Certificate in Pre & Primary Teacher Training

Phase - 2

Characteristics of Young Learners

2.1 Difference between Adults and Young Learners

2.2 Categories of Young Learners
2.3 Developmental Stages- physical, social, emotional and intellectual

2.1 Difference between Adults and Young Learners

Instructors need to understand the difference between young and adult learners in
order to be effective. This includes their characteristics, how they learn, what
they bring to the learning situation, their needs and expectations as learners. All
learners want to use a foreign language with confidence and spontaneity, in
the same way as they use their mother tongue.

Details are presented below.

 The young are totally dependent on the instructor while adults are
autonomous and self-directed. Decide on what information to give young
learners because they have very little knowledge and will accept whatever
the instructor gives. Involve adults actively in the planning and learning
processes. Let them see relevance of new learning experiences to their
past and future.
 While teaching the young learners help them learn through all the five
senses. Adults learn better through audio and visual inputs.
 The attention span for a young learner being short the inputs should be
varied with graded activities. Adults on the other hand can focus on a
topic for a longer period of time.
 Young learners find it difficult to understand abstract concepts, the
content for them should be relevant and something they can relate to.

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 Adults can understand abstract concepts and can relate easily to them.
For young learners content should gradually progress from concrete to
abstract.
 The young are at school because parents or government want them to
be there Adults know what they wish to achieve by attending classes while
the young do not. Adults are relevancy-oriented. Instructors should make
sure that learning objectives and what they learn must be seen to be
relevant to their understanding.
 Learning speeds are different. The young are faster and adults are
slow. Instructors should allay fears and anxieties caused by slow
learning or difficulties experienced right from the beginning. Positive
reinforcement as well as proper timing of instruction can help a lot.
Reference to theories can be scary and meaningless to adult learners. Use
simple facts or concepts to explain issues. Do everything possible to reduce
stress levels in learning situation.
 Young learners are more receptive to new ideas because they are told it
will benefit them while adults already know the benefit or otherwise and
may not accept new ideas that may be contrary to long held ideas.
Instructors should be careful not to impose views or force adults to discard
views already held. Young learners have less life experience but learn
quickly while adults are more experienced but learn slowly and well. Avoid
rushing through what has to be learnt to complete syllabus. Learners'
progress should dictate the speed or pace of instruction.
 Young learners largely depend on extrinsic motivation while the adults
have intrinsic motivation. Adults are already motivated and instructors
only have to sustain and extend it.
 All learners need to be respected. Instructors should treat them as equals
in knowledge and experience and allow them to express opinions freely.
Acknowledge experience adults bring to the classroom and provide
opportunities for them to express this in various activities. Making them feel
inferior may be in conflict with their statuses at home and at work. Such

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 conflict may interfere with the learning process and lead to loss of
motivation.

Good rapport with learners will increase level of motivation to attend.

Instructors should be strong believers in lifelong learning in order to inspire their
learners with confidence that they can succeed too.

In one respect, however, adult learners are similar to young learners. All may be
grouped according to their preferred learning styles. Differences in cognitive styles
influence learners priorities for particular approach to learning. Learners employ
different learning strategies, i.e. specific actions taken by the learner to make
learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more transferable
to new situations (Oxford, 1990).
The common learning styles for each type of learner are (Richards & Lockhart,
1996):

- concrete - learners use active means of processing information;

- analytical - learners prefer logical and systematic presentation
of new material;
- communicative - learners prefer social approach;
- authority-oriented - learners prefer the teacher’s authority,
though the perspective is different for the adult and the young learners.
Adults prefer authority of content, while the young learners are comfortable
with discipline.

Young children are able to enrich their lives and open doors to their future when
they learn languages at a young age. Aside from that they gain an expanded world
view, have greater intercultural appreciation and sensitivity, have a competitive
edge in the global marketplace, and have the ability to learn more languages more
easily! When people start to learn languages at a younger age, they tend to
become people who have a better understanding of the world not only because

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they can communicate in more than a single language but also for the reason that
learning new languages can help them have better appreciation of other cultures.

Learning new languages can bridge a lot of gaps and are very beneficial in the
future that is why it is better to start learning languages while you are still young!
If you are a parent or an elder sibling or a teacher of young students, better
encourage young children to learn new languages and help them equip themselves
for their future!

Tips for teaching young learners as opposed to adults

1. Organization. The first thing you should do when start teaching a preschool or
elementary school ESL class is to figure out how to organize your class. For the
younger students you'll want to change your activities every five to ten minutes
because they have shorter attention spans. If you don't change your activities,
they'll soon start losing interest. As you get towards the higher elementary grades,
you can expand the time you spend per activity. The best way to gauge this is to
pay attention to your class for the first few days to see what length of time works
the best for them. Additionally, try to have everything ready to go before the
students enter the classroom. That way you can go from activity to activity with
minimal downtime.

2. Expectations. If you notice that your class is getting noisy or rambunctious, it's
time to change activities. Kids of this age are active and like to be active; in order
to balance out the energy levels in the classroom, alternate between active
activities and quiet activities. If you have a large class you will need games that
do not degenerate into chaos. This will leave you exhausted and the children
ignorant! Also important is that the language in the game should be well within
the grasp of the children. Start simply and increase the difficulty of the language,
or increase the amount of vocabulary in a given game gradually. If you see that

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the children are hesitating too much in a game switch to an easier game
immediately.

Be careful how you use activities that require fine motor skills - or more
importantly pay attention to your expectations for activities that require fine
motor skills. Children in preschool and early elementary are just learning to write
in their own languages. This is not the best time to bog them down with writing in
English as well. It is better to spend the bulk of the lesson time on listening and
speaking skills for the younger children. As they progress through elementary
school, however, you can begin using games and activities that require them to
write small amounts.

3. Variation. You want to make sure your activities appeal to all sorts learning
styles, so even when you are using games to teach grammar you'll want to vary the
types of things you expect your students to do. For preschool and early
elementary grades, stick to games that use talking, listening, looking and moving.
For middle and high elementary, you can continue to use games that use talking,
listening, looking and moving and add in some games that use writing and reading.

Going along with this same idea, think about what children learn from the easiest.
Television commercials are short and catchy and the most memorable are the ones
that are repeated often. Keep these characteristics in mind when you are
teaching grammar to your students - incorporate these characteristics into your
daily activities.

4. Respect. To make games work for you and your class, be sure to operate your
class with the utmost respect - both to and from students. This includes teaching
your students from the very start that you expect respect at all times. This
includes giving encouragement and following the rules.

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That said, you'll need to make sure the rules for all of the games are clear and
manageable. When possible, explain the rules in the students' native tongue so
that they all know what is expected of them. When there is an environment of
respect in the classroom, the students will feel safe enough to participate in the
games so that they can get the most educational value out of them.
Towards the end of elementary school, you can start introducing competitive
games, but only if the class is respectful and it shouldn't be the main focus of the
game.

5. Routine. Even if you only have your students for a short time every week,
establishing a routine will help the class go smoothly. Children of this age
(preschool through elementary school) thrive on routine and if they know what to
expect next, they will be more able to participate in what's going on now. Set up
a schedule for the type of activities you'll be doing at any given time throughout
the class whether it is a game, story or song or whatever you want to do. Then,
when you are planning your class, plug in the appropriate activities to each section
of time. You should also leave a little time at the end of the class period to allow
the students to clean up and gather their things as well as time for you to recap
the class, praise the students and tell them good-bye.

You can also designate a "sign" to use to signal to the students when it is time to
change activities such as clapping or signing a specific song so that they know it's
time to return to the circle, table or desks.

6. Nurture. Perhaps the most important thing you can do with your students is to
nurture them every day. For each child in your class, find something you like
about him or her and be sure to tell him or her. Be encouraging, patient and kind
while playing games and participating in activities and they'll like you as a teacher
and a person which will in turn help them get excited about your class and what
you have for them to do every day.

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Just by keeping these tips in mind, you'll be able to teach children grammar with
ease. You'll be having fun and they'll be having fun - so much fun, in fact, that
they might not even realize they are learning in the process!

2.2 Categories of Young Learners

CATEGORIES OF YOUNG LEARNERS

Categorizing young learners can be according to the stages of development as well
as the mode of language acquisition. Piaget’s theories as well as more recent
studies by Jacques Mehler tells us how categorizing young learners helps us as
effective language teachers and makes teaching a meaningful experience.

Jean Piaget on Child Development

One thinker that has had huge effect on the educational world, especially
regarding the education of children, is the Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget (1896 –
1980). His specialty was child development and he described a series of stages that
he believed children go through as they cognitively develop.
Sensory-motor Stage: from birth to about twenty four months and is characterized
by children understanding their environment by acting on it. Through touch and
sight, children begin to understand basic relationships which affect them and
object in their immediate experience. These include space, location of objects,
the relationships of cause and effect. The children cannot make use of abstract
objects. This develops over the next stages.

During the pre-operational stage, from around two to seven years, children
develop the “symbolic function” (the ability to understand, use and manipulate
symbols), which includes such skills as drawing, language and mental imagery.
Children also begin to develop the mental ability to use CONCEPTS dealing with
number, classification, order and time, but use these concepts in very limited
ways.

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The concrete operational stage, from about seven to eleven years is the period
when children begin to use mental operations and begin to acquire a number of
concepts of conservation* . During the formal operational stage, from around
eleven onwards, children begin to be able to deal with abstract concepts and
PROPOSITIONS, and to make hypotheses, inferences and deductions,. Since the
mental processes described by Piaget are important for language development,
linguists and psychologists have made use of Piaget´s ideas in studying how mental
development and linguistic development are related.

Jacques Mehler on language acquisition of bilingual children

A recent study conducted by Jacques Mehler, who is a cognitive neuroscientist at
the International School for Advanced studies in Trieste, shows that bilingual
children can quickly get used to different learning cues at seven months old
compared with babies who live in single-language homes. The results of the studies
may lead researchers to rethink how hearing two languages trains the young brains
of babies even before they have learned how to put together words.

Babies from bilingual environments develop early learning advantage skills but this
may not automatically mean that they will have higher intelligence later on in
their lives. However, it reveals that babies benefit early on from having bilingual
exposure, even when they still babble incomprehensible words. The enhancement
of these babies’ learning advantage is due more to perception at their young age
rather than language production.

Scientists have known since before that babies begin absorbing language
fundamentals even before they can speak and that they can tell the difference
between the sounds from different languages. Previous researches have also
gathered that regularly using two languages improves some thinking processes
among children and adults.

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The research was designed and conducted by comparing bilingual babies with
monolingual babies. Each group had to look at screens in anticipation of visual
stimulations with puppets associated with sound cues with the image. In all the
experiments, the bilingual babies beat the monolingual babies even when the
sound cues changed from nonsense syllable combinations to a structured sound cue
and then a visual cue.

The study clearly showed that bilingual babies have an advantage in thinking that
involved the so-called executive function which helps regulate abilities such as
being able to start and stop actions. The study also indicated that having early
bilingual exposure could train the mind in a more general sense rather than just a
language-specific sense as some researchers had suggested.

Since the bilingual babies don’t know how to speak yet, no one can attribute the
knowledge of two languages to them said Mehler. However, the results of the
study do not indicate that the early learning advantage of bilingual babies can
translate into better intelligence in later life and it doesn’t deny the possibility
that monolingual babies have plenty of opportunities later to exercise executive
function.

Exposure to two different languages at an earlier age may enhance the learning
advantage of young children. However, if we would want them to become truly
fluent with languages, we should encourage them to learn as they grow.

2.3 Developmental Stages- Physical, Social, Emotional and Intellectual

Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development.

Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts
and in some cases asserted as nativist theories.

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This is the most widely accepted developmental stages. However, it is important
to understand that there is wide variation in terms of what is considered "normal,"
driven by a wide variety of genetic, cognitive, physical, family, cultural,
nutritional, educational, and environmental factors. Many children will reach some
or most of these milestones at different times from the norm.

Overview of motor, speech, vision and hearing development

Developmental Milestones
Age Motor Speech Vision and Additional
hearing Notes
Smiles at
weeks
4–6

parent

Vocalizes
6–8 weeks

Prone: head held up Makes vowel Follows Squeals with

for prolonged noises dangling toy delight
3 months

periods. No grasp from side to appropriately.

reflex side. Turns Discriminates
head round smile.
to sound
Holds head steady. Enjoys vocal
5 months

Goes for objects and play

gets them. Objects
taken to mouth
Transfers objects Double syllable Localizes May show
6 months

from one hand to the sounds such as sound 45 cm 'stranger

other. Pulls self up 'mumum' and lateral to shyness'
to sit and sits erect 'dada' either ear

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 with supports. Rolls
over prone to
supine. Palmar
grasp of cube
Wiggles and crawls. Babbles Looks for Apprehensive
9–10 months

Sits unsupported. tunefully toys dropped about strangers

Picks up objects
with pincer grasp
Stands Babbles 2 or 3 Drops toys, Cooperates
holding furniture. words and watches with dressing,
Stands alone for a repeatedly where they waves
1 year

second or two, then go goodbye,

collapses with a understands
bump simple
commands
Can walk alone. 'Jargon'. Many Demands
Picks up toy without intelligible constant
mothering.
falling over. Gets words Drinks from
up/down stairs a cup with
18 months

both hands.
holding onto rail.
Feeds self with
Begins to jump with a spoon. Most
both feet. Can build children with
autism are
a tower of 3 or 4
diagnosed at
cubes and throw this age.
a ball
Able to run. Walks up Joins 2- Parallel play.
and down stairs 2 3 words in Dry by day
2 years

feet per step. Builds sentences

tower of 6 cubes

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 Goes up stairs 1 foot Constantly Cooperative
per step and asks questions. play.
downstairs 2 feet per Speaks in Undresses with
step. Copiescircle, sentences assistance.
3 years

imitates cross and Imaginary

draws man on companions
request. Builds tower
of 9cubes
Goes down stairs one Questioning at Dresses and
foot per its height. undresses with
step, skips on one Many substitutio assistance.
4 years

foot. Imitates gate ns in speech Attends to

with cubes, copies a own toilet
cross needs
Skips on both feet Fluent speech Dresses and
and hops. Draws a with few undresses
5 years

man and copies a infantile alone

triangle. Gives age substitutions in
speech
Copies a diamond. Fluent speech
Knows right from
6 years

left and number

of fingers

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Physical specifications
Heart
Averag Respir
Lengt Norma rate Visual
e ation
h Avg Weight l body (pulse) acuity
length/ rate
growt weight gain tempe (Smellin
height (per
h rature (per g)
(cm) min)
Age

min)
2.5 c
50– 100-
m 4–8 kg 35.7-
1–4 months

70 cm 200 g 30 to
(0.98 i (8.8– 37.5
(20– per 40
n) per 18 lb) °C
28 in) week
month
1.3 c (doubli
70–
m ng 500 g
4–8 months

75 cm 25 to
(0.51 i birth per
(28– 50
n) per weight month
30 in)
month )
9.6 kg
Approx. (21 lb)
1.5 Nearly 35.7-
times triple 37.5
8–12 months

500 g
birth the 20 to °C
per 20/100
length birth 45 (96.4-
month
by first weight 99.6
birthda by first °F)
y birthda
y

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 5–
80– 8 cm 130-
9–13 kg
90 cm (2.0– 250 g 22 to 80 to
Months
12–24

(20– 20/60
(31– 3.1 in) per 40 110
29 lb)
35 in) per month
year
12–
15 kg
7–
(26–
85– 13 cm
33 lb) 1 kg
95 cm (2.8– 20 to
2 years

about per
(33– 5.1 in) 35
4 year
37 in) per
times
year
birth
weight
95–
100 cm 5–
(37– 8 cm 13– 1.4-
39 in) (2.0– 17 kg 2.3 kg 20 to 35-37 90 to
3 years

20/40
Nearly 3.1 in) (29– per 30 °C 110
double per 37 lb) year
birth year
length
5–
6.5 c
101.6– 14.5– 1.8-
m
114 cm 17 kg 2.3 kg 36.6- 90 to
4 years

(2.0– 20-30 20/30

(40.0– (32– per 37.4°C 110
2.6 in)
44.9 in) 37 lb) year
per
year

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 5–
6.5 c
105– 17– 1.8-
m
115 cm 21 kg 2.3 kg 90 to
5 years

(2.0– 20-30 20/20

(41– (37– per 110
2.6 in)
45 in) 46 lb) year
per
year
5–
105– 7 cm 17–
2 kg
>5 years

120 cm (2.0– 22 kg
per
(41– 2.8 in) (37–
year
47 in) per 49 lb)
year

Categories of Child Development Stages

• Child (birth - puberty)
• Neonate (newborn) (0-30 days)
• Infant (baby) (1 month-1 year)
• Toddler (1-4)
• Play age (3 - 6 years)
• Primary school age (also called prepubescence) (4-12)
• Elementary school age (also called middle childhood) (4-8)
• Preadolescence (preteen, or late childhood. The child in this and the
previous phase are called schoolchild (schoolboy or schoolgirl), when still of
primary school age.) (10-12)
• Adolescence and puberty (12-20)

General Developmental Sequence Toddler through Preschool

This page presents typical activities and achievements for children from two to
five years of age. It is important to keep in mind that the time frames presented
are averages and some children may achieve various developmental milestones
earlier or later than the average but still be within the normal range.

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Physical Development
Walks well, goes up and down steps alone,
runs, seats self on chair, becoming
independent in toileting, uses spoon and
fork, imitates circular stroke, turns pages
singly, kicks ball, attempts to dress self,
builds tower of six cubes.
Emotional Development
Very Self-centered, just beginning a sense
of personal identity and belongings,
possessive, often negative, often
frustrated, no ability to choose between
alternatives, enjoys physical affection,
resistive to change, becoming independent,
more responsive to humor and distraction
than discipline or reason.
Physical Development
Runs well, marches, stands on one foot
briefly, rides tricycle, imitates cross, feeds
self well, puts on shoes and stockings,
unbuttons and buttons, build tower of 10
cubes. Pours from pitcher.
Emotional Development
Likes to conform, easy going attitude, not
so resistive to change, more secure, greater
sense of personal identity, beginning to be
adventuresome, enjoys music.
Physical Development
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Social Development
Solitary play, dependent on adult
guidance, plays with dolls, refers
to self by name, socially very
immature, little concept of others
as "people." May respond to
simple direction.
AGE
2 Intellectual Development
Says words, phrases and simple
sentences, 272 words, understands
simple directions, identifies simple
pictures, likes to look at books,
short attention span, avoids simple
hazards, can do simple form
board.
Social Development
Parallel play, enjoys being by
others, takes turns, knows if he is
a boy or girl, enjoys brief group
activities requiring no skill, likes to
"help" in small ways--responds to
verbal guidance.
Intellectual Development
Says short sentences, 896 words,
great growth in communication,
Age tells simple stories, uses words as
3 tools of thought, wants to
understand environment, answers
questions, imaginative, may recite
few nursery rhymes
Age Social Development
Skips on one foot, draws "Man", cuts with
scissors (not well), can wash and dry face,
dress self except ties, standing broad jump,
throws ball overhand, high motor drive.
Emotional Development
Seems sure of himself, out-of bounds
behavior, often negative, may be defiant,
seems to be testing himself out, needs
controlled freedom.
Physical Development
Hops and skips, dresses without help, good
balance and smoother muscle action,
skates, rides wagon and scooter, prints
simple letters, handedness established, ties
shoes, girls small muscle development
about 1 year ahead of boys.
Emotional Development
Self-assured, stable, well-adjusted, home-
centered, likes to associate with mother,
capable, of some self-criticism, enjoys
responsibility. Likes to follow the rules.
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4 Cooperative play, enjoys other
children's company, highly social,
may play loosely organized group
games - tag, duck-duck-goose,
talkative, versatile.
Intellectual Development
Uses complete sentences, 1540
words, asks endless questions,
learning to generalize, highly
imaginative, dramatic, can draw
recognizable simple objects.
Social Development
Highly cooperative play, has
special "friends", highly organized,
enjoys simple table games
requiring turns and observing
rules, "school", feels pride clothes
and accomplishments, eager to
Age carry out some responsibility.
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Intellectual Development
2,072 words, tells long tales,
carries out direction well, reads
own name, counts to 10, asks
meaning of words, knows colors,
beginning to know difference
between fact and fiction-lying,
interested in environment, city,
stores, etc.