Soft Landing Learning

By Rania Foka

A practical guide for both parents and novice teachers for any language. A bit of theories of experts together with lots of practical ideas on how to play with children and what to do to make their learning more enjoyable and meaningful.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477214220

Rania Foka

Rania Foka was a teacher for thirty-seven years. She worked for British Council, Athens, for the last eighteen years as a teacher of English and coordinator of young learners. She was also a teacher trainer for both young learners and adults. She was able to work for five weeks in England for Felsted School as a director of studies for their summer school. She has an RSA Diploma, Aston University Diploma of teaching English as a Second Language and MA in Education, Open University England. Rania has been writing since she was a child.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

English: To learn or not learn

Historical Background Of Language And Thought

Early Start Or Not?

Can Learning A Foreign Language Help?

Is Good Health And Physical Well-Being Important?

Can We Help Our Child Become Successful?

Can We Prepare Children For The Foreign Class?

Can Music Play An Important Role In Child’s Developmental Learning?

How And Why Parents Can Be The Best Teachers Of The Foreign Language Before Children Go To Class?

What Can We Do If We Do Not Know English?

How Can We Help Our Child Succeed In The English Class?

To Do Or Not To Do Homework?

To Help Or Not To Help With Homework And How?

How Can We Resolve Problems?

How Can We Check Children’s Progress Other Than Asking The Teacher?

Can We Get Involved In School Activities?

Conclusion

What Exams Are Available For The Young Learners?

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgements

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I am grateful to my daughter, Vanessa, who has been of valuable help in supplying me with reading material and advising me which books to read and her invaluable endless conversations on how children learn through the eyes of a child psychologist, and not least to all my young learner students I have taught during my thirty three years of teaching. I would also like to thank Cliff Parry, Senior Teacher at the British Council, Athens for supporting and encouraging my idea of writing this book.

Introduction

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I decided to write this book with the aim to facilitate soft-landing learning. Having worked as a class teacher since 1974 I have taught many children of different ages, different backgrounds and different characters. I have taught children we call bright and children who are not so bright. When I started teaching I was so young and inexperienced that I could only admire those smart kids, without wondering what made them smarter than others. As the years of teaching went by, and especially when I had my own daughter, I started studying their attitude to learning English and observing them closely in order for me to be able to see that border line between the bright and the not bright. In my questioning why they were learning the foreign language I received different answers. I don’t like it really, buy my parents want me to learn it. Went to England with my parents and I felt awful because I couldn’t speak English. I want to be able to understand to English films without having to look at the subtitles. I want to be able to understand and sing English songs. All my friends are learning so I think I’ve got to do the same. I was really surprised by both their honesty and the different reasons every individual had. It was then obvious that those who were really motivated proved to be able to cope with learning in a faster way than those who were in some way forced to attend classes.

It was then that my own attitude to them changed. It was only then it was clear to me that teaching them according to all those methods I had learnt was not enough. My head was rather filled with all the theories I had studied and learnt, but in fact, I had never applied them in a constructive way in my classes as an educator. I had never approached my pupils’ individual needs and weaknesses. It was the time that occurred to me that I should not see in them the bright student who had completed successfully his/her tasks or had an inborn talent to learn English. I approached them in a friendly human way by really liking them trusting them, listening to them attentively and respecting them in every possible sense, just as I would have done if they had been adults. This courtesy paid off. I learnt from them that what they really need was to be strongly stimulated to learn in the most appropriate and motivating fashion.

I was imaginative my self both as a child and an adult so I decide to change my approach to them and my style of teaching. It was then that I was likeable to all the students, I could see the sparkle in their eyes when they were coming to classes, but at the same time I felt how hateful I had become to some parents, especially to those who did not speak the language or they were not well-educated. They wanted to see in me the traditional teacher who would assign a lot of homework and supply the young learners with endless lists of English words and their Greek equivalent next to them. They were unable to understand why I was teaching them through slights, from England, and pictures, they could not see any point in their children drawing or doing project work of any kind. I remember, once, we designed a questionnaire in class, based on the Greek history and the young learners had to find information by asking members of their family and friends. It proved to be a disastrous experience for the parents as some of them protested to me by saying that the children were there to learn the language, not history. I must admit I went through nightmares with them despite the endless discussions we had in order to ease their consciousness that their children would learn the way I was teaching them.

At a later stage I decided, as I run a school of English of my own at the time, to organize weekly seminars and individual meetings twice a month for the parents to explain to them the methodology I was using. Here, of course, I must confess that I encountered a lot of difficulties such as anger and complete misunderstanding on their part. There was only a satisfactory outcome form changing my methodology approach; that was the appreciation of the young learners themselves as they could feel their progression and they had a sense of achievement. It was the pupils themselves who did not wish to change school and they were asking their parents to bring them back the following year.

In the light of my experience I have seen surprising results with the not so bright pupils. It is really amazing how young children can be motivated and equally demotivated when it comes to foreign language learning. It is certain that there is no wall or any barrier between the child and learning if the child is healthy. It depends so much on us both as parents or educators to turn the dull child, who is less curious in what is real and what life is all about, into a bright child who will like to experiment, to be patient and not be afraid of failure. Failure should make the child persistent in the sense of trying harder in order to achieve his/her goal. Answers that are not answered should challenge the child and lead him/her to make his/her own investigation so as to gain self-confidence and be able to see how s/he can reach those answers to his/her questions. For the child to be able to reach this stage it is absolutely essential for us to show him/her the way to attain it. This is what this book is all about.

I have never stopped to talking both to pupils and parents in order for me to be able to conceive the difficulties a pupil might encounter in learning the foreign language.

By careful