Teaching Listening and Speaking
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The skill of communicating in English in the global world today is considered as one of the mustrequired life skills. This growing need might be the cause for parents to send their young children to schools which provide English program. The implementation of TEYL in several countries is based on some rationales. Cameron (2001) proposes some advantages to starting young with foreign languages. She proposes that children who have an early start develop and maintain advantages in some areas of language skills. Listening comprehension mostly benefits from this early start, pronunciation also benefits in longer term. However, younger children learn the grammar of L2 more slowly than older learners, so that although starting earlier with language learning they make slower progress.
Graddol (2006: 89) argues that one rationale for teaching languages to young learners is the idea that they find it easier to learn languages than older students. Though compared to adult learners, these young learners face obstacles that adult learners do not. They are still developing physically and intellectually; their emotional needs may be higher; and they are less able of take responsibility for their own learning. Brewster, et. al. (2003) add several other reasons for starting to learn a foreign language several years earlier. One reason was to increase the total number of years spent learning the language. The other reason, they claim as most commonly put forward, was the fact that children seem to have greater facility for understanding and imitating what they hear than secondary school pupils.
However, the TEYL should not be done without careful planning and preparation. These young learners are socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically different from adult learners. These differences affect the way they study and they way they view learning itself. Concerning this, Girard in Brewster et. al. (2003: 3) proposed six important conditions that should be taken into consideration in conducting TEYL; having appropriately trained teachers, proper timetabling with sufficient timing, appropriate methodology, continuity and liaison with secondary schools, provision of suitable resources and integrated monitoring and evaluation. In line with that, Graddol (2006: 89) states that EYL requires teachers who are proficient in English, have wider training in child development, and who are able to motivate young children. One aspect of TEYL which should be taken into consideration is the teaching of Listening and Speaking to young learners.
I. LISTENING
It is through listening that babies first learn the language. It is also believed that exposure to English should be first done through exposing students to verbal talks. Learners get many things trough listening. When learners have the opportunity to listen to listening materials, then teachers should expose students to listening to English as much as possible. Of the four skills in English, young learners make the most of the lesson through listening. They learn to understand the materials through listening, get the instruction and explanation through listening, learn to pronounce words through listening, and practice better through listening to teachers’ praises and feedbacks. Therefore, listening skills become very crucial emphasis in the teaching of English to young learners.
a. Teachers or tapes first?
One of the most frequently asked questions teachers have is whether their learners should listen to them or the tapes first. When teachers focus on classroom interaction, teachers can use their talks to deliver the tasks and engage students to the designed activities. Teachers can present the new words and patterns in the form of puzzles. For example, teachers can ask What kind of food do you like?. When the students do not seem to understand what it means, we can encourage students to ask us the same questions then let them guess the meaning from our respond to the questions. If we answer by saying a certain food that they are familiar with, with a little smile or gesture to show that we like it, students can guess the meaning of the pattern from the context. Students can then start asking and answering the questions among themselves. By doing this, Paul (2003: 72), argues that students learn through sensing whole chunks of language, and through thinking and guessing.
b. Dictation Dictation
Exercise is always an important technique of teaching listening because it trains students’ comprehension in differing English sounds. Dictation doesn’t have to be dull and boring in which teachers simply state the words and students write the words in their notebooks, it can be so much fun and interesting if we apply it in language games. Some of the listening games that involved the principles of dictation are Chopstick Spelling and Bingo.
c. Stories
It is a wonderful technique to teach, English through stories. Teachers can read it to children from storybooks, memorize the stories then tell it to children, or play it on a tape. There are some activities that teachers can involve when they are telling stores. These activities are designed to engage students in the story telling time and to avoid a teacher-dominated classroom activity. The activities are:
1. The children draw characters or scenes from the story.
2. Teachers tell the story with puppets, children then retell the story with their own puppets.
3. Children arrange pictures from the scene of the story, or touch/jump on the correct pictures as teachers tell the story. This activity can also be modified by asking students to guess what the story will be by arranging pictures from the scene before teachers tell them the story.
4. Each child has a word card. When her word is mentioned in the story, she has to do something about it, like raising her card, make funny noise, or put up her hand.
5. The teacher stops sometimes during the story to ask students what they think is going to happen next.
d. Total Physical Response (TPR)
TPR is another technique that teachers often used in classroom. In this, teachers give instruction like stand up, sit down, walk slowly, point to the door, point to the windows, and so on and students do as instructed. However, many teachers question the effectiveness of TPR in an English classroom because the idea of TPR is students respond to what is instructed by doing an action without speaking. This tends to give students very little chance to speak in the class. To overcome this problem, some teachers modify the instruction with those instructions which require verbal respond like say hurray, say Good Morning, sing The Farmer in the Dell, and the like; or the combination of action and verbal responses like when the teachers say stand up then students stand up and say we’re standing up. However, the instructions in TPR should always be renewed and improved since in TPR students are very active but they depend so much on the teacher. This may lead to a teacher-centered classroom activity. For example when students are very familiar with point to the door/windows, teachers can add point to the ceiling as a new instruction. When children seem to be confused we can use our gesture to show what we mean. This way, although the activity is still teacher-driven activity, students get the chance to absorb and comprehend new instructions.
e. Songs
The singing activity and songs provide many opportunities to get new words and to acquire the model pronunciation. Paul, (2008: 58-59), suggests the following ways of how teachers can use songs (and chants) in class:
1. Singing The children sing songs that have catchy melodies and useful language content
2. Activities The children combine actions with songs. This is usually the most effective way to use songs, especially with younger children. Any songs can be combined with actions.
3. Chants Almost any sentence or expression can be put into a chant. If possible, chants should also be combined with actions.
4. Background There are songs in the background when children play games. This can be an effective way for children to remember patterns without focusing on them too much, and to pick up chunks of language in songs.
5. Between lesson We encourage parents to play English songs in the car and encourage both the parents and the children to play them at home between lessons
II. SPEAKING
Speaking is the active use of language to express meaning. Speaking involves expressing ideas, opinions, or a need to do something and establishing and maintaining social relationships and friendships (McDonough and Shaw 2003). The spoken language is usually the medium through which a new language is encountered, understood, practiced, and learned. While listening is the initial stage in first and second language acquisition, and the skill that children acquire first (Scott and Ytreberg 1990), speaking will often quickly follow and provide evidence to the teacher of learning, whether this is superficial or deep. It goes without saying that listening and speaking, therefore, are closely interrelated, particularly in the young learner classroom.
a.) Classroom Language
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