Đây là một trong những bài tiểu luận cuối khóa học Tesol để lấy chứng chỉ giảng dạy tiếng Anh quốc tế. Tiểu luận gồm 2 phần : Lý thuyết và thực hành, rất thiết thực với thực tế giảng dạy tiếng anh cho trẻ em.
Teaching Pre-School Children and Grade 1&2 English ASSIGNMENT Question 1: What are the four basic processes to understand how students acquire language? There are four basic processes to understand how students acquire language: - Socio-cultural Language development Academic development Cognitive development Question 2: What is Socio-cultural? Socio-cultural: This process takes into consideration all parts of the student’s life, both inside and outside of class The student might feel anxiety or a sense of displacement if they are segregated into a special ESL classroom, and discrimination or prejudice might seriously affect the student ability to learn Question 3: What is Language development? Language development: This process into consideration all aspects of the student’s native tongue The more the student is aware of his or her own language, syntax, morphology, and pragmatics, the better aware they are of how a second language functions Without a firm grip of meta-language skills, second language learning can be inhibited Question 4: What is Academic development? Academic development: This process helps us understand that it is impossible to separate language learning from concept learning As each grade progresses to the next level, language and vocabulary grows By putting this process on hold for Language Arts, Science, and Mathematics, or to segregate the students into a strictly ESL classroom, the students start to form a gap between the academic learning they have accomplished in their own language and the learning they must complete in order to be successful in their new schools This gap can sometimes be insurmountable; leading to the student’s failing Question 5: What is Cognitive development? Cognitive development: This process helps us understand that ESL classrooms, by definition, water down and simplify education down to uncomplicated sentences and tasks This limits the student’s exposure to challenging tasks, which then slows down the entire learning process Regular classes are not simplified, and students who are exposed to this simplicity have problems once they are put into a regular classroom Question 6: Describe the typical three year old? From the age of three, Pre-schoolers tend to be more peaceful, relaxed and cooperative Having just grown out of the “Terrible Two’s” the typical three year olds are full of energy, eagerness and curiosity Children of this age group seem to be constantly moving about and excitedly engrossing themselves totally in whatever captivates their interest This is a very rewarding age to teach as creativity is developing and imagination is uninhibited From this age vocabulary is rapidly expanding as the child is now acquiring the foundation of its first language Intellectual skills are visibly developing as the child begins to express individual ideas, problem solve and even plans ahead As their perception of the world around them expands children of this age group also become more aware of the needs and feelings of others around them and begin to exercise a degree of control of their own behavior Although striving for independence these children still need constant reassurance from caregivers and parents that they are not alone and have an adult on hand to render assistance when needed Question 7: How year olds try to contribute to the environment around them? By the age of four, children of this age group tend to be highly enthusiastic and try hard to contribute to the environment around them by being “helpful” Four year olds are moving out into the world and can usually play happily with other children and enjoy lots of physical games as well as stories They are learning to understand about the feelings and needs of others, and their behavior shows that they can feel empathy for others and can share their toys and take turns, at least some of the time At this age, silly talk and silly jokes are frequent as well as endless questions Question 8: Why are six year olds both enthusiastic and frustrated? By the age of six, coordination has improved along with size and strength New challenges are met with a mixture of enthusiasm and frustration as they become aware of limitations and choices Development of cognitive functions means that these children are able to see rules as useful for understanding everyday events and the behavior of others Six year olds typically are eager to learn, lively and have a sense of humor these children are very often affectionate and willing learners ASSIGNMENT Question 1: How three and four year olds need to learn? At the age of three young children learn best by active participation rather than by simply watching It is very important to join in with the children as they play, actively taking part in their games while using very Basic English Four-year-old children still enjoy many of the same activities as the younger three-year-old child but in addition to those activities, four year olds can also benefit and learn from more structured activities Question 2: What shows the three year old has increased hand eye coordination? The ability to carry a container of liquid for instance a cup or bowl of water without spilling much shows the increase of hand eye coordination as does the ability to pour from one container to another something a child of three readily enjoy Building blocks are another medium children of this age can master and typically can build a tower of blocks one atop the other Question 3: In what way four year olds show they have increased motor skills? A four year old child’s motor skills have developed to the stage where they can exercise much greater control over their physical body not only in what they can ie: run but also in how they choose to it ie: run, starts, stops, runs faster and runs around obstacles Hopping on one foot is another motor skill that a four year old can master and will often play games where they hop around from foot to foot When walking the four year old can walk in a straight line following chalk or lines on the floor Climbing on ladders and up trees are highly enjoyable for this age as they discover the world around them and they also can jump over objects from about 5-6 inches high Question 4: How does a four year old hold a crayon or marker pen? And what does this show? A four-year-old holds a crayon or marker pen with three fingers (tripod) style drawing shows improvement and purpose Question 5: In what ways have hand eye coordination further developed in six year old? Hand eye coordination has increased the six year old dexterity enabling the child to ride a bicycle unaided and participate in activities such as swinging a bat and swimming Question 6: What language skill is starting to take shape at the age of six? At this age, writing is beginning to take shape and can trace around objects, fold and cut paper into basic shapes Question 7: By what age children tend to be a little cautious in physical activities? By the age of seven children become more cautious and tend to be a little hesitant when participating in challenging physical activities such as climbing or jumping At the age children tend to practice activities continuously until they feel they have mastered them only to then become bored and more on to another challenge Question 8: What activities seven year olds benefit from? Seven year olds benefit greatly from play acting activities and drama, role plays and puppet shows are good ways to have them practicing language through drama Have children practice short dialogue using gesturing and body language to increase comprehension then have them act out the dialogue in a short skit or play Dancing is another activity that this age group can enjoy play dancing games like freeze to vocabulary or encourage children to dance to the door, window, board and around the room chanting vocabulary as they go ie…“I’m dancing to the door” and so on Question 9: Create a motor skill activity for 3-4 year olds for language learning Have children sit in a circle, show them the numbers from 1-10 (by using fingers) and throw a ball to each and in turn say “What is the number?”, when the child grabs the ball answer the number they saw Let the child throw the ball back to teacher by saying “Give it back to me” with using gesturing, then teacher throw a ball to another child, repeat until all the children have done this activity Question 10: Create a motor skill activity for year olds for language learning Have the children make a pair, have them practice a short dialogue, for example: “Child 1: What animal is this? Child 2: It’s a cat Child 1: Do you like cats? Child 2: Yes, I Child 1: Do you like pigs? Child 2: No, I don’t.” Give each pair some pictures of different animals, let them practice then act out the dialogue in a short skit ASSIGNMENT Question 1: What shows that year olds can cope with learning new sounds? And produce them? In their native language three year olds can begin to distinguish homophones (words which sound similar) such as fish-dish in English This distinction show that the children are able to cope with learning complex new sounds and be able to produce them Question 2: Approximately how many words in their native language can a three year old speak? A three year old can speak approximately 300 to 1000 vocabulary words in their native language Question 3: What kinds of books are good for year olds? At the age of three children can enjoy storybooks written with simple one and two syllable nouns and verbs with very basic vocabulary and large action pictures Three year olds will often comment during stories read in their native tongue that relate to familiar topics such as family and animals Picture books are good for this age group Question 4: In what way can four year olds make comparisons? Instead of understanding, only height or size four year olds now can make comparisons such as “the biggest mountain” or “the smallest mouse” Question 5: By the age of four what are children able to express? By the age of four, children are able to express their needs and how they want these met Question 6: What skill is evident by age 5? Classification skills are evident at this age and children typically sort objects by classifying them All the toy cars, all the food items, all the blocks sorting them into different groups Sorting can also be two dimensions as in color or form as this age group has a good understanding of the concepts of shape and size Classification also extends to sorting objects from the smallest to the tallest showing skill evidence of comparisons Question 7: What has vocabulary extended to by age 5? Vocabulary for this age group has extended to at least 1500 words or more and these children love to tell stories and hold a listening ear In their native language, five year olds can explain about people and things and relate functions to objects such as you drive a car an fly an airplane Question 8: Why are six year olds more able to enjoy activities such as puzzles? The six-year-old child has now developed a much longer attention span and is able to work at tasks for much longer periods of time Because of the increased attention span six year olds enjoy playing with puzzles and are able to work on them until completion Question 9: Create a cognitive skill activity for 5-6 year olds for language learning Have the children make a pair and sit back to back, then give each child a paper In this paper has a table with numbers from 1-9 in any order For example: With each pair, the first child calls out any number in his paper, the second child draws X in the number they hear, then the second child calls out another number, the first traces the number they hear Repeat until one of them has lines of numbers first, the child has line first will be the winner Question 10: Create a cognitive skill activity for year olds for language learning Have the children make a pair Give word puzzles to each pair and explain them how to find these given words For example: B A A K T P G N C Q P E M C G Q E I X Q F M A W F N J F G I R Q U V V G O A L G P B J A R J G E N C N N W D G L G P C D J F V C O W K E H V Z I B B A R Y T U R F E K J P J Y O O B N J K K Q H Y J S N E H Z A X M N P O P S J C I R Y H D Q E K A N S K P T B R P M W R T R G T K L W Q T E A O T E W O G G O F X Y L H I F Z D O U K E I R A X I T J U F S O K P F T P Y P BIRD COW ELEPHANT MONKEY RABBIT A D D A A E U C M L N P X Y O G W D J J C F C M X Z M K P E J H Q N F I F A S M J S CAT DOG GIRAFFE PIG SNAKE ASSIGNMENT Question 1: What are TESOL approaches? And which are most useful for the ESL classroom? The language learning approaches are: Grammar Translation Approach Natural Approach Task-Based Approach Lexical Approach Learner-Based Approach Whole Language Approach Communicative Approach Eclectic Approach (Combination of Approaches) Whole Language Approach and Communicative Approach are most useful for the ESL classroom Question 2: How many items or words should be taught for and year olds in a lesson? For ages and 4, lesson plans should only teach or letters or numbers per lesson, or new vocabulary word Question 3: For and year olds how long should a topic or theme be taught? For and year olds, a topic or theme should be taught for the entire week with plenty of games and opportunities for meaningful repetition Question 4: What is a “Bag of tricks”? And what is it used for? A “Bag of tricks” means additional activities on hand in case the lesson finishes early or a particular activity does not work as planned It is used to help the teacher not loose control of the class and keep the interest of the students Question 5: How should lesson activities be chosen? Every lesson should include certain features and follow a theme ie: alphabet, animals, fruits or family members Once the topic has been chosen all activities should follow this theme Question 6: Create a 45 minute lesson plan for 3-4 year olds; make sure it is age/skill/topic appropriate Topic: Colors Level: Beginner Age: 3-4 years Length: 45 minutes Language skills: Listening and Speaking Lesson objectives: To recognize and pronounce colors – red and blue TESOL methodology: Eclectic approach, flashcards, games Materials: balloons, flashcards, balls, video Pre-task/ Warm up: minutes -Show a bunch of balloons with colors red and blue -Ask children “Do you like balloons?”, encourage them to answer “Yes” -Ask each child come to pick up the balloons from teacher, bring to their place Teaching: 5-10 minutes -Demonstrate word times with flashcards Encourage class to repeat choral drill times Then ask individual students to repeat -Repeat with the next word -Class practice choral drill with the first and second word, then individual student practice at random Task: 20-25 minutes Task 1: Throw a ball -Children form a circle -Teacher holds balls in hands (one is red, one is blue), throws a ball with any colors to any child -The child who has the ball call out color of the ball -Repeat until all children practice Task 2: Balls collecting -Children form teams, one is named “RED”, one is “BLUE” -Teacher puts many small balls (about 50-100 balls) with different colors (green, yellow, pink, white, red, blue…) into a large basket -The RED team has to collect only red balls in the basket and the BLUE team has to collect only blue balls Which team has more balls within minutes will be the winner Task 3: Show a video -Show a video of clothes, in which has many colors -Teacher calls out blue or red color when they appear encourage children to follow and call out Task 4: Run to flashcards - Children form teams -Put flashcards on board -Teacher calls out color, in turn student of each team run to the right flashcard The faster has point The team has more points is the winner Follow-up: 3-5 minutes Children hold up and wave balloons when their color is called out Encourage children to call out the right color Homework: minutes Ask children to find toys has blue or red color at their home Question 7: Create a 45 minute lesson plan for 5-6 year olds; make sure it is age/skill/topic appropriate Topic: Everyday action verbs Level: Pre-beginner Age: 5-6 years Length: 45 minutes Language skills: Listening and Speaking Lesson objectives: To recognize and pronounce actions: jumping, hoping and running TESOL methodology: Eclectic approach, flashcards, games Materials: flashcards, teddy bears, video Pre-task/ Warm up: minutes -Show a video of the song “Five little monkeys jumping on the bed” -Teacher sings and does actions using gestures -Encourage children sing and follow these actions Teaching: 10 minutes -Demonstrate word times with flashcards Encourage class to repeat choral drill times Then ask individual students to repeat -Repeat with the next word -Class practice choral drill with the first and second word, then individual student practice at random Task: 25 minutes Task 1: Run to flashcards - Children form teams -Put flashcards on board -Teacher calls out actions, in turn student of each team run to the right flashcard The faster has point The team has more points is the winner Task 2: -Children form teams -Two first students of teams come to teacher, teacher gives them a flashcard -Two children demonstrate the word by acting out Others students guess the word The team gives answer first will have point Task 3: -Give children teddy bears -Demonstrate making teddy jumping, hoping or running while saying the word Task 4: Simon says - Children form a circle -Teacher demonstrates game “Simon says” using words jumping, hoping, running, crying, laughing… -Children play “Simon says” Follow-up: minutes -Children form a circle -One child acts out, others children call out the words Question 8: Create a 45 minute lesson plan for year olds; make sure it is age/skill/topic appropriate Topic: Animals Level: Beginner Age: years Length: 45 minutes Language skills: Listening and Speaking Lesson objectives: To recognize and pronounce animals: cat, dog, cow, snake, duck TESOL methodology: Eclectic approach, flashcards, games, painting, puzzles Materials: flashcards, songs, masks, papers, paints, video, puzzles Pre-task/ Warm up: minutes -Show a video of the song “Old Mc Donal” -Teacher sings and acts out like animals in the video -Encourage children sing and follow these actions Teaching: 10 minutes -Demonstrate word times with flashcards Encourage class to repeat choral drill times Then ask individual students to repeat -Repeat with the next word -Class practice choral drill with the first and second word, then individual student practice at random Task: 25 minutes Task 1: Match up -Give each student a card There are types of cards, some cards have the names of animals, others have the pictures of animals - Children go around room and find the friend who has the appropriate card For example: The child has card “Dog” has to find the friend who has the picture of a dog in his card Task 2: Run to flashcards -Children form teams -Place flashcards around room, teacher calls out the name of animals, in turn student of each team run to the right flashcard The faster has point The team has more points is the winner Task 3: Paint animal masks -Give children animal masks -Give them minutes to paint their mask Task 4: Roll a play -Children form a pair -Give children a short dialogue, ie: “ Hi! My name is Cat! Hi! I’m Dog Do you like Snake? No, I don’t And you? Me too/ Yes, I do.” -Each pair wear masks and practice the dialogue -After minutes, each pair of animals act out in a short play Follow-up: 3-5 minutes -Children form a circle -One child acts out an animal, others children call out the name of animal Homework: minutes Give word puzzles to each child and explain them how to find these given words B Q E I X Q F M A W F N J F G A I R Q U V V G O A L G P B J A A R J G E N C N N W D G L G K P C D J F V C O W K E H V Z T I B B A R Y T U R F E K J P BIRD COW ELEPHANT MONKEY RABBIT P J Y O O B N J K K Q H Y J S G N E H Z A X M N P O P S J C N I R Y H D Q E K A N S K P T C B R P M W R T R G T K L W Q Q T E A O T E W O G G O F X Y P L H I F Z D O U K E I R A X E I T J U F S O K P F T P Y P M A D D A A E U C M L N P X Y C O G W D J J C F C M X Z M K G P E J H Q N F I F A S M J S CAT DOG GIRAFFE PIG SNAKE Question 9: What are the levels of classroom management? Low-level management: Make eye contact with a student who is misbehaving or about to misbehave Speaking slowly but deliberately ask the student not to misbehave Move around the classroom while you talk to students and be involved in what they are doing Mid-level management: This involves management where a student is singled out for misbehavior If a student is misbehaving, walk to the child and stand beside the student’s shoulder This will usually curb any misbehavior High-level management: This involves actually removing the student from the activity by using hand-holding technique Question 10: What kind of learning environment should the pre-school classroom be? A “Safe” environment is learning environment the pre-school classroom should be Each country will have guidelines for what is required in the way of “safety standards” reporting accidents/incidents and what classroom and playground equipment can be used These guidelines or requirements should always be followed When working in a foreign Pre-school or Kindergarten it is important to check with the school for local standards or requirements Common sense is a good guide though and always avoid activities or toys, which could cause a safety concern ie: choking, injury or poisoning