Teaching_English_to_Children_at_an_Early_Age_-_text

Masarykova univerzita v Brně Pedagogická fakulta KATEDRA ANGLICKÉHO JAZYKA A LITERATURY Bakalářská práce Brno 2008 Vendula Krpcová Masaryk University Brno Faculty of Education DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Teaching English to Children at an Early Age Bachelor thesis Supervisor: Author: Mgr Ivana Hrozková Vendula Krpcová Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila jen prameny uvedené v seznamu literatury Vendula Krpcová I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr Ivana Hrozková for her encouragement, challenging ideas and helpful approach in connection with my work Vendula Krpcová Contents: I II INTRODUCTION THEORETICAL PART Children at an early age 1.1 How to define very young learners 1.2 Characterisation of psychological development 1.3 The specificity of teaching to very young learners How languages are learnt; second or foreign language acquisition, second or foreign language learning 2.1 Second language vs foreign language 2.2 Acquisition vs learning 2.3 The silent period Helen Doron Early English 3.1 History and origins 3.1.1 Glenn Doman 3.1.2 Maria Montessori 3.2 The theory of teaching according to HD 3.3 The objectives of HDEE 3.4 Characterisation of HD teacher 3.5 Characterisation of HD learner 3.6 Helen Doron Early English Courses PRACTICAL PART Introduction to practical part Classroom management 2.1 Classroom environment 2.2 Classroom language 2.3 Classroom routines Syllabus of the English For Infants course Types of activities 4.1 Speaking activities 4.2 Musical activities 4.3 Game-like activities 4.4 Art and craft activities 4.5 TPR-activities 4.6 Story-telling and drama Material used in lessons 5.1 Activity books 5.2 CDs 9 9 10 11 11 12 13 14 14 15 16 17 19 20 22 22 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 28 29 29 29 III 5.3 Flashcards 5.4 Real objects 5.5 Additional materials Class profile Anticipated difficulties and suggested solutions HD principles of lesson planning 8.1 General aims of each lesson Cross-sectional study through lessons CONCLUSION RESUMÉ BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES 30 30 30 31 31 32 33 33 53 55 56 59 INTRODUCTION As English has become an international language in political, business and many other spheres of everyday life, learning and being able to speak and use this language seems to be a necessity these days Owing to this fact, English language learning appears a global phenomenon Therefore, various offers how to learn quickly and effectively increase Starting learning a foreign language at an early age also seems a reasonable belief in result of which teaching young children appears one of the current trends Children in the Czech Republic start learning English in the third year at primary school that means at the age of or By that time they have mastered their mother tongue (including reading and writing) and have adjusted to the regime and everyday routines of a school life Many teachers, parents and even some of the scientists are convinced that the earlier the children start learning a second or foreign language, the more beneficial it is for them In contradiction to their persuasion, Lojová (2006) argues that there has been no confirmative research made to support this opinion Moreover, she refers to the researches that promote starting foreign language learning at an older age In contrast to her attitude, by publishing the country’s Action Plan for years 2005-2008 for language education, the Czech Ministry of Education seems to follow the European and global tendency which approves of learning at an early age In agreement with this tendency the Czech Ministry of Education has been trying to find a solution that would improve the current situation at Czech schools, which is far from ideal Contributors to the conference Foreign Language Acquisition at an Early Age held at the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk University in Brno on March 16, 2006 who provided their analysis of the importance of age in starting learning a foreign language agreed that there exist also other critical conditions relevant for reaching success in learning a foreign language at an early age According to them, the teacher’s competence, including communicative competence in the target language, psychological and pedagogical education is understood as the decisive factor Although many people believe that the teacher’s knowledge of the language does not need to be very high in case he/she teaches very young children, I strongly disagree with this opinion Therefore, I am pleased with the current aim of the Ministry of Education to settle down the duty of passing a state exam in English for lower primary teachers and the necessity of obtaining appropriate qualification for pre-school teachers teaching English Another movement towards improvements in this area supported by the Ministry of Education is a project called Language Awareness which is an alternative to learning a foreign language at an early age The fact that the tendencies initiated by the Ministry of Education are in their infancy is proved by the real situation Teachers who have been trained as primary or pre-school teachers but not as language teachers can still be found teaching English in many pre-school and primary institutions Another important point concerning the question of introduction of early language education at pre-school or first grades of lower primary level at Czech schools is the ensuring continuity I find the present state of the issue investigated above unsatisfactory, which, after studying related literature, led me to specify Helen Doron Early English as one of the existing possibilities that could be used by the Czech Ministry of Education in fulfilling the Action Plan stated above Taking these points into consideration, the aim of this thesis is to provide the characterisation of Helen Doron Early English (HDEE) and its approach, theories and methodology will be studied The question will be arisen whether Czech children can benefit from this method HDEE has created 10 various English courses for children aged between months and 14 years This thesis, however, explores the age group of 1.5 to 3.5 years The English For Infants course designed for this age group is characterised in more detail in the practical part I THEORETICAL PART 1.1 Children at an early age How to define very young learners? There are many different definitions of very young learners provided Reilly (1997) points out that these definitions or classifications vary according to the country, developmental age, which is even more important than the chronological age, and according to the individual This work focuses on children aged between 1.5 – 3.5 years (referred to as very young learners, children or infants in this paper) for whom an English For Infants Helen Doron Early English course, characterised in the practical part of this work, is designed 1.2 Characterisation of psychological development With reference to the psychological and evolutional view, Příhoda (1963) believes that children at the age from 1.5 to 3.5 years go through a critical period of their development which is cardinal as it is not repeated in any other life period The Critical Period Hypothesis, which is described as a period of brain plasticity at an early age within which children are able to learn subconsciously and develop their innate brain capacity, is also frequently highlighted by Dr Glenn Doman (1994) Příhoda (1963) further explains that during this period children learn to distinguish shapes, animals and colours and beside this they become more confident in walking As concerns speech, children are able to recognise subtle differences between vowels (ә vs æ) and consonants (p vs ph) They are even able to imitate them This is a considerable aspect, in my opinion, that must be remembered in connection with a young child’s ability to acquire pronunciation This aspect is taken into account in Helen Doron methodology Furthermore, Příhoda (1963) identically with Čáp (2001) adds that at this age children realise that each thing has its own name and thus a word symbolizes a thing Although they are not yet able to express or define it, children feel it At the beginning of the second year a child learns rhymes and poems quite easily; usually just by hearing them (as opposed to listening to them, explained in 3.2 of the theoretical part) Never later in their life would people show such remarkable growth of their intellectual abilities, skills and manifestations as in this life period (Příhoda 1963, Čáp 2001) Příhoda additionally advances children whose parents devote their time to reading and playing with them As children have mastered their mother tongue at the age of three, Příhoda is certain about the high influence parents have on the development of their child’s speech before the age of three Approvingly Doleželová (2005), an educationalist and methodologist, presents that even though we recognise some children as more or less bright, we should be aware of the fact that all children have started learning from their birth and besides genetically given potentials their development is more or less in the hands of their parents Speaking about the development after the birth Doleželová probably refers to the Critical Period Hypothesis, already discussed above and also below in paragraph 3.1.1 of the theoretical part Furthermore, Doleželová (2005) says that family background significantly influences the development of every individual and creates relationships between a child and his/her parents Through a variety of games and activities, parents can develop their child in the areas of speech, thinking, sense perception, physical and motor skills What is more, she is sure that within the process of teaching/learning, parents strengthen their and their child’s relationship Doleželová (2005) as well as Příhoda (1963) declares that whether the development is supported or not every child has practically mastered his/her mother tongue by the age of three After this age or sometimes even earlier we can notice that the vocabulary of some children is more developed than that of others This proves the fact that if children were exposed to listening to fairy-tales read by their parents regularly or if parents talked to their children more often, the vocabulary of such children would be more extensive than of the ones who did not have this opportunity Craig Ramey, a child development specialist from the University of Alabama, in addition approves that “if a child has been raised in a disadvantaged home, intervention at the kindergarten level produces only minuscule” (Ramey as quoted in Toner), which proves the importance of the parents’ role 1.3 The specificity of teaching to very young learners The fact that children aged between 1.5 to 3.5 go through their most crucial development phase during which they acquire their mother tongue should be taken into consideration when aiming to make advantage of their specific features in teaching them a foreign language A teacher ought to be aware of child’s abilities, skills and potential Very young learners are defined as curious, playful, eager to learn and very receptive (Doron 2006a) They are not afraid of imitating sounds and using a range of facial expressions and gestures All these facts count as advantageous Nevertheless, even when doing something children love, such as building constructions, displacing things, colouring pictures, sticking, playing with toys and objects and playing roles, they are able to concentrate on one sort of activity for quite a short time For their attention span is very short, activities have to be changed very often in order not to bore children, to draw their attention and to involve them in a new or different task (Reilly 1997) 10 Body parts 3-5minutes to follow instructions, TPR comprehension check, to develop awareness of own body Procedure: I revise the parts of the body, we have already learnt (mouth, nose, knees, toes) and I add a head and shoulders Children follow my instructions and touch particular parts of their body or show them in the picture (see App 3.8) After that we recap up, down Sing Head Up minutes to sing and perform a song (CD 2, track – first part only) Procedure: We listen to and sing a song together while raising head or shoulders up or down according to the song Doing actions: 2-3 minutes to revise already known actions to teach new a sentence structure, to follow intructions Procedure: I review all actions taught so far (For procedures see LESSON 1.) When children follow my instruction I ask them What are you doing? I try to elicit the answer: I am eating Animals 1-2 minutes to revise already known animals to teach new ones, to teach what each animal say Procedure: I recap animals children are acquainted with and teach new ones (rabbit, donkey) More about procedure can be found in LESSON Then I ask What does the dog say? and answer for children The dog says whoof! Sing Who Says Moo? minutes to sing and perform a song (CD 2, track 4) We listen to and sing a song together and imitate the sounds of animals Peekaboo: 3-4 minutes to ask and answer the question Procedure: To review peekaboo I use decorated windows made from cardboard paper (see App 3.9) The procedure is similar to the one with scarves I have described in LESSON 44 Sing Peekaboo minutes action song (CD 2, track 2) Procedure: I listen to and sing a song together with children, while hiding behind the window of cardboard paper and ‘reappearing’ (see Ap 4.6) Upstairs, downstairs 2-3 minutes to recap already known directions comprehension check to develop motor-skills Procedure: I recapitulate all the directions from the previous lessons and for upstairs, downstairs I use little wooden IKEA stairs again Subsequently I revise all the vehicles introduced during previous lessons and when showing double-decker bus, I explain upstairs, downstairs with reference to it Then I provide children small pictures of animals they are acquainted with and demand them to put an animal either upstairs or downstairs on the bus Turn out the light 2-3 minutes to teach turn on, turn out comprehension check, TPR to develop motor-skills Procedure: I teach light pointing at light at the ceiling and introducing a reading lamp I ask Benny to turn on the light and then to turn out (off) I give each child a chance to try turning on/out (off) When acquiring this, I ask children whether the light is on or out Sing Teddy Bear minutes to sing and perform a song (CD 2, track 10) Procedure: I listen to and sing a song along with the children, while doing the actions we are singing about As we sing about Teddy Bear, we sometimes the actions with cuddly teddy bears or we them ourselves wearing headbands with bear ears and having painted bear nose (see App 4.7) Big and little Using different objects, I follow the same procedure as described in LESSON Train, there, back 2-3 minutes to teach there, back to develop motor-skills Procedure: I revise train and introduce track I distribute a train and a piece of the track to each of the children and say The train goes there and back Using a toy train I what I say and children imitate me I ask them to connect their pieces and build a big track for the 45 train to run along Then we join ourselves into a train and we run there and back, along the track In the following lessons I teach platform and explain ‘on the train’ (see App 3.10) Sing Choo Choo Train See LESSON Bye-bye! The same procedure as applied in previous lessons Comments: By now, all the children introduce themselves with a clear, loud voice Three of them produced the whole single sentence themselves The other three wait for their mummies or me to say I am for them and only then add their names All the children can count up to five I have found out animals are easy for the children to remember Most of them can remember all of the animals presented only after two or three lessons They also like to produce animal sounds very much Children were amazed by IKEA stairs They loved going upstairs and downstairs And even if it seemed difficult for them to pronounce the new words at first, they managed perfectly after going up or down for the third time, answering my question Where are you know? Turning on and out the light was great amusement as well I helped children to reach the light switch on the wall and they took turns in switching on/out It was a big fun when one of the boys moved the IKEA stairs to the wall to be able to reach the light switch and to avoid queuing Children also enjoyed being dressed up as Teddy Bears One of the girls was very unhappy, though, as her mother refused me to colour a bear’s nose on her daughter’s nose LESSON 19 Size of the group: Length of the lesson: Lesson plan: Teaching aids: children + parents (caretakers) 30 minutes * a light, airy classroom equipped with a soft carpet and cushions for children to sit on * ball * a hand puppet * an alarm clock * flashcards of night and day * HD association game for day and night * a blue, red and yellow bag or box * blue, red and yellow objects * flashcards of sky, cherry, sun 46 * pictures of faces – happy, sad * stickers of happy, sad * flashcards of a car, bus, truck, minibus double-decker bus, train and a motorbike * wooden steering handlebars * wooden horses to ride on * flashcards of all the animals acquired so far and a flashcard of a horse and an elephant * a CD player and CD for EFI Activity: Time: Aim: Saying Hello! The procedure described in LESSON Roll the ball Detailed description provided in LESSON Doing actions 1-2 minutes to follow instructions, to recapitulate and teach actions, physical co-ordination Procedure: I revise all the actions children have already known The last action to be reviewed is Sleep! (see App 4.14) When children lie on the carpet, having their eyes closed and pretending they are sleeping I say Wake up! It’s morning! I set an alarm-clock to ring When it rings I repeat Wake up! It’s morning! and add Good morning to you + name of a child Night, day 1-2 minutes to teach parts of the day comprehension check Procedure: I display two identical pictures of a house with a garden One painted in daylight, the other one at night I explain the difference Further I show various pictures referring either to day or to night (for example a sleeping cat and a running cat etc.) I ask children what is in the picture, what the animal is doing and whether it is doing it at night or during the day Children like putting pictures on the ones of a day or a night (see App 3.11) Sing Good Morning 2.5 minutes to sing and perform a song (CD 3, track – first part of the song only) Procedure: As the song starts with words ‘Good morning’ I have children ‘sleeping’ and then starting to sing ‘Good morning’ I wake them up Colours 2-4 minutes comprehension check, to revise and teach colours, physical co-ordination Procedure: I recap red and blue from previous lesson and teach yellow I display various objects in blue, red and yellow colour asking What colour is it? trying to elicit answer Subsequently I show blue, red and yellow bag and want children to take an object of a certain colour and put it in the right bag 47 Sun, sky, cherry minutes to revise and teach vocabulary Procedure: I revise sun and sky from previous lessons and add cherry Then I ask What colour is sun? When children not respond, I show some yellow object from the previous activity and then usually receive the right answer Sing Colours minutes to sing and listen to a song (CD 3, track 4) Procedure: We sing and listen to a song while showing sun, sky and cherry and pointing at right colours Happy, sad 1-2 minutes to teach adjectives, to answer the question Procedure: I teach happy and sad by showing pictures of happy and sad faces I also use my facial expressions to explain these adjectives Afterwards I offer children to choose a sticker with a happy or sad emoticon I stick a ‘happy sticker’ on my T-shirt, saying I am happy! Then I stick a ‘sad sticker’ on Benny, saying Benny is sad I follow with rolling ball activity I am happy, pointing on sticker on my T-shirt and rolling the ball to Benny, asking him How are you feeling Benny? answering for Benny I am sad With that I roll the ball to each child, asking how he/she is feeling For this activity laminated faces with Velcro mouth and nose can be used as well Children make sad face by sticking lips upside down (see App 3.2) Animals 1-2 minutes to recap already known animals to teach new ones Procedure: Using flashcards I recapitulate animals children have already acquired and teach new ones (horse, elephant) The procedure can be done similarly as in LESSON Transport 1-2 minutes to recap and teach vocabulary Procedure: Procedure is similar to revising animals above A new mean of transport motorbike is introduced Riding a horse, a motorbike, an elephant 1-2 minutes to teach an activity, to teach present continuous Procedure: I distribute wooden handlebars with a picture of a motorbike (see App 3.13) Making appropriate sound of a motorbike, children pretend they ride a motorbike (see App 4.8) 48 Similarly children ride horses They are given wooden horses (see App 3.12) and ride around the classroom (see App 4.9) For riding an elephant we use our hands to make a trunk and we walk around the classroom (see App 4.10) While doing it I ask What are you doing? What are you riding? etc Sing I Am Riding On My Horse (CD 3, track 10) minutes to sing and perform song Procedure: We sing and listen to a song while riding horses, motorbikes or elephants Bye-bye! For the procedure see LESSON Comments: As there is not much action in the ‘Colours’ song, children seemed not to enjoy the song very much Therefore, for the next lesson I prepared long strips cut from crepe paper in red, blue and yellow colour Children loved dancing and running around with them During the song we were choosing the strips of appropriate colours For happy, sad, I used favourite laminated faces with ‘Velcro’ mouth and nose Children were also very happy to draw happy or sad mouth on the face on the blackboard Children adored riding motorbikes and horses and wanted me to play the song again When riding an elephant I showed children how to use their arm to make a trunk The other hand is holding a nose We had one boy’s father coming to see the lesson after several months As an observer he was fascinated by the progress of all the children The children are now educated, following the rules and commands I give them You can see on their faces they understand everything we during the lessons They have become much more courageous and concentrated Some of them can produce simple sentences or questions, such as: I am jumping I am riding I am a driver I am eating cookie Where are you? etc 49 LESSON 24 Size of the group: Length of the lesson: Lesson plan: Teaching aids: children (one child missing)+ parents (caretakers) 30 minutes * a light, airy classroom equipped with a soft carpet and cushions for children to sit on * ball * a hand puppet * flashcards of a fairy, bird * fairy’s costumes * clouds made of cardboard paper * feathers, bubbles * a bowl with water (floating, sinking objects) * a see-through IKEA basket * a flashcard of animals in cages * flashcards and toys of a banana, apple, cherry * headbands with airplanes, and toy airplane for each child * spare pictures of a banana from activity and colour pencils or watercolours * a CD player and CDs 3, for EFI Activity: Aim: Time: Saying Hello! The procedure described in LESSON Roll the ball Detailed description provided in LESSON Flying 1-2 minutes to follow instructions, to recapitulate and teach actions, physical co-ordination Procedure: I revise all the actions children have already known and teach Fly! Children have already known the words fairy, butterfly and plane I tell them to fly like a plane We spread our arms and walk around the classroom making a sound of a plane, pretending we are flying (see App 4.11) Then we fly like a fairy, moving our arms slowly up and down or like a butterfly moving our arms quickly Floating 6-8 minutes to teach float, question, answer Procedure: From the previous lesson, children know a cloud Having a cloud made of cardboard paper in my hands moving slowly from side to side I say The cloud is floating I demonstrate floating also on bubbles and feathers (see App 3.14) Each child gets a feather blowing in it and trying to have it floating I tell children to sit down and bring a bowl with water I give various objects to children to put it in a bowl We distinguish what is floating and what is not, saying It’s floating or It’s not floating 50 Free 1-2 minutes to teach free Procedure: Children can already distinguish free and not free, from pictures of animals inside cages or animals not kept in cages In order they experienced the feeling of free, not free, I introduce a see-through IKEA basket At first I show the procedure with Benny I put a basket over Benny saying Benny is not free Taking the basket away, I say Benny is free I show the same with fairy or some animals Then I invite children to give a try When caught in the basket I try to have them saying I am not free When they get out, they say I am free.(see App.4.12) Sing Flying Free minutes to perform and sing a song (CD 3, track 8) Procedure: We sing and listen to a song while being dressed as fairies (with skirts, headbands and magic wands) and flying around the class like a fairy or floating like a cloud (see App 4.13) Fruit 1-2 minutes to acquire new kinds of fruit Procedure: I review cherry and teach new kinds of fruit (banana, apple), as we are going to use them in a song next lesson Low, high 1-2 minutes to teach adjectives, to answer the question Procedure: Before doing this activity we can revise all means of transport if necessary The last mentioned should be airplane We encourage children to fly like an airplane When flying we can ‘shrink’ down and fly close to the floor When in this position, I say An airplane is flying low After that we tiptoe and I say An airplane is flying high Subsequently children follow my instructions to fly high or low I also ask them where they are flying Children answer Sing Airplane minutes to sing and perform a song (CD 4, track 7) Procedure: When singing and listen to a song, we are either wearing headbands with a plane or holding a toy plane and flying low and high (see App 4.11) 51 Colour an airplane 3-5 minutes to recap vocabulary, motor activity (holding a pencil or a brush) Procedure: Colour the picture of an airplane from the activity book using colour pencils or water colours (see App 5) I instruct the children to colour the plane blue (or some other colour children know) Bye-bye! Follow the procedure as in LESSON Comments: The beginning of the lesson was devoted to explanations deriving from the song Flying Free Flying was easier to explain than floating was The lyrics of the song sounds …the cloud is floating For floating I used bubbles and feathers floating I further demonstrated floating on the water Children could not wait until it was their turn and they could put an object in the water All answered my question What is it doing? by saying It’s floating It’s not floating Children could see many pictures of free and not free animals in the cages As I wanted them to experience on their own, I brought IKEA see-through basket to the lesson I used Benny to explain the procedure I put a basket over Benny sitting on the floor At first children wanted to hide and discover Benny on their own but soon they started to crawl under the basket themselves They all enjoyed it very much I believe it was because they could see through the basket and so they felt safe Flying low and high was also appreciated by many happy faces I took children and hold them pretending they were an airplanes which was flying high or low 52 CONCLUSION The aim of my thesis was to characterise one of the possibilities that could be used in finding a solution to the current situation related to teaching English at pre-school institutions in the Czech Republic My interests in teaching to very young learners and my dissatisfaction with the current conditions of teaching English especially at Czech kindergartens led me to investigate the issue in more detail and to find out more information related to this topic The question whether or not to start learning English at an early age has been widely discussed Despite recommendations suggested by contributors to conference Foreign Language Acquisition at an Early Age held at the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk University in Brno on March 16, 2006 that the age should not be overestimated in the question of teaching foreign languages to pre-school children, by publishing the Action Plan for 2005-2008 that supports teaching English at an early age, the Czech Ministry of Education seems to follow a contradictory tendency Mainly the fact that the current Czech educational system does not have stabilized conditions warranting the teachers’ competence has been mainly highlighted at the conference mentioned above By teachers’ competence the contributors mean not only communicative competence in the target language but also psychological and pedagogical education Although I welcome the aims of the Czech Ministry of Education, to improve the present situation in the field of teaching languages, we should realize that the tendencies towards improvement are at their beginning It will take some time before the system is elaborate and capable to guarantee not only qualified teachers but also so important ensuring continuity Therefore, I decided to characterize Helen Doron Early English as one of the existing possibilities that supplies both, trained teachers and ensuring continuity as well I specified the English For Infants (EFI) course, designed for children aged 1.5-3.5, who I have focused on in this thesis In the theoretical part, I have investigated the principles Helen Doron Early English is based on I have pointed out its origins, ideas and approaches, and compared them to those of other methodologists, educationalists, linguists and psychologists Furthermore, the importance of psychological development and specificity of teaching to children at an early age is discussed After studying relevant literature, I have found out that when creating her method, Helen Doron had taken into consideration the importance of this specificity of children’s development In the practical part, I have demonstrated the findings and ideas emphasized in the theoretical part in practice This can be noticed especially in classroom management, 53 types of activities and aims of individual activities indicated in a cross-sectional study through an EFI course Additionally, I have provided a detailed description of lessons that derive from my own observations and experience with Helen Doron method In order to give insight into the way English is taught at HDEE, I have chosen the lessons that manifest the progress of HD very young learners For their obvious progression I have found the Helen Doron method effective Effectiveness can be reached under the conditions (to start with spoken language, expose the child to a language as early as possible, teach small groups of children) stated in 3.1 of the theoretical part when they are in accordance with the fundamental principles (repeated hearing, positive reinforcement, mother tongue method) declared in 3.2 of the theoretical part When aiming to make learning process as natural as in acquiring the mother tongue, I recognise repeated hearing is absolutely essential The Critical Period Hypothesis, dealt with in 1.2 and 3.1.1 of the theoretical part, approving that when activated, the brain allows children to learn more effectively, persuaded me that also Czech children can benefit from acquiring a foreign language at an early age Not only can they acquire the structure of the language, the melody, intonation and rhythm but they can also enlarge their brain capacity and ability for learning their whole life Thus, I am convinced that Czech children should have an opportunity to use their potential of the Critical Period Hypothesis and further develop themselves Despite some disadvantages of Helen Doron Early English, such as a high price of the course or a small number of learning centres in the Czech Republic, the reasons indicated above made me believe that HD method deserves attention of the Czech Ministry of Education when looking for the solution to the current state of pre-school and primary school foreign language teaching 54 RESUMÉ Ve své práci se zabývám současnou problematikou výuky anglického jazyka u dětí v předškolním věku, která je vydáním akčního plánu na 2005-2008, podporována českým Ministerstvem školství a tělovýchovy Na základě zjištění současného stavu výuky v předškolních institucích a při zohlednění názorů metodiků a odborníků na danou problematiku, charakterizuji metodu výuky anglického jazyka, vytvořenou britskou metodoložkou a lingvistkou Helen Doron V teoretické části popisuji úroveň kognitivního vývoje u dětí ve věku 1,5 až 3,5 let a zaměřuji se na jejich schopnosti osvojit si cizí jazyk Dále specifikuji jednotlivé zásady a původ metody Helen Doron Early English, kterou srovnávám s názory a přístupy jiných významných pedagogů, metodiků či psychologů Praktická část je založena na mých vlastních poznatcích a zkušenostech s touto metodou Zahrnuji zde otázky organizace prostoru, charakterizuji metody, činnosti a používané výukové materiály vhodné pro danou věkovou skupinu Prostřednictvím plánů vyučovacích hodin zde však zejména poskytuji detailní popis a řazení jednotlivých aktivit použitých při výuce včetně specifikace učebních pomůcek a cílů daných aktivit Protože děti v tomto věku vykazují značné předpoklady pro práci s cizím jazykem a při výuce jsou schopni bez zábran imitovat zvuky, opakovat větné struktury jazyka a k výuce přistupovat plni očekávání a nedočkavosti naučit se novému, výuku takto malých dětí považuji, za splnění podmínek vyplývajících z principů metody, za přínosnou 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY References: Baron, N (2008, January 17) “How to Talk ‘Parantese’ to Your Child.” Newsweek Special Issue: p.21 In: Helen Doron Early English (ed), Welcome to the First Day of your Helen Doron Teacher Training Course also accessible in “The Language Explosion.” Newsweek Retrieved Apr 2008 from http://www.newsweek.com/id/95359/page/4 Begley, S (1996, February 6) “Your Child’s Brain” Newsweek pp 55-58 In: Helen Doron Early English (ed), Teacher Information For Day Teacher Training Course pp 25-28 Čáp, J.,Mareš, J (2001) Psychologie pro učitele 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