Teaching Speaking to Young Learners
What is Speaking?
Utterances
children experiment and play with utterances
made to form words and phrases
PLAY is vital
important aspect of a child's development
language is part of play
WHY?
just like FLA, it is a subtle reminder that play is also important in children's SLA
BE CAREFUL!!
young children may use words as a weapon against one another
cause hurt feelings
bruised egos
Native English- speaking children are often taught a rhyme
"Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me."
Role playing
Background to the Teaching of Speaking
The Development of Speaking Skills
Classroom Techniques and Activities
Speaking is important in children's overall language developement
activitites (repetitive)
finger-plays
chants & rhymes
innovations
Avoid Unrealistic Expectations
expectations for children learning ESL/EFL should not be greater or more demanding than the expectations for children learning to speak in English as their native language
make sure that my expectations are not unrealistic
Mean Length of Utterances
Why?
examining native English language development
MLU: the number of morphemes found in a sample of a child's utterances
EX) 4 years old = 4~5 / 5 years old = 5~6 / 6 years old = 6~ 7
The expectations for speaking for children should be tailored to their development.
Articulate
making pronunciation much more better and clearer
Overgeneralization
Can occur when a learner takes rules from his first language and applies them to a second or foreign language.
becoming proficient in any language requires attention to the process
Children should be given opporitunities to develop skills in their first language both at school and at home
Techniques
Audiolingual Method (ALM)
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
key words: substitution drills, habits, patterns of language
key words: connecting real-life situations with classroom instruction
goals: fluency
Error Correction
not necessary for teacher to respond to all errors
can discourage children from communicating and talking
embarrassment and shame
damage young learners
How to Solve Errors
modeling
providing children with the correct grammar and pronunciation
errors may be made because of interference of their native language
encourage fluency and don't dampen children's enthusiasm for communicating in English
eliciting technique
Activities
fishbowl technique
dialogues
puppets
managing the noise level
do not try to shout over children
develope a visual cue
con: dull and boring
solution: personalization
con: accuracy
solution: simplification
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