The Distance Delta

MODULE 3 PROPOSAL

Which specialist
area I have chosen
from the Young Learners (7-10 y.o) Commented [DP1]: This is a suitable specialism, in line with
Cambridge rubric Cambridge guidelines.
(see Delta
handbook)

Why I have chosen  I have been teaching YLs since the beginning of my teaching career and
this area have a lot of experience in this area
 In my future career I would like to continue working with YLs and later get
involved in children’s material design
 in our centre I have taught and will teach this age group
 I enjoy working with young children and would like to continue learning about
this area. Commented [DP2]: Great, it sounds as if this is an area of
interest to you, and in which you have a lot of experience. In the
introduction to your EA you should say a bit about how this fits into
Background  Moon, J. 2000 Children Learning English, Macmillan Heinemann your own professional development – this would involve explaining
reading I have  Nunan, D. 2011 Teaching English to Young Learners, Anaheim a bit more what kind of learning your feel you still need to do in this
area, bearing in mind that you’ve been doing it for some time.
done/intend to do University Press
Commented [DP3]: These are good for a start. Bear in mind
in relation to this  Cameron, L. 2001 Teaching Languages to Young Learners, CUP that you should draw on about five specialist sources for each part of
specialism  Pinter, A. 2006. Teaching Young Language Learners, OUP your EA – so five about YL’s for the first part, five about needs
 Gardner, H. 1993. Multiple Intelligence. The Theory in Practice, Harper
analysis/diagnostic testing for Part 2, etc. These sources could be
books or articles, but if you refer to a book, you don’t need to have
Collins read all of the book: pick out the relevant parts and read those.
 Garvie, E. 1990. Story as Vehicle, Multilingual Matters. So in your list here, Moon, Nunan and Cameron, for example, would
 Ioannou-Georgiou S & Pavlou P. 2003 Assessing Young Learners, OUP be useful for Part 1.
 Egan, Kieran. 1992 Imagination in Teaching and Learning: ages 8-15,
Routledge
Key issues that In general: Commented [DP4]: These are important considerations, which I
have arisen from  Children need engaging, fun activities that address different intelligences. guess come from your experience, and maybe from your reading as
well?
the reading and  It is important to implement a holistic approach when working with children.
from my They are still developing their own world and need activities that help them Part 1 of your EA will answer the question “What does someone
planning a course for this age group need to take into account?” –
experience develop not only language skills, but also motor skills, social habits, it’s about this age group in general (including your past experience
collaboration, etc. with YL courses).
 Children are great (if slower) language learners. They have no inhibition In Part 2 onwards you’ll focus on your particular class, and this is
and are not afraid of making mistakes. They are happy to experiment with where the considerations about Omani students would come in, but
language and are great imitators. this will need to be based on evidence from your particular class
(e.g. the overall reading abilities of the students in this class, rather
 Their attention span is very short so they need a variety of activities to keep than Omani students in general).
them engaged.
 They don’t have a need to learn a new language. This means that they
need to be motivated by the teacher.
 Assessment of YLs progress isn’t simple. It’s often difficult to judge what
one child has learned/how he/she has improved.

Omani students:
 Arab children don’t have a habit of reading. Even in Arabic. It is a very ‘oral’
culture. As a result, children do not learn to read until later even in Arabic.
Learning to read in English is a big challenge for them.
 There are students in our centre who can speak quite well but can’t read at
 The Distance Delta

all in English (even in teenager classes). We don’t have classes that focus
on reading and in the current syllabuses there is simply no time for it.
 My students love stories and we often read them together in class,
however, it would be great to enable them to read by themselves. It would
help them to learn English and it would help their overall development.
Which specialist Junior Bronze (7-10 years old), beginners. Commented [DP5]: I’m glad that this fits in with the needs of
group I have your centre as well as your own interests.

chosen and why I believe that it is very important for children to start learning to read at the very Remember that the group referred to here is a specific group of
beginning. At this age children are curious and eager to express themselves. students (how many in the class?), whom you will study for part 2 of
your EA and plan a tailored course for in part 3.
They have great imagination and can be very creative.

In our centre, beginner class for this age only opened last year. I was the one to
teach them and I realized that there was a need to at least supplement the
textbook with stories and crafts. After discussing this with our YL manager, we
decided that the syllabus needs improvement and that it would be valuable for
the centre.
How I will identify: Needs Interviews Diagnostic Observation Other (state Commented [DP6]: What opportunity will you have to carry out
Analysis Tests/Samples of what e.g. data these questionnaires, etc? Will it be during the first lesson or two?

i.Systems/skills Questio Oral questions Work  Observe from parents

Will questionnaires be in Arabic? Or more visual (pictures, smiley
needs nnaires to the students placement etc) faces)? What do you want to find out? What sort of questions/
with a teaching  Diagnostic tests testing responses would be meaningful for this age group?
assistant who (at the beginning sessions Questionnaire Commented [DP7]: What sort of samples can you reasonably
ii.Learner can translate of the course)  Observe a for the parents expect from these learners? What sort of information do you hope to
preferences and ______ the questions  Written and Senior Bronze (translated into get from these samples?
affective needs and answers recorded (audio (10-13 y.o. Arabic) on
and, possibly, beginner class) reading habits in
video)placement lesson for the family
tests comparison

Why I have chosen  Needs analysis doesn’t really apply to children of this age
this/these methods  They can’t yet read and they do not speak English yet, so they need
translation. From my experience though, they already can talk about their
experiences (they love to share) and preferences.
 Diagnostic tests in our centre (placement testing interviews) are very child-
oriented. This is when we can find out a lot about the children, what they
know and what they can do. Audio/video would help to analyse the data
more fully retrospectively.
 To see the differences between the two age groups at the same level.
 To find out more about their home environment and their interests. At the
later stages, to involve parents more.
Any specific I’m not sure if I need to write it here, but I wanted to ask if this will be
questions for your acceptable.
Course Tutor I would like to design a syllabus based around stories for children. It would
include phonics to help them learn to read faster. Vocabulary and structures
(chunks) will be taken from the stories. Children will make up their own stories
and chants. I believe this would encourage creativity and stimulate their interest.
Commented [DP8]: Oh, it absolutely does. But the way of
finding out what they need (and want) is very different from with
older learners.
Commented [DP9]: This is really interesting: they don’t speak
English but they can talk [in English?] about their experiences and
preferences? Just explaining why this isn’t a contradiction will bring
in a lot of interesting issues about this age group :-)
Commented [DP10]: This sounds quite possible. However, in
part 3 you will need to justify your approach, based on (a) the issues
related to this age group which you discuss in part 1, and (b) the
information about this particular class (their interests, abilities,
difficulties, etc) that you’ve gathered and discussed in part 2.