Assignment 1: Children as learners
1. What is new to you?
I did not know that, as early as 2014, teaching English was instituted in kindergartens
across Poland.
The fact that not only people with MA degrees can teach, in fact, the breadth of who is
deemed competent enough to teach is large.
A class’ head teacher can simultaneously integrate his primary duties as their tutor and
English teacher.
That the methodology is so broad and teeming with novel ideas.
2. Which guidelines and ideas would you like to implement in
your teaching practice?
I would definitely incorporate the idea of systemised „games” into my practice.
Chiefly because it imparts valuable life lessons to children, namely, that there are
certain rules which must be followed should satisfaction be achieved.
I would also like to have children imitate particular activities, so their budding
imagination can be reinforced.
I would not foster competition amongst pupils, since it inhibits their motivation and
they are not old enough to cope with loss.
I would not burden the pupils with too difficult tasks, as they cannot compensate for
their deficiencies with intuition alone, nor would I force any child to participate in any
games or activities against their will.
Whenever I would teach children something, they would be tasked with drawing that
specific thing. This eases memorisation.
Certain words, when pronounced, sound strikingly similar to random Polish words.
Thus, I would make children memorise words in English by associating them with
similar sounding words in Polish.
Giving each pupil enough leeway to choose what they would like to do in doing
exercises, as to accomodate for the individual skills of everyone.
Repeating the same material that the children have already been acquainted with, so
they gleefully draw fulfillment from the things that they like.
Speaking English extensively is good for pupils, even though they may not find it
intelligible, they nonetheless are subconsciously learning by exposition.
When introducing new words to pupils, I would bring them actual things
corresponding to these words. For example: bringing a batch of fruits and vegetables
to a class concerning food.
3. What would you disagree with and why?
I vehemently disagree with an attitude whereby a child stirring a racket during class is excused by virtue
of just being a child and therefore juvenile. Pupils should continually be reminded of appropriate
behaviour, irrespective of their age. Not only this aforementioned permissiveness may instill insolence
but also be inadvertently transferred onto others. Thus, pupils should be disciplined to the possible
extent, however, this does not imply a military-esque standard, rather, it is a mere acknowledgment that
children – though egoistical – should nevertheless be made beholden to conventions governing our lives.
I am not a proponent of the audiolingual method. According to the method, pupils are not
encouraged to speak independently of the imposed exercises. To me, this stifles cognitive
development (since the teacher does not also explain anything) and constricts the freedom of
what can be said by the child on their own volition.
