Teaching Efl To Young Children : With Reference To Private Primary Schools

Résumé: The teaching of English as a foreign language is now in many places in the world expanding into primary schools. In our country private primary schools are offering such an opportunity to their pupils on the big request of parents, on the premise that those children will need the language of science and technology which will open the door for many opportunities in their future careers. The current study, a total of four chapters, examines the EFL teaching process to young children at a private primary school. In fact, the teaching of young learners who are at the same time true beginners requires an understanding of children and knowledge appropriate for the subject group. In order to provide an adequate teaching, teachers should take in consideration many factors that are directly related to children, namely, their age, level, physical and cognitive development and interests. Bearing all this in mind, this work is an attempt to provide necessary information about EFL teaching to primary school children. In fact, it is an attempt to find out the appropriate methodology for the young beginners which would be helpful in designing activities suitable to children. Being knowledgeable in the related field is of great help in selecting techniques that fit the learners’ nature. For this purpose, this work is presented through four chapters. The first chapter deals with child development and language learning, starting from first language acquisition to foreign language learning. Focus is at the level of primary setting and then on private primary school where the current study takes place. The second chapter is an attempt to argue about the benefits of an early start to foreign language learning. These benefits are interrelated to the importance of EFL to the country as well as to the child. In the third chapter, one tries to find out the methodology that fits the age of the young beginners and their interests. It is through the implementation of four methods in the classroom with four groups from the same grade (third year pupils). A test will follow in order to establish a comparison between the obtained results and come up at an answer of the present study. The fourth chapter is devoted to some suggestions and recommendations that can be helpful for an effective foreign language teaching to young children. It concerns mainly the teacher, the techniques to be applied, the Eclectic Method, the textbook, the classroom atmosphere, and assessment.

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