TAKE HOME EXAMINATION

SEMESTER SEPTEMBER / 2022

HBEC2603

TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEANERS

NO. MATRIKULASI : 000701121906001

NO. KAD PENGNEALAN : 000701-12-1906

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 PART A

Question 1: (a)

Young children are natural language learners. They are motivated to pick up
language without intentional learning, unlike adolescents and adults. They have the
ability to imitate pronunciation and work out the rules for themselves. Any idea that
learning to talk in English is difficult does not occur to them unless it’s suggested by
adults, who themselves probably learned English academically at a later age through
grammar-based text books. Many parents understand the importance of learning
English, but they don't see it as a priority or think that learning another language at a
young age may have negative effects on their child. It is actually the exact opposite.
Numerous studies indicate that before the age of 10 is the ideal time to start your child
speaking a second language. Language is learned and acquired more quickly, retained
better, and spoken with excellent pronounciation at this young age. Children retain
information like sponges when they are young. A child's brain is built to
automatically absorb new knowledge. The fact that children think more simply than
adults is another benefit. They think less abstractly and use fewer words and simpler
sentence patterns. Young learners of second languages are less intimidated by the
challenge of expressing their abstract ideas and thoughts. Additionally, time is on
their side. They can begin with a basic vocabulary and gradually increase their level
of communication. Therefore there are several advantages of learning English for the
early development of children.

The first advantage is that it can improve cognitive development in children.

Cognitive development refers to intellectual or academic ability through the process
of learning to think, brain development, ability to follow instructions or learning, and
other issues related to thinking and learning. In this concept of cognitive development,
it becomes clear that the process of processing language such as learning English will
have a profound effect on the cognitive development of children. Once children enter
preschool, almost all of their instruction is through the use of language orally. This
helps pave the way for later reading and writing instruction. Children who fall behind
in this critical learning stage to understand the English language may struggle later in
life with literacy development. Preschool teachers can help reduce some of these
negative effects by possibly being the first to notice, identify, assess or diagnose

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English language processing disorders in children. Preschool teachers can take note of
indications that children are struggling with language development and be prepared to
make referrals to speech therapists, audiologists and language pathologists. Because
teachers know the child well, they can be informants to these other specialists and to
the parents, providing critical information that can guide the diagnosis and
information that best suits the child's needs.

The advantage of learning English early for children is that it can increase the
child's self-confidence. Learning English can not only give children the opportunity to
learn their second language, but learning English can also be used as a boost self-
confidence. Some children have a hard time learning English either because they are
not interested or because they are embarrassed to use a language they are not familiar
with. Therefore as a teacher, it is a responsibility to provide early learning for children
in English lessons so that they already have an initial knowledge of the English
language before entering the next primary school. Children who are more fluent in
English tend to be more confident when speaking in front. Speaking with Confidence
has great personal and professional benefits, such as building self-esteem, building
trust and relationships with themselves and those around them, open discussion and
critical thinking skills. There are many ways to increase children's confidence when
speaking using the English language such as public speaking. Public Speaking Skills
enable children to overcome their fears, increase confidence so they can speak
confidently, open themselves to learning and unlearning, allow themselves to adapt to
new and improved ways of life, not only that but it can also attract new opportunities.
great for children to be more active such as participating in public speaking
competitions at school later.

The next advantage is that it can help improve the academic progress of
children. We all want to prepare our children for success and ensure they have the
opportunity for a bright and successful future. Many companies require their
employees to speak a second language, and in most cases, English must be one of
those languages on the list. English is the universal language that people use to
communicate when they do not share the same mother tongue. Children who learn
English as a second language, will have an incredible opportunity to travel around the
world and get to know other cultures. In the classroom, children do not have any

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difficulty in learning English because they have been exposed to English subjects at
an early age. In fact, children can be exposed to English as early as 3 or 4 years old.
For example reading English story books and encouraging children to watch cartoons
that use English as a means of communication. parents also play an important role in
this by giving instructions or simple questions in English such as "are you sleepy?"
and so on. This will make it easier for children to get used to it and not find it difficult
to understand the English subject in class at the same time it can help their academics
to be better.

Not only that, the benefits of starting English language learning for young
children can also give children a bigger view of the word. Children who learn English
learn faster and more easily, have improved problem-solving skills and creativity, and
have more career opportunities in adulthood. They also find it easier to connect with
other cultures which makes them more open-minded and tolerant of diversity, and
they are less likely to develop age-related mental illnesses when they reach old age.
Most importantly, it is easier to learn a second language at an early age. In addition,
learning a second language such as English is not as difficult as it used to be.
Scientists are constantly studying second language acquisition and developing new
methodologies to help children learn faster. When children master a foreign language,
they will feel strong, capable, and satisfied. Knowing English will allow them to
explore the wider world and find content beyond their national borders. They will feel
that they can achieve great things - that they will be able to get a job abroad, enroll in
a university, travel freely, and explore science to the smallest detail - 75% of the
scientific literature (80% stored electronically) is available in English. Children will
feel privileged to read, watch movies without subtitles, sing and memorize foreign
songs, or even just write and create their own personal content.

Last but not least, it can also increase future life opportunities or leads to
greater education and employment opportunities. In this world, I strongly believe that
all parents want to see their children succeed in life. All parents want to set their
children up for success and ensure they have the opportunity for a bright and
successful future. Until now, Many companies require their employees to speak a
second language, and in most cases, English must be one of those languages on the
list. English is the universal language that people use to communicate when they do

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not share the same mother tongue. Children who learn English as a second language,
will have an incredible opportunity to travel around the world and get to know other
cultures. As we know, English may not be the most widely spoken language in the
world, but it is the official language of 53 countries and is spoken by about 400
million people around the world. Being able to speak English is not just about being
able to communicate with native English speakers, it is the second most common
language in the world. English is the dominant language of business and it is almost a
requirement for people to speak English if they want to enter the global workforce.
Research from around the world shows that cross-border business communication is
most often conducted in English and many international companies expect employees
to be fluent in English. Therefore, it is important for children to be exposed to
learning English because it is a very useful thing when they grow up later.

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Question 1: (b)
It is important for teachers to develop language learning objectives that match
the age and developmental stage of young children to facilitate young children's
language learning through tasks and activities, this is to enable babies or children to
interact with others around them in many ways is one of the main goals of language.
Therefore the activities held in the class are important and need to be holistic where
children can also do activities such as reading story books, sing along to videos,
perform actions based on intsructure, play language games and many more. Teaching
english as a foreign language in kindergarten is not an easy task. Activities for early
language learners should be interesting, animated, and involve a variety of fun
activities and exercises. Many teachers are unsure what kind of activities suitable for
the young leaners despite the variety of fun activities suggested on the internet. As a
teacher or parent, of course they have a feeling of worry about how to find interesting
activities for preschool children. They will think about the best topics and themes that
can attract the children and take their attention in the long term. This is because
children at preschool age are easier to lose focus when they are less interested and do
not understand what the teacher is saying. Funny topics and easy to understand
themes are the most commonly used strategies. These can be quite simple and
universally acceptable for children. Because of that for young children, choosing the
right English language learning activities is very crucial

Among the activities that can be done is by making storytelling activities and
re-enacting or called role-playing. Usually, this activity is suitable for children who
are 5 and 6 years old. When doing this activity, the teacher's role is very important to
explain carefully what the children need to do. Here, the teacher can choose a suitable
story for example the story of Rapunzel or the story of the wolf and the goatherd. The
teacher can do storytelling activities and then ask the children to re-enact using
English. With this activity, children can interact with the teacher and their friends as
well as teach them how to pronounce new English words and sentences. Besides
being able to learn the English language, children's self-confidence can also be
formed and of course this kind of activity is one of the interesting and enjoyable
activities.

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 Next is the teacher can do activities using color elements. Children need a
basic knowledge of English, therefore learning about colors is also very appropriate
because colors are something familiar to children. The age of 3 is the starting time for
children to know the types of colors. Children can be taught about color before they
enter preschool because color is one of the most basic things seen every day. It can be
done by mentioning the color of furniture, home appliances, games and illustrated
books. Actually learning colors is a good start to train children's brains about thinking
abilities. In this regard, when children can recognize colors it is easy for them to do
activities like coloring. at this stage they are ready to do the activity. In the class,
children can be taught to say colors in English such as 'red, blue, yellow'. Activities
that can be done is that the teacher can prepare lesson plans that suit activities such as
flash colour cards and word cards. before starting the activity, the teacher need to
make sure that the children have been given an explanation by showing the colors of
the pencils and stating what the colors are. This is to enable children to know what the
color is in English. In this activity as well, the teacher will stick a color picture in
front the class and ask the childrens to match the word cards correctly with the
teacher's guidance

Apart from color, family members can also be used as a way to teach children
to learn the basics of English. like colors, introduction to family members such as
brother, sister, father, and even mother can stimulate children's minds to know the
world around them. In this activity, the teacher can use flash cards and tell stories
about family members to the children. Among the questions that can be asked are like
asking what their family members' names are, what their family members'
occupations and hobbies are. Activities like this are also an interesting activity
because children are given the opportunity to tell about themselves. Not only that, it
can also improve the way children communicate with teachers and with each others.
After doing the story-telling session about family members, the teacher can ask the
children to draw a pictures of family members using colored pencils and other
materials to decorate the picture and ask them to explain what they drew about their
own family members.

Another activity that can be done is to know the parts of the body. The body is
one of the things closest to the child. Therefore, it is necessary for them to identify the

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names and functions of their own body parts. among the activities that can be done
related to body parts is to ask children to stand up and point out to the body part that
teachers want to teach and say it out such as hair, head, face, eyes, eyebrows,
eyelashes, ears, cheeks , nose, mouth, teeth, legs, neck and more. try giving them
instructions like "show me your head" or other body parts. After that explain to them
the function of our body parts such as the nose the function is to breathe and the
mouth to eat, the teeth to chew food, the feet to walk. The use of songs is also highly
encouraged in this activity because it can create a feeling of happiness for children.
songs that can be used are popular songs such as 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'.
make them point of these body parts while singing.

In the last activity, teachers can use animal and fruit elements to teach children
English more easily. teachers can use examples of animals and fruits that are
commonly found in their area such as chickens, fish, cats, dogs while for fruits,
suitable examples are apples, bananas, lemons, mangoes and many more. In this
activity, the teacher can teach them the names of domestic and wild animal using the
material for example, teachers can make a list of animal sounds to decide which
sounds teachers would like to introduce. If teachers have figures or toys, give them
and try to ask them to imitate the sounds made by the animals. Similarly with fruits,
teachers can teach children by saying words related to fruits and animals. Use
colouring pages, drawing, and flashcard. Start by using a specific topic. For example
ask them what they like and do not like to eat. You may use the chilren’s mother
tounge to introduce a theme but always ask them to remember how we say things in
english. In this activities as well teachers also can introduce them the words breakfast,
lunch and dinner or the verbs such as eat and drink.

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 PART B

Question 1:

What is the purpose of children going to kindergarten? among the purposes is

to give early learning to children including how to recognize the alphabet and sound
out the letters. there are various ways that teachers and parents can do to enable
children to learn the basics of words and letter sounds. if children are not taught from
the beginning, it will cause negative effects in the development of children, for
example children will be slow to read or sluggish in their studies. Therefore, it is
necessary for us as teachers and parents to find ways to allow children to grow up
with good learning development
Among the activities that can help children learn the alphabet is by singing.
Singing is a fun activity and the easiest way to attract children's attention to be
interested in learning. There are many songs that can stimulate children's learning
among them are songs related to vowels such as A, E, I O, U. This method is easy for
your child to learn because it starts by introducing the vowels first, i.e. a, e, i o, u.
Introduce these five letters to your child along with their sounds once. Do not forget
the letter e has two sounds. After the child can say and sound the vowel letters, then
introduce consonant letters and consonant sounds. Then teach the child to combine
consonants and vowels so that he can sound the syllables. Followed by combining like
open words to build words. This method can be done with several techniques. ask
children to look at the shape of the lips. Ask the children to say the vowels shown.
Example of the letter a. Sound the letter and ask the child to see how your lips shape
when you sound the letter a. Ask the child to imitate all the lip shapes for the vowel
letters. Repeat this activity until the child masters the sound of the letters and can do
the shape of the lips correctly.
In addition, teachers can also do activities such as guessing letter sounds. After
the child can make vowel sounds and make letter shapes with the shape of the lips,
invite the children to guess the letter sounds. You show the letter and the child sounds
it. Repeat this game by changing the sound and the child shows the letter card. If you
want to make it more interesting play different games for this activity. Examples of
playing with letters, children jumping and sounding out letters, playing dice, playing
matching letters with sounds and so on can give fun to learn.

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 In addition, teachers or parents can do activities combining consonants and
vowels with children at home or at school. Example you choose the letter b, combine
the letter b with the letter a and sound "ba". Continue the activity with another vowel
letter with the letter b and sound it out. Once the child can combine consonant letters
with vowels and sound them, your child can already sound syllables. Next is the
activity of combining syllables that start with the letter b. Baba, babu, aunt and so on.
You can also combine vowel sounds with syllables. Examples are abu, abi, bibi.

Not only that, activities like search and match can also be done. The items
needed to do this activity are like various alphabet cards. the way that can be used is
to turn over all the alphabet cards. Ask the child to take two cards at the same time. If
both cards are the same alphabet, ask the child to sound. If it sounds right, the child
can keep both cards. If the two cards are of different alphabets, the child has to put the
two cards back. Continue the game until all the cards are gone. this way is to allow
children to identify the letters of the alphabet and help them in improving their
learning and the alphabet and sounding out the letters.

Last but not least, the activity that can be done is to play word games. In order
to teach and involve your little one in reading activities it is not necessary to use only
books as a medium. Playing word games can also be a great way to improve your
child's skills without having to read an entire book at once. One of them is to play a
word game like scrabble using blocks of letters as you can see in the picture below.
Try arranging these blocks of letters to form certain syllables and ask your child to
sound out the pronunciation. Or, you can also spell out some short words and ask
them to sound out the pronunciation. Fun activities like this should be done from time
to time, either at home or in the car to improve children's skills

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