Teaching English as a Foreign Language 1 (CJP/E-TE1)

NOTICE: The validity of the information on this page has expired.


  • 8 credits
  • Lecturer: Mgr. Ivona Cindlerová, Mgr. Slavomíra Klimszová, Ph.D.
  • Lessons (Lectures + Exercises + Seminars): 0 + 2 + 0 [hours/week]
  • Semester: Winter
  • Credit test preceding examination: None
  • Requirements: Participation in the lectures
  • Teaching method: Lectures, observations, reflection tasks
  • Registration for examination: Written application
  • Requirements for examination: Active participation in seminars
  • Examination method: Teaching practice portfolio assessed
  • Status of the course in study program: The course is a part of the study program Primary Teacher Education and is provided by the Centre of Foreign Language.

Annotation:

The course provides theoretical background to how children learn, with a special emphasis on acquiring and learning languages at an early age. Students will get experience in observing primary English classes in local schools. They are expected to analyze what they have learned and experienced in relation to the theoretical assumptions.

Aims and objectives:

The course aims to introduce students to the principles of foreign language education at an early age, with an insight into how education is organized in the Czech Republic and abroad.

The student will be able to:

  • understand the key didactic issues in terms of  foreign language teaching of Young Learners (role of a teacher, role of a learner, interaction, vocabulary/grammar teaching, individual approaches, communicative language skills etc.).
  • use effective visual aids professionally to encourage Young Learners' motivation.
  • use various didactic techniques and strategies.
  • analyse and evaluate his/her teaching practice.
  • use communicative and interactional competence in a foreign language in accordance with the professional skills of a foreign language teacher at B1.2 level according to the European Language Portfolio.

Topics of seminars:

  1. Being a teacher – teacher's roles and classroom interaction (qualities of a good teacher, what roles you can adopt and what are their effects on classroom management and interaction patterns).
  2. Learner, learning styles, learning strategies (individual differences: learning styles and strategies, success in language learning - good language learner studies).
  3. Teaching heterogeneous classes (teaching young learners - characteristic features of young learners, individual differences, differentiated teaching).
  4. Language and language learning - communicative approach to language teaching
    (features of communicative competence, implications for TEFL).
  5. Ways of teaching and reviewing vocabulary (what is meant by "knowing a word", techniques of presentation and practice, learning strategies which can facilitate vocabulary recall and use).
  6. Approaches to teaching grammar (covert and overt grammar teaching, implications for teaching young learners, ways of  teaching grammar - inductive and deductive, your approach).
  7. The lesson (structure, objectives, lesson plans, self-evaluation sheets, classroom language, important considerations in planning classes, teaching heterogeneous classes, evaluating lessons).
  8. Review of principles of communicative language learning and teaching in relation to young learners.

Literature:

  • SLATTERY, M., WILLIS, J. English for Primary Teachers. Oxford: OUP, 2003. ISBN 0-19-437563-3.
  • RIES, L., KOLLÁROVÁ, E. (eds.). Svět cizích jazyků / Svet cudzích jazykov DNES. Bratislava: Didaktis, 2004. ISBN 80-89160-11-5.
  • SCOTT, W., YTREBERG, L.H. Teaching English to Children. London: Longman, 1990. ISBN 0-582-74606-X.
  • HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 1991. ISBN 0-582-09133-0.
  • DUNN, O. Beginning English with Young Children. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0-333-33307-1.
  • DUNN, O. Developing English with Young Learners. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1993. ISBN 0-333-35335-8.
  • DOFF, A. Teach English: A Training Course for Teachers. Cambridge: CUP, 1988. ISBN 0-521-34863-3.

Updated: 18. 11. 2022