Editorial
This article was originally published in “Problemy Wczesnej Edukacji” Rok II 2006, Numer 2(4), ISSN 1734-1582, Polskie Towarzystwo Pedagogiczne, Poland, and then republished in Humanising Language Teaching Year 10, Issue 3, June 2008 at http://www.hltmag.co.uk/jun08/mart02.htm. Also some of the ideas were presented at IATEFL Aberdeen. 2007.
Menu
Abstract
Introduction
Drills
TPR - Action stories, poems and songs
Poems, chants and nursery rhymes
Cognitive aspect
Citizenship
Conclusion
References
Abstract
Recently published state of the art courses written to teach English to young learners (YL) amaze anyone who looks through them. Their authors get inspiration form one or more of the three most common sources: watching their own children or children in their nearest environment and spot what appeals to them, teaching YL and writing their own materials or studying children’s books and children’s literature for inspiration. The present paper focuses on the latter scenario, where course book writers model their texts and activities on children’s books in the native language, which involves the nature of the text, the content, the choice and treatment of the subject and finally fun, in the form of various peripheral additions to the main story. The paper offers a comparison of English Language Methodology (ELT) and children’s books and literature written in English for young learners. The term ‘children’s book’ is broader than the term ‘ children’s literature’, as it includes factual publications and non-fiction as well as belle lettres.
Introduction
Over the last three decades language teaching to young learners has undergone major changes. In the past course books for children used to be very similar to course books for adults in their methodology. In those days course books on the Polish market as well as on the international one had a strong grammar syllabus and the only difference between adult and children course books was the choice of topics and lexis more suitable for young learners, for example I Learn English (Michalska and Beven-Oyrzanowska,1964) or they contained a lot of authentic texts disregarding the level and intellectual potential of the learners, treating them like native children, e.g. English in Pictures ( Ingał, Szkarina, 1969) With time, in the eighties course books became more focused on the young learner through the choice of text and playful element, for example Play and Learn ( Mikulska, 1989). Also methodology teacher training handbooks for years focused only on the adult learner (Harmer, 1991, Scrivener 1994, Bowen and Marks, 1994). It was a decade later that teacher training handbooks for teachers of young learners were published ( Moon 2000, Cameron, 2001) taking on board the real differences between young and adult learners, the main feature being that when we teach young learners we need to change our methodology and create an environment for the young learners in which acquisition predominates not learning ( Harmer 2001). By learning we understand conscious learning with the learners’ awareness of the teaching point of the lesson, whereas acquisition is involves absorbing the language in a natural and less conscious way, the way children master their native language. Hence course books or rather more suitably courses written these days for young learners differ remarkably from those published twenty or thirty years ago and they follow the acquisition mode. Therefore it is logical for a course book writer or syllabus designer to look for inspiration at children’s literature in the language you want to teach. By children’s literature we understand literature in the broad sense including, novels, stories, poems, chants, rhymes and songs.
Drills
Drilling is now generally seen as old-fashioned methodology in a language class and few teachers would dare to repeat the same structure over and over again in the crude formula characteristic for audio-lingualism ( Harmer 2001). Interestingly enough children’s literature uses successfully stylistic devices which at their core have a variety of drill types, well known to language teachers. The simple drill, i.e. mechanical repetition of the same structure many times is very common, e.g. in Have you seen my cat? (Carle,1987). If we analyse only the text from this children’s book aimed at native children we are struck by its almost crude simplicity on the linguistic level:
Example 1
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Have you seen my cat?
This is not my cat.
Where is my cat?
Have you seen my cat?
This is my cat!
It would be hard for a language teacher to have students listen to or read the same structure so many times. Children’s literature does it successfully in the book through the main story told in pictures: a boy has lost his pet cat and is looking for it in a ZOO. He finds different members of the cat family: a lion, a bobcat, a puma, a jaguar, a panther, a tiger and a cheetah before he finds his Persian cat. So we can see crude drilling is fine when combined with good art work and the cognitive element (Harmer 2001), i.e. focusing less on the language and instead focusing on the new facts about the world in general. It is also important that at a certain point the routine is broken and the boy says: Where is my cat? . The lesson for teachers and course book writers from this material is that children will accept straightforward repetition if it is enriched by other distracting elements.
A frequent drill to be found in children’s literature as well as in language teaching is a substitution drill. It can a be single slot or multiple slot substitution. The traditional song There were ten in the bed and the little one said roll over (trad.), follows this pattern, which here for clarity purposes is represented in a table form:
|
There were |
ten nine eight seven etc…. |
in the bed and the little one said “Roll over!” |
The story of Spot, a puppy, whose mother is looking for him at dinner time is another modern example of this type of slot substitution drill, although this time it is not a single word but a whole phrase that goes into the slot (Where is Spot?,1983). In this paper, unlike in the original book, the text is represented in a traditional table form like in course books. This technique will be used a number of times for the sake of clarity of presentation.
|
Is he |
behind the door? inside the clock? in the piano? under the stairs? in the wardrobe? under the bed in the box under the rug? |
The attraction of the story of Spot comes from charming artwork, and various flaps representing different places in the house the child can lift too see if Spot is hiding in any of these places. Instead of Spot the child finds various animals, before finally Mum finds Spot in a basket.
In What’s the time, Mr Wolf (Hawking, 1983) the author combines a mechanical drill: What’s the time Mr Wolf? with a two slot substitution drill. What is more in the second slot there can be a structure containing an infinitive , e.g. to get up or a prepositional phrases, e.g. for my breakfast!
|
What’s the time, Mr. Wolf? |
7 o’clock |
time
|
to get up. |
|
8 o’clock |
to brush my teeth. |
||
|
9 o’clock |
for my breakfast! |
||
|
10 o’clock |
to wash my socks. |
||
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11 o’clock |
to clean my house. |
||
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12 o’clock |
for my lunch! |
||
|
1 o’clock |
to go shopping |
||
|
2 o’clock |
to play ball |
||
|
3 o’clock |
to watch TV |
||
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4 o’clock |
for my tea! |
||
|
5 o’clock |
for my bath. |
||
|
6 o’clock |
for bed. |
The story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle, 1974) is an example of a three slot substitution drill combined with a repetition drill. Needless to say, in the actual book this structure is beautifully disguised and the children are distracted by the holes in the pages and again appealing artwork. In the story a small caterpillar hatched on a sunny morning and he was very hungry:
|
On Monday On Tuesday On Wednesday On Thursday On Friday |
he ate through |
one two three four five |
apple pears plums strawberries oranges |
but he was still hungry. |
The three slots are the lexical sets of the days of the week, numerals and fruits. The chorus or mechanical repetition is but he was still hungry. However, as the story develops, there is a break in the pattern, like in Have you seen my Cat? (Carle, 1987) when the caterpillar eats a lot and is no longer hungry but is sick and gets fat. Finally, he builds a cocoon and soon becomes a beautiful butterfly. The main body of the story is a substitution drill with the saving graces of clever artwork, a twist in the story and the cognitive element. What is more, with the book you can buy a plush toy of a caterpillar which, by working the Velcro properly, turns into a butterfly. Now from the input mode the parent and the child can proceed into activation of language and the child can play. The caterpillar can eat through one table, two chairs, three books etc. and the child manipulates the lexical sets: such as furniture, everyday objects, kitchen utensils etc. Just as we would do in a modern language class.
A similar pattern, i.e. substation drill combined with repetition is to be found in the next example Dear Zoo ( Campbell 1982) in which a boy writes to a ZOO asking for a pet. First he does not like the animals sent to him but finally needless to say the puppy they sent was just perfect. This time the story is a slot substitution on the level of three sentences not one as in the stories presented earlier. Two sentences are the frame for two independent slot substitutions while the third is a mechanical drill:
|
They send me |
an elephant. a giraffe a lion a camel a snake a monkey a frog |
He was |
too big. too tall. too fierce too grumpy too scary too naughty too jumpy |
I sent him back |
The next type of drill I would like to discuss is the chain drill in which we move from one element to the other, like in the links of a chain (Harmer 2001). The traditional song Ten green bottles ( trad.) follows this pattern, which in this paper is represented in a table form for the sake of clarity. In the first stanza we use the words ‘ten’ and ‘nine’, in the next stanza ‘nine’ and ‘eight’ and so the song moves on. The consecutive links of the ‘chain’ are always in the same slots in the sentence:
|
Ten Nine Eight Seven etc … |
green bottles standing on the wall ( 2x) and if one green bottle should accidentally fall, there will be |
nine eight seven six etc…
|
green bottles standing on the wall. |
In the story Go and tell the Toucan ( West, 1990) an elephant has got a birthday and wants to invite his friends and above all he wants to tell the toucan about it, but the toucan is not to be found so he tells the tiger. The chain structure is disguised by elaborate language hence I present a simplified version to make the chain structure more visible:
Example 2
the elephant told the tiger
the tiger told the warthog
the warthog told the hippo
the hippo told the lion
the lion told the bullfrog
the bullfrog told the zebra
the zebra told the rabbit
the rabbit told the rhino
the rhino told the lizard
the lizard told the panda
the panda told the ostrich
the ostrich told the tortoise
the tortoise told the cricket
the cricket told the leopard
the leopard told the monkey
Then the monkey found the toucan and told him
What the elephant told the tiger
The tiger told the warthog
The warthog told the hippo etc
And finally they have a party
The last type of drill I would like to discuss is an accumulation drill, in which we add more elements to the base structure, in this way expanding it and making it longer and harder to remember. This chain structure of the story is the feature of many traditional fairy tales e.g. the Russian folk tale of The Turnip (trad.) and traditional songs, e.g. Ten days of Christmas (trad.) or Old Macdonald ( trad.). When we compare these two songs we can see that one is a simple accumulative drill:
Example 3
Old Macdonald had a farm and on the farm he had a dog ( woof sounds)
Old Macdonald had a farm and on the farm he had a pig ( oink sounds, woof sounds)
Old Macdonald had a farm and on the farm he had a pig ( moo sounds, oink sounds, woof sounds) etc
whereas the other combines the elements of a accumulative drill with a two slot substitution drill:
|
On the |
first second third fourth etc.. |
day of Christmas my true love gave to me |
a two three four |
partridge in appear tree. turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree French hens, two turtle doves and… calling birds, three French hens. two… |
Another example of a story based on a combination of drills is Captain’s Teachum’s Buried Treasure ( Korky and Carter, 1989). It is a story of a pirate who acted like a typical pirate, however, he had three secrets, i.e. his wife made him do the washing-up, he had twenty five children and he had an awful memory. The core of the story can also be represented in a simplified way, so that it is clearly visible that there are three types of drills that constitute the story, i.e. mechanical repetition, a substitution and a chain drill :
|
He
|
was the wickedest pirate in the world |
-he said |
|
attacked castles |
|
|
|
captured ships |
||
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burned down whole towns |
||
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made people walk the plank |
- he said
|
|
|
buried his treasure in ruined castles |
|
He buried his treasure
|
|
He said. |
|
in ruined castles |
|
|
|
on desert islands |
||
|
He buried it |
in the jungles |
-he said. |
|
in the South Pole |
|
|
|
all over the world |
- he said. |
|
|
in the North Pole |
|
|
He looked |
everywhere |
|
|
in the ruined castles. |
|
on the desert islands |
|
|
in the jungles |
|
|
at the North Pole |
|
|
at the South Pole |
All these stories that have a drill structure at their core are made attractive by one or more of the following features: the cognitive element, humour, an unexpected twist or development in the story, appealing graphics and design, book features like flaps, music, sound effects and other noises.
We can see that book writers of modern language course books for young learners model their stories on publications like the ones discussed above using the element of drills in children’s literature, for example repetition drill combined with substitution drill the story of a giraffe Run, Run, Run (Little Bugs, 2004), a substitution drill in the story of Three Bears (Little Bugs, 2004) or in the story The Little Brown Bird (Superworld 2), accumulative drill in the story of The Scary Skeleton (Superkids1 , 2000), the story of The Sleeping Cloud (Superkids1, 2000). All these stories are well received by young learners and praised by teachers.
TPR - Action stories, poems and songs
Another feature of children’s literature are action stories, poems and songs in which the child must respond physically to the verbal or other clue, an approach well known in methodology as Total Physical Response - TPR ( Harmer 2001, Moon 2000, Cameron 2001). In this type of text the adult reads the text or sings the song with the child, and the child has to do the corresponding actions, for example: the text says “My clothes flip-flapped and blew away “ and the instruction in the book says : “flap arms” in A Fox Got my Socks (Offen, 1992) or the text in the book says: “This is my book; it will open wide to show the pictures that are inside” and next to it there is an icon in a box showing two hands opening like a book in Hand Rhymes (Brown, 1985) or action songs where an adult voice on the tape gives instructions how to respond when particular words or phrases are sung in Tumble Tots (Action Songs, 1994). Also as the parent reads the book the child can touch different surfaces (Spot’s Touch and Feel Book. Hill, 1997), for example, when Spot is looking through the window the child can lift a fabric of the curtain made of real cloth, when Spot is rolling on the grass there is a patch of green terry cloth to feel, when Spot is looking at his reflection in the mirror its surface if glossy and shiny, and when he goes to bed there is a pink blanket made of fleece.
TPR is made even more attractive by the use of additional materials and features in the books such as felt cut outs that need to be arranged on a mini felt board as the story develops, for example Monkey’s Tall Story, The Little Lost Dolphin ( Faulkner, 1999), pressing buttons by the child to produce a sound that illustrates the development of the story in How to get to Sesame Street ( Alexander, 1990) or Ta-Ta for now! ( Wolf, 1998), the ‘scratch and sniff’ feature where the text about Halloween is accompanied by a ‘smell’ effect where the students need to ‘scratch and sniff’ a pumpkin, a witch’s brew or apples (Kindersley, 2001). It is also possible that a book is accompanied by a set of playing cards ( Winnie the Pooh) or a plush toy featuring the main character like in the case of The Snowman ( Briggs 1978) so that the child can hold the beloved character, play with it and cuddle for goodnight after listening to the story for good night. What is more, children can make their own games and then play them (Hsiao, 1975) or follow the instructions and make simple ‘origami’ to play games, become certain characters by wearing hats they have made or tell stories ( O’Brien, 1996). Finally, a book can be accompanied by a DVD or interactive games featuring the characters in the story. For example the book Matilda ( Dahl, 1988) was turned into a film under the same title, ( TriStar). On the DVD there is an interactive game featuring some of the characters in the film. The content of the game is a multi-level general knowledge quiz. Mr Trunchbull, the nasty headmistress, gives the player feedback on their performance. An interesting package is available on the Polish market for Polish children Błysk (Pfister, 1999), in English The Rainbow Fish. It consists of the book that tells the story, three colouring books with stickers, two additional readers developing the main story ( also with stickers), a toy featuring the main character to play with and a DVD with films. This is a multi-sensory experience which children enjoy around the theme of one character.
Some of the special features of books for native children I have listed above are very difficult to include in a language course for young learners as the price of the course would become prohibitive, especially when it comes to sound effects when you press the right button and ‘scratch and sniff’ feature. However, it is amazing how many features course book writers and publishers are able to include. Sound effects are provided from the tape, e.g. sounds a doll makes, a teddy bear or an airplane ( Playway 1, 1998) or the teacher’s book has suggestions how to introduce a kinaesthetic element so that the children touch different textures and can recognize different objects without seeing them ( Playway 1, 1998). Course books or workbooks also contain cut out finger puppets and playing cards available in the course book or work book ( Little Bugs 1, 2004), masks to make (Superworld 1, 2000), a glove puppet featuring the main in-house character available as special offer to teachers if they adopt the course ( Superworld 1, 2000), elements of art, craft and origami (Superworld 1, 2000), cut outs to sing action songs ( Superworld 1) a set of board games to be played in class ( SuperKids 1), action songs and action poems ( Superworld 1, Little Bugs 1), stickers ( Little Bugs1), DVDs and CDRoms with interactive games featuring the main characters ( Little Bugs) and many other. In this way young learners experience and engage in the same types of activities as they do in their native language. Additionally course books are accompanied by flash cards ( Superworld 1, 2000, Little Bugs 1, 2004) and story cards ( Little Bugs 1, 2004), a feature not to be found in books for native children. We can observe that the more recently published a course is it contains and combines more elements present in various children’s books. On could say that the course book writers and editors when creating a course compress all the various unique features of different books. A very recent course Little Bugs (Macmillan 2004) apart from the standard flash cards, story cards, cut outs etc, also contains sing along CDs, a DVD with stories and additional material, a CDRom game featuring the characters of the course and recycling the language introduced in each unit. The glove puppets seem to be missing but I am sure they are on their way.
Poems, chants and nursery rhymes
Another area of children’s literature to be considered are poems and nursery rhymes. They are part of the cultural tradition but many are also written contemporarily. They are based on rhythm, humour, playing with words and creativity Many critics claim that poems for children written in English these days are the best examples of modern English literature, for example poems for children written by Michael Rosen, Brian Patten and Roger MacGough, just to name a few. The following two examples are a good illustration of the genre (Offen 1994, Rosen 1997) :
Example 4
A cat got my hat.
A fox got my socks
A goat got my goat.
An owl got my towel.
Example 5
If Dennis plays tennis
and Rocky plays hockey
and Rolf plays golf
and Tess plays chess
and Marty does karate
and Ludo does judo (…)
…then who is there round here who can play football?
Course book writes have to be much more restrained in the kind of poems they choose or write. Frequently poems play on language and double meaning so children who are beginning to learn the language will not be able to appreciate pun and humour to the same extent native children do. So the poems to be found in the course books are of the following, much simpler type, ( Superworld 1, 2000)
Example 6
Listen, listen
Look at me
Point to RED
One! Two! Three!
Example 7
Beetles walk
Butterflies fly
Grasshoppers jump
Very high!
Ladybirds fly
Snails crawl
Spiders run
Up the wall!
However, there are two other problems related to children’s poems and nursery rhymes. The first one is that many of them require physical contact. According to Cook ( 2000) most languages have in their cultural heritage rhymes which are accompanied by an element of touching, which can be ‘towelling rhymes’ or ‘tickling rhymes’. At the age before children can produce language parents say these poems to children, who at this stage do not comprehend the meaning of the words. However, through the physical contact which is part and parcel of the poem parents establish a relationship with the child, attract the child’s attention and through physical stimulation make them more attentive, also to language. Take the following traditional poem:
Example 8
Round and round the garden
Like a teddy bear.
One, step, two step
And tickle you under there!!
In the first line the parent makes circular movements on the child’s belly, and then uses the middle and index fingers to imitate walking, and finally reaches a point where he or she tickles the child. It is similar to the Polish poem Idzie rak nieborak. The next traditional poem is also well known to teachers of English. However, few realise that the five pigs are the five toes, and the parent dries the toes while saying the rhyme.
Example 9
This little pig went to market,
This little pig stayed at home,
This little pig had roast beef,
This little pig had none,
And this little pig went ‘wee, wee, wee, wee’ all the way home
When you analyse the poem closely you can see that it is sad because one of the pigs is disadvantaged and treated unfairly. It is reminiscent of a traditional Polish ‘towelling rhyme’ Warzyła sroczka, kaszkę warzyła in which the mother magpie in the final stage ( the little finger) nips off the head of her child and flies away. This brings us to the second problem with traditional children’s rhymes. There is a lot of violence, sadness and trauma we as non-native teachers may not be not aware of. In this traditional rhyme the father is going hunting, then will skin the rabbit an wrap the child in it:
Example 10
Bye, Baby bunting
Daddy’s gone a-hunting.
To get a little rabbit skin
To wrap a baby
Bunting in.
The next rhyme talks about the Great Plague, where the ring of roses is a sign of the rash indicating the first symptoms of the disease, sneezing the further symptoms, posies the believed remedy and falling down means dying. This is how the rhyme goes:
Example 11
Ring a ring o’roses
A pocket full of posies
A-tishoo! A t-tishoo!
We all fall down.
Another traditional rhyme is an example of bullying, physical abuse of the weaker sex and low self-esteem in the peer group:
Example 10
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed he girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away!
There are many more examples of violence in traditional nursery rhymes or political incorrectness and it is only relatively recently that a number of researchers have begun to research the influence of such rhymes in children and now publish results pointing towards their harmful.
Cognitive aspect
Another distinct feature of children’s literature is its cognitive aspect, i.e. texts in which children learn about the world in general. These are books which are very popular with children. They can follow two patterns: a light hearted or a more serious one. As for the first type I have discussed two such books with regard to drilling but apart from the language element they also contain a cognitive element. In Have you seen my cat? (Carle 1973) children learn about the members of the cat family, whereas in The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle 1970) about the life cycle of the butterfly. In The Bugastic Guide (Disney, 1999) which is a spin off publication following the film A Bug’s Life (Pixar) children learn more about the lives of insects featuring in the cartoon. In The Big- Little Dinosaur ( Geis 1959) children learn about an extinct species whereas in Tiger ( Allen, Humphries 1992) and Panda ( Allen, Humphries 1992) young readers find out about animals at risk of extinction in the form of a story and by making friends with one member of the species and following his adventures. Books from A Pole Star Book series ( 1997- 1990) follow the same format but the animals that feature in them belong to endangered species or not, e.g. the polar bear, the fly, the penguin, the hare, the ladybird, the kingfisher etc. . The formula of the book is a combination of a fictional story and factual and documentary information about the species. More about only documentary and content will be discussed separately.
Another good example of a book with a cognitive element, this time referring to social history, is UG. Boy Genius of the Stone Age and his Search for Soft Trousers ( Briggs 2001). In this story we join a Stone Age boy who is desperate to improve his life trying to invent trousers, a wheel or a boat to make his life easier. He does not succeed but all the inventions he is trying to make are inventions later made by mankind. Apart from learning about nature, society or history children can, for example, also learn about art and language. In Katie and the Sunflowers (Mayhew) children join Katie on a trip to an art gallery where she walks into the paintings and causes trouble, for example knocking over the vase with sunflowers in The Sunflowers by van Gogh. Then she makes friends with the girls in a Gauguin painting, knocks over the table in the Café Terrace at Night by van Gogh and finds a treasure in the painting Tahitian Pastorals by Gaugain. By the end of the day she repairs all the damage. In Picasso and the girl with a Ponytail ( Anholt) children learn about the work and art of Picasso seen through the eyes of a young teenage girl who is his model. The story is very moving and what is more it is true. When it comes to learning about the language in Come Back, Amelia Badelia ( Parish) children learn about double meanings of words and phrases. Amelia is an accident prone maid, who gets fired for serving cereal with coffee, literally. Then she starts looking for jobs and working in an office she literally files letters by using a nail file, or working as a medical receptionist she brings in the patients by carrying them in. More language exploration also using the metalanguage and terminology referring to language description can be found in The Great Grammar Book ( Maizels, Petty, 1996) where native children learn about grammar categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, plurals possessives in the book called ‘belonging’, punctuation and sentence structure through activities on pop-up pages, through lifting flaps, turning wheels, running a cut-out dog through an obstacle race etc. Last not least children learn from the books they read about the facts of life, i.e. where babies come from. In an absolute classic Baby, Come Out! ( Manushkin) children see the world through the eyes of an unborn child in the mother’s womb and experience the relationship it has already built with the other members of the family.
As I mentioned with reference to A Pole Star Book series there is another type of children’s book with a cognitive element is a more serious and factual publication aimed at young readers. For example, in Changing Colour ( Richardson 1997) children learn to look at famous paintings from various periods in history, in My Sticker Art Gallery. A Tour of Western Art (Armstrong, 1994) children learn about French, Northern European, Italian, Spanish, British and American painters and in Jigsaw Art ( Macmillan 1997) they learn about paintings in which children, their peers from various epochs, are the main focus. The latter two books have additional fun features, as indicated in their titles; one has stickers to be put in the right place according to the given description, the other presents the paintings in five colourful twelve piece jigsaws to be assembled as the painting unveils and children focus on details. Another good example of a very informative book aimed at the young audience is a recent publication about the life of Mozart (Hewson 2006) published to celebrate the current Mozart anniversary. Young readers are introduced to the life and music of Mozart with main focus on his young years and information which will interest the young readers. Needless to say the book is accompanied by a CD with musical extracts referred to in the text.
Courses for young learners also contain a lot of cognitive elements, since this is a requirement listed in national syllabi in many countries. Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) known for example in Poland as ścieżki międzyprzedmiotowe and for young learners of the language first topic is usually the natural world, for example the life cycle of a caterpillar, bears that sleep in winter or don’t, birds that fly or don’t, different types of plants, ( Little Bugs 1, 2004), talking about the weather ( Superworld 2, 2000), sometimes there is an element of mathematics or life skills like telling the time ( Superowrld 2, 2000). The reason why there is no history, no description of lives of famous people is that the learners have not learned the past tenses yet. It is impossible to talk about the past without using the appropriate grammar structures. Elements of history, social history and literature are usually included in later years of the course, usually year three, for example the Story of Pompeii (Brainwaves 3, 1998).
There are, however, some more significant differences between the cognitive content in books for native children and language learners. An element that children’s books for native children do not contain but is contained in language courses is the element of culture and learning about the customs in Great Britain ( Stardust 1 and 2, 2005, Little Bugs 1 and 2, 2004). Another area is the choice of topic and cultural references. In the book What’s the Time Mr Wolf? (Hawkings, 1986) the author takes a well known game and turns it into a charming good night story. A language learner would enjoy the story but might be unaware of the full appeal and second dimension of the story; it may even be true for the teacher. What’s the time Mr Wolf? is a game similar to the Polish game Mamo, mamo, ile kroków do domu? Similarly in Old MacDonald had a Farm ( Hawkings, 1991) turns a traditional song into a story. All that course book writers can do is take a traditional story and simplify it for language learners, for example the story The Three Bears (Little Bugs 1, 2004) is based on the traditional fairy tale Goldilocks . Another option is that they can write their own stories based on the classics, for example The Little Brown Bird ( Superworld 2, 2000) is based on the fable about grasshopper and the ant, and The Story of the Frog (Superworld , 2000) is a remake of an archetypal story of an animal who seeing other animals one by one wants to have their tail, horns, feathers etc ending up as a weird creature unsuitable to function properly. However, course book authors need to be careful about their choice of traditional stories or fairy tales, which although part of the cultural heritage may not be politically correct in our modern view, for example the story of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, etc.
Another area with regard to the cognitive and cultural aspect is the choice of topics. Among children’s books for native children there is a great number of books about witches, monsters, skeletons and Halloween. The most famous witch stories are the Winnie the Witch series (Oxford University Press) and the Meg and Mog series ( Penguin Books Limited) which are loved by children, who like to be scared and frightened like by Mona in Mona the Vampire
( Holleyman, 1990), a charming vampire who is friends with bats. The skeletons in Funnybones ( Ahlberg, 1980) have funny adventures with their skeleton dog and this story seems to be echoed in the story I have already mentioned The Scary Skeleton ( Superworld 1, 2000). In Halloween’s Fun ( Willis, 1994) children learn how to make creepy costumes, learn spell, make bat-shaped cakes, learn gruesome games and spooky sounds etc. Course book writers have to be careful with such content, often referred to as New Age content. Many school headmasters and parents do not wish that their children learn from books which have monsters and witches in them as conflicting with their world view and life philosophy. There are reported cases when parents forced the language teacher to switch to a different course book as they believed the one that had originally been chosen did not go with the parent’s beliefs and values. What is more, parents want to have their values and icons respected, so a likeable and popular character from a best selling children’s book in the UK, Father Christmas ( Briggs 1973) who is complaining about Christmas Eve and swearing mildly all the time must naturally be banned from a language course book. Needless to say publishers have to take these issues on board if they want their books to sell well and be approved by respective authorities for school use. Parents in a bookshop or library can control the kind of book their children read , and they wish to exercise the same type of control over the content of the course book selected for a language class.
Citizenship
Children’s literature apart from providing entertainment and aesthetic experiences also carries messages regarding attitudes. A large proportion of children’s books belongs to this category. We can find books about healthy lifestyle and eating habits in the person of a well loved cartoon character Popeye( Warning, 1929), role of good manners in a story in which mama bear comes up with a plan how to reform the family’s rude behaviour Forget their Manners (Berenstain, 1985), the role of a healthy balance between work and rest in Too Much Vacation (Berenstain, 1989), the relationship between boys and girls ( Berenstain, 1986), and finally the role of positive self-esteem and assertiveness ( McNaughton, 1994). In the Althea Series What to Expect Books children are told about potentially worrying experiences and what to expect when going to the dentist, going into hospital or starting school. These books help the children overcome their problems and fears, similarly to the collection of stories Bajki pomagają dzieciom: Opowieści, które pocieszają i dodają odwagi. ( Nitsch, 1999)
Another important area is teaching tolerance and respect for other people and cultures. It is well illustrated by three books: Jafta ( Lewin, 1982) a story of an African boy and his dreams, The Man (Briggs, 1994) a relationship between a boy called John and a miniature man, a kind of Lilliputian, tolerance and coexistence in Jessica Harriet’s New Neighbours ( Ratnet, Goulding, 1994). Jessica and her toy are waiting impatiently for their new neighbours to move in. There are many possibilities: dragons, witches, a giant. But then it turns out is a normal human family with two children. It is towards the end of the book when we realize that what we think to be a UFO like toy is actually Jessica, the main character of the story, and who we thought to be a human being is a human looking toy. The lovely twist is that the girl who has just moved in has a toy which is a perfect copy of Jessica. Needless to say the girls make friends and play with their toys. This book is a lovely story illustrating the traps of prejudice and preconceived ideas.
The importance of looking after the environment is introduced and well illustrated by books with cognitive element. However, the story Milo and the Magical Stones (Pfister, 1997) makes the point in a very unique way. Milo, a mouse, and his friends live on an island . One day they find a rare and precious stone they could mine. However, if they do so they have to give something back to the island. Then there are two possible ways in which the story could develop: a story with a happy ending or a story with a sad ending ( the pages are cut horizontally into two parts to reflect the two options). The moral of the story is that you cannot just take, you also have to give, also with regard to the environment.
Another aspect of teaching tolerance understanding and seeing things from a different perspective is shown in two representative books. In Susan Laughs ( Willis, 2001) Suzan is a girl who laughs, plays, gets angry etc, so she is like all other children but in a sense she is not because she is disabled, but on the other hand she is ‘very normal’. In fact this presentation of disability is much more politically correct than the pathetic image of a supposed cripple in The Secret Garden ( Burnett, 1911). The second type of perspective of seeing the ‘different’ is presented in another well loved classic book Little Wolf’s Book of Badness ( Whybrow, 1995). Little Wolf when he grows up will have to become the Big Bad Wolf, so he has to go to school of badness. He goes away from home and in his letters to his parents reports on his progress, successes and failures. Again in a sense he is very similar to a child, but at the same time he is very different because he has to act in character with this ‘wolf’ nature.
Generally speaking course books for language learning contain moral and social issues, either explicitly in the course book or more often in the teacher’s book. Sometimes there is separate document circulated to the teachers informing them what issues they should address in their lessons. It is not surprising as the schools’ role and the role of lessons including a lesson of a foreign language is to shape social skills and promote citizenship. We may find suggestions for teachers to elaborate on the role of family and different families in the context of the story of The Three Bears (Little Bugs 1, 2004 ) or respecting the animal world (Superworld 1, 2000). A relatively recent development is including a very distinct citizenships thread in the course ( Stradust 1 and Stardust 2, 2005). The issues for example include the following areas:
- respect for other cultures and tolerance towards them,
- respect for other people’s possessions,
- respect for animals,
- respect for other people’s possessions,
- the importance of preserving the environment,
- the importance if patience and sharing things with others,
- the importance of rules in he classroom and in the school,
- the importance of sharing classroom objects with one’s classmates,
- the importance of playing games without cheating,
- the importance of a sensible diet,
- the importance of wearing the right clothing when doing sports,
- the importance of both sexes being bale to take an equal part in games, without suffering discrimination,
- the importance of the whole family sharing the domestic chores,
- the importance of giving and receiving presents,
- response to the needs of other people, etc.
The new tendency is a welcome trend in course book writing and thinking about language lessons, especially in the light of the crisis of family in the western society and increasing violence and aggression. The more work is done in this field in the primary school, the less problems there might be in junior high school.
Conclusion
In the present paper I have presented a comparison between children’s books for native children and course books written for learning English as a foreign language. There are many areas that overlap and evidently course book writers have modelled themselves on literature for children who are the native speakers of the language. When looking at children’s literature in English, it is surprising how much drilling takes place, following the various drill patterns used in language teaching. Also children’s literature is awash with the cognitive element, included in languages courses. However, there is a limitation of the children’s knowledge of particular language items and grammar structures. The structures need to be simplified at a given level, hence there is a limitation which needs to be taken on board. Also course books need to include basic elements of the culture of the target language which children’s books for native children can play with and twist as the native children already know the archetypes. A major area is citizenship where there is never enough input, considering the present social climate in Western Europe. Authors of course books need to watch carefully the developments, trends and research results in the sphere of children’s literature written in English to be in touch with the present state of the art. Last not least teachers and course book writers need to watch out carefully the way children’s literature develops and they need to produce peripheral materials to supplement the course which are in tune with what native children experience. The outcome are courses which strike a cord with the young learners of the language by following the experience native children enjoy and help teachers to constantly improve the quality of their language classes and the pedagogical outcomes.
References
ELT publications
Bowen, T. and J. Marks. 1994. Inside Teaching. Heineman.
Cameron, L. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge University Press.
Cook, G. 2000. Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford University Press.
Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching ( first edition) . Longman.
Harmer, J. 2001. The Practice of English Language Teaching ( third edition) . Longman.
Moon J. 2000. Children Learning English. Macmillan Heinemann.
Scrivener, J. 1994. Learning Teaching. Heinemann.
Children’s books
A Pole Star Series. 1977-1990. Cambridge University Press.
Ahlberg J. and A. Ahlberg. 1980. Funnybones. Little Mammoth.
Alexander, L. 1990. How to Get to Sesame Street. Sound Story. Sight and Sound.
Allen, J. and T. Humphries. 1992. Animals at Risk. Panda. Sainsbury. Walker Books.
Allen, J. and T. Humphries. 1992. Animals at Risk. Tiger. Sainsbury. Walker Books.
Althea Series. Date unknown. What to Expect Books. Dinosaur Publications.
Anholt, L. 1998. Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail. Succession Picasso.
Armstrong C, 1994. My Sticker Art Gallery. A Tour of Western Art. Frances Lincoln.
Berenstain, S. and J. Berenstain. 1985. The Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners.
Random House.
Berenstain, S. and J. Berenstain. 1986. The Berenstain Bears: No Girls Allowed. Random
House.
Berenstain, S. and J. Berenstain. 1989. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Vacation..
Random House.
Briggs, R. 1973. Father Christmas. Puffin Books.
Briggs, R. 1978. The Snowman. Hamish Hamilton.
Briggs, R. 1994. The Man. Red Fox.
Briggs R. 2001. UG. Boy Genius of the Stone Age and his Search for Soft Trousers.
Jonathan Cape.
Brown, M. ed. 1985. Hand Rhymes. Picture Lions.
Campbell, R., 1982. Dear Zoo. Puffin Books.
Carle, E.,1970. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Puffin Books.
Carle, E.. 1973. Have You Seen My Cat?. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Dahl, R. 1988. Matilda. Leopard.
Disney and Pixar. 1999. The Bugastic Guide. Disney.
Faulkner, K. 1999. Monkey’s Tall Story. Mustard.
Faulkner, K. 1999. The Little Lost Dolphin. Mustard.
Geis, D. 1959. The Big-Little Dinosaur. Wonder Books. Price Stern Sloan.
Hawkings, C. 1986. What’s the Time Mr Wolf? Collins Picture Lions.
Hawkings, C. and J. Hawkings. 1991. Old MacDonald had a Farm. Collins Picture
Lions.
Hewson E., 2006. Mozart and His Famous Operas. OBVHPT
Hill E., 1980. Where’s Spot? Puffin Books.
Hill, E., 1997. Spot’s Touch and Feel Book. Warne.
Holleyman, S. 1990. Mona the Vampire. Orchard Books.
Hsiao P., N. Lorimer and N. Williams. 1975. Games to Make and Play. Kingfisher
Books.
Kindersley, D. 2001. Scratch and Sniff Halloween. Dorking Kindersley Limited.
Lewin, H. and L.Kopper. 1982. Jafta. Dinosaur Publications, Ltd.
Macmillan, 1997. Jigsaw Art. Macmillan Children’s Books.
Maizles J. and K Petty, 1996. The Great Grammar Book. The Bodleg Head.
Manushkin, F. 1972. Baby, Come Out! Harper and Row, Publishers.
Mayhew, J. 2000. Katie and the Sunflowers. Orchard Books.
McNaughton, C. 1994. Suddenly! Andersen Press.
Nicoll, H. and J. Pieńkowski. 1976.Meg at Sea. Penguin Books Limited.
Nicoll, H. and J. Pieńkowski. 1976. Mog’s Mumps. Penguin Books Limited.
Nitsch, C. 2001. Bajki pomagają dzieciom: Opowieści, które pocieszają i dodają odwagi.
Diogenes.
O’Brien E. and K. Needham, 1996. The Usborne Book of Origami. Usborne Publishing.
Ltd.
Offen, H. 1992. A Fox Got My Socks. Red Fox
Parish, P. 1971. Come Back, Amelia Badelia. Harper and Row, Publishers.
Paul, K. and P. Carter, 1989. Captain’s Teachum’s Buried Treasure. Oxford University
Press.
Paul, K. and V. Thomas, 1987. Winnie the Witch. Oxford University Press.
Paul, K. and V. Thomas, 1996. Winnie in Winter. Oxford University Press.
Pfister, M. 1992. Błysk. Najpiękniejsza rybka w oceanie. Wydawnictwo Północ-Południe.
Pfister, M., 1997. Milo and the Magical Stones. North-South Books.
Ratnett, M. and J. Goulding. 1994. Jessica Harriet’s New Neighbours. Red Fox.
Richardson, J. 1997. Changing Colour. Franklin Watts
Rosen, M, 1997. Michael Rosen’s Book of Nonsense. Hodder Wayland
Qaring, B. 1929. Popeye’s Big Surprise. Treasure Books.
West, C. 1990. Go tell it to the Toucan. Walker Books.
Whybrow, I.1995. Little Wolf’s Book of Badness. Collins.
Willis, A.1994. Halloween Fun. Kingfisher.
Willis, J. 2001. Suzan Laughs. Henry Holt and Company
Wolf. C. 1998. Ta-ta for now. Publications Limited International
Note
The choice of book titles and ELT publications is purely random. I have to thank various parents like Jeremy Harmer and Katie Plumb who have donated their own children’s favourite books to be the subject of my analysis and publishers who have made their YL courses available for me to review. Major contributors have also been my numerous friends who have given my children books which in their opinion are worth reading.
Course books for Young Learners
Gerngross G and H. Puchta. 1998. Playway to English. Editions Helbing/ Cambridge
University Press.
Ingał, C. and W Szkarina. 1969. English in Pictures. Prosweszczenie.
Harper, K. and A. Blair, J. Cadwallader. 2005. Stardust 1. Oxford University Press.
Harper, K. and A. Blair, J. Cadwallader. 2005. Stardust 1. Oxford University Press.
Harper, K. and A. Blair, J. Cadwallader. 2005. Stardust 2. Oxford University Press.
Michalska, M. and C. Beven-Oyrzanowska. 1964. Wiedza Powszechna.
Mikulska, A, 1989. Play and Learn. Wiedza Powszechna.
Read, C. and A. Soberon. 2000. Superworld 1.Macmillan.
Read, C. and A. Soberon. 2000. Superworld 2.Macmillan.
Read, C. and A Soberon. 2004. Little Bugs 1.Macmillan
Read, C. and A Soberon. 2004. Little Bugs 2.Macmillan
Ściborowska B. and I. Kubrakiewicz. 2004. SuperKids 1. Macmillan Polska.
Wakeman, K. 1998. Brainwaves 3. Oxford University Press.
Audio tapes
Allard, D. and A. England. 1994. Tubmble Tots. Action Songs and Rhymes. CYP Ltd.
Films
Disney and Pixar. 1999. A Bug’s Life
TriStar. 1996. Matilda
Hanna Kryszewska
Hanna Kryszewska is a teacher, teacher trainer, trainer of trainers and mentors, author of resource books and course books, senior lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, Poland, director of Studies at the University of Social Sciences SWPS, Sopot, Poland. She co-wrote the following books: “Options for English” - PWSiP, 1991, “Learner-based Teaching”, OUP, 1992, “Reading on Your Own”, PWN 1995, “Towards Teaching”, Heinemann International 1995, “Stand-by Book”, ed. Seth Lindstromberg, CUP 1996, “Observing English Lessons” -A Video Teacher Training Course, „ForMat Intro, 1, 2 and 3” a course for senior secondary level, Macmillan Polska 2001” and “ Language Activities for Teenagers” CUP ed. Seth Lindstromberg. Expert reviewer of course books for the Polish Ministry of Education. Presenter at national and international seminars and conferences worldwide. Since February 2006 editor of website magazine Humanising Language Teaching.
E-mail: hania.kryszewska@pilgrims.co.uk
For more information please visti www.plano-paneducational.gr / Language Travel. Υπεύθυνος προγράμαμτος: Πάνος Νικολουτσόπουλος
