Introduction to the Overview of Theory

This topic outlines some of the most prominent research into child development and learning as it
relates to the ESL classroom. The theories covered here range in scope from those dealing with
developmental changes associated with age (Jean Piaget); physiological, psychological, and social
needs that must be met in order for learning to occur (Abraham Maslow); theories of social learning
(Lev Vygotsky, Albert Bandura); taxonomies of learning, questioning, and skills development
(Benjamin Bloom, Roger Saljo); theories of language acquisition and mental grammar (Stephen
Krashen, Noam Chomsky); as well as relevant insights into the biological aspects of learning from the
field of neuroscience, particularly brain development as it pertains to language. This is by no means a
comprehensive discussion of all related theory, but it will give you a good overview of the leading
developmental, psychological, social, and biological theories of learning and development. The intent
here is to provide you with an understanding of the underlying forces that affect every child as they
struggle to make sense of the world around them, both in terms of direct learning in the classroom and
their own physical and psychological development.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Historical Timeline
The 1960s and 1970s saw a major shift in the overall approach to human psychology. At
the core of this paradigm shift was a rejection of the behaviorist “black box” approach
to understanding human behavior and learning. Previously, especially beginning with
Ivan Pavlov’s famous stimulus-response experiments and culminating in the radical
behaviorism of B.F. Skinner, the influence of the mind itself was largely overlooked in
learning theory. It may seem counter-intuitive now, but in the early decades of the 20th
century, the brain was not considered especially important in learning, other than as a
processor of input and a generator of output. Behavioral psychologists sought a
reductionist solution to questions of human behavior. That is, they reduced the significance of all
cognitive processes and focused solely on the stimulus input and the associated output.
With the coming of the cultural revolution beginning in the late 1950s, psychologists began to explore
non-reductionist approaches to learning theory that did not minimize the role of the brain. New theories
recognized the brain’s role not just as a processor, but as an organizer and hypothesis-generator. The
brain became acknowledged as an active participant in the learning process. At the same time, humanist
theorists shed light on the effects of external needs and pressures, and began to explore the role of
social interaction in the learning process. All of these shifts in cognitive and social psychology,
combined with new research in psycholinguistics and further exploration into the inner workings of the
physical brain, have led to a whole new understanding of human thought, cognition, and consciousness.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Jean Piaget, 1896-1980
Jean Piaget formulated perhaps the broadest theory of cognitive development to date. While it has since
been refined and challenged by more contemporary psychologists, Piaget’s theory remains the mainstay
of developmental cognitive psychology. His theory contains examinations of language use, memory,
scientific reasoning, moral judgment, how children understand other people’s perspectives, and how
they conceptualize time, space, and distance.
Piaget’s interest in child development began, quite naturally, with his own
children. In a now famous story, he once observed his 7-month-old daughter,
Jacqueline, drop a favorite toy (a plastic duck) behind a blanket. Surprisingly, even
though the toy was well within reach, she made no effort to grab for it. Piaget
found this curious, so he brought the toy out again and his daughter immediately
reached for it. He then withdrew the duck slowly, and carefully hid it behind a fold
in the blanket, yet still well within his daughter’s reach. As soon as the duck was
out of sight, Jacqueline ceased reaching for it. Although she was clearly interested in the duck when it
was in sight, it was as though she forgot it existed once it was hidden from view. The adage “out of
sight, out of mind” seemed to be literally true when it came to infant perception of the world. Piaget
termed this cognitive phenomenon “object permanence”, and through a series of careful experiments,
he concluded that children younger than about 9 months of age were unable to recognize that objects
continued to exist if they could no longer be seen. They lacked a concept of object permanence. In the
time since Piaget’s original experiments and conclusions, psychologists have revised the age at which
children attain a concept of object permanence downward, sometimes as low as 3-4 months. It is also
unclear whether infants lack an understanding of object permanence due to cognitive limitations, or if it
is merely the result of limitations to their working memory capacity.
After making further observations of his own children, Piaget went on to interview children of all ages
about their thought processes, test their cognitive abilities, and observe their behavior in a series of
experiments. Through his research and observation, Piaget noted that from birth onward, children are
active participants in their own mental and physical development. Piaget’s theory is often labeled
“constructivist” because it depicts children actively creating themselves out of, and in response to, their
experiences. Children are constantly involved in a cycle of cognitive processes: generating hypotheses,
performing experiments, and drawing conclusions. Once they acquire a new capability, they will apply
it as often as possible in a process of testing, refinement, and reinforcement.
Jean Piaget called his theoretical framework genetic epistemology, which means, literally, the “origins
of knowledge”, and it was an attempt to link physical maturation and development with the growth of
knowledge and understanding. In essence, he sought to trace the cognitive development of human
beings from birth onward. From his research, he identified four key stages of development and the
qualitative changes in cognitive ability that are associated with each age group. He divided this growth
into four stages of development: Sensorimotor (from birth until around 2 years of age), Pre-
Operational (age 2 until around age 7), Concrete Operational (age 7 until around 11 years of age),
and Formal Operational (from age 11 or 12 through adulthood). It should be noted that some theorists
contend that the Formal Operational stage is generally reached later in adolescence than Piaget
concluded, and Piaget himself was not convinced that all adults reach the Formal Operational stage.
Much current research supports this conclusion.
There is some overlap among the stages of development identified by Piaget, and the age ranges he
assigned are not set in stone; however, the progression from stage to stage seems relatively fixed.
Children must go through the sensorimotor stage, for example, before they can progress to the pre-
operational stage. There is some back-and-forth during the transitional periods between stages, but
generally once a person moves to a new stage, they do not regress to an earlier stage unless there is
cognitive degeneration, brain injury, or profound environmental influence.
Topic 1: Overview of Theory
Piaget's Stages of Development
Sensorimotor (0 – 2 years)
At this stage, infants are primarily concerned with sensation. They are active explorers of the world
around them and, as any parent knows, they are constantly looking to engage all of their senses in
anything and everything within their reach. They will scream at, listen to, grab, and taste anything that
is put within their range of awareness. They are not only acquiring knowledge about objects, but are
also developing muscle control and motor skills as they learn about their own capabilities and
limitations.
As children at the sensorimotor stage begin to experiment with their vocal systems, they create a sort of
protolanguage. This stage could be referred to as pre-linguistic. Even though children in the later
phases of this stage may reproduce consistent sounds and a few words, they do not exhibit what could
properly be termed “language”. There is generally no grammatical or syntactical structure to their
utterances; they merely associate sounds with needs, desires, and the responses from those around
them. They are expressing themselves, but there is no discernable underlying structure to that
expression.

Pre-Operational (2 years – 7 years)

Children at this stage have gained better control over their physical bodies and they are beginning to
develop more complex cognitive structures. The most important development at the pre-operational
stage is language. It is during this stage that children move from simple words to sentences and the
expression of more complex thoughts.
Children at this stage are still “ego-centric”, which is to say that their thoughts, feelings, utterances, and
worldview are almost entirely centered on themselves. They are unable to conceive of viewpoints
alternative to their own, and they assume that everyone thinks exactly like they do. There are two
corollaries to this line of thinking. One is that children at this stage think in a form of “animism”. They
assign values, intention, and emotion to inanimate objects, and assume that those objects also think and
perceive as they do. They will say a broken toy is sick or hurt, or they will assume some malice or ill
intent on the object’s part if they step on a piece of Lego and hurt their foot. The other is that their ego-
centrism leads them to think and talk mostly about themselves. This can be witnessed if one observes a
conversation between two pre-schoolers. Often they will both be talking about something relevant to
themselves with no indication that they are even listening to the other. In fact, it is unlikely that they are
even aware that the other is speaking other than as sounds competing with their own. Eventually the
children grow out of this and begin to de-center their thinking. At first glance, two arguing five year
olds may seem like a problem, but underlying the noise and conflict is an important cognitive step: if
they are arguing, then they are responding to each other’s speech!
This stage is also marked by rapid physical growth. As their motor skills improve, children’s play
becomes more imaginative and cognitively symbolic. They are able to envision, say, a coffee table as a
bridge, island, or airstrip. This ability to relate symbols to concrete objects is the first cognitive step
toward the ability to draw and read.
Children at this stage are beginning to gain a sense of time, but they still have a “magical” notion of
causality. They believe that things can change and happen on their own without any outside influence.
This is especially evident in concepts of quantity, where amounts can increase, decrease, or disappear
all on their own. A famous experiment on the conservation of liquid volume illustrates not only this
magical influence on quantity, but also pre-operational children’s inability to concentrate on more than
one aspect or facet of an item or situation at a time. In this experiment, Piaget poured water into a short,
fat container. He then poured the liquid into a tall, skinny container and asked children if there was
more, less, or the same amount of liquid. The children only concentrated on the one most obvious
dimension of the container: the height. Seeing that the liquid was now higher, they concluded that there
must be more liquid in the taller, skinnier glass, despite watching the experimenter pour the liquid
directly from one container into the other.
The pre-operational stage also marks the beginnings of an understanding of expectations of behavior. It
is at this stage that rules become important. Children at the pre-operational stage will often very firmly
police themselves and their peers. Their notions of right and wrong are absolute and brook no
explanation or deviation. Motive is irrelevant at this stage; it is adherence to the rule that is paramount.
This also implies that the children will not allow for any exceptions, perhaps even for the teacher. Keep
this in mind if you intend to attempt a “do as I say, not as I do” policy in your classroom. If the children
cannot chew gum or eat in class, they will certainly chastise you for doing so!
In line with the ego-centrism inherent at this age, language at the pre-operational stage is focused on
self expression and demands to satisfy the child’s own wants and needs. The pre-operational stage
could be referred to as demanding-linguistic or symbolic-linguistic as the self dominates, but the child
is also growing in the use of symbols, both cognitively and physically. Imagination is very active, and
they will play-act to emulate a character they have seen or are familiar with. They acquire new lexis at
an amazing rate, with new words quickly being put to use. The focus here is on building vocabulary.
Between the ages of 2 and 3, there is typically a greater than tenfold increase in available vocabulary.
Once they acquire basic questioning techniques, toddlers will ask questions incessantly as they seek to
satisfy their insatiable curiosity about the world around them.

Concrete Operational (7 years – 11 years)

Children at this stage are beginning to develop logic. Although their thoughts are still somewhat
inflexible in the early years, children acquire a degree of nuance as they become more comfortable
operating in a logical mindset. They are able now to conserve quantity and understand the necessity of
causality, albeit in a concrete manner. They still focus on the most obvious causes and effects and have
difficulty considering broader implications or more subtle influences.
Categorization develops during this stage. For example, rather than seeing only “dogs”, “cats”, or
“horses”, they can now apply the larger inclusive category of “mammals”, and place this category into
the broader category of “animals”.
Children still need a concrete relationship with an object or situation in order to effectively consider it,
but they are able to do so in a non-egocentric way. They can consider others’ points of view and
understand that not everyone thinks exactly as they do. They are understanding, but not necessarily
tolerant, of opinions that conflict with their own.
As this is a true “operational” stage, children here are able to perform mental operations such as
thinking about something, and then imagining a different scenario and the possible effects. They can
postulate “what if?” scenarios and mentally explore possibilities. However, these must be rooted in
familiar and well-understood situations and themes.
Language at this stage could be called formal-linguistic. Children can propose ideas, respond to
questions, and generate hypotheses about known and familiar matters. They can express themselves in
complex narratives and are able to gain an understanding of more subtle grammar. The structure of
language begins to develop during this stage, and they are moving from relatively short, simple
sentences into more involved and detailed discourse.

Formal Operational (11-12 years and up)

Thinking at this stage becomes more abstract and conceptual. Logic becomes more formal, and
adolescents at this stage are able to consider multiple outcomes and possibilities. This kind of subtle,
abstract thinking enables adolescents at the formal operational stage to begin to see the particular
reality in which they live as just one of many possible realities.
Cognitively, those at the formal operational stage can accept ambiguities in their moral reasoning and
develop a more nuanced understanding of motive and outcome. This, however, can be influenced by
culture and upbringing. Children, adolescents, and adults at this stage may be capable of more subtle
moral judgments than they exhibit in practice, but they may not even be aware that they are able to use
moral reasoning that differs from what has been culturally instilled.
With the ability to think in the abstract and to perform and express thought experiments, language at
the formal operational stage could be characterized as rhetorical-linguistic. Children at this stage can
perform abstract manipulations of thoughts and are able to express themselves allegorically and
metaphorically. Nuance and implied meaning color language in more subtle tones as cognition at this
stage is able to embrace the full spectrum of linguistic expression.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Abraham Maslow, 1908-1970
“It is as if Freud supplied us the sick half of psychology, and we must now fill it out with the healthy
half.”
- Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being (1968)
Throughout his career as a psychologist and behavioral researcher, Abraham Maslow
was very interested in the role of mental health in the achievement of human potential.
Maslow became the leader of the humanist movement in psychology, beginning in the
1950s and into the 1960s until his death in 1970. This school of thought became the
“third movement” in psychology, alongside Freudian psychology and behaviorism.
Maslow began his career working with primates. During the course of his observations
of primate behavior, he came to see that certain needs came before others. These needs
formed a hierarchy, and in terms of basic survival and necessity, the needs that took
precedence over others in the lower primates would obviously follow the same pattern in humans as
well. For example, if a person is dying of hunger and thirst, he will seek to alleviate his thirst before
worrying about his hunger because thirst is of a more immediate survival concern (humans can survive
for weeks without food, but only a few days without water). Thirst, therefore, is a more basic need.
Likewise, a person dying of thirst will quickly abandon his quest for water if he is suddenly deprived of
oxygen since oxygen is an even more fundamental need than water.
After moving to New York to teach at Brooklyn College from 1937-1951, Maslow encountered two
mentors whom he admired greatly. He began taking notes on their personalities and behavior, and these
observations formed the basis of his approach to studying psychological health and the achievement
(actualization) of human potential. He tied these observations of actualized potential to his research on
biological needs and arrived at a comprehensive theory of needs. He created a hierarchy from
biological survival needs through to psychological well-being and the realization of one’s potential as a
human being.
Maslow divided human needs into five tiers, ranging from basic physiological needs at the bottom, to
the need to reach one’s potential at the top. He arranged these five tiers into a hierarchy and labeled the
tiers Physiological needs, Safety needs, Love and Belonging needs, Esteem needs, and Self-
actualization needs. Self-actualization was seen as the end-goal of satisfaction for any human being,
but in order to begin to achieve the destiny of the self, all of the other underlying needs must be
satisfied. One cannot very well expend energy pursuing a life-goal when there is a lack of food, shelter,
or the basic necessities.
This hierarchy is often represented in a pyramidal fashion with fundamental, basic needs at the bottom
and more advanced psychological needs at the top.
Figure 1.1: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained

Physiological Needs
Physiological needs represent the basic biological necessities for survival. These include air, water,
food, sleep, and warmth. When these needs are not satisfied, children may experience pain, illness,
irritability, or discomfort. In extreme situations, a severe deprivation of any of these needs could result
in death. While such a morbid situation is unlikely to arise in most classrooms, it is worthwhile to note
as it illustrates the overwhelming imperative of meeting these needs before all else. Suffice it to say, if
physiological needs are not sufficiently addressed it will be difficult, if not impossible, for a student to
concentrate on school work and learning a second language.
Safety Needs
Safety needs represent the establishment of stability and security. These include shelter, order,
structure, stability, and personal security. These needs are primarily psychological in nature and are
typically addressed by a stable and safe home environment. A disruptive or dysfunctional home affects
personality and behavior at school. Students have difficulty concentrating on tasks or completing
assigned homework in such an environment. Furthermore, children whose safety needs are not met
cannot relax into any feeling of love and belongingness while they are stunted by fear and concern for
their own safety and well being.
Love and Belonging Needs
Love and belonging needs are central to the essence of humanity. All humans have an innate desire to
belong and be a part of something greater than themselves, be it a family group, social network, friend
circle, or team. Along with the need for social interaction and acceptance, children must feel that they
and their thoughts and actions are valid. Depending on the age of the child, he or she will seek
belongingness and love, in varying degrees, from family, teacher, or peers. It matters less the form that
the sense of belonging takes, so long as the driving need is met. Students who feel isolated and
unloved, either at home or at school, will often rebel, act out, seek attention, or otherwise disrupt the
learning in the classroom. Some will simply withdraw and may be very hard to encourage, especially in
an environment as demanding as a second-language classroom. It is difficult enough for children
learning a new language to gain the confidence to speak, but it is nearly impossible if they feel
ostracized or unloved in their general, day-to-day interactions.
Esteem Needs
Esteem needs fall into two categories: self-esteem and other-esteem. People need both. Children (and
adults, of course) need a sense of mastery, achievement, and independence in order to meet their need
for self-esteem. This feeling of competence and ability is necessary for further development and a sense
of psychological well-being and confidence. In addition to these internal notions of esteem, children
need to feel that they are held in high esteem by others. They require the acceptance of their peers and
must feel that they are valued members of the group and held in sufficiently high regard. Students who
have high self-esteem are generally more confident and more willing to take risks in a second-language
classroom. This self-assurance is essential for language mastery. If students are too shy to practice, they
will never sufficiently reinforce their language skills to attain fluency.
Self-Actualization
Self-actualization needs are, in the words of Maslow himself, “the desire to become more and more
what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."[1] Once all other needs have been
met, children may now begin to realize and fulfill their own potential. This process of self-actualization
is, of course, a life-long process, but it is the pinnacle of psychological wellness attained by all too few
people in this busy, dangerous, and demanding world.
The importance for educators to understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is simple: in order to expend
sufficient energy to learn new material or develop a new skill, the child’s basic survival, safety, and
belongingness needs must be met. It is important to recognize this schema when considering the
reasons why a student may under-perform on an assignment or fail to do a required task. In essence, it
is logical that other factors may be influencing a student’s performance in class, and teachers should at
least be aware of humanist theories such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs when attempting to get to the
root of behavioral or academic problem.

[1] Abraham H. Maslow, A Theory of Human Motivation (originally published in Psychological

Review 50), 1943, page 383.
Topic 1: Overview of Theory
Lev Vygotsky and Albert Bandura

Lev Vygotsky, 1896-1934

Although Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and Canadian-born psychologist Albert
Bandura never worked together, their theories of social learning complement each
other so well that it is worth grouping them together. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory
and Bandura’s social learning theory have many obvious parallels, particularly in that
both theories center around the notion that people do not learn in isolation. There is a
constant reciprocal process of learning and feedback that both directs and reinforces
the acquisition of new knowledge. This process is facilitated and accelerated by
working with others who are more knowledgeable.
Lev Vygotsky has been referred to as the “Mozart of psychology”[1] due to his
voluminous body of work at such a young age. He was born in 1896, the same year as Jean Piaget (it
was a good year for psychology!), but he died of tuberculosis at just 37. Unfortunately, due to the
political situation in Russia after Josef Stalin took power, Vygotsky’s theories and papers went largely
unread. They were published briefly after his death in 1934, but were suppressed by Stalin after only
two years and did not resurface until two decades later, after Stalin’s death. Vygotsky’s theories came to
be widely noticed by Western psychologists in the 1960s, and much of his work is still being uncovered
today.
Vygotsky was a staunch Marxist, particularly in his belief that people do not develop in isolation and,
instead, are a product of their culture. His socio-cultural theory postulates that human thought and
understanding grow out of social and cultural history. Building on this outlook, he approached learning
as a primarily social function and believed that people learn best in cooperation with other humans.
While behaviorists in the West were studying humans as simple reactionary organisms, where all
behavior is the result of sensory input and behavior reinforcement, Vygotsky was studying how humans
(and children in particular) learn from their peers and the people around them. Vygotsky stated that
humans do not merely respond to stimuli, they interpret it. He did not see humans as mere data
processors, but recognized that the person, the person’s background, and myriad cultural influences
play a considerable role in the acquisition and assimilation of new knowledge. Vygotsky firmly
believed that social interactions are a central component of individual learning.
Vygotsky saw language as a tool that allows people to organize their thoughts. Children initially
develop the tools of language solely to serve social functions and as a means to communicate needs,
but over time as these tools are internalized, language becomes a gateway to the self. Vygotsky
believed that the development of these tools and their subsequent internalization led to higher-order
thinking skills. His book Thought and Language illustrates the connection between the development of
speech and the development of cognitive awareness and conceptualization.
One of Vygotsky’s most influential contributions to cognitive psychology was the concept of the zone
of proximal development. In line with his belief that knowledge exists in relation to other people and
that humans learn through interaction with others, Vygotsky felt that learners are best served when they
are active participants in learning, supported by guidance from more skilled peers or teachers. The zone
of proximal development is the range of ability within which learners can successfully develop new
skills. Outside this zone, even with guidance, the learner lacks sufficient understanding to successfully
acquire the new skill. Staying too close to what the student knows does not provide enough new
information to truly constitute learning. To give an example, someone who is proficient at driving a car
can, with assistance and practice, extend those skills to riding a motorcycle. Such a skill lies within the
zone of proximal development, and in this situation, learning occurs. However, that person could not
reasonably extend those same driving skills to flying a helicopter. Such a complicated task lies outside
the person’s zone of proximal development. Even with guidance from a teacher or instructor, many
other skills must be developed and intermediary steps must be taken in order to develop this complex
ability. At the same time, using the skill of driving a car to drive a pickup truck is not really learning; it
is merely the minor adaptation of an existing skill. Vygotsky described the zone of proximal
development as "the distance between the actual development level, as determined by independent
problem-solving, and the level of potential development, as determined through problem-solving under
adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers."[2]
When applied to children, the zone of proximal development represents a range of interaction that
provides them with the opportunity to do things jointly that are too advanced for them to do
independently. This cooperative problem-solving provides a framework and scaffolding for their future
independent problem-solving. Students can be assisted in this by more advanced peers or by the teacher
acting in a peer capacity.
Language, by nature, is a social skill. It is developed in order to communicate needs and desires, and as
such, social interaction is a central component of all language learning. Vygotsky approached the
language classroom as a collaborative environment akin to an apprenticeship whereby lower-level
students would interact with, and thus learn from, their more capable peers along with the teacher’s
assistance.

Figure 1.2: Zone of Proximal Development

“The zone of proximal development defines those functions that have not yet matured but are in the
process of maturation, functions that will mature tomorrow but are currently in an embryonic state.
These functions could be termed the ‘buds’ or ‘flowers’ of development rather than the ‘fruits’ of
development.”
- Lev Vygotsky (published 1978)
In classroom practice, Vygotsky envisioned the zone of proximal development as forming part of an
overall strategy that aimed to facilitate student learning rather than direct it. The central function of a
teacher should be to act in a “How can I help you?” capacity. Teachers should account for the upper
limits of the students’ zones of proximal development and teach toward those limits so that the students
can extend their range of understanding with appropriate support. Encouragement should be offered at
every step along the way, with an aim toward building self-sufficiency and overcoming hesitation and
shyness. Students must be comfortable in the classroom and should be given positive feedback on their
progress as often as possible. More-skilled peers can be used as teachers, just as the teacher can play
the role of a more-skilled peer. There should not be a stark division between the teacher and students as
the classroom is most effective when it is a collaborative, cooperative environment. It is also important
that all instruction be placed in a meaningful context. Nothing is as successfully learned as that which
is meaningful and engaging to the student.

Albert Bandura
Albert Bandura, considered by many to be the most eminent psychologist of his time,
developed the concept of modeling in his theory of social learning. This concept fits
nicely into Vygotsky’s themes of the zone of proximal development and the more
knowledgeable other. The more knowledgeable other can be anyone who is able to
assist the student in learning a new task or skill.
For Bandura, learning involves a process of modeling. Anyone who knows more than
the student about a given topic or skill can be used as a model for learning. Like
Vygotsky, he saw that humans learn best when they learn from one another. This is done
through observation, imitation, and the modeling of desirable behavior. Much of Bandura’s work
centers around aggression and the propensity for violence, but the notion of the more knowledgeable
other has a significant role in classroom learning and cognitive theory as well.
Developed during his study of psychology at the University of British Columbia and during his Ph.D.
studies at the University of Iowa, Bandura’s social learning theory is seen by many as a bridge between
behaviorist and cognitive learning theories. It explains human behavior and learning in terms of the
continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors. His theory
illustrates that people are not only the product of their environment, but that environment is also a
product of the people. This is to say that, for example, a teacher can attempt to foster an environment
that is conducive to learning, but the students in the classroom play an equal role in creating the
conditions for such an environment. Originally, this concept was used to show how criminal and
delinquent behavior grew out of the interaction between like-minded individuals, and how, in a sort of
feedback loop, they would encourage each other to greater and greater acts of delinquency. However,
this same feedback cycle has since been applied to the more positive circumstance of a well-
functioning learning environment.
Certain conditions are necessary for effective modeling of desired behavior to occur. Bandura identified
four conditions: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. All four must be present for
active learning to take place. He recognized observational (passive) learning, but saw it as only the first
step in the process of observation, imitation, and modeling.
Bandura’s Four Conditions for Learning
Attention
In order to learn anything, the learner must be paying attention. A sufficient share of cognitive
resources must be directed toward the behavior or skill that is to be modeled and learned. Anything that
impairs attention, be it drowsiness, hyperactivity, environmental factors, discomfort, hunger, or
distraction, interferes with the learning process. The model itself must be attention-grabbing as well. So
in a language classroom, the teacher must be dynamic, engaging, and relevant in order to hold the
students’ attention.

Retention
Students must be able to retain what they have paid attention to. If they cannot remember what they
just saw or did, then it is impossible for them to learn from it. However, retention and memory involve
more than simple regurgitation. Internalization and personalization are necessary for real integration of
the new knowledge. Actions, behavior, manner, and style are also articles of retention. An effective
model illustrates all aspects of what is to be learned and does so in a way that is easy for students to
recall. Mnemonics, rhymes, songs, and repetition are all tools that can be used to aid retention.

Reproduction
Students must also be able to reproduce what is being modeled. It is ineffective to be engaging and
memorable if the subject matter or skill demonstrated is beyond the capacity of the learners. Practice is
key to any reproduction. It is not necessary that the students be able to reproduce the modeled behavior
perfectly the first time; in fact, that would demonstrate that the material was not sufficiently above their
level as to constitute real learning. Mistakes will be made, but with time and rehearsal, students should
be able to replicate the modeled behavior and language. The key factor for the teacher to consider is
whether or not what is being taught is within the students’ zone of proximal development.

Motivation
There must also exist a reason to imitate. This is driven by motivation. Motivation can be internal
(personal drive, goals, a desire to succeed, etc.) or external (rewards, good grades, praise, etc.), but it is
a necessary factor for learning to occur. This can be as simple as students’ natural tendencies to model
after more fluent peers, or even previous positive experience with successful modeling and imitation.
Whatever the driving force, students must have some motivation to reproduce what they have observed.
Teachers can facilitate motivation by giving regular progress reports and positive feedback on students’
learning and skill development, as well as praise and rewards.

[1] Stephen Toulmin, New York Review of Books, 1978.

[2] Lev S. Vygotsky, Mind in Society, 1978, page 86.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Benjamin Bloom and Roger Saljo

Benjamin Bloom: 1913-1999

Like Vygotsky and Bandura, Benjamin Bloom and Roger Saljo did not work together,
but their theories are related enough to group them together. Both Bloom and Saljo
approached learning as a ladder of understanding. At the lower rungs, learning is merely the act of
collecting knowledge, but as the student's grasp improves and the learning becomes more meaningful
and internal at the higher rungs, it eventually leads to new understanding, broad applicability, and
critical evaluation. Bloom approached this ladder from the standpoint of the student's understanding,
whereas Saljo considered the student's views on learning and how students approach the acquisition of
knowledge.
Benjamin Bloom began his work in educational psychology at Pennsylvania State University in the
1930s, and he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1942 where he stayed on as an
instructor and researcher after graduating. Bloom’s most well-known contribution to educational
psychology is his taxonomy of learning, now referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy. With the development
of this taxonomy, Bloom categorized and classified learning into a hierarchy of six levels. Each of these
levels builds upon the last and is a necessary precursor to the next, higher level of understanding.
Bloom recognized that these levels were not absolute, and they should not be read as such. Instead,
Bloom’s Taxonomy is best used as a guide to understanding the process of learning and knowledge
assimilation, and as a tool to assist teachers in developing curriculum to facilitate student skills
integration and growth.
It is important to note that movement from one level of understanding to the next within Bloom’s
Taxonomy involves not only learning and practice, but also sufficient time to internalize the
information. It should not be expected that students will move from simple knowledge to broad
application and complex evaluation within a lesson or even a unit. The idea is that a higher-order
understanding is the ultimate end-goal, and teaching should be structured to help the student reach that
goal over time.
Bloom divided learning into the following six levels: knowledge, comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. It is possible, and in fact common, for some knowledge and skills
to move relatively rapidly to the higher levels of understanding, while other information remains at the
lower levels of simple knowledge and comprehension. This disparity exists because of the individual
wants, needs, interests, and motivations of students. Some information is simply more relevant and
interesting to some students than others.
Bloom’s Taxonomy is often depicted as a staircase. Each step incorporates and builds upon the
previous steps. For example, before one can translate a piece of knowledge, one must be able to define
it. Before one can interpret, one must be able to translate. Before one can debate, one must be able to
interpret, and so on. Figure 1.3 lists some verbs and abilities associated with each level of Bloom’s
Taxonomy.
Figure 1.3: Bloom's Taxonomy Descriptive Term Staircase

Bloom’s Taxonomy Defined

Knowledge
Knowledge is the most elementary level of understanding. It refers simply to the retention and
recollection of facts and information. No analysis or application exists at this level, but knowledge is
the foundation of all higher levels of understanding. For example, most people can relate Albert
Einstein to his famous equation, E=mc2, but they cannot necessarily explain what that equation entails.
This is knowledge, the lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Comprehension
Comprehension includes not only a basic understanding of the information, but also the ability to
translate, interpret, and restate the idea. Demonstration of comprehension entails a thorough grasp of
the knowledge. To continue with the example above, comprehension of Einstein’s equation would
require the learner to understand what E=mc2 stands for, as well as how it relates to humanity’s
understanding of the physical universe (i.e., Energy and matter are the same thing in different forms).
Application
Application involves the ability to use the information to solve problems. It includes the creation of
strategies that make use of the knowledge in a variety of ways that apply to different, but related,
situations. Students demonstrate application when they are able to utilize their knowledge in novel
situations. For example, learning a formal greeting in one context, and then appropriately transferring
that greeting to another scenario would be a good demonstration of correct application of the skill. In
order to apply a new skill or utilize new information, a student must have good knowledge and
comprehension of what was learned.
Analysis
Analysis entails the ability to separate information into its constituent parts and see the relationship
between the parts. A student who is able to analyze a new piece of language can break it apart and use
the words or phrases in new contexts. Furthermore, the level of understanding required for analysis
enables the student to see the relationships between words that may not share an obvious connection,
but are more deeply related, for example, words such as “dictionary” and “dictator”. Analysis-level
understanding is also required to understand and explain metaphorical constructions that draw upon
common comparisons, such as the famous Shakespearean line, “All the world’s a stage…”[1].
Synthesis
The top two levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (in fact, some would argue the top three) are above what one
might term “standard” understanding. That is, people are perfectly able to function using a given skill
without ever reaching the level of understanding necessary for synthesis and evaluation. In fact, most
native speakers of English have an application-level understanding of English grammar and feel no
need for a deeper analytical, synthetic, or evaluative knowledge.
From a linguistic standpoint, synthesis involves the ability to create new language and to draw novel
connections based on known words and phrases. However, it is much more profound than simply
rearranging words to create new sentences. Creating a workable metaphor or complex analogy would
be a demonstration of synthesis, as would applying the correct affix to change a given word from one
part of speech to another (to “adjectivize” a noun, for example).
Evaluation
Evaluation was the highest level of understanding in Bloom’s Taxonomy when it was originally
created. Since then, researchers such as L.W. Anderson and David R. Krathwohl (2001) have modified
the theory and renamed some of Bloom’s levels. In their taxonomy, “creation” is the highest level,
indicating the ability to generate new content within a domain. For simplicity’s sake, Bloom’s original
classifications are retained here.
Evaluation incorporates all of the previous levels of understanding and adds the ability to critically
assess the validity of existing rules, standards, and uses of the knowledge. Linguistically, evaluation
could be the well-reasoned rejection of a convention of the language or prescriptive rule that no longer
holds validity as the language has matured. This is far from a simple refusal to follow the rules; it is a
well considered comprehension of the factors involved, and a deep understanding of the reasons behind
any such change or rejection of convention. An example of this would be the recent move by many
grammarians away from such unfounded English conventions as the proscription against splitting an
infinitive. In Latin, the language most idolized by the early codifiers of English grammar, an infinitive
is one word, so it cannot be split by another word. This rule was transferred to English intact, despite
the obvious flaw that infinitives in English are two words and can quite easily be split. Star Trek’s
opening, “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” is probably the most well-known splitting of
the infinitive verb “to go”. Only the most pedantic grammarian would take serious issue with this
phrase without first considering the validity of the rule in question. People with an evaluative
understanding in a given domain have a level of expertise that enables them to appraise, critique, and
even confirm or reject the value of an idea, concept, or convention within that domain.

Roger Saljo
As Benjamin Bloom identified different levels of understanding, Roger Saljo, a
Swedish professor of education and educational psychology at the University of Gothenburg, identified
five conceptions of learning through polls of learners.
Saljo asked learners of all ages to assess their own understanding of what learning entails. He then
arranged these five conceptions into a hierarchy based on the depth of understanding necessary for each
definition of learning.
Saljo’s hierarchy of student views on learning breaks down as follows[2]:
1. Learning brings about an increase in knowledge. It is the acquisition of information or
“knowing a lot”.
2. Learning is memorizing and the ease of associated recall. It is the storing of information that
can later be reproduced.
3. Learning is about acquiring facts, and developing skills and methods that can be used as
necessary. It is the ability to use information appropriately.
4. Learning is about making sense of information, extracting meaning, and relating information to
everyday life. It involves relating subject matter to the real world in a meaningful way.
5. Learning is about understanding the world by reinterpreting knowledge. It is understanding
through evaluation, reassessment, and using knowledge in new ways.
Saljo found that students with limited life experience (typically younger students, but not always) tend
to view learning as an external, quantitative process as in steps 1-3 above. The role of the teacher here
is to connect this externally motivated learning to internally motivated notions of function, usage, and
general application. The teacher should work to give students an understanding of the applicability of
what they are learning and not just inundate them with facts and new information. Lessons and the
classroom environment should be developed in such a way as to foster an internalization of the learning
process. This can be difficult with young children who have not yet gained the life experience to help
them connect what they are learning to the broader world, but all teaching should be done in such a
way as to link knowledge with its relationship to the world. Students respond best when they
understand the usefulness of what they are learning.
Both Bloom and Saljo saw learning and understanding as hierarchies. The two theorists approached
their research from different sides of the same coin, and came to very similar, related conclusions. They
studied how people view the process and intent of learning, and how people’s learning leads to
understanding. When brought together, their theories show that each level of understanding influences
people’s perception of what it means to learn, and each level of learning prompts people to seek a
deeper, more complete understanding.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen is perhaps the most prominent 20th century researcher in the field of
language acquisition. A professor emeritus of linguistics and education at the University
of Southern California, he had been a prominent researcher in first and second language
acquisition in children and adults since earning his Ph.D. in 1972. He published more than
350 books and articles on second language acquisition (SLA) and is credited with first
articulating the difference between language acquisition and language learning. For the
purpose of this module and in much of the literature surrounding language learning, first
language refers to the learner’s native tongue while second language refers to any language learned
thereafter, regardless of how many languages are learned. This explains why you will find very little, if
any, research regarding third, fourth, or fifth language acquisition and learning. After the first, all
subsequent languages are considered second languages for the sake of simplicity.
According to Krashen, there are two methods of second language performance: acquired and learned.
Language acquisition is the means by which most children pick up their first language. It involves three
key components: exposure, motivation, and opportunity. First, learners must be exposed to the
language before they can acquire any of it. This can be through direct interaction with a speaker of the
target language; familiarity through movies, television, and music; or through immersion in a culture
where the target language is the primary communicative language. Second, the learner must have some
motivation to use the new language. Simple exposure is not sufficient for acquisition if it is not prodded
by a desire to learn and produce. Third, the learner must have an opportunity to practice the new
language in a meaningful context. Simply reading off a page with no interaction in the new language
will not provide sufficient feedback for language acquisition to occur. There must be the opportunity
for real communication. Given fulfillment of these three criteria, the learner will begin to naturally
acquire the target language. This is an automatic and innate process much like the process by which
children become proficient in their first language. It should be noted, however, that the ability to
naturally acquire language through exposure, motivation, and opportunity declines with age, most
precipitously after the onset of puberty. That is not to say that it is impossible for adults to acquire a
second language, but the mechanism of language acquisition seems to be at its most efficient early in
life.
Language learning, on the other hand, requires a more concentrated effort on the part of the learner.
Learning is more than mere exposure and assimilation: it is dedicated study and practice. Language
learning is the method most widely observed in ESL classrooms as it involves formal study in addition
to practice and expert feedback from the teacher. To summarize the difference between the two
methods, acquisition is an unconscious process on the part of the learner, while learning is a conscious,
intentional process. During meaningful communicative interaction, where the focus is on understanding
and conveying meaning, acquisition naturally occurs. This acquisition is then best refined in a process
of active learning. The ratio of acquisition to learning shifts from the former to the latter as the age of
the student increases.
Stephen Krashen has developed five primary language hypotheses, including the acquisition-learning
distinction. His four other hypotheses are the monitor hypothesis, natural order hypothesis, input
hypothesis, and affective filter hypothesis.

Monitor Hypothesis
The monitor hypothesis represents a sort of bridge between language acquisition and learning. Formal
teaching creates a “monitor” in the minds of language learners. This monitor screens what is being said
or written and signals when a mistake is made. As learners develop their language skill and knowledge
of grammar, the monitor begins to parse their words as they are uttered. This is a useful function, but
can fall prey to over- and under-use.
Over-users of the monitor can become so concerned with creating perfect utterances that their speech is
broken and hesitating. A certain degree of risk must be taken, and making mistakes is a natural part of
language learning. Students who become flustered and apprehensive about speaking because of
excessive concern over making a mistake are generally monitor over-users. Teachers should create a
non-threatening environment where risk-taking and experimentation are encouraged to help students
overcome this apprehension and worry. Students need to push their boundaries to allow their
burgeoning language skills to flourish.
Under-users of the monitor can end up producing gibberish because they are not paying enough
attention to the correctness of their grammar or pronunciation. While it is unproductive to focus too
heavily on absolute correctness, it can prove equally disastrous to pay no attention at all to form or
grammar, which can result in nonsensical attempts at communication. However, not all under-users are
being lazy in their approach, nor are they just too eager to blurt out a response to monitor the
comprehensibility of their utterances; many under-users have simply not learned the rule or rules
sufficiently to effectively monitor their own production.
In most ESL classrooms, there is a mix of acquisition and learning happening. Language that is
unconsciously acquired forms the basis for fluency, while consciously learned language functions
primarily as an editor in the form of the monitor. An optimal monitor user allows language to flow
freely and only enables the monitor function at appropriate times. The monitor is an appropriate tool
during formal speech, when writing, or when practicing a new or difficult construction; however, once
new language has been sufficiently practiced, the monitor should step aside and allow communication
to proceed uninhibited. As in all language learning, conveying meaning is more important than perfect
construction, and students should be encouraged to internalize this concept.

Natural Order Hypothesis

It goes without saying that learning happens in a sequence. People do not learn a new skill all at once;
they progress through stages of development and make mistakes and refinements along the way. What
may seem counter-intuitive given the wide range of personalities and aptitudes in any given classroom
is that, when it comes to language, this sequence seems fixed and is independent of the learner’s age or
linguistic background. It is also independent of the order in which grammar is formally taught.
Language is produced in a sequence starting from single words, and progressing to strings of words
arranged based on meaning rather than syntax. In time, students come to recognize the appropriate
syntax and can identify the beginning and ending elements of sentences. They can then move these
around according to the meaning they intend to convey. Finally, students can re-structure sentences to
form questions and are able to perform various transformations on sentences to alter meaning or restate
the same information in a different way.
Beyond this logical progression from small elements of language to larger structures (words to
sentences, and sentences to paragraphs and conversations), there is an order in which grammar is
acquired and incorporated into the learner’s speech. For example, the morpheme –ing is learned and
properly utilized before the third-person –s is correctly applied. Typically, –ing, plurals, and “to be”
verbs are learned first, followed in order by the irregular past tense, auxiliary and progressive verbs,
articles, regular past tense, 3rd person singular (s), and possessives ('s). Once again, this order does not
seem to be affected by grammar teaching. It is a natural process of acquisition. However, Krashen notes
that it is not helpful to alter grammar lesson sequences in an attempt to match the natural order.
Students need to be exposed to whole language and the natural order is just the sequence in which they
are likely to come to understand, retain, and properly use the new language. It is more important for the
teacher to realize that students will learn some things more readily than others, and they will make
mistakes as they progress through the natural order. Teachers should recognize that mistakes are a
necessary and normal part of language learning.
It can sometimes be discouraging for a teacher to witness students exchanging one error for another,
but this is a normal part of language development. Mistakes also follow a natural order as students sort
out the syntax and grammar of the new language. Krashen makes note of the natural order of language
progression, but the concept is more something that teachers should be aware of rather than a guideline
for lesson creation. Direct grammar teaching can actually inhibit language acquisition, so particularly
in classrooms of young students, the focus should be on communication.

Input Hypothesis
More recently, Stephen Krashen began to prefer the term “Comprehension Hypothesis”, but still
considers “Input Hypothesis” to be acceptable, so this term has been retained here for consistency with
the bulk of the literature on the topic.
The input hypothesis deals primarily with language acquisition, and as such, it is most applicable to
children as their brains are most open to unconsciously acquiring language. In order for any language
to be acquired, the input must be comprehensible. This is to say that the incoming language, be it
speech or writing, must be of a level that is understandable but slightly above what the learner is able to
produce. If the input is fully comprehensible and equivalent to or below the student’s level of
production, then no learning will occur. Krashen argues that learners will progress along the natural
order so long as they are challenged by language that is one step above their own level. For a learner at
level “i” of understanding, comprehensible input at level “i+1” will result in language acquisition.
A second component of this hypothesis is that there is typically a period of silent absorption for
language learners in which they observe and listen but are not inclined to participate in the new
language. Anyone who has learned a second language or has experience with second language learners
will know that the level of language that can be comprehended is always above what can be produced.
Teachers of new students of English should not be discouraged if the students are reluctant to
participate during the first few lessons. A combination of shyness, insecurity, and a general lack of
usable skill can prevent students from speaking. Once they become more comfortable and feel
confident that they understand a few words or phrases, students will begin to participate so long as the
classroom environment is welcoming and non-threatening.
Teachers must understand their students’ level of ability and grade their own language accordingly. But
keep in mind that it is not helpful to communicate exactly at the students' level. Teachers should
communicate at a level slightly above that of their students while ensuring that the language is
comprehensible. When you see their eyes glaze over and blank stares all around, it is a good indication
that the language you are using is no longer comprehensible to the students!

Affective Filter Hypothesis

“Affect” pertains to emotions and feelings, and the affective filter refers to how these can interfere with
learning and acquisition. A student’s affect (emotional state) can act as a filter to incoming language
(and knowledge in general), impeding the mind’s ability to incorporate new information. The level of
anxiety and degree of self-confidence play an important role in language acquisition, learning, and
production. Students who are overly concerned with perfection, or who are extremely shy or
apprehensive about speaking, will have a difficult time absorbing any new language. Students who are
motivated, confident, and have low anxiety are much more able to learn a new language. The role of
the teacher here can be very crucial. All students come to class with different personalities. Some are
introverted, while others are extroverted. Some are confident; some are shy. While it is unrealistic to
expect all of your students to always be ready, willing, and eager to participate in class, there are things
you can do to facilitate communication and active participation. First and foremost, the classroom
should be a non-judgmental environment. Students should feel comfortable and at ease, even if -
especially if- they make a mistake. The teacher should be encouraging and friendly, and above all, the
teacher must understand that learning a language is a difficult and arduous task. Students have a long
road ahead of them, and it is a big part of the teacher’s job to make that road as smooth and easy to
traverse as possible.
Stephen Krashen’s overall theory can be summarized as follows: Language acquisition is more
important than learning. Acquisition is responsible for fluency, and direct grammar instruction can
often interfere with the natural acquisition of language, especially for young children. In order for
language to be acquired, learners must be exposed to it; they must be motivated to use it; and they must
have an opportunity to practice and use the language they have learned. Importantly, the language that
learners are exposed to must be comprehensible, yet slightly above their own level of production.
Students must also be exposed to the language in a low-anxiety environment. They should feel
comfortable to experiment and unafraid to make mistakes. So long as these conditions are met, then
children will automatically begin to progress along the natural order of language acquisition.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Noam Chomsky
“The fact that all normal children acquire essentially comparable grammars of great
complexity with remarkable rapidity suggests that human beings are somehow specially
designed to do this.”
-Noam Chomsky (1959)
To say that Noam Chomsky has been influential in the field of linguistics is to understate the meaning
of influence. An institute professor emeritus at MIT, and well known as a social and political theorist
and critic, Chomsky set the study of linguistics on a psychological, evolutionary track beginning with
his book Syntactic Structures in 1957. His research has had a deep, far-reaching impact on the cognitive
sciences and is largely responsible for the modern field of psycholinguistics.
The most profound concept contained within Chomsky’s theory is that language, specifically grammar,
is innate. He states that language stems from a deep understanding and organizing structure within the
human brain. This is not to say that people are born with words or even a particular grammar, but rather
that human minds are pre-wired to understand the world through language. All thoughts and concepts
are given shape through language, and there is a remarkable similarity in the underlying grammar
among the world’s languages, despite the obvious differences at the surface level. This system within
the brain does not appear to be localized in a specific part of the brain’s anatomy, although certain brain
structures are associated with particular aspects of language; instead, the mental grammar is a function
of the brain’s naturally evolved information-organizing processes.
Chomsky identified language as consisting of two levels of structure: surface structures recognizable as
the words and sentences used in communication, and so-called “deep” structures of underlying
generative principles. These deep structures link directly to emotions, concepts, and meaning, which
are then translated into words and sentences at the surface level.
Prior to Chomsky, most linguists assumed that language arose through social interaction and was a
learned mechanism for communicating needs and desires. Following in the behaviorist tradition, the
internal, mental states and construction of language were ignored in favor of an exclusive focus on the
input and associated output utterances. However, children are able to create grammatically complex
and largely accurate sentences at a very early age without ever having been explicitly taught grammar.
Not only that, but the majority of the language to which children are exposed is broken, elliptical, and
contains considerable omissions and implied/understood information. That children can absorb this
language and then create novel, grammatically correct utterances implies an unconscious deduction of
the underlying rules of grammar. This ability is cross-cultural and spans all linguistic backgrounds.
Children seem to have an innate knowledge of what sorts of grammatical operations and
transformations can be performed, and they apply these archetypical understandings based on the rules
they deduce from the language they are exposed to.
Children’s early ability to acquire fluency and language is a product of the mental “plasticity”
(flexibility/malleability) inherent in childhood. Adults, on the other hand, have largely solidified their
mental grammar and must thus go through a process of translation to learn a new language. Children do
not need this intermediary step; their minds are open to new linguistic structures and their innate,
underlying understanding of grammar is able to assimilate multiple linguistic systems. The fact that
young children are able to learn two, three, or even four languages simultaneously, with very little
difficulty in keeping the grammar systems and syntax separate, is a testament to the developing mind’s
natural readiness to learn language. In Chomsky’s words, “Learning language is something like
undergoing puberty. You don’t learn to do it; you don’t do it because you see other people do it; you are
just designed to do it at a certain time."[1]
The key when teaching children versus adults is that children need only be given the tools necessary to
promote their own linguistic development. Their minds are primed to learn language, and so long as the
environment is conducive and they are given sufficient opportunity and exposure, they will very
quickly pick up the new language. Children have a free ability to develop fluency, while adults must
rely on learned phrases and regimented responses. This limits adults’ creative potential in the new
language until a certain syntactic/lexical threshold is passed. In other words, adults must learn more
and more language until they finally “get it” and can proceed freely and creatively in the new language.
Children instinctively “get it” and simply need the tools and scaffolding provided by caring speakers of
the second language in order to develop fluency and free creative use of the new language. From the
beginning of their English language learning experience, children should be given the tools and
opportunity for free expression in the new language.

[1] Noam Chomsky, Language and Problems of Knowledge – The Managua Lectures, page 174.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Neuroscience
It has been said that if the mind were simple enough for us to understand, then we would
be too simple-minded to understand it. While this axiom may be true, recent advances in
brain imaging through PET, SPECT, fMRI, DT-MRI, MEG, and other scanning
techniques have unlocked some of the mysteries of neural processing and brain activity.
Along with these imaging techniques, cognitive neuroscience has made great headway
toward understanding the process of neural development with age.
The brain is an amazing organ, and despite claims of its coming obsolescence as computers continue to
advance in processing power according to Moore’s Law, each new level of understanding of the brain’s
function opens new mysteries and prompts new questions about how this wrinkled, folded, and layered
collection of 100 billion neurons makes sense of the world. The mind and body interact as a dynamic
system. Perception, motor activity, attention, memory, language, and emotions all function together as
an integrated and interconnected whole throughout the learning process and life itself. Deciphering how
all of this comes together is the primary goal of the field of cognitive neuroscience.
Most applicable to the study of language learning in children, and indeed all learning, are the twin
processes of creating new synaptic connections and myelination. There are between 100 and 500
trillion synapses in an adult human brain. A synapse is the space between an axon and a dendrite where
neurons interact (axons and dendrites are the signal transmitters and receivers in neurons; see figure 1.4
below). A synaptic connection is formed when a signal is sent from the axon of one neuron to the
dendrite of another. This signal travels to the cell body of the receiving neuron, and if it is sufficiently
strong, it is then passed on to other neurons in a cascade that leads to action. When a new behavior is
practiced, the brain creates new synaptic connections along the neural pathways responsible for the
behavior. Initially these connections are relatively weak, but as the behavior is practiced they become
strengthened, and more synaptic connections are generated. As these connections are utilized, the body
begins to insulate the axonal signaling pathways in a fatty substance called myelin.

Figure 1.4: Anatomy of a Neuron

Myelin is an electrically insulating sheath that forms around axonal nerve fibers. Early in life, this
sheath is quite thin throughout most of the brain, allowing for a great deal of what is termed “neural
plasticity”. This plasticity enables the developing brain to easily create new connections and neural
pathways, modify existing pathways, and dismantle unused connections. This creation and dismantling
process is extremely important in creating efficient neural networks that facilitate functions, thought,
and activity. There is a trade off, however. Thin myelin sheaths result in low signaling strength and
speed along the axons. So while the brain can make new connections easily, these connections are not
very strong or efficient. Increased insulation from myelin sheaths improves signal strength, speed, and
efficiency. In young children, as the brain is developing, plasticity is paramount. The brain is
continuously creating and dismantling neural networks as new stimuli are encountered and response
strategies are tested. As the brain matures and response strategies are proven successful, these neural
pathways are solidified with increased synaptic connections and further reinforced and improved
through myelination.
The brain is not physically mature until at least 10-12 years of age, which coincides with Piaget’s final
stage of development: the Formal Operational stage. However, refinements to the brain’s internal
structure continue even after it has matured. The process of creating and reinforcing new connections
continues throughout life, but is markedly slowed after childhood, particularly in areas relating to
language.
Due to the way the brain grows and matures through the neural connection and reinforcement processes
outlined above, the critical period for developing true native-like phonology (pronunciation and
phonetics) begins to decline around age 6. For morphology (inflection) and syntax (word order), the
critical period usually ends around age 15. However, exposure to different phonological,
morphological, and syntactic systems early in life can provide a working model to incorporate later
systems. That is to say, learning multiple languages early can facilitate later language learning and
phonological adaptation. However, the critical periods remain strong guidelines as neural pathways and
connections are created and reinforced in the brain, and the connections are bolstered through the
process of myelination.
The brain is best described as a neural network. It processes information, but it also interprets that
information and develops and assesses strategies for dealing with the world. Information is brought in
through the senses and processed. As outputs and responses are performed successfully and correctly,
they are reinforced in the brain and learning occurs. This can be as simple as a baby reaching for a
favorite toy and successfully grabbing it, or as complex as an actor successfully memorizing and
reciting a long soliloquy. It is this natural patterning and reinforcement mechanism that allows students
of language to apply new rules as they learn. However, because of the reinforcement system, young
students typically do not apply generalized rules; rather, they approach each situation as novel until a
sufficient store of experiences has accrued, at which point rules may become generalized. This is
supported by research showing that students learn irregular past-tense verb forms at roughly the same
rate as they apply the “verb + ed” rule, at least until enough instances of “verb + ed” are reinforced to
allow the brain to intuitively recognize a generalized pattern. Once this generalized pattern is
internalized, it will often be over-used, leading children to create words such as “knowed” and “goed”.
However, this does not mean that such errors are necessarily a bad thing. They demonstrate a limited,
but sound, understanding of English grammatical convention. This over-generalization is an indication
that the child’s mind recognizes that there is a general rule in play, and it is only a matter of time and
refinement until it is used correctly and appropriately.
Most students will go through a period of exchanging one error for another as they develop their
understanding of the language step by step. Each error, or shift in the kinds of errors, should be
assessed by the teacher as either a positive step forward, which should be encouraged while helping the
student to further refine the rules and structure in play, or a negative step backward, which may require
more intensive, direct intervention to limit the regressive change. It is important that incorrect learning
is not allowed to be reinforced in the brain, otherwise fossilization can occur. Fossilization is the
process of strengthening and solidifying incorrect language. At a neurological level, it is the synaptic
reinforcement and increased myelination of inaccurate solutions to linguistic problems, and as such, it
can be very hard to undo.

Topic 1: Overview of Theory

Summary of Overview of Theory
To pull these theories together, once the sensorimotor system is sufficiently practiced to become
second-nature, the developing child begins the next phase of cognitive development: language.
Throughout this entire process of growth and development, the infant is exposed to and absorbs large
quantities of language. In time, the body’s speech mechanism is utilized to express needs, wants, and
thoughts verbally. With remarkable rapidity, these first utterances grow in form and complexity into the
myriad phrases and expressions that babies use to get what they want and tell others how they are
feeling. Around the age of two to three, once the underlying grammar system is internally understood,
there is an explosion of language development. Children acquire new words at a tremendous rate and
very quickly utilize their expanding vocabulary, often in novel, but accurate, ways. This transference of
language from one context to another is a property of the mind’s linguistic plasticity. This language-
acquiring mechanism can be utilized by second-language teachers if their students are young enough.
With older children and adolescents, the acquisition must be reinforced and augmented with direct
instruction.
Humans are not born with language. They are, however, born with learning mechanisms, innate
strategies, and neurological structures designed to facilitate language acquisition and use. They are able
to quickly apply input information to their mental grammar to learn the language(s) to which they are
exposed. This is done unconsciously in a manner consistent with Stephen Krashen’s theory of language
acquisition: exposure to the language, combined with both an opportunity and a motivation to use it,
initiates a natural process of language acquisition. That is, children must recognize the sounds they hear
as communicative language; then, through practice, they can begin to apply the structures and
vocabulary they hear to their own communicative attempts based on their internal linguistic
mechanisms. All of this, of course, must be done in a safe, accepting, and encouraging environment
with the help of more knowledgeable peers and adults, most notably the teacher: you!

Introduction to Language Acquisition and the Developing Child

As shown in Topic 1, there are considerable developmental, psychological, and biological factors
involved in the learning process. Topic 2 will break these theories down and combine them with
classroom practices for students of various age ranges. It is important for teachers to be aware of the
underlying factors that affect every child, but it is equally important to see how these learning theories
come into play in the classroom environment.
In this topic, approaches to teaching students are broken into four age categories: Pre-Elementary (ages
2-6), Early Elementary (ages 7-9), Late Elementary (ages 10-12), and Adolescence (ages 13+). These
ranges were chosen based on a mix of criteria drawn from Jean Piaget’s stages of development,
research into the Critical Period Hypothesis, as well as standard school divisions from kindergarten to
high school. The section for each category will cover the associated developmental and cognitive issues
at hand, as well as strategies for engaging, teaching, and managing students of each age group.

opic 2: Language Acquisition and the

Developing Child
Pre-Elementary (Ages 2 - 6)
While any parent or educator (or anyone who is familiar with children and
understands even a little bit about how they grow and develop) will quickly
point out that this age range encompasses a tremendous breadth of physical and
cognitive ability; it is also the most important age range for developing
language.
Children who learn a language before the age of six are likely to become fully
fluent in all aspects of the language, including the ever-elusive native level of
pronunciation. The period up to age six is considered critical for developing
native-like pronunciation. After age six, the ability to naturally acquire the
appropriate phonetics of a second language drops off precipitously. There are a
number of factors which cause and influence this decline in ability. These factors lie in the interplay
between mental and physical functions.
Speech is a complex operation. It involves a number of cognitive and physical processes. A thought
must be generated, appropriate connections to vocabulary must be made, the conscious and
unconscious grammar must act upon these words to form intelligible phrases and sentences, and then
the sounds of these words must be correctly formed by the mouth and voice. It is this physical action
that creates pronunciation. By around age six, the body has had the opportunity to practice the sounds
of the languages to which the speaker has been exposed. Babies and young children scream, yell,
giggle, laugh, and repeat sounds, words, and phrases over and over during their development. As the
children get older, they speak and express themselves with greater and greater complexity. In doing so,
they are practicing all of the different sounds (phonemes) used in the language, and they are combining
them in innumerable ways. This ability can be quite easily transferred to a second language that shares
the same essential sounds, but unfortunately, very few languages are identical in their phonetic
structure. Once the motor skills used to create the sounds of the languages the child knows have been
sufficiently practiced, the control mechanism to initiate the cascade of action necessary to reproduce
each sound becomes solidified neurologically. These neural pathways become strengthened and
reinforced in the brain and form the basis for future attempts at pronunciation. This is not a sudden or
inflexible process, but it has been widely studied and shown that pronunciation is one of the first
aspects of language to become solidified. This explains why speech therapists advise that parents work
with their children as early as possible if there are signs of a speech impediment or pronunciation
difficulty.
It is important to note that although intellectual ability improves as children age, it is not accurate to
correlate age with linguistic ability beyond the inherent cognitive limitations associated with each
developmental stage. Younger students do not necessarily have lower language ability than do older
students. In fact, due to their mental plasticity and natural openness to language acquisition, younger
students will generally have an easier time learning a second language than will their older
counterparts. While you shouldn’t expect or demand multi-paragraph essays from your 5- and 6-year
old students, keep in mind that they have the ability to master spoken pronunciation and syntax quite
readily.
Children of pre-elementary age offer a variety of unique challenges to the teacher. There are a number
of limitations inherent in early childhood. Some of these limitations are physical in nature, having to do
with motor skills and muscle control. Motor skill and muscle control limitations can manifest in a
number of ways, from the inability to color within the lines to having to go to the bathroom right now.
Given the potential for unpleasantness with the latter of these two examples, it is advisable to establish
a bathroom procedure on the first day and reinforce the language and procedure frequently until all
students understand how to inform the teacher that they have to go.
Other limitations are cognitive in nature. The most obvious cognitive limitation for young learners is
attention span. Young children are learning from everything in their environment, not just the teacher.
In the words of Jean Piaget, “[young children] want to understand themselves and everything around
them.” This means that they are absorbing enormous amounts of information about anything and
everything they can perceive, but it also means that it can be very difficult to hold their attention.
A good rule of thumb is that a child’s attention span grows at a rate of about 3 to 5 minutes for every
year of life. So, a 3-year-old child should be able to maintain concentration on a particular task for a
maximum of about 10-15 minutes, while a 6-year-old child would likely be able to concentrate for no
more than 20-30 minutes. This is not absolute, and many factors can affect this range, but it gives you a
general idea of how often you should plan to change activities depending on the age of your students.
Remember that these lengths of time are maximums under ideal circumstances. In a busy classroom
filled with distractions, it is unlikely that students will be able to remain focused on a particular task for
this long unless it is particularly engaging. Plan extra activities or even take short stretching and
exercise breaks to help keep students focused and on task.
Two of the most important factors for maintaining attention are interest and ability. If the student is
interested and able to perform the task that is asked of him, he will be able to concentrate on it for
longer. Uninteresting tasks, as you can well imagine, require more mental effort from the students in
order to remain attentive. Likewise, tasks that are difficult or beyond the students’ ability are more
cognitively taxing, and therefore burn through the potential attention span much more quickly. With
this in mind, new and challenging tasks should be offset with more familiar and easier tasks which the
students can successfully perform and complete to gain a sense of achievement.
Once students of this age acquire a new capability, they apply it as often as possible. This sort of
immediate application and repeated performance is very important to reinforce new abilities. Practicing
a new skill is critical for students of any age, but it is of particular importance for younger students who
lack the memory capacity to learn something new and retain the knowledge without immediate
reinforcement. This is important to remember because many new teachers feel uncomfortable repeating
the same song, phrase, or other piece of language over and over again. You should certainly be aware of
your students’ body language and facial expressions to gauge their interest, but as a general rule, the
teacher will tire of an enjoyable activity long before the students do. Persevere and be sure to give your
students the practice they need to fully reinforce what they have learned. It is also beneficial to return
to previously learned skills and vocabulary on a periodic basis to continue to reinforce those words,
phrases, and grammatical elements. Teaching young students is a process of teach, practice, revisit, and
repeat.
Play is an important aspect of child development. As such, much classroom teaching of pre-elementary
students closely resembles play. Activities should be varied and engage as many senses as possible. If
more senses are engaged by an activity, more information will be retained and internalized. Students
will want to move around, pick things up, manipulate objects, view pictures, and listen to songs as they
learn the language. Learning at this age is a natural process, so it is best to structure lessons to take
advantage of what your students naturally want to do. Children are intrinsically motivated to learn and
do not need any rewards from adults to do so, as long as the activities are engaging and reasonably
short. Of course, praise and encouragement should always be freely given to show students that they
are on the right track.
According to Stephen Krashen’s research, it is not helpful or useful to directly teach any grammar at
this point. Students of this age are absorbing language as they are exposed to it, and they are still
sorting out the relationship between the grammar they perceive and their own internal, mental
grammar. They will be very good at deducing syntactic structure and the underlying grammar without
direct grammar teaching. Teachers should be aware of this propensity for language acquisition and seek
to take advantage of it. Krashen’s model is based upon the notion that exposure to large amounts of
graded (comprehensible) and contextualized input is far more important for language learning and
acquisition than is any expected and evaluated production of output. The language that goes in will
eventually come out, and the more that goes in, the better the eventual output will be. Given the
importance of language input, teachers should create the most immersive English environment they can
in the classroom. This means that even teachers who are able to speak the students’ native language
should refrain from doing so. There are several creative and subtle ways you can emphasize English in
the classroom: put up English posters and word lists; play English children’s songs in the background
during coloring or cutting and pasting activities; and engage your students in conversation as often as
possible. Even if they do not understand everything you are saying, they are learning from the structure
of your speech and your inflection and intonation. Grade your language to use more common and
understandable words and phrases, but do not speak in broken language or create a pidgin (hybrid
language) with the student’s native language. Stick to English and provide as much exposure to whole
language as possible for your students.
Topic 2: Language Acquisition and the
Developing Child
Early Elementary (Ages 7 - 9)
Children in early elementary school are beginning to enter the Concrete Operational
stage of development. Along with this stage comes a basic understanding of logic and
causality as well as a limited ability to consider the thoughts of other people. Language
learning is still very rapid, but some new pronunciations may prove difficult to master.
If a student’s first exposure to English comes at this age, then sounds and phonemes
that do not appear in the native language may require some effort to produce correctly.
Generally, however, language can still be acquired with remarkable facility compared to
older learners.
As the title of this topic implies, students of this age are typically enrolled in elementary school. As
such, they are familiar with study routines and what is expected in the classroom. They may not be
familiar with ESL classes, however. In fact, it is possible (as it is with any age) that they have never
encountered a native speaker of English before. If this is the case, then take the time to introduce
yourself and your home culture, keeping in mind your students’ language ability. It may be useful to
bring in some pictures or items from your home country. They will be interested to know a bit about
you and where you come from. Establishing this personal connection is very important for creating a
comfortable classroom rapport. As always, you should seek to create a warm and welcoming classroom
environment. Reassure them that you won’t bite; you’re kind, friendly, and there to help!
Students of this age thrive on praise and leadership. They are developing a sense of self and want to be
the first, fastest, best, biggest, tallest, and smartest among their peers. Assigning class leaders on a
rotational basis and giving students classroom responsibilities are good ways to tap into this desire for
recognition. Since all of your students will be seeking acknowledgment, particularly from the teacher, it
is important that you distribute praise fairly and evenly. Certainly, some students will be stronger or
better behaved than others, but you can always find something positive to acknowledge about each
student. Do it honestly, however. Students will see through false praise and may feel alienated from the
teacher if they do not feel genuinely appreciated.
One factor affecting second language development in children around this age is their general lack of
overall knowledge. Given their limited life experience, students of this age quite reasonably have a
limited amount of knowledge to draw upon. It is much easier for language learners to adapt existing
knowledge about their own language to the new language than it is to encode completely novel
concepts without a related connection to their native tongue. It is therefore useful to find out what your
students know about their own language and use that knowledge as a starting point. Teachers can
facilitate learning by relating new content to familiar matters. If your students are interested in sports or
animals, for example, then build your lessons around language related to those topics. Use the
knowledge and experience they bring to the classroom and build from there. This is much easier than
having to explain everything from scratch, especially in a language the students may not be very
familiar with!
Story telling is a great way to introduce language to students of this age. They
are able to begin to develop narratives of their own and enjoy using their
imaginations to envision stories and fairy tales. Stories also tap into the brain’s
natural mechanism for creating and organizing narrative. Memories are more
easily encoded when they are part of a story structure or follow a particular
course. In fact, Dr. Harry Jerison, a professor of psychology and biology at the University of California
at Los Angeles states that “We need language more to tell stories than to direct actions [e.g. make
tools].”[1] Dr. Jerison’s statement ties in well with the Waldorf education system supported by Jean
Piaget. Waldorf schools promote early literacy-building through story telling, music, singing, games,
and speech. The idea is to nourish the imagination and create a love of language that will be carried
into later life. Given the mind’s predisposition toward creating narrative structures, and young
children’s active imaginations and love of stories, it only makes sense for ESL teachers to take
advantage of their students’ natural inclinations.
Routines are very important at this age as well. Tying in with the students’ desire to be recognized for
their accomplishments and achievements is a need for them to know what is expected of them. Simple
organizational aids such as assigned seats are helpful so students have their own space and know where
to go upon entering the classroom. Children are familiar with being in a classroom at this age, but you
should take the time to establish routines so that they become familiar with your classroom. Having a
routine creates predictability and allows the students to mentally prepare for the tasks they will be
doing. This is not to say that you should be methodical or monotonous in your daily plans and lessons,
but it is helpful for the students to know what to expect. For example, the students will feel comfortable
if they know that when it is story time, the teacher will sit in a particular spot and they must all sit in
their assigned spaces around the teacher. As children repeat everyday events, they come to expect the
sequence. Teachers should talk them through the routine as well. As the students perform their routine
tasks, the teacher’s commentary and direction will help them to associate the language with the activity.
Vocabulary building and reinforcement is very important at this age. With all young learners, the key is
to expose them to as much language as possible so that they can take advantage of their brains’ natural
facility for acquiring language and deducing structure. It is helpful to verbally explain everything you
do. Keep a running monologue as you perform various actions, but keep the language as natural as
possible. For example, if the room is a bit hot and you want to open a window, say to the students, “Is it
hot in here? I’m going to open a window. <open the window> There, I opened the window. Now it
won’t be so hot in here.” This kind of verbal connection to actions can be very helpful for students to
hear as they build their vocabularies and deduce the appropriate syntax for statements and questions.
When you give instructions, accompany the verbal directions with a demonstration of the action to
reinforce the vocabulary. Also identify any new or unfamiliar items you might bring to class to help
build the students’ vocabulary. It is even useful to attach labels to items around the room (doors,
windows, desks, pictures and posters on the walls, etc.). Introduce your students to as much vocabulary
as possible as their minds are still sponges for new words at this age. They are able to readily assimilate
new words and phrases without necessarily having to formally study.
As they become more logical in their thinking and come to understand the nature of cause and effect,
children of this age become very active learners and problem solvers. They will exhibit some cognitive
limitations associated with attention span and working memory capacity, but they will continually
create and test strategies to overcome their processing limitations and knowledge deficiencies. As
students create and test new linguistic strategies, teachers should pay attention not just to the errors that
are made, but also to any underlying patterns to the errors. Sometimes a wide range of seemingly
unconnected errors can be traced back to a single piece of missing knowledge or the lack of successful
integration or application of a particular concept.

[1] Harry J. Jerison, "Paleoneurology and the Evolution of Mind”, Scientific American, January, 1976.
Topic 2: Language Acquisition and the
Developing Child
Late Elementary (Ages 10 - 12)
Students of this age are well versed in the ins and outs of the
school system, so they fully know what is expected in a
classroom environment. Of course, that doesn’t mean they won’t
push the boundaries of acceptable behavior, but they’ve been in
school long enough to know how it works. By age 10, children
are well into the Concrete Operational stage of development and
have a good, logical grasp of the world. They lack some of the
subtler understandings that come with increased age,
experience, and development, but they have lost the “magical”
thinking of their younger years. They are still able to acquire
language through Exposure, Motivation, and Opportunity, but
new linguistic structures now require some effort of study and
practice to be internalized. Students who are first encountering
English at this age will need to spend some time and effort
learning the language, unlike their younger counterparts who
will absorb the language through simple immersion. This is not
to say that language acquisition is no longer a factor as it
remains a powerful force for picking up a new language;
however, greater effort is required on the part of the student if
they are beginning to learn a second language in late elementary
school.
As mentioned previously, the onset of puberty coincides with an increase in abstract thinking ability
and a move to the Formal Operational stage of development; however, it also coincides with a decline
in the mind’s plasticity and the correlated decline in the relative ease of language acquisition. Children
in the later portions of this age-range are able to perform more complex mental operations but will need
to put more effort into studying a second language. It is around this age that formal grammar can begin
to be taught, provided the students are of sufficient linguistic ability to understand the concepts.
However, grammar teaching should always be secondary to vocabulary and conversation skills. It’s not
that grammar should not be taught, but an emphasis on grammar teaching can be de-motivating for
students and can also lead to a tendency to overuse the monitor function as they become overly
concerned with grammatical perfection. But at this age, with sufficient background in the language,
students can begin to dissect the language to understand it more deeply. Sentence diagramming,
identification of the parts of speech, and changing sentences from statements into questions are all
some examples of the types of grammar teaching that can be beneficial.
Peer approval is becoming more important by this age. Students in late elementary school still seek
approval from the teacher, but they are also establishing social networks among their classmates. These
social networks tend to be fairly fluid and transient as the children test out new relationships. It is
important for the teacher to be aware of the increasing importance of peer approval and to avoid
alienating or ostracizing children who may be taking their first tentative steps toward forming their own
social identities. Class cohesion and inclusiveness are on the one hand becoming more difficult to
achieve and maintain, and on the other hand becoming more important for a well-functioning
classroom. Group and team activities can help build bonds among the students, particularly if the
members of the groups are shuffled periodically. Class-wide rewards are also useful in bringing the
students together. Younger learners have difficulty comprehending the impact that their actions may
have on the group at large, but by this age students can understand that they are part of a whole.
Rewarding the entire class for good behavior can bring the students onside with you and with their
classmates.
By late elementary age, most children are very familiar with the school system. This can be good and
bad. On the good side, students fully know what is expected of them while they are in school. They are
used to homework, tests, and appropriate behavior for the classroom. However, school can also have an
institutionalizing effect that begins to manifest around this age. What this means is that as students
come to understand the mechanics of testing, grades, and scholastic achievement, they can begin to see
the classroom as something of an office or workplace where tasks are completed in order to gain
rewards (good grades being the most obvious reward). This approach to learning typically results in an
over-emphasis on knowledge retention to the derogation of deeper levels of understanding. Learning
that occurs in this context is rarely carried over to practice beyond its successful recitation for tests and
assessment, and it often remains at the first or second (Knowledge or Comprehension) levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning. To be proficient in a second language, an Application level of
understanding is crucial, otherwise the student will not have a deep enough grasp of the language to be
able to use it successfully in an unstructured situation.
The problem with much classroom learning is that many new skills are not learned in what Bandura or
Vygotsky might call a “community of authentic practice”. Instead, children develop in a school culture
that does not emphasize the connection and transfer of knowledge to its use in the outside world. What
is learned in the classroom tends to stay in the classroom unless it is demonstrated to have a real-world
application. This issue is endemic in many school systems around the world, and it carries over to
language classrooms as the students become accustomed to this mode of learning and scholastic
achievement. It is therefore of great importance to make the classroom environment as authentic and
contextualized as possible. Create role plays and simulations that mirror real situations that the students
might encounter in an English-speaking country or with native English speakers. Ideally, you can have
them practice speaking and interacting in real situations or environments. This can be difficult if the
students are of a very low level of competency or if there are not many English speakers in the area, but
if it is possible, it can be a great way to connect what is learned in the classroom to the broader world.
Even if field trips to interact with English-speakers at a local store or restaurant are not possible, you
can arrange to have your students interact with other English teachers in your school to give them some
authentic practice. Send students on errands to retrieve things for you, or have them ask another
English teacher a question and report the answer. Do it naturally and seemingly as a spontaneous event
so the students do not have time to become nervous or apprehensive. Of course, it is always a good idea
to check with the other teachers before disrupting their classes or break time, and it is also helpful to
quickly review some of the language the students will need when you send them out on an errand. Just
a simple review of how to ask to borrow something would be sufficient. The authentic practice gained
through unstructured interaction with a native English speaker will go a long way toward reinforcing
the language skills practiced in the classroom.
Another way to help students see the applicability of what they are learning in the classroom to real
environments is to involve them in the lesson planning process. This approach is based on the
Communicative Method and the idea is to treat the classroom as a collaborative environment, similar to
the apprenticeship model propounded by Lev Vygotsky. Rather than the teacher assigning tasks from
the top down, the students are involved in generating the types of language they will practice. This
requires the students to be of a certain level of competence in the new language, but it can be quite
successful if they are sufficiently proficient in English. The students, with teacher assistance,
brainstorm some situations and contexts where they feel English might be valuable and useful. They
should try to think of situations that are immediately applicable to their own lives, rather than simply
thinking of other scenarios they’ve practiced in English class before. The intent is for the teacher to
help the students learn what they want to learn. This does not remove the teacher from the lesson
planning process, nor does it eliminate the need for more structured learning; however, by involving the
students in their own learning, the language is given an element of authenticity that it might not
otherwise carry.
Late elementary age students can be very enjoyable to teach. They are becoming more competent in
everything they do, and while learning a new language may not come as effortlessly as it does for
younger students, they are still able to acquire language quite rapidly. They have the increased
confidence and ability that comes with being older students, but they are generally quite manageable as
they have not yet begun the rebellious phases of boundary-testing that mark adolescence. They are still
focused on the teacher and seek approval and praise, but at the same time they are developing a sense
of themselves. As they do so, they create goals and objectives that can be harnessed to drive them to
practice new skills (such as a second language) until they have mastered them. They are beginning to
see the role that they can play in their own growth and development, and will often have a strong desire
to do things right and see projects through to completion so long as they are sufficiently motivated to
learn.

Topic 2: Language Acquisition and the

Developing Child
Adolescence (13+)
Adolescence marks a period of dramatic change for any child. It is the
transitional period from childhood to adulthood, and as such it is fraught
with momentous swings and potential pitfalls. Emotions run high and
hormonal changes can alter mood, outlook, and relationships. Along with
rapid physical changes, there are also significant cognitive changes that
affect learning and thought. Teaching adolescents can be a very
rewarding, if somewhat challenging, experience. Most teachers are not
thinking of teenagers when they consider teaching children, but there are
enough elements of childhood remaining in adolescence that it is
worthwhile to make note of the challenges and considerations for
teaching students of adolescent age.
By the time students have reached adolescence, they are coming into Piaget’s final, Formal
Operational, stage of cognitive development. This means that they are able to think abstractly and
perform mental operations without the need to refer to anything concrete. They can mentally test
hypotheses and perform thought experiments. This mental ability allows teachers to utilize their
students’ imaginations to create scenarios and to make analogies. Along with this ability to think
abstractly comes a developing worldview. Much as younger children are testing theories about how the
physical world works, adolescents are developing and testing hypotheses about society, politics, and
how the human world works. They will go through many phases and even some rapid redirections as
they attempt to piece together a cohesive outlook, but it is in adolescence that the groundwork for their
maturing worldview comes into being.
Caught up in the quest for identity and independence, adolescents are very passionate about their
interests. When these interests coincide with the teacher’s curriculum, then adolescents can be a joy to
teach. When these interests lay outside the scope of a particular lesson or entire course, then it can
prove to be a challenge to motivate the students to focus their energies on the task at hand. Adolescents
who have a strong, personal desire to learn English will work very hard at it. However, any lack of
success (whether perceived or real) can prove very frustrating for a motivated adolescent student. It is
important that the teacher provide regular positive feedback and show that progress is being made.
Constructive criticism can be beneficial as well, just so long as it is more constructive than critical. As
intensely as adolescents can feel motivated to pursue their interests, they can also very quickly be
turned off from learning something that becomes unpopular or proves so daunting that it damages their
developing self image. Some examples of motivations that adolescents may have for wishing to learn
English include plans to attend an English-language university, a desire to enjoy English-language
movies, music, and books, or an intention to travel the world. At this age, they are beginning to think
about their future plans, hopes, and dreams, and they can see that what they do now can have a positive
impact on their future success. On the other hand, they are not as likely to consider that what they do
now can also have a negative impact on their future success. Herein lies the greatest pitfall of
adolescence.
For adolescents who are not intrinsically motivated to learn English (that is, those students who are in
your classroom because they must be, not because they want to be), a number of factors can arise that
inhibit their learning or intensify their unwillingness to learn. Students who have no intrinsic
motivation to learn English may be more susceptible to peer pressure to be rebellious in class; they may
develop a strong exclusionary tie to their native language (refusing to learn another language because
they think it will diminish their own language); they might also deny any applicability of the
knowledge (“I don’t need to learn this.” “I’ll never use this.”). The key for teachers here is to show that
there is some applicability. But it is important to do so in such a way that it doesn’t appear
confrontational or contradictory to any strongly held beliefs the student may have. If the student, for
example, holds a powerful nationalist pride and feels that the spread of English is a form of
imperialism, then it would not be wise to bombard the student with Western pop-culture in an attempt
to show the relevance of the English language. Such tactics are very likely to have the opposite effect
and strengthen the student’s resistance to learning the language. Promote language as a form of
knowledge and show that knowledge is a form of power. Even if the student strongly resists English as
a matter of national or ethnic pride, you can show that learning another language opens the door for
greater expression of that pride. Demonstrate this by giving examples of national heroes, leaders, and
thinkers who have all learned other languages. It is best to work with adolescent students rather than
against them. Decipher their goals and ambitions, and help them to achieve those goals and fulfill those
ambitions.
Cases where there is a stated and explicit resistance to learning English are, fortunately, rare. Usually,
unmotivated adolescent students simply don’t see a reason to learn English. You can help to motivate
them by showing the benefits of learning the language. Use some of the examples that motivate those
students who are driven to learn the language: opportunities for education abroad, understanding of
English cultural items (movies, books, music, etc.), possible job opportunities in multi-national
industries or in other countries, and as a tool for communication when traveling. You can point out that
nearly 20% of the world’s population speak English as a first or subsequent language, and it is spoken
in over 130 countries worldwide. It is, without question, a very useful linguistic tool. If you can show
your students how learning English can benefit to them, then that will go a long way toward motivating
them to participate in class and put in the effort to learn the language.
Motivation is important for students of any age, but it can be of particular consequence for adolescents,
not only because of their fickle passions, but also because learning a language becomes more difficult
as children get older. Adolescent students may have enrolled in an English program at the same time as
a younger sibling, but will show much slower progress without considerable effort on their part. This
alone can prove to be de-motivating because of the tendency for sibling rivalry. In fact, beyond any
cognitive language acquisition limitations associated with reinforcement of the existing linguistic
system in the brain, other factors inhibiting older students from learning a language can include such
diverse factors as being out of practice at using their internal language acquisition mechanisms, other
distractions and demands on their time, and a feeling of self-consciousness that is largely absent in
early childhood. This last factor is of notable importance for adolescents who are in the process of
forming their mature selves. Image is very central to children of this age, and fear of appearing to
perform more poorly than their peers can have a strong inhibiting effect. Once again, regular progress
reports and positive feedback can help offset this inhibition. Show the students that they are
progressing and give them opportunities to demonstrate success. Do not judge them based on the
performance of their classmates, but look at each student’s progress individually. Natural linguistic
aptitude and previous exposure to other languages play an increasingly important role as students
develop through adolescence and beyond.
While the Critical Period Hypothesis proposes firm age limits for developing certain native-like
language abilities, this should not be taken as absolute, nor should it be used as a limitation for
expectations. Rather, understanding the difficulties associated with learning a language after the first
decade of life should help teachers to gain an understanding of the difficulties their students face.
Pronunciation at this age will not develop naturally; it will require dedicated practice. Students who are
first exposed to a second language after late adolescence generally have some difficulty in establishing
fluid, native-like syntax. Drills and conscious practice are necessary to help them sort out how the new
language is structured. In short, more effort is required on the part of both students and teacher to help
adolescent and older learners successfully develop their abilities in the new language.
Adolescent students should be encouraged to study and practice at home. They should be used to
homework by this age, but they will have a number of demands on their time as they move into high
school and, in some cases, begin to prepare for post-secondary studies. Teachers should be aware of
their students’ workload when assigning homework tasks and setting expectations, but they should also
make their students aware that they will have to work at learning English in order to succeed.

Topic 2: Language Acquisition and the

Developing Child
Summary of Language Acquisition and the Developing Child
Remarkable changes happen as children develop from infancy, through childhood, and into
adolescence. They undergo tremendous physical and cognitive growth. These rapid changes have a
profound impact on how teachers should approach the classroom for students of different ages. For
younger students, language will come quite naturally, but they will be easily distracted and unable to
concentrate on any particular activity for very long. As students age, their facility for effortlessly
acquiring language begins to decline, but this is offset by an increased ability to formally learn.
Attention span, working memory, and logical and abstract thinking all grow and develop, enabling
older students to apply more cognitive effort to learning. On the physical end, hormonal changes sweep
through adolescent students, completely upsetting their sense of self and their relation to the world. No
longer will they accept established norms and expectations at face value; teachers will have to earn
their trust and explain the benefit of everything they ask their adolescent students to do. Motivation
comes to require a more logical approach with concrete, tangible, and consequential benefits. It
requires a lot of exertion and introspection on the part of the teacher to prepare for such diverse classes,
but the rewards of helping children of any age to learn such a valuable tool as a second language far
outweigh the costs of the effort.
The games and activities contained within the Appendix of this module can be adapted for any age or
level, but some are more engaging for students of certain ages. Table 2.1 lists some of the favorite
games for each age range described in this topic. Feel free to deviate from this list and try various
games with different ages, but this will provide you with a guideline for using the games and activities
in your lessons. Table 2.2 provides a summary chart of the key characteristics and considerations for
each age group.

Table 2.1: Games and Activities by Age

Preferred Activities

Pre-Elementary Sliding Doors

Grab Bags

Crazy Walks

Pick a Card

Simon Says

Early Elementary Word Chain

Moving Memory

Tell the Tale

Gone Fishin’

Listen and Count

Late Elementary Verbal Charades

Catch the Answer

Telephone

Hot Potato

Tail of the Tale

Adolescence Red and Green

 Board Games

Pictionary/Charades

Searches and Scrambles

Other Games

Table 2.2: Age Considerations Summary Chart

Note: The following chart is available electronically in PDF format. Click here if you do not have
Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer.
*Please note that these ranges are under ideal circumstances with engaging material. It is still advisable
to break longer activities into smaller chunks and to take short breaks for stretching, discussion, or
other off-task activities.

ntroduction to Teaching Specific Skills

Teaching English as a Second Language involves teaching a variety of interconnected skills. While
much of the language will be picked up by young children during your day-to-day interaction, there are
certain skills that will need to be explicitly taught. A lot of what needs to be taught will be determined
by the age of your students as well as their linguistic background. For example, an ESL teacher in
Mexico will not have to spend much time teaching the English alphabet, whereas an ESL teacher in
Saudi Arabia or China will certainly have to do so. What your students know, and what they will need
to be taught, will vary considerably from one teaching situation to the next, but the general skills that
an ESL teacher of children could be expected to teach include the alphabet, phonemic awareness,
phonics, vocabulary, and literacy. Each of these skills requires different teaching strategies and
approaches.

Topic 3: Teaching Specific Skills

The Alphabet

The alphabet has been summarized as “meaningless marks

arbitrarily associated with meaningless sounds.” Arbitrary though they may seem, meaning is
eventually constructed out of these marks and the sounds they represent. It might be hard to remember,
but there was a time when you didn’t know what all the strange marks and symbols on a page meant. If
you think back to your early schooling, you will probably recall seeing banners of upper- and lower-
case letters strewn around the room. Perhaps you remember writing out long sequences of AAAAA…
aaaaa… BBBBB… bbbbb. These kinds of repetitive exposure and practice are how children learn to
recognize and write the letters of the alphabet. And, of course, there’s the alphabet song! Songs are
great for reinforcing new learning and there is no reason not to use a ready-made, well-known song to
teach something like the alphabet.
Depending on the age of your students, they will be practicing very different skills as they learn the
alphabet. Young children are still developing their motor skills and fine movements, so primarily they
will be learning how to draw the shapes that make up the English alphabet. Older students will have
developed the motor skills needed to draw the letters, but will still require some practice to master the
skill. Certain letters are harder to draw and harder to distinguish than others. Letters such as “b” and
“d” are quite easily confused, and even those students who have no difficulty distinguishing which is
which may take some time to be able to reliably draw one versus the other.
In addition to upper- and lower-case letters, some schools may require you to teach cursive writing.
Cursive can be difficult for new students of English to learn. Not only can it prove challenging to read,
but it can also be difficult to produce. Students who are still developing their fine motor skills
sufficiently to be able to write the standard, printed alphabet, may find cursive writing to be beyond
their capabilities. At a time when the teacher is laying the groundwork for future English studies,
overwhelming students with too much new information and too many new skills can prove
discouraging. Unless it is specifically in the school’s curriculum and you are required to teach it, only
teach cursive writing to those students who are interested and who have mastered the basic skills of
reading and writing the standard English alphabet. Cursive writing is a secondary skill that is perhaps
best left to more advanced, older students.
Students who are very new to English will have to do more than learn how to draw the letters; they will
also need to be taught what sounds each letter makes. This is most often done through a combination of
flashcards and drill. Teachers show each letter in sequence and the students practice making the sound.
Usually the letter will be practiced as a stand-alone item and also as part of a simple word such as
“cat”. As the students become more comfortable connecting each letter to its associated sound, the
teacher can move forward into proper reading and phonics.
While many European and North and South American students will be at least partially familiar with
the English alphabet (also called the “Roman alphabet”), students in many other parts of the world will
have an entirely different system of writing. Some writing systems are letter-based and phonetic, while
others are character and word based. Some read from left to right as is done in English, while others
read from top to bottom or right to left. All of these differences indicate new skills that must be taught.
It is certainly the case that the more similar the student’s own alphabet and writing system is to English,
the easier it will be for them to adapt to English writing.
With students of elementary age and older, you will primarily be teaching them how to adapt their
already developed reading and writing skills to a new language. However, for very young students, you
may be teaching them not merely how to adapt an existing skill, but actually teaching the skill itself. It
is possible that you may encounter students for whom English will be the first language they learn to
read and write. If this is the case, you will end up spending a lot of time with your students as they trace
letters and develop the fine motor skills they will need to write in any language. Whether they have
previous exposure to reading and writing or if they are learning the concepts for the first time, you will
have to start at the beginning and teach the English alphabet to

Topic 3: Teaching Specific Skills

Phonemic Awareness
Students who are very new to English need to be exposed to all aspects of the language. As mentioned
in the previous section, this includes the alphabet and writing system, but it also includes the
phonological system of the language. Students need to be taught to recognize the sounds they hear in
order to correctly discern what is being said and to correctly pronounce the words themselves. This is
especially important when it comes to recognizing meaningful sounds that do not occur in their native
language.
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. Phonemes can be represented by a single letter,
called a grapheme, or they can be a group of letters that combine to create a single sound. A phoneme
created with two letters is called a digraph (such as th, sh, ch, ow, or ea, for example), and
a trigraph if it contains three letters (such as ing, eau, or tch as in “watch”), and a tetragraph if it
contains four letters (such as ough or tion as in “ration”). Single-sound combinations longer than four
letters are very rare in any language and virtually nonexistent in English.
In order to correctly identify the words that they hear, and to differentiate words such as “rake” from
“lake”, or “berry” from “very”, students need to be made aware of the different sounds. The well
publicized difficulty Japanese and other Asian students have with differentiating “r” from “l” is not
simply a pronunciation issue. These two sounds do not carry a different meaning in Japanese; so for all
intents and purposes, they are the same sound for Japanese speakers. Thus, a Japanese student learning
English will have a very difficult time hearing the distinction and pronouncing these two letters
correctly and distinctly. Fortunately, pronunciation is one of the skills that young children are very
adept at picking up, so teachers of elementary age and younger students will have an easier time
teaching their students to recognize and produce the different phonemes in the English language.
However, beginning at around age six, this ability begins to taper off, and by puberty it will take some
intensive study for students to correctly produce all of the sounds used in spoken English.
Table 3.1 shows the 44 phonemes used in modern spoken English. They are divided into vowel
phonemes and consonant phonemes. Vowel phonemes are always voiced, while consonant phonemes
can be voiced (e.g. b and g) or unvoiced (e.g. p and s). Vowel sounds are created with the vocal chords
while the mouth is open. Consonant sounds, on the other hand, involve some restriction of the airflow
out of the mouth, whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced.

Table 3.1: English Phonemes

Rhyming (words with the same end sounds, such as pair, bear, share, and care) and alliteration (words
that begin with the same sound, the boy’s big blue beach ball, for example) are two ways to develop
and practice pronunciation and phonemic awareness; songs often make use of rhyme and can be a fun
way to practice these skills. The idea behind using rhyme and alliteration is to illustrate to students that
although two words may differ in only one sound, they carry a different meaning. If the sounds that
differ do not exist in the students’ native language, then it will take some practice for them to be able to
tell the words apart.
Isolation activities focusing on minimal pairs are another way to practice phonemic awareness.
Isolation activities involve saying a set of four or five words where one of the words is different from
the rest. A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ in only one sound, such as “luck” and “lock” or
“fry” and “fly”. Here the speaker must clearly enunciate each word and the listener must correctly
identify which word was different from the rest. For example, student A might say, “lock lock luck
lock,” and student B must identify that the third word, luck, was unlike the rest. To focus on developing
listening skills, the teacher can read the words to the class and each student should try to identify the
mismatched word. To focus on developing pronunciation skills, each student can take a turn reading the
words and the teacher and other students can pick out the word that is different. This can be a
challenging, but fun, activity.
As with many things pertaining to language learning and language acquisition, the younger your
students are, the less time you will need to spend on specific practice and drill. Very young students
will gain more from being immersed in English and having to communicate in the new language than
they will from repetitive drill and formal study. As the students get older, however, more and more
effort must be put in to learn new linguistic skills, and this includes not just pronunciation, but the
correct identification of the sounds they hear. If they cannot hear and distinguish the sound aurally, then
they will not be able to reproduce the sound consistently or accurately in their

Topic 3: Teaching Specific Skills

Phonics

Phonics is based around teaching the sounds of the English language and connecting those sounds to
their representative letters. It is a combination of teaching the alphabet (graphemes) and teaching
phonemic awareness. Phonics has had its share of controversy, most notably in the 1980s with the
“whole language” movement in many school systems in the English speaking world. Whole language
teaching emphasizes the whole word, rather than its component letters. In its pure form, students
receive very little direct instruction on connecting letters to sounds in whole language teaching. Instead,
they are shown words in context with the idea that they will connect the whole written word to its
meaning, much like speech is learned. It would seem, however, that the innate mechanism for learning
spoken language does little to aid in the learning of written language. Exposure, motivation, and
opportunity are sufficient to acquire spoken language, but direct teaching seems to be necessary to
develop reading skills. Part of the controversy over whole language versus phonics teaching stems from
concerns over the development of literacy and a love for reading. Phonics teaching is often seen as
monotonous, and the reading passages generally associated with it are sometimes considered dry and
irrelevant. The concern many educators have is that using uninteresting drills to teach reading could
turn some students off of reading in general. While phonics as a method does little to address these
concerns, as a purely functional approach it works very well, and for this reason it is well suited to ESL
teaching. The idea behind phonics is that students should be taught letters and sounds together to help
them to quickly learn to read. The key to effective phonics teaching is to present those letters and
sounds in a way that is relevant, meaningful, and engaging to students.
Phonics relates phonemes to graphemes, digraphs, trigraphs, and so on. Each sound is linked to the
letters that represent that sound in the language. In addition to single sounds, students learning phonics
should also be taught clusters. A cluster is a string of two or three consonants, each with a distinct
sound, that flow together. Some examples of clusters are br, fl, fr, sp, st, str, etc. In standard phonics
teaching, students would be taught to sound out each of these individual sounds. So, for example, the
word “strong” would be broken down as “s-t-r-o-n-g”, and the students would practice making each
individual sound as they combine them to pronounce the word. Eventually, these letters would be
blended into a cluster (“str”) and a trigraph (“ong”), so students need only break the word into two
parts. “Strong” would be sounded out as “str-ong”. Since both “str” and “ong” are always pronounced
the same way and appear in several other words, there is no need to break each one into its component
letters. Once they are familiar with the phonemes and graphemes of the English language, students
should be taught to recognize and pronounce clusters and multi-part graphemes as units. The idea is
that by first teaching students how each of the approximately 44 different sounds in English is created
and combined, they will have a much easier time recognizing and reading words.
Synthetic phonics is becoming the favored compromise between whole word teaching (analytical
phonics) and simple alphabetical teaching. Analytical phonics focuses on teaching whole word
recognition with an emphasis on the initial letter/sound. So, students are exposed to the letter “c”, for
example; then, they would be shown a number of common words that begin with “c” (cup, cat, can,
cow, etc.). The students would then develop a mental list of words that begin with “c”. Later they
would study ending letters, eventually combining these lists to develop sight recognition of many
different words. This works well for short and easily recognizable words, but begins to break down as
more complex vocabulary is encountered. With time and experience, readers will develop sight
recognition on their own; however, the danger of teaching it as a strategy is that it creates an initial
guesswork response that is not always accurate. New readers have neither the vocabulary nor the
practice necessary to quickly, easily, and accurately recognize on sight all of the words they know.
Conversely, purely alphabetical teaching can slow readers down as they unnecessarily concentrate on
each individual letter. Synthetic phonics bridges this gap by teaching students to look for clusters of
sounds and to blend them smoothly to form the whole word. This provides for a reading skill that is
more transferable than analytical phonics and more efficient than sounding out words letter by letter.
Most research supports teaching new phoneme-grapheme combinations at a rate of about six per week.
At this rate, students should be able to recognize all of the phonemes used in spoken English within
about two months. Of course, many phonemes can be represented by multiple graphemes (for example,
the words though, row, toe, and go all end with the same sound, but each “oh” phoneme is written
differently). It will take some time and practice for students to come to recognize all of the different
ways sounds can be represented by letters in English. As they learn new phoneme-grapheme
associations, students should be shown how these combinations transfer to other, similar words. For
example, the rime “ould” could arise during teaching as a part of the word “could”. Teachers should
take this opportunity to show how “ould” also appears in “would” and “should”. A rime is part of what
defines a “word family”; that is, words that share an integral letter combination (for example, the rime
“at” links cat, hat, bat, mat, etc.). Rime differs from rhyme in that rimes are always spelled the same,
whereas two words may rhyme without sharing any letters in common (blew and through, for
example).
Any new phonics information taught, whether it is a new grapheme, phoneme, or rime, should be
reinforced quickly and frequently. Once a new letter or sound is taught, show the students how that
letter or sound appears in other familiar words. For example, if they have recently learned the
phoneme-grapheme “ing”, then illustrate how this construction appears in such words as ring, bring,
thing, sing, wing, etc. In the process, you will be subtly introducing other graphemes that they will
study (br, th, s, and w, in this example). Over the course of a week, you should aim to teach and
reinforce about six new phoneme-grapheme combinations, depending on the amount of teaching time
you have with your students each week. After six to eight weeks of teaching and reinforcement, your
students should have the tools to be able to decipher and read words that they have never encountered
in writing before. Once they are comfortable blending phonemes to sound out new words to read them,
and segmenting words into the appropriate graphemes to spell them, they will be able to use these tools
to tackle unfamiliar words they encounter in future study.
Much has been made in this module of the desirability of exposure and immersion to create an
environment conducive to language acquisition. While it is true that direct teaching can interfere with
spoken language acquisition, particularly for very young students, the same does not hold true for
reading. The brain may be wired to acquire and decode language, but this ability does not transfer to
written language. Direct teaching is necessary for students to learn to read and write. However, this
teaching should not come at the expense of communicative interaction. Students should be given as
much opportunity as possible to express themselves verbally as they acquire the new language.
Reading and writing teaching should center around words that the students already know. When
teaching students who are new to the language, initial vocabulary teaching should be verbal and
students should not be asked or expected to read or write words that they have not learned to say.
Phonics is a way to connect the words that students already know how to use in a verbal context to their
written representation.

opic 3: Teaching Specific Skills

Vocabulary
The most critical aspect of any language is the vocabulary. More important than anything
else, students must learn words. Students can learn all the phonemes and grammar of a
language, but if they do not have a sufficient store of vocabulary, they will not be functional
in that language. There are a number of ways that vocabulary can be taught. Some ways are
more suitable to some ages than others, and it is important to choose a teaching strategy that
is appropriate for the students in your classroom.
Adults and older children have large existing vocabularies in their first language. For them, learning the
English word generally means learning the English translation for the word they already know in their
native language. For younger children, however, learning an English word could very well mean
learning a brand new word for which they have no reference in their native language. For these reasons,
it is acceptable to use dictionaries and translation to help older students learn new words, but for
younger students it is often better to connect the words to real-world objects. Caution should be used
when allowing any students to use translational dictionaries in the classroom. These dictionaries,
whether electronic or paper, are very useful, but they are easily misused. Often, a foreign word will
share similar meaning with many English words, but there will be subtle differences that may not be
recognized by students relying on dictionaries to learn new English words. For example, the words
“festoon” and “decorate” share very similar meanings; however, they differ greatly in their frequency
of usage! Given the room for error and misunderstanding, it is best that students who are struggling to
find a word ask the teacher first. Even if the students have to describe or draw what they are trying to
say, the teacher should be able to give them the appropriate English word more accurately than any
dictionary.
Teaching young students who are new to English will involve a lot of flashcards, pictures, and labeling.
Initially, students will learn the words verbally, but as their reading and writing skills develop, they can
learn the written words. Eventually, reading will become the primary means by which new words are
added to their vocabulary. Flashcards are excellent for drill and repetition to reinforce vocabulary, but
new words are best internalized when they are connected meaningfully to the students. This can be as
simple as allowing them to create sentences that make use of the new words, or having the students
draw pictures to associate with the words.
It is a good idea to have your students create a vocabulary book. They should include the English word,
a translation into their native language, and a picture or other visual aid to connect the word to its
meaning. Books like this can be a valuable resource for students as well as a tangible way for them to
track their progress. It can be very encouraging for a young student to be able to look through a book of
their own creation that lists all of the new words they’ve learned.
Much of the time, vocabulary building will be an organic process as the students practice other skills
such as speaking and reading. Sometimes, however, teachers may opt to have a specific vocabulary
lesson. This can be useful if you will be starting a new unit or when a particular activity requires the
use of a certain set of words. However, be aware that explicit vocabulary teaching, like explicit
grammar teaching, can be overwhelming for students, especially if they are not sufficiently proficient
in the new language. Limit the number of new words taught in one lesson to five or six for very young
students, up to a maximum of about ten for older students. Any new vocabulary taught will also have to
be reinforced. This can be done by having the students label pictures, match words to their meanings or
to images, or having them demonstrate that they can correctly use the new words in a sentence. New
vocabulary should be incorporated into the rest of the lesson to the greatest extent possible to help
reinforce the new words. As well, teachers should revisit words learned in past lessons to ensure that
the knowledge has successfully passed into the students’ long-term memory.
Topic 3: Teaching Specific Skills
Literacy

Literacy may seem like something that is beyond the realm of an ESL teacher’s responsibility.
However, it is the duty of any educator to instill a love of reading and to encourage students to read as
much as possible. This is good for students in general, but exposure to different kinds of English
reading materials is especially important for ESL students. Needless to say, a certain degree of
proficiency with written English is necessary before beginning any sort of comprehensive literacy
program with your students, but once they are able to read on their own, you should introduce them to a
wide variety of genres and writing formats.
As a language teacher, you will be expected to encourage your students to use the language they are
learning. One of the easiest ways to do this is to give them interesting reading materials to take home.
Obviously, whatever materials you select will have to be carefully graded not only for your students’
abilities, but also for their age and interests. Books that will engage a 6-year-old student are not likely
to hold the attention of a junior high school student, and vice versa.
Reading questions cover three distinct skills: skimming, scanning, and intensive reading. Skimming
questions involve the gist or main idea of the article or story. Some examples of skimming questions
would be, “What is this story about?”, “Where does this story take place?” or other similarly broad
questions. The idea behind skimming questions is that the student must have a broad understanding of
the themes and general content of the story or article. This requires students to understand enough of
what they have read to pick out the setting, general themes, and major points. Writing a summary or
plot outline are both good skimming exercises that are more comprehensive than simple questions.
Scanning questions involve specific details such as figures, dates, or particular details. Some examples
of scanning questions would be, “When was Benjamin Franklin born?”, or “How many iPhones did
Apple sell in 2008?”. Scanning questions don’t require the student to understand the story holistically;
they need only be able to identify keywords and pick out specific facts and details. Teachers should
show students some common keywords and identifiers that can help them answer scanning questions
and pick out specific details from a piece of writing. One obvious marker to keep an eye out for is the
use of numerals. Generally, numbers indicate a date or other figure and these can help students to
quickly pick out particular information. However, you don’t want your students to simply pick out all
of the numbers in a text, so create some questions that require them to read more carefully to find
selected details. Certain genres and styles of writing lend themselves more readily to scanning. Reports
and summaries are two examples of writing that can be quickly scanned to glean important details, but
be sure to expose your students to a wide variety of writing styles and formats. They should be able to
use their scanning skills to pick out important information in any text they encounter.
Intensive reading questions are much more in-depth and will often require the students to give their
opinions or draw upon outside knowledge for comparison or illustration. Some examples of intensive
reading questions would be, “How did the main character change from the beginning of the story to the
end?”, or “Should young children be allowed to play video games?”. These kinds of questions require a
thorough understanding of the text and will often necessitate a re-reading of the material, perhaps more
than once. Until your students are familiar with answering intensive reading questions, you may have
to walk them through the process of reading a text to understand the whole. Many younger students
will look for the most direct answer and may miss the bigger picture that you are asking for. Warming
them up with skimming and scanning questions is a good idea before moving into more intensive
reading questions. The first few times you ask this type of question, it is not a bad idea to do so with
familiar texts that you have discussed as a class. Once your students understand the format of intensive
questions, they should be able to transfer that skill to new texts from any genre.
These three types of questions all involve different reading skills. Any reading material for intermediate
or higher level students should contain questions that cover each skill. Due to the depth required for
intensive reading questions, usually only a few such questions would be asked for any given article or
story. Skimming and scanning questions, on the other hand, can be asked in abundance. Just be sure not
to inundate your students with too many “find the number” type questions. You want them to absorb
and understand the material as a whole, not merely know how to look for specific answers.
There are two broad categories of reading that should be addressed in the classroom. The first
is intensive reading. Intensive reading, like intensive questioning, involves in-depth study of the given
materials. Generally, the teacher will select an article, story, book, or essay, and the class will read it
together. This provides an excellent opportunity for students to see vocabulary used in an authentic
context, and it is a useful way for them to learn new words.
The second type of reading, and the basis for literacy programs, is extensive reading. Reading
extensively involves reading for pleasure, reading outside the classroom, and reading a wide variety of
materials and styles. Teachers can facilitate extensive reading by providing varied, interesting, and
entertaining reading materials in the classroom, as well as by encouraging students to read outside the
classroom. Book clubs, class magazine subscriptions, and rewards for reading a certain number of
books or stories per month can all encourage students to read extensively. It is important to include
both fictional and non-fictional reading materials, as well as examples of different writing styles such
as short stories, menus, print ads, dialogues, reports, newspaper articles, and even comics! The
important thing with extensive reading is simply that the students read as much as possible. Since the
reading material for extensive reading will not necessarily be assigned by the teacher or created
especially for ESL learners, teachers should set some time aside each class or each week for students to
ask any questions they may have about what they are reading. It is helpful too for teachers to have a
selection of material that they have already gone through to check for appropriateness (both in terms of
age and level), and that they have taken the time to identify difficult vocabulary and provide suitable
definitions or assistance for students to discern the meaning of new or unfamiliar words. Graded
readers, and other books specifically designed for young children and ESL students, can be of great
benefit in encouraging extensive reading and general literacy. Ask your school director or check a local
English-language bookstore to see if they can order you a set of books for young ESL students. Books
specifically designed as reading texts for ESL students will typically contain vocabulary lists,
definitions, and questions about the stories or articles contained within. There are three categories of
questions used with reading materials, in addition to vocabulary recognition and definitions.
Even though you will be an ESL teacher, once your students are of intermediate level and above, it is a
good idea to begin to encourage general literacy in English. Not only will this expose students to varied
material and a wider vocabulary, it will also give them a sense of accomplishment as they see that they
can, in fact, read materials written entirely in English. Be there for support and encouragement as
reading in a foreign language can initially be a daunting undertaking for young students, but once they
realize that they are able to read in English on their own, they will gain a tremendous sense of mastery
and accomplishment.

Topic 3: Teaching Specific Skills

Summary of Teaching Specific Skills
In addition to the core language skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and grammar, ESL
teachers of young learners will have other challenges and opportunities. In many cases, students will at
least have a passing familiarity with the English alphabet, but there are no guarantees. Students of all
ages who are encountering English for the very first time may need to be taught the alphabet. They will
not only need to understand the names and sounds of the letters, but they will need to practice drawing
the characters as well.
There are still very active pedagogical debates over the value of phonics versus whole language
teaching, but the pendulum seems to be swinging back in favor of phonics, in the form of synthetic
phonics, after the past few decades of experimentation with the whole language approach to reading. It
is important to realize that no system is perfect for all students and teachers will have to use a variety of
methods to engage and teach their students. As long as you have a foundational understanding of what
phonics teaching entails, you are well on your way to being able to teach ESL students to read.
Along with reading and speaking comes vocabulary. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is
that students of all levels focus on learning new words. It may seem obvious, but it is sometimes easy
to lose the focus while simultaneously trying to teach so many other skills. Even if your class
curriculum contains no specific vocabulary lessons, try to insert at least a handful of words into each
lesson. Be sure to relate these words to the context and content of your lesson to help students retain the
new knowledge. As one means of enhancing your intermediate and advanced students’ vocabulary, you
can encourage as much reading as possible, both inside and outside the classroom. In all aspects of
teaching, set your students up for success and give them the opportunity to demonstrate to you and to
themselves that they are advancing and learning the new language.

Introduction to Textbooks
Whether you are new to teaching ESL or have years of experience, textbooks are an invaluable
resource. Textbooks are vital in facilitating the learning process; however, they should not be used as a
crutch. To get the most out of them, teachers should build upon the framework they provide with their
own ideas and materials. This approach will keep students engaged and help them meet their learning
goals.
Topic 4: Textbooks
Choosing a Textbook

Choosing a Textbook
Ideally, a textbook for a course should be chosen while the curriculum is being developed, to ensure
that the book aligns well with the goals and objectives for the course. Oftentimes, however, language
teachers are provided with an existing curriculum and asked to choose an appropriate book as
supplementary material.
Whether you find yourself in a position to select a course book for curricula in development, or to
choose a textbook to supplement an existing curriculum, there are a number of common criteria that
should be considered. While there are various ways to approach the process of reviewing textbooks, H.
Douglas Brown's Teaching by Principles (2007) suggests the following be used as a set of guidelines[1]:
1. They should correspond to learner's needs. They should match the aims and objectives of the
language program.
2. They should reflect the uses (present or future) that learners will make of the language.
Textbooks should be chosen that will help equip students to use language effectively for their
own purposes.
3. They should take account of students' needs as learners and should facilitate their learning
processes, without dogmatically imposing a rigid "method."
4. They should have a clear role as a support for learning. Like teachers, they should mediate
between the target language and the learner.
Other factors to consider include author/publisher reputation, logistical factors (price, auxiliary aids,
workbooks, etc.), routines that students will become accustomed to, and teachability, especially with
regards to the usefulness of the teacher's edition.
Furthermore, in How to Teach English, Harmer provides a checklist that can be used when comparing
the books under consideration to see how they compare with each other[2]:
Possible areas for Possible questions for coursebook analysis
consideration

Price and availability How much does the coursebook cost? Will students have to buy extra
material (workbook, etc)? Are all the components (coursebook,
workbook, teacher’s guide, audio, etc.) available? What about other
levels? Is this good value for money? How much does the whole
package (with all the components) cost?

Add-ons and extras Apart from the workbook, what other extras are offered with the course?
Are there Internet sites with extra material (exercises, texts, etc), or with
‘meeting places’ for users? What else does the publisher offer to support
the course? What value should we place on the extras that are available?

Layout and design Is the book attractive? Is its design appropriate for (a) the students, and
 (b) the teacher? Does the design of the book make it easy to follow?

Instructions Are the instructions clear and unambiguous? Are they written in
language that the students will understand? Can the coursebook be used
by students working on their own, or is a teacher necessary to show them
how to use it?

Methodology What kind of teaching and learning does the coursebook promote? Is
there a good balance between study and activation? How do the authors
appear to think that people learn languages and do we agree with them?

Syllabus Is the syllabus appropriate for our students? Does it cover the language
areas (grammar, vocabulary, functions, pronunciation, etc) that we would
expect? Do we and our students like the sequencing of language and
topics, etc? Does the coursebook build in a feeling of progress?

Language skills Does the coursebook have the appropriate balance of skills? Is the skills
work really designed to promote the skills (e.g. writing-for-writing, not
writing-for-learning)? Are there possibilities for both study and
activation in the skills areas? Are the skills activities likely to engage
students?

Topics Does the book contain a variety of topics? On balance, are the topics
appropriate for the kind of students who will be using the coursebook?
Are topics likely to engage the students?

Cultural appropriacy Is the material appropriate for the cultural situation that the students are
in? Do the texts contain cultural insensitive material? Are the activities
appropriate for the learning culture? Is the coursebook unprejudiced in
the way it deals with different custom, ethnicities, races and sexes?

Teacher’s guide Does the coursebook have an accompanying teacher’s guide? Is it easy
to use? Does it explain things clearly? Does it offer alternatives to the
coursebook activities? Does it have all the answers that teachers and
students need? Does it provide differentiated activities for fast and slow
learners?

When selecting materials for children, it is particularly important to consider the presentation and
delivery style. Do they have pictures? Do they employ an attractive color scheme? Do they use
relatable characters that will be enticing to young learners? Do they include fun-sounding audio/video?
Do they incorporate exciting games and engaging warm-up activities?
Finally, the instructor should consider how much of the curriculum will use teacher-created materials to
supplement the text, or if the course book will be the main source of content. Personalizing the
activities, games, handouts, and so on to ensure the materials are as suitable as possible for the target
audience can be motivating for teachers and students alike. If the course book will be the primary
resource for lesson planning, it will be especially important to ensure the selection process considered
as many of the above-listed criteria as possible.

[1] H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles, 2007, page 158.

[2] Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English, 2007, page 154.

Topic 4: Textbooks
Popular Textbooks
As discussed in the Online Component of your Oxford Seminars TESOL/TESL/TEFL Certification
Course, the curriculum you follow will most likely have a corresponding course book. While simply
following a textbook from beginning to end fails to make use of the dynamics of the classroom, it is
much easier to modify a well-structured, pre-existing lesson from a course book to suit the interests and
needs of your students than it is to develop a curriculum from scratch. Textbooks can be a valuable tool
in creating and supplementing lesson plans for classes. As most series include books of similar styles,
arrangements, and activity routines for multiple levels, many schools prefer to use the same series of
books as students progress through the levels.
Throughout this chapter, examples of different textbooks will be used to show the common elements of
ESL textbooks for young learners and how to get the most out of them.
To provide a balanced view of the ESL textbook market, eight books from four different publishers will
be presented:
1. Oxford University Press
• English Time by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama
• Let’s Go by Ritsuko Nakata, Karen Frazier, Barbara Hoskins, and Carolyn Graham
2. Cambridge University Press
• Super Minds by Herbert Puchta, Günter Gerngross, and Peter Lewis-Jones
• Level Up by Diana Anyakwo, Diane Anyakwo, Sarah Dilger, Stephanie Dimond-Bayir, Lucy
Frino, Caroline Nixon, Sue Parminter, Colin Sage, Melanie Starren, and Michael Tomlinson
3. Pearson
• Backpack by Mario Herrera and Diane Pinkley
• New Parade by Mario Herrera and Theresa Zanatta
4. National Geographic Learning
• Our World by Diane Pinkley, Gabrielle Prtichard, Rob Sved, Kate Cory-Wright, and Ronald
Scro
• Look by Gregg Schroeder, Katherine Bilsborough, Steve Bilsborough, Rachel Wilson, Daniel
Barber, Rob Sved, Katherine Stannett, and Mary Charrington
This is by no means an exhaustive list of ESL textbooks or providers. There are plenty of other
textbooks out there. These books are focused on in this module to show you examples of popular and
well-designed ESL textbooks aimed at elementary age children. If you needed to prepare prior to going
overseas, these books would give you very useful teaching material to work from. These books were
also chosen due to their prominence in a variety of ESL markets, their ability to show the different
philosophies on ESL textbooks, and to show the differences between book series created by the same
publisher
Below is a summary of the popular textbooks for teaching young learners, listed above, as written by
the publishers:

English Time
English Time develops students' speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills through
art, stories, conversation, and games. The wide range of activities appeal to every child,
no matter what their learning style. 'Conversation Time' gives your students the
opportunity to produce language in a way that resembles 'real life' communication.
'Practise Time' and 'Review Time' enable them to practise this skill further through fun
pair-work and group activities. The stunning scenes in the Student Book, beautiful storybooks, wall
charts, and picture and word cards, captivate children, particularly visual learners, and help them to
explore new language in a fun and stimulating way. Each interactive picture is accompanied by
challenges for your students to complete, such as finding the hidden objects. This helps them to engage
with the new material so they remember the target vocabulary and grammar more easily. What's more,
regular reviews with cartoon-like stories and checklists with 'I can' statements give students and parents
the opportunity to monitor their progress while the Teacher's Book has individual unit, midterm, and
final tests.
Source: https://elt.oup.com

Let's Go
Millions of children have learned to speak English through the trusted methodology of
Let's Go. This popular textbook series is able to get children talking from the very
beginning with conversation, as well as question and answer practice. The Let's Go series
teaches each language pattern step by step and repeats it with plenty of practice which
leaves every child feeling 'I can do it!' It uses children’s natural skills through music and
movement with the acclaimed Carolyn Graham’s fabulous songs, chants and drum tracks
– so they will remember the language and build their fluency. The lessons are systematic,
clear and so involving that everyone knows what to do and no child is left behind.
Source: https://elt.oup.com

Super Minds
Written by a highly respected author team, Super Minds, a seven-level course for young
learners, has been carefully crafted to help your students achieve their full potential.
Whilst exploring social values, the course methodically enhances your students' thinking
skills and creativity. Engaging characters accompany learners on their journey, each with
special powers. As the students grow, so do the characters, and new faces are introduced
every two levels.
Source: https://www.cambridge.org
Level Up
Much more than an English course, Level Up builds all the skills students need to face
life, learning and assessment with confidence. Its student-centered approach fosters
collaboration while activities based on real-world skills and situations make learning
engaging and fun. Join Jenny and Jim on the adventure of a lifetime! Level Up creates a
mindset of continuous improvement through a combination of embedded missions and
traditional assessment: It inspires collaboration and develops social skills through
motivational, real-world challenges. It creates resilience through learning skills and life
competencies embedded in literature lessons. Level Up grows with students with higher levels
reflecting the developing interests of today’s young learners. The books also include plenty of phonics
work, grammar support and revision helps learners take their English to a higher level.
Source: https://www.cambridge.orgl

Backpack
Millions of children around the world have learned English using BACKPACK! Based on
the tried and proven methodology, this course is a communicative program based on
cross-curricular content and task-based activities. With a robust teacher resource and
assessment program, teachers love teaching English with Backpack. Backpack is the
proven seven-level course for young learners of English that offers a communicative
program based on cross-curricular content and task-based activities. The new edition
of Backpack incorporates the latest trends and up-to-the-minute technology.
Source: https://www.pearson.com/

New Parade
New Parade is a seven-level, communicative language program, that features Total
Physical Response (TPR), rhymes, songs, chants, pair work, cooperative learning, and
hands-on projects. Each level of New Parade contains the following components: A
Student Book, Workbook, Teacher's Edition, Audio Program, Picture Cards, Posters, and
Video with an 8-page Video Guide. Student Books feature perforated tear-out Little
Books in each unit to read in class and to take home for extra-curricular reading. With
controlled vocabulary in the books, students will gain success and confidence in applying
what they know as they read. The Little Books cover a range of genres and illustrations or photography
styles.
Source: https://www.pearsonelt.ch

Our World
Our World is a balanced four-skills series with age-appropriate National Geographic
content that motivates and excites young learners of English and helps them use English
as a tool to learn about and interact with the world. Perfect for the content-rich
classroom, Our World has everything students need for a balanced, four-skills curriculum, key grammar
instruction, and important 21st century skills practice and cross-curricular exposure.
• National Geographic video inspires and motivates young learners
• Our World Readers encourage reading for fun, and bring storytelling into your classroom
• Grammar support is flexible and varied with instruction and practice through the Workbooks,
Grammar Workbooks, videos, and Lesson Planners
• Additional phonics instruction and support is provided through Our World Phonics and ABC
• Free online activities and support are available for teachers and learners at myNGconnect.com
Source: https://eltngl.com

Look
The world is an amazing place. Get up close with Look, a seven-level series for young
learners of English. See something real with amazing photography, authentic stories and
video, and inspiring National Geographic Explorers. Help learners make connections in
English between their lives and the world they live in through high-interest, global topics
that encourage them to learn and express themselves. With short, fresh lessons that excite
students and make teaching a joy, Look gives young learners the core language, balanced
skills foundation and confidence-boosting exam support they need to use English
successfully in the 21st century.

Topic 4: Textbooks
Core Elements of ESL Textbooks for Young Learners
The children's textbook series presented previously tend to contain a number of similar core elements
for each level, including, but not limited to:
• Student Book
• Teacher's Book
• Workbook
• Storybook
• Audio CD/Digital Content
• Video/DVD
• Picture/Word Cards
• Tests
• Classroom Presentation Software

Student Book
The student book(s) accompanying a children's textbook series typically contain a number of themed
units or chapters, with corresponding vocabulary, grammar points, readings, and activities to practice
writing, listening and/or speaking skills.
For example, Level Up 1, targeted to young learners at the Common European Framework levels A1 to
B1, features 10 units titled, respectively: Our new school; All about us; Fun on the farm; Food with
friends; Happy birthday!; A day out; Let's play!; At home; Vacation time; and Review unit.
Each unit introduces the unit's mission, or learning outcomes, along with a set of relevant vocabulary,
sounds and spelling, grammar points to cover, cross-curricular aims, specific language skills to focus
on, and ends with grammar, phonics and writing practice.

Teacher's Book
The teacher's book covers the same units, in the same order, as the student book, but with specific
instructions on how to go over the learning outcomes, conduct the warm-up, have the students self-
assess, introduce the activities, and even differentiate instruction for stronger or less confident students.
The teacher's book also outlines the necessary materials for the unit, provides answer keys for the
activities, and identifies the page numbers to direct learners to in the student book and workbook.
To demonstrate how a unit is presented in a teacher's book, we will look at Level Up 1, Unit 4, which is
available for viewing on the Cambridge University Press website. The theme of this unit is "Food with
friends". For use in the warm-up of first lesson of the unit, the teacher's book starts out by directing the
teacher to bring a blanket to class, if possible, with some food (or food flashcards) and make a picnic
on the floor. While setting the food items on the blanket, the instructor should model each word and
have the pupils repeat after several times. The teacher is then instructed to play the associated video for
the lesson to introduce the topic, instruct the students to turn to page 44 of their student book, point to
the empty plate in the picnic photo, and ask the students to draw their favorite food on the plate. The
teacher can then tell each student the name of the food they have drawn. The teacher is then instructed
to show the digital "Mission" poster and go over how they will accomplish their "Mission" of
organizing a picnic by the end of the unit. Next, the teacher is to go through the unit goals with the
students in their workbooks so that they can review their "Mission" goals at the end of each lesson
("Mission" stage). To end the lesson, the teacher is instructed to put the numbers 1 to 5 on the board,
put a picture of a picnic under one, and flashcards for juice, apple, bread and chocolate under the
others. Finally, the instructor is to call out the words and encourage the students to give the correct
number for each vocabulary item. The teacher's book continues on with similarly-styled instructions for
the following lessons in the unit.
As teacher's gain experience with the series being used, they are less reliant on following the specific
directions of the teacher's book and tend to be able to introduce or incorporate the textbook activities as
it suits their own lesson plans. Regardless of the educator's experience level, the teacher's book is
always a valuable resource to be able to go back to for ideas and inspiration throughout a unit or term.

Workbook
A workbook accompanies the student book, and is usually filled with practice problems for which
answers can be written directly into the book. The workbook covers tasks related to the syllabus and
are used for solving extra problems students have already studied in the textbook.
Workbooks are also popular because they are typically lighter than textbooks, which makes it easier to
bring the book home to finish homework.

Storybook
Many coursebook series for children include, as the name suggests, books of stories or even short
novels, for students to practice their English reading. ESL storybooks commonly include vocabulary
study sets to prepare for the potentially challenging words learners may encounter while reading,
bolded words with definitions, picture cards, and questions to answer about the reading. If such
activities are not included within the storybook itself, they are often found in the accompanying student
book or workbook.

Audio CD/Digital Content

Accompanying audio programs, whether CD or accessed digitally online, typically feature songs and
chants with engaging melodies and voices target to inspire children, as well as listening activities for
use with the student book and/or workbook. Student online access is a useful resource for young
learners to practice at home and for parents to support and view their progress. In some cases, such as
with the Let's Go series, online homework can be scored and recorded automatically.

Video/DVD
Level-appropriate interactive videos are promoted as fun and exciting ways to engage students in the
topic of the day, as part of a warm-up activity, and to reinforce classroom work. The videos, whether
online or DVD, often include a video guide that offers teaching tips, and videos to watch are referenced
directly in the student and/or teacher books, as well as video scripts. The National Geographic series
boast colorful and action-packed videos of nature and the world around us intended to inspire and
motivate young learners.

Picture/Word Cards
Flashcards, displaying pictures and/or printed words, are useful resources to help in teaching and
reinforcing the vocabulary being studied in each unit. They can also be good supplements to memory
games, matching activities, spelling or pronunciation bees and variations of popular children's games
such as Go Fish, Pictionary and Bingo.

Tests
While ESL instructors for young learners should have the skillset to develop their own assessments as
part of lesson, unit, and term planning, a good course book series will feature a variety of tests intended
to determine if the students have indeed retained the intended content from the chapters/units studied.
The Super Minds series, for example, features the "TestGenerator" software which contains
customizable Unit and End of Term Tests (both standard and more challenging versions), as well as
ready-made Skills Tests that help prepare students for the Cambridge English tests. This package
provides teachers with opportunities for regular testing and self-evaluation of pupils throughout the
term. The English Time series, on the other hand, includes checklists with "I can" statements which
give students and parents the opportunity to monitor progress, while the teacher's book contains
individual unit, midterm, and final tests, providing a thorough testing package to assess student
progress, as well as areas for improvement and further study. The two examples above demonstrate
how different authors may incorporate assessment into their published works, and why it is especially
important to analyze the testing component of any series under consideration to see if and how it will
correlate to the testing schedules of your existing or developing curriculum.

Classroom Presentation Software

While not available with all course books for young learners, classroom presentation software would
certainly be a nice benefit to consider when choosing the text. National Geographic's Look and Our
World series in particular feature strong classroom presentation tools intended to enrich lessons with
the use of an interactive whiteboard or laptop with projector. The presentation tools are meant for use
with the corresponding interactive student’s book and workbook pages with embedded audio, video,
and activities. Comparitively, the Let's Go series also promotes the following key features of its
classroom presentation tool, which enable the instructor to:
• Show the Student Book on screen during lessons.
• Play audio at the touch of a button.
• Launch activities in full-screen mode to focus your students' attention on a single activity.
• Open the scripts that accompany audio activities so students can read the dialogue at the same
time.
• Look-up words on-screen with the integrated dictionary.
• Speed up or slow down the audio to tailor lessons to your students' listening level.
• Record your students speaking and compare their voices to the course audio.
• Plan your lessons wherever you are. Add text or audio notes to a page, save your web links, then
open them in class.
• Use a range of pen and highlighter tools to annotate the page.
• Reveal the answers to students one-by-one or all at once. Mark the answers on a page, then
delete them so the class can try again.

Topic 4: Textbooks
Adapting Textbook Lessons
Despite all the thorough analysis that likely went into choosing the right textbook for a course, when
turning to the book for use in a lesson, teachers sometimes find activities not particularly well-suited to
the specific level, topic or needs of their students on that day.
Chapter 11 of Harmer's How to Teach English, which you used in the in-class component of your
Oxford Seminars TESOL/TESL/TEFL certification course, provides a number of good strategies for
how to use a textbook if the current chapter doesn't work well with your scheduled lesson. For this
section of the module, read Harmer's advice on "Adding, adapting, and replacing" coursebook materials
on pages 147-152 of How to Teach English[1]. If you no longer have access to this book, don't worry
about it. The main concepts are covered on this page. Below are some questions to consider:
Can the teacher omit a lesson from the coursebook?
Show
What should an instructor do if they find the textbook lesson too boring, controlled, or
offering limited opportunity for students to use what they are learning?
Show
What other strategy can instructor's employ if they find the lesson boring, the invitation
sequence too predictable, or they simply want to deal with the material in their own
way?
Show
What should a teacher do if they find the textbook lesson better not used, but feel the
need to cover the same basic concepts to meet curricular aims?
Show

Following in the style of Harmer in Chapter 11 of How to Teach English, next we will give some
examples of how textbook lessons can be added to, adapted, or replaced, depending on the context.
For the purposes of this exercise, let's imagine Oxford Seminars graduate Yusuf, who is teaching 30-
minute classes to young learners in Mexico, works in a school that uses New Parade 1 by Mario
Herrera and Theresa Zanatta as the coursebook for his level A1 (beginner) students.

Adding
When beginning to teach Unit 1, My Class, Yusuf follows the coursebook and starts with a warm up
song, followed by a game for classmates to learn each other's names, and a "Look. Listen. Sing."
activity to practice colors. Now look at the picture below[2]:

In the next class, Yusuf planned to cover the "Read. Point. Say.", "Listen and Circle." and "Draw and
answer." activities on pages 4-5 of the text, to study numbers and classroom vocabulary. There is
nothing wrong with these pages of the book. The pictures are bright, warm, and even include the
engaging pink hippos Homer and Hanna who guide readers through the text. But Yusuf feels the class
should start with a warm-up (engage) activity, and he also wants to get them thinking about the vocab
the students will be using in this lesson. He decides to add a game to the start of the class which will
both be a fun way to get students thinking about the day's topic, and a good way to re-teach some of the
vocabulary they will need to use. Yusuf breaks the class into two groups and explains that he will shout
a word, and the first team who has a member find the object he shouts will get a point. The team with
the most points at the end wins. He then demonstrates how the game will work by shouting "Table",
running to touch the table, and giving himself a point on the board. Yusuf proceeds with the game by
shouting the other words they will be studying that day: desk; chair; book; pencil; marker; backpack. It
takes a few examples for all of the children to really catch on, but by the end of the game they all seem
to have had a lot of fun, and should be fairly prepared for the "Read. Point. Say." and "Draw and
answer." activities to follow.

Adapting
Sometimes you may find that, overall, the activities in a unit are a relatively good fit for the students'
level and needs, but there is something that could be improved about the lesson to make it even better.
For example, Yusuf was quite pleased with how the young learners progressed through Unit 2, May
Family, in New Parade 1. They seemed to do well with building upon the English counting skills they
had learned previously, and really enjoyed sharing about their families when Yusuf added to the content
by asking students to draw and count the members of their own families as a supplemental activity. He
felt that the assessment section might not be challenging enough for the class, however, as they seemed
to be fairly well versed in the English alphabet at this point. Now look at the picture below [3]:

As you can see, the "Find the way." alphabet maze is somewhat challenging, as it requires participants
to remember the order of the alphabet in order to reach the end. The "Listen. Count. Circle." assessment
requires students to use their listening skills, which is still very much a developing skill at this level.
But Yusuf feels he should really adapt the "I can." activity to more accurately assess what beginner
students can do in terms of using the alphabet. Yusuf decides to turn the assessment into a game by
writing all the letters of the alphabet on the board, in no particular order, then pointing his yardstick at a
letter and calling out a student's name to ask what letter he is pointing at. He asks each student five
letters, and sets the expectation for at least four correct answers out of five. He tells the students that
those with the most correct answers will win a prize.
Think about some additional adaptions you could make to the "I can." speaking assessments to make
them more challening, yet engaging and accurate, for the level.

Replacing
In the following example from Unit 3, My Body, Yusuf is unexpectedly required to use his coping
strategies for dealing with Coulrophobia – fear of clowns. He can't omit the lesson altogether, as the
students are expected to learn all the body parts featured in this unit, so he decides to replace any
activities involving clowns with a suitable alternate. As one example, take a look at the picture
below[4]:
Instead of having his pupils complete the "Listen and color." activity on page 24, Yusuf prints out a new
coloring sheet of a monster with red eyes, blue ears, a green nose, a purple mouth and yellow hair, and
recites the colored body parts to the class for them to complete the activity. In doing so, Yusuf is able to
replace the activity and have the students reinforce their knowledge of relevant vocabulary without any
anxiety-inducing interaction with clown content. Considering the plethora of clowns permeating the
remaining pages of the unit, Yusuf decides to replace the whole textbook unit with teacher-created and
alternatively-sourced activities and exercises to ensure the same vocabulary and language skills are
learned.

[1] Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach English, 2007, pages 146-152.

[2] Mario Herrera & Theresa Zanatta, New Parade 1, 2000, pages 4-5.
[3] Mario Herrera & Theresa Zanatta, New Parade 1, 2000, pages 20-21.
[4] Mario Herrera & Theresa Zanatta, New Parade 1, 2000, pages 24-25.

Topic 4: Textbooks
Summary
Textbooks can be useful for any teacher; however, they are especially useful for new teachers. They
clearly outline the material that needs to be covered in any particular lesson and provide supplementary
activities to support the goals of the lesson. Beyond individual lessons, textbooks provide organized
units to allow for a teacher to plan out longer periods of time. Until a teacher has a feel for their
students’ learning style and pace, textbooks provide a reliable template to cover topics in sufficient
detail. Using a textbook allows for parents to follow their child’s progress and is a tangible resource to
provide to school administrators. The aim of this unit has been to demonstrate that while textbooks are
a valuable resource, they should be used as a guide to support your own ideas and methods. It may be
tempting to rely on a textbook, but students will get more out of a balanced approach that includes your
input in conjunction with their textbook.
The textbooks that were mentioned in this unit provide a snapshot of what is available for young
learners as they start to learn English. However, there are countless other series to choose from across
the spectrum of age and ability. As students progress, textbooks diverge into specific areas such as
reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This means that you do not have to follow a book series
through to the bitter end. You can mix and match based on what you feel is the best fit for you and your
students. In addition, quality can vary between books in a series. The best way to evaluate a book is to
get a copy for yourself. Publishers and bookstores will often provide sample copies to schools upon
request.
Ultimately, a good textbook supports both teachers and learners. It will free you up to refine your
teaching style and develop engaging lesson plans. For students, textbooks provide an easy point of
reference for what has been studied and what is coming up next. As long as you choose your textbooks
carefully and plan your lessons in conjunction with the texts, you give your students the best chance of
success.

Introduction to Twelve Questions Answered

This chapter will answer twelve frequently asked questions about teaching English to young learners.
These questions range from those pertaining to classroom management, to how to appeal to different
types of learners in the classroom, etc. Most new teachers have a number of concerns and questions. By
taking the time to complete this module and consider the material presented within, you have taken a
significant step towards being prepared to step into a classroom full of children for the first time.
Remember: you are never alone as a teacher. Your school will have support for you and in most cities,
there is a community of ESL teachers that you can turn to if you have questions, are unsure how to
teach a certain topic, or don’t know how to deal with a particular situation. There are also numerous
websites and forums designed to help ESL teachers, such as the Oxford Seminars ESL Teaching
Resources webpage. Take advantage of the resources you have available.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q1. What should my main role be when teaching?
Teachers have many roles in the classroom. They are disciplinarians, facilitators, educators, evaluators,
supporters, and encouragers, among many others. All of these roles are very important and integral to a
well-functioning learning environment. However, of all the roles you must play as an ESL teacher, the
most critical is that of a scaffold. What this means is that you should be there to support your students
and provide a framework for their success. As their competency grows, you can step back from the
process and allow them to operate on their own, but early in the learning process, you should be closely
available to support them as they explore their abilities and practice new skills. This concept ties in
very closely with Lev Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD). If you
remember back to Topic 1, the ZPD is the range of skills that a student can learn with appropriate
assistance. It is your primary responsibility to assist your students as they learn new skills. However,
you cannot spoon-feed them everything they want to know if there is to be any hope of them
succeeding in the language on their own in the future. It is important that your students know that you
are available to encourage and support them, but they must not come to rely on you for everything. You
can be a scaffold for them to climb but you should not be a structure for them to stand upon.
Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered
Q2. What if my students have no previous exposure to English?
This can be one of the most challenging elements of second language teaching. Every student of
English has to start somewhere. Most students you encounter will probably know “hello”, but for some,
that “hello” will be the limit of their knowledge of English. For students such as these, you must show
patience, understanding, and a great deal of compassion. Learning a language is difficult and it entails a
certain degree of self-exposure. Students of all ages have some fear of making mistakes and looking
foolish. Fortunately, for teachers of younger students, this is much more of a problem for adults than it
is for children, particularly very young children. As long as you create an environment where
experimentation with the language is encouraged, and no one is humiliated or discouraged if they make
a mistake, your students will grow in confidence. This confidence is the key to language learning.
Of course, confidence and compassion are all well and good, but how should you go about teaching
students who are completely new to English? It may seem obvious, but start at the beginning. Your first
few lessons should focus on very simple phrases that the students can immediately put to use.
Greetings, goodbyes, and introductions are all good initial lessons. Even getting your students to the
point where they can enter the classroom and greet you as they walk through the door can be a big first
step. Along with learning these first few initial words and phrases, your students will gain a sense of
achievement if they know that they can now greet any English speaker they meet. Once they have
learned a few different ways to say “hello”, to introduce themselves, and to say “goodbye”, you can
begin introducing more vocabulary.
It is best to hold off on teaching the alphabet for the first while. Build their vocabulary and give them
some words to work with before you teach them how to read. With very young children, simply talking
to them will provide them with the exposure they need to begin acquiring the language. With older
children and adolescents, you will have to spend some time directly teaching them new words and
phrases. Flash cards, and a great deal of repetition and pantomime, will be the mainstays of your early
lessons while your students develop a sufficient store of words that they can begin to combine into
phrases and sentences. Absolute beginners can be very challenging to teach, but they also advance very
quickly. Watching your students go from knowing nothing at all about the English language to being
able to greet you and express themselves even a little bit can be very rewarding.

opic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q3. How can I maintain discipline and good classroom behavior
if my students don't speak any English?
Even if you aren’t teaching absolute beginners, it can be challenging to explain and enforce classroom
rules if your students have a very limited understanding of English. For this reason, many schools will
pair teachers with a native co-teacher if they are to be teaching an extremely low-level class or very
young children. However, this is not always the case. If you find that you are all alone with a room full
of children who don’t seem to understand a word you’re saying, then you will have to find alternative
means to communicate with them. Actions, facial expressions, and demonstrations can all be effective
means of communication. Most importantly, learn your students’ names. If you can at least call out a
misbehaving student by name, then you can get his or her attention. Often, students will be aware that
they were not acting as they should, and being called out by the teacher will be sufficient reprimand for
them to stop disrupting the class.
Have a fellow teacher who is fluent in the students’ native language help you draft a list of classroom
rules and explain them to your students. Even if your school cannot spare a co-teacher to be in your
classroom at all times, they will almost certainly have someone who can come in and help explain a
few things before you get started. Be sure not to let any unwelcome or disruptive behavior continue.
Try to catch everything as early as possible so that your students learn what is expected of them. If
discipline becomes a major issue with a particular student, then it may require some outside
intervention to rectify the problem. Speak with the head teacher or school director about any persistent
or excessive behavioral issues.
It is best to learn the school’s discipline policy before you begin your first lesson. Find out what rules
teachers are expected to enforce, and what options you have if a student refuses to follow your
classroom expectations. Use the disciplinary resources that are available to you. It is in the school’s
best interests to have smoothly running classes and happy teachers and students. While you may be
brand new to teaching, chances are the more experienced teachers at your school have seen it all. Ask
for their advice and accept their constructive criticism if they offer any suggestions or pointers for
classroom discipline. The staff of a school must work together as a team to make the school the most
productive learning environment possible.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q4. What should the pace of my English classes be?
There are a few related factors that will determine the best pace for your lessons. One is the concept of
“comprehensible input”. This was discussed in Topic 1 as part of Stephen Krashen’s language
acquisition theory. The idea of comprehensible input is that the teacher should communicate with the
class in a way that is as close to natural speech as possible, while still being comprehensible to the
students. This can be achieved by modulating the pace of your delivery, and restricting the vocabulary
you use to more common and frequently used English words. As you gain experience teaching and get
to know your students, you will become sensitive to their expressions and body language. They will
give you cues when they can and cannot comprehend what you are saying. This non-verbal
communication and feedback will be a good indicator of the appropriateness of your pace.
Another important factor in determining the pace of your lessons is the need for repetition in language
learning. It will not suffice to explain a concept, practice it once or twice, and then move on. This will
not provide sufficient exposure or opportunity for your students to learn the concept. You will need to
repeat new vocabulary, phrases, and grammatical structures several times before your students can
apply them accurately. Then you will have to revisit these concepts later in the lesson, and again in
future lessons, to help your students internalize the new language and move what they have learned
into long-term memory. When you first begin teaching English as a second language, it can be difficult
to force yourself to review concepts over and over again, but this is necessary if the students are to
learn what you are teaching. Of course, pay attention to their body language and facial expressions.
Boring your students can be as ineffective as not allowing sufficient practice to internalize what is
being taught, but generally you are safe to have the students repeat the same activity three or four times
before moving on.
A third factor, which has less to do with pedagogy and more to do with the practicality of keeping your
employer happy, is the length of the school term. Many schools will have a set curriculum and will
have strict timelines for how long should be spent on each learning objective. While it is impossible to
create a one-size-fits-all curriculum that is perfect for every student, generally most schools have done
their research and have found a balance between allowing sufficient time for students to learn new
concepts and getting through a particular book or level in a reasonable amount of time. In an ideal
situation, the expert teacher would have the prerogative to determine how much time is needed for the
individual students in the class to fully grasp what has been taught. Unfortunately, these situations are
few and far between. Know what is expected of you as a teacher, but also as an employee. It may not
be ideal, but it is in your best interests to teach the curriculum as outlined by your employer, especially
during your first year of teaching. Of course, this does not mean that you should slavishly follow every
lesson plan to the minute. You will always have leeway to spend a bit more time on a given topic if it
proves particularly challenging; just understand that this time must come out of some future topic. This
is why it is always best to familiarize yourself with the entire textbook you will be using and know
exactly what you will be expected to teach. Armed with this knowledge, you can determine how much
extra time can be devoted to difficult concepts (or those that the students find particularly engaging). If
ever you feel that the pace that has been laid out for your class is unrealistic to meet the stated learning
objectives, and would prove to be unfair to your students, bring it up with your employer. But be
prepared to back up your statements with well founded reasoning and a solid plan of action to address
the students’ educational needs as well as the administrative needs of the school.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q5. It is easy to get young children’s attention, but how do I keep
their interest throughout the entire lesson?
The age of your students will have tremendous influence on how you must structure your lessons and
how long you can spend on any one activity. Familiarize yourself with Piaget’s stages of development
and pay particularly close attention to studies of attention span. The general guideline is that attention
span grows at a rate of about 3 to 5 minutes per year of life. However, this is only an estimate and it
represents attention span in the best possible environment. The classroom is a busy place filled with
many distractions. Some of these distractions are within your control (what students are allowed to
have on their desks, the use and availability of smartphones and tablets, classroom decorations, brightly
colored posters, etc.), but others are beyond your influence. No matter how quiet and calm your
classroom is, after a certain amount of time has elapsed, your students will start to get fidgety and want
to move on to something else. This is a much greater issue with very young students. Adolescents may
not want to spend so much time on a given activity, but they generally have the self-discipline to realize
that they have to overcome distractions and remain focused on the task at hand.
To help young students maintain their focus for longer periods, it is helpful to allow them to burn off
some of their excess energy. Have the students periodically stop what they are doing and stand up to do
some light physical exercise. This can be simple stretching, jumping jacks, or even a quick walk around
the room. These short interruptions can help reset your students’ attention clocks and allow them to stay
on task for much longer than they would be able to if they were not given a chance to take a break to do
something else. Even 30 seconds of movement can go a long way toward helping your students stay on
task. If you can incorporate movement into your lesson activities, this will help keep your students
interested and on-task. Ensure that these kinds of activities are acceptable at your school, however.
Some schools have a more regimented structure and the administration may not approve of having your
students up and moving around during class time. If you happen to teach in a school like this, you can
still incorporate some movement and stretches as your students remain seated.
In addition to taking short breaks and giving your students the opportunity to burn off some energy, you
can positively affect your students’ attention spans by the way you structure your lessons. Break up
longer activities into shorter components. For example, if you will be doing an exercise in which the
students will answer some questions about a reading passage, read through the article as you normally
would, but have the students answer just a couple of questions before taking them up and moving on to
the next few questions. This helps break up the activity rather than having them spend 10 or 15 minutes
answering all of the questions before you discuss the answers. Take a look at your lesson plan and think
of ways that you can divide longer activities into shorter chunks. If you can split a longer activity into
segments, it can be more effective than trying to plow through it all at once. Most importantly, pay
attention to your students. You will come to recognize the signs that they’re starting to lose focus.
Don’t feel bad for stopping them periodically and giving them a chance to focus on something else for
a few moments. A handful of brief, planned interruptions can prove far more effective and ultimately
less disruptive than trying to press on when your students have exhausted their ability to pay attention.
A selection of games and activities that you can use to break up your lessons can be found in the
appendix of this module.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q6. What is the value of using songs and chants in an ESL class?
Songs and chants are very popular children’s activities in any language. You will be hard pressed to
find an ESL textbook aimed at children that does not contain any songs or chants. The reason behind
this is twofold. First and foremost, children like songs! While some teachers may feel a bit
apprehensive about opening their vocal cords and bursting forth in song, most children have no such
reservations. Songs and chants, especially after repetition, are a comfortable, familiar way to practice
language. The second, and equally important, reason for using songs and chants is that they help
reinforce memory. The human mind is tuned for rhythm and music. Every culture on Earth has a
musical tradition, so it is quite natural that students would be responsive to teaching in the form of
music. Since music is enjoyable, most students don’t even realize they’re learning when they practice
songs, and what they do learn is more easily internalized. Of course, songs aren’t ideal for every
objective and activity, but they are a great way to teach vocabulary and certain concepts such as
greetings, goodbyes, and tenses. A selection of children’s songs can be found in Section H of
the Training Manual from your original Oxford Seminars certification course, as well as many places
online.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q7. What are some good ways to build children’s self-
confidence?
Most of the time, children are not very self-conscious and will be less inhibited to experiment with a
new language than would adults of the same level. However, when put on the spot or asked to speak in
front of the class, some children become very shy. Individual personalities play a significant role in
how comparatively outgoing the students in your class will be. Fortunately, this can be addressed, and
the majority of students can be drawn out of their shells and become active and willing participants in
your class. To achieve this you must be cognizant of the fact that learning a language is hard work, and
speaking a new language involves a lot of self-exposure. Students of any age may be afraid of making a
mistake when speaking a new language. They don’t want to say something that makes them sound
foolish or something that may offend the listener. From day one of your class, you must create a
welcoming and accepting atmosphere in your classroom. Greet each student warmly and individually.
If they feel that they have a personal connection with you and that you care about them and are there to
help, then the children in your class will feel less apprehensive about speaking to you or their
classmates in English. You must also reassure your students that mistakes are a part of learning. While
you don’t want them to ignore all of their mistakes or to feel that clarity and correctness are not
important, you do want them to feel free to try new things and to experiment with using the language in
different ways without fear of making mistakes. Language is a versatile tool, and becoming proficient
at using it in a variety of ways and contexts is one of the primary goals of any second-language
curriculum.
To build self-confidence, you must first help your students to feel relaxed so that they aren’t afraid to
try new things. Humor is a great way to keep your students at ease. Just ensure that you are laughing
with them and not at them. Children can be very sensitive when they think someone, especially an
adult, is making fun of them. If one of your students makes a mistake that comes across as humorous,
it’s okay to chuckle, but very quickly show them the correct way to say what they were trying to say. If
you can catch the error quickly enough and correct it with compassion and a warm smile, the student
can be made to see why what they said was funny without feeling bad about making a mistake. It takes
great care, but if you can properly utilize humor as a teaching tool, you will not only make your
students feel welcome and a part of the group, but you will be able to easily engage them in your
lessons and hold their attention as you teach. This is not to say that every lesson should be one big
running joke, but you should try to keep things as “light” as possible so that your students don’t
become overly critical of themselves and apprehensive about speaking for fear of making a mistake.
Most important for appropriately and effectively making use of humor in the classroom is the ability to
laugh at yourself. Don’t be self-conscious. If you do something silly, stumble over a word, forget
something, or do anything else that might cause you embarrassment, laugh about it and encourage your
students to laugh about it too! What better way to break the ice and help your students to understand
that it’s okay to make mistakes than by acknowledging your own faults and sharing a laugh about
them!
Of course, humor doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and some teachers do not feel it is appropriate to
laugh too much in the classroom, or they feel that it is unprofessional to do so. There are a number of
other ways, besides humor, to encourage your students and to help build their self-confidence. Once
again, the focus is on creating a classroom environment that is non-judgmental, that is accepting of
mistakes, and that encourages risk taking. Showing genuine care and compassion for your students will
go a long way towards helping them to feel more confident. If you have a particularly shy student who
is unwilling to speak in front of the class or who breaks down in tears whenever she makes a mistake,
then you can work more closely with that student to build her self-confidence. As much as laughter is a
part of any children’s classroom, so too are tears, sadly. To help shy and timid students feel more self-
assured, remember this aphorism: “praise in public; criticize in private”. Always be generous (and
genuine) with your praise and acknowledgement of a job well done. If specific corrections and
suggestions for improvement need to be made, do it quietly, away from the other students. It is best to
bring up any concerns you may have about persistent errors or common mistakes in general terms with
the whole class. Don’t single out any particular student, and don’t bring up errors immediately after the
offending student has spoken. Wait until the activity is finished and bring up all common problems at
that time. You don’t even have to introduce them as mistakes; just approach errors as things that require
more practice. For example, do some quick drills to correct pronunciation difficulties, rather than
pointing out that this word or that word was pronounced incorrectly. The students don’t always need to
know that they are being corrected, or even that they are learning something new. Perform error
correction as a routine part of your lessons, and focus on what was done correctly to positively
reinforce good language habits.
Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered
Q8. How do ESA, MI Theory, and TPR connect?
There have been a number of theories and teaching concepts presented throughout this module and in
the Oxford Seminars TESOL/TESL/TEFL Certification Course. Each of these theories has its own
merit and is meant to be applied in the classroom. Some new teachers find difficulty in bringing all of
these different ideas and approaches together into a cohesive teaching strategy. ESA (Engage, Study,
Activate) is the basic framework for a typical lesson. You must first engage your students, then teach
them something, then give them an opportunity to apply that knowledge to reinforce their learning. MI
(Multiple Intelligence) Theory was first proposed by Harvard psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner. In his
theory, Gardner hypothesized that intelligence comes in many different forms and that people express
their intelligence in different ways. Educators are most effective when they teach to their students’
strengths, and designing lessons that incorporate many different learning styles is the most effective
way of engaging a diverse group of students. TPR (Total Physical Response) is a teaching method
based on the notion that knowledge is most readily internalized when it is brought in through several
senses at once. In essence, there is a physical component to learning and memory. To take advantage of
this, TPR lessons involve some sort of physical activity while the students learn. This can be something
like performing the motion to reinforce a new action verb, or it can be as simple as having the students
come up to the front of the room to write their answers on the board. The idea is to have the students
respond physically to what they are being taught. Memory is a complex process that takes many forms,
and the more of these forms that can be engaged, the more diffuse the learning will be throughout the
body, leading to stronger connections and more readily recalled knowledge. An example of the body’s
role in encoding memory is writing something down that you wish to remember. The mere act of
writing is often sufficient reinforcement through muscle movement and involvement of the body to
allow for improved recall later, even if you never look at the piece of paper you wrote on!
These three teaching concepts can be tied together in a number of ways. The most straightforward way
to bring them together is to have some sort of physical game or activity as the Engagement stage of
your lesson. The Engagement is more than just a warm-up or ice breaker, it should also tie in to what
you will be teaching. Treat the Engagement as your introduction to the lesson. It should be interesting
and serve to pique your students’ curiosity. If you can get them up and doing something, especially with
a class of young children, then you will immediately have their attention. To use TPR during the Study
stage, link what they are doing to some real-world context and have them act it out. How you can
incorporate physical movement into this stage will depend on what exactly you’re teaching, but try to
think of ways to engage as many senses as possible. You can also use TPR in the Activation stage of the
lesson to reinforce what they have learned. Have the students act out a skit or role play, or perform
some other type of action to show that they’ve learned what was taught during the lesson. The idea of
TPR and MI Theory is that alternatives to traditional “sit and listen” teaching can be much more
effective and engaging. This works well within the ESA framework because teachers should be looking
for creative ways to divide their lessons into distinct stages with specific learning objectives and
strategies for each stage. Think of how you can incorporate physical activity and other styles of
learning and forms of intelligence (visual, audio, interpersonal, etc.) into your lessons. Not only will
your students find it more interesting, they will retain more of what they learn.
Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered
Q9. With all the focus on phonics, is there any value to teaching
sight reading?
Sight reading is how most accomplished and proficient readers recognize the words they read. The
reason it shouldn’t be emphasized with young readers as they are developing their skills is that they
lack a sufficient store of known vocabulary to accurately assess the shape of a word and assign the
correct meaning. It takes years of practice reading a language to get to the point where it’s second
nature and requires no mental effort. Much as Stephen Krashen identified the natural order of language
acquisition but emphasized that educators should not attempt to force this order on their students, nor
should they even build lessons to take advantage of it, the same is true for sight reading. It is a very
useful skill, but it cannot be forced. Students will develop the ability to recognize words on sight over
time with sufficient practice and exposure. If teachers try to push sight reading as a method, they open
the door to guesswork and errors. However, there are ways to facilitate the development of sight
reading.
Having your students study lists of common words is one way to develop sight reading. This should not
be done as a stand-alone exercise, however. Telling your students to study a seemingly arbitrary list of
words is neither engaging nor particularly relevant to them, so it is unlikely that they will get much out
of the activity. Whereas, if you can incorporate these common words into some other communicative or
expressive reading activity, then you can help expose your students to the words that they will gain the
most benefit from being able to sight read. It will take time for this skill to develop. Different students
will develop their reading skills at different rates, and this includes sight reading. But if you treat it as
something that they will eventually learn to do unconsciously, then you can create activities with sight
reading of common words in mind, without it being an explicit focus. Communication, vocabulary, and
the correct usage of both spoken and written language are the most important things to teach. Ancillary
skills such as sight reading will develop naturally according to the students’ own timetables. Expose
your students to sufficient quantities of authentic language in a natural context and all of their skills
will benefit.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q10. What can I do if my school doesn’t have access to many
resources?
Since most paid ESL teaching positions are in relatively affluent countries, there is an assumption that
all schools have access to quality resources to assist teachers in creating and delivering their lessons.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are plenty of paid and volunteer teaching positions in
smaller schools, less affluent regions, and areas where ESL teaching is extremely rare. If you find
yourself in such a teaching environment, then you will have to be creative in how you deliver your
lessons and the types of activities you choose to do. You can prevent a lot of headache and worry if you
enquire about the availability of resources before you go. If you know you are going to a school that
does not have sufficient textbooks, dictionaries, colored pencils, or other resources, then you can clear
out some space in your suitcase to bring a few extra books and supplies with you, or you can get the
school’s address and ship them separately. If you don’t find out ahead of time, or you arrive to find that
things aren’t quite as rosy as you were led to believe, then you can always ask someone from home to
send you some resources, or you can see if your school will order some for you. In the meantime,
however, you will have to make due with the limited resources that are available.
How you adapt to this situation will depend upon what resources are available and what resources are
missing. Do you have textbooks? In the vast majority of schools, supplies of text books will not be a
problem. They may not be the latest editions or brand new copies, but almost every ESL school will at
least have textbooks for the students to use. If there are no textbooks, then make use of the activities
and lesson ideas in the Oxford Seminars Training Manual. It will take considerably more work for you
to create engaging lessons without ready-made pictures and dialogues, but it’s not impossible. Get
ready to test your drawing ability, and get used to writing dialogues on the board. If the school lacks
sufficient textbooks, then chances are the focus will be on spoken English, so build your lessons
primarily around conversation skills.
If textbooks are not the problem, but the school lacks such electronic aids as a computer, photocopier,
TV, or DVD/CD player, then you can make due with simple adaptation. Most books come with scripts
for any audio component, so you can read these to your students. If you’re teaching young children,
they always enjoy it when the teacher speaks in a different voice for each character in a story or
dialogue. Don’t be shy. The children in your class won’t judge you if your voices for the three little
pigs are a little silly. In fact, they’ll probably enjoy it more! If you don’t have access to a photocopier, it
can make some activities more difficult and time consuming to create, particularly written tests. If you
can’t make any copies for your students, then they will get extra writing practice as they copy things off
the board. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as they will still be developing their motor skills as well as
their reading and retention. Students will quickly develop strategies to remember whole words and the
appropriate spelling so that they don’t have to look up at the board to write down every letter.
Oftentimes the things that teachers do to save time also end up taking away valuable practice from their
students, so a lack of electronic resources isn’t necessarily a teaching handicap.
Whatever the reasons and however dire the lack of resources, your school administration will be aware
of the deficiencies and will likely do everything they can to assist you, so don’t be afraid to ask for help
if you need it. It never hurts to pack a few sets of colored pencils or crayons in your suitcase just in
case. Even if the school has art resources, they are almost always in short supply. Extras are always
welcome and knowing that you have reliable, guaranteed access to art supplies can be reassuring when
you sit down to create your lessons for the upcoming unit.

opic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q11. What if the students in my class are all different levels?
ESL schools divide their students in a number of different ways. Public schools and larger academies
have the luxury of dividing their students by age and ability level; however, many smaller schools lack
the numbers to divide their students by both age and level, and thus must choose one or the other as
their sorting criteria. If the school you teach at has a smaller student body, you could end up teaching a
mixed-level class made up of students of roughly the same age, or you could end up teaching a level-
standardized class with students of diverse ages. Both of these scenarios present unique challenges for
the teacher.
If you are presented with a mixed-level class to teach, there are a number of strategies you can employ
to effectively deliver your curriculum. Which strategy you choose will depend upon the specific
makeup of your class as well as your own teaching preferences. If the students fall roughly into a lower
level range and a higher level range, you can treat it as a split class and divide the class in two
according to these broad ranges. This can be an effective way to keep students together with those who
are at approximately the same level, and it can make teaching more efficient, albeit with nearly double
the lesson-planning for the teacher. You will have to create separate (but preferably related) lessons for
each group. Give the higher-level students an introductory task that requires little instruction or direct
teaching, and let them work on that for the first few minutes of the class while you teach the lower-
level students. Once the lower-level students have moved on to the Activation stage of a standard
Engage, Study, Activate (ESA) lesson, then you can turn your attention to the higher-level students and
begin teaching them. It is a good idea to stagger their work so that you can teach one half of the class
while the other works on a task, and vice versa. For certain activities, you may wish to teach the whole
class, but you will have to be careful to grade your language so that it is comprehensible to the lower-
level students. Tests and assignments with a class such as this will have to be carefully designed and
marked with level-appropriate expectations in mind, or as is often the easiest way, you can create
entirely separate tests for each group.
Often in mixed-level classes, however, your students will span a spectrum of ability and will not be
easily divisible into “high” and “low” levels. If this is the case, you would be best to use a small group
approach. You can split the students into groups based on level and approach it much like the example
in the previous paragraph with separate “classes” for each level, or you can mix the groups so that they
have an assortment of levels. Mixed groups provide an opportunity for higher-level students to assist
their lower-level counterparts. Care must be taken to ensure that the stronger students don’t dominate
class discussions or end up doing more of the work in group assignments. To prevent unequal workload
distribution, it is useful to assign specific tasks to different members of each group, while keeping their
levels firmly in mind. Separate tests and activities for each level can be created, but since there may be
several different levels in the class, it is usually easier to create a single assignment with a range of
questions. The lower-level students can be expected to finish a certain number of early questions; then
they can progress into more difficult questions as they wish. Meanwhile, higher-level students would
be expected to finish much more of the assigned task, if not all of it. Graded expectations are often the
simplest means of adjusting a given activity to suit various levels. If you expect that your higher-level
students perform a dialogue on a given topic, then you can do the same with the lower-level students by
reducing the length of the passages and restricting the vocabulary they will use.
Mixed-level classes are challenging but also provide a great opportunity for students to assist one
another. Just be sure to divide your attention appropriately and fairly among the various levels in your
class. Sometimes teachers may feel inclined to teach only to the high level students because those
students understand more of what is being said, or they will teach predominantly to the low level
students with the expectation that the higher-level students will help out with the teaching. Neither of
these approaches is fair to the students, nor do they offer the best means of helping all of the students in
your class to improve their English language skills.
Given the presence of so many “more knowledgeable others” in the class, often the lower-level
students will advance quite rapidly in mixed-level classes, provided that the teacher is attentive to their
needs and does not leave them behind. Allow your students to help one another, but do not allow that
assistance to be a substitute for good teaching and genuine support from the teacher.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Q12. What if the students are of different ages?
Many schools will require an entrance test for new students. This test can be used to restrict enrollment
to students of a certain level, or it can be used to sort students into appropriate level groups. If there are
sufficient numbers of students, most schools will attempt to further subdivide these levels by age, but
as with situations that result in mixed-level classes, sometimes this is not possible. In such situations,
teachers may find themselves teaching students of a similar level but disparate ages. This presents a
unique set of challenges, for not only are there social considerations when teaching students of varying
ages, but there can also be significant cognitive differences that impact the kinds of activities that
different students are able to do, regardless of their English language proficiency.
While younger students are often quite comfortable and outgoing within their peer group, they can
quickly become shy and quiet when mixed in with older children. If this is the case, the teacher must
intervene to ensure that all students are participating equally. While it is wise and sometimes preferable
to give additional responsibility to older students, they should not be allowed to dominate class
discussions, nor should they be expected to carry more of the workload in group activities. On the other
hand, it can also be discouraging for older students to be in a class with students who are noticeably
younger, yet are able to perform at the same level. This problem will only be exacerbated as the
younger students will typically continue to advance more quickly than their older classmates. The
teacher must be aware of any ego and self-esteem issues in a mixed-age class.
If the students are placed into groups, group leaders are usually best assigned by age or on a rotational
basis. For example, if 5 of the 6 groups in the class have the oldest student as the leader, but the last
group has a younger leader, it is almost assured that the oldest student in the last group will be teased or
otherwise disparaged by his peers. Keep these social considerations in mind when creating groups and
assigning roles. Children are acutely aware of age as a role-defining characteristic, so be sensitive to
their esteem and perceived place in the hierarchy of responsibility. This can be used to great effect by
making note of older students’ maturity and increased responsibility. They can be held to account for
their behavior because of their age, and they can also be used as monitors to help keep the younger
students on task. Assigning duties and empowering all students to be responsible for their behavior,
both to the teacher and to their classmates, can be a powerful classroom management tool in a mixed-
age classroom.
Beyond the social considerations of teaching students of diverse ages, there may also be cognitive
differences that need to be taken into account. Keep in mind Piaget’s stages of development and the
abilities and limitations of each stage. While a 7-year-old and 12-year-old student may be able to
converse at the same level and express their thoughts and opinions with the same degree of fluency, it
would not be fair to have the same expectations when it comes to writing or the expression of complex
ideas or nuanced opinions. There is a great deal of cognitive differential between the Pre-Operational
and Formal Operational stages of development. Even at the highest levels of English language
proficiency, the expectations will be very different for students of such diverse ages. Consider the
differences in the expectations placed on 2nd grade versus 6th grade students in a typical elementary
school. In dialogues, role playing, or conversational exchanges, these differences in cognitive ability
will not often be apparent, especially with students below the advanced level. However, when it comes
to more complex exchanges, particularly in writing, the differences can become much more evident.
Teachers of mixed-age classes can limit this effect by assigning different tasks or by having different
expectations for the students of different age groups. These different expectations should not be in
pronunciation, spelling, or grammar, but rather in the complexity of the expression itself, whether it’s in
written or spoken form. Asking a younger student to write a one-paragraph or one-page story while
asking an older student to draft a story two or three times as long is a fair difference in expectations if
their ages are sufficiently disparate.
The lengths of the students’ attention spans and their different interests are other considerations that
must be taken into account if there is a considerable age range between the youngest and oldest
students in the class. It is best to break up longer activities to suit the younger students, rather than
forcing younger students to try to concentrate beyond their natural ability to do so. Shifting gears every
10 minutes or so won’t bother the older students, but attempting to keep the class on task within a
single activity for 20 or 30 minutes could prove disastrous with younger students. In addition to time
concerns, stories, articles, and discussion topics will have to be carefully chosen to appeal to all ages in
the class. This could mean leaving that article on nuclear disarmament at home for another lesson, or
foregoing the Sesame Street video you were so eager to show the class. If topics of general interest are
chosen, and teachers aim for the middle of the age range in the class, then usually things will go
smoothly and no students will feel particularly out of touch with what is being taught. As always, the
focus should be on the language more so than the content. So long as the content is interesting enough
and combined with engaging activities, the students should be able to learn the incorporated language
effectively, even if the target age for the material is a little above or below their own age.

Topic 5: Twelve Questions Answered

Summary of Twelve Questions Answered
The twelve questions answered in this topic are by no means comprehensive. It would be impossible to
cover every contingency and every concern a new teacher could have before traveling abroad to teach.
However, the answers here should help alleviate any lingering stress or worry you have about preparing
to teach. In the end, the important thing to remember is that you are well prepared, you have taken the
appropriate steps to ready yourself to teach English as a second language, and as long as you remain
flexible and do your best to be a warm, caring, and compassionate teacher with a genuine interest in
your students’ linguistic development, then you will succeed. Having a positive impact not just on your
students’ learning, but also on their lives, is one of the most rewarding experiences of teaching. Enjoy
it, have fun, and always go the extra mile to help your students learn as much as they can.

Introduction to Games, Activities, and Lesson Plans

This appendix contains a selection of educational games and activities you can use in your ESL classes.
Keep in mind that games should be fun, but they should also be educational. There should always be a
learning objective to any activity you do in the classroom. Games can be used to introduce new
concepts, practice what has been learned, and review past material. Children always enjoy games, and
they often don’t even realize that they’re learning when new concepts are taught within the context of a
game.
In addition to games, songs are a mainstay in any young learners’ classroom. Songs are not only fun,
but they are a great way to introduce TPR while practicing vocabulary and pronunciation. The
repetitive nature of songs lends them well to reinforcement activities to practice new vocabulary,
phrases, and grammatical structures. Most children love to sing, so teachers should be ready to test
their vocal cords!
Appendix: Games, Activities, and Lesson Plans
Games and Activities
Games and activities are the mainstay of children’s ESL classes. As long as the focus is on
communication and learning, take every opportunity to make your activities fun and enjoyable. If the
students are having fun doing an activity, then their hearts, minds, and bodies are engaged, and they are
much more likely to retain what they are learning. Approach gameplay as a teaching tool and not
simply as a stand-alone reward or Friday-afternoon escape. Ensure that the games you play have a
learning objective, and try to select games that augment and complement what you’re teaching in your
lessons. If you can attain your teaching objectives through an enjoyable and memorable game or
activity, then do so! Many teachers feel out of place playing games in the classroom, or they use them
solely as rewards. The danger here is that if fun and enjoyable activities are always presented in
contrast with the rest of your lessons, then students come to see regular teaching as boring and games
as an escape and the only thing they look forward to. Integrate games into your curriculum and keep
your other lessons and activities as lively as possible. Games are just one way of creating an engaging
lesson. Of course, certain games and activities will emerge as class favorites, so you can use those
games as a class reward once in a while or for special review. Some games will require one or two tries
before the students fully grasp how they are played, so take the time to explain any games clearly each
time you play until they understand the mechanics and intent. Most importantly, have fun!
On the next page are 20 game and activity ideas that you can use in your classroom. Each of these
activities is suitable for children of any age and can be modified for use with various levels. When
choosing an activity, consider the students in your class and pay attention to what sorts of activities
they enjoy. Present lessons and tasks in as many different ways as possible to engage different styles of
learners, and don’t shy away from having some fun yourself as you play these games!

Appendix: Games, Activities, and Lesson Plans

20 Game and Activity Ideas
1. Verbal Charades

Choose a theme or topic (e.g. sports, animals, occupations, emotions, etc.) and create flashcards
containing words and/or pictures of things that fit your chosen topic. Place all of the students’ names in
a hat and draw one at random. Have that student select a flashcard and describe what is on the card.
The rules are that there can be no gesturing and no spelling of the word. The student must describe
what is on the card using words only. The other students try to guess what the student is describing.
This can be done in teams or as individuals. Set a time limit to keep things moving, and don’t be afraid
to offer assistance or pass on a particular card if the students are really stuck. Points are awarded for
correct guesses as well as accurate descriptions. So, for example, if the first student accurately
describes an animal so that another student is able to guess that it is a kangaroo, then both students get
a point. Since giving an accurate description is the more difficult task, you can opt to give more points
to the student describing what is on the card. Then the student who correctly guessed can take a turn
describing a card, or you can select another student at random.
Once the content of a card is correctly guessed, write the word on the board. After all of the cards are
finished, the students can try to guess the topic or theme for the cards to gain a class reward. The more
individual cards they guess, the easier it will be to guess the topic or theme!
2. Word Chain

Arrange the students in a circle or in lines. Choose a student to go first. This student says an English
word and the next student to go must say another word that begins with the last letter of the previous
word. For example, a chain using animal words could progress as follows:
tiger → rhino → ostrich → hen…and so on. To make the game more challenging, the teacher can
specify a category or theme for the words, such as animals (as in the example above), nouns, verbs,
places, etc. Just ensure that the topic is broad enough to have sufficient words as to be playable.

3. Red and Green

Divide the class into groups. Each group elects one member who will secretly be the focus of the
activity. The students in each group are given a large piece of paper and red and green markers. They
must describe the selected person using the green marker for things that are true, and the red marker for
things that are not true.
To make this activity more challenging and more communicative, have each group ask (in English, of
course) their elected member a series of questions about his or her likes and dislikes. Likes are then
written in green while dislikes are written in red. After a set time has elapsed, the teacher gathers all of
the large pieces of paper and puts them up on the board in random order. The students then have to
guess whose likes and dislikes are written on each piece of paper. Obviously those students who were
elected do not get points for guessing their own list, but they should still participate so that the other
students cannot narrow down who was elected. This variation is best done with students who have had
some time to get to know each other.
Another variation of this game is to have each student create a list of likes and dislikes using red and
green markers as in the example above. Then have each student show the list they created to the class.
The other students then must ask why that person likes or dislikes certain things. Take note of some of
the more interesting likes and dislikes and hold a class vote find out how many students share the same
feelings. You can then go around the room and have each student explain why they do or do not like
goldfish, for example.

4. Catch the Answer

Have the students stand in a circle while you stand in the middle holding a ball. Ask a question to one
of the students and pass the ball to that student. If the student can correctly answer the question, then he
or she passes the ball back to you. If the student does not know the answer, he or she then passes the
ball to another student until someone can answer correctly. Repeat questions that the students had
difficulty with until they are answered easily and correctly. If the students are sufficiently confident and
able, they could take turns playing the role of the teacher in the center of the circle asking questions.

5. Moving Memory

Arrange a collection of objects or flashcards on a table that all of the students can easily see. Show
them the objects or flashcards for a predetermined amount of time (30 seconds to 1 minute should
suffice). After the time has elapsed, cover the objects or turn over the flashcards. The students must
then say where each object was in relation to the others. For example, “The flower is next to the cat and
above the umbrella.”
To add a challenge, you can move the objects around and students must then say the old location in the
past tense and the new location in the present tense. For example, “The tiger was between the elephant
and giraffe, but now it is above the snake and next to the horse.”

6. Tell the Tale

Place three bags at the front of the class. In the first bag, place cards with pictures of people on them
(or action figures/dolls if you wish and these are available). In the second bag, place cards or pictures
of places. In the third bag, place cards or pictures of actions. Each student must come up to the front
and withdraw one item from each bag (for example, pictures of a chef, a submarine, and the action,
sleeping). Then the students tell or write a story linking the person, place, and action. This can be a
simple sentence for lower level classes, or a short story for more advanced students. If you have
enough items for every student in the class to get one from each bag, then you can allow them to take
the items back to their desks to give them a visual starting point for their stories. If there aren’t enough
items to go around, allow the students to come up individually or in small groups to take a closer look.

7. Sliding Doors

Building suspense is a great way to get young students’ attention. One way to do this is to slowly reveal
something and have them guess what they’re being shown. For this activity, you will need some flash
cards or pictures. Hold up the flash card but cover it with a book, piece of paper, or some other opaque
object. Slowly slide the cover away and have the students guess what the picture or word is. If you are
using a picture, you can ask questions as you reveal the picture, such as “What color can you see?” or
“What do you think it is?” To assist your students, you can ask leading questions such as “What kind of
animal is it?” or “How many legs does it have?” These kinds of questions can help students make use
of adjectives and other descriptive words.
You can also use flash cards with words on them for this activity. This can be an engaging way to
practice letter and word recognition and also to connect words with their spelling. For low level or very
young students, reveal the word from left to right so it’s as if they are reading it. Once they are a little
older, or for a more challenging activity to use with slightly higher level students, you can reveal the
word from right to left, top to bottom, or bottom to top. If you’re particularly adept, you could reveal it
from the middle out. The idea is to keep them guessing. This kind of covert practice is a great way for
students to develop their word- and letter-recognition skills and will implicitly help them build their
sight reading ability.

8. Grab Bags

Grab bags are another way to build suspense. Bring in a bag filled with various items. If you have a
small class or small items, you could bring in a bag with enough items that each student can grab one.
For larger classes, or if it would be impractical to bring in an item for every student, you can randomly
select a few students to come up and withdraw an item. To make it even more interesting and engaging,
you could play a short game and allow the winners to come select an item from the bag. After the
students draw an item from the bag, have them identify it by name if they can, or describe it using as
many adjectives and descriptive terms as they can. This can provide some good practice using
descriptive words and phrases. Ensure that the items in the bag are related to your lesson in some way.
This kind of realia provides a concrete connection between the lesson and something concrete. For
example, if you are doing a lesson on foods, you could bring in a bag filled with fruits and vegetables.
The students must draw one item from the bag, say something about it (e.g. “This vegetable is orange,”
or “My fruit is round.”), and if they know the English word for it, they can say that to the class.
The grab bag can be used as a warm-up to introduce some vocabulary for the lesson, or it could be used
as a wrap-up at the end. Having a mystery bag filled with unknown items is a surefire way to get young
students’ attention. Just be careful that the bag doesn’t become a distraction. If you plan to bring in the
bag to get their attention, then reveal what is inside to conclude your lesson, it might be wise to put the
bag out of sight if you find that the students are paying more attention to the bag than they are to your
lesson. The grab bag can serve as an introduction as students each come up to withdraw an item and
say something about it, then later it can also serve as a closing exercise as the students return the items
to the bag and say something different about their item as they place it back into the bag.

9. Telephone

Telephone is a game commonly played in school or at summer camp. The students all sit in a circle or a
line if there is sufficient space. The teacher whispers a phrase to the student at one end and that student
then repeats the phrase to the next student in the line and so on. Each student may only say the phrase
once (or twice if the game proves too difficult). So if the next student couldn’t understand what was
said, then the message is likely to change. Even with native English speakers, this game can result in
some hilariously mistranslated phrases by the end of the line or circle. It is particularly useful for ESL
students because they must take extra care to pronounce the words accurately, and the student receiving
the message must listen very carefully to ensure that they understand correctly. With lower level classes
or very young students, the teacher may start with a relatively short phrase. With higher level classes
and older students, the teacher can use longer phrases or complete sentences. There is usually no need
to go beyond a single sentence or a couple of very short sentences. The intent of the game is not to test
short-term memory, but rather to practice pronunciation and listening skills.
To make the game competitive, or more practical for larger classes, divide the students into teams and
give each team the same phrase. The team that repeats the phrase most accurately at the end gets one
point. After a set time limit has elapsed or a predetermined score is reached, the team with the most
points wins!

10. Hot Potato

Hot Potato is a fun way to put students on the spot. Bring a ball, or if you’re a literalist, bring an actual
potato (preferably not hot), and arrange your students in a circle. Ask a question to the class; then throw
the ball to a student. The receiving student must first answer the question correctly, and then ask their
own question to the class before throwing the ball to the next student to answer. They’ll have to think
quickly and pay attention because they won’t know who will have to answer next! If a student does not
know the answer, they can enlist the help of a classmate by tossing the ball to someone else. To prevent
students from simply refusing to answer and throwing the ball away any time they catch it, you can
limit them to 3 “life lines”. Give out points for correct answers and correctly formulated questions. You
can give out small prizes or other rewards to the students with the most points at the end of the game.

11. Crazy Walks

Crazy Walks is a fun game to play with young students. To start, choose some items or flash cards that
relate to the lesson you’re teaching. Show the items or flash cards to the students, and practice the
language associated with the items as it relates to your lesson objectives. Then, place the items at the
front of the class. You can set the items in plain sight, or you can mix them up and hide them in various
places. If you’re using flash cards, you can have them face up or face down, depending on the age of
your students and how challenging you want the activity to be. Place the students into teams and have
them stand at the back of the room. Choose a student to go first on each team, and these students must
then walk to the front of the room and pick up an item. However, it is not so simple! The students must
walk in a “crazy walk”. They could walk backwards, on all fours, shuffling sideways like a crab, or by
any number of inventive means of locomotion to bring them to the front of the room.
The game is a race, but the crazy walks help add an element of entertainment and difficulty. They also
work to slow the students down to keep them from running headlong into a wall as they race. For
fairness, the competing students should use the same crazy walk. Otherwise, one student’s crazy walk
could involve taking giant leaping steps and another’s could be short baby steps. Obviously this would
not be a fair race! Once the students have seen a few different crazy walks and are familiar with the
game, you can have them suggest some favorites to list on the board. Randomly select a crazy walk
from the list for each round of the game. Teachers should, of course, keep safety in mind when
approving students’ crazy walks.
If the students are shy or not particularly inventive with their crazy walks, the teacher can also pre-
select some crazy walks, teach them to the class, and then randomly assign a walk to each student when
it’s their turn to go. Generally, however, children have little difficulty coming up with their own crazy
walks, and they usually get a great deal of enjoyment out of this activity. After the teacher has
demonstrated the walk and all the students know what to do, the students then “race” with their crazy
walks to get a specified card (or item) from the front of the room. Once the students get to the front and
find the items, their teams call out to ask, “What is it?” The students with the items at the front must
then reply “It’s a ____!” before crazy-walking back to their teams. The first student back after the
question has been correctly asked and answered is the winner of that round! The question can also be
tailored to practice other language items such as the color, size, texture, etc., depending on the
objectives of the lesson.
This game is most obviously geared toward younger students, but it can certainly be used with older
children and even adults! Just be sure that the students are comfortable enough with one another to do
some crazy walks, and a good time should be had by all. To make the game a little more challenging,
the teacher can hide the items and then specify which item the student must find and pick up. Use it as
a warm up or a reinforcement activity for new vocabulary. You can expand the game to have each
student identify the item and also say something else about it to practice descriptive terms. Be creative
with the language requirements. As long as the students are crazy walking to the front of the room, this
game can be used to practice a wide range of language structures.

12. Pick a Card

Merely adding an element of chance to an activity can make it more engaging for the students. Pick a
Card is a simple descriptive or question and answer activity. In it, the students draw a card from a deck
or a pile and must either answer the question on the card or describe or tell about what is on the card. If
you don’t have a set of flash cards, you can use a regular deck of cards and assign a question or picture
to each of the cards in the deck. This activity can be used as a fun way to practice new language, and it
is also a useful review before a test.

13. Board Games

Board games are a typical rainy-day pastime, but how can you make them a communicative, English
activity? Well, for starters, you might want to consider making your own. Creating a board game takes
a little time and creativity, but it can be well worth the effort. The rules should be kept simple and
straightforward for ESL classes, especially with very young students. As with any activity, it is a good
idea to go through an example before beginning. Play a few rounds of the game for demonstration
before you start keeping score. Even if there is no score in the game and there isn’t really a definitive
“winner”, the students would still prefer that they get a chance to practice before beginning “for real”.
One very simple example of a board game that you can make and use in an ESL class is a simple
question and answer game. Create a board with a number of squares on it. The squares can be a simple
box around the outside of the board, or you can create any design you wish. Come up with some
questions and write these onto cards. You can color the squares on the board and assign a category to
each color, or you can just put all of the questions into one big pile. The target of the questions can be
explicitly linguistic (e.g. questions about adjectives, nouns, tenses, etc.), or they can be more implicit
and simply involve students using their language skills to answer questions about a variety of topics
(e.g. animals, sports, things in the classroom, etc.).
The mechanics of the game can be as straightforward as rolling some dice and advancing that many
squares, then answering a question. If the students successfully answer the question, then they can roll
again. If they cannot answer the question, they must try again on their next turn before they can roll
again. You can add any variation you wish to the game to make it more challenging and interesting. It is
often a good idea to start with a simple version of the game, and then move to something more complex
once the students have the hang of it. It is quite likely that they will be familiar with the basic
mechanics of games involving dice rolls and moving pieces around a board, but you should still take
the time to demonstrate how the game is played to ensure that they know what to do.

14. Tail of the Tale

Children love stories. If you think back to your days as an elementary and pre-school student, story
time likely provides some prominent and fond memories. Not only are stories an imaginative escape,
the narrative structure also helps children incorporate new information. Human brains are very adept at
organizing information that is provided in a narrative context. In this activity, you will provide the
setting, context, characters, and initial plot arc, but your students will have to continue the tale and
carry it to a conclusion. Create a story if you are so inclined, or take one from a book, magazine, or
newspaper. Present the first two thirds of the story, then hand it off to your students. This is best done
as a writing activity so that the students have time to organize their thoughts, but you can incorporate
speaking and pronunciation by having them read their completed tales to the class.
Print off copies of the portion of the story that you will read together as a class. Read the story to the
students as they follow along; then ask them to identify any words they are unfamiliar with. You should
go through the story yourself beforehand to identify any vocabulary you think they may not know or
that may be used in a different context than what the students have encountered before. Once you’ve
gone over any new vocabulary, have the students take turns reading from the story to practice their
reading and pronunciation skills. After reading through the story as a class, discuss some of the
important plot elements, the setting, and the characters in the story. Write these on the board so that the
students have an easy reference when they begin continuing the story on their own. Spend some time
on the discussion to be sure that every student understands what has happened in the story up to this
point, then send them off to finish the tale!
Once the students have written an ending to the story, have them edit and proofread their work. Be
available to assist them with this part of the process, but avoid the temptation to rewrite sections for
them. Guide them to the correct spelling, grammar, and syntax, but don’t do it for them. After they have
had a chance to finalize their drafts (the writing and/or editing may be a homework assignment,
depending on the time available), have the students present their stories to the class. Allow them to be
creative in the direction they take the story, but insist that they maintain some continuity with the
original story. They can incorporate plot twists and even some new characters, but it must be a
continuation of the story, not an entirely new tale.
This activity can be modified to suit any ability level from high-beginners through to very advanced
students. Obviously you will have to tailor your expectations to suit the level. If you’re teaching
beginners, a few sentences should suffice and the original story should be proportionately short as well.
With more advanced students, you can expect several paragraphs or even a few pages! For added
interest, you can have the students illustrate a key scene or create a cover page for their stories, but the
focus, as always, should be on the language.

15. Gone Fishin’

This game is best played with smaller classes or with larger classes divided into small groups of about
five or six students. It is a good activity to practice vocabulary and word recognition. First, select a
story, passage, or article to read. Go through it and select vocabulary, actions, events, characters,
expressions, or any other words or phrases from the story. Write or draw these onto cards. To begin the
activity, spread out the cards on a desk or table and begin reading. As you read, the students must grab
the corresponding card as they hear the word or phrase in the story. If you’re playing with a larger
group, it is a good idea to create two or three of each card so that the students have a greater chance of
grabbing one. Once the story is done, the student with the most cards is the best angler! To add an
element of challenge, you can create cards with words or events that do not occur in the story. Penalize
students who grab these cards by counting them as -1 points or something to that effect. To be
successful at this activity, the students must listen attentively and must recognize the written words or
pictures quickly so that they can “catch” the cards before their classmates.

16. Listen and Count

This activity can be modified to focus on any aspect of the language, whether it’s a particular element
of grammar, specific categories of nouns or actions, or almost anything else. To begin, identify specific
words, parts of speech, sounds, phrases, or whatever else you would like to focus on. Tell the students
that they will be listening for what you have selected, and they must count how many times they hear
the target language as you read a story or play a recording. It is best to keep the activity focused so that
the students are not overwhelmed. Choose one element to concentrate on for each time they listen.
Once you’ve finished the story or listening passage, have the students submit their counts of the target
language they heard. You can assign points for correct tallies or partial points depending on how close
they were. Once you’ve collected their counts and assigned them scores, return the papers to the
students and listen again. Tell the students whether they were under or over in their tallies and have
them check their answers during the second listen. You can then take the average of their two scores to
determine a winner, or you can leave it as a non-competitive exercise. This activity is good because it
can be modified to suit a lesson on almost any element of the language, from categories of nouns such
as “animals”, to grammatical elements such as “past tense verbs”, and everything in between.

17. Pictionary/Charades

These two games are similar in intent but different in method. Both are guessing games and are a fun
way to practice vocabulary. First, come up with some objects, actions, emotions, or expressions that
you would like to practice in the game. Write these on cards and put the cards into a hat, bag, or other
receptacle. This game is best played as a team game, but it can just as easily be played as a class-wide
activity. Choose a student or team to go first. For Pictionary, that student must select a card at random
and draw whatever is on the card on the board. If the student does not recognize the word or is unsure,
you can go someplace private and explain before beginning. As the student draws, the other students try
to guess what is being drawn. Charades is very similar, except rather than drawing, the students must
act out what is on the card. This can be challenging and entertaining for students and teacher alike!
Remember that the point of these games is to practice English vocabulary and questioning, so ensure
that all students are speaking English at all times and require that all guesses be in the form of a
complete statement or question (e.g. “It’s a zebra!” or “Is it an airplane?”).

18. Searches and Scrambles

There are really two separate activities here. One involves word recognition and finding target
language, the other involves putting words and sentences in the correct order to practice syntax and
sentence structure. Word searches are simple puzzles that involve students searching for words hidden
in a jumble of letters. The target words can be provided in a list, or for an added challenge, the students
can be required to answer questions to find out what the target words are. There are a number of online
puzzle generators that can make creating word searches very easy for teachers.
Scrambles can be word-based (anagrams) or sentence based. To start, create some sentences that
demonstrate a particular component of language (they might contain a number of adjectives and
adverbs, for example). Then mix up the words and have the students put them into the appropriate
order to form grammatically correct sentences. You can group some words together to ensure that there
is only one correct answer for each sentence; otherwise, students could use the same words to create a
number of grammatically distinct sentences (statements versus questions, for example). To assist lower-
level students, you can leave the first word of the sentence capitalized and include the end-mark
punctuation with the last word. Or, if you wish to make it more of a challenge, you can leave these cues
off. Scramble activities can help students learn to recognize common word sequences, such as how
adjectives are ordered in English. For example, adjectives are typically ordered as number, size, then
color in English (“He saw two big, blue trucks”; not, “He saw blue two big trucks.” Be sure to test your
scrambles a few times yourself to ensure that there are not a multitude of possible correct answers.
Revise the sentences so that there is only one correct order for each.

19. Simon Says

Simon Says is a very common, enjoyable childhood game. It is also a great way to practice imperative
sentences, actions, and parts of the body. If you are unfamiliar with the mechanics, the game is quite
simple. The teacher or some other class leader stands at the front of the room. All of the students stand
facing the leader who then gives instructions such as, “Touch your toes,” or, “Hop up and down.” The
catch is that students must not perform the action unless the instruction is prefaced with “Simon
says…”. If a student either performs the wrong action or performs an action that was not preceded by
the words “Simon says”, then that student is out. To make the game trickier, the leader can say one
action while doing another. The students have to do what was said, so if they are not listening carefully,
they can be caught following along with the leader. For example, the leader could say, “Simon says
raise your hand,” while scratching his nose. Students who scratch their noses are eliminated because
they did not follow the verbal instructions! With any game that involves elimination, be sure to keep
things moving quickly and have something for the eliminated students to do so that they do not become
bored and disruptive.

20. Other Games

In addition to games that you can make yourself and games that don’t require any equipment, there are
a number of store-bought games that are great for use in language classrooms. Boggle, Scrabble, and
Guess Who are three of the most popular games for use in ESL classes, but if you take a look through a
well-stocked games store, you might uncover some other games that could be well suited to a language
classroom. By all means, if you have room in your suitcase, consider bringing along a game or two!

Boggle
Boggle involves a collection of six-sided dice with letters on each side. These are in a plastic tray that
is shaken to mix up all of the letters. Players then compete to connect the letters to form as many words
as possible. Words must be at least three letters long, and the letters must be touching one another in a
chain. This is a fun game to practice word recognition, spelling, and for students to demonstrate their
vocabularies. Points can be assigned per word, or on a scale depending on the length of the word. Since
the dice and tray are rather small, it is best played in small groups unless the classroom is equipped
with a projector or other device to make the letters easily visible to everyone.

Guess Who
Guess Who is a great game for practicing questions and descriptive terms for people. Hair color and
style, eye color, clothing, and accessories such as eyeglasses and hats are all some of the language that
is practiced while playing this game. It is designed as a two-player game, but can be adapted for team
play. Each player or team has a set of pictures of people of various descriptions. Among these people,
one is “it”. By asking questions, the players attempt to eliminate possible answers to narrow down who
they think “it” is. They can ask yes or no questions such as, “Does your person wear glasses?”, “Is it a
girl?”, “Does she have black hair?”, and so on. The teams take turns asking questions and eliminating
possible people until they feel confident to take a guess as to who the other team’s chosen person is.
The first team to guess correctly wins!
If you don’t have the game itself, you can create your own version of Guess Who by drawing or cutting
out pictures of people with various hairstyles, clothing, and accessories. Both teams must have identical
pictures to work from, so you will need two copies of each in order to play the game. Once you have
the pictures you will be using, glue them to some cards that the students can flip over when they
eliminate possible answers. You can also use scenes from picture dictionaries such as the Oxford
Picture Dictionary that can be found at any major bookstore.

Scrabble
Scrabble is another game for practicing spelling and vocabulary. Players are each given seven random
letter tiles. More common letters are worth a few points, while rare or harder-to-use letters are assigned
up to 10 points. The players must spell words using their available letters, but they must also connect
their word to one of the words already spelled out on the game board. As the game progresses, the
board comes to resemble a crossword puzzle. After spelling out a word, the player then draws the
number of letters used from a bag or box so that there are always seven letters on hand. This game can
be challenging for beginner students who don’t have a store of longer words in their vocabularies. In
some cases, the teacher may have to participate to try to spread out the board to give students a place to
connect their words.
Appendix: Games, Activities, and Lesson Plans
Final Word on Games, Activities, and Lesson Plans
Teaching English to young learners can be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences an
ESL teacher can have. Children are ready learners and pick up new languages with remarkable facility
when they are young. As they get older, children develop more complex thinking ability and begin to
consider the language in more logical ways. Along with this logical development, older children and
adolescents can begin to use the language to express themselves in literary and scholarly forms. As
their cognitive abilities increase and they begin to realize the many versatile uses of spoken and written
language, older children will desire to know more of the intricacies of the language. While teaching
adolescents brings its own set of challenges, helping these budding adults to learn a language that may
prove instrumental in the achievement of their life goals can be a tremendously rewarding experience.
Younger or older, teaching English to children is a great opportunity that any ESL teacher should be
proud to embrace.
With what you have learned throughout this module and in your Oxford Seminars TESOL/TESL/TEFL
Certification Course, you are well prepared for the road ahead. You have been exposed to the leading
cognitive, developmental, and language acquisition theories, and you have seen how these theories are
applied in the classroom. You have learned the specific skills that are taught in ESL classrooms, as well
as the most popular and successful methods for teaching and practicing those abilities. You have
learned the value of games, songs, and activities in language teaching, and you have learned how a
textbook can be expanded to teach many different aspects of the language.
Use your skills wisely and consider the underlying psychological and developmental factors that
influence your students’ learning and understanding. With kindness, care, and consideration, you can be
a strong and positive influence on your students, both as language learners and as growing individuals.