Page 313 - KSPK ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1. Encounter
A group physical response (teacher-led)
 Listening comes before speaking so game-like activities, which allow a physical response will be
those to begin with.
 Ensure these early activities involve the whole group, not individual children, as confidence will
develop at a greater pace if they begin in the safety of the group.

2. Engage
A group choral response (teacher-led)
 Group choral responses allow individual children to respond in the comfort of the group.
 Children may just use the mime, mouth the lexical items, or say the last syllables or words, but
remember they are actively listening and gaining in confidence.
 Let each child go at their own pace, as insisting they respond orally as individuals can be hugely
detrimental for some children.

An individual physical response and or oral response (teacher-led)
 Gradually move to requesting individual children to respond physically and later orally to
instructions. They will have first gained confidence by responding as a group.
 Even though these activities are still led by the teacher, a child is becoming more confident as an
individual and beginning to take responsibility for remembering the new language.
 Be sensitive to children’s feelings and abilities, not all children will want to speak immediately or be
placed in the limelight to say something in English.
 Asking children to respond to a puppet will help some less confident children use English.
 Make sure you praise any attempt to speak in English.

3. Exploit
Child to children - An individual oral response (child-led during English lessons)
 Some children will begin using English autonomously and spontaneously very quickly by calling
out words, greeting you when you arrive and even using English with other children.
 As teachers we need to be sensitive, but if certain children are confident about using English they
may also be confident about taking the lead and asking the other children questions or giving
instructions in certain games. Build on this.
 Set up a supportive environment to enable children to lead certain activities and to exploit English
for real purposes, e.g. leading a routine, leading a game, setting up an English learning area for
free play in English.
 Puppets can also be very useful here to encourage children to use English.

Child to children - An individual oral response (child-led during free play)
English Learning Areas (ELAs)
Considering how significant play is to learning and the importance of respecting the whole child when
teaching English, including opportunities for free play in English is relevant. In short 30-minute sessions
twice weekly the focus is on teacher-led activities. However there are ways to include child-initiated free
play.

Alongside the other learning areas, (e.g. a home area, a construction area) an additional learning area
can be set up, which encourages the use of English during free play - an English Learning Area (ELA).
For this to succeed the ELA needs:

1. Space: this could be a corner where two walls meet, or a space on a wall with a shelf, or a box of
resources for learning English kept on a shelf. An ELA can be permanent or portable.

2. Resources: these should replicate those used during English sessions, e.g. flashcards, a puppet,
a picture book or story cards, props to role-play a story, games.

3. Familiarity: children need to have experienced the resources during teacher-led activities in
English.

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