Teaching English to Children
Literature Review
Teaching English to Children is an effort to imbibe in their tongue a language other than their mother tongue because of the growing opportunities which could be explored and benefitted from such learning. The ‘Teaching of English to Children’ has been in conversations after English was accepted as an international language. The need to teach English is to make the children familiar with the language at an early stage in their life so that by the time they grow up they are thorough in their communication skills. (Bilingual Education)
‘Teaching English to Children’ was a book published in the 1990 by Wendy A. Scott which laid emphasis on teachers and their methodologies so as to enhance the creativity and improve the quality of education in the classroom. The idea can be broken down into two brief concepts – to analyse the characteristic feature of the children and secondly, the classroom management and atmosphere. Various efforts in line with the topic is the adaptation of children which include books written by children, for children and chosen for children. It began is 18th century that children were considered as end users for a literature work which included fairy tales, short stories and fiction novels. These books were quickly adapted as a part of course curriculum and helped teach English to children because of its simplicity, great story and one of the many reasons, that it thrilled the child to read more. (Language Academy)
“In principle and in practice, it is imperative for individuals and for society worldwide that we do the best we can for future generations. So it is up to all of us to keep fighting for children’s entitlement to the best possible start in life” were the words of Wendy Scott. (Quotes | National Literacy Trust)
“Dubai Cares” is such an initiative taken up by the Dubai Government to accomplish the UN Millennium Development Goal to provide English Education to children by 2015. The elementary school education in modern world consists of games, plans, children literature and co curricular activities moulded into their methodology. The Teaching methodology in UAE has been restricted to the follow up of traditions practiced to claim and keep alive the traditions. But now the times are changing and the inclusion of English in Governmental institutions as a second language has brought some significant change in the spectrum of society.
It has also been found that the attitude of a teacher influences the learning ability of the students. The use of practical examples while teaching also helps the young learners in a great way as they are able to correlate what they have learnt to reality. Another important factor that has to be kept in mind while teaching English to children is to know about the culture and traditions of the place to which they belong. It is important on the part of the teacher to understand these traditions as the method by which a student learns more effectively is largely dependent on his culture and traditions. (Wendy A. Scott, 1995)
References
- Language Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 01, 2010, from http://www.langacademy.net/vb/showthread.php?833-Teaching-English-to-Children (Language Academy)
- Bilingual Education. (n.d.). Retrieved 04 01, 2010, from http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=LThLYTJLLcNJpVWFtHXKTc4J1md6Sf2HTNJ8QzTG2pbcv2f5bl20!1405698317!-937560419?docId=5001343556 (Bilingual Education)
- Wendy A. Scott, L. H. (1995). Teaching English to children. Addison Wesley Publishing Company. Retrieved 04 01, 2010, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/20986940/Teaching-English-to-Children (Wendy A. Scott, 1995)
- Quotes | National Literacy Trust (n.d.) Retrieved 04 02, 2010, from http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talk_to_your_baby/resources/1664_quotes (Quotes | National Literacy Trust)