Istry of higher and secondaryspecialized education of the republic of uzbekistan karshi state university

Chapter I. Importance of learning English as a second language.
1.1. Language learning in early childhood and teaching English to children of elementary level
English is the language of international communication in many areas of life: trade, diplomacy, tourism, sport and entertainment. At present English is the most important of the world’s languages. In number of speakers it ranks second. That’s why many people in our country study English as a second language. They study it to read and understand books in the original and to be able to speak. Speaking is considered by many as the main objective of language learning. The knowledge of spoken language will help you to express your opinions and feelings, to give and receive information, to say what you want to say, to listen and understand recorded tapes. Studying of foreign languages enriches the native language, makes it clearer, more flexible and expressive. It gives the great opportunity to compare two languages, to understand the mentality of another nation.
Knowledge of a foreign language opens up a whole new world to the one who possesses it. It is like the ship bearing explorers to new continents. Studying of English becomes an absolute necessity for any good specialist – an engineer, a manager or a secretary.
Language learning in early childhood and teaching English to children of elementary level
Early childhood bilingualism is a reality for millions of children throughout the world. Some children learn multiple languages from earliest childhood, others acquire additional languages when go to school. The acquisition and maintenance of more than one language can open doors to many personal, social and economic opportunities.
Children who learn more than one language from earliest childhood are referred to as “simultaneous bilinguals”. There is a considerable body of research on children`s ability to learn more than one language in their earliest years. We sometimes hear people express the opinion that it is too difficult for children to cope with two languages. They fear that children will be confused or will not learn either language well. However, there is little support for the myth that “learning more than one language in earlychildhood is a problem for children”<sup>1</sup>. Although some studies show minor early delays for simultaneous bilinguals, there is no evidence that learning two languages substantially slows down their linguistic development or interferes with cognitive and academic development. Indeed many simultaneous bilinguals achieve high levels of proficiency in both languages.
Ellen Bialystok and other developmental psychologists have found convincing evidence that bilingualism can have positive effects abilities that are related to academic success, such as metalinguistic awareness. Limitations that may be observed in the circumstances in which each language is learned than to any limitation in the human capacity to learn more than one language. For example, if one language is heard much more often than the other or is more highly valued in the community, that language may eventually be used better than, or in preference to the other. There may be reason to be concerned, however, about situations where children cut off from their family language when they are very young.
Lily Wong Fillmore observed that, “when children are submerged in a different language for long periods in pre-school or day care, their development of the family language may be slowed down or stalled before they have developed an age-appropriate mastery of the new language. Eventually they may stop speaking the family language altogether”.<sup>2</sup>
Wallace Lambert called this loss of one language on the way to learning another “subtractive bilingualism”. It can have negative consequences for children`s self-esteem and their relationships with family members are also likely to be affected such early loss of the family language. In these cases, children seem to continue to be caught between two languages. They have not mastered the one language, and they have not continued to develop the other ³. During the transition period they may fall behind in their academic learning. Unfortunately, the solution educators sometimes propose to parents is that they should stop speaking the family language at home and concentrate instead on speaking the school language with their children.
Linguist Noam Chomsky challenged old ideas about language acquisition in his first book, “Syntactic Structure”, published in 1957. He rejects the notion that all language must be learned a fresh by each child. Chomsky says, normal children everywhere are born with a kind of hard-wired syntax that enables them to grasp the basic working of language. The child then chooses the particular grammar and language of the environment from the available options in the brain.
Thus the capacity for language is a biological inheritance and specific languages are then activated largely through the child`s interaction with the native environment. It`s as if the child`s brain is a CD player already set to “play” language, when the CD for a certain language is inserted, that is the language that the child learns.⁴
If you are trying to teach English to small kids, the good news is children are incredibly adapted to learning languages, and grammar structures Visualise the actions/meaning as you are saying it. This takes the process to a whole another level as you are now enlisting another part of the brain,which has been shown by scientific testing to be a powerful mechanism to assist memory. Also, if you look closely at the “stir” example, have used 3 forms of the word stir –stir, stirs & stirring. We have now given this verb a grammatical workout! At first, this might seem to beoverkill for one wordbut believe me the effort is well worth it. Why? Because you are retraining your brain to work in different ways. Great language learners do thiskind of work instinctively. That is where we want you to get to , so you can do this on the run as it were. But first as with any new skill, you first need to train yourself, a step at a time. Do this with as many new words as you have time to (at least once a day)and you will see thatonce you get the hang of it, you will become faster in coming up with the sentences. Eventually you won’t need to write down anything. You will be in fact be training your mind to work in the new language, not just translating or whatever else youhave been doing. Undoubtedly, you remember the teaching strategies your instructors used for vocabulary: you would copy down definitions into notebooks and then for homework rewrite each word for what felt like a million times.We can probably all agree that passive learning is not an effective teaching strategy to instruct vocabulary. Students need multiple exposures to a word before they can fully understand it. They also need to learn new words in context by reading. Teachers can emphasize active processing by having students connect new meanings to words they already know. The more exposures students have to a word, the better chance that they will remember it.
Here are five vocabulary instruction strategies to use with elementary students.
1. Word Detective
The most valuable thing that you can do to increase your students’ vocabulary is to encourage them to read. Wide reading is the main path way for word acquisition. This activity enables students to see words in different contexts, therefore deepening their knowledge. It requires students to find new words as they encounter them in their daily reading. Here’s how word detective works: The teacher gives students a list of key words to search for. Students are to write each target word and its sentence on a sticky note, then place it on their desk each time ithey encounter a keyword.
At the end of each school day, devote a few minutes to reading each sticky note. You can even make a game out it by assigning each word a point.
2. Semantic Map
A semantic map is a graphic organizer that helps students visually organize the relationship between pieces of information. Researchers have identified this strategy as a great way to increase students’ grasp of vocabulary words. Sematic mapping can be used as a prereading activity to active prior knowledge, or to introduce key words. As a post-reading activity, it can be used to enhance understanding by adding new concepts to the map. Here’s how it works: The teacher decides on a key word and writes it on the front board. Students then read the key word and are asked to think about other words that come to mind when they read the word. Students then make a list of all of the words. Students share the recorded words, then as a class the words are categorized. Once category names are assigned, a class map is created and discussed. Students are then encouraged to suggest additional categories for the map or add to the old ones. Any new words that relate to the topic are added to the map as students read through the text.
3. Word Wizard
Cooperative learning is an effective way for students to learn and process information. The jigsaw learning technique is a quick and effective way for students to work with their peers while learning key vocabulary words. For this activity, each student is responsible for learning three new words and teaching those words to their group. Here’s how it works: The teacher divides students into groups. Each student in the group is responsible for learning three new words in the chapter. Each “word wizard” is instructed to write the definition of the word in his/her own words as well as draw an illustration of the word. After each “word wizard” has completed their task, it is their job to come back to their group and teach their peers what they have learned. Each group member can copy the new words that they learn from each member in their notebooks.
4. Concept Cube
A concept cube is a great strategy to employ word parts. Students receive a paper divided into six equal squares. On each of the squares students are instructed to write down one of the following:
Vocabulary word
Antonym
Synonym
Category it belongs to essential characteristics. Example: Students then cut, fold and tape the paper to make a cube. Then, with a partner, they roll their cube and must tell the relationship of the word that lands on top to the original vocabulary word.