The Design of Young Learner"s English Class

鄭茂園

Abstract： As is known to all， more and more people are taking care of the younger learner's English lessons. But how to attract the younger learner's attention and how to arouse their interests in learning English are big problems at present. Looking for a more effective teaching method to develop the younger learner's English learning ability is very important.

Key words：younger learner； English teaching； learn English actively

中圖分類號：G633.41 文獻標識碼：B文章編號：1672-1578（2016）06-0158-01

1. Introduction

It is not easy to teach a foreign language. The teacher has not only to make his students understand the language， but also help develop their communicative competences so that they can use the language they have learned correctly， appropriately and expressively in real situations. In order to do well this complicated job， the teacher needs to be acquainted with some useful teaching methods.

2. Three Teaching Methods

How to attract the younger learner's attention and how to arouse their interests in learning English are big problems at present. Looking for a more effective teaching method to develop the younger learner's English learning ability is very important. Here we will try to research a new way to make them use their brains consciously when they face difficulties， and learn English actively by themselves.

2.1 Role Play.Role play is an activity where the student is assigned a fictitious role from which he has to improvise some kind of behavior toward the other role characters in the activity. Role play can be very simple and the improvisation highly controlled， or it can be very elaborate.

The format of a role play consists of three basic parts： situation， roles and useful expressions. Occasionally a section on background knowledge is needed for advanced role play. The situation sets the scene and the plot， that is to say， it explains the situation and describes the task or action to be accomplished. Again the task can be very simple， such as a telephone call， or very elaborate， such as settling a complex business deal. The situation is a good place to introduce specific cultural information if that is part of the objective of a given role play.

The role section assigns the roles， the list of characters. The roles should all have fictitious names； they aid the willing suspension of disbelief. Here you need to include such information as personality， experience， status， personal problems and desires， and the like. A role can be very simple， given merely a skeleton name and status， or quite elaborate. But role descriptions should not be overtly elaborate-unlike the situation， which may very well be - because then the playing of a role becomes a matter of clever acting and that is not the objective.

Background knowledge is occasionally an essential section. It is no good at all to ask students to act out roles which demand a general knowledge they don't have. In order to act out a school board meeting on open classroom， a town meeting on local industrial pollution or a newspaper interview on the problem of the aged， students must have subject matter information prior to the role play. It need not be complicated at all - a short reading assignment， a lecture by the teacher， a guest lecture or a film - but some source of knowledge is necessary or the role play won't come off.

2.2 Using Media in the Classroom.The reasons why we should use technology or media when teaching foreign languages are self-evident to experienced classroom teachers. Media help us to motivate students by bringing a slice of real life into the classroom and by presenting language in its more complete communicative context. Media can also provide a density of information and richness of cultural input not other wise possible in the classroom， they can help students process information and free the teacher from excessive explanation， and they can provide contextualization and a solid point of departure for classroom activities.

2.3 Using Video to Combine Visual and Auditory Learning.For most students， video and television are common modes of experiencing the world.

The video， nearly every aspect of language structure and usage can be explored， but video can most productively be used if the teacher actively manipulates the video and its presentation in order to help students develop comprehension. This means doing something more than just setting the video up and letting it run. Commercially available material， teacher- and student- made videos of student interaction and performance， and off-air recordings of broadcast materials are ways teachers can enliven their students' classroom experiences. However， users of video have a responsibility to secure permission prior to recording published and broadcast material.

The teachers' main task is to select the video material. The best segments are those long enough to present a realistic context but short enough so as not to the students' ability to comprehend by using contextual cues and language knowledge.

The golden rule of video pedagogy is that "Don't expect， or even seek， full of comprehension". As we become tolerant of incomplete comprehension， we begin to appreciate the greatest value of authentic materials in general and of video in particular. The use of video teaches students to hear， to break down the spoken chain into appropriate chunks， and gives students practice in understanding. At the same time， it does not ask them to understand what they are not yet prepared to understand. When they find that they understand portions of it， their confidence improves. As teachers， we need to remain aware of the level of our students' comprehension by checking it through recognition questions， discussion or short in-class quizzes.

3. Conclusion

All in all， younger learner's English is very important for all English teachers， how to design and develop the younger learner's school English class is a considerable matter for us. We should realize by now that learning to teach is a collaborative effort， a reflective process， a situated experience， and a theorizing opportunity.

Works Cited

[1] Scott，W.A.&Ytreberg，L.H. Theaching English to Children. Addison Wesley Longman Limited， （1990）.

[2] Gebhard，J.G. Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language. The University of Michigan Press， （1996）.

[3] 舒白梅. Modern Foreign Language Teaching Methodology. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press， 2005.

[4] 王伯康. 改造我們的學校（中小學教育管理創新）. 科學出版社，2003

[5] 王娜. 如何搞好中小學英語活動課. 科學大眾， 2006

[6] 錢麗莉. 英語教學模式的網絡化構建分析.新聞戰線[J].2015.02