VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FUNDAMENTALS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

TO YOUNG LEARNERS

REFLECTION

Instructor Ms. Nguyễn Thị Kim Phượng

Name Phạm Thị Lan Hương

Class 19E4

Student ID 19040100
This is a personal reflective essay based on what I have learned from the course
Fundamentals of Teaching English to Young Learners.
Overall, this course helps me a lot in comparing and contrasting the similarities
and differences between teaching English to children and to adults, therefore
creating a friendly and effective learning environment for young students to
improve their English as well as their listening, reading, writing, and speaking
skills. In addition, in this course, I had the opportunity to observe a real English
class for children, as well as become an English teacher from which to draw
experiences and learn effective teaching methods to develop my pedagogical skills.
The most effective English teaching technique I have discovered during this
semester is vocabulary. First, I learned several demonstration tactics for
introducing new vocabulary and conveying meanings, such as using items or
objects brought into the classroom. Memorizing through pictures is one of the most
popular foreign language learning methods because of the effectiveness it brings.
In addition, children are at a very imaginative age, so learning new words through
objects is one of the most effective choice. These objects can be things available in
the classroom, or images taken from books and magazines. In addition, teachers
can also create their own visual aids to serve the process of teaching and learning
English for young children. When teaching vocabulary, it is crucial to use
techniques like pointing, touching, tasting, experiencing, and smelling to
encourage students to engage their senses to help them remember and comprehend
the words' meanings. During the micro-teaching session of my classmates on the
topic of school things, my friends used the available materials in the classroom
such as rulers, pens, books, erasers,... to introduce the vocabulary to the whole
class. In addition to showing the objects, they also allowed students to touch and
hold school things and read aloud the names of school things according to the
pictures the teacher provided.
However, I feel that the method of teaching English to young learners through
creating songs and chants is not really effective. Because not all teachers are gifted
in the field of music. Besides, creating a new song or new chants doesn't seem to
really help because it will prolong the teacher's preparation time for the new
lesson. So it would be better if teachers could use songs that are available in
textbooks or on Youtube.
In conclusion, this course not only helped me comprehend the methods of teaching
foreign languages to young learners but also provided me with the opportunity to
practice teaching like a full-time teacher, thereby developing my pedagogical skills
and my love for children.