching. All the information is used to improve our class and to encourage our students to speak more English in class.

Bibliography

Richards and Lockhart (2008). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. (Pages 52-66). Retrieved from http://es.scribd.com/doc/43899992/Reflective-Teaching-in-Second-Language-Classrooms-Cambridge-Language-Education

Reflective Teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice. Retrieved from

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our-own-classroom-practice

How do you measure your students' performance?

Are rubrics essential in the process of teaching English?

EVALUATING LANGUAGE SKILLS

Introduction

Evaluation is an important instrument used in education. In the case of English language classes; it is a fundamental form of collecting information about our students’ performance. Evaluation is also a parameter that allows us to know and identify certain characteristics such as the progress in the language skills when they are practiced.

On one hand, students’ evaluations tend to be measured by informal or formal methods and they can also be continuing. English is becoming the most important language that requires effective tools that can contribute to the language evaluation.

On the other hand, “testing” is closely related to “assessment”, although the former is more easily related with formal ways of assessment, like those which have been scheduled. I have designed the chart below about some testing techniques, which in my view, are useful. I have also provided information about my experience and perception of testing with them.

The rubrics are useful tools in language classes, and in this case they contribute to generate aspects that will help in the evaluation of the language skills, for instance. The elaboration of these tools will depend on the goals that are chased and the characteristics specified in the teaching and learning process.

Testing, Evaluation and Rubrics

From the different statements or questions that an evaluation instrument can have, there are some that seem to be more convenient and suggested to evaluate students in specific environments because sometimes the same institutions keep track of them in order to see how the teaching and learning process is going.

Here is important to mention that some institutions may have not evaluation forms that allow them to know how the work achieved by the teachers is going which can be matter of discussion. Although the results while teaching English can be favorable, scholars suggest that part if not all of the teaching-learning process should be measured by using evaluation instruments.

Regarding the students, the evaluation system should go according to the goals that are previously planned by the institution or by the teachers. Knowing this is a big responsibility of the teacher who must adequate the standards in the classroom in order to not hurt students motivation.

 

Testing

According to Charles Anderson et al. (1995:7) the design of a test must include validity and reliability among others. So, it’s very important for the teacher to know how they can diagnose and modify the tests they’ll use for their class in order to facilitate the comprehension of the test according to the characteristics of the class because the teacher is obligated to know who the test is aimed at, what its purpose is, what content is to be covered, how long the test takes, etc. finally it’s relevant to be very familiar with the course book because it’s our guide.

Rubrics

Holistic and analytic are the two types of rubrics. For evaluating our students’ work as a single score, we use the holistic rubric. But if our purpose is to assess specify criteria, we use the analytic rubric. We used rubrics for two main reasons; for telling our students what we want them to know and do, and for observing what the exemplary demonstration of this learning look like.

After thinking about my own experience, I have decided to use the following rubrics for each of the linguistic skills. They should support our listening, writing, speaking, and reading skills in one or another form. However, they could be redesigned if the language course demands other characteristics.

The following rubrics can be used in order to get information from my students' performance (4 forms for the 4 language skills):

ELABORATING A LANGUAGE EVALUATION FOR CHILDREN

 

Please, Play the audio in the video for the audio.

COMPETENCES

Introduction

In a general view, competences in teaching-learning processes are normally defined under the same theoretical context. According to Laura Frade, a competence is the psychological ability to adapt in the environment which includes objective and subjective elements that fit in the person. In education, these competences are adapted to aim to reach educational outcomes.

Being competent encompasses different skills and strategies to develop in certain issues or different contexts of the life. Although not all the human beings develop the same level of competence, they have the potential to achieve competences if the latter are well conducted in the achievement of specific tasks. Laura Frade states that the competences may be based on two main focuses; the constructivist and the cognitive-behavioral.

On the other hand, the Common European Framework (Available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf) works to give clear idea of what should be considered while creating language syllabuses around the world based on competences. This is very important because it allows us to have a major idea of the different elements to be considered by the different people worried about the teaching and learning processes in L2.

Conclusions

After having seen the elements such as examinations, communicative levels, individual competences, etc., that support the CEFR, I think that the possibilities to adapt tasks, texts, and strategies in communicative contexts must be heavily considered as to look for higher levels of language relationships in social-interaction activities in which knowledge of the language becomes essential.

In Mexico, we English teachers should take into consideration the assumptions and strategies as well as tasks that the CEF uses for reaching specific purposes such as communicative competences. This way, our students’ learning will be in the possibility to enter into the global competence of communication.

Finally, the competence factor is nowadays one of the most important considerations because they enclose the goals of the many activities created to command communication.

Bibliography

The Common European Framework in its political and educational context. Available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf

Desarrollo de competencias en Educación Básica. Dra. Laura Frade Rubio. Available at: http://funcionpedagogica.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/laura-frade-competencias.pdf

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