1.

The young learner

- a teachers job: provide care and provide instruction
- give children challenges that they are developmentally ready to
meet
a. Compare and contrast the physical, social, emotional and cognitive
characteristics of children between the age of six and nine and
children between nine and twelve.
- children develop emotionally, morally, physically and cognitively
at different rates
- teachers should provide appropriate learning experiences for
their young learners
- if you are aware of your students strengths as well as areas
where they may need a little extra help or assistance, it will be
easier for you to plan appropriate instruction
- Young learners between the age of six and nine:
o intellectual:
kids learn to read, count, understand the concept of
time
complex thinking starts to develop
they are most concerned with things that are real
rather than with ideas
o physical development:
more physical abilities will develop: by the age of six
many children can dribble a ball with one hand, they
become more skilful at skipping and catching and
throwing a ball
they learn how to ride a two-wheel bike
they practice balancing a lot
o social development:
they become more adept at relationships, but they
also may have many conflicts with their peers
they become competitive
at the age of 6 or 7, kids tend to do best with one
friend, but by age 8 or 9 they can begin working well
in small groups of three or four
o emotional development:
they are still self-centered, they want to be first, and
most want all the attention
lots of worries
their feelings can easily hurt
- Young learners between the age of 9-12
o emotional/social changes:
they start to form stronger, more complex
friendships and peer relationships. It becomes more
emotionally important to have friends, especially of
the same sex
they become more aware of his or her body as
puberty approaches
o thinking and learning:
they face more academic challenges at school
they become more independent from the family

they begin to see the point of view of others more

clearly
have an increased attention span
- a specific child does not develop in all areas at the same time
b. What are some of the implications of these characteristics for
teaching young learners in the classroom?
- become familiar with your students development, know their
interests motivation
- observe your pupils in and out of the classroom: watch their
interactions with other children or with adults
- observe their physical condition
- childrens treasure
- write surveys
c. Do young children learn a language or acquire a language? What do
these terms mean and is the distinction a useful one? Answer with
reference to the young learner.
- language acquisition:
o the natural process used to develop language skills in a
childs native language
o focus is on the message rather than the form or
correctness
- language learning:
o the more formal approach to language instruction
o focus is usually on the form of the language rather than on
the message
- acquisition and learning dont need to be an either-or situation,
focus can be both on the message and the form
- Comprehensible input: a little bit above the learners language
level but understandable
- teachers should provide different types of input (e.g: puppets,
voice)

2. Classroom management
- collocation: sszerendezs
- connotation: msodlagos jelents
- comprehensible input: a tanulk kpesek megrteni a lnyegt
annak, amit a tanr mond
a. Choose three of the following features of classroom management
and
i. describe each feature
ii. suggest how a teacher could best utilise it
- seating arrangement:
o depending on my purposes:
random (ribbon/string, picture)
clever-clever, not so clever not so clever
clever-not so clever
- demonstration:
o TPR, gesture
o pictures
o real items (e.g. classroom items)
- silence/noise:
o Dont be afraid of silence
o Dont be afraid of noise
- evaluation/praise:
o I dont believe in over-evaluation, e.g.: a game should
remain a game
o A teacher should encourage their student often to develop
self-confidence
- eye contact, gesture:
o keep eye contact
o exaggerated gesture, TPR
o use gesture to the same thing: e.g.: word order
- the blackboard:
o the students like to use it: write on it, put pictures on it
o a teacher should consider when he or she writes on the
board, and when he or she hands out
b. What do you think are some of the possible advantages or
disadvantages of pair work and group work in terms of classroom
management
- it can be noisy
- develop self-confidence
- even if a teacher monitoring during the whole exercise he or she
wont be able to hear everything (e.g.: the students start using
mother tongue)
- in a group work some students could dominate
- the students use lot more English
- students use English bravely
c. Describe four classroom situations in which you would use the
mother tongue. Say why you think this action would be justified in
each case
- I present an abstract lexical term
- I explain a difficult grammatical structure
- I explain the rules of a difficult game for the first time

If I see the student havent been able to understand what the

exercise is
- If I want to calm down the students
d. What advice would you give to a beginner teacher on the use of
Hungarian in the classroom
- English Hungarian: 80-20 %
- Try to use a lot of English but dont be afraid of using mother
tongue

3. Planning
a. What questions would you ask yourself before beginning to plan a
lesson?
- What is my main purpose on the lesson: introducing new
grammar/vocabulary, develop listening/writing/speaking/reading
- How can I achieve that the students will be able to talk a lot and
will be able to understand the new grammar/vocabulary etc.
- How can I achieve that the students will be able to work in
various work form
b. What are the main components of a lesson plan?
- Cover page (anticipated problems, solutions)
- Stages, Time, Aids, Comments
- Warmer, Cooler, (Filler), various work forms: pair work, group
work, individual work, frontal work
- move, sit, move
c. What factor might you take into consideration when planning a
whole weeks work?
- What I want to achieve by the end of the week
- Develop all the language skill during the week
- The students wont get bored by the topic

4. Vocabulary
a. What does full mastery of a vocabulary item mean?
- the students are able to recognise, understand and use fluently
and accurately the word
b. Suggest several ways of presenting the meaning of new words. Give
an example an item of vocabulary you would teach using each
method of presentation, and give your reasons
(visual/mime/acting/context/translation).
- visual (picture, drawing): fruits
- mime, gesture: sour
- acting: to overtake, to trip over sth
- context, situation: context clues can help (e.g: the name of a new
fruit among other fruits)
- translation: abstract words
- explanation in English:
- explanation in Hungarian: abstract words
- synonym, antonym: hard-working, inner-outer characteristic
c. How can teacher help students work on new words on their own?
- make/use dictionary, Pictionary
- make flashcards
- writing exercises
- puzzles, wordsearch
- word bubble, categories

5. Pronunciation
a. What are some of the common problems Hungarians have with
English pronunciation?
- minimal pairs
- stress
- th
- rhythm
- intonation
b. Describe three pronunciation activities, and explain the rationale
and aim for each one
- minimal pair exercises: Sorting words which differ only in one
sound and this difference changes the meaning of the word. For
example: wet/vet; sin/thin; sing/thing; sink/think... Helps to spot
out the difference between the problematic sounds, important to
practice because these are problematic sounds for Hungarians.
- rhythmic exercises (rhymes, chants, songs): We can teach the
rhythm of the spoken English through them. It's fun and it
contributes to acquire the stress-timed speaking which is also a
strange phenomenon for Hungarian learners.
- drilling or giving model: The model can be given in different
ways. We can use the phonemic chart, or we can say it ourselves
or we can only mime the sound... Drilling/repetition has to be
made interesting, playful by asking the Ss to repeat the word or
sound with different intonations, volume... (Emlkszel, mikor Andi
egy szett smile arc segtsgvel ismteltetett el velnk
szavakat?) With the help of the repetition they practise the sound
or word.
c. In normal speech the pronunciation of some words is frequently
different from dictionary transcriptions. What are some of the
implications of this observation for teaching pronunciation

6. Speaking in the Class

a. Give a definition of fluency and accuracy, and outline an activity for
developing each one.
- fluency: to speak easily and smoothly
o They focus attention on the message/content and not on
the language as such, although the language will usually
be limited by the activity itself
o There is genuine communication even though the
situations are sometimes artificial. Free activities are one
step nearer real life and they let us know that we can
communicate in a foreign language.
o Free activities will really show that pupils can or cannot use
the language
o Free activities concentrate on meaning more than on
correctness
o Leave correction until afterwards!
o Teacher control is minimal during the activity
o The atmosphere should be informal and non-competitive
o There is often a game element in the activity
o Activities:
mini-talks: my room, my favourite meal, my pet, a
good day, Saturday at home, my family, pocket
money information gap!
pair work: e.g. giving directions
group work: e.g.:
Whats in the pictures? Make the correct order
give objects to the students, they have to
involve them into the story
Questionnaires: eg.: Which day do you like
the best? What is your favourite food?
- accuracy: speaking correctly
o repetitive actions, drill exercises (e.g.: time battleship)
o rhymes, songs, chants, tongue twisters
o information gap
o guessing game
o dialogue and roleplay
o Controlled activities:
Children should try out new language as soon as
they have heard it.
Very little chance to make mistakes
b. What is the purpose of controlled and free speaking activities?
Relate these concepts to your definitions of fluency and accuracy.
- Controlled for accuracy
- free for fluency
c. When a student makes a mistake, what considerations should the
teachers take into account in deciding how to act?
- It depends on the type of the activity. In a free speaking activity
we dont correct them but in a controlled we correct them.

7. Listening
a. Why is listening often considered the most difficult language skill to
develop? How can the teachers help pupils to listen to/focus their
listening?
- listening is the skill that children acquire first, especially if they
have not yet learnt to read
- visual backup!
- sth has been said, than it disappears - say things clearly, lot of
repetitions! e.g.: a story shouldnt been told from the beginning
to the end at once
- children: short attention span
- Activities:
o Listen and do activities:
instructions
moving about
mime stories
o listening for information:
listening for detail, for specific information
o listen and repeat activities:
rhymes
o listening to stories
- difficulties:
o pronunciation
o intonation
o meaning of the words
o have to get used to it
o lack of time to process the information
o cant distinguish separate words
o cant follow the rhythm
o background noises
- solutions
o questions,
o statements,
o sth that helps them focus on that topic
o they have to learn not to understand everything
o stop the tape and ask them what will happen
o pause, sentence with gaps
o give them focus points
- Children must have a very clear reason for listening and a very
specific task to do while listening. Try to use visuals to help pupils
understand. Try to get them respond physically to what they hear.
b. Why is the ability to predict an important listening skill to develop?
c. What is a pre-/while- and post-listening task and what are their
purpose
- Pre-listening:
o purposes:
generating interest
activating current knowledge
acquiring knowledge
setting the context
predicting content
pre-learning vocabulary

checking/understanding the listening tasks

activating vocabulary/language
While-listening:
o purposes:
focus the students attention
listen the text several times
guide the students through the text
from easier exercises to more difficult exercises
second listening: greater and more detailed
understanding of the text
third listening: checking their own answers
thinking or breathing space between listenings
Post-listening:
o purposes:
reaction to the text
analysis of language

8. Teaching reading
- Receptive skills:
o predictive skill: efficient readers and listeners can predict
what they are going to hear and read; lead-in stage
teaching receptive skills will be to encourage predictive
skills
o extracting specific information: scanning
o getting the general picture: skimming
o extracting detailed information
o deducing meaning from context
a. In what ways can reading in the class promote language
development?
- introduce new vocabulary
- label pictures, and describe what is happening
- ask questions about the story
- let children fill in words
- make predictions
- talk about emotions
- retell the story in your own words
- make your own book
b. Name three types of reading task, and outline an example for each
one. Explain the rationale for each task.
- jigsaw reading:
- contextual guessing: making guesses about the meaning of
words by looking at the surrounding words or situation
- cloze exercise: designed to measure how well the reader
understands how a text is linked together
- outlining: note-taking technique designed to help the reader see
the overall organisation of a text
- paraphrasing: the ability to say or write ideas in other words;
measures the readers understanding of the main ideas of a text
- making inferences: reading between the lines
- intensive reading: reading carefully for complete, detailed
comprehension
- extensive reading: reading for fun
- passage completion: finishing a reading passage (orally or in
writing); involves predicting a logical r suitable conclusion based
on a thorough understanding of the text
- put cut-up paragraphs in the right order
- find words in the text which mean the same as a list of words
- find appropriate places in text to reinsert some sentences that
have previously been separated from the text
c. What is the purpose of a pre-/while- and post-reading tasks?
- students should always have a reason for reading: this
encourages them to select what is important and ignore what is
not
- teachers should aim for comprehension of gist before
encouraging more detailed reading
- pre-reading:
o helping learners engage in a process of discovery
o feel authorized to engage with the form and content of the
text

student-centered activities!
teacher has to identify the potential problems of
readability
while-reading:
o help students to understand the specific content and to
perceive the rhetorical structure of the text
o teachers take the learners through the reading and they
interact in the text
post-reading:
o tasks are intended to verify and expand the knowledge
acquired in the reading
o these tasks also lead the learners to discuss and analyse
issues presented in the reading
o the learners interacting with the reading, reflect, argue and
give their points of view
o
o

9. Basic Principles
a. When presenting new language to the class what stages might the
teacher follow?
- concept is made clear: e.g. by very clear context, situation, tape,
reading, class by mime, visuals etc.
- form and phonology: e.g by giving a clear oral mode, by using the
board or handbook/coursebook
- students understanding of the concept is checked: e.g. by asking
concept checking questions, by asking for example, explanations
- students initial ability to pronounce and manipulate the form is
checked: by intensive drilling, choral, mumble, individual etc., by
initial controlled practice
- students are given a clear record of the new language showing
concept, form, phonology e.g. on the board, on a handout, in the
coursebook
- students are able to be more creative with the new language e.g.
by using it to talk about themselves, express sth that has a
personal significance for them by generating their own examples
in a different context
b. List a number of techniques for eliciting language.
- using visuals: e.g. pictures, drawings
- miming
- lists: ask the students to say words which belong to the topic
- synonyms/antonyms
- hints: give the firs letter, syllable
- definitions
- scales (e.g.: cool cooler coolest)
- word cluster/word bubbles
- do you remember?
c. What are the main stages of a lesson? Give an example activity for
each one.
d. What is a situational presentation? Give a short definition and list
several advantages.
- The generative situation is a situation which the teacher sets up
in the lesson in order to generate several example sentence of a
structure.
- advantages:
o permits presentation of a wide range of language items
o the situation serves as a means of contextualising the
language and this helps clarify its meaning
o generated examples provide the learners with data for
induction of the rules of form
o students can be involved in the development of the
presentation as well as in solving the grammar problem :
this makes it less dry than a traditional grammar
explanation
o the situation, if well chosen, is likely to be more
memorable than a simple explanation
e. What does concept checking mean? How would you do it in class?
- concept checking techniques:
o concept questions: teacher asks students questions around
the concept of the model sentence

Time lines: teacher demonstrates concept of model

sentence with board diagram (especially useful for tenses)
o Extension 1.: students extend model sentence to
demonstrate comprehension of the concept
o Extension 2.: If the model sentence is a question, students
can demonstrate comprehension of the concept by
providing a suitable answer
o Personalisation: students relate new language items to
their own lives/experience
o use of visual aids, realia, mime, gesture
o discrimination: students work out the difference between
paired sentences
o paraphrase
o explanation
o exemplification: students define word, concepts, give
example be very careful with this technique; its
sometimes used when the teacher cannot think of how to
explain sth
o opposition/contrast
if they can do it, they have understood the concept
o

10.Teaching Writing
a. In what ways is writing different from speaking? What are the
implications for the classroom?
b. What is the purpose of controlled/guided, semi controlled and free
writing activities? Support your view with examples.
- Controlled/guided activities: practise language and concentration
is on the language itself
o straight copying
o matching (e.g. match sentences with picture)
o organising and copying (e.g.: letter structure)
o dictation
o guided activities: fill in exercises, dictation (but only half
sentences, the students have to finish them), letters/cards,
invitation)
- Free activities: self-expression at however low a level, content is
what matters most
o the language is the pupils own language, no matter what
their level is
o dialogues
o letters
o picture descriptions
o descriptions
o
c. When a student makes a mistake, what considerations should the
teachers take into account in deciding how to act?
- Dont overemphasize error-correction, especially in free writing
activities.
- Different signs for grammar or spelling mistakes (e.g. dots at the
end of lines)
- Teachers dont have to correct all the mistakes. The aim is to
produce a piece of written work which is as correct as you can
expect from that pupil
- older pupils should be encouraged to re-write their work
- keep all written work in one place, the progress can be seen like
this

11.Using Coursebooks
a. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a course
book?
- advantages:
o a clearly thought out programme which is appropriately
sequenced and structured to include progressive revision
o a wider range of material than an individual teacher may
be able to collect
o security
o economy of preparation time
o a source of practical teaching ideas
o work that the learners can do on their own so that the
teacher does not have to be centre stage all the time
o a basis for homework if that is required
o a basis for discussion and comparison with other teachers
o for learners:
a sense of purpose, progressing and progress
a sense of security
scope for independent and autonomous learning
a reference for checking and revising
- disadvantages:
o teachers better at
providing the spoken word in spoken exchanges
adjusting work in response to the reactions of the
children
using communication other than words and pictures
to back up language elements
setting up learning activities which encourage
learners to talk and profit from interaction
o the books priorities may not meet with the teacher
priorities
o the book can be too difficult or too easy for the children
o not every book is clearly structured
o every group develops differently, the coursebooks cant
adapt to that
o boring exercises
o the learners can have background knowledge what a
corsebook cant take into account
b. How can you make the most of your coursebook?
- use them as a tool
- use the books as a resource for students, but not only resource
- homework
- use them as a guide
- be free to modify, change, eliminate or add to the material
- supplement the books with lots of outside readings
- the pictures and exercises can help plan the lesson

12.The importance of Childrens Literature

a. How would you define the term Childrens Literature? What does it
mean to you?
- anything that children read
- all books written for children, excluding works such as comic
books, joke books, cartoon books, and non-fiction works that are
not intended to be read from front to back, such as dictionaries,
encyclopaedias, and other reference materials
b. When/why/how can teachers use songs, rhymes, tales in teaching
English to young learners?
c. Justify the use of songs, tales and rhymes.
- why use Childrens literature in esl:
o natural and engaging language experience
o engagement in multi-level and multi-age groups
o universal themes
o simple language
o manageable story length
o illustration
o vocabulary in context
o skills and strategies development
o integration of language skills: reading, listening, speaking,
writing
o heightened interest in books and reading
o cultural knowledge
o multicultural stories
o exposure to literary terms and appreciation of literature
o figurative language and cultural metaphors
o fun
d. What kind of songs, tales and rhymes would you teach and how?