home

**By Lynne Cameron** The expansion of teaching English to young learners (TEYL) has become a phenomenon that needs to be taken into consideration. Nowadays, many schools begin teaching English at a younger age. This article presents the changes that people in the field of ELT need to make in order for it to be a successful change. The first aspect that needs to be looked upon is how children learn a foreign language. Children observe the FL 'from the inside'; meaning, they search for meaning on how the language is used, rather than 'from the outside', its structure; which is similar to how they have acquired their L1. Therefore, when building a syllabus for YL, it is essential that it will be communicative and based on meaning and for action. After their primary years, they are also able to look at the language from the outside and can be taught through decontextualized texts as well. The second aspect is reliance on oral language. Previous to teaching reading and writing, [|oral language]needs to be developed.Reading and writing are very demanding skills and in order for learners to be able to cope with them, the level of their oral language needs to be well urbanized. Therefore, in YL classrooms talk and the learning of literacy should be the main issues of learning and teaching. Once they are developed and automatized, they can support language learning. Consequently, it is necessary that teachers choose their activities wisely and make sure that the literacy demands are not overwhelming. Subsequent to the two key aspects of children's language learning I have summarized, I will now present some implications that need to be considered due to the change. First, the content of the lessons and of learning need to be thought over. TEYL need something other than the model that has been used by ELT for so long. Cameron suggests [|a new model (look at page 5)] which separates written language from oral skills. Oral skills should be taught as 'discourse' and 'vocabulary', which both emphasize on meaning. Discourse is tantamount to the ability to comprehend, recall and produce which leads to an extended talk or conversation. Vocabulary involves the understanding and productive use of single items, phrases and chunks of language. Both discourse and vocabulary lead to the grammar learning. According to this model, the children are first exposed to oral language and at a later stage when their oral language has developed and become automatized, they are ready to integrate grammar and when they move to secondary level they are ready to learn the grammar 'from the outside'. Another implication is that secondary teachers investigate the level of young learners' English who come from the primary sector, so they can be better prepared. Teachers also need to think of a way to [|assess] the children's progress in the classroom; such as, assessment portfolios. The problem is that portfolios are usually a collection of written work and the reliance in TEYL is oral language, so a CD-ROM can be a good solution. In addition, secondary teachers receive children with different levels of English; therefore, need to build lesson plans that will reach all of the levels. It is also essential to find ways that will challenge and motivate the children to learn, for if learning as a child has not been successful and enjoyable, there attitude towards the language will be negative. To sum up, teachers of young learners need to understand how they think and learn. They need to prepare many oral activities, be fluent, have a large amount of vocabulary and have skills and knowledge on how to conduct whole lessons orally. They also need to know how to arouse children's interest and to get them to use the language. Furthermore, children imitate their teacher's accent; therefore, it is important the s/he be accurate and use correct pronunciation. __My reflection:__ It was very interesting for me to read this article because I believe that most of us teachers relate to this phenomenon. Most schools begin teaching English in the first or second grade as a result of pressure from the parents. However, it is not effective due to the fact that they only learn an hour a week and most of the time the teacher uses the L1. However, if schools receive more hours to teach first and second grade, I think that the model that Cameron suggested is very good and ELT should take these changes into consideration. __Final Summary:__
 * [|Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children]**

Teaching YL a second language is very challenging, for the teacher needs to be very creative and have a variety of activities that teach vocabulary and improve their oral language. Samar and I have also brought up the issue of the amount of hours that is needed in order for this modal to be effective. One or two hours a week is not enough exposure for pupils. Samar also added that it is important that these teachers acquire special tools in order for them to be able to keep the pupils motivated and interested. Irit pointed out that one of the ways that keeps even older pupils interested and motivated is games. Lastly, Aleen strengthened my belief and Cameron's Model when she wrote: "At the school where I teach, we start from the first grade teaching English. Yet pupils get 4 lessons a week and at this stage learning is mainly fun. This means learning the language is through exposure whether by teaching songs, playing games, dancing and others. Pupils are learning, they are actively engaged in the lessons. At a later stage, pupils start writing the letters. The way it has been done is successful." To sum up, I think that a lot has to do with the amount of hours that need to be given in order to teach English as it is supposed to be taught.

__Realated Articles:__ [|Is younger better?] //[|Young Learners of English: Some Research Perspectives]//

[|Young learner English language policy and implementation: International perspectives]