Name : Shofiah Nur Azizah

NPM : 172122009

Class :C

Subject : Teaching English for Young Learners

Basic Principles of TEYL

Considering for teaching in young learners, the teacher have to adapt the situation and
the condition of young learners through analysation. Teaching English for young learners
needed an approach that is developmentally appropriate. To make an appropriate, the teacher
should explore: the characteristics of young learners, how children learn, how children learn
language.

As the teacher, it is better that before teaching young learner, teacher should know the
young learners’ characteristics in order to give ease to understand them. The characteristics
cover their ways of thinking, their attitude, their aptitude, etc. Sometimes the young learners
are in a good mood or in energetic, social, spontaneous and curious. But, sometimes the
young learners are in a bad temperature or in hyperactive, too talkative, can not sit in long
period and are easily distracted. Both of them are in different temperature. The most teacher
agree in the characteristic of young learners, such as:

1. Energetic and physically active. Young learners can not sit for long period, for
making an effective learning the teacher have to get young learners focus. It can
be making incorporate kinesthic activities that encourage young learners to get up
and making a movement. Such applying TPR (Total Phsyical Responses) it will
be connects language to movement. The young learners will follow the teachers’
instruction and it will be return young learners efectiveness in learning.
2. Spontaneous and not afraid to speak out or participate. Teachers’ speaking and
instruction will be repeated by young learners, because they will do what the
teachers do and they will speak as teachers’ presented to them. Because young
learners will follow and repeated what teacher do, it will be effective to improve
young learners in learning through repetition in giving the material. Such as, in
 giving the vocabularies, drilling method will be an appropriate method for young
learners.
3. Curious and receptive to new ideas. The curiousity of young learner is higher than
the oldman. Something around them, it will be a strength for them and they will
ask what is it and what is it for. Introducing a new things to young learners it will
be a good for them. Usually the young learners get some cultural topisc shich it is
interest for them such as food, dress, music, holidays, celebration, greeting
customs, and folktales.
4. Imaginative and enjoy make-belive. Young learners brain is still fresh, they have a
high imagination to create something. It means young learners love activities
which develop their imagination. This can be a basis for creating a fun game, such
as in applying role play method, making a drama from what young learners know,
etc.
5. Easily distracted and have short attention spans. Young learners are easily to have
distracted and have short attention spans. But, beside it young learners can
concentrate on longer activities if they feel fun and enjoy the activity. Young
learners’ teacher should engage them through fun activities, such as get young
learners’ participation through giving pictures, video, playing songs, etc. It will
get young learners’ attention in packaging a good plan. According to Shin
(2006),’’As children get older, their ability to concentrate for longer periods of
time increase. So for students ages 5-7, you should try to keep activities between 5
and 5 and 10 minutes long. Students ages 8-10 can handle activities that are 10 to
15 minutes long. It is always possible to revisit an activity later in class or in the
next class’’ (p.4). The teacher can make an appropriate topic for young learner
which it will be given in a time or made a topic into meetings with a break times
for them.
6. Egocentric and relate new ideas to themselves. Teacher should give young
learners opportunities to comprehend their topic, it means the teacher can make a
relation from the topic into young learners’ environment. The example in making
poem, young learners are free to make the poem or in memorizing adjective the
teacher can look for the adjective from young learners’ name, such as MINH for
Musical, Intelligent, Nice and Happy.
7. Social and are learning to relate to others. Young learners are talkative, they like
making communications and interactions each other. Usually, they start their
 communication through their culture. The teacher can make a game or something
that make the young learners’ speak up during the course. It means the teacher
should have a balance activities for various types of interactions, such as student-
student in pairs, students-students in group, teacher-students one-on-one and
teacher-students as a whole class. Young learners’ teacher should engage the
students’ during course.
The major educational theorist, who set the foundation for current approaches for
teaching young learners, explain about how children learn that:
8. Learn by doing and interacting with their environment. Young learners are will be
comprehend the topic well if the teacher brings them to the real life. Such as if
young learners are learning in fruits topic, the teacher could be presented the kinds
of the fruits or if young learners are learning in animals, the teacher could be
presented the kinds of the animals to them. Sometimes, the teacher could bring the
young learners taking around their environment to know their environment. The
young learners will think more logically on it but are still grounded in concrete
objects and what is happening here and now. According to Piaget (1970), children
learn through their own individual actions and exploration. For example, young
learner does not learn the meaning of a bucket by listening to a definition of
bucket and having someone explanation and the function of bucket but young
learner will know all it when they use the bucket. Creating opportunities for young
learners to learn by doing and to learn by interacting with their environment is an
important thing, because the teacher can bring them into the real life and they
could interact on it.
9. Children need support and scaffolding by the teacher. Young learners are needed
social interaction in learning to construct knowledge. According to Vygotsky
(1962) found the children construct knowledge through other people, more
specifically through interaction with adults or more competent peers. Young
learners’ ability to attend the problem is still need guidance or scaffolding from
their parents, teachers or other people. In the classroom the more important thins
is from the teachers’ role in scaffolding the learning process. Bruner carefully
studied how parents provided effective scaffolding. According to Cameron (2001)
on what Bruners’ studies found as effective scaffolding techniques used by
parents to support a child’s learning:
 They made the child interested in the task.
  They simplified the task, often breaking it down into smaller steps.
 They kept the child on track toward completing the task by reminding the
child what the goals was.
 The pointed out what was important to do or showed the child other ways
of doing parts of the tasks.
 They demonstrated an idealized version of the task
 They controlled the child’s frustration during the task. (p.8)

Here are the specifically at the ways children handle learning language:

10. Need a learning environment similar to first language acquisition. Success in

language learning as the foreign language also depend on the environment or in
young learners’ environment such as mentioned before. The example: the young
learners will know the English language of the milk, when they want to drink the
milk. The teacher or parents could introduce the name of the milk after they
produce the name of their language one or their language two.
11. Learn language through lots of meaningful exposure and practice. In L1 young
learner they will be surrounded by native speakers than for young learners who
learn English as EFL they could learn English from their teacher through a
meaningful context to exposure in authentic context which helps young learners
acquire language well. Teacher can support them through visuals, real life
situations, gestures, caregiver speech to improve young learners ability in English.
12. Do not learn language through explicit grammatical explanations. Young learners
will not learn through grammatical explanation. As mentioned in the previous
section that young learners need the experiences to learn language as children
should learn by doing.

In making effectiveness on language teaching practices for young learners it can be

organized into six main recommendation:

1. Use fun and engaging activities. Fun activities could engage young learners’ in
comprehending the topic. The teachers could be apply a game, singing a song, etc.
2. Students are engaged in a variety of interactions. The interaction could make
easier young learners’ in engaging the topic.
3. Cater to different learning styles and intelligences. The teacher could make a
connection between the topic and young learners’ intelligences in learning to
developing students’ knowledge.
4. Make language learning meaningful and relevant. The teacher bring students’
brain to the real life situation to gain the purposes of the topic.
5. Introduce learners to different cultures. The teacher could introduce international
cultures to grow up young leaners’ comprehension in language learning.
6. Use various teaching strategies that set up learners for success. Many strategies
have to apply in the class to set them up for success in the English classroom such
as preparing plenty of comprehensible input, breaking the task down into
achievablet task and modelling expectations.
In this topic, I expect that for being an English teacher for young learners is not
easy, because I not only adapt to young learners’ life but I have to brings their
minds into the topic for learning and get young learners’ attention to achiece the
purposes of learning English.