The document describes a student's journey through a course on teaching young language learners. At each stop, the student reflects on their experiences in the course so far, poses a question, and lists key concepts and materials. Some of the stops include their first collaborative assignment, learning about theories like constructivism and multiple intelligences, planning activities for young learners, exploring resources and materials, and completing their teaching practice. At the final stop, the student reflects on building their professional identity as a teacher. The journey has helped enrich the student's learning and knowledge on effectively teaching English to young learners.

1. my journey

2. first Stop
Unit 1: The Adventure of Language Learning in Early Childhood
My experience: At first, I felt excited and motivated as this is the first time I would
have the opportunity to teach VYL. As I didn´t have experience in teaching, I felt surprised
of how many strategies and methods a VYL teacher can use in their daily teaching.
Furthermore, I had never thought before that I may become an Early Years teacher until I
started my journey through this subject. So, I believe that I felt satisfied and well-
prepared with the individual and collaborative work also with the final outcome”.
My question: How should I sustain motivation in VYL classroom?
Three essential concepts:
•Children acquire knowledge effectively through social interaction, by comparing physical
experiences, feelings, thoughts also by imagination and motivation (applying to social
play).
•Teacher´s abilities: VYL teacher should have advanced level of language acquired and the
ability to put into practice age- appropriate methodological skills (Enever, 2011)
•Children´s characteristics and language learning during Early Childhood: stages of language
development, the significance of the abilities in mother tongue and a curriculum based-
approach.
Concepts that I need to revise:
•The three perspectives of first language acquisition: Behaviourist, Innatist and
Interactionist. Motor, linguistic and socio - affective changes during childhood (Murado
Bouso, 2010).
Materials I would like to reread:
•Lightbown, P & Sapada, N (2013) How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. Nunan, D (2011) Teaching English to Young Learners. USA: Anaheim University Press.

3. second Stop
My experience: This was my first collaborative work. I felt excited as it was the first time using
a 2.0 tool for making a mandatory assignment and also as I had to work with some classmates,
sharing my opinions and reading my classmates´ comments to found a conclusion regarding to the
different activities we had to develop. Also, that was the first time I read about the different
theories related to VYL teaching. So, I felt satisfied with the collaborative work developed as
this helped me to enrich my learning process.
My question: Which principles learned from different iconic educators´ (Behaviorism
&Constructivism, among others) do I consider usefully important to my teaching practice?
Three essential concepts:
•The role that stimulus- response has in teaching VYL (Behaviourism).
• The ways VYL build their knowledge (Constructivism)
•The leverage of iconic educators´ principles to teach EAL in preschool (Dewey, Montessori &
Steiner)
Concepts that I need to revise: Piaget´s theory
Material I would like to reread:
•Gray, C & MacBlain, S (2015) Learning Theories in childhood. London: Sage Publications.
•Beloglovsky. M & Daly. L (2015). Early learning Theories Made Visible. St. Paul: Redleaf Press
Unit 2: Understanding Child Development: Learning Theories- 1 st part-

4. third Stop
Unit 3: Understanding Child Development: Learning Theories- 2 nd part-
My experience: This was my second collaborative work, in which I worked with Claudia. During
this assignment, I could acquired knowledge regarding to the importance of the concept “
Zone of Proximal Development” and the Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory. Also, not only I
learned about Vygotsky´s theory but also I could explore and discover what my own ZPD in
collaboration with my partner was. Moreover, I could learn about other theorists and their
theories related to teaching in VYLs´ classroom.
My question: How should I develop multiples intelligences in the direction of Socio-
Constructivist theory?
Three essential concepts:
•Vygotsky’s Developmental Theory and the function of the “Zone of Proximal Development” in the
learning process.
•The importance of scaffolding´s strategies in order to guide children´s learning and Bruner´s
Discovery Learning Theory.
•Gardner´s Multiple Intelligences Theory and the importance to foster children´s multiple
abilities.
Concepts that I need to revise: Multiple Intelligences.
Material I would like to reread:
•Baum, S Viens, J & Slatin, B (2005). Multiple Intelligences in the Elementary Classroom. A
teacher´s Toolkit, New York and London: Teacher College Press.
• Social Constructivism and Behaviourism theories.

5. fourth Stop
Unit 4: The Learning Environment: Bridging Theory and Practice.
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My experience: At first, I remember feeling overwhelmed as this was the first time I had
to plan a sequence of activities for Young Learners. At the beginning, I was asking
myself a lot of questions like: what kind of activity should I share with them? ¿ what
activity may be engaging for them?, among others. Although it was a challenging unit, I
believe I could finally achieve final outcomes effectively.
Mu question: How teacher can apply to EEE (Encounter- Engage- Exploit) model as a child-
centred approach to teach effectively in VYL classroom?
Three essential aspects:
•The Encounter- Engage- Exploit (EEE) model.
The importance of the English Language Areas (ELA) in order to encourage children´s
language acquisition.
• The main significance of planning lessons when you are teaching EAL.
Concepts that I need to revise: Strategies in order to evaluate the EAL skills with VYL.
Material I would like to reread:
•Robinson, P. Mourão, S and Kang, N. J (2015) English learning areas in pre- primary
classrooms: and investigation of their effectiveness. British Council: ELT Research Papers
15.02.
•Strategies for assessing the skills of EAL pupils in the EYFS (excerpts from
www.suffolklearning.co.uk/do_download.asp?did=6665

6. fifth Stop
Unit 5: The Adventure of Language Learning in Early Childhood
My experience: this was th unit I enjoyed the most as it was related to the role of different
aspects which help to encourage children´s imagination and creativity during EAL learning. The
feedback given by the tutor about the collaborative work let us know that we build a good
performance during assignment develop, but we need to read deeper the materials given.
My question: How should I (as a student- teacher) add to my teaching practice creativity,
play and multimodality?
Three essential aspects:
•The role of multimodality in children´s meaning- making of the world, and also in writing and
reading skills development.
•Play- based pedagogy
•The significance of creativity teaching and creative learning.
Concepts that I need to revise: Seven pillars of creativity
Material I would like to reread:
•Cremin, T (2009). Creative Teachers and Creative Teaching. UK: OUP.
•Kennedy, A. and Barblett, L (2010). The Early Years Learning Framework: Learning and teaching
through play. Volume 17.

7. sixth Stop
Unit 6: Materials and Resources- A Bridge to Learning
My experience: At this time, I was reaching my own teaching practice and I found the
assignment very helpful as I could found a variety of resources I could use in order to
build my lessons planning. Personally, I really enjoy creating and looking for different
resources which help me to develop my lesson plans effectively (taking advantage of the wide
spectrum of possibilities the multimedia suggests). Also, I keep working in a collaborative
group with my peers and it was really gratifying to learn, share and explore this journey
with them.
My question: which resources/ materials are more appropriate to foster EAL learning and
foster children´s engagement.
Three essential concepts:
•Different resources and materials development in order to foster a significant learning
experience (by using songs, stories, games, scenarios, TPR activities, etc).
•The strength influence of narratives and imitate play as resources that allow students not
only to explore the symbolic potential of language but also to expand students´ imagination.
•The possibilities and restrictions of multimedia tools and how they have a relation with
multimodality.
Concepts that I need to revise: Materials development and usage
Material I would like to reread:
•Isbell, R. (2002). Telling and retelling stories. Oxford Language and Literacy. National
Association for the Education of Young Children- 1313 L. Street NW, Suite 500. Washington
DC. 20005.
• Tomlinson, B and Masuhara, H (2018). The Complete Guide to the Theory and Practice of
Materials Development for Language Learning. Oxford: WILEY Blackwell.

8. seventhStop
Unit 7: The professional Identity of Early Years Educators- A path in ongoing construction.
My experience: This time I was doing my teaching practice. So, I was overwhelmed
sometimes as I didn´t know how it will be and how long it would take. Moreover, I
making this last assignment helps me to look backwards the entire journey I made and
the amount (and qualified) knowledge I have acquired during this year.
My question: what build my own professional identity mean?
Three essential aspects:
•The five dimensions of teacher identity: becoming, knowing, being, doing and
belonging.
•The significance of a reflective practice for our professional development.
•The importance of narrative discourse to build and reflect upon our identity as Young
Learners teacher.
Concepts that I need to revise: the 5 dimensions of teacher identity, reflective
practice theory and narrative discourse theory.
Material I would like to reread:
•Brock, A (2015). What is reflection and reflexive practice? In Brock, A (ed), The
Early Years Reflective Practice Handbook (pp. 6-21). London and New York: Routledge.
•Johnson, K.E & Golombek, P.R (2011). The Transformative Power of Narrative in Second
Language Teacher Education. TESOL QUARTERLY Vol.000 No. 000.

9. Manyexperiencesawait me. What is my next
destination ?