Workbook

The art of teaching foreign languages to children

 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Workbook
Week 1

Step 1.2
In his proposal of Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner proposes that everyone of us has
multiple talents. Whereas some individuals are dominant in some of those talents, other talents
remain weaker. The goal of education is to cater for the whole individual, however. So,
instructors should ensure they offer variety, fairness and richness of activities in their language
lessons and assessment instruments (tests). Below you will find a figure that mentions each of
these talents (or intelligences) identified by Gardner. For each of the following activities that
can be used with young learners, identify the intelligences or talents that each activity engages.

“Multiple intelligences” by Sajaganesandip is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Activity 1

Activity 2
 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
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Activity 3

Close your eyes. Imagine you are as small as Pencil Jr. Where would you live? What would you
do in the mornings when you wake up? And when you’re on holiday? Which activities would you
be able to do more easily if you were that small? Where would you choose to hide when
playing Hide-and-seek? How would you feel if you were left on the floor or at the bottom of a
backpack?
 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Week 2

Step 2.3
Look at these classroom activities and select the right option.

a)

Shopping

Students already know classroom objects, numbers, colours and size.

Materials: real classroom objects and toy money.

In pairs children role-play shopping. “A” plays the role of a shopkeeper and “B” plays the role of
the customer.

Possible dialogue:

A: Good morning! A: One green ruler, please.

B: Good morning! B: Here you are. It´s 3 $.
A: Have you got rulers? A: Thank you, goodbye.
B: Yes, I have. B: Bye, bye.

This activity shows that:

1___ children know through action and interaction.

2___ children do not profit much of grammar explanations.

3___ the interaction between language and culture is essential.

 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

b)

Find your clone

Give children a card with personal information. They have to find somebody with the same
information. Cards have similar information. For example:

Students should ask questions such as “What´s your name?”, “How old are you?”, “Where are
you from?” or similar questions: “Are you Tom?”, “Are you from New York?”, etc. As far as they
speak English, even short questions like “…from London?” are accepted.

Anna Anna
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro
11 11

Tom Tom
New York Mexico
10 11

The principle underpinning this task is:

1) ____ Scaffolding.
2) ____ Content is more important than form.
3) ____ Context helps memorization.
 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

c)

Description of a painting

Children are given cards with representations of well-known paintings to describe what they
see and to express personal opinions.

The language focus is on: can, there is / are, colours and general adjectives.

Before the children write a description, teacher should elicit vocabulary and build up a
description with the whole class. Teachers can show a big image of a work of art and write a
sort of skeleton description on the board: In this picture I can see……There is a …….I like
the…….

Children should write a short description on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. Teacher
should put up all the picture cards on the board, collect the descriptions and read them aloud
for the students to match the description with the picture.

This activity shows that:

1) ____ children do not profit much of grammar explanations

2)____scaffolding is important.

3)____the goal of language learning is effective communication

 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Week 3

Step 3.2
1) Cultural manifestations can take many forms (products, practices, and perspectives) and
each of those portrays important aspects of second language culture. Classify the cultural
manifestations of the U.S.A. culture in the box according to whether they are products,
practices, or perspectives.

playing baseball - Andy Warhol - MacDonald’s - melting pot of cultures - introducing people to
others - hot dog vendors - celebrating Thanksgiving – Hollywood - pursuit of happiness

Products Practices Perspectives

2) Now, think about the culture of the foreign language you want to teach to young
learners. Brainstorm products, practices and perspectives of that culture that you could
introduce to young learners. You can write your ideas on the table below. Answers will
vary.

Products Practices Perspectives

 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Week 4

Step 4.3
Look at this lesson builder. Check the “How” section and put the steps in the right order.

Language: English Class: 6th grade Date: August, 12th Total time: 45 min

WHAT
Theme: Clothes and fashion
Language Culture
 Revision and introduction of clothes  School clothes in different parts of
items (T-shirt, pants, skirt, the world.
shoes…etc.).
 I wear…. I like/don´t like wearing…
 What did you wear? I wore.

HOW

Steps Tasks Ways of working Resources/Materials

Step 1 -Teacher talks about past experiences: Listening and -Whiteboard

Last Saturday I went to a birthday party. some choral
I wore a new blue skirt. repetition

Step 2 Answering teachers questions (What do individual

you like wearing at home? What did you
wear for the soccer match?
Step 3 - Remembering vocabulary. Complete a groups - Paper card with a
grid with the names of clothes you know. grid with 3 columns:
tops, bottoms and
footwear
Step 4 - Search in internet/ books for information 4 groups Cardboard paper to
and compare school clothes in Argentina, make 4 posters
Brazil, USA and Russia.
 The art of teaching foreign languages to children
Workbook

Answers

Step 1.2

Activity 1: verbal/linguistic – bodily/kinesthetic

Activity 2: logical/mathematical – verbal/linguistic - visual/spatial
Activity 3: intrapersonal – visual/spatial – interpersonal

Step 2.3

A)1 – B)2 - C)2

Step 3.2

PRODUCTS PRACTICES PERSPECTIVES

Andy Warhol playing baseball melting pot of cultures
MacDonald’s introducing people to others pursuit of happiness
hot dog vendors celebrating Thanksgiving
Hollywood

Step 4.3

1: Step 3 2: Step 1 3: Step 2 4: Step 4