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MASARYK UNIVERSITY

PEDAGOGICAL FACULTY

Department of English Language and Literature

Presenting Grammar to Children

Diploma Thesis

Brno 2008

Supervisor: Mgr. Ivana Hrozková Written by: Marie Barešová

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Bibliografický záznam

BAREŠOVÁ, Marie. Presenting Grammar to Children: diplomová práce. Brno:

Masarykova univerzita, Fakulta pedagogická, Katedra pedagogiky, 2008. 77 l., 13 l. příl.

Vedoucí diplomové práce Mgr. Ivana Hrozková.

Anotace

Diplomová práce se zabývá problematikou prezentace anglické gramatiky dětem na 1.

stupni ZŠ. První část diplomové práce popisuje podrobně žáky, kteří se začínají učit

anglický jazyk na 1. stupni ZŠ, požadavky, které jsou kladeny na osobnost učitele a rozdíly

mezi dvěma základními přístupy k výuce gramatiky žáků 1. stupně ZŠ. V druhé části je

pozornost zaměřena na konkrétní aktivity ve výuce anglické gramatiky žáků 1. stupně ZŠ.

Annotation

The diploma thesis deals with problems of presenting grammar to young language learners.

The first part of the thesis describes the young language learners in more detail,

requirements that are placed on the teacher´s personality and difference between covert

grammar teaching and overt grammar teaching. The second one addicts to concrete

activities for teaching grammar to young language learners.

Klíčová slova

Žák učící se cizí jazyk, osobnost učitele, řízení třídy, výuka gramatiky, activity napříč

kurikulem, dramatické aktivity, aktivity procvičující gramatiku

Key words

Young language learners, the personality of a teacher, classroom management, teaching

grammar, cross-curricular activities, drama activities, grammar activities

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I declare that I wrote this diploma thesis myself, under the kind supervision of Mgr. Ivana

Hrozková, and I used only the literature listed at the end of it.

Brno, July 19, 2008 Marie Barešová

.........................

I would like to thank Mgr. Ivana Hrozková for her professional help and patient access.

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Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 4

2. Young language learners ....................................................................................... 6

2.1 Characterization of young language learners ............................................................6

2.2 The personality of a teacher ......................................................................................8

2.3 Classroom management ............................................................................................9

2.4 Teaching grammar ...................................................................................................12

3. Presenting grammar to young language learners ............................................. 23

3.1 General introduction ...............................................................................................23

3.2 Cross-curricular activities .......................................................................................24

3.3 Drama activities ......................................................................................................30

3.4 Grammar activities ................................................................................................. 43

4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 61

5. Literature ...............................................................................................................62

6. Appendices ............................................................................................................ 64

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1. Introduction

Children need to play. It is motivating when they can experience language learning as a

game full of adventures, surprises and fun because there are some individuals who learn

the foreign languages easily and without any problems but those less talented ones could

start to be afraid of language learning very soon. Through games young language learners

learn lots of foreign words joyfully, naturally, very often also unconsciously without any

force and they understand the rules of basic grammar.

The first meeting with foreign language learning in a preschool and a school education is

very often determining for further motivation and feeling like learning. If a small child

overworks by a stressing deluge of new words and he or she worries about complicated

grammatical rules which are moreover very complicated with a distinction in a spoken and

a written language form, then he or she stops looking forward to foreign language learning.

That known, unlikely and dragged conflict between parents and a child and after that

between a teacher and a child starts. The fears of learning and the aversion for cooperation

are removed with difficulty in following age.

So that motivation is very important for prosperous foreign language learning. For small

children drama, movement and pantomime games are the best activities which help

children to acquire a foreign language naturally. Learning by all the senses helps young

language learners to touch a new unknown language and not to be afraid of it. All games

develop children´s curiosity and creativity.

I belong to the teachers solving the problem how and why to teach English grammar and

how to present it to small language learners. Therefore I have decided to write my diploma

thesis about presenting English grammar to young language learners. I pay main attention

to the drama class, cross-curricular activities and game-like activities in general.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is theoretical and the second one is

practical.

The first one describes the young language learners in more detail, especially the

specification of their process of learning. I would also like to demonstrate requirements

that are placed on the teacher´s personality owing to it.

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And last but not least I would like to refer to what is grammar with a view to covert and

overt grammar teaching and the difference between these two concepts of presenting

grammar items, and to the role of grammar in foreign language teaching and learning

above all to young learners.

In the second part of the work I would like to addict to cross-curricular activities, drama

activities and game-like activities with a view to their role in the process of teaching

grammar to young language learners.

In appendices there are concrete samples of young language learners´ products. These

products resulted up from the process of learners´ absorbing grammar.

I have read many methodology books and I have piloted a lot of grammar activities and

procedures, found in books or devised by myself. I am sure of this diploma thesis will help

me in my future profession.

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2. Young language learners

2.1 Characterization of young language learners

“Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to

be always and forever explaining things to them.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900 – 1944)

“The Little Prince” (1943)

Foreign language teaching differs in different countries all over the world, and children

start foreign language learning at different ages. Nowadays, in the Czech Republic English

language teaching is compulsory from the third form of lower school. The way small

children learn a foreign language, and the way how to teach them depends on their

developmental stage. This begs the question: What are the children like as learners?

The children develop in many different ways. Some children develop early, some later.

Some children develop gradually, others in leaps and bounds. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990: 1)

But all children develop quickly as individuals. Young learners do not enter the language

classroom without any facility. According to Halliwell (1992) they bring with them their

own instincts, skills and experiences which help them to learn a foreign language.

Slattery and Willis (2001) claim that children learn in a variety of ways that means they

learn through watching, through listening, through imitating what they see or hear, through

doing various activities or games. To put it simply, children learn by all their senses and

they very often make use of their imagination. On the other hand they are not able to

understand grammatical rules and language explanations. They tempt to understand

language situation by using non-verbal clues. They usually interpret sense of what they

hear or read very well without necessarily understanding the particular words. Intonation,

gestures, facial expressions, actions and other circumstances help them in determining

what the particular word or phrase probably means. Even when their topical foreign

language vocabulary is limited they use it creatively. In this way they start to understand

what was said. Initially they talk in their mother tongue about what they do, of course – it

helps them to feel in safety. It does not matter because the teacher is able to answer the

question said in the mother tongue in English and he or she is also able to recast the mother

tongue question in English.

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From the time they are born small children hear a lot of sounds. They play with them,

practise making them and they are able to imitate the sounds they hear from teacher or

other adult. Owing to it young children say what they hear others saying. (Slattery, Willis

2001: 10) They revel in talking.

Children are naturally curious, of course. They love a lot of variety of games, especially

those where they apply their imagination. They feel in safety with routines and repetitive

things. Unfortunately young learners have a short concentration span and so they need to

change activities which they do. A small child spends long hours absorbed in an activity

that is really interesting for him or her. With an attractive toy or a teaching aid children

seem not to get bored for long days. From this point of view it looks very easy to motivate

young learners. On the other hand it is easy to lose their motivation. Thus, the teacher must

change activities and doing things during the lesson and new and new interesting learning

motives he or she has to afford to children. Monotonous activities are quite unnecessary.

Small children are very spontaneous, and they can do or say whatever occurs to them.

Sometimes it can be contributed for the teaching but sometimes it can be destructive. It is

necessary to remark that sometimes the lesson where the things go quite differently than

the teacher has planned seems to be very successful. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990)

According to Slattery and Willis (2001), a small child does not have mastery his or her

own mother tongue, he or she has not formed its vocabulary yet. And the children´s

thinking also develops in this period. Therefore a teacher has to allow for this fact when he

or she is thinking about English language teaching.

At this developmental stage children also begin to understand the differences between the

real world and the imaginary world. They comprehend action logically – what event is

mentioned first happens first. They know that the world is governed by rules. They may not

always understand the rules, but they know that they are there to be obeyed, and the rules

help to nurture a feeling of security. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990: 2)

Scott and Ytreberg (1990) also refer to fact that some small children are satisfied with

doing things alone but in the company of other people. These children can be self-centred

and they are not interested in someone else´s opinion. And others are able to work with

other children and they share learning process with them. They learn each other and do

things together.

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Children´s thinking differs from adults´ one. Children do not always understand what

adults are talking about. Adults do not always understand what children are talking about.

(Scott, Ytreberg 1990: 3) The difference consists in various ways of investigation because

the adults do it by asking questions and children do not ask in adults´ way but they ask

about anything all the time. To put it simply they understand in their own manner and it

usually lasts them longer. On this spot it is also necessary to remark the small children are

very sincere in their own action because they say directly what they like and what they do

not like doing, which activity captivates them and which activity does not. They very often

prefer indirect learning to direct learning.

Practice also demonstrates that small children are very vulnerable and they need adults´

support and encouragement – it is quite necessarily. They long for reward for their effort

and results in any actions. A praise and an encouragement is the best motivation for their

further work and the feeling like learning. No less than reward their teacher´s opinion and

also their parents´ opinion are vital for young children. Therefore, co-operation between

their teacher and their parents is very important for children.

2.2 The personality of a teacher

“No printed word nor spoken plea

Can teach young minds what they should be.

Not all the books on all the shelves

But what the teachers are themselves.” Rudyard Kipling

As it was mentioned in the previous part of the work language teaching to young learners

is very specific especially in teacher´s attitude towards the young language learners. It

means that teacher´s personality is one of the key factors which influences process of

language learning and also children´s attitude to it.

Scott and Ytreberg (1990) say that it is advisable when a teacher of young learners is

patient, adaptable, open-minded, high-principled, professional, having a sense of humour

and so on. Children learning a foreign language or any other subject need to know that the

teacher likes them. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990: 9) The teacher should not forget about telling

their pupils that he or she likes children´s work or their performing a task.

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Small children feel better when they know that their teacher regards them and has

understanding for them and for their opinions and requirements. That means the teacher

should know and be aware of what his or her pupils can master at an individual level. The

children should feel that the teacher himself or herself is sure of what he or she does and

what he or she teaches them.

It is not less important for a teacher to concentrate his or her attention to what children say

whenever they try it. It is necessary to realize that the children will make a mistake close to

it but they should not be corrected during the communication. The mistakes should be

analysed after that, preferably in the context. In accordance with it children should be

taught not to laugh at others´ errors and they should know that everybody makes mistakes

when studying anything – it should be highlighted to one of the class rules.

Young learners´ teacher should be able to sing, draw or act. But the teacher does not have

to be an excellent musician or a professional artist. And children do not even expect it. On

the other hand the teacher can learn to draw very simple pictures, he or she can sing

without being afraid of it. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990)

A good teacher should use English during the lesson as much as possible, especially at

talking about things the children can see and listen to. He or she should narrate short

stories in English, using simple drawings and acting it. (Slattery, Willis 2001)

Teaching children is tremendously rewarding. The time spent on preparing classes that

reflect their interests and needs is time well spent, as, perhaps more than with any other

group of learners, children respond wholeheartedly to your efforts. They know instinctively

whether you enjoy working with them and whether your lessons are thoughtfully prepared:

if so, the children will respond with a similar effort. (Phillips 1993: 11)

2.3 Classroom management

A primary teacher must execute lost of actions in the classroom: the most important

ones of them are managing the class and organizing pupils´ actions. The teacher should

look for as effective as possible way of work with young language learners which

would point at advisable results in a process of a foreign language learning. The

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classroom atmosphere and the teacher´s attitude towards teaching and above all

towards the young learners influence children´s learning very much. (Phillips 1993)

If the teacher wants to get as much work as possible done, then he or she must plan the

language lesson very carefully and conscientiously. Scott and Ytreberg (1990) clarify

why good teachers plan their work:

• it is simply professional.

• it makes teacher´s work much easier and more well-arranged.

• it saves teacher´s time and that is why the teacher can use the formed plan for

the future lessons. He or she only adds his or her obtained experiences into such

formed plan.

• he or she sees how to distribute work in the classroom, how to work with the

pupils.

• it gives the teacher security and confidence.

• it allows you to use more of your energy and enthusiasm to enjoy what you´re

doing instead of worrying about what to do next, or looking at the next page of

the book. (Scott, Ytreberg 1990: 97)

• the children recognize when the lesson is well-prepared and when is not, and

they enjoy well-prepared lessons.

In each lesson routines would have their space because they enable the young children

to feel secure. The children feel that they can lean upon some certainty and that is what

the children at this age need. And last but not least row the routines save much time by

continuous explanation of new and new activities. (Phillips 1993)

In Sarah Phillips´s (1993) opinion it is very good to start a lesson for example with a

song, by checking homework, with a repetition of the previous subject matter. A warm-

up activity is also suitable for opening a lesson. These warm-up activities are necessary

for getting the children into the right frame of mind for subsequent learning, are great

for a quick vocabulary repetition before starting main lesson work. But it is possible to

use these activities in any part of a lesson, for example for changing mood or topic, for

having a rest after a part of a lesson with intense effort and concentration. Such

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activities the teachers can find in a book Five-Minute Activities by Penny Ur and

Andrew Wright (1992).

The main part of the lesson varies according to the lesson teaching disposition, but

always it should begin by informing the children of what actions they are going to do

and – according to the children´s age – what the given activity is for. Other piece of

knowledge results from that – namely that the lesson stages should be explained clearly

to the children to know when one work finishes and another begins. The teacher ought

to make sure that the pupils understand mentioned information. The children should

also be familiar with a signal which finishes an activity. As it was mentioned in

previous part of the work the teacher should use as much English as he or she can and

on the contrary the children should know when they are allowed to make use of their

mother tongue and when not. If children do some things in pairs or in groups, the

teacher should watch them, praise them and encourage – it is very important for young

learners not to lose feeling of certainty and security. The teacher ought to allow for a

contingency of being some children who are ready earlier than the others of a class and

therefore it is necessary for the teacher to have some extra materials (worksheet,

games, puzzle, reading some books etc.) ready for those children. In the opposite case a

danger the children start to be bored would threaten and the whole lesson would be

broken.

It is also necessary to leave children enough time for tidying up the classroom, when

we make mess during an activity. The educational moment set in this place – to make

the young children be responsible for their own things and for their workspace.

(Phillips 1993)

Ending a lesson well is as important as starting it well: it is often a good idea to end

with a whole activity such as chant, a song, or quick game. Alternatively, you can ask

the children what they have done and what they have learned. (Phillips 1993: 135)

Phillips (1993) emphasizes the filling of a learning lesson depends on many factors –

on the structure of the class the teacher teaches, on the children´s age and their

developmental stage, on the teacher´s experiences and attitudes and so on. There are

some useful perceptions here:

• For younger children is necessary to plan quantity of different kinds of

activities for one lesson because of their shorter concentration span. These

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changes of work during the lesson help the teacher to maintain the children´s

attention and to captivate them.

• It is better to present new vocabulary or grammar in the opening part of the

lesson, then to practise them and in the end to leave a space for some individual

activities.

• The skills work, grammar and vocabulary are important in the same way as

types of activity. Lessons with younger children should be based mostly on

listening and speaking, while those with older children can contain a mix of

skills. (Phillips 1993: 136)

• Grammar and vocabulary is useful to present by different contexts, by different

actions, and by using all the skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing).

• With young children the teacher has not any time to relax, rethink or reorganize

the lesson. He or she must have prepared the lesson really very precisely.

• If the teacher asks the pupils to bring some extra materials for a game, then he

or she must make sure whether they have really brought them – children could

forget. It follows that the children should take part in a game creation and

preparation and it heightens them self-confidence.

• Feedback activities should be included into the lesson planning. They enable

the children to participate in the process of language learning.

2.4 Teaching grammar

First the question is begged: What is grammar?

Scrivener (2003) answers this question in this way - thinking of “grammar” most of people

imagine a huge book full of explanations and grammatical rules that instruct them which

verbs have what endings, how to form and to use for example adverbs, what means

“superlative”, and suchlike. No doubt young language learners need to have this

knowledge, but it is not so important – more important ability is what they can do with it.

Young language learners´ teacher should want learners to find out how to communicate

using acquired grammatical rules and knowledge and to be able to express their ideas and

feelings and to understand what other people say or write to them.

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So here´s an important point – a learner who learns the rules in a grammar book by heart

has not “learnt grammar”. A teacher who gets learners to recite grammar rules by heart is

not “teaching grammar”. Except in exams, or related school situations, no-one will ever

come up to a student and say “Tell me about the Present perfect tense”. (Scrivener 2003:

1)

To put it simply, young language learners should find out that they need grammar for more

effective and more precise communication with other people.

Scrivener (2003) claims that young learners need in a process of learning grammar four

main things:

• To notice the grammatical item in texts, in stories, in songs, simply in context.

• To understand the form of the grammatical item – its meaning, its use, contexts in

which it may be used and so on.

• To try out the grammatical item in a concrete safe situation. Young learners need

many opportunities to practise new grammatical structures.

• To use the grammatical item when speaking and writing.

There are certainly many techniques for presenting and then for practising grammar but I

would like to aim at two basic ways of dividing the grammar.

Jeremy Harmer (1987) clarifies dividing the two basic ways in this way:

Covert grammar teaching

This manner of grammar teaching denominated also as inductive is established on fact that

grammatical rules are presented to pupils as hidden. In other words, children meet new

grammar in context and their attention is confined to concrete action and not to the

grammar as such. A teacher does not explain the grammatical rules to children directly.

This manner presupposes that the children absorb new grammar items subconsciously

during the work with a new language.

Overt grammar teaching

This manner of grammar teaching denominated also as deductive means that a teacher

explains the grammatical rules to children directly – the rules are openly presented and

explained, and they are practising with some drill and mechanical exercises.

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Which manner of grammar teaching is best for young language learners? Most of

methodologists agree on the approach which is afforded by covert grammar. That is why

this approach to the language learning is natural for children also in their mother tongue.

At the lowest level of primary school young children do not comprehend the grammatical

rules their own mother tongue nor. In their mother tongue the grammatical rules are not

presented directly as well.

In other words, a teacher should endeavour for presenting grammar to young learners by

manner which is the nearest to them, which means that the children should enjoy the

grammar learning not to lose their interest, motivation and further feeling like learning.

All the activities mentioned below are established on covert grammar teaching and they

help children not to be afraid of a foreign language learning but on the contrary to acquire

it in a natural way.

As it was mentioned in the chapter 2.1 the children like playing very much and they

recognize everything through all their senses. And therefore, various grammar practice

activities and game-like activities are very fit for foreign language learning with young

language learners. It is necessary to make use of a large number of these activities because

of children´s reduced concentration span and thence keeping their attention and motivation.

It is clear that some activities stir the pupils, which means they stimulate them. But

sometimes these actions can make them be restless and then there are activities which

settle the pupils down and calm them down. The teacher must pay attention to these actions

not to become to bore children. It follows that a choice of the right activity is not easy

affair, the whole course of a lesson is dependent on it partially. (Halliwell 1992)

A sense of humour and a sense of playing are very near each other. A game as a means of

knowledge adoption was recommended already by Comenius. He emphasizes the

importance of motivation. The pupil rightly motivated for example by game, by own

interest in some kind of action, by humour, by joke, by using of own imagination will work

more painstakingly.

The pedagogical value of games in language learning at all levels has been well

documented. Apart from their motivational value as an enjoyable form of activity, they

provide a context in which the language is embedded. This context is “authentic” in the

sense that the game creates its own world. (Lewis, Bedson 1999: 3)

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It is not only possible, but also necessary to repeat an activity or a game for several times

because of fixing of the particular grammatical structures. And the children request the

games they know and like and hence they are familiar.

Game-like activities are so popular with children because they love fun and movement and

any language game should be fun. Game-like activities involve both fun and instruction.

During a realization of a game-like activity English is a tool for the pupils to reach an

intended goal. In a course of a game-like activity the children enjoy both a co-operation

and a competition, they can use their huge imagination and creativity and very often the

children are amazingly unpredictable and also very often they can surprise the teacher by

their ideas.

Game-like activities give the children wide opportunities to recognize a foreign language

non-verbally and using the language in a natural and spontaneous way. Through a game-

like activity the small children learn to cooperate, take turns, listening to other opinions

and respect the rules generally. (Read 2007)

Some methodologists refer to unsuitability of the competitive game-like activities for very

young language learners but some other ones think that healthy competition between small

children can be very motivating for them.

In Read´s (2007) opinion language game-like activity differs from other game-like

activities by the clear rules which guide the children´s proceeding, and by its strategy –

children must develop their language, fix grammatical rules and knowledge, and also

develop different social and cognitive skills during a game-like activity. And last but not

least language game-like activity should develop children´s thoughts and abstract fancy.

What is a guarantee of a successful language game-like activity? Firstly the rules must be

formed clearly and secondly the ultimate goal of a game-like activity must be well defined.

The teacher must design a language game-like activity very carefully because the young

language learners are sincere critics and they expect the teacher answers all their questions

and helps them to solve any unexpected problem.

As it was already said planning the game-like activities depends on each teacher separately

but there are some general tips for playing game-like activities with young learners (Read

2007):

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• To keep simplicity. The simplest game-like activity is very often the best and the

children like it most of all. That means to focus only on one grammatical item and

to practise it thoroughly rather than to submit children a game-like activity

overfilled by a large number of grammatical items and rules.

• To make sure that all the pupils are join in the game-like activity and that they work

during the whole lesson because it is proved that young learners must meet and

repeat a grammar item more times to put it into the long-term memory and to

familiarize it.

• The teacher himself or herself should know how the game-like activity works

before submitting it to children. The teacher should verify whether the game-like

activity which he or she has chosen is really the most purposeful for the given

grammatical item.

• The teacher should give the young learners clear information and demonstrate

playing the game-like activity to the whole class.

• To introduce general commands for playing the game-like activity to children (for

example: It´s your turn. Look. Listen. Stand in a line., etc.) and encourage the

children to make use of them because every practical using language is useful in a

process of learning and understanding grammatical rules

• During the guided game the teacher must walk through the classroom and help and

advise the children when it is necessary. On the other hand he or she should give

the pupils space for their own ideas. The monitoring can serve a teacher as

feedback to find out how the children overrule the given grammatical structure or

rule.

• To find the right moment for finishing the game before the children lose their

interest and motivation.

• To familiarize the pupils with the names of games which are used as routines,

which are played regularly and which can be used for practising various

grammatical items.

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The young learners also like songs, chants and rhymes very much. These activities are

important for practising good pronunciation and word and sentence intonation as well. The

children love songs, chants and rhymes for their rhythm. This one is natural for them

because they meet many various rhymes and songs from their birth in the mother tongue.

The mentioned activities are unusual way how to reinforce some basic grammatical rules,

how to develop and practise vocabulary and how to remove initial children´s

apprehensions and shying. (Graham 2006)

Chanting is a great aid to memorization. Because of the enjoyment in doing chanting, it is

possible to include multiple repetition or words and phrases without the drudgery of

repetitive drills. This also aids memorization. (Graham 2006: 6)

Through rhymes, chants and songs, children can imitate individual sounds and practise

their pronunciation naturally.

Songs, chants and rhymes are not only good for English language learning but they also

make pleasure to children that means they are very favourite activities in the process of

English language learning.

Other thing which the small children love and meet it from their birth is storytelling and

stories as such. In every country, adults tell children stories and through these ones show

them life situations. “Once upon a time...” – magic formula which show in new worlds

where everything is possible, children get into the world where the normal logical rules are

not accepted, into the world where they can develop their imagination. Most children come

to school familiar with stories in their mother tongue and fairly quickly this habit into a

listening and a participating in English stories. Children enjoy the stories because they are

joyful and funny. Children not only like telling stories but they also like role playing,

miming, craft-working etc. which can succeed to listening a story.

Most of stories are intent on some theme and it can be advantageous for teacher to

motivate the children for English language learning as much as well. Stories develop

young learner´s abstract thinking and also their imagination, of course. (Wright 1995)

For adults it is sometimes astonishing that children do not mind to hear the same story

again and again and it gives teachers a great opportunity to drill and fix certain

grammatical structures. When the children hear the same story for several times, it

develops their fluency.

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Stories are also natural and enjoyable way how to practise the particular sounds, rhythm

and word and sentence intonation in English. This practising and discovering is established

on visuals, miming, gestures, voices etc. Children develop English language learning skills

(listening, speaking, writing, reading), but also those skills, such as predicting,

hypothesizing, guessing and inferring meaning. (Watts 2006)

As it was mentioned in the chapter 2.1 children concentrate for a very short time but in

Read´s (2007) opinion stories can help small children to extend their concentration span

and they also help to develop children´s emotional intelligence. Stories also provide a

springboard for a wide range of activities which develop language, thinking skills, positive

attitudes and citizenship, as well as appreciation of other cultures, or understanding of

content from other areas of the curriculum. (Read 2007: 114) As children develop

understanding, retelling, acting or creating through stories, stories are very acceptable

activities for young children´s motivation and self-confidence.

Of course, it is very important to choose various kinds of stories – traditional or modern

stories, fables, legends, fairy-tales, funny stories, biographical stories, stories from other

countries etc. (ibid)

When the teacher tells a story, he or she should make sure that each pupil can see or hear

him or her. Small children should sit on the carpet, semi-circle probably seems the best.

Maintaining frequent eye-contact with pupils during the telling stories is equally important,

it helps a teacher to keep pupils´ attention. At telling stories it is necessary to give children

a space for thinking, commenting, asking questions, expressing their feelings and so on. It

is important to show the children that a teacher enjoys the story and shares the similar

feelings as they do. (Watts 2006)

From this already mentioned stories are very fit not only for motivating young learners but

also for practising grammar, for acquiring basic grammatical knowledge and so on.

It is usually appropriate to integrate storytelling with drama because the both activities

cohere together closely.

Drama gives opportunities for exploiting all the senses, for kinaesthetic responses to stories

and for “learning by doing” in many different ways. Young learners make use of miming,

sounds, gestures and imitation to introduce their understanding and to put connect through

language and personal experiences and expressions. This helps small children to acquire

19

any foreign language in a natural and joyful way. When the children become familiar with

some story, drama activities facilitate young children to show their own understanding of

the story and to retell or perform that understood one by themselves or by using puppets.

Also drama activities influence children´s self-confidence and self-esteem. (Read 2007)

According to Sarah Phillips (1999) drama is not only about the resulting performance but it

is a part of the language learning. Young learners use their acquired language skills and

adopted grammatical rules and knowledge by involving their personalities. It gives those

children who are shy when speaking a foreign language another character to “hide

behind”. (Phillips 1999: 5) This personalization amounts any language more natural and

meaningful than making use of drill and mechanical activities for practising basic

grammatical rules.

Why is really suitable to use drama activities with young language learners? These

activities help the learners to communicate and speak, even with limited vocabulary and

limited grammatical knowledge, not to be afraid of the communication, because they can

use other means for their expressing – body movements and facial expressions. The most

important aspects which many methodologists mention as the key ones are:

• Motivation – all the children can work up the same action at several different ways

and levels so that means all the children can be successful in their work and effort.

The end result of work is evident and therefore children feel sure and they can see

clear goal in foreground of their action. Children are motivated if they are asked to

perform what they have done and if they feel that they succeed. Children are also

motivated for the next language learning because they recognize that the acquired

grammatical rules and knowledge help them to communicate effectively.

• Familiarizing – role playing is part of childhood from an early age: small children

like keeping pretending all the time. They like simulating the world of adults – they

play at shopping, at visiting the doctor, at princes and princesses, at soldiers etc.

These situations are their day-to-day activities. Children try out many different

roles in their game-like activities. As these activities are so familiar and popular

with young learners, they absorb grammar in the similar way as in their mother

tongue. They practise their language skills, emotions, imagination and creativity. A

teacher can take advantage of this child´s playing in drama activities in language

lessons for unpretentious teaching grammar.

20

• Self-confidence – children can escape from the real life and they can pretend

anybody different than they are. It is good especially for those learners who are shy

about speaking English, or who do not like group activities such as. When they

perform other role, it encourages them in their effort. Making use of puppets,

costumes or masks is also very useful for drama activities. A teacher should

encourage the learners who hold back and regulate those who are dominant –

teacher´s effort should aim to the sole goal – overruling grammatical rules by all

the learners.

• Cooperation – it is unavoidable that the children operate in groups or pairs when

they do dramatizing. Each child has his or her own function in these groups, which

means that the children take over responsibility for their own action. They must co-

operate to reach for expected results and use suggestions and opinions of all

members of the group. They encourage each other in groups during the process of

acquiring grammatical knowledge and language skills.

• Different learning manners – when young learners do dramatizing they use

different ways of thinking and processing information and each child prefers way

which is the nearest for him or her. That means that each member of a group

actively participates in given activity and he or she acquires the language by the

most appropriate way for them. Young learners aim to the same grammatical

knowledge in different ways.

• Various kinds of personalization – dramatizing allows children to add an emotion

or personality to a text that they have read or listened to. (Phillips1999: 7) A

teacher can choose any sentence, grammatical structure or short text and ask the

children to try saying it “in role”. It is surprising how the sense of the simplest

sentences (for example “What is your name? How old are you? or Where are you

from? etc.) can change according to how it is said or who says it. For example

sentence “What is your name?” changes its meaning according to if it is said by a

policeman or by Santa Claus. Young learners recall the grammatical structure said

by a favourite person better than acquired by drill and mechanical exercises. This

aspect is important for memory support.

21

• Grammar in context – drama activities are one of the best ways how to encourage

children to guess the meaning of new unknown words or grammatical items in a

context. Meaning of the words and grammatical structures is much clearer then.

• Cross-curricular frame – when a teacher decides to use drama activities then his or

her aim is probably more than language and its grammar. For dramatizing it is

possible to take a theme for example from history, culture, geography,

environmental and so on. Then drama activities run through the curriculum. In this

way children can acquire some vital messages and information for their next life

(for example from road safety, sexism, respect for other people and cultures etc.)

• Lesson pace – drama activities can bring in new better pace or mood into a

classroom. These activities are more active and therefore a teacher can use them for

making pupils more live after quiet or individual work.

(Phillips 1999)

It follows from this what was mentioned that stories and drama activities should be in a

foreground of all primary teachers´ work when they do not want to lose children´s interest

and motivation in English grammar learning.

Making use of cross-curricular activities does not always mean teaching a whole subject in

a foreign language but selecting some substantial aspects from the particular subjects

which can be exploited and developed in a foreign language teaching. One can either

develop language by choosing a topic the children are studying in their own language and

then integrating it with activities in the foreign language, or use foreign language

knowledge which they have already acquired to teach them new content of a subject in the

foreign language. (Calabrese, Rampone 2007: III)

To put it simply, any subject can be taught in mother tongue first and after that brought in

the foreign language or on the contrary. The two languages activities should complement

one another.

According to Immacolata Calabrese and Silvana Rampone (2007) the main aims of cross-

curricular teaching could be summarized in this way:

• To make use of a foreign language as a medium for learning.

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• To raise children´s motivation for a foreign language learning of for learning next

subjects through this language.

• To amend the process of foreign language learning and to obtain as good

knowledge of other subjects as possible.

• To give children chance for using a foreign language in the practice and to use it

naturally.

• To use children´s abilities, knowledge, and various skills from other spheres of life.

• To take advantage of children´s varied abilities and manner of learning.

• To create opportunities for development social skills and co-operation.

It is assumed that this approach to teaching and learning grammar affords a higher level of

resulting knowledge than a traditional one does.

As it was mentioned in the previous parts of the work children´s and adults´ ways of

thinking and learning differ from one another. For young learners is enormously important

to be allowed to see, hear and “touch” everything and therefore they need such quantity of

many various activities. It depends only on a teacher which activity he or she chooses for

concrete lesson or producing concrete grammatical rule or whether he or she creates his or

her own one.

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3. Presenting grammar to young language learners

3.1 General introduction

In the introduction of my work I have mentioned fact that I belong to the teachers solving the problem why and how to teach English grammar and primarily how to present it to young language learners. I think that I have answered the question why to teach English grammar partially in the theoretical part of the diploma thesis – I mean grammar is necessary for more effective and more precise communication and teachers should induce learners to being aware of it. The question how to teach English grammar is very complex problems. Therefore I would like to deal with this problem in the practical part of my work. It is difficult to say unambiguously which way of teaching grammar is the best for young language learners because as it was mentioned it depends on many factors influencing this process. But I am going to focus on cross-curricular activities, drama activities and game-like activities in general because I think that they are suitable for presenting grammar to young language learners.

I have piloted these activities at primary school in Potěhy (the village near the town Čáslav) at the fourth and the fifth classes.

The language group in the fourth class consisted of eleven pupils (6 girls, 5 boys). They were nine to ten years old and they have been learning English for two years. One girl of the group has diagnosed learning difficulty – dyslexia, and one girl also attended primary school in Germany. I had decided to pilot the cross-curricular activities with these children because I have been teaching them besides English also Nature Studies and Art. Weekly we had three English lessons, two Nature Studies lessons and one Art lesson, one for forty-five minutes. The young learners were outstanding listeners, they were full of enthusiasm, they were also curious about what was going to happen next lesson, what they were going to do.

The language group in the fifth class consisted of thirteen pupils (9 girls, 4 boys). They were ten to eleven years old and they have been learning English for three years. One boy has diagnosed ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Weekly we had three English lessons. The young learners were very skilful. They were indeed enormously playful, they were good listeners and they loved storytelling, it was striking how they were able to imitate others, they longed to show what they know and achieve. That is why I decided to work on the drama activities with these children.

Game-like activities in general I included in the lessons according to a grammatical item that was necessary to introduce and practise.

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3.2 Cross-curricular activities

3.2.1 My favourite food

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: whole class, groups

Language / grammar aims: present simple, interrogative pronouns (what, how, which),

talking about likes and dislikes

Materials: blackboard, chalk, exercise books, food flashcards

School subject: Nature Studies (1 lesson – 45 minutes)

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, making a bar or a pie chart according to the

answers

In class

At the preparation we revised some names of foods using flashcards, some of them I had to

introduce to children because they did not know them in English (limited vocabulary).

After that we were talking to children about the food which is usually eaten during the day,

and about the main daily meals: What do you usually have for breakfast / lunch / snack /

dinner? The children´s answers were recorded into the table (see Appendix 1). During the

conversation I accentuated the food which should not be omitted, like vegetables and fruit.

In the successive part we continued with analysing the information from the table. We used

questions like these: How many children have cocoa for breakfast? How many children

have some vegetables for lunch? Which is the most / the least popular food with you?, and

so on.

And then the children worked in groups and made a bar or a pie chart from their answers -

- for each food (see Appendix 2).

Feedback

It is quite necessary to revise vocabulary using flashcards (or in other way) first in order

“not to attach” the conversation to limited vocabulary.

I had found out how a low number of children have breakfast. That is why I explained the

necessity of breakfast not only for children at next Nature Studies lesson.

Making the bar and the pie chart represented the fewer problem for children because they

did not meet it at any lesson up to that time. Therefore it is necessary to remember it before

the beginning of work on these activities.

25

Using mother tongue was not such big problem because the needful vocabulary was

practised at the preparation.

Source: Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

3.2.2 Balanced diet

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: whole class, groups

Language / grammar aims: present simple, modal verbs

Materials: paper, crayons, food pictures, worksheets

School subject: Nature Studies, English (3 lessons, one for 45 minutes)

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, the food pyramid

In class

The children were collecting pictures of food and then they created a food poster from

these pictures which they divided into four parts – 1. cereals group, 2. fruit and vegetables

group, 3. meat and dairy products group, 4. fats and sweets group. On the basis of the

poster vocabulary was presented.

The next part of the lessons included children´s considerations about what is healthy. We

asked questions: Can this food be good or bad for you? Is this healthy? etc. We draw a

food pyramid on the board and children into their exercise books and we cleared up which

foods should be eaten in larger quantities and which ones less. We worked with hypotheses

making use of these questions and statements: What´s at the bottom of the pyramid?

What´s at the top of it? We need to eat a lot of vegetables. We cannot eat too many sweets.

etc. (see Appendix 3)

At the part which concerned a daily menu the children worked in groups and members of

these groups had to agree and write the daily menu, including breakfast, mid-morning

snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. They elaborated worksheet “Daily menu”(see

Appendix 4). There was one more task for children in this part. First they looked at the list

on the table from the first activity (My favourite food) and then they had to choose the

foods that come from plants (bread, cornflakes, apple juice etc.). After that they were asked

to form a daily menu only from these foods.

26

Children brought some fruit and vegetables from home to school and we discussed: How

do you eat carrot, banana apple etc.? Do you wash / peel it before eating? Do you eat this

raw? and so on. Then the children worked with worksheet where some various kinds of

fruit and vegetables were figured, and their task was to write the letter W next to the fruit

or vegetables they must wash before eating and the letter P next to the ones which must be

peeled (see Appendix 5). In the end some tasting of brought fruit and vegetables could not

be absent.

Feedback

The pictures for the food poster the children were collecting for about two weeks – it is

necessary to remember it.

It was interesting to monitor how different the children´s opinions concerning healthy or

unhealthy foods were. In my opinion it depends on children´s parents´ attitudes towards

these problems.

The children made use of their mother tongue above all during the work in groups.

Source: Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

3.2.3 Keeping healthy

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: brainstorming, present simple, adverbs of frequency

Materials: blackboard, chalk, paper, worksheet

School subject: Nature Studies (2 lessons – one for 45 minutes)

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language during the brainstorming, analysing the healthy

life quiz

In class

Brainstorming is suitable as preparation. In brainstorming we thought of the word “health”.

We made use of the questions and sentences What does the word “health” means for you?

Why is regular sleep important? What is healthy for you? I often do exercises. I sometimes

go for a walk.etc.

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During the further part we dealt with Healthy life quiz. In the introduction we were

discussing about our daily habits: How often do you clean your teeth? How long do you

sleep at night? I always brush my teeth .... I go to school by .... etc. Then the children got

worksheets - Healthy life quiz (see Appendix 6) and I explained to them that they needed

to read and answer the questions and then to find out their score. After that we were

discussing their lifestyle and we were learning what the best lifestyle is. In this passage we

could not forget to point out the necessity of washing hands especially because of correct

hygiene. We made use of statements like this: I have to wash my hands ..... The children

drew some pictures describing situations in which it is necessary to wash hands and they

labelled them: I have to wash my hands after playing with animals. and so on (see

Appendix 7).

Feedback

During the brainstorming the children sometimes expressed their thoughts in their mother

tongue as I had presupposed. I think limited English vocabulary caused it.

Correct using the adverbs of frequency made the children less trouble and it follows that it

is necessary to centre on these adverbs at English lessons.

During the analysing the healthy life quiz I did not note any more problems. A large

number of children had the score: Congratulations! You are a very healthy boy/girl – they

were very satisfied and happy.

Source: Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

3.2.4 ICT

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: pairs

Language / grammar aims: present simple, imperative

Materials: PC, Excel and PowerPoint programs

School subject: ICT – optional subject (3 lessons – one for 45 minutes)

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language

In class

Children were working out the information from the activity “My favourite food” and they

made a pie chart describing frequency of foods for breakfast (bread, cakes, milk, tea etc.).

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We created a PowerPoint presentation which included information received during our

work on this theme. We inserted captions in each slide and illustrated them by pictures.

Slide 1: Eat a lot of vegetables and fruit! Slide 7: Don´t watch television for too

Slide 2: Brush your teeth regularly! long time!

Slide 3: Always wash your hands before a meal! Slide 8: Do exercise every day!

Slide 4: Don´t drink too many sweet drinks! Slide 9: Have a shower or a bath

Slide 5: Don´t eat too many sweets and fats! regularly!

Slide 6: Go to bed early! Slide 10: Eat breakfast every day!

Slide 11: Play outside in fresh air!

This presentation was produced to other classes and published on the school website.

Feedback

For this activity it is quite necessary for children to master work in programs Excel and

PowerPoint.

Source: Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

3.2.5 Art activities

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: affirmative and negative questions and answers, describing

pictures

Materials: paper, crayons, food pictures, worksheet

School subject: Art (1 lesson – 45 minutes)

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, own creating faces by using fruit and vegetables

In class

In our art lesson we were inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo´s painting “Vertumnus

(Autumn) and first we were discussing: What can you see in this painting? Can you see

any foods? Can you see plants? What colour are they? etc. After that the children

themselves were painting or drawing similar pictures making use of plants, vegetables and

fruit. After creating their pictures the children were describing the pictures: In this picture

there are two red apples as ears ...... . It is a ..... and suchlike (see Appendix 8).

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Feedback

At lower levels, it could be difficult for children to paint or draw shapes of vegetables /

fruit slices. That is why it is better way to distribute the children drawn outlines of cut

vegetables / fruit (some “colouring book”) and the children colour and cut out them and

then they use them for their own creating “vegetables / fruit pictures”.

Source: Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

3.2.6 End assessment

As assessment what children have learnt I used extra worksheets:

• Healthy food – the children got a table with boxes including various kinds of foods.

Children´s task was to colour the foods which are healthy for them (see Appendix

9).

• I am healthy when I do this – sentences with some statements about our health.

Children inserted adverbs of frequency (always, sometimes, never) into the

sentences according to how often they do the thing (see Appendix 10).

3.2.7 Evaluation of cross-curricular activities

The children were interested in the themes included in these activities as much as I

expected it. The children are surrounded by these things every day, and, certainly, they talk

about them with their parents. They endeavoured for speaking English as much as they

were able even if they knew that they were allowed to express more difficult things and

thoughts in their mother tongue. On the contrary they wanted to learn saying an unknown

word in English. The children spoke about their experiences very gladly. According to my

presumption they enjoyed the presentation of their work by PowerPoint program very

much.

The children did not learn not only much new information from Nature Studies, Art and

ICT but they also improved their English a little bit. They also acquired some basic

grammatical rules unconsciously – above all imperative, interrogative pronouns, modal

verbs, adverbs of frequency, describing something.

It is necessary to pay attention to the classroom managing above all in the situations when

the children discuss their own experiences. In these moments it is sometimes necessary to

help them with regulating the discussion.

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I think the themes mentioned above were proved competent and cross-curricular activities

are very appropriate way how to exploit English for teaching other school subjects, and

conversely how to exploit other school subjects and their themes for teaching English.

Though the statement that a common textbook is able to afford children very good

knowledge is certainly truthful, I think that activities like the cross-curricular ones are very

natural for children and they develop children´s language and other skills more effectively.

The experiences acquired during the cross-curricular activities reassure me that the

children need to experience any new language through meaningful and cheerful activities,

above all through those which include things and actions connected with children´s

everyday life. Now I am also sure that it is better to let the children familiarize with the

new language naturally than draw them through a “long language way” in which finish

most of children do not know what and why they did and the foreign language is obscure

in the same way as at the beginning.

The children´s Portfolio persuaded me that activities stated above are suitable for

presenting grammar to young language learners. In the Portfolio the children reflected their

individual learning, their experiences with learning and the concrete language and other

skills reached during this process of teaching and learning - for example: I have learnt .... I

liked / I did not like.... I could have done better .... I worked.... etc. (see Appendix 11).

Such English teaching “interlaced” with other subjects probably demands more teacher´s

preparation but, in my opinion, the children´s results and satisfied faces are worth the

effort.

3.3 Drama activities

“Let´s guide pupils to the knowledge rather by the short and effective way than to guide

them on the ways which are lengthy and difficult. We learn each language rather by

practical using than by rules. At last the theatre is the true image of life and through the

play on a stage is also preparation for life.”

Comenius

The story for home reading was an initial text for our drama activities. The text is in the

textbook for the fourth class of primary school, authors Eva Lacinová and collective (see

Appendix 12). It is established on the basic grammar – to be, to have, can, there is / there

31

are, present simple and present continuous,then it is centred on the grammatical items of

young language learners of primary school. The story describes events from real life of

young learners´ contemporaries.

3.3.1 Story words

Age: 10 – 11

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: vocabulary, present simple, perhaps, maybe

Materials: toys, textbooks

Time: 1 lesson – 45 minutes

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, the third person singular, shouting each other

down

In class

I introduced and wrote a set of key words from the first part of the story on the board:

brother and sister, gamekeeper, housewife, animals, cave, stranger. I made use of real toys

to illustrate these words. Then I asked the children to judge what they think was going to

happen in the story based on the words stated on the board. The children´s suggestions

were for example: The gamekeeper and the housewife are brother and sister. / They have

some animals in the cave. / I think a stranger lives in a cave in the wood. / A stranger is a

gamekeeper. / Perhaps there is a treasure in the cave. and so on. I encouraged the children

to join in giving the predictions actively with gestures, voices and removing the toys.

After these predictions I read the story and the children listened to it first and then they

read the story themselves to compare the “real” story with their predictions.

Feedback

This activity was important for developing the children´s imagination and for expressing

own thoughts and ideas – it is necessary for gradual introducing drama activities. In some

cases, the children´s suggestions were more surprising than I expected. This confirms the

hypothesis that the children´s way of thinking and the adults´ one are very different. In

spite of the children´s vocabulary was limited they endeavoured for expressing their

predictions in English.

I verified that children understand very easily the third person singular of verbs to be and

to have (is, has) – I think they learn them as the single words. But they make mistakes in

32

the –s forms of other verbs all the time. To put it simply they forgot about the ending in

common communication.

The shouting each other down I solved that way the children passed on the small shell each

other. The simple rule was given – only the child was allowed to speak who held the small

shell.

Source: Carol Read (2007)

3.3.2 In the wood

Age: 10 – 11

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: present simple, modal verb can

Materials: textbooks

Time: 1 lesson – 45 minutes

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, too noise, other sounds than the wood ones,

children´s safety

In class

First I asked the children to close their eyes and imagine they are in the wood. Then I

talked them: It is a very nice and sunny day and you can hear the birds singing in the trees

– twitter, twitter, twitter ... The wind is gently blowing through the trees – rustle, rustle,

rustle ... There is water in a brooklet splashing over the stones – trickle, trickle, splash,

splash ... Insects are buzzing in the air – buzz, buzz, buzz ...

Then I said to the children not to open their eyes and that they were going to make noises

from the wood themselves. So the children let their eyes closed and I started the activity by

saying: Let´s go back to the wood now! The children started making their wood noises.

After about a minute, I stopped the noises by saying: The wood is quiet now! Children

stopped making their noises and opened their eyes.

I followed the positive atmosphere created with asking the children to imagine they are

wood animals – they had to demonstrate the chosen animal and to say what they could and

could not do, for example: I am a hare. I can jump but I cannot fly., demonstrating

jumping.

At the end of the lesson we read the second part of the story in the children´s textbooks.

33

Feedback

I was surprised how convincing atmosphere of the wood was created by the children.

It is important that children respect the rules of not making other noises expect the ones in

the drama. I think my introduction words were important for creating the given

atmosphere, so the children put themselves in the place of being in the wood and they did

not have the ideas to make other noises than the wood ones.

During demonstrating the animals it is necessary to pay attention to children´s safety. That

is why it is necessary to rebuild the desks and the chairs to make bigger space.

Such simple drama activities like this one prepare children for doing more complex

activities. They start to accustom to using drama techniques.

Czech language was not such a big problem because the children demonstrated the word

which they could not say in English – I or the other learners said the word in English.

Using the indefinite article in the sentences (I am A hare.) was problem because the

children forgot about it. I think correct using of articles is very complex problem in

common, not only for young language learners, and it is necessary to practise it during

each suitable occasion.

Source: Carol Read (2007)

3.3.3 Aping

Age: 10 – 11

Organization: pairs

Language / grammar aims: present continuous, there is / there are

Materials: textbooks

Time: 1 lesson – 45 minutes

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language, too warm-up activity

In class

This activity followed the reread second part of the story so the children were familiar with

it.

I divided the children into pairs (pupil A and pupil B). I asked them to stand face to face

with their partner. Then I explained to them that each child A was going to mime a

character (a person or an animal) in the story and child B was going to copy (to ape) his or

34

her partner´s mime as closely as possible and to say what he or she mimes. I gave them an

example: There is a man at the cave. The man is roasting a sausage over the fire. and I

demonstrated it myself.

The children changed their roles after each mime.

Feedback

It was very funny to observe the children´s mimes. Some of them were well-considered in

the minutest detail.

It is necessary to monitor the class and to give positive feedback to the children who work

well and to encourage the shy ones. I made use of the puppet. The puppet praised the well-

working children by saying, for example: Excellent! You are like twins! It encouraged the

shy children by “aping” itself and saying, for example: Try it as I do.

I think miming is a useful way of recycling story language and it helps children to insert

the acquired grammatical knowledge in their long-term memory. They repeated only two

basic grammatical structure and this repetition had combined with movement and joyful

action, natural for them. So the anticipated difficulty – too warm-up activity – was rather

contribution for learning grammar. At first only distinguishing between singular and plural

made trouble some children – I mean distinguishing between there is / there are and is –

ing / are –ing. But as it was mentioned the repetition of the grammatical structure

combined with joyful action removed the inconsistency gradually.

Source: Carol Read (2007)

3.3.4 Still images

Age: 10 – 11

Organization: groups, whole class

Language / grammar aims: present simple

Materials: board, chalk

Time: 1 lesson – 45 minutes

Anticipated difficulties: Czech language during determining the key scenes, time limit

In class

I asked the children to think of the key scenes of the story. I wrote them on the board: Ken,

Pat and their parents live in a small house in the wood. / Ken and Pat go on foot to the

school. / They meet a stranger at the cave. / They are afraid of the stranger. / The stranger

35

comes into their house with their father. / The stranger is Mr Smith and he shoots a fairy-

tale in the wood. / Ken and Pat help Mr Smith.

Then I divided the children into groups of 3 – 4. I assigned a scene of the story to each

group and I asked them to prepare a still image to depict their scene. I set the time limit (2

minutes) for children to prepare their task. When they were ready, I explained to them to

imagine that they all were going to become a big book and I was going to “read” in it –

each group showed its still image they prepared in the order of the story while I mimed

turning over the pages of the big imaginary book. For example, the first group showed its

scene and said: Ken and Pat are brother and sister. They live with their parents in a small

house in the wood. and so on.

I mimed turning the second page of the big book and it was signal for the first group to

“freeze” and the next group to show its scene.

We continued in the same way till the end of the story.

Feedback

Although, this activity required careful managing the class, it was an excellent aid for

active reconstructing and retelling the whole story. Also the “freeze” technique proved

competent as suitable means for controlling the class.

During the determining the key scenes, the learners expressed their thoughts in Czech first,

and only then in English. The children determined more scenes as key, so we had to choose

those indeed fundamental.

Just as during the activity 3.3.1 there was a problem with the third person singular, so also

here at this activity, the children forgot about ending the verbs in the third person singular.

It is clear that children need to practise this grammatical item more thoroughly, emphaticly

and complexly.

Time limit was the problem in accordance with it that the determined time limit was

enough for somebody but for others not. For those “quicker” ones I had prepared the task. I

wrote the key sentences of the story on the strips of paper and cut them out – the children´s

task was to arrange the words in the right order.

Source: Carol Read (2007)

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3.3.5 Class play

Age: 10 – 11

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: depending on the story

Materials: copies of the play (one for each child), costumes

Anticipated difficulties: memory

In class

The children have done lots of work on the story and they enjoyed it. So we decided to

make a class play adapted according to the story.

When we assigned the roles, we decided we would work on the rehearsals once a week,

practising different scenes with different children. As soon as more formal work has been

completed, the children made invitation cards.

When the day of performance of our class play got near, we devoted two whole lessons to

practise the whole performance including music, rhymes, costumes, etc.

We realised the story in this way and created this class play:

The children start together by saying a rhyme: Play and look, Look and play,

You will learn

Day by day.

Ken, Pat and their parents stand at their house and they say: I´m Ken and I´m eleven.

And I´m Pat. I´m ten. Together (Ken and Pat): We are brother and sister. And we are their parents.

Then Ken, Pat and their parents say a rhyme: Good morning, good morning, Good morning to you.

Good morning , good morning,

We are glad to see you.

And the other children ask them after that: Pat, Pat, tell us true, Pat, Pat, who are you? And Pat answers them: I am a little girl. The other children continue: Ken, Ken, tell us true, Ken, Ken, who are you?

Ken answers: I am a little boy.

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They show their house and say: We have a small house in the woods. We have a lot of

hens in the yard, so we have lots of eggs. We also have a pig and turkeys for meat and a

cow for milk. And in our shed we have a young horse. Coming up next rhyme that is said by all the children: One, two, three, I like dogs and dogs like me.

One, two, three,

I like cats and cats like me.

Then the children say (except Ken and Pat): Ken and Pat had a pig, Not very little and not very big.

Not very pink, not very green,

Not very dirty, not very clean.

„Storyteller“ continues: They are happy in that place. But their school is far from their home. It´s an hour´s walk. The walk in summer is pleasant and in winter they have skis. They´re good skiers.

And immediately Ken and Pat continue as if they would like to interrupt him: We often fly

a kite.

And after that all the children say a rhyme: My kite is white,

My kite is light,

My kite is in the sky.

Now left, now right,

You see the kite,

You see it, you and I.

Ken and Pat go towards a cave: Half-way to school there´s a cave. Sometimes in the rain, it´s a good shelter, and we are fond of the place.

And all the children: Rain, rain, go away, Come again some other day,

All the people want to play.

In the meantime Ken and Pat have come towards the cave and somebody unknown sits there. They say: Oh, heavens – who is this? There´s a stranger at a fire outside the cave. Who is that man? He´s different from our father.

Ken suggests: Hurry up, let´s go away. Pat: Let´s. At that moment all the children fall asleep as the same way as indeed. It is because of separating the next day. Before long all the children wake up and there is a new day. Ken and Pat go to school and Pat gives a question: Is the man still at the cave? Ken: No, he isn´t. Only some cans and two empty bottles. Pat: It´s not nice of him. Ken: No, it isn´t. But let´s go, we are late. Ken and Pat go to school and all the children say a rhyme: Here we go marching, marching,marching, Here we go marching marching along.

Here we go marching, marching,marching,

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Here we go marching singing a song. Left, right, left, right

Stop!

Then Ken and Pat go home from school. They are hidden behind a tree and Ken says(the unknown man is at the cave again): He´s here again. And look Pat, there´s a red car on the road with a lot of things inside.

Pat: Is it his? Ken: Maybe. But maybe he´s a thief.

They are afraid of the man and therefore they run home. They are hidden under the table there. And again all the children sleep. In the meantime the teacher prepares some tea and puts it on the table. Before long all the children wake up and say the rhyme: Get up little Paty, Your tea is ready.

Butter and cheese,

All that you please.

Milk and bread

For little Pat.

Tea and jam

For brother Sam.

„Storyteller“: Ken and Pat´s father is in the wood and their mother has a toothache and she´s at the dentist´s. Only the cat is asleep in an old armchair.

Suddenly hens storm up and down all over the yard (some children perform it). Ken: That´s very strange. Pat: Is there anybody in the yard? Ken goes towards the window very carefully and he says: Yes, there is. (The unknown man is in front of the house.) Pat: Who is that?

Suddenly the strange man looks through the window. Pat: This is the man from our cave, I´m sure. Immediately both the children are hidden under the table. And together with the other children they whisper: Be quiet, be quiet. After that the strange man knocks at the door. Ken and Pat are afraid of the man, they are under the table and they whisper: Why is he here? In a moment the unknown man goes away. And Ken and Pat ask one another under the table: Is he really away? The unknown man walks around the house and Ken says: He isn´t away. And Pat says: I can hear him, too. And that is why they are covered under the table. Suddenly the door opens and Ken and Pat can hear a male voice: Really, they aren´t here – where can they be? And other voice (their father): I´m sure, they´re here!

Ken and Pat are surprised and they say (under the table): It´s our father´s voice!

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Dad drags them from below the table and he laughs and says: Here they are. Meet my

children, Mr Smith. I´m sure, they´re the right ones for you. Ken and Pat turn round towards the other children and they give a question: What can that

mean?

The others answer: We don´t know.

Dad is angry: Can´t you say a word, you naughty children? Can´t you greet Mr Smith? Ken and Pat whisper: Good afternoon. Dad explains to children: Mr Smith would like to shoot a film in our woods at the cave. A fairy-tale about a princess and a monster from the cave. But he would like to have two children – a brother and a sister – children who know it here very well. Can you help him?

Ken and Pat: Yes, of course. It will be fun. „Storyteller“: A month later the shooting is in full swing. Everybody is very busy. Ken and Pat are happy they can help Mr Smith. But the wood is full of people. There is

a lot of noise everywhere – so there are no birds here.

All the children - rhyme: Two little blackbirds Sitting on the wall,

One named Peter,

One named Paul.

Fly away, Peter,

Fly away, Paul.

Come back, Peter.

Come back, Paul.

„Storyteller“ continues: Ken and Pat aren´t very happy. Now the wood isn´t so pleasant and they are afraid that this could happen to the whole world. The children finally: Must people really have films and TV? Isn´t a quiet wood and a clean

river enough? And isn´t it better than pictures in a dark room?

THE END

Feedback

In my diploma thesis I have returned to Comenius´s thought about importance of theatre

performance in teaching. I wanted to prove accepting Comenius´s thoughts by today´s

children and whether the foreign language teaching by means of drama is better than

traditional approach – drill and mechanical exercises.

The children were interested in the story and activities joined with it very much because it

described events from real life of their contemporaries. At first they were wondered and

surprised as they did not know what means a word “to dramatize”. When I explained the

term to them and when I assured them that I would help them, of course, an initial

uncertainty began to disappear, and, on the contrary, a curiosity and an enthusiasm began

to appear. To put it simply they quite imagined themselves to be in the position of real

actors. The acting “swallowed them up”.

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The mistakes which the children made during the “rehearsals” were corrected in our

“normal” lessons when we reflected on our drama. This reflection was very important for

us because of not having any previous experiences with dramatizing and acting.

I realized that self-evaluation is important for children but they also expect getting

teacher´s opinion which means for example: Listen to each other more carefully. You

spoke plainly. Try to speak more loudly. and so on.

On the basis of my experiences with drama activities I concluded that doing drama

activities is excellent method how to motivate children for learning by the way which is

funny for them. Drama activities cannot replace the everyday teaching, of course, but they

can complete and support it effectively. Children learn speaking and thinking English

during playing drama through experiencing of theatre roles. It is a case of funny teaching

and learning without drill and stress. On this process of learning children dispose of

worrying about mistakes easily and they also dispose of needless apprehensions of not

overruling the foreign language.

Children did not learn by “swotting” grammar and words but they learnt the sentence

wholes which they pronounced as their roles.

On this process of teaching I verified that young children really understand the foreign

language as a way of communication. They learnt it in natural situations and logical

wholes. The graphic form of words is a subsequent step which obtains a sense only when

children need to note their thoughts.

During drama activities children remembered the particular words and sentences more

easily because they learnt them in context and with movement, miming, gestures, facial

expression and also with singing and dancing. The hypothesis came true that children with

a form of kinaesthetic intelligence welcome the dynamical learning by practising theatre

performance. The sentences from the screenplay stayed established in children´s long-

termed memory because primary learning of these sentence wholes was closely connected

with movement or other drama activities. On the basis of firmly established sentence

structures of drama screenplay children sized up grammar structure of a sentence

unconsciously.

Already the fact that children said English sentences aloud is very important for English

language learning. I examined the presumption maintaining the loud learning gives much

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bigger successes than only quiet reading and learning. Also therefore I saw to children´s

correct pronunciation during the practising the screenplay.

Children´s goal was not only a successful overruling a test or oral exam, they did not learn

individually “for themselves”, they were not interested in acquiring a good mark, but

joyfully shared effort aimed at other goal – to give others delight from theatre

performance. When we did drama activities and practised the roles, English language was

the intermediary in order to create something beautiful for others. The children learnt to

communicate, to co-operate and to help each other and all these activities had to be

mastered in a foreign language. Only fact that the children put their textbooks off and they

started to learn a text of the screenplay was a great motivation for them. Suddenly at the

same time they began to be aware of importance what they have learnt at English language

lessons including grammar. The children needed to understand the text which means

grammar seemed to children meaningful and vocabulary useful. During the playing drama

children were able to activate the knowledge which they had used more or less passively

till that time. The knowledge acquired at school obtained practical meaning on the stage.

It is true that drama activities used in English lessons develop both the movement feeling

and the process of learning. Children used their own body movements and gestures as a

creative implement. Movement, process of thinking and speech were very closely jointed

during playing drama. The speech unblocked spontaneously and naturally. The children

were drawn not only into the story world but also into English language absolutely in a

natural and playful way. We can reach for it very hardly by mere practising vocabulary and

by writing grammar exercises at traditional lessons.

At this way of English language teaching I authenticated Comenius´s statement that we

should not learn words separately but only from context. Therefore we learnt the whole

sentence structures during the practising drama texts. I endeavoured for not very

voluminous explanation and accentuation of grammar rules because the children would

stop being interested in learning and doing drama. I explained only what the children had

needed for understanding their roles. And therefore I think that children should learn any

foreign language by practical using rather than by complicated rules. As it was mentioned

in the chapter 2 a context is better than complicated explanation of grammatical rules

which most of children do not understand anyway.

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It is clear that different classes have a different structure. There are most of children ardent

for theatre in some classes, in other ones there is a problem how to make most of shy

children leave their desks.

At this way of teaching it is necessary to keep in view that drama activities will not be

accepted by all the children in the same way. There is the preponderance of children who

become enthusiastic about the playing drama in the classrooms. But we meet shy

individuals who join the playing with difficulty. I found out that any pressure for the roles

are without any sense. But when I entrusted some “smaller” roles to these children and I

encouraged them by the applause all the time, these children got rid of their stage fright

steady. It was useful for them in order to acquire their self-confidence. If at first the

children refused also “smaller” roles and they did not want to join the drama activities,

they were allowed to help with preparing some masks, costumes, the stage etc. In this way

they obtained a positive approach to drama activities and theatre as such and they gradually

joined in the playing more actively. Drama activities help children to despatch their own

apprehensions, it is a form of social and individual therapy. In this way drama activities

develop also children´s communication and co-operation skills.

I was surprised when the children had linked their parents and grandparents up with our

drama. English language learning obtained also friendly form besides the funny one. If I

may say so English language “got out of” the children´s textbooks and the used-up

blackboards and it was inseparable from funny preparation of theatre performance. In this

way English language got from the school into the children´s houses. And the children

were sometimes so enthusiastic that the whole family learnt English screenplay. On my

part I would look for better motivation for foreign language learning with difficulty.

The children with a low self-esteem who were not good at English language learning have

found their new attitude towards English. Drama has given them the opportunity how to

heighten their self-confidence, how to show their qualities to the public which could not

excel during the traditional teaching at school.

At last but not least drama activities are closely connected with cross-curricular ones. The

same screenplay of English story we learnt by practice also at lessons of Czech language,

at Art and Craft lessons we made some masks, costumes and coulisses, at Music lessons

we practised songs from the performance and so on.

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I came to the conclusion in my teaching practice that the teaching through playing drama is

based on much heavier motivation than at traditional lessons. Drama is unique way of

activity teaching and learning and it enables children to join a school with life through

experiences. The whole process of teaching proceeds by funny and natural form far from

boring repetition of grammatical mechanical exercises. In Comenius´s words: “A heap of

rules only intimidates a brain, ill-treats and delays. If we understood some rule easily from

preceding sample, huger knowledge and certainty “germinate” through it. And at last the

more frequent using the more familiar person puts near knowledge.”

3.4 Grammar activities

In this chapter I would like to suggest some ideas for creating optimal learning conditions

for presenting grammar to young learners as effectively and positively as possible. The

activities are organized to reflect the grammar goal to which they belong. For each activity,

information needed for realization is given by the following way: age, organization,

language / grammar aims, materials, in class, comments and source.

Many children must meet a grammar item more times to put it into the long-term memory.

Therefore it is clear that not only young language learners need many activities to practise

the grammatical item, to remember it and to familiarize it.

I believe this chapter helps teachers of young language learners to acquire some useful

ideas for their own teaching practice. Some activities have their source at authors

mentioned below them, some of them are from my teaching practice.

3.4.1 Learning with puppets

Age: 6 – 8

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: any vocabulary set, imperative, comprehension, be, have got,

like, yes / no answers

Materials: a puppet, real objects or flashcards, a bag, music

In class

6.2.1a The puppet´s instructions

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1. The flashcards or real objects are laid down on the floor or they can be stuck on the

board or on the wall.

2. The teacher uses the puppet and he or she says, for example: Touch the apple, Peter.

Take the doll, Eve. and so on.

3. Children must listen to these instructions and they must do what the puppet tells them.

6.2.1b Children´s repetition what the puppet says

1. The teacher uses the puppet and he or she says short sentences which the children are

familiar with, for example: The lion is strong. The apple is red. and so on.

2. Children listen to these sentences and repeat them in the same way.

6.2.1c Correction of the puppet

1. The puppet says statements with the wrong information, for example: The dog is green.

2. Children listen to the puppet and they must correct it all together, for example: No,

green! (the puppet´s name) black!

6.2.1d What does the puppet think about?

1. The teacher puts proximately five flashcards on the floor, on the board or on the wall.

The puppet pretends thinking about one of these cards. The teacher encourages children to

guess which one.

2. The puppet shakes its head and says No or it nods and says Yes, excellent! when a child

is right.

6.2.1e What is in the puppet´s bag?

1. The teacher puts a few different objects or flashcards into a bag. Then the puppet holds

the bag. Children take turns and they guess what is in the bag.

2. The puppet nods or shakes its head and tells the children Yes or No. Whenever the

children are right, the teacher takes the object or flashcard out of the bag.

6.2.1f Pass on the puppet

1. Children sit on the carpet in a circle.

2. The teacher plays some music and the children pass on the puppet round the circle.

3. Whenever the teacher switches off the music, the child who holds the puppet tells it

something about himself or herself, for example: I have got a pet. I like chocolate. and so

on.

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Comments

Most of young learners can be shy and the puppet helps them to feel secure. The puppet

creates a positive and joyful atmosphere in the classroom which influences the process of

absorbing English language. The puppet is funny, familiar, friendly and helpful ally that

helps children to be spontaneous in English language learning. The puppet also helps to

develop children´s imagination and it brings fantasy, magic and humour into the

classroom.

Sometimes the puppet can be part of children´s textbooks. If not, creative teacher certainly

makes it himself or herself using various things (old socks, kitchen gloves etc.)

surrounding him or her.

The teacher can use the puppet also for beginning and end of lesson for greetings (Good

morning, Goodbye etc.) and for organizing the lesson (for example: Quiet, please!

(puppet´s name) is sleeping now! etc.)

Source: Carol Read (2007)

3.4.2 Kim´s game

Age: 8 -12

Organization: small groups

Language / grammar aims: any vocabulary set, present simple, can

Materials: real objects, flashcards or word list, small pieces of paper

In class

1. Children are divided into small groups.

2. The teacher deals a few pieces of paper to each group.

3. The children get one minute for memorizing objects, flashcards or a word list.

4. After one minute the children work in their groups and they must write down the

words they remembered on the pieces of paper.

5. When the children are ready, they must line the words in alphabetical order or the

teacher writes some sentences about objects on the board and children specify the

objects. For example: It lives in Australia. It has got four wheels. etc.

6. At the end, the teacher finds out how many objects the children remembered and he

or she checks the children´s answers.

Comments

46

• The teacher can focus on spelling and pronunciation the words.

• The children themselves can make some sentences involving the words, for

example: I like bananas. Our car is red. I have got a cat. etc.

• The teacher can use some envelope and cut out some small window in it. Then he

or she puts a flashcard in it and the children guess what it is.

Source: Carol Read (2007)

my teaching practice

3.4.3 Key word crossword

Age: 8 – 12

Organization: pairs

Language / grammar aims: any vocabulary set, present simple

Materials: A4 paper sheets, one for each pair

In class

Children are divided into pairs.

1. The teacher explains to the children that they are going to make a crossword for

another pair. First, it is necessary to specify the type of crossword, for example

animals, sports, musical instruments etc.

2. The children in the pair choose a key word and write it vertically. Other words are

going to be written horizontally. The teacher should demonstrate his or her meaning

on the board. For example: It can fly.

It is very big and lives in the sea. etc.

3. The children work in pairs and they make the crossword. The teacher determines

time for doing this, for example 15 minutes.

4. The children exchange the crosswords and they solve crosswords from other pairs.

5. The children check their results.

Comments

Children practise above all –s forms of the verbs in present simple tense and also graphic

form of the words. The children think about the meaning of the words and they deduce the

result words in a logical way. They must also think about setting the sentences for the

crossword to be solved.

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Source: Carol Read (2007)

3.4.4 Big mess

Age: 6 – 10

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: vocabulary – clothes, furniture, prepositions, there is / there are

Materials: clothes, things in the classroom, school utensils

In class

The teacher makes “big mess” in the classroom but without children. He or she places

things and clothes deliberately on the wrong places, for example socks on the table, a ruler

under the desk, a pencil on the blackboard etc. Then the children come back into the

classroom. Their task is to find the things which are placed badly. The child acquires one

point when he or she describes these things, for example: There are socks on the table.

There is a ruler under the desk. and so on. After that, the time limit defined for the activity

is over the teacher counts children´s acquired points.

Comments

Very young learners who cannot make sentences can only show the badly placed things,

label them in English and frown. The older learners can compete and write the sentences.

When the teacher has fewer pupils in the classroom, the children and the teacher can

change the roles. The children prepare “big mess” in the classroom and the teacher guesses

which things are placed badly. The children devise such original location of things that

some of these things the teacher certainly overlooks to children´s delight.

It is possible to play the game outdoors, for example, what does not pertain to the garden,

to the woods and so on.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005)

my teaching practice

3.4.5 Questionnaires

Age: 9 – 10

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims:

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• To ask and answer questions • Present simple • Verbs can, like • Practising questions: Can you play/sing/ride a .../skateboard ..... ?

Do you like ... ? What´s your favourite ... ? Materials:

• A questionnaire in Workbook 2 (Angličtina pro ZŠ, Eva Lacinová a kol.) • A few pieces of paper (A4)

In class

1. We filled in the questionnaire in the workbook. 2. We designed other questionnaires.

What´s

your

favourite

ice-cream?

lemon coffee vanilla strawberry banana orange chocolate

Jakub

Lenka

Leni

Can you

... ?

play football

play basketball

a musical instrument

sing ride a bike

skateboard swim skate ski prepare breakfast

Jakub

Lenka

Leni

Do you

like ... ?

reading books

tests speaking English

working in pairs

listening to music

singing English songs

going to school

playing games

Jakub

Lenka

Leni

3. I explained to children to find out all the answers. So they must ask each other and insert answers in the correct column, putting “Yes” or “No”.

4. After finishing the work we got feedback. I asked the children if they have found any interesting answers. They used the he/she forms of the verbs and they said what they found out about the third person.

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For example: Jakub likes reading books. Lenka can sing. Pavel likes chocolate ice-cream. etc.

5. We made a class survey. 6. The children made a survey in other classes (4A, 4B, 4C, 5A, 5B).

Comments This procedure is very suitable for making questions and answers correctly and for practising natural communication. Therefore it is very important to see to correct children´s pronunciation. Source: Jim Scrivener (2003) Eva Lacinová (2002) Jiří Šádek, Miluška Karásková (2002) my teaching practice

3.4.6 Class fashion show

Age: 10 – 11 Organization: whole class, groups Language / grammar aims: present continuous for description, to have for description, giving a commentary to a fashion show, vocabulary – clothes and accessories, parts of body Materials: magazines, clothes, photographs, pieces of paper (A4)

In class

1. The children drew some pictures of clothing items, coloured and labelled particular items of clothes and parts of body.

2. The children brought some magazine clippings of some persons from home and in the classroom they described what those persons are wearing and what they look like.

3. We organized the class into groups of four. 4. I gave these instructions to the groups:

• Make an outfit for one member of your group using some various items of clothing from home. There will be a prize for the best outfit and we will take photographs of all the models at the end of the activity.

• Each group must present its outfit to the class, for example: Eve is wearing a blue dress ...

• Each child in the group must say at least one sentence. 5. The children voted for the best model and awarded the prize for it. 6. The children described photographs of their models we made during our class

fashion show. 7. From the pictures and the photographs of our models we made a description quiz. 8. The children sat in a circle. I gave them some questions, like these: What colour is

Peter´s sweatshirt?, What colour is Jane´s skirt? and suchlike. Then I chose one

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child, asked him or her to come to the middle of the circle and blindfolded him or her. The children in the circle asked questions: What colour is X´s ... ? If the child in the middle guessed right, he or she gave the blindfold to the child whose clothes colour has been correctly guessed and we continued.

9. I placed a box with clothes in the middle of the classroom. The children stood in a circle around it. Then I chose one child to come to the box and asked the other children to turn their backs to the box and to close their eyes. The child in the middle chose three pieces of clothes and put them on – discreetly but not hidden. Then the other children turned back face to the box and the child in the middle gave them a question: What´s different? The other children had to answer: He/She´s wearing ... or He/She´s got ... on.

Comments At higher levels, children could prepare more detailed commentaries with more complex vocabulary, for example a striped/checked shirt, a v-neck/polo-neck jumper, a hat/cap/beret and so on. When a group does its fashion show, the teacher can give a task to the rest of the class in order to focus their attention while they watch, for example: Find some things that are the same as your show. or Be ready to say the clothes/model you like best. Source: Gordon Lewis (1999) Carol Read (2007) my teaching practice

3.4.7 A monkey wants a banana

Age: 7 – 12

Organization: whole class

Language / grammar aims: present simple – third person, making simple sentences

Materials: none

In class The children sit on the chairs in a circle (the circle should be rather big). One player stays in the middle of the circle. He or she chooses someone from the circle, he or she faces him or her (as near as possible) and he or she tells him or her with beseeching voice: A monkey wants a banana. He or she pretends beseeching with chafing of palms. As soon as he or she finishes this sentence, some other players besides his or her back change their seats quickly. The player standing in the middle of the circle must take up someone´s seat and after that the one becomes the middle beseeching player.

Comments It is not defined beforehand who must change the seat, but when someone lifts out of his or her chair, he or she must not sit down the same chair. That means not only two players can change their seats but also for example five players. They arrange the changing non-verbal during the moment when the middle player is turned away from them and drawls of his or her sentence. Each player can prepare his or her own simple sentence with the verb wants if need be needs which he or she will say in the circle.

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At lower levels, the teacher helps the children to make sentences, if need be he or she can write them on the pieces of paper or on the blackboard. The sentences can be like these: A cat wants milk / a mouse. A dog wants a bone / meat. A parrot wants seeds. An elephant wants grass. A brother wants a car. A sister wants a doll. Instead of the verbs wants or needs the children can say other sentences with the verbs likes or loves or they can practise the negative emotions, for example the verb hates in the various sentences: A mouse hates a cat. My brother hates beans. etc.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005)

3.4.8 The third is calling

Age: 8 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: present continuous Materials: none

In class The children sit on the chairs in a circle. One chair in the circle is free. The game is begun by the one who sits on the left of the free chair. He or she says the sentence: I am swimming. At the same time he or she pretends to swim by his or her arms. It is the one´s turn who sits as the second on the left of the free chair. The one says the sentence: I am thinking. And he or she pretends to think by a movement symbolizing thinking. It is the one´s turn who sits as the third on the left of the free chair. His left palm symbolizes a mobile. He or she pretends to phone. At the same time he or she says the sentence: I am calling ... and he or she says the name of someone of the circle, for example Eve. Called Eve must change her seat and she must sit down on the free chair. After that the game continues again on the left of the free chair which Eve left. The first one on the left of the free chair says: I am swimming, the second one says: I am thinking and the third one says: I am calling ... In this way the game continues all the time.

Comments All players must watch all the time where the free chair is, where they sit owing to the free chair, what they have to say and pretend. Thus the game is not only great fun but also excellent practising present continuous through the short sentences. It is possible to change mentioned sentences and movements variously, for example: I am writing. I am sleeping. I am eating. I am driving. I am cooking. etc. If the chairs are not at disposal, a piece of paper helps also well. All children sit in a circle and the piece of paper lies between two players. The game starts also on the left of the piece of paper. The third player who is called lays the piece of paper on his or her seat and he or she moves to the seat where the piece of paper lay which means that he or she changes his or her seat with the piece of paper. The game continues in the same way as in the case of the chairs.

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Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005)

3.4.9 What and how?

Age: 6 – 11 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: adjectives and adverbs Materials: none

In class First the teacher writes a column of adjectives and a column of adverbs on the blackboard in order to repeat this grammatical item and at the same time to prepare vocabulary for the game. When the children take their bearings in the English words indicating person´s nature and character, a volunteer leaves the classroom. The teacher secretly agrees on what person they will bring up (lazy, furious, shy and suchlike) with the rest of the class. All the children pretend the same quality which means that they behave similarly and the similar gestures and voices accompany their answers. After that the teacher calls the volunteer into the classroom and he or she guesses what quality all the children pretend.

Comments A list of suitable adjectives and adverbs: cheerful, sad, happy, stupid, clever, shy, stubborn, selfish, lazy, furious / sadly, happily, quickly, shyly, furiously, slowly, merrily and so on.

At higher levels, the volunteers can give some simple questions and the others must answers in the respective way.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.10 The stork lost his cap

Age: 6 – 10 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: colours, pronouns Materials: none

In class The children stand on one side of the classroom and the teacher (“the stork”) on the other side. “The stork” says the sentence: The stork lost his cap and its colour was red. At the same time he or she stretches his or her arms out and endeavours for catching anybody who has red colour on his or her clothes. The one who is caught becomes “the stork” and continues in the similar way but he or she changes the colour of the cap.

Comments It is possible to replace the word cap by other item of clothes, for example: The stork lost his jeans and their colour was blue. Then “the stork” must find somebody who wears just this item of clothes and, even on the top of it, in the given colour. In this way children practise vocabulary and possessive pronouns.

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Other variant can be like this: the children can save themselves from “the stork” this way that they touch the called colour. If all the children touch called colour in good time and “the stork” catches nobody then he or she must repeat his or her role again. At this game it is important to heighten attention because of danger of injury to children.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.11 Filling holes

Age: 6 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: description of a picture Materials: a piece of paper (A4), pictures from magazines, postcards

In class The teacher sticks a picture on a piece of paper. In the picture he or she chooses some specific parts on which the child should be able to name at least some detail. On this place the teacher draws a small circle by a pair of compasses and he or she cuts it out carefully. On each picture the teacher cuts a few small circles out. Each child gets one picture with the small circles cut. The teacher lays the small circles cut from all the pictures on the table in front of all the children – the small circles are turned with pictures down. The children gradually take the small circles on after another. The children are allowed to place the small circle into their picture only at that time when they can name at least one detail in the cutting in English. If the small circle suits them into their picture but they cannot say anything about it, they can obtain it in that way that they sing an English song, say a rhyme, name ten animals and suchlike. The tasks are given to the children according to their abilities and knowledge. If somebody turns the small circle up but it does not suit him or her, he or she must give it back on the table. The one who has the whole picture is the winner.

Comments The game can be played as the competition of groups at more tables. The group which completes its picture the most quickly wins. Children can make “the pictures with openings” at home in their free time.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.12 Our town

Age: 8 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: conversation How can I get to ..., please? Materials: pieces of paper for making legends

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In class The classroom is necessary to rebuild as a town with some buildings. The children make the respective legends, for example hospital, library, museum etc. and they indicate the particular pieces of furniture. They also make legends like these: Blackboard square, Window street etc. And after that the children can play at tourists in a foreign town. The game practises the question How can I get to ..., please? and vocabulary go straight / turn left / turn right / go along this street / opposite / at the crossroads etc.

Comments One of players can pretend a postman. The children write short letters for their friends and sign them with an address. The postman must deliver them to the place of destination. The children learn writing the addresses together with this.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.13 Table skittles

Age: 6 – 10 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: imperative, comprehension Materials: nine toilet paper-rolls, felt-tips, small rubber ball

In class The teacher numbers the rolls and arranges them around on the table as skittles. He or she writes nine tasks English on the blackboard or on the piece of paper and each child must realize these tasks to be a winner. At the beginning of the game it is necessary to explain and practise all the tasks, for example: sing an English song, open the window, name three animals, say the colour of you T-shirt etc. The first player throws the ball against the skittles and according to the number which he or she hits, he or she fulfils the given task. The one who fulfils all the tasks is the winner.

Comments To win it is necessary not only to understand the tasks but also to be lucky at throwing the ball. It is also necessary to have the soft ball in order not to break the window or other things in the classroom.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005)

3.4.14 Noughts and crosses

Age: 10 – 12 Organization: whole class divided into two groups Language / grammar aims: practising various grammatical items Materials: none

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In class The teacher makes a net on the blackboard like this:

1 2 3

A does isn´t can

B is don´t am

C can´t are doesn´t

He or she fills in the net with expressions according to own decision (expressions which are necessary to practise). The children are divided into two groups – the first group is “O”, the second group is “X”. The groups alternately choose a square and they make sentences with the given expressions. If the sentence is correct, they obtain the square and they occupy it with their sign, in the opposite case the rival obtains the square. The goal is to make a line of three signs horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Comments In this way it is possible to practise almost all the grammar items. At lower levels, children can practise the definite vocabulary.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.15 Mysterious envelope

Age: 5 – 10 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: vocabulary, What is this?, This is a ... Materials: envelopes, postcards, cuttings from magazines

In class The teacher cuts a few circles / small windows out on the front side of an envelope and he or she puts a postcard or other picture (for example cut out from a magazine) in the envelope which means the picture “looks out of” the envelope through the small windows. A child gets the mysterious envelope and he or she guesses what is in the picture inside the envelope. In this way it is possible to practise the question and the answer: What is this?,

This is a ...

Comments It is necessary to cut the small circles out this way in order to be possible to guess the whole picture. It is necessary to prepare more envelopes for the game. The secret inside the envelope certainly captivates the children and they are not even aware of speaking English. Young learners will be certainly interested in this activity and they can prepare the mysterious envelopes themselves for their friends.

Source: PhDr. Helena Havlíčková

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my teaching practice

3.4.16 Pancake story

Age: 10 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: word order Materials: a piece of paper wide proximately 15cm for each child

In class The children sit on the chairs or on the floor in a circle. Each child gets a piece of paper. The teacher tells the children to write an arbitrary English adjective at the top of the piece of paper and to fold it this way in order not to be seen the written adjective. Such folded piece of paper is given to the neighbour on the right in the circle. Everyone adds an arbitrary noun in singular on the piece of paper which he or she has just received. After that he or she folds the piece of paper again and sends it on. The verb and the adverbs (place and time) come up as further. Each added word is hidden by folding paper. The piece of paper is sent on in the same direction all the time. After writing the last word each child unwraps the piece of paper (“the pancake”) and he or she reads the sentence made in this way. The sentence is usually nonsensical but funny which all the children certainly appreciate (for example: Blue apple sings in bed in January.)

Comments The children gladly hang the pancake stories on the notice-board. They can draw an illustration to them or they can use them as mini-screenplays for drama activities.

Source: my teaching practice

3.4.17 Restless clew

Age: 9 – 11 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: simple description of a person Materials: clew of wool or string

In class The children sit on the floor in a circle. The teacher gives a child a clew. The child chooses someone in the circle and says a simple sentence about him or her, for example: He is clever. She has got a blue T-shirt. and suchlike. After that he or she keeps an end of the string and sends the clew round the floor to the mentioned person. The situation is repeated for several times in a row. In the end the players stand up and see through themselves what a nice net they have “knit”.

Comments

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In order not to slip the fibre from the hand, it is good to wrap it once or twice round a finger. During the game it is necessary to see to taking turns all the children. It is important to hold the making net over the floor while the clew rolls under it. The clew is possible to apply to other activities when it is necessary to vote the one who continues within a game.

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005) my teaching practice

3.4.18 Teddy bear picnic

Age: 8 – 10 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: description of a favourite toy Materials: a favourite toy

In class Each child brings his or her favourite teddy bear or other soft animal toy. All the children sit in a circle and each child introduces his or her teddy bear successively, for example: My teddy bear is Míša. And then he or she describes its colour, size, clothes etc., for example: My teddy Míša is brown. It´s wearing a red T-shirt and green trousers. It´s got a big head,

small ears and a long pink tongue.

Comments The children can count all the teddy bears and other animals (practising numbers). According to language level, the children can compare their toys. They can bring some food for their teddy bears and they can have a picnic (they eat up the brought food all together, preferably fruit or vegetables).

Source: Jana Hanšpachová, Zuzana Řandová (2005)

3.4.19 Magic matchbox

Age: 5 – 10 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: Is/are there ... ? Yes, there is/are. No, there isn´t/aren´t. Materials: a matchbox, a lot of spent matches, marbles, pebbles, flashcards of words, a hat

In class The teacher puts a lot of matches in the middle of the table. Then he or she hides a secret number of matches into the matchbox – he must remember how many. He or she shakes the matchbox and asks the children in turn: How many matches are there in the magic matchbox? In turn, the children guess the number of matches by questions like these: Are there seven? Are there four? Is there only one? and suchlike. If a child guesses the correct number, then he or she takes the guessed matches and continues as “the teacher” in the

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next round. The game is played until all the matches in the middle of the table have been taken. The child with the most number of matches at the end of the game is the winner.

Comments The game practises the phrases How many matches have I got? Have you got ... ? and so on. Instead of matches and a box, it is possible to use a hat and other things (marbles, pebbles, pencils, conkers etc.) or flashcards of words which the teacher needs revising. If the matches are used, it is important the matches to be spent, to avoid safety problems. It is also necessary to clean the tips of the matches before beginning of the game.

Source: Gordon Lewis (1999)

3.4.20 Big clock game

Age: 7 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: present simple, telling the time Materials: eight cardboard clocks with varying times, about 20 colourful cardboard squares to be spaces for a “real-life” game board, dice or a very large sponge dice which can be rolled on the floor and it is visible to the whole class, forfeit cards, action picture cards

In class First it is necessary to rebuild the furniture in the classroom to arise a large space for playing the game. Then the teacher lays the cardboard squares and the clocks out around the classroom and makes a winding snake. This is the life-sized board game. The first child rolls the dice and moves forward. If the child lands on a clock, he or she must tell the rest of the class what he or she normally does at that time, for example: At half past six I get up. and suchlike. If his or her answer is grammatically correct, the child goes two spaces forward. If his or her answer is not correct, the child stays on the space and the other children may answer. If their answer is correct, they may go forward one space. The game continues and the second child rolls the dice. The first player who reaches “finish” is the winner.

Comments It is possible to include other forfeits or risk spaces along the track of the game. They can be marked for example with a star. If a child lands on a star, he or she must turn the space card over and do whatever is written on this card, for example: sing an English song, spell your name, move three spaces forward/back etc. The present continuous can be used instead of the present simple. In the case, it is necessary to place about ten action picture cards by each clock. The actions should be familiar to the children. If a child lands on a clock, he or she takes a card – for example reading. He or she must say a sentence with this word, for example: It´s six o´clock. She is reading a magazine.

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Source: Gordon Lewis (1999)

3.4.21 Higher or lower?

Age: 8 – 10 Organization: groups (4 – 6 members) Language / grammar aims: numbers, I´ve got ... You´ve got ..., comparatives Materials: three dice for each group, shaker, scoreboard, playing cards or flashcards

In class The children are divided into groups of 4 – 6. The first child rolls the three dice and adds up the points and he or she is saying, for example I´ve got twelve. After that he or she gives the dice and shaker to the second child. The second child guesses what number he or she is going to roll, saying Lower! or Higher! Then he or she rolls the dice. If the second child is correct, he or she says, for example I´ve got ten. Ten is lower than twelve. And he or she gets a point on the scoreboard. If the second child is not correct then another child can say: You´ve got fifteen. Fifteen is higher than twelve. and score a point. After a prearranged number of rounds, the points are added up. The child with the most number of points is the winner.

Comments It is possible to use one 12- or 20-sided number dice, instead of the three standard dice. These dice can be bought in some specialist games shops. It is a good idea to use a set of flashcards with “strength values” instead of dice and to practise the structure: My house is bigger than your tent! and suchlike.

Source: Gordon Lewis (1999)

3.4.22 Money in the middle

Age: 8 – 11 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: Please, give me ... Can I have ... ? Would you like ... ? Materials: a dice, shaker, toy money, toys, beans, counters, small cards, etc.

In class The teacher writes the following rules on the board:

If you roll:

1 or 2 give 1 coin to the player on your left.

3 or 4 give 1 coin to the player on you right.

5 keep your money.

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6 put 1 coin in the middle.

and demonstrates the game to the whole class. He or she gives each child five coins at the beginning of the game. In turn, the children roll the dice and have to obey the given rules. If a child rolls 1, 2, 3 or 4, the other children say: Would you like a coin? Please, give me a coin. etc. Money in the middle is out of the game. Children with no money may not roll the dice but they are not out of the game, because they can receive money from the children sitting next to them. When only one child has all money, he or she is the winner.

Comments Instead of toy money, it is possible to use toys, pieces of coloured paper, beans, counters, sweets, etc. At higher levels, teacher can allow children to create new rules.

Source: Gordon Lewis (1999)

3.4.23 Art competition

Age: 6 – 12 Organization: whole class Language / grammar aims: imperative, describing pictures Materials: large paper (A3) for each child, crayons

In class The children sit on the carpet in a circle (it should be larger). Each child has a piece of paper in front of him or her. Crayons are in the middle of the circle. The teacher does a drawing dictation and he or she can dictate, for example:

• Draw with a crayon between your feet

• Draw with a crayon in your mouth

• Draw with your left hand (for left-handers with your right hand)

• Draw with a crayon between your elbows

• Draw behind your back without looking When the children´s pictures are finished, the children describe what they have drawn.

Comments What the children draw and with which colours could also be part of the drawing dictation. The children can guess what the others have drawn. At higher levels, the children can write what their drawings are on the back of the paper. The children can try to guess each other´s pictures and the teacher can give them points for the correct guessing.

Source: Gordon Lewis (1999)

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4. Conclusion

Teaching and learning grammar in Czech schools is very individual process which depends on many factors. But anything young language learners´ teachers do using English is grammar teaching.

Everybody starts learning his or her mother tongue by listening, absorbing the sounds and imitating them. It follows that young language learners can acquire a foreign language in the same way. The more grammatical items and structures they meet during natural communication, the more they understand and learn them.

My teaching practice proved the truth of the statement claiming that young language learners learn words quickly but grammatical structures more slowly. This may be because the individual words have clear, distinct meaning but the structures are less tangible. And therefore in order to learn new grammatical structure, learners need to repeat it again and again in various kinds of contexts, using lots of varied activities, natural and familiar to them.

Fun and playing is natural thing for small children and I exploited this piece of knowledge in process of presenting grammar to young language learners. Game-like activities motivate young learners for active using language and its grammar in a funny way. During fulfilling various tasks learners acquire language knowledge subconsciously and at the same time more intensively than at usual way of learning. Children do not have to think about function of language and about its grammatical rules because they learn correct sentence structures and grammatical rules in contexts and in a funny and natural way.

All the activities (cross-curricular, drama and game-like activities) mentioned in this work and piloted in teaching practice realize requirements for effective teaching and learning grammar. I believe that I have provided only the basic set of activities for the possible way of presenting grammar to young learners. I also believe that this diploma thesis can be useful teaching aid not only for me, but also for other young language learners´ teachers solving similar problems.

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5. Literature

HARMER, Jeremy. Teaching and Learning Grammar. New York: Longman, 1987. 71 p. ISBN 0-582-74623-X

PHILLIPS, Sarah. Young learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. 176 p. ISBN 0-19-437195-6

READ, Carol. 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Oxford: Macmillan, 2007. 320 p. ISBN 978-1-4050-9907-3

PHILLIPS, Sarah. Drama with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 152 p. ISBN 0-19-437220-0

SLATTERY, Mary, WILLIS, Jane. English for Primary Teachers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 148 p. ISBN 0-19-437563-3

CALABRESE, Immacolata, RAMPONE, Silvana. Cross-Curricular Resources for Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 194 p. ISBN 978-0-19-442588-9

SCOTT, Wendy A., YTREBERG, Lisbeth H. Teaching English to Children. New York: Longman, 1990. 115 p. ISBN 0-582-74606-X

LEWIS, Gordon, BEDSON, Günther. Games for Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 149 p. ISBN 0-19-437224-3

SCRIVENER, Jim. Teaching Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. 65 p. ISBN 0-19-442179-1

CELCE-MURCIA, Marianne, HILLES, Sharon. Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. 189 p. ISBN 0-19-434191-7

UR, Penny. Grammar Practice Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 288 p. ISBN 0-521-33847-6

UR, Penny, WRIGHT, Andrew. Five-Minute Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 105 p. ISBN 0-521-39781-2

HALLIWELL, Susan. Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. New York: Longman, 1992. 169 p. ISBN 0-582-07109-7

WESTRUP, Heather, BAKER, Joanna. Activities Using Resources. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 71 p. ISBN 0-19-442187-2

WATTS, Eleanor. Storytelling. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 87 p. ISBN 0-19-441976-2

WRIGHT, Andrew. Art and Crafts with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 164 p. ISBN 0-19-437825-X

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WRIGHT, Andrew. Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. 206 p. ISBN 0-19-437202-2

GRAHAM, Carolyn. Creating Chants and Songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. 165 p. ISBN 0-19-442236-4

PHILLIPS, Diane, BURWOOD, Sarah, DUNFORD, Helen. Projects with Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 153 p. ISBN 0-19-437221-9

LACINOVÁ, Eva. Angličtina pro 4. ročník základní školy – učebnice. Praha: SPN, 2000. 186 p. ISBN 80-85937-29-8

LACINOVÁ, Eva. Angličtina pro 4. ročník základní školy – pracovní sešit 2. Praha: SPN, 2002. 78 p. ISBN 80-85937-52-2

HANŠPACHOVÁ, Jana, ŘANDOVÁ, Zuzana. Angličtina plná her. Praha: Portál, 2005. 174 p. ISBN 80-7178-790-6

HANŠPACHOVÁ, Jana, ŘANDOVÁ, Zuzana. Pohádková angličtina. Praha: Portál, 2007. 119 p. ISBN 978-80-7367-290-4

ŠÁDEK, Jiří, KARÁSKOVÁ, Miluška. Start with Click – Pupil´s Book. Plzeň: Fraus, 2002. 88 p. ISBN 80-7238-147-4

ŠÁDEK, Jiří, KARÁSKOVÁ, Miluška. Start with Click – Workbook. Plzeň: Fraus, 2002. 84 p. ISBN 80-7238-148-2

TRÖGLOVÁ, Hana. Začínáme mluvit anglicky. Plzeň: Fraus, 2005. 56 p. ISBN 80-7238-059-1

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6. Appendices

Appendix 1 The record of children´s answers – main daily meals (table)

Appendix 2 The bar chart

Appendix 3 The food pyramid

Appendix 4 The daily menu

Appendix 5 How do we eat fruit and vegetables?

Appendix 6 Healthy life quiz

Appendix 7 Child´s drawing – I have to wash my hands after playing with animal

Appendix 8 Fruit and vegetables painting

Appendix 9 Healthy food

Appendix 10 I am healthy when I do this.

Appendix 11 Child´s Portfolio

Appendix 12 Text from the textbook for the fourth class of primary school, authors Eva Lacinová and collective (2000)

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Appendix 1: children´s answers (table)

Breakfast Snack Lunch Snack Dinner

Milk xxx

Tea xxxxx

Cocoa xx

Biscuits xxxxxx

Cakes xxx

Bread xxx

Rolls xxxxx

Chocolate xxx

Sandwich xxxxx

Crisps xxxxxxx

Fruit juice xx

Yoghurt xxx

Fruit xxxxx

Vegetables xxx

Soup xxx Pasta xxxxxx

Rice xx

Potatoes xxxx

Meat xxx

Vegetables xxx

Dumplings xxxxx

Pizza xxxxx

Fruit xxxx

Vegetables xx

Cakes xxxxxx

Dairy products xxx

Biscuits xxxxx

Soup x

Fish xx

Cheese xx

Eggs xxx

Sausages

xxxxxxx

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Appendix 2: The bar chart

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Appendix 3: The food pyramid / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 4: The daily menu / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 5: How do we eat fruit and vegetables? / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 6: Healthy life quiz / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 7: Child´s drawing

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Appendix 8: Fruit and vegetables painting / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 9: Healthy food / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 10: I am healthy when I do this. / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 11: Child´s Portfolio / based on Immacolata Calabrese, Silvana Rampone (2007)

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Appendix 12: Text from the textbook for the fourth class of primary school, authors Eva Lacinová nad collective (2000)

Ken and Pat are brother and sister. Ken is eleven and Pat is ten. Their parents have a small house in the woods. Their dad is a gamekeeper and their mother is a housewife. They have a lot of hens in the yard, so they have lots of eggs. They also have a pig and turkeys for meat and a cow for milk. And in their shed they even have a young horse. They are very happy in that place. But their school is a long way from their home, of course. It´s almost an hour´s walk. But the walk in summer is pleasant, and in winter – well, never mind! They´re very good skiers. Half-way to school there is a cave. Sometimes in the rain, it´s a good shelter, and they are fond of the place – the more so because there is never a living soul around. But one day, on their way from school – heavens! There´s a stranger sitting at a fire outside the cave. Who is that man?

They can see the man roasting something over the fire. The smell is quite nice. But they´re afraid. He is different from their father or the people they know. „Hurry up, let´s go away,“ says Ken. „Let´s,“ says Pat. There are lots of animals in the wood. Small ones, like hares and rabbits or naughty red squirrels high in the trees. But there are also stags with beautiful horns. The wood is not fond of strangers and the people here are afraid of such people like this man. The next day in the morning on their way to school they´d like to know if the man is still there. But he is not. Only some cans and two empty bottles are left. It´s not nice of him. That´s not done. Not in the woods. But on their way from school they can see him again. There is a red car on the road with a lot of things inside. Is it his? Is he a thief?

One afternoon Ken and Pat are alone at home, their afternoon tea with bread and butter on the kitchen table. Their father is somewhere in the wood and their two big dogs are there with him. Their mother has a toothache and she is in town at the dentist´s. Only the cat is asleep in an old armchair. All of a sudden the hens in the yard are astir. That´s very strange. Is there anybody in the yard? Yes, there is. Who is that? Then – look – the stranger´s head is in the window! He has the afternoon sun in his face. They are quite sure it´s the man from the cave. In a moment they are under the table, and they are quiet, very quiet. Then there is a knock at the door. They are scared. Why is he here? But next minute he´s gone, his footsteps are heard in the yard. What a relief this is! But is he really away?

But the man is not away. Ken and Pat can hear the footsteps outside again. So they are sure he is back. They are still under the table, full of fear. There is no knock on the door this

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time. They can hear the door open and they can hear the man saying: „But really, they are not here – where can they be?“ They mustn´t be quiet, Pat thinks, they must shout. They must call for help. But she can´t. She can´t say a word. Then they can hear another voice saying: „Oh, hold on, I´m sure, they´re here!“ Funny, it is their father voice! Dad must drag them from under the table. „Here they are!“ says dad with a smile. And they can see triumph in their father´s eyes. Now they are face to face with that horrible man. „Meet my children, Mr Smith,“ they can hear their father saying. „I´m sure, they´re the right ones for you.“ Oh dear, what can that mean?

Father is angry. „Can´t you say a word, you naughty children? Can´t you greet Mr Smith?“ „Good afternoon,“ they whisper. „Mr Smith would like to shoot a film in our woods, here at the cave. A fairy-tale about a princess and a monster from the cave. I´d like to show him some beautiful places here. But he´d like to have two children for the film – a brother and sister – children who know it here well. Can you help him?“ A month later the shooting is in full swing. Mr Smith is very busy, all actors and actresses are very busy and the monster in the cave is very busy, too. Ken and Pat are happy they can help Mr Smith. But the wood is suddenly full of people. There is no peace and quiet. There is a lot of noise everywhere – so there are no birds here any more. Ken and Pat are not very happy about it all. Not even when, a year later, they can see the film on TV. Now the wood is not so pleasant any more and they are afraid that this could happen to the whole world. Must people really have films and TV? Isn´t a quiet wood and a clean river enough? And isn´t it better than pictures in a dark room?