Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Lessons 1 and 2)

Learning Objectives:

 Understand the different techniques in teaching English as a Second Language

 Differentiate the approaches in teaching English and Bilingual approaches.
 Participate in the lesson by creating their own techniques in teaching English in the classroom

“Techniques in Teaching English as a Second Language”

1. THE NATURAL APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM

Stage 1- Comprehension
 Always use visual aids
 Modify your speech (speak slowly and simplify vocabulary and grammar)
 Do not force production- students will use English when they are ready
 Focus attention on key vocabulary

Teacher activities in the Comprehension Stage

 Total Physical Response (TPR)- teacher gives commands to which the students react with their bodies as
well as their brains.
 Supplying meaningful input-based on items in the classroom or brought to class. (Who has the _____?
Who is wearing a _____?)
 Supplying meaningful input-based on pictures.

Stage 2- Early Speech

- It begins when the students begin using English words to give:
 Yes/No answers
 One-word answers
 Lists of words
 Two word strings and short phrases

Instructor Question Techniques to encourage transition from Stage 1 to 2

 Yes/No Questions (Is Anna wearing a dress today?)
 Choice questions (Is this a book or a notebook?)
 Questions which can be answered with a single word. (What, When, Where and Who questions)
 General questions which encourage lists of words (What do we see on the table?)
 Open sentence with pause for student response. (Mike is wearing a blue shirt, but Ron is wearing a _____
shirt.)
Other activities which can be useful in early stage:
 Open dialogues
 Guided interviews
 Open-ended sentences
 Charts, tables, graphs
 Newspaper Ads

Stage 3- Speech Emergence

 Production will normally improve in both quantity and quality.
 The sentences that the students produce become longer, more complex and they now use a wider range of
vocabulary.
 The number of errors will slowly decrease.

Techniques that can be used in Stage 3:

 Game of all sorts
 Problem solving using charts, tables, graphs, maps
 Advertisements and signs
 Group discussion
 Skits
 Activities involving audio-visual materials
 Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Lessons 1 and 2)
 Writing exercises
 Reading

In general, we may classify language acquisition activities in which the focus is on the message.
a. Content (culture, subject matter, new information, reading)
b. Affective-humanistic (student’s own ideas, opinions, experiences)
c. Games (focus on using language to participate in the game)
d. Problem-solving (focus on using language to locate information)

TEACHING THROUGH TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

I. Orientation
 Show a documentary film or any motivational activity.
 Say commands rapidly in English and announce in the student’s language that by the end of the
class, everyone will understand everything that you just said.

II. Preparation
 Have a detailed outline or script of the topic.
 Get props together and have them handy.
 Arrange the class so that there is a large space for the action and so that everyone can participate.

III. Classroom Procedure

A. The Method (taken from Teaching English through Action)
a. Demonstration- the students listen and respond to commands modeled by the instructor. The
teacher commands and models with the entire group, 2-3 students or 1 student. Group responds to
commands without instructor.

b. Progression of Commands
 Simple actions (walk, jump)
 Simple actions involving objects and locations (walk to the door)
 Recombination of actions and objects (walk to the chair)
 Recombination of actions and objects involving transferring meaning to a new situation
(shake your head)
 Chains of actions leading into an activity sequence (take the can….. open the can.)

c. Some pointers:
 Model clean responses to commands (e.g. don’t swivel your head and then turn around
with the command “turn”)
 Novel commands (new combinations of elements already mastered keep interest high and
enhance self-confidence as students realize that they have understood something never
quite heard before)
 Introduce new vocabulary 3 items at a time and proceed only after students are
responding confidently.
 If students do not grasp a new item after a few trials, drop it until a future time. (e.g.
students may not be able to transfer from “point to the corner of your eye” to “walk to the
corner of the room”)
 When commanding individuals, call on confident students. Sometimes volunteers by
saying “one student”
 Keep varying who you call. Keep students alert.
 Keep changing the order of the commands to increase listening attention.

B. The Expressive Stage (Speaking)

 After TPR the students will begin to reveal readiness to speak by mouthing or mumbling
commands out loud.
a. Invite the students to command the teacher, other students, or the whole group
b. Ask questions that involve yes or no answers
c. Progress to questions involving one word answers
 Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Lessons 1 and 2)
 Students will begin to lengthen their answers as they hear and assimilate more.
 As students become more proficient, the instructor can add substitution drills, transformation
drills, dialogues, and conversation.

C. The Expressive Stage (Written)

 The instructor can give out study papers after a few lessons with the words used in class,
demonstrating and saying each of the words.
 For beginners, numbers and simple words can be manipulated.
 Reading and writing lessons can increase in complexity as the students progress.

2. LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE APPROACH

 The experience which will be written about may be a drawing, something the student brought form home,
a group experience planned by the teacher or simply a topic to discuss.
 The student is asked to tell about his/her experience.

“BILINGUAL APPROACHESTO LANGUAGE LEARNING”

 Bilingual Approaches to Language

Learning describes the various bilingual models found at different levels (elementary, secondary, post-
secondary and adult education), identifying key instructional features and emphasizing the drive for quality
instruction.

Bilingual
A person who has age-appropriate language skills in two languages, though the nature and extent of skill
in each language will vary according to many individual and situational influences.

Biliterate
Able to read and write in two languages (Hornberger and Skilton-Sylvester 2000)

 Bilingual Education Approach

It is one in which two languages are used as media of classroom instruction for the same group of
students. Any student ha a potential to benefit from a bilingual approach to instruction as long as the
particular approach chosen suits the student’s linguistic situation and provides good quality instruction.
Bilingual education is not only for recent immigrants; there are particular approaches aimed at monolingual
students who speak only the majority language and wish to develop strong proficiency in another language
(TESOL 1992).

Linguistic majority students – students whose native language is that spoken in the larger national
community.

Linguistic minority students – students whose native language is not the same as that used in larger national
community.

Bidialectal students – students who regularly use a dialect different from the standard.

BILINGUAL APPROACHES: PROGRAM TYPES

1. Elementary-level Program Models
a. Early Exit or Transitional
Usually developed to serve young students who are recent immigrants to a new country. It aims
to use two languages for classroom instruction up until the point at which children have developed
sufficient oral and literacy skills to receive all classroom instruction in their second language.
Goals:
 To ensure mastery of grade-appropriate academic content
 Facilitate the speedy acquisition of the dominant language so that children can move into
mainstream classrooms within three years of program entry.
 Teaching English in the Elementary Grades (Lessons 1 and 2)
b. Late Exit or Maintenance
It aims to serve young students who are either immigrants to a country or who are members of
relatively large groups within a country and who speak a native language different from the dominant
one.
Goals:
 Development of literacy skills in both the native language and second language
 Development of academic literacy skills in both languages theoretically continues for the duration
of the program.

c. Immersion Programs
It aims to immerse students in a language different from their native language.
Goals:
 Build strong academic literacy skills in that language.
 Give students access to subject matter taught entirely through the second language.

2. Secondary Bilingual Approaches

Bilingual programs found at the secondary level are usually some variant of early exit or transitional
bilingual programs in which the students’ native language is used just long enough to help them make a
transition to the socially and politically dominant language which they are expected to use through the rest of
secondary school.

3. Post-secondary Bilingual Approaches

Bilingual programs for adults have been developed to provide short –term, highly-focused vocational
training for special population such as refugees who qualify for special government support.

AVAILABILITY OF QUALIFIED TEACHERS AND OTHER SCHOOL STAFF

Teachers must be both highly proficient in at least one language of the program and appropriately
certified to teach the grade-level or subject area for which they will be responsible.

SOUND CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONAL ORGANIZATION

 Access to the core curriculum;
 Close articulation of grade and subject levels;
 Flexible groupings;
 Team teaching;
 Use of meaningful task;
 Pedagogy that actively involves the students in instruction;
 Teaching materials appropriate in quantity and quality to subject taught;
 Peer and cross-age tutoring;
 Collaborative staff planning;
 Average class size; and
 Budget for materials and teacher training.

APPROPRIATE REGULAR ASSESSMENT

Good bilingual programs demonstrate a regular and systematic approach to assessment of student
progress in all curricular subjects in the relevant language.

Sources:
google.com
Ruby Angela, Techniques in Teaching English as a Second Language
Rona Dela Rosa, Bilingual Approaches to Language Learning