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Teachers' Attitudes Towards Young Learners

Speaker: Margaret Lo
Moderator: Jenny Johnson
Date: Saturday 13 May 2000

Do you have difficulty relating to your young learners? Do you anticipate conflict when facing your young learners? Or are you a teacher of adults and simply find children alien? In this chat we explored teachers' attitudes towards children, and tried to find positive ways of regarding and interacting with children in the classroom and in our schools.

Margaret Lo is Head of the Young Learners Unit at the British Council in Hong Kong. She teaches children, teenagers and adults, runs CELTYL teacher training courses and work with teachers of adult learners who are developing their skills in teaching young learners. She is a regular speaker at English language teaching conferences on topics relating to young learners and teacher training.

MODERATOR> Hi everybody. I'd like to welcome Margaret Lo, all the way from Hong Kong.

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Hi everyone. Thanks Jenny. It's great to be here.

MODERATOR> How are you today Margaret?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> I'm fine. I'm sitting in a darkened office with no aircon but I'm well and happy.

MODERATOR> Ok. To get things started, I've got a question from Joanba in San Sebastian. He asks: Which are the main features that should characterize a sound methodology when teaching young learners?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Thanks. I support a methodology for YLs which focuses on children's whole development, not only their language development. That means we should consider where children are in their social, cognitive and emotional growth and how they learn language. So I would advocate a cross-curricular, activity-based approach in which children engage in meaningful tasks and activities... where children are using English genuinely, but learning something new, and developing as whole people as well. So the teacher has a broader, educational role in their relationship with their learners.

MODERATOR> A message from Cesc (hi Cesc!) in response to that, Margaret.

Cesc> I guess that means a lot of group activities with (the usual question!) lots of noise and the school headmaster knocking at your door...

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> There doesn't have to be lots of noise all the time. Students need to understand the limits of the school and the building that they're in, like if the walls are thin. But a lot of meaningful engaging tasks are quiet, settler-type activities.

MODERATOR> Can you describe one or two of the tasks you have in mind?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Students might be making something or writing a story or part of story so they're working individually and focussing on their own work.

MODERATOR> So then they'd be quieter, yes

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Children do love being active and vocal, but can really focus and settle into individual work when the task is motivating.

lua> How much English should we speak with 3-year-old students? The whole class in English?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> 3 year olds are still so dependent, and need so much security. They're also still developing their mother tongue. If an only English lesson becomes frightening, or if they become frustrated, I would say definitely switch to mother tongue.

MODERATOR> Ok Cesc has a question about the syllabus.

Cesc> How do you design it? I mean, do you have a syllabus before starting the course and then adapt it to the students' particular characteristics?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> I would approach syllabus design by first finding out as much about the students as you can. If you're familiar with their age, their cultural and social background, you can choose themes or topics in which relevant activities can be done and then I think every teacher does adapt the syllabus to address particular students or groups of students.

Bob> How can we improve our attitudes towards children who are "naughty" when we feel impatient.

MODERATOR> Hi Bob!

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> When this happens to me, I first look at what I might be doing to cause it. For example, I could be standing in a certain place and the students to my right can't see the pictures I'm showing, so they're distracted and act "naughty". So I try not to judge them or blame them but quickly alter what I'm doing to see if that has any effect.

MODERATOR> so in other words you don't have their whole attention?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Yes, and that's really something I should think and do something about. In a sense it's not really the child's fault. I try to correct the students in positive terms. So often teachers tell students to stop doing this, or don't do that. It sometimes helps to give the child a behaviour goal, in positive terms, e.g. who can sit quietly first?

Bob> I see what you mean.

MODERATOR> OK. Now Lua has another question about three year olds...

lua> Would you say they are too young to learn a second language?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> I don't think so, but it depends on the situation. Many children grow up hearing and speaking 2 or more languages. I do think 3 year olds may be too young for formal education.

Mary G> Hello Margaret. Do you have any advice for when the children aren't getting on with each other?

MODERATOR> Hello Mary!

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> I think young children are still learning how to get along with each other and how to work together cooperatively. In activities I try to plan in structured ways of cooperating, turn taking etc. It also helps to listen to students and find out what the conflicts are, what they're arguing about and who they don't like to work with and why. Those can be good opportunities to teach tolerance, and social skills.

Mary G> Don't they get embarrassed talking about their conflicts?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Not in my experience. My students tend to tell me who took their purple pen, or who's saying naughty words, or who cheated.

JOANBA> Which steps should we take, or what should we do, if we are to develop students' autonomy when teaching young children?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> We should start by seeing children as unique individuals and giving then a voice in the classroom, by encouraging active and genuine participation. We can also help students set goals - first I set them, and then later encourage them to set their own goals. This can be very simple, eg. "who can find 10 animals" (in the puzzle). I have "helpers" in the classroom to clean the board or hand out the scissors and glue which encourages responsibility. You can give students choices about what happens in the classroom from simple things like choosing which song to sing at the end of class to "bigger" things like deciding on the topic of their project. One more thing...you can encourage YLs to use references - materials and people as resources. This could be dictionaries and other reference books, but you can approach this more broadly. The idea here is to give YLs opportunities to find things out for themselves and foster attitudes of independence and autonomy.

MODERATOR> Thank you Margaret, some very useful ideas and food for thought there. One last question from Bob...

Bob> How do you feel about young "learners" who don't seem to want to "learn"?

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> I think they do want to learn, but they might not see the long-term benefits of improving their English. That's why we have to make the whole classroom experience meaningful in the moment, through activities that are intrinsically interesting and engaging - from the CHILD's point of view.

MODERATOR> Thank you for some really encouraging answers to all the questions, Margaret. I can see why you're such a successful YL teacher!

SPEAKER_Margaret Lo> Thanks to everyone for your thought provoking questions!

MODERATOR> Thank you very much for joining in the chat, everybody! We have to stop now as time is well and truly up.