This section looks at how children learn at different stages of development and how activities in the classroom need to address their cognitive, motor, language and social development.
Children between four and twelve years old are very different as language learners, so here we take a look at how children learn at different stages of development and how activities in the classroom need to address their cognitive, motor, language and social development.
Obviously children do not all fit neatly into categories and their development will depend on their personality, maturity and previous learning experiences. You will no doubt recognise how your own students fit the descriptions. The age groups will be grouped as: 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 year old
Children: 4-6 year-olds
Chants
Chants are great as children
learn to work together
pick up chunks
get to listen to lots of meaningful language
have a reason to use English
find them funny
move their body
enjoy repeating them
Chants are easy to make up. I made this one up for my 5-6 year olds. They had already begun learning animals. We chanted it together and did actions for the different animals. (pretended to splash water etc)
My name’s Fred and I’m a frog – jump, jump, jump
My name’s Kate and I’m a cat – miaow, miaow, miaow
My name’s Fergie and I’m a fish – splash, splash, splash
My name’s Micky and I’m a mouse – squeak, squeak, squeak
My name’s Benny and I’m a bird – flap, flap, flap
This is a lovely chant with a rhythm that children enjoy. They can stretch their arms out to show ‘big’ and bring their hands close together to show ‘little’. It also helps to develop:
Motor skills – children will enjoy colouring in the pictures that come with the chant. Colouring demands concentration, eye/hand coordination and hand control – all important pre-writing skills
Word recognition – when beginning word recognition they can draw a line between the animal words – cat, mouse etc and the and the pictures
Songs
Classic songs like Old MacDonald had a farm (see related pages below)are very popular with young children. This is a version of the song that encourages students to produce long vowel sounds. It also practises the numbers one to four. Farms are pretty universal. Young students enjoy making the animal noises and farm animals are a nice lexical set.
To create a nice wall display, get children to draw their favourite farm animal and the teacher (or a child who draws quickly and finishes their animal) can draw a big farm to paste the animals onto. More animals can be added later as well as a farmer etc. Once they begin writing, students can label the different animals.
Stories
There are many story books based on animals. Children love listening to stories about animals especially If there are colourful, child-friendly visuals to help them follow the story. You can also use cuddly animal toys while story-telling to get and hold the children’s attention.
Games
Children all love games. 4 – 6 year olds have still to develop cooperative skills, so introducing games that involve turn-taking helps to develop these skills. Do not despair if they get impatient or want to take each other’s turns – they are still learning to be less egocentric and need lots of opportunities to allow these skills to develop (see related pages The animal game below).
The first version of the game is appropriate for 4 – 6 year olds as they simply have to count out the steps of the game according to what their dice lands on and then name the animal on the spot.
Cutting and colouring
See related pages How things work below. The students get to create a herd of elephants by cutting out an elephant and naming him/her. They can also colour it in. They can practise the ‘What’s your elephant called?’ & ‘He’s / She’s called….’
Children: 7-9 year-olds
Chants
Children at this age group still love chants, but can add their own verses too. This stimulates their creative skills and gives them a sense of achievement when they can produce their own (see Five little speckled frogs song in related pages below).
World knowledge The quiz at the bottom of the page requires not just linguistic knowledge, but also knowledge about animals.
Wall displays By now many children are developing their writing skills and becoming proficient drawers. They also get a great sense of achievement from seeing what they have created.
A mini-project on animals is easy to set up. Each child chooses an animal they like. They draw a picture of the animal and write sentences based on a model* provided by the teacher. The pictures are neatly mounted on the classroom walls. Invite parents in too to see these lovely displays.
model:
…………… is a big/small animal
…………… lives in the jungle / on a farm / in my house
………….. eats leaves / other animals/ …………..
………….. can fly / run / swim etc etc
Children: 10-12 year-olds
Projects
By now it is clear that students have very different approaches to learning and have distinct preferences and interests. A project on animals can ensure all are satisfied.
Students can choose to work independently or with a partner(s)
Get students to choose an animal, or the creative ones can create a new one!
Students choose whether to create a wall display, a book or a presentation on their animal
Their work can include illustrations, their own or ones they find
Their project can be a factual description about the animal including information found in books, the internet etc or it can be a story about the animal. It could also be a poster calling for conservation of a particular species
Give a time limit – say 2 or 3 lessons for them to prepare their work and then it can either be displayed, shared or presented
This is especially good in a mixed ability class. Students who are not so keen on writing can create something more visual and very enthusiastic students have more scope for their imagination and language skills
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