2.3 Teaching languages to young learners in the British culture

2. 3 Teaching languages to young learners in the British culture

Most British kindergarten apply grade-based curriculum, that is,

• Pre-school curriculum
• Kindergarten curriculum
• 1^st grade
• 2^nd grade
• 3^rd grade
• 4^th grade
• 5^th  grade

A preschool curriculum introduces young ones to basic concepts they will need to understand before they can delve deeper into subjects like English, science and math. With lots of fun activities and games, preschoolers are slowly introduced to numbers, the alphabet, and alphabet sounds. They also begin to learn about colours, shapes and sizes.[1]

Most kindergarten curriculum begins students in math and English. The lessons are very simple and deal with easily understandable concepts like counting and word endings. They usually revolve around objects kindergarteners are familiar with.

Students in 1st Grade are more familiar with the school setting. They are ready for more organization and structure in classes. This helps introduce students to increased writing and more advanced topics in English and math. The 1st grade curriculum usually has lessons on time and money. Students are also ready for science and social science as subjects. 1st grade activities reinforce classroom learning.

2nd graders are ready to tackle English grammar. In other subjects they are also moving on to more conceptual lessons. Their reading skills are much better, which will help them become independent learners. In the 2nd grade curriculum, students are learning a lot more about the world they live in. 2nd grade activities are a great way to get students to practice the lessons they have learned.

Fourth grade curriculum covers concepts that are tougher and more complex. Apart from mastering the skills already learned, 4th graders must also learn a variety of new topics in all the subjects. Free 4th grade curriculum plans available online are a valuable resources for home-schooling parents and teachers[2].

The 5th grade curriculum can be rather tricky to prepare. The last year of elementary school for many, 5th grade is when kids need to have mastered all the basics. The 5th grade curriculum should prepare students for all the new concepts they will be taught in middle school.

The relationship between communicative behaviour and cultural system are known. The question here is how to introduce these issues into our teaching and what activities would support children’s understanding.

By raising young learners’ cultural awareness through teaching English the primary aim should be to be able act naturally with native speakers later in their career while accepting their different reactions. 

Each learner has to be introduced to the culture of the target language; no matter how young they are so that we could provide them with the optimum conditions for success. If we can look at culture through the children’s eyes we may get feedback of what motivate them to know more about the culture itself.

Thus activities[3] which involve learners in situations and actions where the language is challenging and appropriate to their abilities and interest must be the focus of teaching.

Task 1 Think how you can best meet the needs of children to become aware of English cultural issues.

Task 2 Do you agree with these issues?

Task 3 On the basis of what you have learned so far about the strategies of pre-school and kindergarten curricula try to plan your curriculum.

Take the followings into consideration:

• what do you want to develop, for example, communication, language, reasoning, problem solving etc.?
• what do you want to provide through the curriculum? For example, effective planning, recording and assessing children’s progress.
• how do you want to encourage children to observe, question and investigate?
• what activities do you use when teaching communication and language? For example, listening, talking, expression, reasoning, stories, poetry
• what will children be able to do by the end of the foundation stage? For example, explore and experiment with sounds and words, respond to what they have heard etc.

Teachers of English often have questions that would be worth discussing with other professionals.

Here are few ones with some options the can be accepted or refused.

Task 4 Read them and add your often raised questions