The Principle of Teaching English to Young Learners
2. The Principle of Teaching English to Young Learners
According to Scott and Ytreberg (1990: 5-7), there are some points that should be noticed in teaching English to young learners, such as:
a. Words are not enough Teaching English to young learners should involve activity which includes both movement and sense activity. Moreover, objects and pictures may also
be added.
b. Play with language Young learners are creative language learners. They play with language and this also happens when they learn their first language. So, in teaching English to young learners, teacher should create activity which enables students to be creative in using language.
In teaching English to young learners, English should be used as language, not as something separately being learnt.
d. Variety in the classroom Since young learners only have short span of concentration and attention, so variety of activity should be created. Kind of varieties such as variety of activity, variety of pace, variety of organization, variety of voice are must in the classroom. Older pupils can concentrate for longer periods and teacher should allow them to do so, but teacher still need lots of variety.
e. Routines Children benefit from knowing the rules and being familiar with the situation, that’s why routines are important in teaching children.
f. Cooperation not competition Group the children together whenever possible. This does not mean that they have to work in groups all the time, but most children like to have other children around them, and sitting with others encourage cooperation.
g. Grammar As a teacher, we should note the structures, functions and grammar items which we want the students to learn as well as those they already know, but our actual teaching should only include the barest minimum of grammar taught as grammar, and then for the older children only.
h. Assessment Even though formal assessment may not be a compulsory part of teachers’ work, it is always useful for the teacher to make regular notes about each child’s progress.
One of important things in teaching English to young learners that included as pre-school is no prescriptive syllabus. Reilly and Ward (1997: 13) stated that in many countries there is no prescriptive syllabus for pre-school. This has the advantage of giving teachers the freedom to design the syllabus around the One of important things in teaching English to young learners that included as pre-school is no prescriptive syllabus. Reilly and Ward (1997: 13) stated that in many countries there is no prescriptive syllabus for pre-school. This has the advantage of giving teachers the freedom to design the syllabus around the
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that in teaching English to young learners, there are some principles to be noticed such as the activities should include both movement and sense activity which enable students to be creative in using language, the teaching of English that be used as language not as something separately being learnt, the variety, routines and cooperation in the class, the correct way to teach grammar and assessment to know child’s progress. Finally, it is important to know that in teaching English to young learners that included as pre-school is no prescriptive syllabus.