DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATON

SEMESTER SEPTEMBER 2019

HDPS2603

ENGLISH FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

NO. MATRIKULASI : 970918036136001

NO. KAD PENGNEALAN : 970918036136
NO. TELEFON : 0179097699
E-MEL : wongpuishan0918@gmail.com

PUSAT PEMBELAJARAN : KELANTAN LEARNING SKIL

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PART 1

INTRODUCTION

Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively
messages are easily misunderstood communication breaks down and the sender of the
message can easily become frustrated or irritated. Listening skills are the foundation of all
learning. It is important at any life stage, but even more so in the early years of schooling.
According to Scott and Ytreberg (1993), listening is the skill that children acquire first,
especially if they have not yet learnt to read. Moreover, the majority of information that
teachers deliver to children is largely auditory in nature. Listening is not the same as hearing.
Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, where as listening requires more than that: it
requires focus. Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the
use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other words, it
means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Children ability to listen
effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.
Active listening process begins when the listener pays attention to some audible sound
signals and permits himself to interpret those sounds cognitively. It is a conscious process.
Every human being possesses the ability to select from the sounds around him. But the
selective listening is not an automatic process like that of hearing. An individual may hear
many sounds but he may listen to none of them.

OBJECTIVE

Listening might be important, but it’s not something that comes easily to many children,
especially at a young age. ‘It takes a long time for children to learn to control their attention,’
Sue says. ‘It involves many aspects of development, including physical coordination and
control, the ability to control their emotions and defer gratification, and social and
communication skills.’ Attention and listening skills are the foundations to learning language.
So teacher has to Support attention and listening skills for children to provide them with the
best environment to develop their understanding and use of language. If complex and
sometimes baffling universe of sounds children have to attend to and learn to manipulate in
order to get things done for themselves and for others as well. Then , it is important for
teachers to be alert to differences between hearing and listening as both have quite different
meanings for children know. If children understand that the knowledge of listening skills , it
will developing child with good listening . Listening is key to all effective communication.

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Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. As a result,
communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or
irritated.

THEORIES OF LISTENING SKILLS

BOTTOM – UP PROCESSING

The bottom-up processing means that listening comprehension is based on the

processing and sequencing of linguistic elements—sounds, words, clauses, and text, to arrive
at the whole meaning of the input. Learners are required to pay attention to every exact detail
of the input in order to achieve successful comprehension .Bottom up strategy is to know
about details and segments. It concentrates on forms and structure. Thus, this activity is more
related with academic study. English learning students use this activity to enhance their
listening ability. Dictation and listening tests are included in this. In class, ‘fill in the blank/s’
activity can increase students’ awareness of forms. For example , listening to directions from
a friend on how to get to his/her house. This kind of listening comprehension is achieved by
dividing and decoding the sounds – bit by bit. The ability to separate the stream of speech
into individual words becomes more important here, if we are to recognise, for example, the
name of a street or instructions on how to take a particular bus.

TOP DOWN PROCESSING

The top-down facet of listening, on the other hand, refers to the involvement of background
knowledge in facilitating comprehension (Richards, 2008). Listeners should be able to bring
prior information and combine real-world knowledge to understand the information they hear
and to make predictions of the coming one. Top – Down Listening Strategies Refers to the
use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of the message. Background
knowledge Consists of context, the situation and topic, and co-text(what came before and
after). For example, listening to a friend tell a story about a terrible vacation in Thailand
during rainy season with a mutual friend. This kind of listening requires the use of
background knowledge in understanding the meaning of the message. Background
knowledge consists of context.

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IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING SKILLS

Listening and attention skills are vital in a child’s development because they allow the child
to function properly in society. Further, good listeners will be able to interact with their peers
with true comprehension during circle time, games and so on. When developing these skills,
it is important that child become an active listener.

Listening skills can improve language and communication , it is because children retain
information through their interactions with others and this includes language skills. The more
your child listens to what others have to say, the better her vocabulary and communication
become. By helping her to develop her listening and attention skills, you make it easier for
her to communicate with others once she goes to school. Overall, listening and learning go
hand in hand. . In reality, children learn to listen by using a lot of their senses. They watch,
listen and observe your voice, facial expression and movement to take in information and
learn from it. In short, excellent listening skills set the stage for efficient development of
language and literacy skills.

When the child begins school, listening skills and attention span increase in importance. At
this age, they will begin interacting with other children regularly and will have to retain
information based on these interactions. If your child is struggling with his listening or
attention skills, a few signals could arise. They could have issues with following directions,
having conversations with others or learning new words. They could also struggle with basic
preschool concepts, like counting or learning different colours. Many children outgrow these
problems over time, as they begin listening better once they realize that they do not know
these things. In other children, however, intervention from a language specialist might
become necessary.

THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LISTENING SKILLS

BEGINNING LEVEL

Most of us start here and remain here unless we are intentional about developing our listening
skills. At this level, we are not really listening to others when they talk, rather, while they are
speaking we are mostly just thinking about the next thing we want to say. This is the lowest
level of listening and pretty much just comes naturally. Listening to speak has the most
potential to create misunderstandings and often causes us to miss key information in
conversations. The listener superficially hears the words but does not understand in depth

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what is being said. They concentrate on the word content of the message rather than the
feelings and emotions associated with the message. They do not get much involved in the
communication activity, and rather than contributing equally to the conversational exchange,
he is merely spoken to. The person who listens selectively only wants part of the message,
but not all. They are probably the person who says, "So, what's your point?" They are quick
to interrupt the person who is speaking or they have the tendency to finish the other person's
sentences. In other words, you don’t really hear and acknowledge what your partner actually
said, but instead jump to what the little voice in your head has to say about what your partner
said. Yes, the little voice in your head that just went “What little voice in my head? ˮ

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

This is the most desirable form of listening where in the active listener gives full attention to
what is being said. The listener concentrates on what is being said and also motivates the
speaker to speak, making it easier for the speaker to deliver the message. This is where you
continue to ask questions because you really want to understand what the other person is
talking about. You listen to the answers and these answers trigger new questions. The listener
has the opportunity to answer back, clarify understanding, or check that he or she has
comprehended correctly. At this level we are actively paying attention to what the other
person is saying. We are not thinking about what we want to say next or distracted by other
things, we are totally focused on the other person. A good example of listening to hear that
most of us can relate to is when we are on a first date with a love interest; we tend to listen
intently to their every word. The reason why we are able to do this in some situations but not
in all is because our motivation to listen waxes and wanes depending on who we are with.

ADVANCED LEVEL

This is the highest level of listening and few of us can get here without intentional practice.
At this level we are not only paying attention to what others are saying, but also what they
mean. People say things all the time but often fail to convey the underlying feelings or
thoughts behind their words. At this ultimate level of listening, you are not only registering
the emotions of your partner, you are actually able to hear the commitment or desire behind
what they are saying. This doesn’t come from thinking about why they said what they said. It
is something that you just know because you are so present in that moment your intuition just

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picks up on it. When you are totally present and listening to your partner, it is possible to be
in deep communication. When you are in deep communication you can know things through
the shared experience with your partner. To give you an example, when you come home from
work late and your spouse asks “Will you be at Susie’s music class tomorrow?” you respond
“I will try but I have been swamped in the office and traffic is terrible.” your spouse says
“This is Susie’s last class before her recital, how can you not make it?”

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PART 2

LESSON PLAN 1

Title: rhymes and song

Age: 5 years old

Duration: 1 hours

Learning Objective: Some songs lend themselves naturally to teaching or reinforcing

grammar points. They may be integrated into lessons with a particular
grammar focus and provide much-needed variety, while contributing to
the overall aim of a lesson. Particularly at lower levels when children are
still learning basic key grammar patterns, songs can play a role as input.
Children enjoy singing along and it can really improve motivation.
Singing can also improve the pronunciation and intonation patterns of
the learners, especially younger children. Not only that , Children’s
action songs featuring finger plays, upper body and lower body
movements, and American Sign Language, ASL, provide physical
benefits. These movements encourage children to use their fingers,
hands, and bodies for movements. The controlled actions found in these
types of children’s songs help to support body movements and mind and
body movement control.

Materials: book, pencil and CD

Procedure and extension of activities: Before start open up the song “ Old MacDonald ˮ ,
we will give them some animals toy for warm up .
Then , we open the song “Old MacDonald ˮ they will
listening properly and remember the key word of the
song and have dance with fun . After that , we will tell
them to guess words from a song , for example, the
‘Old MacDonald had a farm’, lyrics could be adapted
to ‘Old MacDonald had a zoo’. Many of the songs
have worksheets which support children with this, such
as ‘What can it be?’ we will give them some paper and

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 pencil to write down the name of animals and draw out
the animals. We will teach them some grammar or
vocabulary , that use in the song . Some songs lend
themselves naturally to teaching or reinforcing
grammar points. They may be integrated into lessons
with a particular grammar focus and provide much-
needed variety, while contributing to the overall aim of
a lesson.

Assessment: Children often like to sing or chant when they are standing in a line with their
hands on the waist or shoulders of the person in front of them. This helps them
learn the rhythm and any movements involved . All children’s action songs
require that children use their word understanding, learn new words and ideas,
and at times manipulate words and rhymes . These movements encourage
children to use their fingers, hands, and bodies for movements. The controlled
actions found in these types of children’s songs help to support body
movements and mind and body movement control.

LESSON PLAN 2

Title: Story telling

Age: 5 years old

Duration: 1 hours 30 minutes

Learning Objective: Storytelling is a unique way for children to develop an understanding,

respect and appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive
attitude to people from different lands, races and religions. As language
teachers, we are always tempted to regard the teaching of reading and
listening only as a variety of comprehension activity but in doing so we
sometimes discourage children from becoming 'good' readers of
English. when they are enjoy the story thoroughly, one must pay
attention to the narrator so that nothing is missed out. So a good session
of storytelling can improve a child’s listening skills. Besides that ,
storytelling can improve children imagination and creative thinking of
the listeners.

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Materials: storybook

Procedure and extension of activities: we will tell them a story “ Snow White ˮ When
children listen to a story, in terms of
comprehension response, they get involved in
different types of mental processes. First, they
create a mental picture of what they are listening
to. Then, they can imagine what is going to happen
next. After they listening story , we will ask “
What do you think will happen next? ˮ “What is
this character like? ˮ It makes the children curious
and encourages them to ask questions, which also
helps in their learning, growth, and development.
Then , we will told them tell again that our
storytelling just now . children learn them and try
to understand the meanings of these unfamiliar
words. This helps them improve their vocabulary.

Assessment: Storybook that use colourful pictures to help children . It is vital your properly
use your voice, gestures, facial expressions, mimes, rhythm and speed to help
the children understand the story as well as getting them more involved in it.
Stories have a unique way of improving the learning process, both at an
academic and personal level too. Storytelling can engage the children in a
creative learning process that makes understanding even the toughest of topics
easy. When children imagination and thinking are clear, they reflect in
communication. Listening and understanding the stories can enhance
communication at different levels.

(2520 WORD)