TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN

Variation at primary level

English Language Teaching and attitudes to authority to teaching and to
learning vary from culture to culture. There are characteristics which young
learners share: Young learners are beginning their schooling, so that
teachers can mould their expectations.
As a group they are more differentiated than secondary or adult learners
They are keen and enthusiastic without inhibitions.
Their learning is linked with their development of ideas and concepts.
They need physical movement.
Reasons for teaching English at primary level:
The need to expose children to an understanding of foreign cultures so that
they grow up tolerant and sympathetic to others.
The need to link communication to the understanding of new concepts.
The need for maximum learning time for important languages
The advantage of starting with early second language instruction so that
later the language can be used as a medium of teaching.
Second language learning at a young age
Children have more opportunities to learn and they are learning all the time
without having the worries and responsibilities of adults. Explanations for
better learning:
The brain is more adaptable before puberty and they are not aware that
they are learning.
Children have fewer negative attitudes to foreign languages and cultures
and they are better motivated.
Childrens language learning is more integrated with real communication.
Children devote more time to language learning.
The earlier they start, the more they understand.

Teachers need the language; basic competence is essential. Opportunities for

foreign language access vary from country to country. Teachers need
competence in primary teaching methodology. We need to emphasize the
role of story, dance, and roleplay and puppet activity. They need to centre
much of their teaching on topical rather than formal organization.
WHAT IS GOOD PRIMARY PRACTICE?
It is clear that greater knowledge and understanding of theories of child
development a learning, they ways in which children learn a foreign language
and studies of the kinds of classroom conditions which promote foreign
language learning will contribute to our understanding of good educational
practice in the teaching of English to young learners.
How do children think and learn?
The most well-known aspect of Piaget's theory holds that all children pass
through stages before they construct the ability to perceive reason and
understand in mature rational terms.
The three stages: sensori-motor (birth to 18 months), concrete operational
(18 months to 11 years) and formal operation period (11 years onwards) are
established by means of cognitive tasks. The concrete operational period is
sub-divided into the pre-operational where concrete operation are being
prepared for the operational where they are established and consolidated.
Piaget's work was criticized. Children do not pass through stages of
development in which they are unable to learn or be taught how to reason
'logically'. Rather it was the unfamiliarity of the tasks that led to failure.
Piaget was interested in the structure of mature thinking while Bruner
describe the different processes that are implicated in problem- solving. (For
Piaget children do not need a teacher)
Piaget and Vygotsky differed in their views on the nature of language and its
effect on intellectual development. Piaget argued that language exerts no
formative effects on the structure of thinking mental actions and operations
are derived from action, not talk (Vygotsky argued that in the beginning
speech serves a communicative function; and transforms the way in which
children think, learn and understand. It becomes an instrument or tool of
thought. The means by which planning and self-regulation to achieve goals
takes place. Thus speech comes to form what Vygotsky referred to as the
higher mental processes. These processes are formed in social interaction.

Both Bruner and Vygotsky place more emphasis than Piaget on the role of
language, communication and instruction in the development of knowledge
and understanding. Vygotsky placed instruction at the heart of human
development, defining intelligence itself as the capacity to learn through
instruction. A central tenet of his theory is the zone of proximal development
(ZPD), defined as 'the distance between the actual developmental level as
determined by independent problem-solving and the level of potential
development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or
in collaboration with more capable peers.
This emphasizes the social nature of knowledge acquisition. In this way, the
child internalizes the processes required for working out a particular task.
Bruner introduced the concept of LASS (Language Acquisition Support
System) He proposed that for language development there needs to be a
child component. The interactional partner provided structure or framework
which Bruner referred to as 'scaffolding'
Features of primary practice: (1960-1980)
1-Teacher autonomy:
2-A child-centred curriculum and methodology.
3-Invididualised learning, where children were free to work at their own level
and pace. (Each child has their own speed)
4- A topic based approach.
5-A methodology about learning by doing and problem solving.
New good primary practice (1989)
1-Using language to make, receive and communicate meaning in purposeful
contexts.
2-Approach to acquiring written and oral language.
3-Mistakes are necessary to learning.
4-Working on tasks which children have chosen (it must be relevant or
interesting)
5-Employing a variety of forms with a clear awareness of audience.
6-Working with teachers who are involved in the processes.

7-Reading literature for enjoyment.

Effective teaching occurs where a whole class listens and engages kin a
question and answer session, in small groups teaching in which a high degree
of interaction is possible and in one to one setting where a child may receive
individual help and support.
Ellis suggests eight features of classroom discourse important in second
language development:
The teachers use of language: quantity of intake (concrete to abstract), an
input rich in directives (total physical response, children follow instructions in
a game), and input rich in extending utterances (teachers provide a model for
children by expanding their utterances). Types of activities: a need to
communicate (purposeful communication), here and now principle (refers to
the need to move from the concrete to the abstract in order to support
children's understanding of the propositional content of a message.). The
learner's use of language: independent control of the idea, the performance
of speech acts, and uninhibited practice. In the third group, Ellis suggests that
SLD is more successful if children are free in the foreign language learning
context to initiate interaction and respond to others' use of language. To
ensure that children have the opportunity to use a range of language
teachers must include a variety of task types based on games, collaborative
problem-solving, or information gap activities.
How can children be helped to learn a foreign language? A child's
concentration span increases as they grow older. Children cannot concentrate
on one thing for a long period and lessons should be divided into a series of
activities lasting no longer than five or ten minutes. The ability to keep on
task and to ignore distractions is a symptom of the child's intellect. Vygotsky
argued that mature mental activity involves adaptive 'self-regulation' which
develops through social interaction, helping children to discover how to pay
attention, concentrate and learn effectively.
Wood argues that activities or interactions are more likely to enable a child to
memorize items since they are more meaningful to the child (tasks with
concrete support)
Is there a best way to teach primary EFL?
Two models of classroom practice which has a great influence on the
development of a pedagogy for young learners: the classical EFL practice

model (is characterized by a presentation and practice model focusing on

questions of language and communication, the teacher controls the input,
tasks are design to generate discourse in specific items, the work of the
classroom is orientated towards communication practice) and the
mainstream primary practice model (more appropriate to the educational
need of children which focuses on questions of curriculum content and
cognitive development, syllabus orientated to topic, the teacher creates a
learning environment which facilitates language acquisition and
communication, the teacher provides contextual support , learners explore
topic through a sequence of problem-solving).
Implications for the training of primary ELT teachers:
Specialist skills of primary teachers:

Choose an appropriate topic.

Plan these activities in sequence.

Analyze the language demands of these activities in terms of discourse,

skills, functions, structures, lexis, and pronunciation

Analyze the language needs of the pupils using the same kinds of
category

Match these demands and needs to identify language problems.

Modify activities which may be linguistically exacting ('scaffolding')

Develop an understanding of language processes in talk, listening,

reading and writing.

develop a wide of activity types for skills work and match these to
specific text types, recognize narrative, description or instructions)
In terms of curriculum content and learning at primary level, teachers should
know about: the role of different determinants of curriculum design such as
curricular content, cognitive development, learning skills, language
development. The range of learning activities which might be described as
conventional in the young learners classroom the relation of ELT to the rest
of the curriculum and to local education philosophy.
Is British primary practice exportable? One of the most important factors to
consider in exporting aspects of primary pedagogy to other countries is the

role English place in the wider community. (The nearer you are, the more
language you use as a second language)
FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS
Theoretical background: The ELT world
Aspects of applied linguistics, and ELT that are relevant: a clearer picture of
the way in which a learner acquires a second language, teachers need to take
note of these learning mechanisms; creative construction: learners make
hypotheses about how language works, based on evidence from input of
language and try out new hypotheses. By guiding and encouraging learning
strategies, learner-active processes and it is self-learning. What is taught is
not equal what is learnt, the way classroom learners learn a language may
have some similarities with the way learners pick up a language in a natural
learning environment. Instruction helps only when the child is ready to
acquire the form that is when the form is in 'the zone of proximal
development' of the child. The natural order of learning; all learners learn a
language along the same order, whether they are learning their first or
second language. The role of the teacher is to facilitate the development of
the language and the learning strategies. The role of the input (through
listening and reading) is important for the learner to activate and develop
their own learning mechanisms. The role of grammar in teaching (what
grammar to teach, the communicative approach to teaching) Current
approaches tend to be versions of a structural (and synthetic) approach
(presentation practice free practice), or of a communicative approach. In
a communicative approach learners use the language for a real purpose in
order to communicate something to someone. We learn a language when our
attention is focused on meaning' rather than form. Authentic language is
important. Input of authentic language then becomes important to that
learners are in fact exposed to complexities of the language.
The education world
Children learn by doing, being actively involved in their learning. The process
of learning is as important as the content: discovery methods and - activitybased learning. Learning how to learn has been a key principle. There are
many links between this approach and a communicative approach to
teaching a language. If language is to be used for a purpose in the
communicative approach, the content-based provides a real purpose for
using language. A distinction is made between meaningful and purposeful.

The communicative approach has techniques such as information-gap

exercises, using meaningful language. In a content-based approach, the
purpose is learning other things, exploring the world, finding out information,
recording it or participating in activities for sheer enjoyment; stories, songs,
drama. A key is attitude and motivation. Children learn better if they have a
positive attitude. Interest becomes a crucial factor in deciding on classroom
practices.
The main tool is content. Activity approach: children decide to explore
something or to do something (a project, an activity) to stimulate and
motivate the children. It could be imaginative. The children need to use
language in order to carry out the activity. Accuracy is achieved through a
desire to do something well rattler than because the teacher demands it. And
finally, through doing activities, the children's language and skills develop.
When designing activities, there are seven criteria: Interest: (exciting,
interesting and motivating to these children) Challenge (provide a suitable
challenge, not too difficult, but not simple.) Purpose (focus on the task)
Language use: (need to use language to complete the activity) Language
input (oral or written). Conceptual appropriateness (develop their thinking)
promotion of learning (combine interest activities)
Lessons planning two stages- First decide on a theme which will motivate and
interest the children. Brainstorm' and write down ideas for activities. Second,
planning the series of tasks to be done at the end of the unit.
YOUNG CHILDREN LEARNING LANGUAGES
A paradox in the development of young children is their ability to establish
their first language when they are unable to understand anything about the
system which they come to use with such competence. Learning language is
not easy. Krashen argued that the early years of childhood provide a critical
period for learning languages. Children learn a second language in much the
same way as they learn their first language. Social and cognitive
development depend upon children being drawn into interaction with others
and both are set on course in the very early days as parents talk to children
while attending to their needs. The parent's voice, facial expression and
gestures call out responses from the baby and provoke responses from the
adult. Research shows how the spontaneous playing with sound is developed
around the third and fourth months, and begins to die away around the sixth
and seventh, when babies concentrate on the production of a smaller sounds.

(Articulation control). Interaction takes place through gesture and facial

expression and through deliberate action. Young children communicate by
reaching and pointing. Parents also use facial expressions, gesture, action,
tone of voice to support the meaning of what they say. Meaning becomes
attached to form first 'words' (the same happens with the second language).
As children begin to crawl or shuffle and then to walk, more information
becomes available through sight, hearing and touch. Between 12 and 18
month, children establish their first words and respond. From two years they
begin to put words together.
The sequence of development of the first language
Particular features of the first language appeared. One-word utterances
communicated different meanings through intonation and gesture. Then
telegraphic appeared (these are key words, the ones which carry meaning).
Two classes in two words utterances open and pivotal. Morphemes are
grammatical elements from which words are constructed. Brown examined
morphemes and showed that although the development varied between
children, the route through which they developed was common to all.
Children use certain structures before others that are common features in the
development of a first language. The development of the use of language is a
result of innate cognitive and linguistic abilities
Children's experiences of the use of language
Talk is based on something in the environment that takes children's attention.
Parents' talk refers to objects present and to distinctive action, they use
higher pitch of voice, slower and clear articulated speech, grammatical
modification or simplification and frequent repetition. This behavior helps the
child to understand. 'Motherese operates as intuitive language lessons and
urges them towards communicative competence. Changes in a child's
competence in using language were accompanied by changes in the adult's
talk, so that as children matured the adults adjusted their own language.
Learning to communicate through talking
Parents negotiate meaning to understand their children. It is through the
construction of conversations between a child and parent, where try to
communicate particular meaning. Process of incorporation helped to extend
children's knowledge of the language. It is through established routines of
carrying on conversations about here and now events that helped children to

recognize how talk relates. Characteristics of interaction in the home were

related to aspects of children's use of language and level of achievement in
school. Two approaches: in one parents interacted with their children, helping
them to express their thinking by negotiations. Children tended towards
greater achievement in school. This interaction is supportive. The other was
characterized by imposition by the parents of the topic under discussion, with
little recognition of the children's attempts to contribute to the exchange and
the parents assumed tutorial role. Teachers' talk predominates and that
opportunities for children to communicate and extend their ideas are limited.
Young children learning to use a second language
There is a natural order through which grammatical structure develops in the
first and second language. There are some universal processing strategies
that both used. Children reconstruct rules for a second language by imposing
rules from their first language on what they hear, and then try to produce talk
in the second language guided by those rules but the rules are different.
Becoming attuned to a second language
From three to seven, children use the language but they are still unable to
see it as a system with rules that can be applied. Up to 18 months to two
years old there is a preparation of the essential basis for the development of
language. The relationships between parents and their babies is important,
from such young children develop skills and expectations. By the age, they
are able to communicate well, their articulation is developed. Nevertheless
children will need time to adjust to and become familiar with the environment
in which the second language is used and form relations with others, so they
feel secure and confident and are able to take part in activities.
From first to second language
Children developed skills and strategies in learning to use their first language
that can be apply to learn the second. Children, have well-developed
strategies for learning language to assist them in acquiring a second
language. Knowledge of the children's first language should alert teachers to
features of the second language. They might offer appropriate information
through their responses, repeating phrases that give clues to help children
change their expectations.
Children's strategies in learning language

First children learn through imitation and repetition. Then they combine
words, showing creativity in the production of 'telegraphic speech'. Through
such and repetition, children recognize how utterances arc structured and
understand rules. Children also imitate and repeat short phrases attached to
through imitation phrases are learned and continue to be used as unanalyzed
wholes that are formulaic. Children's use of formulaic speech, that is is an
important strategy. Imitation, repetition and formulaic speech lead to
incorporation.
The teacher's role in promoting second language development
Teachers are involved in helping children to acquire a second language, they
need to examine their talk with children and consider to what extent they are
providing children with conditions similar to those through which the first
language develops. Conditions in 'schools cannot be the same as those at
home, if only because of the greater 'number of young children with whom
they must talk.
THINKING TO LEARN
Young children are powerful learners. They begin communicating using their
body language, gestures and smiles. The thinking child learns to master the
acquisition of language. Children are curious, creative and able to ask and
respond questions. (eg: Why do people die?) Keeping a child's early
questioning spirit alive is the key important to success in learning. To
encourage a thinking child you can introduce them to complex and abstract
ideas. All children are born with potential, and we cannot be sure of the
learning limits of any child. However, many children fail to fulfil their
potential. The causes of failure are difficult to diagnose. Many causes stem
from cognitive confusion. Children suffer from this when confronted with
messages and demands which seem to make no sense. They fail because
they cant overcome blocks to learning and they havent learnt how to learn.
Children need help to achieve their potential and to identify ways in which
they can become effective learners. All children are at potential in their
learning with the capability of exploring experiences and of creating new
ways of exploring. All children are also at risk of not seeing new ways, not
knowing how to travel or missing new opportunities.
There are two approaches to teaching, thinking and learning skills; one is to
develop a program to teach thinking skills and the other is to teach thinking
and learning skills through all areas of the curriculum

A specific program
In the past, specific subjects were identified as those that develop the ability
to learn. For example Latin, but those students who learned became good at
it, and knowledgeable about grammar, history, but they did not become
better thinkers and learners. It is said that Maths is good for logic and good
lessoning, but there is no evidence that mathematicians are better thinkers.
There is a research which that suggests that children cognitive development
can be enhanced through an approach to Science Education. It showed that
levels of success can be raised through specific programmes, like creative
thinking courses, philosophy program and instrumental enrichment.
Or thinking across the curriculum?
This approach infuses the teaching of thinking skills into all aspects of the
curriculum. This involves children in active learning situations that extend
their higher order thinking processes. Lower levels of thinking involve
knowledge, comprehension and application; and higher levels involve
analysis, synthesis and evaluation. These levels represent the complexity and
challenge thinking about any topic. The learning child is a thinking child.
Successful learning involves helping children to move on to higher levels of
thinking. These are metacognitive control. Thinking is seen as an informationprocessing capacity that involves input, output and control. It is through the
exercise of control that higher levels of thinking can be developed.
Memory is trained by making patterns out of the information given, and
repeating them until they become internalized. These patterns can be
processed in different ways: verbally (listening and repeating the
information), visually (seeing visual patterns or pictures), logically (seeing a
pattern of logical or mathematical relation), physically (physical
representation of body gesture), musically (melody, rhythm), personally
(linking information to personal experiences), socially (learning with and from
others).
Multiple intelligences: Humans are unique in their ability to process
information.
Linguistic or verbal intelligence: specific areas of the brain are
responsible for different aspects of language use. Thinking involves the use of
words and concepts, and cognitive development is linked to conceptual
development. One way of helping children to develop their thinking is to

organize concepts using concept mapping. There are other ways: explaining
their opinions, giving instructions, doing crosswords and word games, writing
letter and poetry.
Visual/spatial Intelligent: the left hemisphere is dominant in processing
Language and the right hemisphere is central to visual and spatial
processing. Visual spatial intelligence is needed for all forms of problemsolving that require visualizing objects and patterns. The making and
understanding of maps is an example. Activities: map-reading, creating
maps, using diagrams and plans.
Logical-mathematical intelligence: is involved in scientific thinking and it
is measured by IQ tests. Brain research shows that some areas are more
prominent in calculation. One characteristic is the ability to see pattern and
relations between things. Activities: keeping personal accounts, practicing
mental maths, planning and managing time, making timetables.
Physical intelligence: each hemisphere controlling movement on the
opposite side of the body. Many activities require physical intelligence to
solve problems, and achieve desired results. Carrying out a mime sequence
or hitting a tennis ball may seem very different from solving a mathematical
equation. Yet the abilities to express emotion (as in dance), play a game (as
in sport) or make a model (as in craft, design and technology) all involve
physical problem solving.
Musical intelligence: all children have some 'raw' musical ability. Certain
parts of the brain play important roles in the perception and production of
music, largely in the right hemisphere. There is evidence that training in
reading music can help development in reading and mathematics. Activities:
making music, repeating songs, moving in time to music, selecting
appropriate music for background.
Interpersonal intelligence: is the ability to understand others. Piaget said
that one of the factors that limited the intelligence of young children was
their egocentricity. It develops the ability to empathize with and learn from
others. Two factors: attachment to the mother, influencing the educational
progress and social interaction. All children benefit from opportunities of
learning with others, in pairs and small groups and teaching others. Activities:
listening to stories, speaking to others, helping others learn, working in
teams.

Metecognitive Intelligence or intrapersonal intelligence: is the most

important aspect of human intelligence. It is the access to our own thoughts
and emotions, to what we think and feel.
At five, they are beginning to distinguish appearance and reality. They
develop metacognition through understanding more about the mind and
brain, different elements of personality, what they believe. This is a key factor
in the success of learning, in knowing how to plan, predict, remember, and
find out. Activities: keeping a diary, understanding your feelings and moods.
What does research Into learning tell us
Piaget emphasized the view that thinking was an activity. We should allow
children to have thinking time. To encourage children to higher levels of
thinking, we need to challenge their ideas
Bruner: emphasized the role of the teacher. It was not enough to let children
think work and play on their own. They need someone to scaffold their
learning, to lead them on to higher levels.
Vygotsky: found that social interaction was the key to success in learning.
We Iearn more in collaboration with others (parents or other children) than we
can by ourselves. We all have a zone of proximal development, referring to
our potential for learning, given assistance by others. The role of the teacher
is to try to realize this potential in students.
Linguistic theorists: emphasized the value of talk in the development of
thinking. We need to give children the opportunity to articulate their ideas,
through talk and writing. The act of creating and communicating meaning
forces us to think and rethink what we want to say.
Curriculum research: explored the way children construct their own
theories. Children are blank slates on which to write, or empty vessels to fill.
Cognitive research: focused attention on the complex nature of thinking.
The mind has been likened to a community of intelligences. We have a multimind. We all have different thinking and learning styles.
Psychologists: emphasized the key role of self-esteem and our sense of
mastery over what we think and do. We are better motivated when we think
we are going to do well, when we are confident in our abilities. We need to
build a sense of can do in our children

Philosophers: children share natural sense of wonder about the world.

Through the use of reason, they can translate their curiosity into ideas,
theories and hypotheses about the way the world works.
QUESTIONING
It is at home that a child first learns the power of asking questions, they are
usually 'partners in dialogue' with their parents. When these children entered
school their conversations fell. Teachers initiated most conversations and
asked most questions, children get fewer turns, ask fewer questions, make
fewer requests for information, use less elaborated sentences. They are
talked at, rather than talked with. Teachers use questions in order to
motivate, to test knowledge, and to promote reflection, analysis or enquiry.
Questions are supposed to offer intellectual challenge, to encourage students
to think. Research shows that most questions teachers use are closed, factual
questions with known right answers, making low levels of cognitive demand
that do not encourage children to persist in their thinking and learning.
Teachers ask Iots of questions. The more the children were questioned the
less initiative they showed in their responses. A good question provides an
intellectual challenge, which stimulates the 'cognitive conflict' and help
children move on to a more advanced stage in their development. A good
question provides scaffolding to new learning.
Unproductive questions:
1- Stupid questions: are thoughtless. They trivialize what is emotionally and
intellectually complex and provoke a thoughtless response.
2- Too complex questions: too big or too abstract to be tackled. (Do you
believe in God?) It could be productive to create a context, and to have
moved from the known to the unknown.
3- Too closed, narrow questions: when too easy, they can result in the
phenomenon of the hit-and-run barrage. When too hard they can result in the
teacher-answered question.
Instead of asking these question, you can use a memory test that reinforce
and remind pupils what they know, and can help them to remember.
Higher and lower levels of thinking
Evaluation, synthesis and analysis demand complex and 'higher' levels of
thinking. Questions which ask for application, comprehension and knowledge

demand less complex and thus lower' levels of thinking. One strategy is to
ask questions that make increasing cognitive demands on students, to move
from simple knowledge through questions that ask for explanation and
application, then analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Good questions: Ask fewer, but better, questions, seek better answers and
encourage children to ask more questions. One characteristic is that it avoids
the trap of a yes-no response. (What do you think? Why?). A good question
offers a challenging of thinking and invites and open-ended, thoughtful
response. They are productive for they generate something new.
Thinking time
In questioning we should learn to value silence. Some teachers wait only one
second for an answer. If the answer isnt forthcoming within a second,
teachers tend to interrupt by repeating the questions, or asking another
question or another child. Increasing thinking time, wait time, can result in:
students giving longer answer, offering to answer, willing to ask more
questions and their responses become more thoughtful and creative.
1- Pausing: means giving time, thinking time, and opportunities for rethinking and re-stating an idea.
2- Prompting and probing: gives verbal encouragement, by 'reflecting
back' to cheek whether we have understood, what the student has said.
Probing: encourage deeper exploration.
Non-verbal reinforcement includes eye contact, facial signals, and body
gestures.
3- Praising: gives positive feedback, supporting the hesitant, rewarding the
risk-takes and valuing every contribution.
Questioning skills: they are seven: using the appropriate level for the class,
distributing questions around the class, prompting and giving clues, sing
pupil's responses in a positive way, timing questions and pauses between
questions, making progressively cognitive demands through sequences of
higher-order questions, using written questions.
Alternatives to questions Teachers who model thoughtfulness will
encourage their children to exhibit more thoughtful behavior. Teachers who
offer their own thoughts and ideas will create an environment in which
speculation, hypothesis and argument can flourish.

Higher order thinking involves imposing meaning, finding structure in

apparent disorder.
Thinking is talking it through with yourself when you have a problem. Kinds: a
speculative statement (Perhaps), a reflective statement (You seem to be),
a state-of-mind statement (I don't understand), a request for information (Id
like to hear what you think about), an invitation to think (I want you to think).
Encouraging children to question: if we want pupils to be active and
adventurous thinkers we need to encourage them to ask questions. As
children become older this becomes less easy. There are two ways of trying to
establish a climate of enquiry for teachers to: model a questioning mind by
thinking aloud and asking good questions, value and provide opportunities for
students to ask questions. If children, themselves, identify what they want to
know by asking a question, then they are much more likely to value and
remember the answer.
1- Assessing the ability to question: one way is to give them an object and
ask them to list questions about the object. Another way is to take a subject
of study and ask many questions as they can about the topic. A third way is
to choose a text and to create questions about it.
Creating a questions classroom: there can be problems in creating and
enquiring classrooms. The questions of children can be challenging and
unsettling. But teachers dont have all the answers, but is keen to help
children to be independent, creative and curious. Classrooms activities design
to create questions for thinking:
Study questions: help them identify what is significant in their learning.
Reading review questions: ask your pupils to ask questions about the story
they are reading or listening to.
Hotseating: a student chooses a character and the others brainstorm
questions to ask the child-in-role.
Twenty questions: students choose an object, and the others have 20
questions to find out the answer. Only 'Yes' or 'No answers are allowed.
Question and answer: students devise questions to fit a given answer.
Blockbusters: create a board of letters and the students devise questions for
each letter on given theme.

Any questions? Students ask or write down any question and each question is
given to an 'expert' partner to answer.
Interview questions: Decide on someone to interview and devise questions.
Question your classroom: devise questions to stimulate thinking and
discussion about objects.
Keep a questions box, board or book: create questions, store them in a box,
choose one and discuss it.
DISCUSSING
Talk and thought
Verbal thinking can be regarded as the internalization of speech. Vygotsky
argues that a better approximation to verbal thought lies in egocentric
speech. From an early age, children develop theories about what they know
and experience. These ideas become the basis of their actions and
responses. They help the children to anticipate, comprehend event and
create order out of what would seem to be random.
Modelling- recreating the world in words
One way of helping this construction of understanding is to talk with
ourselves about our experiences, to model the world as we understand it in
words. Vocalization gives substance to thinking.
Examples of talking things trough:
Define the problem: say what the situation is, where you are, and where you
hope to get.
Plan a course of action: talk through a step-by-step approach to a problem,
outlining what one hopes to achieve and the stages one hopes to go through.
Monitoring the situation: to check the progress of a plan by asking.
Reviewing the outcome: to verify that the task has been achieved by testing
the results.
Self- questioning: All successful learners have metacognitive skills that
involve developing an awareness of their own learning. If children are made
aware of their own learning then they are in a better position to improve it.
By modelling examples of talking things through we can show children ways

in which they can articulate their ideas. We learn more by questioning

ourselves.
Thought and dialogue
Children need opportunities to enquire into their own views and ways of
thinking and through dialogues with others, to discover different perspectives
and points of view. It is through dialogue that the private world of the self is
extended, and we are able to overcome the egocentricity of thought by being
helped to find more reflective ways of thinking. What difference a learning
conversation from ordinary talk (day to day chat) is that it involves higher
order thinking. A learning conversation contributes to understanding. It helps
them express ideas. Some strategies that teacher uses to encourage
students to articulate their thinking through dialogue: defining the purpose of
the activity, inviting opinions about the topic, questioning the topic,
summarizing, evaluating outcomes and reviewing the whole process.
What is discussion?
It can be informal situation where talk between people occurs or in a group
interaction where members join together to address a question of common
concern, exchanging different points of view. This is called community of
enquire. The central function of discussion is the improvement of knowledge,
understanding and/or judgment. Conditions: talk and listen to one another,
respond to what others say and try to develop knowledge. Moral dispositions:
discussion has to be order, reasonable, truthful, free to expression, equal
opportunities, and open-minded.
Teaching through discussion
In classroom discussion, children tend to talk directly to the teacher,
competing for attention. They need the teachers approval, and they tend to
be fearful of taking risks. Teachers have different roles:
As an expert: sustaining the attention of individuals or groups, leading them
to higher levels of understanding, this means scaffolding the steps to learning
and understanding so that they achieve their potential.
As a facilitator: organize situations where children are working in groups.
Students are free to explore ideas but the teacher may intervene when
students dont understand.

As a participant: the purpose is to get students to talk and listen to each

other and help them feel independent and equal in their responses.
COGNITIVE MAPPING
Cognitive maps are made out of words, ideas and concept and they are
useful for learning. They relate ideas and concepts, identifying key words to
learn and remember. Memory is a process of making links and association
between new information and existing knowledge. It depends on key words
and key concepts that are transferred from short- term memory into longterm memory. It is through the linking of information to existing patterns of
knowledge that we create new forms of understanding. We are able to assess
many memories because all we need is to remember the key ideas, words or
images and we recreate what we remember from these. We transform our
perceptions into concepts that are ideas. A concept is an organizing idea and
helps us to classify and order thought and experience. Teacher has to explain
and give examples of it so that the children come to a communicative
understanding of the concept.
Concept development
Vygotsky identify two levels: concepts are developed through perceptual
and practical experience in everyday activity. The higher level are scientific
concepts which are theoretical and structured and depends on the use of
language and learning; they are powerful because they are applied to
different contexts of learning.
Piaget argued that concepts are organized into schemas which are mental
representation of things or ideas, and it it through this we process
information.
Concept mapping
One way of introducing children to the language concepts is to describe
concepts as any words that mean something like places, names of people,
ideas. A concept is a word you can picture in the mind and means something.
The best way to introduce concept maps is to construct some of your own,
first with general topics and then with topics of studies. Listing words and
concepts is a useful activity to encourage fluency and flexibility of ideas and
to provide a good basis for writing and for classification. In a concept map, a
key word or concept is one that is linked to many other and serves as a focus
point for making connections for other parts in the pattern. Advantages: key

idea is defined, the important ideas are highlighted or nearer the center, the
links between ideas are shown, visual patterning helps you to review.
The purpose: to explore what we know, identify the key concepts, showing
links between ideas, to help planning, to aid evaluation. Cognitive maps help
children articulate their ideas. They provide a tool for planning and assessing.
They stimulate active thinking, develop cognitive skills of analysis.
Forms of mapping
Hierarchical: shows a hierarchy of ideas and the relationship between them.
Knowledge: it works when there are a lot of facts to learn (history)
Graphic organizers: provides a good focus for co-operative learning and
engage students in processing information of ideas.
Cognitive mapping a powerful aid to memory, understanding and concept
development. Concepts are organizing ideas that helps us make sense of the
world and a childs learning is develop through organizing ideas into
framework of understanding. Graphic organizers help students to represent
thinking in visual form to relate new information to prior knowledge. Mapping
can take many forms. Cognitive mapping provides a focus for group
discussion and a means to facilitate co-operative learning.
DIVERGENT THINKING
We become creative when we are able to look at things from a new
perspective. Any learning that is not routine needs creativity. Creativity will
be needed to help develop, adapt and apply understanding. When knowledge
is complete, we have no need to process it; there is no need to think things
through. To develop new ideas and design solution to problems requires
creative thinking. Intelligence alone is not enough to realize learning
potential.
Creativity, intelligence plus achievement
Creativity leads to different learning styles and levels of achievement.
high creativity + high intelligence: children exercise themselves control and
freedom.
high creativity + low intelligence: they are in conflict with themselves and
with the school environment.

low creativity + high intelligence: they are addicted to school achievement.

low creativity + low intelligence: they are engaged in defensive social
activities.
Assessing creative thinking: we become creative when we can vary and
extent the focus of attention when we are able to see and think of
possibilities beyond the given information. We have different capacities for
creative thinking and these are expanded through practice. Three kinds of
tests:
drawing test: where students are asked to create a design from a simple
drawn shape. It is useful for fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration.
Visualization test: students are asked of a given drawing and try to list as
many items the drawing may represent.
Verbal test: to generate creative ideas from a given verbal stimulus.
Developing creative thinking: creativity can be trained and develop, it has
to do with serious and sustained effort.
CoRT is the most creative thinking programme which consists of a number of
tools applicable to many teaching situations:
CAF: Consider all factors: aims to expand the focus of attention.
FIP: First important priorities: directs the attention to priorities. Not all
factors are of equal importance. Deciding on priorities require planning,
analysis or evaluation.
PMI: Plus, minus, interesting points: aims to force us into thinking about any
situation before coming to a judgment. It involves listing all the good, bad
and interesting points.
C&S: Consequences and Sequel: invites children to speculate and to predict
along a time scale into the future.
AGO: Aims, goals and objectives: identify the purpose of our thinking and
learning. It explains the distinction between aims, goals and objectives.
APC: Alternative, possibilities and choices: encourage children to look for
alternatives, to be alert to the multiplicity of possibilities and support the
belief that they always have a choice.

OPV: Other points view: it requires the ability to listen to the others point
view and to understand their feeling and ideas.
Provocation: a provocative statement stimulates creative thought, response
or discussion.
COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Peer tutoring means that children work in a structured way with a more able
partner. For Vygotsky, social interaction has a central role in a childs
education. It is through being with others that we learn, could be parents,
friends, siblings, teacher. With others, we can do more and achieve more than
we can do on our own. Children learn best when they work with others. The
best condition is when children have a challenge that extends their cognitive
range. The challenge doesnt have to be too difficult or too easy. This
potential exists in the zone of proximal development and in the skills, ideas
and experiences of the social context in which he is immersed. So the teacher
has to provide the social and cognitive framework for learning.
Learning in pairs: Peer tutoring benefits:
. The tutor: the helping child. Although they are teaching things they have
mastered, they gain intellectual benefits from putting their skills and
knowledge into words, finding new meanings. It also helps the child to
understand more about the process.
.The tutee: the child who is helped. He is given extra individual attention,
with regular feedback on his efforts. Good teaching involves giving help when
the learner faces difficulty. Child tutor is ready to offer help and give specific
concrete suggestions. Children are not so good as adults at scaffolding the
learning process of others, they know less about the process of learning.
. The teacher: the mediator of the learning. She needs to support both the
tutor and the tutee, to ensure that a positive relationship is being developed.
Paired reading: 5 Steps: 1- the tutee selects a book. 2- the tutoring child
checks if the book is within the tutees competence. 3- tutor and tutee sit
close. 4- tutor and tutee talk about it before starting reading. 5- if the reader
is stuck in a word, the tutoring child pauses and prompts by giving a clue. 6praise for the child who is helped. This process is simple and needs to be
monitored.

Paired writing: Having a response friend to share the first draft of a piece of
writing can be useful for correcting mistakes. But children need guidance on
how to be a good writer and how to be a good response friend. So children
need opportunities to teach and to learn from each other. They benefit from:
1- equal partners in terms of age and ability. 2- tutor partners, who are more
able, such as older students or adults. 3- tutee partners who are less able and
can be tutored in specific learning.
Think-pair-share: is one cooperative learning strategy. The teacher poses the
questions, students are given time to think of a response, students discuss
their response, students share their responses with the whole class.
Learning in groups: Advantages: Social skills: involved in working with
others and communicating. Cognitive skills: through having to explain,
negotiate meanings and solve problems. Emotional support: through being
motivated.
These benefits do not arise by sitting them together. Research shows that
when children are seated in groups, most of their time was spent on
individual tasks. So children work in groups but not as groups. Groping is
justified if it promotes more effective learning, and results in cooperative
activity that extends what the individual could do alone.
Key elements: Group size: can be no fixed rules, or the rule of four: it argues
that groups of four allow for maximum communication between individuals.
In groups of three or more there are outsiders. Group composition: two
necessary elements are security and challenge. Friendship groups offer
students the greatest security but not always the challenge needed to extend
their thinking. Children should be persuaded to work in groups despite
personal likes and dislikes. Group management: children need to be taught
how to work in cooperative groups. Skills needed: to take turns, to articulate
a point of view, to listen to the point of view of others, to discuss, argue and
reason. These skills are not innate, they have to be learnt.
Evaluating is important.
COACHING
All children need support as learners but they do not know what supports
they need. There are occasions when students learn in large and small
groups. The teacher gives them individual help or shows them how to take
responsibility for their own learning. All learners need individual interaction

with a teacher who focuses on their particular needs. Cognitive coaching can
be summed up as teaching for transfer, seeking to teach the indiviaul
students transferable skills of learning.
Cognitive apprentiship: encourages students to be engaged in the
disciplined and productive mental word. Three key element: challenging
tasks: require mental effort, contextualized tasks: have a purpose and
coached tasks: assist learning.
Cognitive coaching isnt time-consuming. The ideal is to make cognitive
coaching part of the routine.
There are differences between good and poor learners. Good learners tend to:
focus on tasks, ask questions about their learning, solve problems, and
persevere when they fail. Poor learners tend to: lack the ability to concentrate
on tasks, lack a purpose of learning, and give up easily. The aim for teachers
is to device ways in which poor learners can practice the strategies of good
learner.
There are six strategies to be effective for poor learners:
Focus and follow through: the aim is to help children to take more time, to
attend more and to hold the focus of attention long enough to allow thinking
processes to work. In focusing we try to direct the students attention to the
important feature of the problem or learning situation. Focusing is part of
cognitive coaching when it makes a cognitive demand on the child. It makes
a cognitive intervention by creating a perceptual focus on the elements of the
situation and conceptual demands for articulated response.
Reciprocal teaching: is a kind of interactive game between the teacher and
the learner in which each takes it in terms to lead in teaching the other. Teach
is to learn twice, the best way for children to learn a process is to get them to
teach it. It consists of four activities: summarizing, questioning, clarifying and
predicting.
Summarizing: is important in specific teaching contexts, such as reading. It
is a way of synthesizing the meaning of a complex message. It is useful as a
process of review, as evaluation. The ability to provide a good summary is an
advance high order skill. It involves cognitive processes such as: judging with
ideas are important, applying rules for condensing information and practicing
the communication of key ideas. Summarizing can be spoken or written.

 Explaining: it needs to have clear structure (comprehensible for the others),

clear and appropriate language, varied voice (using gestures), and fluency
(pacing is important).
Modelling: needs to be structured for understanding so that it can be
transformed into images and verbal guides to subsequent performance. It
involves performing an action that can be processed in the learners mind. It
is a means of assisting performance.
Positive feedback: on performance is a powerful means of assisting learning.
Feedback can take many forms such as teacher response, test data, selfassessment.
Coaching refers to a range of strategies used to assist learning. The aim is to
create independent learners who have the capacity to coach themselves and
other.
REVIEWING
Self-esteem: is not related to family education; it comes from relationships
with those who play a significant in the childs life. It is formed by the person
assessment of the self-picture which are reflected back from other. Selfesteem is a sense of self-respect. Self-esteem by itself is not enough for it can
encourage self-satisfaction. What is needed is to link self-esteem to selfawareness and to create in children mastery orientation.
Mastery orientation: refers to a sense of self competence that children
develop from an early age and moulds their approach to learning. Children
who are mastery oriented are curious, they want to learn and develop the
resilience to cope with failure and frustration. The styles of helpless or
mastery oriented behavior is not related to intelligence but is a personality
characteristic, a way of viewing one-self and ones capacity to be effective
with people and circumstances.
There are three ways in which teaching children to learn can help enhance
self-esteem and mastery orientation: personalized learning (related learning
to personal interests), reviewing achievement (identify their areas of success
and see where and how they can improve), self- assessment (encourage selfregulation to increase control of the learning process).
Personalized learning: is collaborative approaches to learning in which
students are encourage to link the content of the curriculum with their own

personal concerns. The teacher tries to personalize the topic by helping the
students appreciate how the topic is relevant to their lives. The teacher sells
the topic and gets the students involved by brainstorming.
Reviewing achievement: it is a time to assess how the child is doing, to
recognize achievement, to establish needs and show that these needs are
understood and discuss the next step in learning. In review sessions (daily,
weekly, termly and annual) the aim is to help the child become better learner.
The review encourages children to speak freely about their learning
experiences.
Self-assessment: one aim is to help children move from an external point of
reference to internal one. It is useful for helping children discover what they
are good at and to help them identify areas of weakness so that they can
begin to think about ways to improve.
There are tools for independent learning: inner meaning (having a purpose
about learning), self-regulation (plan your work), feeling of competence
(feeling confident), feeling of challenge (how to deal with difficulty),
communicating (the ability to communicate), setting target (setting personal
goals), being aware of self-change (knowing that you can change).
Creating a learning environment
Ways to create effective communities for learning:
In the classroom: a supportive group is like a tribe. The themes of
identify, support and community help to create a great environment of
learning. The aim of a tribe is to develop positive peer regard, and create a
supportive climate to improve the self-image. There are rules (paying
attention to anothers words and feeling, giving respect, appreciating others,
avoiding hurtful gestures, choosing when to participate in group discussion
and having the right to silence).The key aim is to foster a sense of inclusion.
Circle time: is a central activity to build a community, sitting in a circle, with
the teacher, and leading the group in a sharing activity. Everyone can see
each others face and talk person to person. It is important that the teachers
model the norms.
In the school: teachers and schools have clues to improve the chances of
success. One key is the link between effective schools and teaching and
learning strategies.

Improving schools: a perfect school changes constantly, the key is the quality
of the changes and the way which they affect every individual. Areas that
relate to effectiveness and improvement:
School improvement planning: schools adopt a planned approach to change
and improvement. Improvements within the classroom depend on
improvements outside the classroom. School development planning must
focus on 'the total school'.
School ethos: is the climate of the school, and is expressed in personal
relationships. They are the expression of norms, beliefs and values. An
effective school has a positive ethos.
Improving learning and teaching: a good school is 'learner centered'.
Teachers should maximize learning opportunities for individuals providing
opportunities for independent learning, supported learning, peer learning and
extended learning. Effective teaching is a complex activity which needs the
professional skills and personal qualities (imagination, creativity, sensitivity)
the teaching and learning is effective when: the students show progress,
positive attitudes to school, motivation, good attendance, and teachers have
professional development, there is no staff absence, quality of teaching,
monitoring student progress.
Effective schools- places where children succeed: indicators of quality and
effectiveness:
Competence and character: good schools combine effective teaching (clear
goals, good curriculum) with socialization of students (positive behaviour,
good work habits). Teachers focused on the needs of their children in
preparation for their adult life.
High expectations, monitoring standards and rewarding results: all students
can be motivated to learn. To maintained high standards they must be
monitored and reinforced by rewards.
School leadership: effective leadership is essential for success. The best
leaders adapt to their local context. They set and maintain a clear direction,
facilitate the work of staff, etc.
Clear goal share with all the community, the purposes must be taken
seriously and translated into action. To establish priorities is important.

Creating professional work environments: sharing a sense of control, a

satisfaction from being part of the group and school.
Positive students-teacher relationship: students and teacher should create
appositive relationship. It can be formal and informal (extracurricular
activities) relationships.
Resource to facilitate teaching and learning: adequate resources and their
use for the maximum effect
Working in the community: neighbours, local business, other organizations
will to help the school.
Solving problems: schools have obstacles to success, identifying their
problems and search for solutions. They tend to be solution-focused than
problem-focused.
Being unique: innovative and open to change, they allow flexibility in
planning.