JULY, 14TH - NATALIA MONTERO

JULY, 14^TH  - NATALIA  MONTERO

READING SKILLS

In Spain all children are to be taught English as a foreign language from the age of six according to our national curriculum. By an early age, children are expected to know how to read and write in English.  There is no discussion on this issue, it is compulsory. However, one of the main discussion topics is about the best strategies to help our students develop their reading skills in the target language. Educational research does not state any clear conclusions, as it depends on many factors, such as:

+  the pupils’ existing literacy skills in Spanish

+ their level of oral English

+ the access to books

+ their motivation for learning

+ support for reading in their families

+ in English sounds don’t simply match letters, as it happens in Spanish

I think most teachers agree English is a tough language to learn to read. At the same time we all want our students to become good and passionate readers. How can we accomplish this challenging goal? Well, take a look at these techniques and strategies for teaching reading we discussed today with Malgosia.

A)     Creating an “English” environment in the class can be a great start. For example,

+ labelling  objects and furniture

+ hanging wall charts demonstrating  the day, date, month, year, weather and season.

+ creating a students’ birthday calendar

+ using a notice board to write messages

+ making a poster with key classroom language

B)      The physical arrangement of the classroom itself can promote reading. For example, having a “reading corner” allows a space for kids to pick up a book and read on their own.  Creating a classroom library with a good collection of attractive books supports literacy instruction.

C)      Read aloud stories while children follow the text and images in big books. Children become familiar with written words and develop love  for books through being read.

WRITING SKILLS

Writing is one of the most difficult skills our learners have to face. The ability to write doesn’t develop naturally, it requires a lot of time and effort. Students usually find writing activities tough and difficult. So, how can we help our young pupils enjoy writing?

Step by step, pupils can be encouraged to write short paragraphs based on a model (for example a party invitation, an e-mail). We can also help our students to write a text with the help of prompts or questions. What I think that is very important is that our students are given sort of a framework to help them organize and structure their writings. It’s also important to plan some activities that allow children to be creative and personalize their compositions. Teachers need to bring into the class a variety of strategies to cater a great diversity of children’s needs and interests.

Here is an activity we work with Malgosia that can help students develop their writing  skills and it is fun. It consists of giving a student s piece of paper and ask them their favourite word in English. Then, the teacher collects all the pieces and gives out a different word to each student. Every student has to draw this word in a large piece of paper to make a mural. As they finished, they are divided in groups and asked to write a story using as many words as they can from the mural.

STORYTELLING

Stories offer many opportunities for learning and can be exploited in many different ways. Silvye shared with us all her material. She gave us many ideas to develop activities based on a traditional tale. We learned how to design very simple activities for children to participate in, such as bingo, snap, cards games and so on. These activities will strength their language skills.

COMMUNICATIVE GAMES

I do really think that communicative games are a great tool to have our students speak in English. As teachers, we all know that games provide a fun learning atmosphere and offer a break of the routine. The advantage of communicative games is that they provide a meaningful contest to use the language. In this kind of games there is usually an information gap, one of the students know or has the information the other needs to complete a given task, it can be finding some differences, completing a grill and so on.