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      TeachingEnglish
      Popular misconceptions about teachers of Young Learners
      Submitted by littlemissbossy on 7 November, 2009 - 13:41

      Dear colleagues,

      Have you ever come across any misconceptions about teachers of Young Learners?

      I have. One of them was that teaching Young Learners is not real teaching.

      What about you?

      Any comments will be much appreciated :)

      Anita

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      ro_mina's picture
      ro_mina
      I am trying to imagine some
      Submitted on 10 November, 2009 - 18:03

      I am trying to imagine some arguments to support that misconception. 

      Probably, that misconception comes from the fact that at that age children learn in spite of their teachers given their great predisposition towards learning in general. However, the task that teachers perform is amazing given that it is not easy to create meaningful contexts to teach a second language communicatively when students are so young.  

      I teach English to very young learners (4 and 2 years old) in an Argentina in a somehow bilingual school (in fact, it is not a "purely" bilingual school) and I can assure anyone that it demands a lot of work and teaching methodology.

      Teaching is teaching, no matter the age of learners. 

      girishseshamani's picture
      girishseshamani
      MISCONCEPTIONS
      Submitted on 11 November, 2009 - 12:52

      Down here, teaching young learners is more of a ritual for the teacher. Shouting or screaming at them is not going to give any result, purely because at that age, they do not go deep into why the teacher is reprimanding them. This is precisely where the gap in teaching needs to be taken care of, by ensuring that teachers are sent for training programs frequently. This will not only help them to upgrade their skill sets, but also give them the motivation to approach this age group from a totally different angle and get the students involved during the learning process.

      littlemissbossy's picture
      littlemissbossy
      :)
      Submitted on 11 November, 2009 - 13:10

      Thanks for the reply!

      As you teach Young Learners, have you ever heard any negative comments about YL teachers???

      Some people think we should have inferiority complex :)

      Anita

       

      Heath's picture
      Heath
      What is language teaching?
      Submitted on 17 November, 2009 - 03:44

      I personally hate teaching young learners - but that's precisely because I find it so much more difficult.  I've never heard any negative comments about YL teachers, though.

      Perhaps whoever it is that made those kinds of comments doesn't really know much about language teaching and what it can (and should) involve.  I guess he/she assumes that language teaching is all about clarifying grammar and lexis or working on academic writing... and has forgotten/not realised there are a million other things that teachers need to be good at, including:

      • psychology
      • educational theory & methodology
      • classroom management
      • course design
      • task and activity choice, adaptation & design
      • understanding learning styles and educational backgrounds

      And on, and on, and on... and even that sounds like I'm suggesting YL teachers don't work on lexis or skills, which they do, just perhaps in slightly different ways. 

      All of us need to know about all these things and more, but I think YL teachers are the most amazing of us all, because they do all that AND deal with temper-tantrums and swingy energy levels.

       

      Sally Trowbridge's picture
      Sally Trowbridge
      TE Team
      Materials for young learners
      Submitted on 30 November, 2009 - 12:34

       There are lots of activities and materials that teachers can use with young learners here: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

      Stephen Jones's picture
      Stephen Jones
      The one I hear most is...
      Submitted on 23 August, 2010 - 09:45
      ...YL lessons need to have lots of games. Games can be part of the lesson, but they need to practice more than simple vocabulary. This results in the common misconception that YLs just need flashcards and vocab, when in fact, they need and deserve much more. There is no reason why, if planned carefully, YLs cannot take part in genuinely communicative lessons.