9789144085234 by Smakprov Media AB

Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1-A2 Young language learners deserve a well-planned, age-appropriate, and communicative language experience – one that will develop their self-esteem and motivate them to continue learning languages in the future and prepare them for global citizenship. Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1–A2, illustrates how to use the CEFR to create a learner-centred curriculum for young language learners. By adopting a plurilingual approach to language teaching and providing increased exposure to new language learning contexts, teachers and learners can embark on a language journey filled with communicative, interactive activities which promote language use in the classroom and beyond. This book will help teachers to view the CEFR not just as a document of reference for policy development, but as an essential tool for planning and assessing early language learning in the classroom. Using the positive ‘can do’ descriptors for language use at the A1–A2 levels, teachers and learners will be able to identify clear learning goals which will set them on the path to life-long language learning, and allow young learners to bring their own creativity, knowledge and joy of learning into the language classroom.

Keaveney Lundberg | Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1-A2

Gun Lundberg is a senior lecturer at Umeå University, Sweden, working in Teacher Education and specializing in the learning and teaching of languages to young learners. She is a member of the ELLiE research team which has recently completed a longitudinal study of Early Language Learning in Europe. Sharon Keaveney works in Finland as a CLIL and English Immersion teacher, developing language learning and teaching in primary and lower secondary schools.

Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1-A2 Sharon Keaveney and Gun Lundberg

Art.nr 37158

www.studentlitteratur.se

978-91-44-08523-4_Cover.indd 1

2014-04-02 15:13

COPYING PROHIBITED

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The papers and inks used in this product are eco-friendly.

Art. No 37158 ISBN 978-91-44-08523-4 First edition 1:1 ÂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2030;The authors and Studentlitteratur 2014 www.studentlitteratur.se Studentlitteratur AB, Lund Cover design: Jens Martin /Signalera Cover illustration: Shutterstock/2xSamara Printed by Dimograf, Poland 2014

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 2

2014-04-14 16.00

CONTENTS

Preface 7 About the authors 9 Chapter 1

Early Language Learning in Europe and Beyond 11

Benefits of an early start 12 What makes early language learning successful? 13 Teachers are central to the success of early language learning 15 What do young learners already know in English? 17 Chapter 2

Understanding and Using the CEFR 21

Communicative language competence 22 The CEFR and the young language learner 23 Planning for early language learning 23 The basic language user: A1–A2 28 Reception, production, and interaction 31 How can learning and teaching be organized? 31 Chapter 3

Reception – Listening and Understanding 33

A1: Reception – listening and understanding 33 Finding the right level 34 Teacher talk 34 Young language learners have uneven learning profiles 36 A1: Activities for developing skills for listening and understanding 38 A2: Reception – listening and understanding 43 © T he au th o rs and S t u dentlitterat u r

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 3

2014-04-14 16.00

Contents Chapter 4

Production – Speaking and Interacting 57

A1: Production – speaking and interacting 57 Language anxiety 58 How can speaking be taught? 59 Beginning speaking 61 A1: Activities for developing speaking and interacting skills 64 A2: Production ‒ speaking and interacting 68 Chapter 5

Reception – Reading 83

A1: Reception – reading 83 Developing pre-reading skills in a language-rich environment 84 Developing reading at the A1 level 88 A1: Reception – reading 90 A2: Reception – reading 94 Chapter 6

Production – Writing 105

A1: Production – writing 105 Spelling comes later 106 A young learner project linked to the CEFR 107 A2: Production – writing 111 Chapter 7

Learning about Languages and Cultures 121

What is plurilingualism? 121 Plurilingualism differs from multilingualism 122 The European Language Portfolio and plurilingualism 123 Plurilingualism in the young learner classroom 124

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 4

2014-04-14 16.00

Contents Chapter 8

Creating Contexts for Language Learning 131

Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL 131 Storyline 132 Storytelling and children’s literature 133 Planning for cross-curricular language use 135 Creating virtual contexts for language learning 142 Chapter 9

Assessment for Language Learning 145

Assessment for early language learning 146 Putting assessment first 148 Assessment tools for early language learning 149 The importance of feedback 151 Self-assessment 152 Peer-assessment 154 The CEFR – a useful tool for assessment 155 Chapter 10 The European Language Portfolio

157

Portfolio versions for young learners 158 Arguments for using the European Language Portfolio: 161 Chapter 11

What Makes Young Learners Want to Learn a New Language? 163

Motivation for language learning 164 The active language learner 166 Selecting learning objectives and making pedagogical choices 168 Teachers are the most valuable resource 170

References 173 Appendix 1 177 Web resources 177

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 5

2014-04-14 16.00

Contents

Appendix 2 179 A1 A2 – CEFR descriptors 179 Global Scale 179 Self-Assessment grid 179 Qualitative aspects of spoken language use 180 Oral production 181 Written production 182 Production strategies 183 Listening comprehension 183 Reading comprehension 184 Reception strategies 185 Spoken interaction 185 Written interaction 189 Interaction strategies 189 Text activities 190 Linguistic competences 190 Discourse competence 192 Fluency 193 European Language Portfolio, Finnish version, school years 1–3 and 4–6 193

Index 195

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 6

2014-04-14 16.00

PREFACE

In the beginning of 2000, The European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR) was launched with the overall aim of improving language learning in order to meet the needs of a multilingual and multicultural Europe. The intent was to provide a common base for language syllabi, curriculum guidelines, examinations, and language materials across Europe to promote international co-operation in the field of language learning. Since the introduction of the CEFR, a great number of countries in Europe have incorporated the language descriptor scales in their national or regional curricula and syllabi for language education, and it has become clear that the CEFR has had and will continue to have a major impact on language education and policy in Europe and beyond: The CEFR makes a definite contribution to language policies in Europe, the major objectives of which are to improve the communicative competence of European citizens and produce transparency in language qualifications. This dual aim is spelled out clearly at the local, national and European policy levels and explains the swift and widespread adoption of the CEFR’s scale of common reference levels. The Framework is becoming the essential tool in European countries for creating a European educational area in the field of modern languages. It has also been adopted by the European Union as the standard for defining language levels. The new Europass, officially launched in January 2005, incorporates the Language Passport of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and refers to the CEFR levels. Goullier, 2006:4

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 7

2014-04-14 16.00

Preface

The CEFR is action-based, and describes what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication. Communicative proficiency is described in terms of activities and tasks that language learners can engage in when learning a second or foreign language. The overall aim of the European Framework is language use, and the activities are described in terms of positive can do descriptors. The CEFR is learner-centred, which is clearly evident from its subtitle, where learning is placed before teaching: Learning, Teaching and Assessment. During the last decade a majority of the European countries have introduced validated versions of The European Language Portfolio (ELP), especially for primary schools. The ELP is a direct offspring from the CEFR, and offers a unique tool for making use of the descriptor scales in practice in the learning, teaching, and assessment of languages. The impact of the CEFR concerning language curricula and syllabi can be said to be more evident in theory than in practice so far. According to a recent longitudinal European study of language learning in primary schools, ELLiE, language teachers in primary education are in great need of professional developmental training concerning how to make good use of the CEFR and the ELP and thus improving the implementation of language curricula and syllabi within classroom practice (Lundberg, 2012). Unfortunately, The CEFR is not very user-friendly, with a sometimes complicated terminology and a compact layout. This can result in the text not being taken in entirely by its users. A number of research studies have actually shown that teachers have difficulties with the text (Byram & Parmeter, 2012). Although the CEFR has been translated into a number of languages, the problem of complexity and difficulty remains, as the translations reflect the original. Primary/elementary teachers need easier access to the parts of the CEFR that are relevant for the learning and teaching of languages in the earlier school years. This book has been written for all of those primary/elementary language teachers across Europe and beyond, with the aim of inspiring and motivating them to make use of the CEFR and the ELP, as these language learning tools not only make teaching more enjoyable and productive but also inspire, motivate, and guide learners to life-long and plurilingual language learning.

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 8

ÂŠ â&#x20AC;&#x2030;T he au th o rs and S t u dentlitterat u r

2014-04-14 16.00

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Gun Lundberg and Sharon Keaveney met at the European Centre for Modern Languages in Graz in 2004, where they both took part in a four-year-project on Teaching Modern Languages to Young Learners, Temolayole. http://archive. ecml.at/mtp2/publications/D2_TeMoLaYoLe_E_internet.pdf They have since collaborated on a number of projects developing ideas for the early language learning classroom. They have conducted research and presented at conferences, and together have initiated an exchange programme for teacher students and teachers, with the aim of encouraging teachers to share their experiences and pass on their knowledge and ideas about teaching languages to young learners. They have in common an interest in helping teachers access the wealth of academic material relating to the teaching of languages to young learners that has become available in recent years. After spending over 20 years in the language classroom, Gun now works with Teacher Education at Umeå University, where her research interests have been focused on young learners’ motivation and self-confidence regarding language learning, and on promoting attitudes for life-long learning. She has been actively involved in the longitudinal project ELLiE, Early Language Learning in Europe, and collaborates with teacher education exchanges and research programs with La Trobe University in Australia. Sharon has worked for over 20 years as both a primary teacher and an English language teacher, and is currently working as an English immersion teacher in Kokkola, Finland at both the primary and lower secondary level. She is also an experienced teacher trainer, working with teachers who wish to adopt a CLIL approach to the language classroom. November, 2013 Sharon Keaveney Gun Lundberg Kokkola, Finland Umeå, Sweden

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 9

2014-04-14 16.00

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 10

2014-04-14 16.00

CHAPTER 3

Reception – Listening and Understanding

Receptive activities include aural reception (listening) and visual reception (reading). Here we will concentrate on listening and understanding, as these skills are the foundation of early language learning. Listening is considered the cornerstone of language development and the main channel by which young learners make initial contact with the target language.

A1: Reception – listening and understanding In listening activities, the young language learner receives a spoken input produced by one or more speakers and from different kinds of media: teacher talk, audio media, and recordings. Audio exposure can consist of information, instructions, news, stories, film, drama, songs, computer games, conversations, etc. Listening activities help children to absorb the sounds, intonation, pronunciation, and patterns of the language in a natural way. Every language lesson for young learners should contain plenty of listening activities where students are provided with rich opportunities to practice listening and are able to demonstrate their understanding, as this boosts their language confidence. Listening is an active rather than a passive activity, and when listening, the mind actively searches for meaning. It is thus important that listening activities have an authentic meaning and a clear purpose. Make sure the learners are clear about the purpose of a listening task by telling them why they are doing the listening task and also what they are supposed to focus on, what the aims are and how they will be able to show to what degree they have reached the aims. Even listening for pure pleasure and enjoyment works more effectively if children have some sort of task to listen for and opportunities for checking meaning. © T he auth o r s a n d Stu d e n tlitteratur

978-91-44-08523-4_01_book.indd 33

2014-04-15 09:56

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

FINDING THE RIGHT LEVEL

It is important for the teacher of young language learners to produce comprehensible input. As the term suggests, comprehensible input should not be too difficult, as it becomes hard to create meaning if too much of the text is not understood, and young learners lose interest quickly if they cannot make any sense of the task. However, the input should not be too easy. Young language learners do not have to concentrate actively if the language level is too easy, and become bored if a listening task is too simple. Additionally, teachers should remember that for some learners, listening tasks that are too difficult can cause language anxiety, and consequently some children can become blocked the next time they are faced with a listening activity. Teachers must therefore have a good understanding of their learners’ abilities. The listening classroom should offer a safe and relaxed environment for learning, as children are more likely to succeed when their level of anxiety is low and their self-confidence is high. Teachers can support young learners by directing their attention to specific points that have to be listened for, and by teaching and/or revising some key words as an introduction to the listening activity. Children should continuously be reminded that they are never expected to understand every word or detail during the listening task, but instead they should practice their guessing competence in order to create meaning from known words and picture support, and try to work out the general idea of a message, a story, an instruction. Guessing competence is a listening strategy that children need to develop with the help of the teacher from the very beginning of their language learning. TEACHER TALK

Teacher talk is one of the main sources of language input in the classroom. The teacher is the key figure for facilitating young learners’ listening by using clear body language, mime, an exaggerated intonation, visual aids, hands-on prompts, a glove puppet, or a cuddly animal toy. It is important for the teacher to use English as much as possible in class, even if it is not perfect. Children are very unlikely to notice mistakes. They will instead focus on the meaning of what the teacher says so they are able to carry out the activity. Teacher talk is the most valuable source of language for young learners, and research findings show that young learners are more successful in listening 34

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 34

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

comprehension tasks in classrooms where the teacher speaks English as much as possible (Tragant Mestres & Muñoz, 2012). There should be frequent repetition of previously taught vocabulary and phrases, and clear connections made to familiar topics taught earlier. Young learners need a lot of scaffolding from the teacher. Listening to a foreign language is hard work, especially for young children, and the level of concentration needs to be high. Young learners have a limited concentration span, so it is wise to keep listening activities short or to build in pauses for meaning checks, discussions, or a movement game. When teaching young learners to listen actively and to listen for a specific purpose, the teacher provides a good example by listening actively to the students, asking them to repeat and explain, and providing feedback and offering a meaningful response to what they are saying. A teacher needs to show that she/he is genuinely interested in the learners’ views, their questions, and their problems. Strategies for learners to practice while listening • I listen for key words such as the names of people or places

• I can use clues such as pictures and key words to identify the most

important information

• I can use my knowledge of the world to make sensible guesses

• I can pay attention to the tone of voice and any background noises for clues • I can try to see if any words are like words in my mother tongue

(cognates)

• I try to keep listening, even if there is something I do not understand • I do not give up or make wild guesses, but use the words I have

understood to make good guesses about the text.

Teach learners to ask if they don’t understand • Pardon?

• I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.

• Excuse me, could you say that again?

• I’m sorry but I did not hear what you said. • Could you repeat that slowly, please? © T he au th o rs and S t u dentlitterat u r

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 35

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS HAVE UNEVEN LEARNING PROFILES

Receptive language skills develop earlier than productive skills, which is why young language learners often have a rather uneven language profile. One study shows that students could cope with e.g. 75 % of the content receptively, but only 33 % productively after one year of English studies (Council of Europe, 2010; Lundberg, 2011). Listening and oral production skills in young learners were considerably more advanced than reading and writing skills after two years of studying English.

Reception, listening

Reception, reading

Production, speaking Production, writing

FIGURE 8 Young learners have uneven learning profiles.

It is important to take this uneven profile into account when assessing young language learners and when using self-assessment activities. When progression across the different language competences is made visible, learners can be made aware of their strengths, and can be helped to use these to compensate for difficulties in other areas. Raising learners’ awareness of their strengths and teaching them to apply strategies helps to maintain motivation for learning a new language, and keeps learners focused on what they can do: I can understand basic instructions from the teacher and I can recognize words and phrases in stories and films.

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 36

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

Can carry out actions in response to instructions, games and songs

Can follow short audio-visual information and basic instructions on websites designed for young language learners

Can understand basic instructions from the teacher

Reception Can follow a short rhyme poem, story, film or simple conversation

Listening and understanding Clear, simple, slow, pauses, repetition Can understand basic questions related to themselves

Can recognize words and phrases in stories, songs and films

Can match words which they hear with pictures and prompts

FIGURE 9

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 37

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

A1: Activities for developing skills for listening and understanding A1: Listen and act • Action songs and rhymes: Choose songs that encourage children to

clap their hands, move their fingers, stamp their feet, pretend to ski, jump, wriggle their bodies, stick their tongue out, move like animals etc. (See website links in Appendix 1.) • Action games: Traditional games which encourage children to listen and act are great to play in the language classroom or outside in the school grounds. Who’s afraid of the fox? is a game where all the hens are trying to pass over to the other side without being caught by the fox. All children wearing a specific colour can cross safely. Another game combines colours and figures: If you are wearing red, go two steps forward. (See website links for games and activities in Appendix 1.) • Total, physical response – TPR: Establish meaning and introduce new language through listening and physical involvement. Teachers interact with learners by delivering commands such as: Stand on one leg, please! Turn around! Point to the window! Point to a girl! Stand behind your chair. Shout your name! Smile, please! Clap your hands three times! Touch your head! Touch your toes! Fly like a bird! Put your pencil under your chair. Blow a kiss! The teacher can sometimes be replaced by an English-speaking glove puppet or class mascot. When learners are comfortable with TPR activities they can plan new commands in pairs and then carry them out in class. • Simon says: Learners have to listen carefully to find out whether to respond and act or keep still. When they hear Simon, they have to carry out the commands and when the teacher doesn’t say Simon, they must remain still: Simon says, put your hands in the air! Take them down! Instead of Simon, you can use the word teacher or the teacher’s name. A variation is to use please instead of Simon, or teacher: Stand up, please! Sit down! Nod your head, please! Put your hands on your head. Jump three times, please.

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 38

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

• Follow the leader: A basic TPR-activity where all learners get in line

behind the teacher, follow her/him around, and copy the movements. The teacher calls out instructions in English while acting them out. This activity can be developed into a story where the teacher leads the learners into e.g. a forest, a jungle or a desert where they meet animals and adventures of all kind: Look up in the treetops for owls, ouh! ouh! There is one, look! Tiptoe so you won’t wake the bear! We are very tired, let’s lie down and rest! Look, there’s a wild river! We must try to cross it!

NOTE: All activities where children listen and respond can be carried out both inside and outside of the classroom. For teachers with very large classes and little space, many of the activities can be adapted for children to carry out while sitting down. Create a friendly learning environment and make learning as enjoyable as possible.

A1: Listen and follow instructions • The classroom and teaching routines: The daily routines of the

classroom are a valuable source to use in practicing listening and understanding. The repetitive everyday routines create a comfortable language learning environment with greetings, basic work instructions, timetable talk, lunch menus, etc: Good morning! Hi everyone! Hello! Nice to see you again! Welcome to a new and interesting day! How are you today? Is it cold outside? Is everybody here? Is anyone missing? Good to see that Leanne is back! Today is Tuesday! Let’s look at today’s timetable. Today’s lunch menu is meatballs with rice and carrots. Please, stand up! Take out your crayons, please. Please, listen carefully! Look at this picture. What can you see? All together – a house! OK. It’s break-time! Now you can go out and play! Line up, please! That’s all for today. Don’t forget your homework! See you tomorrow! Have a nice afternoon/evening! • Routine tasks such as dividing the class into groups for group activities can be used to reinforce basic vocabulary, e.g. using colours to make groups: Blue team – you start. Green team, come up to the whiteboard, please!

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 39

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

• To help children acquire English, the teacher should take every

opportunity to speak English, even outside of the English lessons and outside of lesson time. While planning the lesson/day/week, it is useful to make a list of classroom language needed, and to practice using these key words and phrases before the lesson. • The English corner: Creating a space for English in the classroom creates a great resource for natural teacher talk. There can be all kinds of flash cards, posters, maps, picture books, toys, and prompts on display in the English corner, which makes it easy for the teacher to take opportunities for quick repetition and flexible teacher talk. There is always something to point to in order to explain vocabulary or remind students of words already learnt. Keep the English corner updated with new pictures, books, and all sorts of things that can be used for exposure to the English language in class. The displayed items will also help learners to remember what you are doing in the English class and thus help to provide continuity in language learning lessons. • The English box: A box full of prompts for learning English can trigger curiosity and motivation: What’s in the English box today? Look, a blue balloon! Who likes blue? Thumbs up if you like blue! Let’s see if I can find another colour in the box! Oh, yes, here is a yellow ball. Can you see anything yellow in the classroom? Is anyone wearing anything yellow today? Point to something yellow! The English box can contain all kinds of things needed for a lesson of concrete and hands-on teaching, e.g. plastic animals, plastic fruits, toys for transport, household items, sports equipment, pictures and photos, books, maps, etc. A creative teacher can do wonders with a box like this. NOTE: Learners should be taught and inspired to make use of nonverbal clues, e.g. gestures, body language, and mime, in order to interpret meaning. It can be a good idea for the teacher to use songs and rhymes when they change from one activity to another.

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 40

2014-04-14 16.00

3 Reception – Listening and Understanding

A1: Listen and do • Listen and recognize: Ask children to point to flashcards or items

that have been placed randomly around the classroom, e.g. Where is the horse? Can you spot a train? Point to the teacher! • Listen and identify: Listen and circle the correct picture from a selection of three options while listening to a message: The girl is wearing a striped t-shirt. The children are playing football. It is windy. • Listen to the teacher: The teacher describes an object in the classroom: I can see something you don’t see! It is green and black! It is small and round. This is an excellent way of introducing new prompts to be used in the classroom, or for repetition of vocabulary. • Listen and number: Ask learners to put numbers by pictures in the order they occur in the story that is being told. • Listen and colour: Ask learners to colour a picture: Colour the car blue. Colour the house yellow. Colour the dog black. A variation is to give the children alternatives, e.g. Colour the car red or blue. Colour the dog black or brown. These pictures can be used for games such as ‘spot the difference’ later on. • Dot to dot: Children are familiar with the traditional dot-to-dot activity where they join numbers to create a picture. In this activity, the same activity is carried out except the numbers are arranged randomly so that the children have to listen to hear which number comes next, e.g. start at number ten, number seven, number fourteen, etc. Traditional dot-to-dot activities can easily be adapted for use in this activity. • Listen and draw: Tell the children to draw a picture of a scene, a character from a story you are reading, or from a description read out by the teacher. • Listen and cross out: Play the game of bingo with miniature pictures of previously learnt vocabulary, numbers and colours. This game develops with the progression of learning and teaching and will later on consist of written vocabulary, chunks, telephone numbers, telling the time with pictures of clocks and answers to mathematics tasks or word descriptions: Sixteen minus seven? A person who looks after your teeth? © T he au th o rs and S t u dentlitterat u r

978-91-44-08523-4_book.indd 41

2014-04-14 16.00

Keaveney Lundberg | Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1-A2

Early Language Learning and Teaching: A1-A2 Sharon Keaveney and Gun Lundberg

Art.nr 37158

www.studentlitteratur.se

978-91-44-08523-4_Cover.indd 1

2014-04-02 15:13