Teaching Young Language Learners, Second Edition

they may also be ready for freer writing. This can start with filling in captions in speech bubbles in a group cartoon story, or writing instructions, scripts, shopping lists, recipes, and puzzles, or simple diaries or blogs

For English native-speaker children

In these games, children communicate with other game players by typing in messages, and they read instructions as well as authentic messages using their limited English

Teachers can equip learners with useful classroom language such as ‘It’s your turn’

In scripted drama activities, learners can combine rote-learned lines and creativity.

Activities such as taking on new identities and talking to a finger puppet, acting out a character, or joining in a group performance all carry various benefits

CLIL is described as the 4C framework, bringing together Content, Communication, Cognition, and Culture

English is timetabled for about two hours a week,

or giving instructions in a PE lesson in English

example, when teaching children about magnets it is a good idea to start with language they already have for describing magnetic phenomena, such as ‘pull together’ or ‘pull apart’, and then introduce formal terms such as ‘attract’ and ‘repel’. New terms and concepts are introduced with careful attention to both content and language. This is the very basis on which CLIL is built, as will be discussed in Chapter 4.