The Method - English for Children

is a modern and exceptionally effective method of teaching English to children at pre-school and primary school age (5-12 years old). It is a children version of what linguists call the direct method of teaching English - and has recently gained great popularity. The method was developed by an international team of English teachers with the cooperation of specialists from various fields. The most effective techniques of teaching children and adults and the latest research were used as the method's foundation. The vocabulary and grammatical material is chosen and composed in accordance with the standards set by Cambridge Young Learners Exams: Starters, Movers and Flyers.

In the courses that are based on the method, children learn sentence structures in an easily understandable and natural way. During the classes, they practice their usage intensively in the way it was planned by the developers of the course. The system of constantly repeting the introduced material guarantees its real and thorough acquisition on the part of the children.

At the same time, the course is accurately adapted to the perceptive skills of children. It is designed to take advantage of the maximum attention span children are capable of without allowing them to get bored, while elements of language games are also introduced. Learning during class is supplemented with additional materials in the form of recorded CDs (especially made for by native speakers of English) and coursebooks that the children are encouraged to also use at home.

New material, vocabulary and grammatical structures are introduced in small portions, and, if only possible, this is done by using their natural context with the help of pictures and the teacher's gestures and face expressions. Soon afterwards, the material is being practiced through repetition and a series of questions and answers. It is crucial that the children articulate full sentences during the lessons, which helps them to memorize whole structures they can then use in a conversation. The children's pronunciation is monitored and, if necessary, corrected immediately. A lively pace enables the children to participate actively in this kind of exercises for a surprisingly long time. If, however, a reduced level of concentration is noticed, the teacher reacts by introducing a language game element into the lesson. These games are especially prepared for this purpose and take advantage of the linguistic material introduced earlier in a given course.

With older children, reading and writing exercises are added. The material that was introduced orally is, after some time, read out loud by the children, and slightly later, writing is practiced by giving them short dictations. The system of material repetition makes children truly acquire what we teach them during the lessons.


Children and English
Children are commonly thought to have great skills and a superb potential for foreign-language acquisition. However, one tends to forget that this naturally takes place in such situations where a child is in a foreign-speaking environment where using the new language is essential for communication. While learning a foreign language in kindergarten, school or language course conditions, this progress is much slower. Usually, even after a few years of studying in the period of kindergarten and the early years of primary school, children know basic words, understand simple utterances and are able to recite a few rhymes, but most of the time they cannot communicate and build full and correct sentences. It is expected, quite rightly, that these are the basics that will help them later to learn further material more easily. By developing the method, we aim to gain something more - evident learning effects, already visible in small children!

In teaching young children foreign languages, two different approaches can be distinguished. In the first one, which is more traditional, the basic form of procedure is to learn the meanings of words and grammatical rules, mainly relying on one's own memory work and writing exercises. In the other one, courses are based on playing with the use of audio-visual tools and manual-type materials - cut-outs, colorings etc. The children learn games based on the use of foreign language elements, songs and rhymes.

There are advantages and disadvantages to be found in both approaches. The first one gives strong theoretical basics in terms of language command, but is not very practical and leads to discouragement in course participants. The other one, on the other hand, makes children willing to take part in the classes but, at the same time, they might not always learn that much.

The innovative assumption of the method is that it is possible to make use of both approaches' advantages and to reduce their disadvantages to a minimum - hence achieving a combination of the good sides of both ways. Additionally, we base the method on an oral form of teaching where, for the majority of classes, the teacher and the children express themselves in turns, using complete and well-formed sentences in the English language. A fast pace and an energetic style of running the lessons allow to keep children attentive and concentrated for a longer time. Making use, mostly, of spoken language on the one hand helps learning to be more practical in character - and on the other hand, to run classes with very young children, who have not yet learned to read and write. The course's material and the additional elements of the classes are suited to each other in such a way as to, with a maximum didactic effect, prevent the children from tiring, but to encourage them to participate in the classes eagerly.


Contact
For more information about the method and licence to use it in language school please contact us by e-mail: info@talkingkids.com or call Barbara Kulicka on telephone: 00 48 609 818 645.