Teaching Speaking to Preschool Children in Bilingual Education

Abstract：Speaking activities are an important part of any young learners English learning in bilingual classroom and are often considered the focal point of instruction. When teaching speaking，it is especially important to select activities which match the the objectives of the bilingual education. I also discussed some classroom techniques and activities to improve young  learners speaking skills.

Key words：speaking;young learner;audiolingual method（ALM）;communicative language teaching（CLT）

1、Audiolingual Method（ALM）

The Audiolingual Method（ALM）to language teaching is based on the notion that one can learn language by developing habits based on the patterns of language（Celce-Murcia，2001）. There are two important features of ALM which can easily be adapted for the young learner classroom：drills with choral response and dialogues. The first feature typical of ALM is drills aimed at getting learners to practice using the patterns that occur in language. Substitution drills are a hallmark of the ALM classroom. Note that one word is substituted in each line of the drill. Example below would be appropriate for young learners at early stages of English-language development as well as for young learners under the age of eight.

Example：Substitution Drills

Children listen and repeat the sentences spoken by the teacher.

Teacher：This is a red dress.

Students：This is a red dress.

Teacher：This is a yellow dress.

Students：This is a yellow dress.

You can use drills for several minutes as a way to introduce a new language pattern to children. For instance，bring in pictures of food items as you pretend to eat different things or hold up pictures of an apple and say，I like apples. Then have the students repeat your sentence. You can also say each sentence and have students respond in unison.

Choral response is also used when children repeat the lines of a poem or song. Sentences with substitutions can be slipped right into the young-learner curriculum in the form of songs，chants，and finger-plays. When children are singing songs or finger-plays that have repetitive language and language substitutions，they are learning the patterns of the English language. When children sing the song，they are repeating the lines over and over again，and they are substituting words throughout the various verses. They are also repeating lines with one or two words changed or substituted for other lines.

2、Dialogues

The second feature of ALM which can easily find its way into the young learners classroom is dialogue. Dialogues provide learners with grammatically controlled scripts that they can use in real life. Dialogues can very easily be scripted and turned into child-friendly role-plays. Whenever possible，the role-play should be based on the types of real and make-believe conversations that children have when they work and play.

3、Fishbowl technique

One specific technique which helps children learn how to work with a partner or in a small group is known as the fishbowl. The teacher can either invite a volunteer to do the activity with him or can model the activity using two or more puppets. The teacher models the activity that the children are expected to do while everyone in the class watches as if the teacher and the volunteer were in a fishbowl. Children then go back to their seats knowing clearly what they are expected to do.

4、Communicative Language Teaching（CLT）

Teachers have realized the value of connecting real-life situation with classroom instruction and thus have embraced communicative language teaching. CLT is an approach and a philosophical orientation that connects classroom-based language learning with the language that learners need in order to communicate outside of the classroom（Nunan，2003）. From the standpoint of teaching English to young learners，it is necessary to connect classroom learning to the real-life child-focused situations where children use language. There are many different situations where children use language to communicate and convey meaning such as asking a parent for help finding something that is lost，playing a game，saying a finger-play，invite a friend over to play，and creating an art project.

It is necessary to consider the type of language that children need in order to communicate in specific situations. For instance，if children are going to role-play finding a pair of lost socks，they would need to know the interrogative where. They might also need to know prepositions such as in，on，under，etc. Another instance would be when children are playing board game. They will need to be able to say first，next，last as in spaces on the game and whose turn it is to play. If children are talking about a birthday party they had or went to，they will need to know the past tense. In CLT，the focus is on getting the message across and helping children acquire fluency.

5、Error correction

As caregivers，teachers of young learners must spend time correcting not only behavior but also errors. If you as a teacher of young learners correct every single error that children make，you would be utterly exhausted at the end of the day. It is not necessary for a teacher to respond to all errors. I think that responding to too many errors can discourage children from communicating and talking. I also very cautious how I respond to errors since I know that embarrassment and shame are two of the things that can be potentially damaging to young learners.

I like to handle errors by modeling and providing children with the correct grammar or pronunciation. I decide which errors I will focus on. I think about the childrens development and any errors they may make because of interference from their native language. I also want to encourage fluency and try to make sure that I dont dampen the childrens enthusiasm for communicating in English.

6、Conclusion

When looking at language teaching，it is important to consider the technical knowledge of how people learn language with the practical，implicit，and intuitive knowledge that is gained through actual experience. Nowhere is this basic concept truer than in managing speaking tasks with young children. For the pure sake of survival，it is crucial that bilingual teachers have well-planned lessons in order to contain activities where children are interested and stay on task.

References

[1]Celce-Murcia，M.2001. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. 3rd ed. Boston.

[2]Nunan，D. 2003. Methodology. In D. Nunan，Practical English Language Teaching. New York.

項目：西安市社科基金项目“西安地区学前教育幼儿早期浸入式双语教育研究”（项目编号：13WL02）的研究成果。

作者简介

刘秀玲（1980-），女，汉族，硕士，陕西澄城人，西安文理学院外国语学院，讲师。主要研究方向：英语教学法和英美文学。