TEYL

The present assignment is an observation of two teaching sessions concerning young

learners who are learning English as a foreign language. A prerequisite is that the
lessons are recorded so that the techniques and routines employed by the teacher are
critically analyzed. Furthermore, an attempt will be made so as to identify the
approaches and methods used by the teacher as well as an estimation whether they
are indeed in line with the curriculum and if they comply by the ways that children
learn a second/foreign language. The presentation will include the teaching materials,
the types of materials the teacher prefers in the teaching process as well as factors
such as the classroom atmosphere. The evaluation will also include focus on specific
factors that made an impression concerning the way the lesson was conducted.
Finally, some suggestions will be provided concerning ideas on how the
aforementioned lessons can be improved.

1. Teaching situation
The teaching sessions under observation were conducted in a rural Junior High
school in Greece, in the prefecture of Ilia. It is a common procedure to split the
students in two groups at the beginning of the school year according to their
achievement on a written placement test through which their level of English is
evaluated. According to their score they are to follow either the beginner or the
advanced level with teaching material that matches their pace. In this case, the
session under observation composed of twelve students in the beginners level.
The students had received four years of English lessons at primary school, from
grade three to grade six and are eleven to roughly twelve years of age so they can
still be considered young learners (Cameron, 2001).

1.1 Teaching material

The book employed is Think teen! for beginners which is appointed by the Greek
Ministry of Education. The two teaching sessions that were recorded, observed
and evaluated were from Unit 3 of the book titled My Day! (Appendix 1) which
dealt with daily routines and leisure activities. More specifically, the lesson was
about the typical weekday of an adolescent. The language focus concerned the
Simple Present and Wh-questions. The book is not accompanied by a vocabulary
companion so the teacher prepared a list of words from the text with the
translation and an accompanying sentence to demonstrate how each word or
phrase can be used in English. At the end of the students book there is an
appendix with the Grammar (Appendix 1). The teacher asked the students to refer
to it concerning the formation and use of the Simple Present tense. Besides the
aforementioned teaching material, the teacher also made use of the whiteboard
where she demonstrated some videos from the Internet as supplementary teaching
material. The book is accompanied by a workbook, but no work was assigned
from that.

1.2 Presentation of the teaching sessions

1.2.1

Methods and approaches employed by the teacher

The teacher starts the lesson by asking the students to open their book on the
particular page and to have a look at it with the help of the vocabulary leaflet
that she has already handed out (audio track 1). The students skim through the
text to get a general idea what it is about with the aid of the vocabulary words
which include the translation in their mother tongue. Then the teacher starts
reading each paragraph and encourages the students to reproduce some of the
language that is encountered e.g to introduce themselves ( Hi there! Im
Anastasia).(cross reference Audio track 1, min. 1:20). She continues by
asking them comprehension questions concerning the text e.g name, age, city,
family of the narrator, asking them to scan the text. (track 1, min. 2:11).She
continues by asking them vocabulary e.g the meaning of stepdad and
stepbrother and then asks them to make an analogy and guess the word
in English (track 1, min. 3:51) or the word social studies in
greek (track1, min. 10:15). She mostly employs the English language and
when there seems to be a communication breakdown she provides the
students with alternative answers to choose from in order to get them to speak
in English (eg How old is Jean Paul? Is he eight, is he ten, is he twentyfive?) (track 1, min. 2:41). Once the teacher has finished reading each
paragraph she asks some overall questions concerning the text as a whole in
order to revise the points mentioned (track 1, min. 15:38). At this point the
students seem to be a bit confused so she employs Greek to make it clear to
them that what she is seeking at this final stage is for them to highlight the
main points of the text, to summarize. The students get the point and their
participation, in answering in English, is quite satisfactory. In fact it is
believed that switching to the mother tongue supports foreign language
teaching since it can be helpful to improve the communicative competence of
the L2 learrner (Senel, 2010). Since the particular text has to do with daily
routines and leisure activities the teacher asks each student about their
particular everyday habits (track 1, min.19:30) which they manage to handle.
Towards the end of the session, the teacher assigns homework which includes
copying half of the vocabulary words and knowing them for dictation, how to
spell them( track 1, min. 23:39). She continues by accentuating that the

students must also know how to use the words in English giving the word
capital as an example. She asks the students to name the capitals of all the
countries that they know, after having provided them with two examples
( Athens is the capital of Greece. Paris is the capital of France) (track 1,
min.24:43). When a student answered the other way around e.g Germany is
the capital of Berlin, the teacher discreetly corrected by using body language
(the two index fingers looking opposite) (track 1, min. 25:30).
This first teaching session clearly showed the teachers eagerness for the
students to employ, to actually use, the language they are being taught,
English (track 1, 25:15), putting an emphasis on fluency rather than accuracy
employing to some extent the Communicative approach. Although the lesson
seems to be mostly teacher-centred, since she is the one actually in control,
acting as an instructor rather than a facilitator, the students are active
participants since they are encouraged to answer the questions posed to them
in English. However, they do not seem to have much initiative, nor interest,
since they are mostly recipients and not creators. Everything seems to be
ready for them, the questions that are asked, the answers that are under their
nose and merely need to be reproduced, the vocabulary words with the
translation. The homework procedure, as the lesson in question, with its copydictation-reproduction format is also too stative and traditional. It is apparent
that the teacher employs a language-oriented, product-based methodological
approach, judging from the traditional techniques that she favours including
dictation, memorization of bilingual vocabulary lists, grammar-focused
exercises as well as product-oriented activities. The whole procedure lacks
pair work and group work. It is evident therefore, that what is mostly being
employed is a behavioural, direct, traditional, grammar-translation approach.
The second teaching session continues with the same lesson. In order to
practice the Wh-words, which the teacher writes on the board along with the
translation in Greek, the teacher invites the students to play a game named
Guess who? ( audio track 3). She has also provided the questions to be asked
written on the board ( Appendix 2). One student thinks of a famous person
and the rest try to guess the name by asking questions . The students were
enthusiastic and wanted to play it again. Let it be mentioned that fun and

games are a must in the English language classroom because they are
intrinsically motivating for children and again, because they part of a childs
natural world: the here and now of a childs life (Thorton, 2001 p.12).
Furthermore, games in foreign language teaching help students to see
learning English enjoyable and rewarding. Playing games in the classroom
develops the ability to co-operate, to complete without being aggressive, and
to be a good loser (Phillips, 2001 p.79).
The lesson in the students book ends with the question Do you know
anything about the Tour de France? The teacher found information about this
event and presented it to the class by handing out a photocopy. She underlined
some key words/information (Appendix 7) and then asked questions. Then
she showed two videos on the Youtube (Appendix 6

& track 2 audio

material) concerning the Tour de France accentuating the points that the
students had recently become familiar with. Integrating videos and
technology in general, in the EFL demonstrates a shift from a behavioural to a
constructivist learning approach (Wang, 2005), stimulating learner autonomy
and enhancing conversation, listening and pronunciation skills ( Watkins,J.,
Wilkins, M., 2011) as well as instilling life-long language learning skills
(Leung, 2004). Apart from watching the two videos the students were
assigned no tasks in order to actually do something with them.
1.2.2

Factors that made an impression on the observer

The teachers endeavours to help students overcome their hesitation and speak in
English made an impression. Mistakes were discreetly corrected, the atmosphere
was quite friendly and the teacher employed jokes to make it less stressful. One
example is when she humourously advised a student to raise his hand and stop
popping like a champagne cork (track 1, min.13:02), the greek equivalent of
which expression is quite funny. The teacher provided bountiful access to the
English language which she used 90% of the time and employed the mother
tongue only when necessary, when students seemed to be at a loss. This was
impressive for the reason that it was a class of a beginner level which was not
used to being exposed to English so much in previous years and has not yet
achieved fluency.

2. TEYL Curriculum and teachers techniques

The above presentation and observation of the two teaching sessions in question have
made it quite clear that although it is apparent that the teacher works hard and has
honest intentions towards her students, the methods and approaches she employs are
not in line with the curriculum. The Cross Thematic EFL Curriculum (DEPPS, 1997)
adopts an empirical communicative approach to learning, focusing on social
interaction, cooperation, task differentiation, metacognition as well as strategic
learning. A number of new elements have been added to the existing curriculum with
the revised Unified Greek Curriculum of 2001 which in turn is based on the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages. The strengths of this curriculum is
that it takes into account the changes taking place in the modern world such as
multiculturalism thus fostering a cross-cultural awareness approach. In addition,
emphasis is laid on communication, negotiation skills, critical thinking as well as
experiential learning. Meanwhile learners are encouraged to become more
autonomous by developing learn how to learn strategies. All in all there is more
emphasis on critical and analytical thinking. Accordingly the Cross- curricular
Unified Framework (2003) adopts a holistic approach to knowledge and a deep
understanding of concepts such as similarity, difference, space, thus enabling pupils to
acquire a unified body of knowledge and skills while at the meantime developing
their multidimensional perception of the world. The methods fostered by the teacher
as they have been analysed above lack these elements.

3. Suggestions on improvements in accordance with principles of second

language aquisition
Second language acquisition is a multifaceted endeavour and a complex process
which is influenced by both linguistic and non-linguistic factors ( Gass, S. & Selinker
L., 2008) ( Appendix 3). It is evident that in the particular case study, most of the
teachers techniques are old-fashioned and not in line with how children learn a
foreign language. Whole-class activities are conducted without taking into
consideration the students individual needs and learning styles. Some suggestions on
improving the lesson involve including pair and group work, task-based learning with
student-centredness, communication activities as well as integrating a cross-curricular
approach through project work which cultivates pupils initiative and permits students
to examine problems of everyday life more effectively. In this particular case study
for example, the teacher instead of merely asking questions about the students daily
programme could encourage them to work in pairs or small groups and make a poster
displaying their everyday habits. The lesson makes a reference to the subject of Social
Studies which deals with peoples rights. The teacher could assign a cross-curricular
project where the children, in co-operation with the social studies teacher, could work
in groups and prepare a project on childrens rights for example or animals rights.
Another reference of the lesson is on the Tour de France. Since the teacher seems to
be computer-literate, instead of merely presenting videos on this event, she could
guide and facilitate them to create their own Webquest, with the help of Zunal
Webquest maker, concerning this annual cycling event. All of the above turn the
students from passive learners to active members thus motivating them to participate
and learn for a purpose. Motivation is of paramount importance in second language
acquisition since it affects learning processes and overall disposition ((Dornyei, 2005)
(Appendix 4) and is a predictor of language-learning success (Gardner, 2001)
(Appendix 5) since Motivation involves four aspects, a goal, effortful behaviour, a
desire to attain the goal and favourable attitudes toward the activity in
question(Gardner, 1985, p. 50).

Conclusion
The overall observation of the two teaching sessions draws the conclusion that in
order for the learning needs to be fulfilled concerning teaching English to young
learners, the role of the teacher should be that of mediator and facilitator in the
ongoing learning process. The approach ought to be substituted by one of a more
communicative nature with negotiations that are authentic and have a purpose to
serve. The guidelines in the curriculum could be followed more effectively so as
to secure more peer interaction and to make the lesson learner-centred.

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Cross-curricular Unified Framework (2003), Pedagogical Institute. www.pi-schools.gr
DEPPS. Available from http://www.pi-schools.gr/programs/depps/

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Zunal WebQuest Maker. Available from http://zunal.com/index.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEzyGBs4dEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7wPa1Hl5ZA