Teaching English to Young Learners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Teaching English to Young Learners - Essay Example Therefore, the main attention of the paper is focused on a combination of playful methods, involvement of music and games in the process of language acquiring. Part I Literature Review Before starting up a discussion about how to teach English as a second language to young learners, it is relevant to observe classic theoretical works in this field. Teaching English to young learners as a second language is considered in the works of classical theoretic writers, such as Stern and Weinrib (1977), Dunn (1983, 1985), Halliwell (1993) and Drucker (2003). Their theories were based with regard to the evolution of children at pre-school age, correlation between their physical and intellectual abilities etc. Moreover, children’s abilities to narrate and cognize were also taken into account. With respect to children’s abilities, different activities, games etc were chosen by theoreticians as the basis for development of the most appropriate learning program for young learners. Th e most common practice for teachers is the usage of a form of a game during the lesson. This approach is relevant to children who are already able to solve brain teasers or riddles. In this case an indirect learning occurs. A child does not have to learn some new words or sentences; he is just trying to solve a riddle or a puzzle (Arnold, 1999). Therefore, a role of indirect learning is as well important as a role of direct learning, because â€Å"whether one is used more than the other depends on a combination of intellectual development, temper and circumstances. Direct and conscious learning seems to encourage an elaborated accuracy of the language, while acquisition stimulates a spontaneous and more fluent use† (Arnold, 1999). The ideal variant of English language learning is when both accuracy and fluency is reached. Unfortunately, child’s abilities to lean grammar consciously are underdeveloped. From the one perspective, children have in-born skills to acquire la nguage. Thus, this fact should be properly used by a teacher in order to develop a relevant methodology enabling children to use their language knowledge not only during the lessons, but also outside the class. Consequently, game is a perfect opportunity and the right way to a proper learning. In accordance with Halliwell (1993): â€Å"games should not be disregarded as a waste of time. They also shouldn’t be considered as something that can be introduced as a time filler at the end of class or as a prize for doing  «real » work; they are real work. Games make up a central part of the process of language acquisition, which is wonderful because children have such a strong sense of fun and games† (Halliwell 1993, p. 6). Consequently, we can surely conclude that during games children reveal their creative potential, stimulate their imagination and fantasy. For example, the main role imagination plays in the L2 class. Moreover, Halliwell (1993) underlines that fantasy involvement benefits to real usage of language. In a playful manner children can make an attempt to describe to each other a certain monster and they will try to use different words to reflect their fantasy verbally. In the contemporary studies on English teaching to young learners there are three main types of contents: these are conceptual, attitudinal, and procedural (Lessow-Hurley, 2003). In the