•Pupils are at a highly receptive age when everything is of interest to them

• They can learn faster

•Young children have little fear of making mistakes

•They often show a greater motivation than adults to do things that appeal to them

Young children are ‘better’ language learners than adults

How do children learn their mother language?

A/ The child's language environment:

NO DIRECT PRESSURE to learn

NO TIME LIMIT for learning

There is LOTS OF REPETITION

Both the LANGUAGE AND THE WORLD ARE NEW

All the language is spoken IN THE CONTEXT

THE LANGUAGE IS ALL AROUND

The child has MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR USING the language to communicate

B / The Child's Learning Strategies:

The child in NOT INTERESTED IN LANGUAGE for its own sake.

The child ENJOYS THE REPETITIVE events of his life, and uses this enjoyment to help him learn.

The child directs his attention to things that are EASY TO UNDERSTAND.

The child uses his natural desire TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LIFE AROUND HIM to help him learn new language.

The child IMMEDIATELY USES the language, and his SUCCESS IN COMMUNICATION BUILDS CONFIDENCE.

How do children learn their mother language?

How does this apply to learning structure ?

No Abstracts

Adults know that if A = B and B = C, then A = C Grammatical knowledge is based on abstract concepts which the child cannot understand It is clearly pointless for the teacher to attempt to teach children about structure

Repetition

Language patterns are very important for children Their operational ability in the language is fundamentally based on learning these patterns

Passive Structure

The way in which the child develops an

operational ability in the structure of the mother

tongue before school ageUtterances such as ‘Me drinked tea’ , ‘No Teddy go’

have not been copied from adults

demonstrate that the child is operating their own system of linguistic ‘rules’ which they devise and modify as they get older

they're extending a grammatical rule which they know works well with other verbs

1) Underline the verb in the following sentences:

  Az iskam podarak. Te iskaha kolata. Nie iskahme tova. Toi iskashe vsichko.

The answer: 

Az iskam podarak. Te iskaha kolata. Nie iskahme tova. Toi iskashe vsichko.

2) Underline the auxiliaries in the following questions ?  Te otvoriha li vratata? Toi mozhe li da popravi pechkata? Imame li vreme?

The answer: 

Te otvoriha li vratata? Toi mozhe li da popravi pechkata? Imame li vreme?

3) Re-write this question as statement

Te otvoriha li vratata?

The answer: 

Te otvoriha vratata.

1. Nonverbal CommunicationThe effective use of nonverbal cues assists in a wide range of classroom practices by adding an extra dimension to the language:

reducing unnecessary teacher talking time

increasing learner participation  

confidence building

clear instructions

efficient classroom management

improving performance in pair and group

activities

2- Total Physical Response

Young children are not able to cope with

abstract

concepts but rely on their senses to learn

new things Physically doing something helps

the

child to understand the

language

3- Presenting the grammatical structure in a child's context, with humorYou can create your own characters to suit the English you're teaching

a mad professor who collects things to help practise the plural of nouns

a character called “Mr. S” for the Present Simple

Use a soft toy or a puppet as a character in teaching prepositions

a character that demonstrates just how silly it would be to try to count sugar when teaching countable and uncountable nouns

Examples :

4. Songs and chants

Structure songs help pupils remember the structure points in a fun way

5. Story telling

One of the best ways to introduce different tenses is through a story

6. Rhymes and poems

I go to school in the morning ,And I walk like this, walk like this, walk like this

I go to the sea in the morning ,And I swim like this, swim like this, swim like this

I go to the club in the morning ,And I play like this, play like this, play like this

I go to mosque in the morning ,And I pray like this, pray like this, pray like this

7. Teaching Structure with Fun Learning Games

Have a clear linguistic outcome for each game

The game can be a listening game to allow the students to repeatedly hear a new grammatical structure in use

It can be a speaking game to allow practice of the structure once it has been absorbed through listening beforehand.

Reading, spelling and writing games come after the new structure has been absorbed and the students can use it orally.

8. Practising the grammatical structure

Traditional exercises in the form of mechanical drills, gap-fills, and sentence transformations all have a part to play in practising structure.

They are useful at times when you need to calm your pupils down 9. Pattern Practice in

context Pattern practice alone is not enough. It should exist within a comprehensible context.

10. Communicative Structure for Kids

I like to teach structure with a two-step approach.

This should help them become good communicators in the future.

We should give EQUAL attention to both the statement form

AND the question form. 11. Drawing and writing on the board

12. Interactive Games – Computer Assisted Learning

Using interactive games in computer assisted classes

can be

very motivating to the young learners.

Animated pictures and sound effects attract pupils’

attention

and provides memorable practice

Conclusion

Our perspective of teaching structure is very important.

Teaching structure doesn't mean we do structure drills for

the entire class. We can do games and songs and also

have fun teaching structure.

Structure has a nasty reputation for being boring and

difficult. It needn't be. It's just part of language and many

of the activities we readily use in general English teaching

and practice can be adapted to specific structure topics.

Above all,we shouldn't

lose sight of the one thing children do best :

HAVE FUN !