University of Split

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Teacher Education

21
st
CENTURY SKILLS

Course: Teaching English to young learners

Students: Marija Bandić and Antonija Nikolić

Mentor: Eva Jakupčević

Date: 5/4/2023
Contents

1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................2
2. THE TERM "21 st CENTURY SKILLS"..........................................................................3
3. THE MEANING OF 4Cs.....................................................................................................4
4. STUDENTS AND 21 st CENTURY SKILLS.....................................................................5
4.1. REALISATION OF 4Cs LESSONS.............................................................................6
5. ENGLISH YOUNG LEARNERS CURRICULUM..........................................................7
5.1. HOW TO INTEGRATE 21 st CENTURY SKILLS INTO TEYL?..........................7
5.1.1. Global perspective...................................................................................................8
5.1.2. Communication skills..............................................................................................8
5.1.3. Active learning skills...............................................................................................8
5.1.4. Technology skills....................................................................................................10
6. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................11
SOURCES................................................................................................................................12

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1. INTRODUCTION

Critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and other " 21st

century skills" are considered essential to progress in today's world.

The modern world is characterized by globalization, faster technological

development and social diversity, making 21st century skills more important than ever
for students. These processes require teachers to create a framework for a successful
approach to learning and to ensure that young people can thrive in a changing world.

In this seminar paper, we will talk about such skills, referring to the studies of
some experts, and the emphasis will be placed on skills in the education system.

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2. THE TERM "21st CENTURY SKILLS"

Today, the term "21st century skills" spans many fields: from politics and
economics to education. What we are most interested in is what this term actually means
and how it is included in the education system.

We are aware that it is difficult for children at an early age (primary school) to
pay attention. Author Reis (2015) emphasized that although teachers do everything to
make this attention last, they have to deal with parents and their impossible wishes for
their children such as becoming fluent native speakers of the English language in a
week. It is true that children learn quickly, but they cannot learn language in such a
short period like a week.

Because of such things as expectations or rules that education is preoccupied

with, students often aren't tapping into their full potential. "They are learning, but
something still appears to be missing, a something that we have trouble naming but that
we intuitively know is very important." (Reis, 2015, p. 14)

The task of every teacher should be building achievement on discovering the

individual talents of every child putting them in an environment where they want to
learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions helping them to make
something of the future. (Reis, 2015).

This is where our title, "21st century skills", comes in. It is about changing the
focus in the classroom from a teacher-centred to a student-centred classroom in which
the children are the builders of knowledge and it is organized around four basic and
essential aspects: teaching children basic skills, teaching children thinking skills,
teaching children people skills and teaching children to develop and acquire personal
skills. (Reis, 2015).

In her study, Reis (2015) found that there are several subjects that many
educational systems around the world fail to invest in, such as Geography, Arts or
English Reading literacy. She calls them "key subjects" because they help children
develop into the kind of thinkers capable of embracing challenges that future brings.

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 Reis (2015) also favors collaborative works following the old saying “'Many heads
are better than one”'. It helps promoteing social and teamwork with an awareness and
respect of cultural diversity.

There are many ways to develop creativity, desire to learn and cooperation in the
classroom. According to the author Reis (2015), one of the best ways is to tell a story.
Referring to Howard Gardner, she said that "stories are the single most powerful tool in
a leader's toolkit" (Reis, 2015, p. 15). Also, she gives an example of telling a story about
colored dots through which children learn about primary and secondary colours and
what happens when you mix primary colours together. It involves developing creative
thinking, basic skills and challenging children's minds.

3. THE MEANING OF 4Cs

TheA phrase "21st century skills" is a misnomer. Valuable 21st century skills
have existed in teaching and learning as long as we have been teaching and learning. The
phrase "21st century skills" should mean a classroom that is ready for the future needs of
STEM employment that will enable innovation, growth and significant advancements in
technology and technology industries. However, the same skills do not have to mean a
highly technological class. In fact, the modern 21st century classroom can be a
surprisingly cheap place . (Davila, 2016).

“„21st century skills” (communication, collaboration, critical thinking and

creativity) were first identified by an American non-profit organization in 2002, which is
and now is known as the 21st Century Skills Partnership. (Halvorsen, 2018).

The author Davila (2016) states that the skills of the 21st century can be
summarized in the 4Cs:

 Communication
 Critical Thinking

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  Creativity
 Collaboration

Since these are significant skills of the 21st century, the author Davila (2016)
emphasizes that if students develop these skills, they will be able to:

 Perform independently and with groups in a highly technologically advanced

atmosphere;
 Be ready for daily, global interaction;
 Be cable of adaptive, flexibile and creative thinking;
 Understand how to plan for, build, and include collaboration with peers who are
colleagues and experts in the field;

4. STUDENTS AND 21st CENTURY SKILLS

If a teacher teaches in the21st century, it is considered that they must know how to
work with technology and follow the development of digital media in order to bring the
content closer to his their students. Teachers from Mexico and India prove otherwise.

Sergio Correra is a young elementary school teacher. After a year of teaching

seemingly uninterested students, he decided to go back to the drawing board. He spent time
researching ways to improve student engagement and achievement and came across some
very interesting research that boils down to one question: Why? At the beginning of the next
school year, he arranged the tables in a circle, sat the students down, and asked, "What do you
want to know?" By doing this, he encouraged students to ask questions, seek more
information, and seek answers to more questions. Over the next year, he saw an increase in
his students' test scores. With few resources and limited access to technology, his students
rose from the lowest test scores in the country to of the best in nationally standardized test
scores. (Davila, 2016).

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 Correra relied on research and reports based on the work of Indian educator Sugata
Mitra. Research has shown that it is important to stimulate students' curiosity by allowing
them to take control of their own learning. The most famous example is when he entered a
classroom with computers full of information. He decided to leave the computer to the
students. (Davila, 2016).

In one year, students learned everything from English to molecular biology on their
own, without the help of a teacher. They were driven by curiosity to learn as much as
possible. (Davila, 2016).

Giving freedom benefits students to explore what interests them and get answers to
questions. However, it creates difficulties for teachers who have to achieve the outcomes
prescribed by the curriculum. These teachers should be an example of how to realize the 4Cs
in teaching. (Davila, 2016).

4.1. REALISATION OF 4Cs LESSONS

The author Davila (2016) gives an examples of how realize 4Cs lessons. For
example:

 Collaborate: start sharing magazines or picture books. Let the students choose a
picture together.

 Communication, critical thinking and creativity: ask students to think together about
giving directions. A set of tips for the blind student. Another guide for deaf students.
Encourage students to think outside the box and find ways to teach using computers,
cell phones, TV or YouTube.

 Collaboration: students work in groups to create a survey to measure student interest

in different foods that represent different types of meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner,
dessert).

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  Communication: when you have finished, students use this information to create
graphs that show the results.

 Critical Thinking: ask students to compare their answers with those of other groups or
to compare their results with those of other teams.

 Creativity: different groups work together to create an advertising campaign that will
turn the food the students like least into the food they like and taste best.

5. ENGLISH YOUNG LEARNERS CURRICULUM

The world is constantly changing bringing a new set of skills. Children are
growing up in a time of globalization in which our world is growing increasingly
interconnected every day. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J.A., 2014)

In their study, Shin and Crandall (2014) list three categories of the 21st century
skills:

 Learning and innovation skills: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and
innovation (as ways of thinking), communication and collaboration (as ways of
working)
 Digital literacy skills: information literacy, media literacy and information and
communication technologies (ICT) literacy (as tools for working)
 Career and life skills: flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction,
social and cross-cultural interaction, productivity and accountability, leadership
and responsibility

5.1. HOW TO INTEGRATE 21st CENTURY SKILLS INTO TEYL?

"When teaching children how to use English as an international language, it is

important to integrate 21st century skills that are associated with their use of English."

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(Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J.A., 2014, p. 329). Teachers should focus on skills that can be
applied to young learners' real lives, and prepare them to use English following
considerations (EYL curriculum):

 Global perspective
 Communication skills
 Active learning skills
 Technology skills (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J.A., 2014)

5.1.1. Global perspective

When teaching English as an international language, Shin and Crandall (2014)

emphasized the importance of helping children to recognize that using English means
interacting with people from many other countries so they have to be aware of their role
as global citizens. Along with global citizenship and values, global perspective also
includes building respect not just for other people, but also for animals recognizing that
we all are an integral part of a global ecosystem. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J.A., 2014)

5.1.2. Communication skills

Communication skills also bring collaboration skills which are so important for
all students, especially in building effective skills across cultures. Shin and Crandall
(2014) found that one of the best ways to develop these skills is to teach students how to
express their own culture in English by taking target culture material and rewriting it to
reflect their home culture (for example Peanut Butter and Jelly Song). To establish
collaboration skills, it is important to teach and model courteous language and behavior.
(Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J.A., 2014)

5.1.3. Active learning skills

st
21 century literacy is the ability to learn, unlearn, relearn. The world is changing
every day and technology therefore offers us a lot of information. It is important to know how

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to sift what is important from what is not. The ability to separate the important from the
unimportant is called critical thinking, which should be developed especially in children.
Since children at this age are still developing cognitively, it is possible to develop them into
active learners by teaching them how to ask questions and answer at different levels. (Shin, J.
K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)

There are seven levels of Bloom's taxonomy according to which questions are asked.
(Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)

1. Knowledge questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to
recall the information (define, tell, list, identify, point out)
2. Comprehension questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to
extrapolate their answers (explain, state in your own mind)
3. Application questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to
apply information to new situation (show how, what would happened?)
4. Inference questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to form
conclusion that are not stated in instructional materials (How?, Why?, What did ___
mean by?)
5. Analysis questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to relate
parts to the whole (distinguish, outline, deduce, compare)
6. Synthesis questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to
combine elements into a new pattern (compose, combine, estimate, invent)
7. Evaluation questions: with these questions, the teacher tries to get the student to
make a judgment of good or bad, right or wrong (evaluate, rate, select)

However, young students will probably not reach the highest level of critical
thinking. It is important to use questions from all levels of Bloom's taxonomy, but in a way
that is suitable for their abilities. For example, by using open-ended questions, teachers
encourage them to think critically because this type of question does not have a correct
answer. If the teacher wants to ask a question to check knowledge, they will use closed
questions. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)

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 The next method is think-aloud. With this method, the teacher says out loud the
thoughts that might appear when reading the text. After verbalizing the thoughts, the
teacher says out loud the questions that the students could ask themselves. Then the
students repeat this process, but in such a way that they immediately give answers to the
questions. This allows students to make connections, understand how the problem arose
and provide possible solutions. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)

Possible questions:
 What is the title?
 What does it mean?
 What does this remind me of?
 I wonder if...
 I don't understand

5.1.4. Technology skills

It is important to learn how to communicate using new technology such as social

networks or social networking tools and how to apply them in English language classes. For
the teacher, it is important to be able to sift through what is important and useful for the
student. Teachers should encourage students to participate in social networking and trying to
explore it. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)

The Internet is full of information, it is important to choose what is useful using

Internet reading strategies. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)
 Navigating: students navigate the Internet to search for information
 Coauthoring: students coauthor online texts
 Evaluating: students evaluate the accuracy of Web pages
 Synthesizing: students syinthesize information from multiple texts

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 For older young learners who are 9-11 years old, teacher should encourage
them to make their own digital stories using PowerPoint with their narration recorded
and then post it on YouTube. (Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A., 2014)
For example, try to represent:
1. Our Class: this page will include a picture of each student and a personal poem
written by each student.
2. Our School: this page will put up basic information about the school and video
tour of school.
3. Our City: This page willbe virtual tour of the city in which each group of
students will represtent their part of city
4. Our Country: this page will show their's country Top Ten List. Students will
work in groups and decide top ten things to do/visit/eat in their country

6. CONCLUSION

st
21 century skills are a source of progress for both students and teachers. It is
necessary to constantly improve in order to survive in a world that is constantly
changing.

In order to progress, one should not reject everything that is offered, but know
how to sift through what is necessary. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to use
methods that help to reach the goal. It is extremely important to teach young students
these skills in order to be successful young people in the future.

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SOURCES

Shin, J. K., & Crandall, J. A. (2014). Teaching young learners English: From theory to
practice. National Geographic Learning. 

Davila, S. (2016). 21st century skills and the English language classroom. Retrieved from:
https://www.english.com/blog/21st-century-skills/

Reis, V. (2015). 21st century learning for 21st century young learners. Modern English
Teacher, 24(1). 14-16.

Halvorsen, A. (2018). 21st Century Skills and the “4Cs” in the English Language
Classroom

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