TESOL Rationale: Comprehensive Analysis of Eating and Drinking Unit

This report provides a TESOL rationale for an 'Eating and Drinking' unit designed for young (7-8 years old), non-native English speakers (Chinese learners). The report analyzes the unit's effectiveness based on three key principles: providing opportunities to use the target language for communication, engaging learners with content to arouse their curiosity, and stimulating intellectual and emotional involvement. The rationale examines how the unit incorporates colorful images, videos, and interactive activities to facilitate language acquisition, focusing on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. It highlights the use of practical examples, group activities, and real-life scenarios to make learning relevant and enjoyable. The report also discusses the application of cognitive psychology and the importance of adapting materials to suit learners' needs and cultural backgrounds. The unit’s design, including its focus on vocabulary development, grammar, and pronunciation, aims to build a strong foundation in English. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of aligning teaching strategies with language learning principles to enhance both student and teacher effectiveness.

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TESOL
Rationale
[Author Name(s),
First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]
[Institutional Affiliation]

Assignment Part 2
Teaching context
Target Students
The book targets the following learners:
 Category: Nonnative students ( Chinese learners)
 Level: A1/A 2
 Gender : Mixed
 Age: 7-8
 Needs: non na
 Class size: 30 students
Objectives:
 To develop students’ interest in English
 To develop students ability to communicate in daily life
 To develop students’ cognitive ability to learn new things
 To stimulate students ability to express themselves effectively
Syllabus Content
This unit would focus on eating and drinking as part of daily life. It brings this out through some
interesting videos, pictures, and activities that engage students’ interests in the language class.
Based on learning this Chapter has some related topics drawn from other units. This provides an
opportunity for effective communication.

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Introduction
Eating and Drinking is a Unit 6 chapter in the learning textbook with four sections. I looked at
the classified subcategories with different instructions and noticed that each section has activities
and practical examples and practice exercises. The material provides a systematic approach to
language lessons with learner activities that enhance listening, speaking, reading and emotional
skills. The instructional chapter has a design that targets learners at a young age. Targeting 7-8
year olds, the chapter contains colorful images, videos and narratives for interactive learning. I
must agree that this unit is effective because of its applications of the principles of learning.
Developing literacy skills at this stage involves an understanding of basic phonology, syntax,
vocabulary, meaning of words and basic communication. I have worked with young people and I
can say that they learn by instructions. The creative use of pictures and visual aids makes this
more effective. The programmed learning approach is transformational for bilingual teaching. I
noticed the application of three learning principles namely:
· Giving learners an opportunity to use the second language in achieving
communication
· Engaging learners with content to arouse their curiosity and ability to pay attention
· Stimulating the students intellectual and emotional ability with participation
I was able to attest to the validity of the material in this perspective (Burgoyne, Whiteley, &
Hutchinson, 2013).

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Principle 1: Opportunity to use the target language to achieve communicative purposes
Chun (2014) carries out a research in which he notes the importance of instructional competence
in EFL. In support of this notion, I believe that learning a foreign language at a foundational
level requires effective teaching methods. Learning at different stages has effectiveness
depending on the teacher's experiences. L1 lays the foundation for future strengths and
capabilities. Therefore, an effective preparation method is effective and the language lessons
require relevant literature for teaching and development of materials. Communication is a
process that engages the brain and memory. Children at this stage are able to translate
information through instructions. The instructional theory operates by the cognitive and states
that the format of the instructions should connect with the process (Sweller, 1994: Paas &
Sweller, 2012). The questions act as a guide on how to find information in a text. I think
educational psychologists were right to point out that cognitive psychology is important in
bilingual development. Elementary teaching examples like this one support interactive learning
for bilingual children. This reminds me of a research that I came across as I was looking into
bilingual learning. In this study, Byers & Williams (2013) disqualifies common myths about
bilingual students.
Unit 6 examples of such opportunities include activity 4, which has pictures and conversations.
The use of sentences gives learners a chance to participate in learning through practical
examples. Sticking to the topic, this task gives students a scenario that they are familiar with in
life. Jogging the memory of the learner, the unit brings out conversations within the pictures.
From the images, it is evident that the unit is sensitive to the cultural background of the learners.
It uses images of Chinese people giving the learner confidence and a familiar setting. Section 3

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of Activity 3 has more opportunities for participation. My view of this section is that it captures
the role of short stories as well as the question and answer techniques in learning. These capture
then the interest of then learners and it triggers the acquisition of literacy through observation
(Hall & Cook, 2012). One of this is the notion that learning more than one language confuses the
learners.
The ‘Eating and Drinking’ unit uses practical examples with predictable guides to grammar. For
example, Section 2 Activity 1 presents a song for the students to listen and images of the fruits
mentioned in the song. Since the students are eager to find the answers will find answers, they
will listen to the video with the song. Communication in this language lesson capture speaking,
writing and reading skills. One writing activity is 2.2, which gives the student an opportunity to
write the names of the food in categories of ‘junk food’ and ‘balanced meal’. This is an
opportunity for the students to incorporate more vocabularies. Knowledge development and skill
acquisition are specific to learners and different contexts. In this unit, I was keen on the speaking
sections because bilingual learners face challenges with accents. I realized that the video in
Activity 4.1 was effective because it gives the teacher a chance to identify weak students who are
unable to comprehend well.
Principle 2: Engaging content to arouse the learner’s curiosity and attention
The use of texts and methodology for language learning and educational development includes
engaging learners with content, language communication and stimulating intellectual activities
According to Masuhara & Tomlinson (2004, p. 11 ) the adaptation of learning materials involves
developing what is suitable to learners and different situations. The unit uses a common theme
that entices every one making it easily understandable by the bilingual learners. The pictures

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used are friendly and appropriate for young learners. I pictured the bilingual leaners connecting
with their favorite foods as they skimmed through the unit. Some activities were more interesting
to others. For example, every student at the age of 7-8 years will be interested with a food
shopping activity more than one on balanced diet or healthy eating. Instructional materials
support teaching processes as much as they enhance learner needs. A teacher often needs ideas
on how to engage learners by adapting different materials.
Throughout the unit, the learner participates in a learning process. Activity 5.1 of the unit
identifies an instructional text with the use of an animated character “Harry”. The teacher is able
to involve the learner in this task because the student uses listening and comprehension skills to
listen to the story and interact effectively (Tomlinson, et al., 2003). The development of language
involves a mental process in which a student goes through self-discovery. The learner gains
insight through the social context. The unit has examples from real life interactions. For example
the pictures show a child shopping with parents at the groceries, bakery, and at a restaurant. The
role of the family comes out clearly giving the student an opportunity to enlarge on imagination.
The teacher has numerous opportunities to engage the student’s curiosity through the activities
Group work activities such as Activity 4 of Section 1 asks the student to think about what they
like. Sentences such as “I like…’ and “I do not like…” give the learner a chance to juggle their
memory. Activity 5 follow up with examples for a conversation with partners. Asking partners
questions about what they like is an opportunity for the bilingual student to learn about other
members of the group. This is an effective way to teach students in a multicultural setting.
Teachers need instructional material more than the students do, especially when they do not have
their own designs (Masuhara & Tomlinson, 2004, p. 18). Adaptation materials make learning

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interesting by classifying materials. This unit has poems, role-plays, videos and pictures with
topic types that shape a learner’s enthusiasm.
This unit is also effective for other non-student learners. It provides a guide for publishers on
how to prepare interesting material for the target group. Material writers are aware that the use of
cartoon characters is effective because it involves learners within the young age category. The
use of videos is a sound based approach to developing listening skills. By arranging the activities
with different content, the author provides a holistic approach to learning (Lewis, Jones, &
Baker, 2012). Teachers use interesting content in order to motivate learners in a bilingual class to
participate.
Principle 3: Stimulating intellectual and emotional involvement
I often wonder about some beliefs and the role of teaching and learning experiences. The validity
of Unit 6 lies in the material development, which targets the skill gaps. Language studies.
Theories of bilingual language advocate for the use of grammar patterns in contexts (Jones &
Waller, 2015). This allows the learner to explore bits and pieces of language clusters. The
language spot at the end of Section 1 enlightens the learner. By collecting words, the student
forms a vocabulary. Some words are in form of syntax, pragmatic and lexicology. Language
formulation through categories in Section 2 Activity 1 and Activity 2 helps learners to connect
food categories by classifying them into different types of fresh foods. Learners at this level
appreciate pictures because of the reality factors. Vivid pictures in Activity 2.1 of Section 2 are
alive and more real than the images in 2.2 of the next page. Watching YouTube videos like 4.1
and arranging the pictures correctly is one way for the teacher to jog a student’s mind. Section 3
crowns it all by providing an exercise for the student to read and match the words. The emotional

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involvement at this stage means the language makes sense, supports self-expression and is
enjoyable.
In the sections, the first activity features matching the words followed by videos, and reference
to pictures. Achieving communication skills requires the use of pragmatic examples from real
life examples (Tomlison, 1994). The learner’s attitude depends on the strategies used by the
teachers and it lays the foundation for future language tactics. Dealing with behavioral tactics
requires specific approaches, focus on principles, the learning objectives and strategic
approaches. The pragmatic approach recognizes gaps in the native learner’s target language in
order to improve on the competencies. Proficiency includes the ability to help learners develop
their internal perceptions, intelligence and positive energy. The use of role-plays motivates
learners to look forward to the lessons. When students participate in learning in groups, they
learn from other, find social support and courage. Social Psychologists support group formation
in a bicultural environment (Bonilla-Silva, 2004). This book uses group activities like Activity 4
of Section 1, Activity 3 of Section 2, and Activity 2 of Section 3. In section 4, Activity 4
incorporates role-play, pictures and sentence constructions to engage the learner’s mind. A
creative teacher who wants to capture the attention of the students may skip all sections and start
with Section 4, Activity 5.2 that involves personification. The learners imagine themselves as
animals for a lively performance. Children in the primary school level have a wild imagination.
Dialogue is one of the most common strategies use in the student engagement principles (Jones
& Waller, 2015).
Language learning principles are evident in learning materials used in the classroom. Unit 6 is an
example of a comprehensive course material that capitalizes on multiple strategies based on

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learning principles. Language is dynamic and it requires practice through tasks and multiple
activities (Rea, Clementson, Tilbury, & Hendra, 2011). This unit is about eating and drinking
and it uses appropriate texts and audiovisual methods to capture the learner’s interests. Learning
through pictures and videos is ideal for the target students because of their age. When preparing
learning materials, teachers and language professionals pay attention to ways of stimulation the
learner through psychological factors, engagement processes and effective use of the target
language for communication.
Conclusion
Language principles guide both the student and the teacher. Finding a reliable learning material
depends on the effectiveness of the lessons and language skills acquired. Quality literature
material used in bilingualism contains clear texts, a simplified language and visual aids. This unit
is a representation of the course book because it gives a sequence of activities covering listening,
writing, reading and speaking techniques. The unit has activities in segments and sub segments
for effectiveness.

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