IATEFL Manchester 2015 Session by Opal Dunn “The Playful Approach: activating children’s self-learning language strategies.’’

To those of us who have been teaching young learners and keep delving into teaching first reading and writing, Opal Dunn is no stranger. A prolific writer of the children’s story books and rhyming stories as well as a writer of theoretical books on teaching this sensitive age, Opal Dunn has definitely made her mark in this field. Her session entitled  ‘’The Playful Approach: activating children’s self-learning language strategies” zeroed in on the fact that teachers as adults recognize playful approach but lack playful language.

Dunn started her session by referring to Maria Montessori’s idea that young learners aged from http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/playful-approach-activating-childrens-self-learning-language-strategies3 to 8+ absorb language like a sponge. This means that as teachers we need to make full use of this time which, as mentioned later, can influence the learning attitude of the learners in later years. Teachers of that age group should therefore have some special skills. Opal Dunn described the profile of YL teacher who should be a cross between ‘’an auntie’’ and a teacher: woman, married and a mother. The rationale behind this rather strict profile lies in the fact that female teachers who have had their own children know what it takes to make a child speak and they possess the patience to do the same in class. Added to these, they possess the warm affectionate language to speak to the children and make them feel at ease. 

Young learners come to our classes filled with eagerness to learn, innate skills and being at an age when instant gratification is pivotal, they want instant results. When they don’t get these results (ie they don’t speak), they feel frustrated. Parents, on the other hand, find it surprising that their children can pick up the language easily at home while they make little progress in class. Ms Dunn pointed out that children go on learning their mother tongue until the age of 6+ and from then on they build their range and vocabulary. During this period they can understand most of what is said to them, but they might find it hard to understand a new speaker. In that case, they make use of secondary cues such as body language or facial expression. This shows that children have significant abilities in gist understanding and adults should encourage children to activate those skills and transfer them to their language learning skills.  

It is a well known fact that children need a mini silent period, during which they are processing what they have been taught. This is often likened to the first two silent years before children actually speak their mother tongue. As teachers we need to help the children break this mini silent period but before we do that we must  consider the following: 

Children need to feel secure and comfortable.

The idea of learners’ well being is essential when teaching young learners who have learned their L1 in a loving and supportive environment. If their learning experiences are now altered and this safety is removed, they find learning too hard. This idea is closely related to the idea of learners feeling good about their learning. Children need to ‘’feel good’’ in order to re-use the English they are learning. Moreover, children judge their progress and they also rate what they do to learn, taking into consideration how enjoyable it is. If it is not enjoyable enough, then it gives rise to negative feelings which are very hard to turn into positive feelings. These negative feelings, which are quite often related with first impressions, have the power to impede learning. For this reason, Ms Dunn made a point about teachers having to personalize their lessons and be close to each learner. By doing so, they can support those who need it more. By providing positive experiences we might be able to improve the child’s abilities but this ‘’Growth Mindset’’ (Dueck) has to happen before the child is 8 years old. Once again, making maximum use of this sensitive age is really important.

Children listen all the time

Young learners are exposed to the target language through a variety of means. In class it’s the voice of the teacher. At home, it can be the TV or the computer. What we need to remember is that children’s listening skills are always in use and their gist listening is even better than that of adults. This means that children make keen observations in matters of pronunciation and they also pick bad and good examples of the target language, without knowing which is which.

Learning a language at that age is different from learning the same language later on in life.

Language learning at this age is very different from what it means to learn a language in later years of cognitive development. Teachers need to tune-in (be sufficiently aware of the developmental milestones of the children) so that they can support their learning. At that stage we as teachers need to respect that our learners speak in blocks and do not yet know nor do they much care what these blocks are made of.

 

We need parents on our side

Young learners are always motivated by their parents’ praise and eager to please them. Therefore having the parents’ support makes our life and our work easier. It is also important to communicate to the parents that they should not pass on their own negative learning experiences to the learners which can influence the children and lead them to think they are no good at that language either.

The importance of the quality and quantity of the teacher’s voice

The amount of language the young learners are exposed to reflects on their acquisition. When the teacher lacks fluency or uses language inadequately, the output of the learners is limited. Teacher talk takes the form of a running commentary in the YL class. The teacher alternates between the following talks:

·         Teacher talk: mediating, modeling

·         Self-talk: softer voice used to explain and to model emotions

·         Tutor-talk: explaining and demonstrating something new.

Including the Playful approach is important

The Playful approach is a powerful tool that can help sustain a happy mood in the classroom and generate better learning outcomes. Surprisingly enough, it does not rely on the content, but on the mode of what we do in class. It is the fun element that we put to boost an activity. It could be an alteration in the voice of the teacher, a whisper to add volume to the story or to engage the learners’ attention or a surprise added to their routine. The effectiveness of the Playful Approach lies in the fact that children need, so they instantly respond to it. This makes it easier for the teacher to build rapport with the learners as people and with the class as a whole, which helps learners acquire the language in a safe and happy environment.

Opal Dunn ended her session with a quote from Mary Poppins. 

 http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/playful-approach-activating-childrens-self-learning-language-strategies