Teaching Listening

TPR ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS

Children are holistic learners and they need to use language for
meaningful purposes and real communication. Therefore, the
listening activities in the classroom should cater for their
language learning needs:
• focusing on meaning, instead of on accuracy;
• stressing the value of activity, not the value of the language;
• involving collaboration and social development;
• providing a rich context,
• a lot of movement and activities that are interesting and
fun, like songs, chants, poems, rhymes, stories or games
that involve a lot of movement and gesture in response to
rhythmic and repetitive language.
TPR ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH TO YOUNG LEARNERS

TPR activities, especially action games, can be used to

introduce new language in a very effective way. The
teacher interacts with children in the following sequence:
• giving commands,
• modelling the desired behaviour,
• removing the model after a few repetitions (when
children respond confidently),
• combining commands in unexpected and creative ways,
or
• turning them into stories and competitive games.
Curtain and Dahlberg (2010, 63–64) describe the procedure as specific ste
be followed by the teacher, and give the following examples:

• Raise your hand. Put your hand on your foot. Turn

around. Put your hand on the floor.
• Put your hand on your elbow. Raise your knee. Turn
around. Jump backwards three times.
• Put your elbow on your knee and turn around.
• Raise your hand. Walk backwards to the map, put your
left hand on your head and put your right elbow on South
America.
• Angie, hold the (stuffed animal) monkey with your right
hand. Mario, put your right elbow on the monkey’s head.
Kim, put your elbow on the monkey’s nose. Class, take out
your (imaginary) cameras and take a picture of the monkey
and his friends. Smile!
 1. TPR Commands

. The most usual TPR activities involve teacher’s commands to which students respond
physically, demonstrating comprehension. Some commands require using large motor skills,
while others involve interaction with classroom objects such as:
• desks,
• chairs,
• maps,
• the whiteboard,
• board markers,
• pictures and
• charts
 1. TPR Commands

Here the example of the classroom activities:

1. Depending on the topic of the lesson, the teacher can prepare commands that will
strengthen vocabulary learning using hand movement to manipulate any set of pictures
or flashcards: Point to / Touch / Pick up (an apple / a pear / an orange / a strawberry). The
activity can become more physically demanding if carried out as a competitive game in
which the speed of running and the ability to understand commands

2. A more demanding activity will be the one requiring children to act out the verbs
appearing in a story. A good example is the story Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis (2000).
There are 14 action verbs in the story in two categories: sports and hobbies - dance,
paint, ride, row, sing, swim, trot, and activities done in the park - fly, hide, spin, splash,
swing, throw, wave. Children can mime the verbs, either while listening to the story or
responding to teacher’s commands.
 1. TPR Commands

2. Hearing impaired children can be scaffolded with flashcards

showing the pictures of activities, while physically impaired
children can respond by holding up a flashcard showing the action
that corresponds to the teacher’s command. Further, the verbs can
be practiced by playing the game Susan says
• Susan says laugh!
• Susan says swim!
• Susan says wave!
Children are supposed to perform only the activities
introduced with Susan says. If children mime the action when the
teacher says Laugh! without saying Susan says, they are out (Ellis
2008, 3– 4). The commands can be made more challenging if given
with increasingly faster speed. These activities can be used as
practice or wrap-up activities, or at any time during the lesson if a
change of pace is needed.
 1. TPR Commands

4. For lessons ousides the classroom, more action can be

introduced with commands like:
• Run forward.
• Take three steps to the left.
• Jump up and down.
• Throw the ball.
The sequence of commands should be prepared in advance so that
they are given fast, for the amusement of children (Lee 1986, 102).
2. TPR Storytelling

TPR storytelling is another method that uses

pantomime and physical activity: each word in a story
has its own gesture, which can be drawn from Sign
Language for hearing impaired students (Peck 2001,
146). The teacher tells this mini-story and the students
act it out:
Tammy has a cat in the chair. The cat runs away.
Tammy looks everywhere for the cat. She comes back
and sits down. Oh! The cat is asleep in the chair.

(Seely and Romijn 1998, 42, cited in Peck 2001, 146)

 3. Miming and role-playing
1. This group of activities/games are usually related to a traditional
song and focus on bringing language of the songs to life with
simulation. Using simulation and dramatisation children act out
the traditional songs, like The Mulberry Bush.

When listening to the song, children join hands and run round a
ring, and then stand still to mime washing their hands, cleaning their
teeth, brushing their hair, cleaning their shoes, or going to school
(Lee 1986, 151–152). Another well-known action song is Head,
shoulders, knees and toes, in which children touch respective body
parts, thus performing physical exercise that requires them to bend
forward and croach down.
 3. Miming and role-playing

What is more, movement and actions are often naturally embedded in stories
for children. Actions can be introduced and practised before storytelling, and after
that done during the storytelling (Shin 2014, 221).

In this way, storytelling is more active and enjoyable, and actions meaningful
and contextualised. Shin (ibid.) gives an example of performing physical actions of
the story Five Little Monkeys (Jumping on the Bed) by both the teacher and the
children during storytelling: changing into their pajamas,
brushing their teeth,
jumping, falling,
calling and sleeping.
Teaching speaking
Developing English Material in
Speaking Skill

Audio Lingual Communicative

Method Language Teaching
 Classroom Techniques and Activities

1. Audio Lingual Method

Teaching based on the notion that one can learn
language by developing habits based on the
pattern of language.
Two types of ALM:
-Through drills with choral response
-Through Dialogues
 ALM-through drills with coral response
• Example of activities:
– Teaching Substitution Drills: to reinforce structural
pattern and practice vocabulary.
Pre-school and Kindergarten Grade 1, 2, 3 Pre-school to grade 3
Drill 1 (simple Substitution) Drill 2(complex Substitution) Using Drill 1 and 2, then
next to song or poems with
T : I wear a yellow dress T : I wear a yellow dress finger-plays
Ss : I wear a yellow dress Ss : I wear a yellow dress
T : I wear a blue dress T : I wear a blue dress “The hokey-Pokey”
Ss : I wear a blue dress Ss : I wear a blue dress You put your right hand up
T : Red You put your Left hand up
Ss : I wear a red dress You shake it all about
T : Pink You do the hokey-pokey
Ss : I wear a red dress And turn around
that’s what it’s all about
 ALM-through dialogue
• Example of activities:
– Using dialogue as a basis 
teacher first read each dialogue, then students
repeat each line after the teacher. The dialogue
can take turn after several practices. Then,
students in pairs can practice it alone and present
it to the class.
The used of the dialogue is adjusted to the grade of
young learners
Continue…

Example of activities:
Example dialogue :

T : hello, good morning

Ss : hello, good morning
T : how much are the tomatoes?
Ss : $5 a kilo
T : oh, that’s cheap! Three kilo, please!
Ss : good, that will be $15
T : here you are
Ss : thank you.
Continue…

ALM-through dialogue
• Example of activities:
– Using puppet  puppets can be set as a role of in
dialogue and played by teacher-students or
student-student.
– Using fishbowl technique put the students into
two circle (outer and inner) where the inner is
having dialogue the outer listen to them. The
dialogue also can use the puppet.
Continue…

Example of Dialogue
The dialogue and items used in the dialogue can be
shown in the class. The items can be their school
stuff , such as pencil, pencil case, eraser, etc.
Topic : asking where things are
T : where is the math book?
S : it is on the table
T : where is the pencil case?
S : it is under the table.
 Classroom Techniques and Activities

2. Communicative Language Teaching

This approach was of the mind that language
has building blocks in order to come up with
meaningful communication. In CLT, the focus is
on getting the message across and helping
children acquire fluency.
 Outspoken activities for CLT
1. Role-Plays
• Allows your students to practice target
language. The scene can be anything, but still
relevant to class subject, for example: for grade
1, 2, 3 we can make about playing at school
yard and eating in cafetaria, for grade 4,5,6 try
a mess hall or a dorm room situation.
• 30 second dialogue is already enough.
• Example dialogue for pre-school to grade 3

Teacher gives each pair the lines, and then writes the whole dialogues on the piece of
paper.
 
T: Good morning, students. (selamatpagi, anak-anak)
Ss: Good morning, ma’am. (selamatpagi, ibu guru)
 
T: Good afternoon, students. (selamatsiang, anak-anak)
Ss: Good afternoon, ma’am. (selamatsiang, ibu guru)
 
Send the pairs off to practice on their own. Visit each pair in their practices and
monitor their progress.
 
A: Good morning, Annie. (selamatpagi, Annie)
B: Good morning, Budie. (selamatpagi, Budie)
 
A: Good afternoon, Annie. (selamatsiang, Annie)
B: Good afternoon, Budie. (selamatsiang, Budie)
 Outspoken activities for CLT
2. The interview (for more advance students)
Students will experience what its like being the
host of a talk show or being the guest
answering the questions.
 Outspoken activities for CLT
3. Games in CLT
examples of games :
- Mysterious landmark
- What’s the number
- Story time
- Art master
- What’s cooking
- Concentration game
 Example activities
• The teacher tell the rule of the game and
demonstrates the way to play
– The goal of this game is to find the treasure in the
stationary island.
– The question is : where is the (pencil, pen, eraser, pencil
case, ruler or book)
– Divide the students into several groups and hide the stuff
each in every group.
– Choose one group to play. Give command: “you have to
answer the question as soon as possible to make a move
and find the treasure.
Teaching reading
 Teaching reading

According to Klein (2005, p.12), young children tend

to change their mood every other minute, and they
find it extremely difficult to sit still. On the other
hand, they show a greater motivation than adults to
do things that appeal to them. In addition, Ashworth
and Wakefield (2005, p.3) claim that all young
children are highly motivated to learn language.

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION, VOL. 3, NO. 1, MAY. 2016

 DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO TEACHING
READING

Reading is central to the learning process. To access critical

information from enormous data banks, students will need to
be able to read complex material with a high degree of
comprehension (Parkay and Stanford, 1998, p.445).
Learning to read can begin from text level; from sentence
level; from word level; or from letter level. Each starting point
has produced approaches to teaching reading that can be
used in the foreign language classroom.

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION, VOL. 3, NO. 1, MAY. 2016

 Emergent Literacy

“Emergent literacy” describes the phenomenon in

which children seem to learn to read without any
teaching, gradually, and through exposure to text and
to reading (Hall, 1987; cited in Cameron, 2001, p.145).
When children spends lots of time being read to from
interesting and appropriate books, some will begin to
work out for themselves the patterns and regularities
that link spoken and written text.

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Cameron (2001, p.146) mentions the features of emergent
literacy that are most relevant for foreign language
teaching. They are:
(1) children choose the books they want to hear and read;
(2) children are motivated by choice and by the quality of
the writing they encounter;
(3) children often choose to read the same book many
times, and this is a valuable learning experiences;
(4) meaning comes first because the child understands the
story as a whole;

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2016
(5) from this overall meaning, attention moves to whole words
and letters, beginning with initial consonants, then final
consonants, then vowels in the middle;
(6) the link between reading and oral skills is very strong
because children adopt and play with the language of the
story;
(7) parents can be involved with their children’s language
learning through reading aloud with them.

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2016
 Language Experience Approach
The Language Experience approach (LEA) starts children
reading at sentence level, and its key feature is the
child’s use of his or her own experience as the topic of
the texts. This approach builds upon the notion that if
children are given material to read that they are already
familiar with, it will help them learn to read.

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2016
Ediger (2001, pp.158-159) summarizes that typically a class of LEA would follow a
series of steps like this:
(1) The student or class dictates a “story,” usually based upon an experience they
have had, that the teacher writes down on a large sheet of paper;
(2) the teacher then reads the story to the class (this “reading” may be repeated
several times until the children are familiar with what have been written);
(3) depending on their level of ability and needs, the class will the engage in various
extended activities based upon the original story, including focusing on individual
words, letters, or meanings of various parts;
4) finally, the children are expected to move from the stories they have dictated
toward being able to read those written by others.

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION, VOL. 3, NO. 1, MAY. 2016

 The Whole Word / Key Words

Approach It starts from word level, with children looking at

single words on cards to encourage rapid whole word
recognition (Cameron, 2001, p.148). In the Whole-word
approach, the children learn words such as cat, dog, or ship as
whole, independent words. Other experts call this approach as
sight word or look-say method, which teaches children to
recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual
sounds. Flash cards with individual words written on them
(which are often accompanied with related pictures) are used for
this method.

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION, VOL. 3, NO. 1, MAY. 2016

 The Phonics Approach
The phonics approach is probably the best known and widely
used method to teach reading and writing in the English
language. This approach generally emphasizes teaching children
to match individual letters of the alphabet with their specific
English pronunciations, with the idea that if children can “sound
out” or decode new words, they will be able to read
independently. They then will be able to blend two letters
together to make simple words then three letters, then four and
so forth. Decoding is the process of identifying the written words
using the alphabetic code to determine pronunciation ad
meaning (Riley, 1999, p.45).

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LITERACY EDUCATION, VOL. 3, NO. 1, MAY. 2016

Phonics generally involves teaching children the sound-letter
relationships used in reading and writing. A related type of
knowledge, phonemic awareness, involves children
understanding that speech is made up of individual sounds,
including such things as the ability to tell if two words begin or
end with the same sound, and the ability to focus on the form of
speech apart from focusing on its meaning or content
(Strickland, 1998; cited in Ediger, 2001, pp.157-158). Phonemic
awareness is also important for literacy development and
frequently taught with phonics.

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2016
 What is writing for young learners?
When you are teaching writing to children, you must consider two
separate areas of development. First, do your students have the fine
motor or physical skills necessary to hold a pencil firmly in their hands and
for letters on paper? Second, do they have the cognitive skills necessary to
formulate ideas and write them onto paper? (Syafei, 2016:165)
McDonough and Shaw (2004: pg-155) in Zerin (2007) have stated a
process of writing according to which teachers should guide the leaners-
"gathering ideas, working on drafts and preparing final version" that will
establish a collaborative and interactive framework. Young learners like to
know that writing is done in steps which are as important as the steps
necessary to cook something such as chicken or eggs. We must recognize
the complexity of the process when teaching writing to young learners. In
addition, to make the process fruitful teacher should make the learners
motivated.

Syafei, An Fauzia. 2016. Teaching English to Indonesian Young Learners. Jakarta:

Prenadamedia Group.
Writing is an efficient learning process which is utilized to
communicate information, clarify thinking, and learn new concept
and information. Ulquhart and Mcler (2005) states “writing is a
recursive process. Students should learns strategies for invention
and discovery”. It is generally agreed that writing is the most
difficult skill to master for foreign language leaners.
writing as process is oriented towards work in progress and the
development of new skills, rather than merely evaluative tasks,
the classroom practices vary from each other; these often depend
much upon the students’ experiences and skills when planning
and adjusting their writing program.

Ulquhart, Vicky and Monette, Mclver. 2005. Teaching Writing in the Content Areas. Virginia: ASCD
 Writing as a process
Writing as a process The writing process consists of the
steps we take when we produce a piece of writing Writing as a
(Hancock McDonald, p-1). The process may include some product
or all of the following:
 brainstorming (making a note of ideas, words and
The writing product in
phrases related to the topic, in the order they come to
mind)
“real life” is a text
 planning (categorizing and ordering the ideas with a purpose. The
according to the task) purpose may be for
 drafting (a first attempt to write the ideas as a example to inform, to
continuous text) thank, to request, or
 revising (deciding how to improve the first draft, in to simply entertain.
terms of both content and accuracy) The success of the
 rewriting (writing the text again including the text depends on the
improvements) accuracy of the
writing and the
appropriacy of the
content.

Reference: Mark Hancock & Annie McDonald English Language Teaching

 Why teach writing?
There are two good sets of reasons for teaching
writing to EFL school children. The first set of
reasons relates to the writing skill itself. The Foreign language learning:
second set relates to foreign language learning in
general. • Writing gives learners the
The writing skill: opportunity to find ways of
• We can’t expect young learners to develop expressing their ideas in a
foreign language.
their writing skill without teaching them how
• Writing gives learners the
to write and giving them opportunities to
opportunity to try out the
practice.
language with plenty of
• Learners do not necessarily transfer their skill
thinking time.
in writing from what they can do in their own • A learner’s writing gives the
language. In the case of young learners, they teacher a good opportunity to
may not have developed their writing skill, diagnose grammar and
even in their own language. vocabulary problems and to
• Writing is probably the most personalized, identify progress.
creative activity in the language class. • Writing allows learners to
• By developing their writing skills early, young practice new structures in an
learners are making a valuable investment for extended context.
their future studies. • Writing can provide more
variety in classwork.
Reference: Mark Hancock & Annie McDonald. 2000. English Language Teaching
 Classroom techniques and activities
According to Syafei (2016, p-171) writing for very
young learners or for children who learn English for
the first time should be carefully designed, because
they are new to this kind of skills. Teacher should
start by introducing letters, then internalizing letters
before coming to learning words. Introducing letters
can be as the introduction part in each learning,
then internalizing letters take part as the main
activity for kindergarten or pre school student.
Beginning writing: introducing letters

before introducing letters, consider how children learn their mother

tongue. The foundations are the sound system of English. The way is begin by
teaching children to recognize, understand and produce the spoken word
through games, songs and stories.
Some suggestion for introducing letters are as follow:
1. Run and point (for kindergarten)
pin up the letters that you have introduced to the class so far on the walls
around the classroom at a height the children can reach. Nominate one student
and say “Juan, run and point to /s/”. The children must look around and find
the correct letter an run iup to it and touch it or point to it.
2. What begin with /b/? (for grade 5 and 6)
ask the question with all the letter the children have been introduced to.
They can tell you any words they know that begin with that sound.
3. Hold up the letters (for grade 3 and 4)
get the children to have cards with the letters they know call out a sound
and the children have to hold up the corresponding letter.
Beginning writing: internalizing letters
1. Body letters (pre school and kinderganten)
ask children to make themselves into the shape of given letters “make yourself an ‘s’ etc”. Children contort
their bodies into what they think the letters looks like.
2. Tracing letters (grade 1 and 2)
Ask students to shut their eyes and with your finger trace a letter on their hand or back. They must tell you what
this is.
3. Air writing grade 1 and 2)
Before writing letters on paper, get all the students to stand up and you stand at the front of the class with you
back to them. Using your writing hand draw a big letter in the air saying its sound at the same time. Get the
students to copy you, moving their arms to form the letters in the air.
4. Letter sculptures (pre school and kindergarten)
Give out plasticine to all he children. Ask the children to make certain letters. They have to concentrate on the
shape of the letter and its proportions.
5. Recognising the letters (grade 1 and 2)
Children have to recognize which is the same letter and simply circle it or maybe colour over it.
6. Tracing the alphabet (grade 1 and 2)
For young learners under the age of seven, emphasis is often placed on the formation of the letter themselves.
Beginning writing: learning words
this activity suitable for elementary school students
grade 3 and 4, because they have already familiar to use
pen and paper. This activity will strengthen the students’
ability in recognizing letters and words.
1. word building
2. Worksheets
3. Word searches
4. crosswords
There are several techniques used by the English teacher to develop writing
skill, such as: writing based on picture, writing based on template, writing a
card, 5 dictation, writing based on topic, join writing in a group, fill in the
blank, writing based on jumble word or sentence ( Partiwi, 2015).
1. Writing Based on Picture
Writing based on picture is technique of teaching writing using images
which is paired and sorted into a logical sequence. Students observe the
picture which given by teacher in order to they can write the description
about the picture. Writing based on picture used to encourage the students in
writing. Each student gets a picture then they have to describe the picture
based on their opinion about it.
2. Writing Based on Template
Writing based on template techniques is the technique which students
observing the examples of text which given by teacher with another word the
action of using someone or something as a model. It is used in order to make
students easy to understand the form of the text. Students can imitate the
example which is used by teacher, so students just change the content of the
text according to teacher’s instruction.
MIA DIAN PRATIWI. A320120116. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’
ENGLISH WRITING SKILL: A NATURALISTIC STUDY AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 1
SURAKARTA. Research Paper. School of Teacher Training and Education.
(3) Writing a Card .
Writing a card is technique which teacher ask the students discuss the
material using card. This technique used in order to the students not feel
bored in teaching learning process in the classroom. So the students can
more interested in learning.
(4) Dictation
Dictation is technique when one person speaks while another person
transcribes what is spoken. Dictation can be defined as technique which
the teacher gives the material orally, so in this technique students should
write down what the teacher said.
(5) Writing Based on Topic
Before students are going to write something, the teacher give an issue.
Issue is the act of officially making something available or giving something
to people to be used. The issues have to encourage the students to write.
Students have to give an opinion about the issue which given by the
teacher. By using this technique students can improve their knowledge in
writing.

MIA DIAN PRATIWI. A320120116. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’

ENGLISH WRITING SKILL: A NATURALISTIC STUDY AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 1
SURAKARTA. Research Paper. School of Teacher Training and Education.
Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. 2016.
(6) Join Writing in a Group
Join writing in a group is technique which teacher divided the students into
several group or in pair. So the teacher give the material with the students, then
students have to discuss with their group.
(7) Fill in the Blank
Fill in the blank is technique which teacher gives a type of question or phrase
with one or more words replaced with a blank line, giving the reader the change
to add the missing word. For example in a text which has blank word, so the
students have to write the appropriate word in order to suitable with the text.
(8) Writing Based on Jumble Word or Sentence
Jumble word or sentence is the technique which students should rearrange
the jumbled word into the appropriate sentence. Or the sentence in appropriate
paragraph. This technique can improve students’ grammar also the vocabulary.
Teacher can understand the students’ structure ability in writing a text.

MIA DIAN PRATIWI. A320120116. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’

ENGLISH WRITING SKILL: A NATURALISTIC STUDY AT SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 1
SURAKARTA. Research Paper. School of Teacher Training and Education.
Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. 2016.
 References
Syafei, An Fauzia. 2016. Teaching English to Indonesian Young Learners.
Jakarta: Prenadamedia Group.
Zerin, samia. 2007. teaching writing to young learners. Ayesha Abed
Library BRAC University.
http://
hancockmcdonald.com/sites/hancockmcdonald.com/files/file-downloads
/Teaching%20Writing%20to%20School%20Children.pdf
MIA DIAN PRATIWI. A320120116. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP
STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILL: A NATURALISTIC STUDY AT SMP
MUHAMMADIYAH 1 SURAKARTA. Research Paper. School of Teacher
Training and Education. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. 2016.
Ulquhart, Vicky and Monette, Mclver. 2005. Teaching Writing in the
Content Areas. Virginia: ASCD