In this talk we looked at how the language classroom is often subverted by the young learner and how teachers can appropriate this chance happening and build it into the lesson to make learning more significant and meaningful.

1. Teaching youngTeaching young
learners: little box oflearners: little box of
surprisessurprises

2. Pussy Pussy Puddle Cat
Pussy pussy puddle cat
what do you think
you’re playing at
making puddles
on the mat
chairs and tables
don’t do that!
Roger McGough
Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
Children enjoy this because you play with words and sounds
and rhymes. It brings linguistic fun into the classroom.

3. I need
to huff
& puff
like the
Big Bad
Woolf
Whilst the teacher was going over the story a little boy
decided to huff and puff like the big bad woolf. Then the
rest of the class did as well. Unplanned moments like these
are a joy. The children chose when and how to manipulate
language. It leads to an enjoyable language experience.

4. Piaget’s stages for childhood
cognitive development
Age Stage
Birth to 2
Sensorimotor: experiencing the world through
senses and actions
2 to 6
Preoperational: representing things with words
and images and pretend play
7 to 11
Concrete operational: thinking logically about
concrete events and grasping concrete
analogies
12 onwards
Formal operational: thinking about hypothetical
scenarios and processing abstract thought

5. David Crystal (1998) explains that we
play with language. As soon as we
are born, language play is at the very
centre of things, for example in the
baby talk used with children. This
then moves to chanting and tuneless
language play, followed by nonsense
talk. From age 8 onwards verbal play
is sophisticated with rhymes, riddles
and jokes. Then comes longer story
telling.

6. I like order
and routine
By a certain age children have picked up the fact that there is
order and structure to things around them. Children are hooked
by the routines we create in class and this guides them along.
Songs and story patterns can help this sense of order and
routine and helps children navigate through a lesson.

7. Round and round the gardenRound and round the garden
Like a teddy bear;Like a teddy bear;
One step, two steps,One step, two steps,
And tickle him/her under there!And tickle him/her under there!
Even within routine and structure there is space for sponteneity
and the unexpected, which is part of ludic play. The psychologist
Jerome Bruner pointed out that learning through play is
immensely important in a child’s development. He argues that
payful interactions have a clear-cut structure. They present
children with a set routine, containing a limited number of
important elements that are played over and over again until the
child is fluent in them – or bored – and ready to move on.

8. Shoelaces
Sometimes it is important to incorporate simple life skills into the
lesson as the need arises. On noticing children find tying up
shoelaces still complicated, why not add this to your lesson.
Create a chant and show them how to tie their shoelaces up.
You mix linguistic with real life needs. Learning becomes more
significant and meaningful.

9. Cross the shoelacesCross the shoelaces
Pull them tightPull them tight
Make two bunny earsMake two bunny ears
Go through the loopGo through the loop
And there we goAnd there we go

10. Getting messy is fun!
We live in a world in which we
want to sanitize everything. All
must remain pristine and clean.
But learning is a messy process,
we run risks. Learning by
experiencing new sensations
and activities, such as mixing
paint, is a far more rewarding
experience than watching a
YouTube vídeo on how to mix
colours.

11. I want to take
my toys to class
Allow children to bring their toys into
class. This may help mediate the
learning process and it bridges the
affective gap a child might
experience when they go from home
to the language classroom. This is
another way of making learning
more meaningful and personal.

12. The Impressionist
On one occasion,
my father painted the whole house
a brilliant orange.
We lived for a long time in a house,
as he said himself,
eternally dawning.
Adélia PradoAdélia Prado
(Translated by David Cole)(Translated by David Cole)

13. Teaching young learners will always place the teacher
in a position in which they are forced to think on their
feet and look at things from a new perspective.
Children subvert learning processes.
Enjoy this subversion.
Let the teaching/learning experience with young
learners constantly create a new dawn for you.

14. vbenevolofranca@gmail.com
This talk was presented at the ACINNE Conference in
Fortaleza 2015 and LABCI Conference in Montevideo
2015.