Prepare a set of vocabulary sets for example: characters, adjectives, verbs, places, objects and animals, one, two or three per team of students. Cut these up and put them in the envelopes. I have used a set like that one here.
Prepare a treasure hunt around the classroom or the school. Students will walk around the school, as a whole group, they will be looking for the clues. At each station, they will collect their words, for example station 1: a character or two characters, station 2: a verb or two verbs etc.
Divide the students into pairs or groups of three.
Go on the treasure hunt, collect the cards.Take a set for yourself, it will come in handy for modelling and giving instructions in the second part of the activity
Once back in the classroom, let the kids sit with their partner. Check out that the kids have all the cards, ask ‘Have you got a character?’ and let the kids call out their words.
Explain that all these words come from a story. Tell your story using all your words. The structures used will depend on how advanced the students are. With my A1 students, we used only Present Simple and Present Continous.
It might be a good idea to write the key structures on the board, to support production.
Students are asked to work in pairs and prepare for telling their story.
Students tell their stories to the rest of the class.
For homework, students are asked to draw their character(s) or an illustration to their story.
In the following lesson, they show their pictures and talk about them. All the pictures are put on display in the classroom.
Why we love it
The treasure hunt was an adventure in itself and it gave us an opportunity to use preposions of place in a real context and to practise our reading skills.
The students were given a chance to work in pairs and giving them the time to prepare really made a difference. The basically told the story twice, first in pairs, while getting ready, then once more while retelling the story to the rest of the class.
All the cards were displayed on the table and while telling the story, we were putting the cards back into the boxes in which we were collecting them during the treasure hunt. This small trick added a small kinesthetic element to the story and it helped them to remember to use all the words.
The treasure hunt element can be skipped and the cards can be used on their own. It will definitely minimise the preparation time. The cards can be re-used, too and students can choose their own characters, objects, verbs etc.
In the future, when the stuents become a lot more comfortable with the format of the task, I would want them to mingle and tell and retell their stories in pairs, to ensure that everyone is producing the language.
I still do not have all the answers. Quite the contrary, this whole adventure of a research led only to more questions, for now without answers.
Here I am now, as a teacher and as a teacher telling you what I do and what my beliefs are. Very, very subjectively yours.
I do not use L1 in class. I don’t speak Russian in class. I never spoke Spanish in class or Portuguese or Italian. Even in the beginning, before I knew about the existence of the communicative methodology (which does not exclude the L1, by the way), in my state school in Poland, I tried to use English only. But hey, it was easy, I already had a C1 level (with a pretty paper from Cambridge), I was in love with the language, I loved communicating in this language and that kind of an approach and inspiration I wanted for my students. I hope I succeeded, at least in a few cases. Now, all these years on, I don’t speak Russian in class, not even with the 3 year-olds.
If I really wanted to put together an ideology or a credo, I would say that, in class, we create this ‘English bubble’ in which we live for 45 minutes twice a week. I believe that the kids can benefit from that immensely, when it is set up properly, introduced gradually and done well. They can learn to understand, to react and, later, to produce all the classroom language, even such elaborate and advanced phrases as ‘Did you do your homework?’ and that is not because they understand and actively use the Past Simple, but because this is the question that I ask about eight times during each lesson when I am reaching out for their coursebooks or handouts. It finally sinks in and I am not rushing them in. The same applies to the vocabulary and structures that we learn.
Starting to learn a foreign language is a huge step that children are taking. They leave the mum behind and they enter the classroom to talk to a complete strange (well, at least in the beginning) who is using some strange words. There is no doubt that children need to be prepared for it but I would rather leave it to the parents. They have the advantage of knowing their children better, they know how to talk to them and what kind of preparation they might need. It is also true that no matter what preparations are in place, there are children who, regardless of their parents’ wishes, might not be ready for this huge new adventure. Not yet. We have to respect that and get ready for that, regardless. I am not sure if in such cases using L1 would help.
Yes, adventures happen, of course. A few years ago, there was a new student, who joined the group and had a good time, was involved but about half-way through the lesson, she just jumped up and shouted ‘But I am Russian! Why do we speak English here!?!?!’ Before I managed to do or say anything, in any of the languages, one of my student, a boy who had been in the group for a few weeks, looked at her and said, ‘Calm down. We are all Russian here. But this is an English lesson. We speak English here’ Everyone else, suddenly mature and serious, just nodded. The girl looked at them, sat down and we proceeded, uninterrupted. Successfully.
I talk to the parents and the admin of the school, in Russian, of course, but when I do, I do it ‘round the corner’. Partly because many of those conversations are for the adults’ ears only and partly, that yes, I want to keep up the English only environment and to make sure they have a real reason to use English when they talk to me.
At the same time, I do speak or understand my students’ language and it does help immensly. It gives the teacher an opportunity to be on the ball and by eavesdropping, to nip the problem in the bud, before it becomes a real problem. To really hear what is happening. To gauge the situation and to assess the potential levels of discomfort.
However, there are teachers out there, in the world who do not speak their students’ L1. When they have to, they reach out to the admin staff, the teaching assistant or just to parents the hallway. In the classroom, they keep their eyes open and do the assessment, evaluation, danger prediction, comforting without resorting to L1. And they are successful. I was one of those teachers, too
In my experience, the knowledge of L1 is an advantage but it is not absolutely necessary to build rapport, to bond, to earn trust, to make the kids feel comfortable. There is the smile, the hands and the face (even if now partially hidden behind a mask, perhaps), there are the materials, the flashcards, the games, the puppet, the songs, the laughter…
I do not have any doubt that the kids will want and will speak their L1 and stopping them is doomed to a failure, pointless, silly and cruel. They have just about mastered their L1, they should appreciate it and they should be given a chance to love it and to be proud of it and to be respected. And their L1 names should be used, too and their puppets’ L1 names, too. Pushistik, the Rabbit is just that, not some Fluffy, the Rabbit.
It is also interesting to see when the kids on purpose bring their L1 to class. Most frequently it will happen in the beginning of the year 1, when children have no language and they are not very familiar with the class routines (for example, when the teacher shows the card, she will also tell us what it is in English, we just need to wait for that). It might also happen when the children are involved in a game and the L2 word is not known or available at the time. They still want to participate, in any language. I have experienced it also in a different set-up, with the third year students, who were inestablished group, with strong classroom routines. There basically came a day, when they wanted to translate everyting into Russian, every single new word presented was labelled in two languages, in English by the teacher (me) and in Russian, by the group. I did not do anything apart from thanking than and expressing interest. It never happened again later on in the course and up to this day I am wondering whether it was a day when they felt especially proud of their L1, when they wanted to assert their bilingualism or whether the set of vocabulary, with some words shared or similar in two languages has led to that.
Little brains are powerful and they successfully infer meaning from gestures, visuals, voice, face. Translation is futile because cats look the same pretty much everywhere so there is no need for a stubborn ‘koshka’/ ‘gato’ / ‘kot’ to accompany the flashcard and the word. Little brains will get it. There are flashcards for everything. The trick is their quality. True, it might get more complicated with some of the concepts but then there is the question of the choice of concepts or the flashcards, again.
Similarly, there is no need to translate instructions. Kids learn by doing, by following the example so they will know when to stand up and to sit down, to make a circle and to stop. With time, they will also ‘acquire’ all these verbs, in English and trying to inundate them with elaborate instructions in their L1, in order to make them understand what we are doing and why we are doing it is just maximising the teacher talking time, and in L1, which, in the lesson of a foreign language, should not be a priority. Plus, all these ‘instructions that are too complex for the kids to get if in English’ or ‘there are phrases that the very young learners will not understand if I don’t translate them’, well, these probably should not be used in the VYL class. Only my personal opinion.
It is possible to sort out the simple class issues without resorting to using L1. The first and the most important thing is always to react to the unwanted behaviour and to match the gestures and the voice to the emotions that you are trying to convey. Not to mention that it may also be an opportunity to teach them some useful phrases. It has also been reported by a colleagues who had a chance to work in an preschool where bilingual instruction and translation was required of the teacher, that the children, after a while, developed an over-reliance on the L1 version and that got in the way of effective communication. Even when the word was familiar to them, they would not proceed, without having it confirmed in L1 first. In this particular case, L1 did not help to lower the affective filter, it contributed to creating it.
I hate the phrase ‘No Russian’ and I have banished it from my classroom and my teachers’ classrooms, I hope. In my classroom, we have a poster ‘Russian is beautiful but I speak English here’ and this is a line that they all learn eventually. This is what I want.
The school where I work does promote the idea of the English only, with the aim of creating an English learning environment. However, I work with many teachers who have a different opinion on the topic. However, the use of Russian in class would be more likely to generate questions from parents and students, rather than from the observer, should this happen during an observed lesson. If that is every discussed, I would be more interested in what their rationale for the use of L1 was and whether they could see ways of using only English in those cases.
Even in the same city, there might be schools which will have a different policy towards the students’ and teachers’ using the mother tongue of the country. I have met teachers who were using it because they believed it was good for the kids (sometimes going against the school’s policy). I have met teachers who considered using only English at work to be a part of their professional profile. I have met teachers who added an English-sounding name to that, too. I have met teachers who pretended that they are of a correct nationality and I have myself been asked to become Scottish for two weeks. I have had to deal with parents who assumed that if a teacher talks to his wife in their wife during the break or if they chat with colleagues about tea in their L1, they do it because they lack skills to do this in English. I have been told off for using the local language in the canteen at a summer camp, and I can only presume it would have been much better if I tried to fake not speaking the first language of the canteen employees and mime my request for the chicken and potatoes because that would have made me look fully professionally. And foreign. As if the foreigners could never speak the local language.
Have I used L1 in class with the little kids? Yes, I have. Somehow, though, it has always been in short-term, one-off classes where I did not have a chance to work on constructing the system of action-reaction and always, in all of these five cases, it involved the end of the world for the child and the dilemma that I have faced was this: English or the child’s well-being. The latter, of course. Always. Do I feel guilty? No.
There have been a few occasions when I experienced a difficult situation in the classroom and I resolved it using only English but at the same time feeling that it would have been even more efficient and effective, if we had just sat down and had a real conversation, one between an educator and a child or children. One more question to add to the list.
As is this one – Does the children progress depend on whether the L1 is used or not? Will the children who are surrounded only by English get more exposure and input? The findings of the study prove that they can benefit a lot from bilingual instruction but also looking at my students with whom I have worked over a period of a few years, I can see the difference between them and any other A1 group of primary learners who did not have the pre-school EFL experience. Yes, they are still A1 level but their listening skills, fluency and active and passive vocabulary are much higher. It seems that it is not only the level itself but also its texture, for the lack of a better word. Even though, yes, this is based solely on a very small-scale and very informal classroom research. Similarly, is it likely that the students whose teachers do not speak and do not even understand their L1 will be making more effort to achieve communication with the teacher, and in this way, develop their communication skills? Or not?
If you want to share your thoughs and your experience with L1 in the pre-primary and primary, please leave your comments or fill in a short survey. And don’t forget to check out all the other posts in this chapter!
This post is like a game of Fortunately / Unfortunately.
Fortunately, it is easy to go over the existing studies because there only two of them. That I know of.
Unfortunately, this means that we know very very little and we have no academic basis for any of our classroom practices. We can only hypothesize.
Fortunately, this means that we know very little and we have no academic basis for any of our classroom practices. We CAN hypothesize.
Unfortunately, that means that no one is right.
Fortunately, that means that, really, no one is wrong, either. Yay to that!
Unfortunately, that means no clear guidance and a high probability of making mistakes.
Fortunately, that also means that we can do what we want, essentially, taking into account only our students’ benefit and, of course, our school’s policy.
Unfortunately, that also means no clear and structured support for the novice teachers who might not be able yet ready to make such decisions themselves.
Fortunately, …
OK, I know, this game could go on forever. Let’s look at what is available instead.
A piece of Stockholm
The first study was carried out in from South Korea, by Song and Ho Lee in 2019. It compares the effectiveness of two approaches to instruction: English only and code-switching (when the teacher systematically uses English and the children’s L1). The researchers carried out a small experiment, in which they taught a series of lessons in these two modes and measured the kids’ performance as well as asked for the kids’ feedback.
According the findings, the children who had an opportunity to participate in lessons with bilingual instruction (specifically in the area of new language clarification) achieved better immediate and longer-term results as regards the knowledge of the new vocabulary. It seems that introducing the language using both Korean and English has helped the kids remember all the new words better than in the groups where only English was used.
What is interesting, the researchers also asked the kids how they liked to learn and the majority of them admitted that they enjoyed learning in two language. It would be interesting to see whether that meant any major changes in the way that the groups were taught later on, after the completion of the 8-week period of the original experiment and whether the teachers observed any positive or negative long-term changes.
A piece of Poland
The other published study comes from my motherland and it was published by Scheffler and Dominska in 2018. This research was carried out in private and state kindergartens with the EFL lessons and it dealt with the teachers’ beliefs as well as the students’ use of the L1.
The teachers reported resorting to the kids’ L1 in the situations the children’s well-being was at stake and while dealing with some classroom management issues, especially after a failure to use English to a satisfactory outcome. They also mentioned that the L1 is used to clarify the meaning of some more complex concepts or instructions, when all the other techniques are insufficient or when they risk a potential misinterpretation (p. 378). L1 was also used when the similarities between language might contribute to understanding, for example with all the cognates such as ‘helicopter’ which is the same or almost the same word in Polish and English.
As regards the students and their own use of the L1, despite the fact that different instutions followed different policies (as in: no strict policy in the state kindergartens and an English only in the private schools), kids in both contexts reacted in precisely the same way to support their own learning of the foreign language. Authors reported cases of kids using Polish to signal problems with understanding, responding in L1 to flashcards, translating words or instructions or commenting and developing ideas in L1 since they did not have the sufficient amount of L2.
It is interesting to see that even within the same country and the same city, the approaches to the presences of the L1 can be so different. Again, the question arises of whether this has an impact on the progress that the students are making and how much Polish is actually used in the classroom on daily basis.
The use of the L1 is one of the communication strategies and it is fascinating to see that students, even so young, were using it very effectively, based on the evidence gathered in this study. It was not ‘just translation’, there was a reason and rationale behind it. But that’s a topic for another article.
To finish, a quote from one of the respondents who, when asked about the students using their L1 in class, said: ‘They sometimes use Polish, of course they do. They are Polish children’ (2018, p. 381).
A piece of Vienna
Bibliography Scheffler, P. and A. Domińska (2018), Own-language use in teaching English to preschool children, ELT Journal, 72 / 4, p. 374 – 383
Song, D. and J. Ho Lee (2019), The use of code switching for very young EFL learners, ELT Journal, 73 / 2, p. 144- 153
PS Did I get you interested? Don’t forget to check out the other articles in the series: the introduction, the gurus, my own experience and the findings from my MA dissertation research.
PPS This is one of these posts that I am hoping to be adding to so if you know of any other published research, in English, Russian, Polish or Portuguese, please, please, pretty please: Let me know!
This post started with a line, one of those things that one says, casually, in a conversation with a teacher or at a conference. ‘There are many reasons to use a song…’ , I said and my brain, always ready for this kind of a challenge, took over. ‘How many? Can you count?’
I accepted the challenge. I have found sixty. For now:-). Not all of them are mine, of course but since this post is meant for teachers, not researchers and since I am on some kind of an academic holiday, no proper referencing. This time. All the inspiration sources and the follow-up reading below.
Now, fasten your seatbelts and let’s go! 3…2…1…
We are using songs with the primary and pre-primary EFL learners because:
Kids like them
They are a part of the kids’ world, regardless of the language.
They help to reduce stress.
Songs create a positive atmosphere.
They can help set the context of the lesson.
The kids don’t care if the teacher does not have a really beautiful voice but they care about a teacher who does not really sing.
Singing and music are present in many areas of our everyday life.
They can be used differently, depending on the day and how the children feel – to calm them down, to cheer them up, to wake them up.
They can be used to develop motor skills, gross motor skills (jumping, dancing, skipping) and fine motor skills (finger play).
They lead to personalisation for example by choosing favourite songs and expressing opinion on songs.
Using different types of music develops children’s musical taste.
They provide the exposure to the target language.
They help to remember the vocabulary and structures
They help with pronunciation, rhythm and intonation.
And with the early literacy development, by developing the ear, rhymes recognition.
They use a natural language
The traditional rhymes, chants and songs carry the culture of the country.
Songs are an opportunity for expression.
They help memory development.
Singing games usually involve a group or a team and so they help to develop social skills.
They can be used to develop turn-taking and other social skills.
They can help the kids to settle in the lesson and in the L2 environment.
It is something that we do together, it helps to unite the kids after they have taken part in pair-work, team work or individual activities.
They are a nice change of pace in the lesson, a punctuation mark.
They are an easy-to-use stirrer.
They are an easy-to-use settler.
They give the lesson a frame (Hello song, How are you chant, Did you do your homework chant, storytime song, table time).
They help the kids to move from one stage of the lesson to the other.
They help to create a community.
They help to take the language out of the classroom. The kids can sing the songs at home, in the car, on holiday.
They are one of the few tools that help to involve a variety of learning channels: auditory (because we listen and we say), visual (because we can use flashcards to help kids remember the lyrics) and kinesthetic (because every song can be and should be accompanied by gestures)
Thanks to music they remember the language better
They are the first step language production; a song is basically a lot of discourse with some music.
They are great for beginners, children can participate in a song, even if only through the gestures.
They are great for shy students; singing is not scary if you do it in a crowd.
They help to create routine and balance the ration of the new (material, songs, activities) and the familiar (all the favourite songs).
Kids learn how to make decisions – choosing which song to sing next.
They can be used as an activity timer (you have one song to finish colouring)
Songs often tell a story this way creating the context for the language.
They can be used to introduce new vocabulary and structures.
They are great for recycling vocabulary.
They can be used as background music during craft activities, to encourage the kids to sing rather than just chat in L1.
Songs and chants can be used to give instructions.
They can be used during any stage of the lesson.
They can be used to get the students’ attention.
They are easy to use and do not require a lot of preparation.
There are plenty of songs to choose from.
It is easy to make up your song or chant that can be used for one specific reason.
They contribute to the variety of resources used in the lesson.
They can contribute to the development of the cognitive skills, such as attention and focus.
Children learn to take responsibility for the lesson and to lead by choosing the songs to sing.
Songs can lead to creativity in the language. Once the song become familiar, they can be the stepping stone to creating own versions of them.
They can ‘just be sung’ or they can become the theme of the lesson, if accompanied by the vocabulary introduction, craft, story.
Singing a song can be a reward for good behaviour or special achievement.
Some songs can contribute to learning other subjects such as art, maths, science etc.
Parents like when their children sing so songs might be used during parents’ days, end-of-year performances.
They help to motivate the kids to learn the language.
They give the kids the sense of achievement, as even after a few lessons, they can feel like the speak the language, because they can sing the songs or recite a rhyme.
Learning through songs is fun and memorable.
Because, finally, adults, also get an excuse to sing!
It looks like, for now at least, all the reasons to use a song = 60 reasons to use a song. If you have any more ideas to add to this list, please let me know in the comments!
And may the VYL and YL classrooms be alive with the sound of music, like this or like this!
If you want to learn how to move from singing a song to a discourse, have a look at the earlier article on How to un-sing a song.
If you are new to teaching and you are not sure where to start
have a look at some of the coursebooks and teacher’s books for primary and pre-school to see how the authors suggest dealing with a song in class
Yvette Coyle and Remei Gomez Garcia (2014), Using songs to enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition in preschool children, ELT Journal, 68/3
Nihada Delibelovic Dzanic, Alisa Peijic, The effect of using songs on young learners and their motivation for learning English, 2016, NETSOL, An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1 (2),
Hi! My name is Anka. I am a teacher of English, I work at BKC IH in Moscow.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching all levels, types of classes and age groups but I have found my happy place in the young learners and the very young learners classroom.
I am here to share ideas and I hope you find something useful on these pages!
Today about a little and very un-revolutionary change in the routine that has, nonetheless, made a huge difference to my VYL and YL classes.
Instructions
Make sure the door to your classroom is closed and that the children wait for the lesson outside.
When it is the time to start, come out and line them up, perhaps with the parents’ help in the beginning, until they get used to the new routine
Wait for them to be ready, say hello to everyone and count together how many students are present
Say hello to the first student, ask how they are, let them into the classroom, wait until they book the books and bags away, choose their seat and sit down.
Let the second student in.
If setting homework is a part of your routine and programme, this is when you can check the homework, asking each student a few questions about it.
If there is no homework, this time can be devoted to a short individual conversation with each student. It can be a short revision of the vocabulary, talking about a picture or, if the students are already in one of the primary levels – some reading practice with flashcards or a few questions about any material covered in class. We often use it for practice with ‘Tell me about…’ with the use of a picture.
When the students get used to the first part (entering the room), you can add the second element and make sure that the students already sitting in the classroom are occupied, too. They can either play a simple guessing game if this game has been practised in class and if they have been given a set of flashcards. They can also play some games on the phone or the tablet, for example to practise reading with phonics. Again, they have to first to try it under your close supervision, to get used to taking turns etc.
Why we love it
It helps to introduce the order from the very start of the lesson since the kids are not waiting in the classroom and the teacher’s arrival is not an interruption of something that they are doing.
It is obvious who is responsible for the students during that time, the teacher’s take-over is clearly marked. It might not be as obvious if the kids enter the room during the break or before the teacher, especially if the teacher wants or has to spend the break time outside of the classroom, for whatever the reason.
The parents are of a great help in the beginning of the course, they can help explain what the kids are supposed to do, they can help with the name etc.
This part of the lesson is a fantastic opportunity for the 1-1 conversation with each child. Regardless of whether the teacher uses this time to check the homework or to ask and answer questions or to read, they are giving each child all their attention (almost all, the eyes at the back of the teacher’s head are watching the kids already in the room, of course:-) and they can check the progress and language use.
For the parents, this is a wonderful opportunity to find out how their children are interacting in English, without the parents’ supervision and this is how they can, indirectly find out about their child’s progress, before every single lesson if they wish to do so.
For the parents, this is also a chance to find out how the homework handouts or materials are used, what questions the teacher asks and how much language can be generated out of a page that, to the untrained eye, looks like a simple colouring page. If they want to and they have have the time, they can later use this knowledge to practise English at home.
In the beginning, when the children are just getting used to the new routine or if they are really young, this part of the lesson can be kept short, later it can be made longer. Similarly, in the begining, the T leads the activity but, later on, the kids can ask each other at least some of the questions, too.
I have been using this technique for about six years now. My first ever group for which this has been created (because there were ten of them and we hardly ever got to talk 1-1 in class), now in the third year of primary, still line up to chat with me on entering the room. I have been using it with my pre-primary students, too, groups and individuals, too. The parents always wait in the hallway, at the back of the line and they always wait to hear how their children talk to me. If they leave the school, it is only after their kids have walked into the classroom. They always wait and not because they don’t trust us/me but because they are curious and want to know how it goes.
Welcome to my classroom. I will take you through the lesson planning for one of my preschool groups. They have just started to learn English, they are four and they come to us only once a week.
This was our lesson number 5 and I taught it last week, just one of the lessons, without any fireworks or magic, just what we do. The only thing that was different was me taking notes and photos every step of the way. The planning took about twenty minutes (plus photocopying and preparing the classroom).
This IS how I plan and it was only a few months ago, while talking to a friend and a colleague (insert virtual hugs to Vita), I realised that if I had to pick up a metaphor for my approach to lesson planning, I would go for a cake: I figure out what I want (the visualisation of the amazing piece of baked goods, just a second before you cut it up to serve) and then I come up with all the ingredients to buy, all the equipment to prepare and all the steps to take to get there. Just like while making a cake.
Welcome to my lesson, step by step. Get ready for a lot of I’s!
Step 1: Getting started
An A4 piece of paper is where I always start. A single piece of paper and a few colourful markers. I use the same approach to planning for all my lessons, regardless of how old the students are or what their level, but for pre-schoolers it is especially important.
Leafing through the pages is not necessary and, let’s be honest, not recommended or even impossible when simultaneously you are managing a group of four- or five-year-olds. The lesson plan is always on the wall. It is relatively simple and thanks to the big font, the structure and the colour-coding, I can read it, even from the other end of the classroom. Sometimes, I take it around with me and pin it in the other corner of the room, all that depending on the activity. If for example we are doing something completely new, for the students or for me, my notes for this particular activity are a lot more detailed.
Step 2: The framework
This is the typical framework that I use for all my pre-primary groups and individual students. The lesson is divided into the three main slots, regardless of how long the lesson is. As a result, the length of each third varies and it can last 20 minutes in one real hour class, 15 minutes in one academic hour class or even 10 or 5 minutes in the shorter online classes that lasted 30 or 15 minutes respectively. As with any lesson planning, assigning time slots should be only approximate because a) anything can happen b) we adapt our and the coursebook authors’ ideas to what actually happens in a particular lesson. To be honest, if I were to give up one lesson plan / lesson ingredient / craftsmanship element, timing would be the first one to go.
I start from the scratch in every lesson although I have been playing with the idea of improving the approach – printing the template, half-filled in with all these elements that are constant, then laminating it and using whiteboard markers to plan to minimise the time expenditure and the workload but I have never got round to it. Not yet, anyway.
Step 3: The aim
I start with the lesson aim. I mean, we all do, in a more or less conscious way. Only about a year ago, though, I started to force myself to verbally formulate the aim of each lesson and to write it down. The results of that little, non-time-consuming teaching habit have been nothing short of amazing.
I know most of the coursebooks that I am / we are teaching with very well, I have gone through most of them once at least and I have my favourite activities and solutions and so on and, of course, at the bottom of my brain, I know why I do this or that. But, having to actually think about a particular group and a particular lesson, on a particular day and having to say it out loud has made a bit difference and has made me more aware of what I do and why.
But there is more to it, too. There have been a few occasions over this year when I really wanted to include something to supplement the coursebook, a game, a song you find or an idea you wake up, include it at all cost, just because the idea seemed very appealing. On those few occasions, the lesson aim got skipped or left for the very end of the lesson planning, as if by accident.
Only it was not by accident. Because when I got to the point when I was ‘just’ supposed to summarise it in the lesson plan, I simply could not. It did not come together because the lesson, at this point, was just a collection of activities, without any real focus or an obvious outcome. All these lesson plans were redone and the activities reconsidered.
For that reason, now I always put the lesson aim at the top of the page, as my frame, my spotlight, my runway. A clear lesson aim also helps to reflect on what happened in class afterwards.
In this particular lesson, I wanted my students to start talking about emotions. They had already been exposed to the three key words (happy, sad, angry) and their symbolic representations but without actually producing much. In this particular lesson, I wanted to try to take it a bit further, to the production stage, ideally in the form of a full sentence ‘I’m happy / I’m sad / I’m angry’.
To be honest, ideally, this is what should have been written on the page ‘I’m happy/ I’m sad / I’m angry’ but it got compressed to only three words, mainly because I have taught the lesson a few times already and it would be a full sentence by default. Just to prove that the lesson plan was for the lesson itself and not for ‘publication’.
Stage 4: I will always love you
This is the easy thing. The first and the last block, in brown, are the admin bits, with the students entering and leaving the classroom.
We line up in front of the classroom, count how many people are present, we say hello officially and we check the homework (more on that kind of a hello routine soon to come!) and we sing our goodbye song and choose stickers, get homework and choose the stickers before everyone goes home. These never change, although sometimes I only send the homework through the WhatsApp group or explain it directly to the parents. This was a standard lesson, though.
The other element that always appears at that point are all the songs and chants to be sung in class. These depend on the topic of the lesson and later on, the students can sometimes decide which one we are going to sing. This group here is at the very beginning of their English adventure so for the sake of establishing the routine and because we only know a few songs, we sing all of them in every lesson.
Songs work here as some kind of punctuation marks and during the lesson, we basically sail from one song to the other. It helps to ensure the balance between settlers and stirrers or songs offer at least a tiny little bit of a change of a pace and an opportunity to move but they also help to ensure that there are periods of the lesson when we all do something together so it helps to keep the balance of different interaction patterns (whole class vs individual work, pair work or taking turns).
Step 5: The centrepiece
At this point, I am adding the main activity, our focused task during which we are set to make the lollipop puppets with our three emotions (plus colours and some functional language). I have done this activity in that format a few times and for that reason there are no detailed instructions, the staging is already in the blood.
Another thing that appears at the time is the storybook. At this point in the course, we use storybooks only as supplementary material to revise and to reinforce the target language from the lesson and this is how Pete the Cat helped us. We revised the colours and emotions only using a different resource.
Step 6: The familiar
The next step is adding the other elements of our routine. These are not as constant as the hello or goodbye routine but not as changeable as the focused task or the target language practice.
Since it is the beginning of the course, there is not much to pick out from or to revise and since we are still working on building our routines and I try not to add too many new elements, not to overwhelm the kids.
Our revision activity has been the same for all this time: we count up to ten on fingers, we count the people present, boys and girls and teachers and we count other things, in this lesson dinosaurs, in this lesson in a book and our plastic toys.
Our music and movement has been pretty much the same from the beginning of the course and it is only now that the kids are properly enjoying the activities. This applies to the songs and the magic bag game, in which we use plastic fruit. They don’t know the fruit names so at this point we only focus on their colours (‘It’s green’).
As for our How are you today part, the plan was to do it in the traditional way but with the introduction of the finished product. I thought that this might help the kids become aware of what this toy is and how to use it (pick one and place it in front of our face, while saying ‘I’m happy’). By the time we’d get to making our own lollipops, they would already be familiar with them. It would also help with giving the instructions.
Step 7: The key elements
The things to add now, will be the details of working with the target language and with the revised language, in order to ensure that they best contribute to the completion of the focused task.
What I did plan, however, was the colours practice with a variety of activities: not quite in the order in which we did them. The main and the new one here was ‘open/close’ also known as ‘what’s missing’, a memory game and the most challenging activity here (as it involves cognitive skills and language production, focus). Everything else was either a preparation for that or a supplementary game, which can but may not be used, in the end. I like to make a list like that to prepare myself for their different moods, participation and involvement levels, etc. Having a list of potential games which we can play, without any major changes to the materials set or the seating arrangement I found it to be quite useful.
The fish game here acted as my potential plan Z, only if we have time. In the end, I used it later in the lesson, instead of the magic bag activity since they were both quite similar (students taking turn to perform an individual task with a motor skills development focus and colour revision.
In this lesson, the connection between the focused task and the target language practice is not as strong but that is because it is only the lesson 5 in level 1. Thinking about it now, after the lesson, I think that, ideally, I should have included some additional activity to combine numbers and colours, for example in the form of colourful happy, sad and angry faces, that we could categorise by emotion, count etc. So see, there is always a way to improve things)))
Ready!
The lesson plan is ready. Perhaps now, looking at it, in its full, finished glory, it is easier to see why I do not include any timings. The framework itself outlines the time slots for each stage of the lesson, alongside their aims, although they are not articulated clearly and they are the following:
Column A: the introduction to the lesson, hello and revision, the aim: settling in, duration: about 20 minutes.
Column B: working on the target language, the aim: presentation, practice and production, in varying ratios, depending on whether it is the beginning of the ‘unit’ or the end of it, duration: about 20 minutes.
Column C: production, the aim: production, with the hope of more freer practice and spontaneous production, although, of course not during the first few lessons of the level 1 course.
Looking back
The lesson went well and, apart from the few things mentioned already, I did not really have to change anything else. Not that it would be a very bad thing to do. Regardless of what has been planned, the thing that matters most is a group of the little people who are sitting in the classroom, how many of them there are, how advanced they are, how they are feeling on the day. Flexibility, first and foremost. And then – the reflection bit. Because we can always make things better.
Meet Ela, a newly qualified, inexperienced VYL/YL teacher, from Poland, who has just completed her CELTA course and who is about to start a new chapter of her life, as a teacher of English.
Ela is lucky. She is starting not only one but two new jobs next week and both will involve working with very little people. One is in her hometown and it will be face-to-face, the other one online, in China. Ela is a bit nervous, because it is a new job and because she has never really worked with kids before. There will be some induction or orientation at both places but it is only to take place next week.
She is also lucky because there is still some time left AND she has got access to more than just google. Her teacher training centre is in her hometown so she can just walk in and do a bit of research and reading in the library there. She hasn’t even started to teach and she already has lots and lots (and lots) of questions.
What about the L1 for example, the students’ mother tongue? Should the teacher use the L1 in class? Or outside of class? Should the kids been allowed to use L1 in class? Should they only use English? Should the teacher know the students’ first language?
Ela is a newly qualified teacher and so her way of compiling a reading list is not a perfect one but here some of the ideas that she has come across…
Herbert Puchta and Karen Elliott, Activities For Very Young Learners
This publication is a compendium of activities and ideas for the classroom but it includes a brief introduction with some of the principles that should be taken into account while working with the pre-school children. Puchta claims there that the knowledge of the L1 on the C2 level is absolutely necessary in order to help clarify any problems with comprehension as well as to assist the children in case a problem occurs.
What does Ela think now? Well, she is grateful for all the practical advice on how to avoid using the L1 in class but, at the same time, feels like she is doing something wrong or even illicit. After all, she was offered this job in China and not one person ever asked any questions about her level of Chinese. Then, she is thinking of her best friend, Kasia, who left for Japan and taught kids there, and Anya who landed in South Korea…her CELTA tutor who used to teach in Mexico and one of her CELTA peers, Jessie, who worked in Poland and that none of them spoke the langauge of the country where they worked and definitely not on a C2 level. Not even on an A2 level, to be honest. Ela is confused.
Opal Dunn, Introducing English to Young Children: Spoken Language
No, scratch that. Ela only thought she was confused earlier. Now she really is, after having gone through a few pages of the Opal Dunn’s publication.
First of all, it is because she has found out that children cannot bond with a monolingual teacher (that is a teacher who does not speak the children’s L1) and that they might get disappointed and frustrated. It does not bode well for that online job in China or for any other future positions abroad but at least that’s some good news for the groups she is going to teach in her hometown.
The rest, however, is a bit more difficult to digest because translation, at the same time, must be and mustn’t be used in the classroom. ‘Only English’ should be one of the rules but the teacher should explain it both in English and in L1. The same can be done whenever a new concept is introduced but should be done quickly and in a different voice.
There is also the issue of the kids translating from one langauge to the other. It should at the same time be encouraged (‘as being able to translate is a skill that needs to be encouraged’ p. 134) and discouraged as kids might not tune into the English version waiting for translation (‘the habit to translate should be broken’ p. 136).
Ela is beyond confused. She wishes she had stopped reading on page 134. Or that she had only limited her reading to page 136. Too late!
Vanessa Reilly and Sheila M. Ward, Very Young Learners
Reilly and Ward’s publication is the oldest resource available on the market devoted solely to teaching VYL and for some time it was the only published resource for the teachers who work with the pre-primary children.
Probably the most important line that Ela finds there is the following quote: ‘if we tell the children that they can only speak in English, it is as good as telling them to be quiet’ (p.5), followed by the list of reasons to accept the L1 in the classroom and some practical ideas on how to avoid using it and how to gradually replace it with English.
Ela is somewhat relieved to have found a note that the attitude to the mother tongue in the EFL/ESL classroom might depend on the country and the particular school’s policy. She thinks that perhaps that might, at least to some extent, explain the fact that she and her colleagues were hired to teach despite the lack of knowledge of the children’s L1, although, the authors here, just like everyone else she has read so far, seem to assume that all the teachers working with YL and VYL speak the children’s mother tongue.
Ela is, admittedly, more peaceful now, although she still does not quite understand she even got the job if the L1 proficiency is such an important requirement.
Sandie Mourão and Gail Ellis, Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children
Ela might not know it yet but she is really lucky: as a newly qualified teacher, at the very beginning of her career, she had a chance to read this particular book.
The authors outline ten principles of teaching English in the early years and the principle number 2 refers to L1: ‘Children will sometimes use their home / school language when learning English, which is viewed as part of the natural process of language aquisition and evidence of learning’ (p. 214) and they provide a list of situations in which both the teacher and the students might feel the need to resort to the L1 in the EFL context. Ela takes notes as she might need this knowledge to understand what is going on in her classroom. She especially likes the questions for self-reflection, such as ‘Why and how did I use the L1?’, ‘Could I have done it differently?‘ (p.215) or, as seen from the child’s perspective ‘What steps did I take to help the child move from L1 to English‘ (p.215).
Elat is happy, she finally feels like she has learnt something. She is not as nervous as she used to be. There is only one question that has been left unaswered and that refers to al these teachers who teach preschoolers without speaking their L1. They exist and Ela is one of them. Only now, she is too excited and she only wants to go on reading. This is where we are going to leave her now… Enter the Dragon (teacher/trainer), me with only a few facts from the VYL kingdom with a few summarising comments.
At the moment, there are altogether 4 volumes devoted to teaching pre-schoolers. Reilly and Ward published their compendium in 1997 and it took twenty years (as in 20, as in two decades) for another title to appear on the market in 2017 when Puchta and Elliott came out. All that despite the fact that this area of the market has been growing in strength all this time (Garton and Copland, 2018).
The latest addition, by Sandie Mourao and Gail Ellis has just been released and it willl take some time for it to make it to all the libraries, teacher training courses reading lists, bookshops so it might be that some newly qualified teachers will be walking into their first lessons without having read it. But the good thing is – the book existis and it is available. The newly qualified VYL and YL teachers, the VYL and YL novices, the Elas of today are indeed lucky. They have a lot at their disposal and a lot more than the Elas of five or ten years ago.
Even in the areas that are and have been ‘hot’, ‘popular’ and well-researched, it takes forever for the findings to permeate into the coursebooks and the mainstream consciousness, let alone areas like ours that is considered ‘a niche’, at least by some. As Sandie Mourão writes (2018) ‘Precious little research involves pre-primary FL learners, so research in any direction would be welcome’. Yes, ‘precious little‘ and ‘any‘…Things have started to change, slowly so it will probably take another twenty years and a few more dedicated teachers and scholars before we have answers to some more of the VYL questions. Those related to the presence of the L1 in the EFL classroom but not only those, of course.
In the meantime, there is still more to come in this series here, some studies that I have come across as well as the findings of my own small scale study on what the VYL teachers think of the L1 and what they do…See you in a bit. Oh, and if you haven’t done it yet, check out the introduction, too!
PS I am really interested in the attitudes of primary and pre-primary teachers to using the kids L1 in class, by the students and by the teachers. This was one of the beliefs that I was researching in my MA dissertation (the post on that coming up in this series). The MA is done (yay) but the research continues so if you have a few minutes to spare and you don’t mind taking part in the survey, please follow the link and answer a few questions here.
Bibliography
Photos courtesy of Юлец
* )W.Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, act II, scene I
O.Dunn (2013), Introducing English to Young Children: Spoken Language, Collins
Garton, S. and F. Copland (eds), (2018), The Routledge Book of Teaching English to Young Learners, Routledge.
S.Mourão and G.Ellis (2020), Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children, Delta Publishing
S.Mourão (2018), Research into teaching of English as a Foreign Language in early childhood and care, In: S. Garton and F. Copland (eds), The Routledge Book of Teaching English to Young Learners, Routledge, p. 425 – 440.
H.Puchta and K.Elliott (2017), Activities for Very Young Learners, Cambridge University Press
V.Reilly and S.M.Ward (1997), Very Young Learners, Oxford University Press
Get the coloured paper ready. The basic photocopying paper will do but for a more sensory experience paper with different thickness, texture or surface.
Cut out a pile of colourful circles, about 3 cm in diameter but if the kids are really small it is better to make them a bit bigger, they will be easier to handle.
Prepare A4 sheets of paper on which you are going to stick things, glue sticks and markers that you can use to draw on your paper.
Choose a circle, glue it onto the paper, decorate it so that it resembles what you want it to resemble. Use simple instructions while demonstrating (‘Glue’ ‘Turn over’ ‘Stick’ ‘Draw). Give out the paper, the glue sticks and the first circle. Monitor.
Proceed with the following circles.
With the older students, it is fun to let the children decide what their circles are. And then learn the new words – whatever they draw.
Don’t forget to talk about your pictures, count all the blue circles and all the butterflies))
Level 1 Pre-Primary : Pets
Why we love it
It is super easy to prepare and to complete.
There is no set duration of the task. It can be kept very simple and short, limited to only three items or extended to six or seven, depending on the age of the students, level, motor skills development.
It can be easily made more or less challenging by grading the level of complexity of the drawings.
It can be adapted to many different topics. I have used it with the topic of shapes (focus: circle), spring (accompanied by the KidsTV123 song ‘In the garden’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCClYcU97PA) and in the beginning of the course with level 1 to practise the first colours.
It helps to develop cognitive skills (perception: noticing the shapes in the world around us, transforming the shapes into things we know etc)
If there is no time to cut out all the circles (or if the teacher has not done many craft activities and wants to start with something not as complicated), a template with circles can be used instead. In this case, the kids will only draw and colour.
Level 1: Pets, no-glue template
Assorted circle-related randomness
Assorted circle-related randomness part 2
Level 1 Pre-primary: Colours (lesson 3 of the course)
Christmas edition (the puppy is here because this is my student’s favourite thing:-)
Should we? Can we? Is it a good idea? Is it going to work? Is it legal? What will the students think? What will the students’ parents think? Have we just so got used to what we have been doing all our life that we don’t even want to consider the benefits of the other approach? Have we been brainwashed enough so that now that idea sounds like a blasphemy?
To be honest, I have no idea and I have no answers. I am setting off on this particular adventure with all the questions in the world and no answers yet, rejoicing the fact that the EFL world has (slowly) started to talk about the use of L1 in the EFL class.
But, although this is a very interesting topic, I would like to seriously narrow it down and focus on, surprise surprise, the presence of L1 when the students are real beginners and about 5 or 7 years old. Or 3. Or 6. Or 8 even. Then the question shifts from ‘Shall we have L1 in class?’ to ‘What do we do about the L1 in class?’, because, whether you want it or not, L1 will be there.
Before we start, I think it is important that I shed a bit of light on my background: I am here as an experienced EFL teacher and a teacher trainer who works in a private language school and who speaks her students’ L1 but who does not use it in front of the kids. In the past I also had a chance to work with young (and younger) kids whose langauge I did not speak at all. These details are factors which, potentially, at least, might have had an impact on my attitude to L1 and its place in the classroom.
This is the opening post to a series that I have been dreaming about for a long time and in which I would like to include not only my experience but also the overview of what our YL gurus think on the subject, the studies carried out so far and what I have found out while researching for my own MA dissertation.
In lieu of an introduction, a few overheard conversations. The text in italics is the translation of the exchange that initially happened in the students’/parents’ L1.
One: overheard in the classroom aka The Kids Want To Talk
T: What happened?
S6: One of my teeth fell out all by itself and the other one, Sasha (brother) pulled out.
T: Your brother?
S6: (He is) three years old. He pulled it out!
T: Oh, no! He is a dentist, yes? The doctor from the teeth? (*)
S6: He put his hand in my mouth and then pulled and.. ((very animated))
T: Oh, so is he strong?
S6: Yes.
T: I think he is.
S1: And I did it all by myself. Because I am big. ()
S6: And I also want to tell you…()
S9: And I want to tell you that I was ill the day before yesterday.
T: I am sorry.
S1: And my brother is ill, too. He does not go to English anymore. Today.
S8: And my Masha (the doll) is ill.
So many stories to tell, about the brothers, sisters, teeth, dogs, cats, dead birds on the path in the park, a bad day at preschool, the upcoming birthdays and grandma’s visit…Kids, preschoolers or primary, love the teacher and want to share their stories. This is exactly how they build the rapport and bond. Yes, it is easy to imagine that, if there are no boundaries, kids could easily spend the entire lesson chatting in L1, without any incentive to at least try to speak English but going for the binary ‘English or nothing at all’ is not an option with the youngest students.
Two: overheard in the classroom aka Let’s Sort Out a Problem
S5: How ((pointing at trousers))?
T: Trousers.
S5: Who is wearing trousers?
S1: Me
S5: But you already said that you were wearing jeans!
S1: Jeans are also trousers.
T: Very good, Sasha. Very good question.
Now, surely, one more reason not to stick to the binary here. It is not just a random conversation (that is useful anyway, see scene one), this is intervention, clarification and sorting things out. This is, actually, useful, potential trouble-shooting. Would we want to ban that, too?
Three: Overheard in the classroom aka We Cherish L1!
S1: Red, please.
T1: English, please.
S1: Red, please.
S2: And I don’t know how to do it.
T: No Russian!
Yes, this is when the blood starts to boil. Russian, Polish, Chinese, French or German, the kids should not be told off for using their first language. This is something that they can do, something that they should be proud of being able to use it and of using it. I do believe that English should never be put in an opposition to the L1, in the same way as homework should never be set as a punishment.
Four: overheard in the hallway: Some Adults (We Don’t Like Very Much)
S1 and S2: (blab together in Russian)
Carers: No, speak English!
Good idea! But how to make it happen if the two kids in question have a range of about 25 words in English, together and I know that for a fact. I have taught them all of these 25 words that they do know at this point, that they do know, collectively. How are they supposed to communicate, in class or in the hallway, with these 25 words? High expectations are good but the task should be achievable, too!
Five: Overheard at the reception aka The Parents
P1: Does the teacher speak Russian?
Self: Yes, she does. Not in class but yes, she knows the language.
P1: But this is not good at all.
P2: Does the teacher speak Russian?
Self: No, she doesn’t. Not very well.
P2: But this is not good at all.
It is not always easy to meet parents’ expectations and to even predict what these are actually going to be. The truth is that if they are introduced to ‘an established’ teacher, and that may not necessarily mean teacher with a lot of experience, only some who has already made a name for themselves, even in the tiniest of circles, then they are more likely not even to ask these questions, at all.
If, however, the teacher is brand new, then, unfortunately, parents will be more curious and more likely to evaluate the teachers’ abilities and skills against some very subjective criteria including the teacher’s nationality, the teacher’s first language, the teacher’s knowledge of L1. Or age, or sex or appearance, too. These criteria are probably the result of the parents’ previous experience as learners or as learners’ parents, the experience which might not always have been positive. They might also result from the exposure to some EFL/ESL urban myths from the 60s in which a five-year-old child picks up an accent from their non-native teacher and is ‘scarred’ for life.
No one-fits-all solutions here. Just like every child requires an individual approach, so does each individual parents. Yes, we win some battles here and we lose some.
Six: Not quite overheard aka the State School
Student 1: Anka, I had my first lesson of English today. My teacher did not say anything in English. She did not say one word of English. In the lesson of English. Not one word. Anka!
This line came from a student who has been in my group for four years and who has just started primary school. I did not know what to say so I kept quiet trying to remain in control of my face, so that it would not reflect in any way the thoughts that were rushing through my head.
The teacher in me thinking that we have made great progress and that, already at 7, my student not only communicates in English but also knows what to expect from a lesson. The teacher trainer in me shedding tears at the methodology and the lesson time used in such a way. The fellow teacher in me sorry for my peer at one of the schools as she will be trying to adapt her lessons to include a gifted and more advanced learner. And, as an adult, suddenly very much worried about my student in a different learning environment and how her teacher is going to treat her.
But, really, a lesson of English without any English? Not even hello? Not even bye-bye?
Seven: Overheard during a workshop aka The Teachers
Teacher 1: But they have very little language. They will not understand the rules of the game so I have to explain the rules first and then we can play.
Teacher 2: What if a child cries? Or if there is a real problem? I can only sort it out in the child’s frist language. They do not have enough English to understand…
Teacher 3: They need to know that I understand what they are saying. They need to feel safe.
Teacher 4: They still think I don’t speak Russian. I don’t want them to lose the motivation to use English in class.
Four teachers, four approaches. I do indentify with all of them, to some extent and I have a few follow-up questions about all of them, too. And you, dear teacher?
I am really interested in the attitudes of primary and pre-primary teachers to using the kids L1 in class, by the students and by the teachers. This was one of the beliefs that I was researching in my MA dissertation (the post on that coming up in this series). The MA is done (yay) but the research continues so if you have a few minutes to spare and you don’t mind taking part in the survey, please follow the link and answer a few questions here.
The next step? The overview of literature. First, the YL gurus. Coming soon!
