1. What are the different 21st century skills?
The four C’s are by far the most popular 21st
1. Critical thinking
2. Creativity
3. Collaboration
4. Communication
5. Information literacy
6. Media literacy
7. Technology literacy
8. Flexibility
9. Leadership
10. Initiative
11. Productivity
12. Social skills
Each 21st Century skill is broken into
one of three categories:
1. Learning skills
2. Literacy skills
3. Life skills
Each of these categories pertains to a specific
part of the digital curriculum experience.
Learning skills (the four C’s) teaches
students about the mental processes required
to adapt and improve upon a modern work
environment.
Literacy skills (IMT) focuses on how students
can discern facts, publishing outlets, and the
technology behind them. There’s a strong
focus on determining trustworthy sources and
factual information to separate it from the
misinformation that floods the Internet.
Life skills (FLIPS) take a look at intangible
elements of a student’s everyday life. These
intangibles focus on both personal and
professional qualities.
Category 1. Learning Skills (The Four C’s)
Century skills. These skills are also
called learning skills.
More educators know about these skills
because they’re universal needs for any
career. They also vary in terms of importance,
depending on an individual’s career
aspirations.
 Critical thinking: Finding solutions to
problems
 Creativity: Thinking outside the box
 Collaboration: Working with others
 Communication: Talking to others
Category 2. Literacy Skills (IMT)
Literacy skills are the next category of 21st
Century skills.
They’re sometimes called IMT skills, and
they’re each concerned with a different
element in digital comprehension.
 Information literacy: Understanding
facts, figures, statistics, and data
 Media literacy: Understanding the
methods and outlets in which
information is published
 Technology literacy: Understanding
the machines that make the Information
Age possible
Category 3. Life Skills (FLIPS)
Life skills is the final category.  Also called
FLIPS, these skills all pertain to someone’s
personal life, but they also bleed into
professional settings.
 Flexibility: Deviating from plans as
needed
  Leadership: Motivating a team to
accomplish a goal
 Initiative: Starting projects, strategies,
and plans on one’s own
 Productivity: Maintaining efficiency in
an age of distractions
 Social skills: Meeting and networking
with others for mutual benefit
2. What are the differences between young
adolescent and adult learners?
 YOUNG CHILDREN
 They can learn through talking about
themselves, families and their lives.
 They are curious to learn and discover
new concepts on their own.
 They like to use their imagination and to
discover things.
 They naturally need to touch, see, hear
and interact to learn.
 Because their attention span is limited,
they need engaging and entertaining
activities in order to not lose interest.
 They like to cooperate and work in
groups.
 They need support and encouragement
while learning.
 Teachers need to work their students
individually because they need to be
guided.
   ADOLESCENTS
 They are in search for personal identity.
 They are in need of activities that meet
their needs and learning expectations.
 They become disruptive when they lose
interest in the lesson or feel bored.
 They need help and support from the
teacher and to be provided with
constructive feedback.
 They can draw upon a variety of
resources in the learning environment,
including personal experience, the local
community, and the Internet.
 They need the teacher to build bridges
between the syllabus and their world of
interests and experiences.
 They can learn abstract issues and do
challenging activities.
 Their personal initiative and energy are
moved into action through meaningful
involvement with relevant and current
content.
 ADULTS
 Adults are more disciplined than
adolescents.
 They have a clear understanding of their
learning objectives.
 They need to be involved in choosing
what and how to learn.
 They prefer to rely on themselves and
work on their own pace.
 They come to the classroom with a wide
range of knowledge, expectations, and
experiences.
 They are able to do a wide range of
activities.
 Adults learn at various rates and in
different ways according to their
intellectual ability, educational level,
personality, and cognitive learning
styles.
 They come into the classroom with
diverse experiences, opinions, thoughts,
and beliefs which need be respected.
3. What are the characteristics of young
adult adolescent and adult learners?
Autonomy
Adult learners are very independent, while
Young Learners aren’t. It is possible (and
beneficial) to let adults work things out for
themselves, organise themselves and even
decide the direction of the lessons. With Young
Learners, on the other hand, it is necessary to
be in charge of the classroom, giving clear
instructions and dealing effectively with
learning strategies and classroom
management.
Learning
In terms of learning, Young Learners need to
be given a wide variety of activities which
relate to the different senses. Activities in a
Young Learner classroom should be short.
With adults it is possible to spend more time on
learning tasks so it is possible to engage more
deeply with the learning materials.
Anxiety
Believe it or not, adults are generally more
nervous in the classroom than Young
Learners. Young Learners seem to have no
fear and are willing to try anything – as long as
they perceive it to be fun. Adults may feel
anxious because of the fact that they are not
the age of the “typical” learner and so they will
approach activities with a sense of
apprehension if they do not feel comfortable;
they will need more positive encouragement.
Motivation
Having said that, adults are more likely to be
more motivated than Young Learners. Adults
are generally in the classroom because they
choose to or because they need to learn
English for work or study, which means their
motivation levels are naturally high. Young
Learners usually have no choice, which means
that they may lose enthusiasm if they are not
interested in what is happening in the
classroom.
Discipline
Probably the most obvious difference is that of
discipline. Teaching Young Learners is all
about being able to deal with discipline calmly
and effectively. When teaching adults,
disciplines should not be an issue because,
well, they’re adults.
Life experience
Finally, the biggest difference between
teaching adults and teaching Young Learners
is what the students bring to the classroom.
Young Learners bring enthusiasm, curiosity
and energy, while adults bring life experience.
While Young Learners are still learning about
the world around them, adults have already
had a lifetime of experiences and have their
own ideas and opinions.
Though there may be a number of differences
between teaching English as a Foreign
Language to adults or to Young Learners, the
fundamental practices will remain the same.
Encourage communication and authentic
language use, utilise your students’ previous
knowledge and, above all, maintain a fun
atmosphere in the classroom and you will be
successful no matter the age of your learners.
4. What are the similarities and differences
of novice and expert learners?
Novice learners are well-intentioned folks who
are typically brimming with enthusiasm while
lacking actual knowledge about the subject
being taught.  They have limited or nonexistent
experience with most of their understanding of
the subject based on basic rules. Because of
this, their ability to perform is rather limited.
Experts, on the other hand, know a significant
amount about the subject and how it’s
organized meaning they cannot only
understand but can add to a lesson. Their
abilities allow them to take in the larger picture
and not fixate on minor attributes (as
summarized by Ross, Phillips, Klein, & Cohn,
2005). Expert learners are able to apply what
they learn to create a far more intuitive way of
working. 

5. What are the differences of declarative,

procedural, and functional knowledge?

Declarative knowledge can be thought of as

'knowledge about' or answers to 'WH-
questions.' Categories of declarative
knowledge are facts, world or personal history,
and rules for mathematics operations. A key
feature of declarative knowledge is that it is
easy to express declarative knowledge in the
form of words or symbols. Declarative
knowledge is explicit, which means you know
that you know it. You are consciously aware of
your understanding of declarative information.

Procedural knowledge is knowing how to do

something. Think of the word 'procedural;' its
root is 'procedure,' which is an action. Some
examples of procedural knowledge are how to
drive a car and how to throw a boomerang
correctly. A key feature of procedural
knowledge is that it is hard to explain verbally.

Functional knowledge is any piece of stored

information that can be adapted and applied to
different circumstances.

the key to this is how people acquire and

categories data often referred to as “schema”
by cognitive learning theory.

Information is acquired through several

circumstances, situations and is recalled
through different situations then that
knowledge becomes functional as the schema
becomes robust and is readily adjustable.