Dr.

Almud Gembus 1

Introduction to Primary TEFL

Purposes and principles of teaching English

in primary school
Dr. Almud Gembus 2

Outline:

✘ General information on the course

✘ References
✘ Purposes and principles of teaching English in
Primary School
✘ Implementing these principles in a chant: “Bend
your knees…”
General information on
the course
Dr. Almud Gembus 4

✘ You’ll find the documents for this class on

Moopaed. Please enrol as soon as possible (key:
TEFL_Primary_WS22).

✘ The e-mail distribution list from Moopaed will be

used to contact you. Make sure that you check your
PH mails so that you don’t miss out any
information.

✘ Check your e-mails / Moopaed before you come to

class for documents you will need in the lesson.
Dr. Almud Gembus 5

Prepare for class:

✘ Check out Moopaed for material needed for the class.
Download and save the documents BEFORE the class
starts.

✘ REVISE the last lesson BEFORE class.

✘ Do indicated homework.
Dr. Almud Gembus 6

This course counts as…

✘ MODULE 1 (PO 2015 / PO 2020):

Introduction to primary TEFL

The class contents is part of the BA GS M1 exam.

References
Dr. Almud Gembus 8

In General
➔ references lists at the end of the ppts

➔ references and text scans on Moopaed

Dr. Almud Gembus 9

In specific (especially also for exam):

Legutke, Michael K. et al (2009). Teaching
English in the Primary School. Stuttgart: Klett

http://www.amazon.de/Teaching-English-Primary-Michael-Legutke/dp/images/3129395385
22.10.2012
Dr. Almud Gembus 10

Brewster, Jean et al (2002).

The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Harlow:
Penguin

http://www.unifachbuch.de/Buecher/Sprachen/Lehrbuecher-Cds/The-Primary-English-Teachers-Guide.html 24/10/2013
Purposes of Teaching Primary EFL
Dr. Almud Gembus 12

Teaching English in primary school

how to teach a primary school how to teach English in

child in general : specific:
Primary-specific pedagogy foreign language related
pedagogy
 13

Primary-specific pedagogy:

Task:

Talk to your partner about the following question:

How do primary school students differ from

secondary school students?

You have got 5 minutes. Take notes about your

discussion. I'll ask some students to read out their
notes later on.
 14

✘ What have you found out?

Dr. Almud Gembus 15

Foreign language related

pedagogy
Foreign language teaching takes into consideration
the specific needs of young learners but also their
specific abilities to learn a foreign language. The
principles of teaching EFL to young learners thus
differ in some respect from those of teaching
English to students in secondary school.
 16

Tip: Take a
photo of the
task or make
a screenshot.

Task:
Watch the film and take notes concerning the
following questions:

✘ What does the teacher do?

✘ What do the children do? How do they use the
foreign language?
17
Principles of teaching EFL to
young learners
Dr. Almud Gembus 19

Legutke et al (2009) claim:

✘ Teach English in authentic, challenging,

communicative situations➔ learners experience
the language.

✘ Teach in meaningful contexts; the language is

linked to topics which are embedded in situations
the students know from their own experience.

✘ Use cross-curricular projects whenever possible.

✘ Give students the chance to learn holistically (with

all of their senses) in an action-oriented way.
Dr. Almud Gembus 20

✘ Teach English in English so that learners have as

much exposure to the foreign language as possible.

✘ Use authentic material and authentic language.

✘ Allow learners to use the foreign language for

communication➔ fluency before accuracy.

✘ Be aware of the fact that some learners know a

language already and have acquired some language
learning techniques / strategies. Support language
awareness.
Dr. Almud Gembus 21

✘ Don’t forget support and appreciative feedback.

✘ Diagnose and document your students’ learning

progress and make them participate in this (➔ self
assessment, portfolios…)

✘ Think of individual learner differences and offer

them suitable learning environments ➔
differentiation.
 22

What does the Baden-Württemberg curriculum

say?

✘ Task:
Check out the curriculum for
the principles of teaching (next slide):

The complete text can be found here:

http://www.bildungsplaene-
bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GS/E34/LG
or as a pdf on Moopaed:

➔ Go to the link and scroll down to

"1.3 Didaktische Hinweise"
 23

… to be continued ( see homework on slide 30)

Implementing the
principles in a chant
Dr. Almud Gembus 25

Bend your knees, touch your toes

Dr. Almud Gembus 26

Bend your knees, touch your toes.

Clap your hands, touch your nose.
Shake your fingers, touch your hair.
Stamp your feet, touch your chair.
Shake your head, jump up high.
Grow and grow, touch the sky.

Reference: Gerngross, Günter / Puchta, Herbert (1998). Playway to

English 2, Pupil’s Book: 40. Rum/Innsbruck: Helbling
Dr. Almud Gembus 27

Chants are a rhythmical way of speaking. Through

rhythm, rhyme and repetition they are an ideal
means to teach foreign language structures to
young learners. Very often chants are combined
with movement which helps the children to
remember the chant more easily.

When teaching chants, the teacher should make

sure the students understand the gist meaning of
the chant. Thus he / she can support the chant
with movement, pictures, demonstration, body
language. The rhythm is an important learning aid
and can be supported by clapping the hands or
stamping the feet. Sometimes it is useful to
practise the rhythm first and then add the text.
Dr. Almud Gembus 28

Chants are valuable in many respects:

✘ they provide language in context.

✘ they help to practise pronunciation, stress and
intonation patterns in connected speech.
✘ they are fun and therefore help the children to
enjoy learning the foreign language.
✘ they appeal to different multiple intelligences
(verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical- mathematic
intelligence, bodily- kinesthetic intelligence,
musical- rhythmic intelligence).
✘ they provide a social experience in class.
For further information see Brewster, Jean et.al. (2002). The Primary English
Teacher’s Guide. Harlow: Penguin (chapter 12) and Phillips, Sarah (1999)6 . Young
Learners. Oxford: OUP (chapter 7)
Dr. Almud Gembus 29
What the children learn through the activity (with
link to the curriculum BW: Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend
und Sport Baden-Württemberg (2016: 22).

✘ vocabulary which is already known (parts of the body)

can be used in different contexts ➔ comparing new
language and content with pre-knowledge (language
learning competence)
✘ gestures and movement help to understand the foreign
language ➔ using body language and visual support to
decode language (communicative competence)
✘ rhythmical speaking and rhyme help to remember
phrases in the foreign language➔ communicative
competence
✘ speaking English can be fun ➔ positive attitude towards
the foreign language (language learning competence)
(page 5)
Dr. Almud Gembus 30

Homework:

✘ Check out the Baden-Württemberg curriculum for

the principles of teaching English in primary school.
✘ Underline / highlight key principles.
✘ Bring your result to the next lesson.

➔Hint: Go to 1.3 in the section "Leitgedanken zum

Kompetenzerwerb" (see link on slide 23 or pdf in the
section "references" on Moopaed)
 31

References:

✘ Brewster, Jean et.al. (2002). The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. Harlow:
Penguin
✘ Klippel, Friederike (2000). Englisch in der Grundschule. Handbuch für deinen
kingemäßen Fremdsprachenunterricht. Berlin: Cornelsen Scriptor
✘ Legutke, Michael K. et al (2009). Teaching English in the Primary School.
Stuttgart: Klett. Chapter 1
✘ Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg (2020).
Bildungsplan der Grundschule, Englisch (ab Kl.3/4). Villingen-Schwenningen:
Neckar-Verlag
✘ Online version:
http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/GS/E34
06/10/20
✘ Phillips, Sarah (1999)6 . Young Learners. Oxford: OUP
✘ Pinter, Annamaria (2006). Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford
University Press