The excitement to learn ICT created by the lecturer in the previous lesson drove me to the second class on time. We were informed that we got some ‘office job’ to do but before that, we are asked to read and comprehend Chapter 1.
Chapter 1 addressed six characteristics, skills and instincts, pupils bring with them to language classroom. The first characteristic is children’s ability to grasp learning. According to Susan Halliwell, children start to learn to understand non-verbal cues much earlier before they learn language. They learn how to interpret message or instruction by adults to them by non-verbal cues and develop language ability later. Therefore, she suggested second language teachers to expose children to the language so that they will learn the second language as they learn their first language. In my opinion, I believe children will pick up language if they are constantly exposed to it because all language shares some common features. But, the pupils may need some help from teachers to correct their misconceptions.
Second features of young language learners are they are creative in using limited language resources. They may make-up their own vocabulary and rules. We, as teachers, should understand their journey of exploring language and guide them. We also need to create the urge to communicate in them and ensure that their learning environment is safe because humanists believes that success in learning only occurs when learners have positive attitude to learning.
The third quality that pupils bring to their classroom is their capacity for indirect learning. Susan believes that language learning need not only takes place through direct learning but also indirect learning. I agree with Susan because as Krashen suggested in Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis (monitor Model 1982) pupils can learn and acquire the language. Acquisition will take place with no conscious attention on learning whereas learning occurs through conscious attention to form and rule of learning. Therefore, real work should be set so that learning and acquisition take place.
The fourth trait of young language learners are their instinct for play and fun. We, teachers should understand their nature of liking play and fun and manipulate it so that learning tales place in the best condition. We can use games to teach language.
The fifth attribute of pupils is their imagination. Children are rich in their imagination and creativeness. Therefore, we as teachers should design activities which promote their imagination and ask them to share their ideas so that they develop their language white communicating their thoughts.
The last characteristic pupils bring with them into language classroom is their instinct for interaction and talk. Since we are aware that children love to talk, we should vary the mode of interaction in the classroom so that we encourage them to use the language and would not have a hard time managing them.
Then, the office work started. We were asked to segregate our seniors’ assignments according to the topics we are going to learn starting from next week. There are all together five topics namely internet skills, video editing, audio editing, picture editing and software. Out of these five topics, I would say that I have only mastered half of the internet skills. Therefore, I have a lot more to learn and I am eagerly waiting to conquer ICT so that I can utilize the knowledge in preparing my teaching aids later.
