1. Planning Thematic Units
1.1. For young learners, with short attention spans, it may be best to limit units to two weeks of instruction, but it is always appropriate to return to these themes and to link later units and themes to ones that you have previously taught.
1.1.1. Six Steps Toward Thematic Units
1.1.1.1. Select a theme OR Select an appropriate text and identify the theme(s) in the text.
1.1.1.1.1. Theme first: Identifying a theme that is either in the textbook or that you want to use, based on your knowledge of your learners’ interests
1.1.1.1.2. Text first: Choosing a story, poem, song, video, or other text that will be engaging to your children and then identifying the themes that emerge from that text
1.1.1.2. Identify the language focus (vocabulary and grammar).
1.1.1.2.1. As you consider the theme, note the following:
1.1.1.3. Identify content objectives (links to other content areas).
1.1.1.3.1. The more you can link what the children are learning in English to what they are learning in their other subjects, the deeper their learning will be, both in English and in their other subjects. Those links might be to mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, or physical education.
1.1.1.4. Identify learning strategies or critical thinking skills
1.1.1.4.1. A major criticism of many language classes is that they focus so much on repetition of language that they ignore the possibility of building in learning strategies needed in any academic class—strategies such as previewing or predicting what something is going to be about, listening or reading for a main idea, classifying information, guessing the meaning of a word from context, sounding out a word to pronounce it and figure out its meaning, taking notes, even visualizing a situation.
1.1.1.5. Develop activities
1.1.1.5.1. We need to remember that a unit should have activities that provide lots of practice. The unit should also provide opportunities for children to apply what they have learned, perhaps in developing a project such as a poster or a collage, giving a brief oral summary with the help of pictures or sentence starters, or writing a brief e-mail about what they have done. Ideally, a unit should have activities that:
1.1.1.6. Sequence the activities
1.1.1.6.1. Engaging learners in receptive tasks before productive tasks
1.1.1.6.2. Using controlled practice activities before more independent activities
1.1.1.6.3. Connecting one activity to the next
1.1.1.6.4. Sequencing the content to recycle language
1.1.1.6.5. Ordering the tasks to mirror the real-life application of the tasks
1.2. Planning fo the term of year
1.2.1. The textbook can provide a basic plan for your school term or year, but you may want to look at a calendar and think about what would be most appropriate at various times of the year, such as special holidays or festivals or local, national, or international sports events such as the World Cup or the Olympics that would be good to align your units with.
1.3. Daily Lesson Planning
1.3.1. Most administrators will require you to prepare a lesson plan. It is something that they can show parents to help them understand what is being taught in the language class and to reassure them that their child’s teacher is well prepared. It is also something that a substitute teacher can use if you are sick or not available to teach your class. But a lesson plan also has other benefits:
1.3.1.1. It assures your students that you know what they will be doing. It gives them confidence in you and in the structure of the class.
1.3.1.2. It helps you prepare for the class. You know what materials you need and how long you will need for each activity.
1.3.1.3. It provides you with a guide during the class as you move from one activity to another, from controlled to freer activities.
1.3.1.4. It requires you to have specific objectives for the class and guides you in ensuring that these objectives are met.
1.3.1.5. It helps you to see if you have provided different activities for different learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) and provides you with options if you find that your initial plan is not working.
1.3.1.6. It gives something to reflect on for future planning. You can make notes of changes you would make the next time you teach the lesson
2. Contextualized Instruction
2.1. Although the processes of learning a first and second language are quite similar, the contexts in which these occur are very different. Children learn their first language in an environment in which they have authentic or real reasons to use the language; they are surrounded by its use and they are highly motivated to use it.
2.1.1. An effective, contextualized EYL class involves:
2.1.1.1. Creating opportunities to use English with a meaningful purpose
2.1.1.2. Building on the knowledge and skills learned through the first language
2.1.1.3. Linking the EYL class with home, community, and local environments
2.1.1.4. Organizing instruction around themes that relate to children’s experiences at home and in other classes.
2.1.1.5. Providing a variety of ways to make English comprehensible; for example, through actions, gestures, games, pictures, and objects.
2.1.1.5.1. The most important support is to have carefully planned and organized in- struction, with clear directions and classroom management strategies. It is very helpful to develop routines for starting the class, moving to new activities, and ending the class
2.1.1.6. Keeping the language level of the activity at a comprehensible level, just above their current proficiency level
2.1.1.7. Focusing children’s attention on the game, song, story, or other activity, rather than directly on the language.
2.1.1.8. Organizing the classroom to facilitate communication among the children.
2.1.1.9. Developing classroom routines to keep communication in English. For example, at key points in the lesson, such as beginning the class, moving from one activity to another, giving directions, ending the class
3. Thematic Instruction
3.1. The Importance of Content
3.1.1. Content-centered, content-related, content-enriched, or content-based instruction (CBI), also referred to as content and language integrated learn- ing (CLIL), is a way to contextualize language instruction by integrating it with other learning, especially what is being taught and learned in other classes. It provides opportunities to reinforce the academic skills and knowl- edge learned in other classes, and draws on topics and activities to bring the experiences of learning another language to those academic content areas.
3.1.1.1. While integrating academic content with English is important for all learn- ers, it becomes increasingly important as children get older, especially if at some point they will need to study a subject through the medium of English. Students cannot develop academic knowledge and skills without access to the language in which that knowledge is embedded, discussed, constructed, or evaluated.
4. The Value of Local and National Culture
4.1. We can draw on local and national culture for content in the EYL class. It can be a place where local traditions, stories, folktales, games, customs, and holidays are included and children’s experiences in their own language are linked to their new one: English. They can learn to talk about their culture in English and share these experiences with other English speakers
5. The Importance of Themes
5.1. We usually refer to a theme as the focus of a unit that integrates several lessons, and a topic as the focus of an individual lesson, but the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Well-chosen themes are the basis of effective contextualization, because they help to create a meaningful context, where the focus is on something of interest, rather than the language itself.
6. Planning a Lesson
6.1. You may be given a lesson planning form that you will need to complete for each class. Lesson plans may vary a bit, but each will have the same basic categories and sequence of activities.
6.1.1. Writing Objectives
6.1.1.1. It is important to have objectives that address both content and language learning. It is also a good idea to include objectives that relate to academic skills or what are often referred to as learning strategies: the kinds of skills that help students to achieve academically, such as predicting, sequencing information, or listening or reading for specific information.
6.1.2. Choosing Activities
6.1.2.1. After setting objectives, you will need to plan activities to help children achieve them. Sometimes you will think of activities before setting objectives, but the activities then need to be tailored to your specific objectives. Brainstorm as many activities as you can, beginning with those that are included in your student textbooks, workbooks, or teacher’s manual.
6.1.3. Organizing Activities
6.1.3.1. After brainstorming activities to help children achieve the objectives, you will need to organize these into a sequence. In general, for children, you will want to begin with listening and speaking activities, and then move to reading and writing. The activities should be organized to fit the following stages in your lesson plan...
6.1.3.1.1. Warm-up activities
6.1.3.1.2. Presentation activities
6.1.3.1.3. Practice activities
6.1.3.1.4. Application activities