Teaching young learners.

Cognitive development is the child’s ability to learn and solve problems. More specifically, it refers to the changes and stability in mental abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking,reasoning, and creativity. These mental abilities will be described below within the framework of cognitive developmental theories that provide important information about the nature of thought processes and how they are likely to change with age.

This topic is strongly related to that of the previous topic concerning teaching talented and gifted children because the focus of both is on differentiating teaching to meet the needs of learners. However, this topic relates to what is known about the stages in children’s development that affects the way they are able to access learning. There will be many links to the topic ‘new approaches to teaching and learning’, e.g. the levels of metacognition that might be expected of children at different ages, strategies for encouraging constructive discussion that are appropriate for children of different ages. There will also be links to other topics, e.g. in relation to ‘assessment of and for learning’, responsibility for self-assessment at different ages will be considered. The implementation of effective teaching and learning strategies in mixed-age classes will be also addressed as this is an issue in some rural parts of Kazakhstan.

2.Characteristics of young learners

Young Children Respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual words.Often learn indirectly rather than directly – that is they take in information from all sides.Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also

from what they see and hear and have a chance to touch and interact with.

Generally display an enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity about the world around them.Have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher.

Are keen to speak about themselves, and respond well to learning that uses themselves and their own lives as main topics in the classroom. They have a limited attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging they can easily

get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so.

3. Suggestions for Teaching ChildrenChildren need to be allowed to discover language. Grammar needs to be taught, but it should be taught as a whole part of the language.The teacher needs to incorporate games and songs in the classroom.

Children need to be given opportunities to be creative with the language.

Children should be allowed a “silent period” – a period in which they listen to language and aren’t forced to speak. Reading and writing become important for children as they develop a growing awareness of language. However, speaking and listening are more encouraged during the early stages. Children need rich learning experiences that include all the senses and movement. Classrooms need to be bright and colourful. The activities should be varied. Since the children have short attention span, plan activities for shorter periods.

Children need a variety of experiences with a concept in a variety of situations with a variety of people. Each new experience will result in some modification, extension or limitation of the concept.

3.The clusters of concepts that young children should become familiar with over time:

Identification of objects beginning with those that are immediate and personal, such as body parts, clothing and objects in the classroom. Classification according to color, shape, size, number, function and kind, again beginning with what is immediate, personal and concrete; comparing and con­trasting these.Spatial relationships such as near and far, in front of and behind and under and over, in every classroom, opportunities abound for both the informal and formal teaching of spatial relationships. For example, activities such as games, handi­crafts and tidying up can all involve opportunities to develop children's awareness of spatial relationships. Temporal relationships such as past, present and future, before and after, and since and during. Because time is less concrete than space, it represents an increased level of difficulty for some children. Some aspects of time, such as atti­tudes towards the future or the keeping of appointments, are culture-bound. Emotional and familial relationships such as love and hate, happiness and unhappiness, loyalty, family, kinship, self and others, including both other children and adults. Many of these concepts are culture-bound. In North America, for example, far more emphasis is placed on the individual than on the group. As another exam­ple, some cultures differentiate between an uncle on the mother's side and an uncle on the father's side. Unless teachers are aware of these differences, they may con­fuse the children.

Ordering which can evolve from one of the other concept clusters. For example, led as big or little can be arranged in order from today's field trip

Before this theory emerged, researchers thought language development in the early years was only a precursor to the acquisition of the essential skills of reading, encoding and decoding. It was widely believed that the so-called readiness skills (letter recognition, recognition of the sound-symbol correspondence, etc.} that pre­ceded the act of reading could be taught only when children were developmentally and physically ready to absorb them. This readiness, it was believed, occurred as a result of maturation after children began formal schooling and were ready to be taught the specific skills that would enable them to read.

4.The Children's Response: TPR and Beyond

The Children's Response is based on James J. Asher's Total Physical Response method. TPR takes into account that people learn best when they are actively involved—and understand the language they hear. This is especially true of children who developmentally have shorter attention spans and need to wiggle. After the students are comfortable with a lesson, teachers can work on the target structure through games and drills. It also helps to set out the props that are used in the TPR lessons in a place where children can work with them independently: this encourages peer teaching.

Though Total Physical Response was originally intended to be used as an approach to teach oral English, it can also be used effectively to introduce children to the written language. Children learn reading and writing skills best when they are taught in a purposeful and meaningful context. Research has found that children learn literacy skills more easily when they are integrated or combined with oral skills.

5.Teaching procedures

The TPR lessons may be used as the basis for language experience stories. A language experience story is a group-authored story written about a shared experience. Children participate in an experience, and then retell or "dictate" the story to you, their teacher. Children watch as you print the story. Children adore reading and re-reading what they have "authored." When you write down words for them to read, it is a good idea to print using both uppercase (CAPITAL) and lowercase letters, because it is easier for children to make out the words in printed letters than in cursive writing; and printed letters are what they see when they work with books.

Preparation.

1. Introduce the important vocabulary items.

2. Setting Up. Have students sit in a circle or other informal arrangement. Set
up the situation in front of the students. For some of the lessons you'll just need to
grab a piece of chalk. For others you may need to bring items from home. Talk
about what you'll be doing, i.e., "I'm getting ready to draw a picture."

3.Demonstration. Read the lesson while you do the action.

4.Student Modeling. Read the lesson while a student does the actions,

Children will respond beautifully to the activities in this text if not pushed too hard. "With a class of children of kindergarten age to Grade Three, you can use the first five steps of each lesson. With older children, you may use the entire lesson.

The first few times, follow the procedures, and then be creative. You may wish to use costumes or have the children write a story or draw pictures to serve as prompting cues.

5.Reinforcement. Repeat step number 4.

6. Total class participation. Read the lesson and have the entire class carry out the instructions.