WorldLanguageEnglkh. Vol.4, No. 1,pp. 106-111, 1984. Printed in Great Britain.

0278-4335/84 $3.00+0.00 0 1984 Pergamon Press Ltd.

Teaching Techniques BILINGUAL SCHOOLS: THE ROLE OF THE

LANGUAGE TEACHER DAVID CROSS

Teachers of English as a foreign language in bilingual schools (see Notes) are in a unique position. Colleagues in other subject areas use English as a medium of instruction. The ‘language teacher’ is regarded as the formalizer, purifier, and describer of the language. Yet, a formal, structural approach to language learning is, as we know from research in developmental psychology, unsuited to the mental characteristics of young people.

Now, a new attack upon the formal teaching of languages has been mounted by Krashen (1981, 1982) who arques that only the most simple and regular of grammar rules can be applied with any effect, and then only to ‘monitor’ what has been written. In true speech, linguistic knowledge must be implicit, or acquired. He suggests, convincingly, that the stress in language classrooms should be upon language acquisition, through exposure by reading, listening, and interaction.

Is the language teacher in the bilingual school to become redundant? It might be argued that the subject specialists are already offering sufficient exposure; that if the English language teacher’s traditional role is wasteful, even harmful to fluency, there is no need for a language specialist. Such a conclusion is wrong. The English language teacher has a vital function, but one that is radically different from that which is traditionally prescribed. The EFL teacher is, after all, a specialist, having an awareness of language and linguistics which is denied to the subject teacher. He also has a wider range of language at his disposal, being more fluent than those colleagues who will often be offering models which are less than perfect. What, though, should the language teacher do?

The language teacher should first acquaint himself with the areas and the type of English used in each subject class. What language is heard and spoken by the pupils in a history class? Is it really all in the past tense, third person, descriptive and narrative? DO the children ever get to answer questions? The same investigation into the vocabulary and language of the subject should, if possible, be made into the whole of the English language curriculum. Having done this, the language teacher can set out to fill the gaps, to offer the pupils language experience in other styles and domains.

Next, the language teacher of these young children can draw up a list of activities-rather than a language syllabus-which afford a classroom climate which is friendly, com- municative, and tolerant of developmental errors on the part of the child. The activities

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BILINGUAL SCHOOLS: THE ROLE OF THE LANGUAGE TEACHER I07

should, as far as possible, complete the language experience of the school community, giving each pupil a command of language which is as close as it can be to that of a young native speaker. Activities of the following sort will go a long way to providing such an experience:

Songs and rhymes It is by repeatedly hearing and chanting nursery rhymes and children’s songs that the English-speaking child acquires his mother tongue’s complex patterns of intonation and stress. Youngsters delight in the rhythmic sounds of rhymes, even when they do not understand the meanings, hidden in strange words and events obscured by time. Today, we can buy illustrated books of nursery rhymes with cassettes or records on which they are spoken or sung clearly and pleasantly. In addition, there are explanations of the story which lies behind each rhyme. Pupils will love to sing or chorus these much-loved rhymes and join in with children’s songs. An enormous amount of language exploitation can follow a simple rhyme. Let us take ‘Jack and Jill’ as an example; the rhyme is listened to, explained if necessary, then chanted once or twice. The teacher can next apply one or more of the following techniques to give even more exposure:

(a) Yes-No. The teacher makes a few statements, some funny. The class shouts Yes or No. Notice the changes of language and tense that occur naturally,

e.g. The boy’s name was John. No! His name was Jack. Yes! He went down the hill. No! He went up alone. No! He went up with Jill. Yes! He was going to get water. Yes! He was going to get it in a cup. No!

(b) Either-or. The teacher offers a choice, the children shout the correct tag, e.g. Was his name John or Jack? Jack!

With Jill! Water!

Did he go up alone or with Jill? Was he after beer or water?

(c) Short answers. Questions are asked which require only a short answer. Mostly these are wh- questions,

e.g. What was his name? Jack! Up the hill! Where did they go?

What for? Water! What happened? They fell down!

(d) Longer answers. It is important that the teacher should ask the right questions (‘What did he hurt?’ should get only ‘His head’, not ‘He hurt his head’),

e.g. What did the children do first? They went up the hill. What for? To get (a pail of, some) water. Did they bring it home all right? No, they fell down. Were they hurt? Jack was. He hurt his head.

(e) Picture reconstnrction. With a few swift drawings, the teacher gets the class to reproduce the whole text from memory.

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4’ 9- (f) Personalization. A few questions can break the class away from the story and into their own environment,

e.g. Do you know anyone named Jack or Jill? Where was the biggest hill you ever climbed? Does water usually come from the top of a hill? Why do you think there was water at the top of the hill?

Stories Children love to hear their favourite stories told and retold. Cinderella, The Three Bears, Goldilocks, The Babes in the Wood, and so many more, have stood the test of time for generations. These, too, can be found in illustrated books with cassettes. There are also three-dimensional viewing discs available quite cheaply in the Viewmaster series. It really is worth while to have them read and listen, look and listen. There is no reason why they should not choose their own story, with each child reading a different story at his own pace, preferably able to listen to the story at the same time. Real books, written for English children, will offer a natural style of language with a relatively simple vocabulary. Collins and Ladybird both publish wonderful stories for children, colourfully illustrated, at less than one pound a book. Any good bookshop will stock these. The short, simplified versions of famous books, offered by several publishers for the EFL market, are another source of a ‘good read’. Parents will gladly help you build up a class library.

If it is not possible to have several different activities going on at the same time (and there is no good pedagogical reason why there should not be a ‘self-access’ approach to English), a silent reading period ought to be built into the timetable. This does not mean that the teacher has nothing to do! As a pupil completes a book, he or she comes to the teacher and resumes the story. The teacher keeps a record of the books read by each child.

Games It is good to have fun in a language. There are several books which describe classroom games for the foreign-language teacher (Lee, 1979; McCullum, 1980; Wright et a!., 1979). In addition to language games, the teacher should obtain, or get the children to bring in, ‘social’ games such as lotto, snakes and ladders, scrabble, monopoly, cluedo. The children play in small groups or pairs. The first rule, whatever the game, is that English is the language of play.

BILINGUAL SCHOOLS: THE ROLE OF THE LANGUAGE TEACHER 109

Newsbook Each pupil should keep his own nctwsbook or diary. The weekend or a holiday offers a chance for genuine conversations, in which information is sought or offered. Before the weekend, there is use of future tenses to state plans (‘I’m gonna . . . Well . . . I’m . . . ing tomorrow’). After the weekend, there is a natural transposition into the past tenses (‘While we were . . .ing, such and such happened’). More transposition comes from the natural exploitation which follows the oral reporting (‘Who can remember what John did? Where did Jane go? Who can guess what Roger did?’). The children will be asked to write their news, and to illustrate the book at home using photos or coloured drawings. The teacher circulates as they write, offering corrections or help. The children will be proud of their own book and their diaries provide a useful supply of attractive materials for a parents’ evening-or even an inspector’s visit.

Topics or projects

Each child should also keep a topic book or books. A good classroom topic can be extended to allow production of wall displays and models. Pupils can work individually, in pairs or small groups on different aspects of the common theme (e.g. The Romans, as a topic, can be tackled by separate reports on daily life, dress, buildings, educqtion, language, roads, colonies, the army, etc.). Alternatively, they may choose isolated topics of personal interest and investigate these in depth. The language then becomes the vehicle of research, discovery, and communication as information is sought, evaluated, and passed on to the rest of the class when a completed topic is reported. The reporting stage allows scope for the different personalities to show their strengths. One small group will do a playlet, another will give out a written report. Others will report orally, perhaps using a poster or an artifact as an aid. The teacher keeps a record of each pupil’s work and assesses the work of the final report. As one topic is completed, the child chooses another and con- tinues. A wall poster is also produced by each pair or group for each topic tackled and these too offer something for the parents to see as well as brightening up the,walls of the class and, when possible, the school itself. A project period can be timetabled into the week’s schedule if there is no integrated day.

Drama Youngsters enter willingly into role play (prescribed roles) and role creation (where they themselves create the parts and the story line). They can act out favourite stories or little playlets. Soon they will want to write their own scenes. It is through role play that the teacher can ensure that the children are able to cope linguistically in the world outside. It is quite simple to draw up a list of essential language functions (apologizing, making polite requests, suggesting, complaining, directing, etc.) and to give examples in a realistic situation of ways in which the chosen function would be used. The utterances can be presented and practised in a traditional way by drilling, or by reading dialogues. Let us suppose that the teacher decides to introduce and practise the first of the functions mentioned above. He chooses a relatively limited number of ways of accomplishing that function. The phrases can be read aloud from the board, then chorused and drilled, with half of the class apologizing and the other half responding:

Apo fogizing Accepting apologies I’m (so, very, awfully) sorry. I do apologize. I beg your pardon. Please excuse me.

Don’t mention it Not at all, my fault! Don’t worry about it. It’s OK, no problem.

I10 DAVID CROSS

After practice, the teacher devises some ‘talk cards’, perhaps two or three, to be acted out in front of the class by volunteers. Alternatively, a dozen cards will allow the prepara- tion of a scenette by all of the pupils. The teacher circulates to help and to listen. As a group finishes, the leader arranges an exchange of cards with another group, and so on:

Talk card one: Apologizing: In a friend’s house, you break a vase. Apologize to the parents. Offer to pay. Talk card two: Apologizing: In a restaurant, you knock a glass of water over. What should you say to the host, what do you say to the waiter?

The pupils can also produce their own playlets with any story line, provided it carries an apology. This is the real role creation which allows scope for imagination and original language in real, if simulated, situations. The role cards can be produced weeks later to offer an easily arranged revision of the functions.

Discussion groups The class is given a theme for discussion in small groups. Ideally the discussion would follow some sort of input on the same subject-perhaps a short article, a recording of a discussion between native-speaking children, even a short statement on the two or more sides of the argument by the teacher. Unusual but necessary vocabulary would be written on the board at this point. Suitable topics would concern the children’s own daily lives, such as punishment in schools, pocket money, large vs small families. Each discussion group appoints a rapporteur. This should not always be the same child, but neither should a shy and reluctant youngster be forced into this role. After a period of talk-time, the spokesman from each group represents the views of the group to the re-assembled class in a plenary session.

Writing Language acquisition will not come about as a result of hours spent writing. On the contrary, it is better to spend the time available in exploring, acquiring, and using the language. Certain of the activities above will introduce an element of writing in a totally natural way, with the medium being used to convey information. Should the teacher feel a need to introduce a greater proportion of writing, it need not be of a formal nature. Letters are an obvious way if the classroom can forge a link with another English-using class elsewhere in the world. Letters, as well as tapes and photos, can be exchanged. A termly or monthly school magazine can also be produced, to allow the pupils to offer a variety of types of written work, including poetry. Let us remember always that fluent writing will follow fluent reading and that fluent speech is brought about by massive exposure of both speech and books.

Grammar There is no need for extensive grammar explanation when teaching young children. The child’s own written errors may be pointed out. Teachers can focus attention upon any grammatical feature within a text by a very short exercise of substitutions, done in a spirit of play. The example is put on the board and pupils call possible alternatives to the word(s) underlined, e.g.

He sings badly (beautifully, well, loudly). He sings badly (cooks, writes, rides).

BILINGUAL SCHOOLS: THE ROLE OF THE LANGUAGE TEACHER 111

If a child should change the grammatical category of focus, calling “he sings outside theatres”, does it matter? What better proof of competence could we wish for?

The list of language provoking activities given here is not exhaustive or sacrosanct. Nor can all of the activities be appropriate for all bilingual schools. Good teachers will experiment, varying and adapting. This is a “starting pack”, which puts the focus on real use and communication and offers an alternative to talking about English.

NOTES

David Cross is ELT consultant, Centre for Developing English Language Teaching, Ain Shams University, Cairo. Previously he was head of languages in a London comprehensive school where a well reported curriculum of multilingualism through compact courses was pioneered. He has a PhD in Educational Linguistics.

In writing this article, the author had in mind teachers of English in Egyptian ‘language schools’ where pupils- aged 6-11-learn two or three subjects in the medium of English. All staff in these schools are Egyptian nationals. The approach recommended here is not, however, appropriate only for bilingual schools; it could be used with young persons in any type of school. All of the activities described were used by the author for several years in teaching foreign languages in a London comprehensive school.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

KRASHEN, S . (1 981). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Pergamon Press, Oxford. KRASHEN, S . (1 982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press, Oxford. LEE, W. R. (1979). Language Teaching Gamesand Contests. OUP, Oxford. McCULLUM, P. (1980). 101 Word Games. OUP, Oxford. WRIGHT, A., D. BETTERIDGE & M. BUCKBY (1979). Comes for Language Learning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.