Teaching English to Young Learners

Teaching English to Young Learners 0
Title: Teaching English to Young Learners
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Teaching English to Young Learners 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Describe the Chosen Reading Method or Approach..................................................................2
Explain the Activities that the Children are Involved in............................................................4
Resources Used for the Created Activity...................................................................................6
Discuss how the method or approach supports children literacy and reading development.....7
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Method or Approach used in Reading Development...........8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

Teaching English to Young Learners 2
Introduction
English is a universal language. It is spoken all around the world. Therefore, this fact
makes it even more important for people around the world to learn to speak in English. The
countries where English is a second language, it is important to make sure that the children in
that country be taught the importance of English in terms of reading, writing and speaking.
For speaking English fluently, the first step is to learn to read English. Spoken English gets
more fluent with the increase in the reading habits of an individual. The more voracious a
reader becomes, the stronger his/her vocabulary will be which impacts the way in which a
person speaks. Therefore, the whole focus is on how to develop the reading skills and habit in
a child at an early stage so that it becomes easier for him to adjust in the English speaking
scenario. The young learners need to be nurtured at an early stage starting as early as at an
infancy phase so that they become familiar with books as an object to read. The reading skills
can be developed at even before the child enters the school for learning. It is important to
make him interested in reading.
Therefore, to develop an effective reading skill a proper environment should be
provided to the emergent so that they can adapt themselves with the approach to reading and
develop an interest to read. A proper room for books and reading should be created. A small
library at home where the children can go and have a look at the books and get a wider
variety of choices to select from to read. The area should be properly lighted to create an
environment which induces reading.
Describe the Chosen Reading Method or Approach
Reading is a lengthy and complex process where the reader needs to identify the
symbols and find the meaning of the content provided. It is a form where the language is
read, the meaning is decoded and comprehended. It is not easier to develop an interest in

Teaching English to Young Learners 3
reading as it is a continuous and lengthy process and requires a lot of time to be put in this
task. The lack of focus prevents the reader to continue the interest in the reading process and
distracts them for taking reading further in the future (Octaviana, 2017). In an interview with
a school teacher regarding the best reading method and approach that should be adopted, I got
to find out that, it is very important to initially make reading attractive for the children so that
they can develop an interest in reading and develop better English through reading. She said
that it is essential to introduce children to print materials at an early stage, even before they
enter kindergarten, this not enhances their span of attention but also enhances their interest in
reading.
The way in which they are introduced to the reading material invokes interest in them
for reading. This can also be called emergent reading skills. It is the knowledge of reading
even when they have not learned how to write and read. This is the phase where parents and
educators play an important role in making a child and emergent learner and progress through
this phase and become conventional learners (McGlynn-Stewart, 2015).
She elaborated that an environment that is conducive to the emergent reader to read
helps him/her to understand why it is beneficial for him to read and how will it help him in
the future. It helps the child to engage in various reading activities whose purpose can vary.
There are three basic frameworks or approaches when it comes to teaching reading to a
young child. The three approaches are:
 Skill-based approach;
 Literature-based approach; and
 A balanced view
Among these three approaches, the best-suited approach which can be used to teach
reaching among the children is ‘a balanced approach’. On asking to her as to why she thinks