Young Learners Module

Kate Gregson

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 Acknowledgements

First and foremost, thank you to the various teams at Cambridge University Press &
Assessment: the Teacher Qualification team, in particular to Magnus Coney, who pored
over initial drafts; Jo Timerick and Karen Momber for their continued help, support
and dedication in seeing the writing project through to completion; and of course
David Bunker, whose careful eye as editor helped improve both the quality of this
book and my own thinking and writing. I’d also like to express my immense gratitude
to Simon Smith, especially for his support with content, but also for all the help he
has given me throughout much of my career. And finally, thank you to my husband,
Richard Pearson, and our son James, whose patience with me was greatly appreciated.
Kate Gregson
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following sources of copyright material
and are grateful for the permissions granted. While every effort has been made, it has
not always been possible to identify the sources of all the material used, or to trace
all copyright holders. If any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to
include the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting and in the next update to
the digital edition, as applicable.
Key: U = Unit.
Text
U2: Quote about learning strategies by Simon Smith. Copyright © Simon Smith.
Reproduced with kind permission; U3: Text adapted from Academy Stars Level 5 Pupil’s
Book Pack by Steve Elsworth and Jim Rose. Copyright © 2017 Springer Nature.
Reproduced with kind permission of the Springer Nature via PLSclear; U4: How
to ask for help figure taken from The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English
Learners by Joan Kang Shin, Vera Savic, Tomohisa Machida. Copyright © 2021 TESOL
International Association. Reproduced with permission from TESOL International
Association via CCC; U5: Text adapted from Children Learning English by Jayne Moon.
Copyright © 2000 Macmillan Education Limited. Reproduced with kind permission
of the Macmillan Education through CCC; U9: Text adapted from Teaching Languages
to Young Learners by Lynne Cameron. Copyright © 2001 Cambridge University Press.
Reproduced with kind permission of the Cambridge University Press through PLSclear;
Practice test: Practice TKT YL test sourced from Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners.
Copyright © 2023 University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.
Photography
All the photographs are sourced from Getty Images.
U7: Liudmila Chernetska/iStock/Getty Images Plus; Lexi Claus/iStock/Getty Images
Plus; U8: robertcicchetti/iStock/Getty Images Plus.
Illustrations
Practice test: Practice TKT YL test illustrations sourced from Teaching Knowledge
Test Young Learners. Copyright © 2023 University of Cambridge Local Examinations
Syndicate.
Typeset
Typesetting by QBS Learning.
iii

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 Contents

Acknowledgements iii
Introduction1

Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to

young learners
Introduction to Part 1 6
Unit 1 Children as language learners: What are the
characteristics of children as language learners? 8
Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies:
How can I help children develop their learning
strategies through language learning?  16
Unit 3 Developing thinking skills: How can I help children
develop cognitive strategies in language learning?  25
Unit 4 Developing communication skills: How can I help
children develop communication strategies through
language learning?  32
Reflection on learning in Part 1  41
References and further recommended reading  41

Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Introduction to Part 2  43
Unit 5 Lesson planning: What do I need to think about
when planning language lessons for children?  45
Unit 6 Classroom materials: How can I challenge and
support children’s learning when I select and use
classroom materials?  54
Unit 7 Additional classroom resources: How can I select,
adapt and supplement classroom resources?  64
Reflection on learning in Part 2 75
References and further recommended reading  75

Part 3 Teaching young learners

Introduction to Part 3  77
Unit 8 Supporting children’s language: How can
I scaffold children’s understanding and use of language? 79
Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice: How can
I use practice activities to consolidate children’s
language learning?  91
Unit 10 Managing learning: How can I manage children in class? 103
Reflection on learning in Part 3  114
References and further recommended reading  114

iv

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom
Introduction to Part 4  116
Unit 11 Why assess learning: What purposes do different
types of classroom-based assessment have?  118
Unit 12 What to assess: What focuses do different types of
classroom-based assessment have?  126
Unit 13 Responding to assessment: How can I act on the results
of classroom-based assessment? 136
Reflection on learning in Part 4  147
References and further recommended reading  147

Follow-up activities: Answer keys and commentaries  149

List of terms found in the TKT Glossary 159
Glossary of TKT: Young Learners terms 164
Test tips for TKT: Young Learners 168
Teaching knowledge test young learners: Practice test 169
Sample test answer sheet for TKT: YL practice test 184
Answer key for TKT: YL practice test  186

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Published online by Cambridge University Press
 Introduction

■ What are TKT and the TKT: YL specialist module?

The Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) is a series of modular teaching qualifications which
test knowledge in specific areas of English language teaching. It is internationally
recognised and has been developed by Cambridge English. In addition to the main
modules (Modules 1–3), there are the specialist modules, namely: TKT: Young Learners
and TKT: CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). Candidates can take as
many TKT modules as they want, in any order and over any time period.
The TKT: Young Learner Module (TKT: YL) focuses on language learners aged 6–12;
the term young learner is used in this book to refer to this age group. Six years old
is usually the age when children start formal schooling in many countries, while
twelve years old is around the end of primary, elementary or basic schooling.
Developmentally, children in this age group are beyond the stage of early childhood,
but are not yet adolescent. As such, they have particular developmental needs which
are somewhat different from very young children or teenagers.
TKT: YL tests candidates’ knowledge of concepts related to young learner learning
and development, as well as knowledge of young learners from a teaching perspective:
the planning, teaching and assessment of young learners’ work. There are no entry
requirements, such as previous language teaching experience or qualifications,
however candidates’ language skills should be at least at a B1 level on the CEFR scale.
This is equivalent to Cambridge B1 Preliminary or Cambridge IELTS Bands 4–5, which
is an intermediate level of English. Candidates are also expected to be familiar with
key language teaching terminology, which can be found in the TKT Glossary on the
Cambridge English website.
The TKT: YL test is a paper-based test lasting 1 hour and 20 minutes. It consists of
objective tasks, for example matching or multiple choice, with 80 closed questions in
total. Candidates respond by selecting answers and marking them on the answer sheet.
There are no open response questions where candidates write their answers in words,
phrases or sentences. Each question carries one mark, and performance is reported
using four bands, which indicate the depth of the candidates’ knowledge.
The test covers four syllabus areas, which are reflected in the four parts of this book,
The TKT Course: YL Module:
1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners
2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons
3 Teaching young learners
4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom
Note the TKT: YL Module is NOT a test of practical classroom skills or English language
proficiency. The TKT: YL syllabus and other information about the test can be found in
the TKT: YL Handbook for Teachers, which is available on the Cambridge English website.

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 The TKT Course: YL Module

■ About this book: The TKT Course: Young Learners Module

What are the aims of The TKT Course: YL Module?

The TKT Course: Young Learners Module has five main aims:
1 To introduce readers to some of the main concepts, theories and activities that are
central to TKT: YL and teaching language to young learners more generally.
2 To encourage readers to make links between theory and practice by analysing and
exploring the usefulness of concepts, theories and activities in their own current or
future teaching contexts.
3 To share with readers some of the resources available to teachers of young learners.
4 To give readers an opportunity to do test practice with TKT: YL sample tasks and a
complete test paper (with answer keys).
5 To build on other TKT modules, for those who have done that course before doing
The TKT Course: YL.

Who is The TKT Course: YL Module written for?

The TKT Course: YL Module is ideal for readers involved in teaching, who speak English
as a first or additional language, and who:
● are training to become teachers or who are already teachers.

● are in a teacher, classroom assistant or course co-ordinator role.

● intend to take the TKT: YL test. They might be preparing for it on a course, with or

without this as a core textbook, or preparing alone as self-directed learners.

● have done (an)other TKT module(s) and would like to continue their professional

development in teaching young learners.

● are subject, generalist or language teachers of children aged 6–12.

● are already or are planning to teach English language to children aged 6–12.

● are already or are planning to teach English language in mainstream schools, private

language schools or independently.

● are already or planning to be classroom assistants working with young English

language learners aged 6–12.

● are undertaking in-service or pre-service training in teaching young learners.

● are young learner teacher trainers developing or delivering a TKT: YL test

preparation course or other young learner teacher training courses. The TKT Course:
YL Module may be used in its entirety or as a supplementary resource.
● are young learner course co-ordinators or teacher supervisors.

What is the content of The TKT Course: Young Learners Module?

The TKT Course: YL module consists of four parts, divided into units which follow
the content and order of the TKT: YL syllabus and specifications. See the table on
pages 4–5 for information on the organisation of each part.
The units build on each other so that the ideas introduced in one unit provide a
foundation for ideas introduced in a following unit.
Part 1 focuses on knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to
young learners.

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 Introduction

Part 2 focuses on planning young learner lessons.

Part 3 focuses on teaching young learners.
Part 4 focuses on assessing young learner learning in the classroom.
The book also contains:
● A glossary of terms specific to teaching young learners which are used in the book.
These occur throughout and are shown in bold.
Terms in bold italics are those terms defined in the TKT Glossary, which can be
found online.
Other terms used are explained or defined as they first arise in the book.
● A complete TKT: YL practice test, answer key and sample answer sheet.

● Test tips for taking the TKT: YL test.

● An alphabetical list of the terms used in this book which are from the TKT Glossary.

● A glossary of young learner specialist terms and those which are included in the

TKT: YL test.
● A list of titles referred to in-text and recommended further reading for each of the

four parts of the book.

How is The TKT Course: YL Module organised, and how can it be used?
The advice in the following table is intended for those using the book on a taught
course or for self-directed readers. The book can also be selected from or adapted for
use by young learner teacher trainers.
The book is designed to help you, the reader, gain knowledge to prepare you for the
TKT: YL test and also to support your professional development through insights
gained from course content which you can apply in your own contexts. You are
recommended to choose a young learner coursebook, supplementary materials and/or
website to use for the activities found in each unit. Where possible, identify and keep
in mind a specific learner, group of learners or teaching context for these activities.
If you are not currently a practising young learner teacher, you could perhaps use
another teacher’s class of young learners.
You are strongly recommended to keep a TKT: YL Professional Development (PD) Journal
as you use the book. In this PD Journal, you can keep notes and your responses to
self-assessment, starter questions and activities, reflect on your learning from each
unit, and consider how it might apply to your context. This could be in English or in
your own language.
We hope you enjoy the challenge of teaching young learners, enjoy reflecting on your
teaching of young learners and find yourself develop as a teacher of young learners.
For those readers who take the TKT: YL test, all the best!

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 The TKT Course: YL Module

Each part of The TKT Course: YL Module follows the same structure:

Section Purpose Suggestions for use

Introduction to To encourage the reader to reflect on Do the self-assessment tasks before
each part of the their current knowledge and experience beginning this part of the book.
book in the broad topic area; to articulate
their own learning objectives.
Three or four units, each with the same structure:
Learning To inform the reader of the knowledge Read these before you start the unit;
outcomes and skills they should have after add more if appropriate, based on
completing the unit. your self-assessment.
To give the reader the opportunity to Answer the question(s) before reading
reflect on their understanding of the the answer(s); you could use your TKT:
meaning of key terms or concepts YL PD Journal to note and organise
Starter before reading about these. your ideas and answers.
question(s)
To introduce the main ideas of the Read this after answering the Key
unit content, drawing on the TKT: YL Concepts pre-reading question. Build
syllabus. on your notes based on your reading.
Key concepts
To consider how the key concepts Read this after answering the Key
influence or are relevant to young Concepts and the YL Classroom pre-
learner teaching and learning, reading question. Build on your notes
Key concepts specifically. based on your reading.
and the YL
classroom
To extend and deepen understanding Do these tasks to extend your
of key concepts through active understanding on unit content, then
engagement. check your answer in the commentary
Exploring the N.B. These questions do NOT follow section towards the back of the book.
concepts in the TKT: YL test question formats. You could use your TKT: YL PD Journal
practice: for this.
Follow-up
activity
To encourage the reader to think Follow the guidelines for individual
critically about questions and issues and/or group reflection tasks. You
related to the key concepts in the unit. could use your TKT: YL PD Journal
Exploring the for this.
concepts in
practice:
Reflection
Exploring the To explore, investigate and develop Follow the guidelines for these
concepts in key concepts in practice and assess activities, which require exploration
practice: their usefulness. by reading, trying out new ideas,
Discovery conducting classroom investigation
activity and talking to others*.

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 Introduction

To review the unit content and to help Do this task to familiarise yourself
readers become familiar with the TKT: with the format of TKT: YL and to test
YL task formats and level of language yourself on the content of the unit.
TKT: YL practice used in the text. Recommended timing is built up to
task help you be ready for the test by the
end of the book.
Check your answers in the answer key
on page 158.
Reflection on learning in each part of the book
Reflecting on To encourage the reader to self-assess Follow the guidelines in this section
Learning their learning in this part of the book, for self-assessment and goal setting;
identify any gaps in knowledge or you could use your TKT: YL PD Journal
understanding and articulate new for this.
learning goals, as necessary. Return to your self-assessment of
the can-do statements in the unit
introduction.
References To give ideas for extended, Note and follow up on sources which
and further independent reading on topics are useful to you for your own further
recommended covered in this part of the book. development.
reading To list the sources referred to in this
part of the book.
* Some activities recommend classroom investigation. In cases where data from
or about children or other third parties, such as other teachers, is collected, it is
essential that ethical procedures are followed in order to protect the rights of the
participants. This will normally include gaining informed consent and/or assent from
parents or caregivers before any data is collected for any purpose.

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 Part 1 
Knowledge of young learners and
principles of teaching English to
young learners
Introduction to Part 1
In Part 1, you will deepen your understanding of the characteristics of children aged
6–12 as learners, and consider the implications of this for teaching English to these
learners. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module will help you extend your
knowledge and skills in preparation for the first part of the TKT: YL module test,
namely, Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners. You
can find more information in the TKT: YL syllabus in the module handbook, which is
available online.
Specifically, in Unit 1, you will find out more about what makes young learners of
English different from older learners, first by looking at the developmental benefits
of learning English, and then by looking at ways we can enhance their language
learning so that they can have these benefits. Finally, we look at classroom activities
which are suitable for young learners, based on their characteristics.
Units 2, 3 and 4 will each introduce one of three kinds of strategy that children
can develop through language learning: learning strategies, cognitive strategies and
communication strategies. Each unit will explain what these strategies are, consider
why they are important, and look at ways to develop and practise them in the English
language classroom.
Each unit also includes suggested reader activities for extension, reflection and
investigation into your practice. These activities will help you consolidate your
understanding and relate your learning to your own classroom context. A range of
activities are suggested in each unit, and you can find a sample TKT: YL practice test
section on the unit topic at the end of each one. You could use your TKT: YL PD
Journal to keep your notes and reflections for the questions and activities organised.
Before you begin, look at the can-do statements. Evaluate your own understanding
and skills for each one. After completing Part 1, return to these and re-assess yourself.
From that, you can develop an action plan so that you can continue to focus on any
particular areas you feel you still need or want to develop.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

SELF-ASSESSMENT

Rate yourself from: Rating Rating

1 (Limited or not at all) to 5 (This is a strength) before Part 1 after Part 1
1 I can talk about some characteristics of 6–12-year-old
children as language learners.
2 I can identify and justify a range of language learning
activities which help children develop learning strategies.
3 I can identify and justify a range of language learning
activities which help children develop cognitive strategies.
4 I can identify and justify a range of language learning
activities which help children develop communication
strategies.
In your TKT: YL PD Journal, identify two or three questions or areas you’d like to
know more about in each unit in Part 1. When you have finished Part 1, return to
these to see if you have answered them. If you haven’t, read around the topic using
the recommended reading list at the end of Part 1. You can also find CPD advice on
the Cambridge English website, and many more resources for teacher professional
development online.

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 Unit 1 Children as language learners: What
are the characteristics of children as
language learners?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know about some characteristics children bring to language learning
SKILLS: be able to make connections between activity types and the benefits they
bring to the young learner classroom

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hy do we teach English to 6–12-year-old children? Note at least
W
three points.

COMMENTARY
Nowadays, children around the world are beginning to learn English from an ever
younger age at school and outside of school (extracurricular). This is partly because
of a popular belief that starting earlier with English will give children greater linguistic
benefit than starting later, so it will allow them to finish school with a higher level of
English, ready for their futures as young adults. However, research shows that older
learners usually make faster progress and learn more efficiently as they are cognitively
more mature, have better learning skills and are more skilled at interaction and
communication (see Read, 2003 for a more detailed discussion on this).
Despite this, there are plenty of benefits in other areas to an earlier start. 6–12-year-
old children are still developing cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally,
as learners, as individuals, and as thinkers; learning English can play a part in this
development. Classroom learning at primary level, usually from around 5 or 6 until
10 to 12 years old, is often based around fun and engaging activities which help
children develop in different areas, and English language learning also lends itself to
these kinds of activities more than to formal desk-based learning. If positive learning
conditions are established through such activities, then it is likely that learning English
as a foreign language may help children develop positive attitudes and improved
motivation for English in preparation for secondary school. Learning English can
also help them to develop personal and educational skills as well as the ‘4 Cs’:
Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking and Creativity, which are important to their
all-round development and being ready for the 21st-century world.

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 Unit 1 Children as language learners

Attitudinal benefits
If children receive positive experiences of learning English in primary school, this
will help them to develop self-esteem as well as a positive attitude towards English,
other English speakers and learners, and to their own abilities as learners. Even in
a society which uses little English, many children also encounter English outside of
the classroom, such as on the TV or in songs, and for some older primary children, in
video games or on social media. These learning opportunities can be highlighted and
exploited for learning in school to help children develop a positive attitude. All this
lays the foundation for the confidence and skills needed for the more formal learning
of English which typically happens in secondary school.
Social benefits
Children can learn skills to socialise from communicating and collaborating with
other children in pairs, in groups and as a whole class, as well as in communication
with their teacher. They may learn, for example, to take turns in a guessing game, to
listen to a classmate’s idea without interrupting or to ask the teacher a question if they
don’t understand an instruction; children can also learn to collaborate by contributing
individually to a group task.
Intercultural benefits
Children can learn to understand their own culture as well as other cultures and
people through learning English. Classroom activities involving songs and stories
from their own and other countries, for example, can help them see similarities and
differences between known and unfamiliar cultures. Intercultural projects, for example
eTwinning, or email exchange projects with children in other countries can also provide
excellent opportunities for children to develop intercultural understanding, tolerance
and global awareness while using English for real communication with other learners,
which is an authentic use of language.
Cognitive benefits
Children aged 6 to 12 are also developing as thinkers, and some may still be learning
to carry out such mental tasks as classifying, sequencing, and hypothesising. Language
learning activities involving puzzles, questions or games, and open questions from
the teacher will enable them to develop their critical thinking skills.
Learning to learn benefits
Children can develop strategies such as predicting the content of a story from looking
at pictures or a book’s cover, planning work when doing a group project, reviewing
and evaluating their learning at the end of a coursebook unit. These are known as
learning strategies. Learning English, then, can help children to learn educational
skills which are important in all school subjects and in their life outside school.
Physical development benefits
Children aged between 6 and 12 are still developing physically. Younger children
are still developing fine motor skills such as cutting and folding paper and are also
learning to coordinate their hands and eyes so that they can do such things as write on
lines, colour in pictures neatly and use space on the page when they make drawings.
This means that language learning activities which require children to make or draw
things may have a value in the child’s overall development, which adds to the benefit

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

they gain from learning language. Such activities also help children’s creativity, as can
other design activities, creating stories, characters, funny animals and so on.
Academic benefits
Children can extend or consolidate learning in other school subjects through
English. This combination of English and subject-related learning is known as CLIL
(Content and Language Integrated Learning). English may be used as a language of
instruction in schools, or learning might be extra-curricular, that is in addition to
what children learn in school: for example, they may find out about different animal
habitats through a communicative activity in an English language lesson which they
haven’t learned about in their science lessons at school.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat are some similarities and differences in teaching children of various
W
ages? Note one or two of each.

COMMENTARY
There is a big difference between teaching English to a class of 6- and 7-year-olds and
to a class of 11- and 12-year-old children, and these differences are generally greater
than we would find in a similar age range difference in adults. In comparison to 6-
and 7- year-olds, for example, children aged 11–12 are likely to have more developed
literacy skills and a more mature first language system. They are often better able
to control their emotions, can sometimes explain their thoughts about learning and
language and have more experience and knowledge of the world in general. However,
characteristics often depend more on the individual child than their age because all
children learn and develop in different ways and at different speeds.
Even though there is a difference within the age group, there are plenty of common
characteristics which, in turn, distinguish the 6 to 12 age group from older children or
adults as learners of English:
A capacity for play and fun
Language and skills practice can be transformed into game-like activities which will
let children satisfy this capacity. We can review vocabulary and practise speaking by
playing charades or drawing games (such as Pictionary-like games), or mime actions
while listening to an action song, for example. Children may also be engaged by
online or app-based games for language learning, some of which are specifically
designed for children learning English, for example, Ruby Rei by Cambridge English/
Wibbu. Halliwell (1992, p. 6–7) gives an example of children making an activity game-
like: a class of 9- and 10-year-olds were following directions on a map in order to
check whether statements the teacher made about the shops on the map were true or
false. One pair of children had a paper clip and pretended to ‘drive’ it around the map
in response to the teacher’s directions. They made car and brake noises as they ‘drove’
their paper clip. This example illustrates children’s ability to use their imagination, and
the pleasure many of them take in physical activity.
10

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 Unit 1 Children as language learners

A capacity for indirect learning

Although some children at the upper end of the 6–12 age spectrum are able to analyse
language as a system, many younger children may have limited abilities to do this. On
the other hand, most younger children will respond very well to motivating activities
which give them a chance to experience and use the language. Their motivation
is likely to come less from the concept of language as a system, and more from the
idea of language they can use to have an enjoyable experience such as singing a
song, saying a chant, or playing a game. Children are more likely to understand and
remember language if it involves tasks and situations like these, which seem familiar
in their world, as they provide a motivating and memorable context for the foreign
language. As an example, children may enjoy and experience a game in which they
guess where the class puppet has hidden a toy. It is of course a guessing game, but the
teacher may also be using it to practise yes/no questions. In other words, language is
the vehicle of classroom learning, not the driver.
An ability to make sense of language
When children learn their first language, they don’t understand all the words that
people around them say to them. They rely on intonation, gestures, facial expressions
and other clues in the situation they are in to understand the different messages they
hear, and from this making sense, they are able to learn the language itself.
When children start to learn a foreign language at school, they can be encouraged to
use these same skills involved in interpreting the general message in order to make
sense. This is partly because many children at the beginning of primary education may
be starting to read and write English at the same time as they are learning to read and
write their own language, which means they are not able to support their learning by
reading or writing. This is particularly true if children’s first language has a different
script from English.
An ability to learn from interacting with others
Many young children, therefore, learn well from talking and listening to peers and to
the teacher, as listening and speaking are the main channels they use to make sense
in their world. Pair work, group work and shared whole-class activities provide a
platform for children to learn both concepts and language from each other and the
teacher. They can also help children develop social skills of interaction.
An ability to use limited language creatively to communicate
Consider the child who is talking about what they find in the kitchen. This child says,
‘a hotter’, referring to the cooker, because she had recently learned the word ‘hot’,
but didn’t know the word ‘cooker’ or ‘oven’. This example shows how the child was
using their mental and linguistic resources imaginatively in order to communicate
the meaning of an unknown word. It also demonstrates the child’s willingness to
experiment and take risks with language in order to express their own meaning. Board
games and other similar games, such as the word game Taboo, can help children in this
way: the player has to explain a given word without using certain other words (which
are commonly associated with the word to be guessed).

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

An ability to use chunks to communicate

Children may be able to use complete phrases such as It’s my turn, Don’t do that! or
See you later! in the correct situations even though they haven’t been taught them
formally. Such phrases are called chunks, and are examples of language children
have learned as whole phrases by picking them up from other people. This is a very
different characteristic from the ability to experiment with language to create meaning,
and also typical of young learners of a foreign language. Chunks are particularly useful
because they help children to join in conversations or to meet a need in the English-
speaking classroom and because children can often use them to create new phrases.
If a child has learned Can I go to the toilet?, for example, they can use part of the chunk
in other phrases such as Can I turn on my microphone? or Can I get my pencil case?.
A need to feel valued, relaxed and safe
Children are not very different from adults in this respect. However, children are
still developing socially and emotionally as people, so they respond especially well to
environments where they feel confident enough to contribute without fear of being
laughed at or criticised by others. Some children may not say very much because they
don’t feel comfortable speaking English when they first begin learning, a phenomenon
known as ‘the Silent Period’. Avoiding pressure to speak until ready, and providing
plenty of receptive skill activities (e.g. listening) where learners are not required to
speak before having children use productive skills (e.g. speaking) is recommended. We
can help children feel valued in the classroom by giving them responsibilities, such as
cleaning the board, shutting down the computer, collecting or distributing materials.
Listening and giving feedback on each learner’s efforts also helps them feel a part of
the class. This all further helps their confidence as well as develops them emotionally.
Characteristics which vary among children
Every child is unique. We saw above that children develop in different ways and at
different rates, and each child brings their own personality and experience to the
classroom. Added to this, individuals have different learning preferences, for example
they may find they remember words better when they see a picture or when they hear
a word in different contexts. Some children will enjoy singing or dancing to English
songs, while others may prefer to work quietly on their own or with a friend; younger
children often have shorter attention spans, and need to move around or change
activities frequently, much more than older children or adults, although this will again
vary among children. While these differences are the same in adult and older learners,
young learners may vary more widely and become disengaged in something that does
not suit them. So, we should include a wide variety of different activity types in our
lessons and try to notice how well our learners respond to different activities.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your
ideas, then expand your notes as you read.
 hat kinds of classroom activity might be suitable for young learners, based
W
on their characteristics?

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 Unit 1 Children as language learners

COMMENTARY
When teachers teach young learners aged 6 to 12, we need to keep the characteristics
we have identified in mind. We can do this by planning for different kinds of
classroom activity so that we can support different children at their stage and pace of
development and learning. The following principles are useful to keep in mind:
● We can motivate children by stimulating their creativity, imagination, physical

and cognitive development through activities such as visualisation, art and craft
activities and other creative tasks which play with language. Using and creating
props, flashcards, pictures, video and digital media can also support learning.
● We can use various interaction patterns such as pair work, group work and

individual work, helping children learn to work in these ways by giving particular
roles for group work, and clear guidance on behaviour.
● We can make connections between children’s home and their school by involving

and communicating with parents/caregivers, having children bring things from

home and using familiar activity and material types such as picture books, songs
and familiar games.
● We can manage children’s energy and attention by planning for lots of short

activities (increasing in length as children get older), varying the lesson pace and
intensity, following a pattern of stir (active, higher energy activities) then settle
(calmer, quieter activities), stir then settle, stir then settle and so on.
● We can also bring plenty of physical movement into our lessons to help manage

energy further, for example using Total Physical Response (TPR) activities. TPR is
a language teaching method which involves children responding in a physical way
to orders or instructions the teacher gives (e.g. Point to the window; Jump three times).
As children’s comprehension and confidence develops, the teacher can build longer
chains of instructions or more complex instructions for children to follow, and
children can also start to give their own instructions for their classmates to follow.
TPR builds on children’s ability to make sense of language input, responds to their
need for physical movement, exposes them to understandable and useful chunks of
language and can appeal to their sense of play and fun, especially if the orders are
humorous. TPR can also support children’s need to feel relaxed and safe, as they are
not forced to speak until they feel confident enough to do so.
● We can set up routines for any stage of the lesson, although commonly at the

beginning and end of a lesson. Routine actions are those we do regularly (e.g.
daily routine), while routines in the classroom are activities or interactions which
are repeated at the same point or for the same purpose in a lesson. They can help
classroom management during transitions or particular activity types (e.g. moving
to circle time). For example, a routine might be when we use a particular song
or exchange as a greeting at the start or end of a lesson, to organise the giving out
and collecting of materials for a lesson, for children to make pairs, or to quickly
stop a groupwork activity. Routines are important because their familiarity can
help children to feel relaxed, safe and confident. They also provide important
opportunities for children to make sense of meaning, to interact and to learn
language (see Cameron, 2001, for more on routines). Routines can also support
social and emotional development by encouraging good social behaviour, such as
when the teacher asks children to tidy up at the end of an art and craft activity.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 149 for answers)

 ead about the series of classroom activities shown in part of a

R
lesson outline and answer the question.

Lesson outline extract

Teacher action Student action

Ask students to mime what they do in the Mime some daily morning routine actions
morning before school
Play the YouTube video animated story about Mime the daily routine actions
daily routines
Review/introduce target language and set up Practise target language: ‘What time do you…?’
pairwork activity
Set up short group survey activity In groups, plan and conduct short survey to find
out about friends’ daily morning routine
Set at-home task At home, survey family or friends about their
daily morning routine
NEXT LESSON Create a table on the computer to present their
Show example of table and model how to make a findings; print it and stick to notice boards
table on the computer; provide technical help
Model and participate in gallery walk Walk around, ask questions and talk about each
other’s tables
Question:
Which of the following statements are true and which are false? Explain your answers.
A The activities help children use and develop physical, cognitive and social skills.
B Children work individually, in pairs and as a group in these activities.
C Children hear the target language (daily routine vocabulary and question-answers)
before they have to say it.
D Children use chunks of language.
E This is a classroom routine.
F There are possible home-school connections in these activities.
G These activities are only suitable for children in the younger age range.

REFLECTION

 rrange to meet other teachers in your institution, school or context,

A
if possible. Alternatively, you could meet online or do this task in an
online group or forum with teachers in another context.
Do the task together.

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 Unit 1 Children as language learners

1 How would you explain young learner characteristics as learners of English to a

teacher who has not taught children before?
2 How do you provide opportunities for children to use their imaginations in your
own teaching?
3 Which routines do you use in your own teaching and why?

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the three discovery activities to explore teaching and

L
learning in your context. Choose and do at least two which are most
useful for you in your context.

1 Think about a lesson you taught recently and/or ask a colleague to describe a lesson
they taught. How did the lesson support learners’ development in different ways
(e.g. cognitive, social, emotional, physical and linguistic)?
2 Choose an activity in a young learner coursebook or resource pack. Identify at least
one non-linguistic benefit it may have for your learners.
3 Think about the chunk Can you…? How could you use TPR in an activity to give
learners the opportunity to practise this chunk?

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, match the teacher’s comments from self-observation about their English
lessons with the characteristics listed A–G.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Children’s characteristics

A A love for physical movement E Pleasure in using their imagination

B An ability to use language chunks F A love for practical responsibilities
C An inquisitive nature G A love for routines
D Different learning preferences
Teacher’s comments
1 ‘...The children were really engaged when I told them about my cat. They were
fascinated and asked lots of questions about my cat!...’
2 ‘...The children had plenty of great ideas when I asked them to guess the ending to the
fairy story....’
3 ‘...There is always a lot of laughter when learners mime and gesture as they listen....’
4 ‘...My learners are very keen to help me in the classroom – so many of them raise their
hands to offer to check the computer is shut down at the end of the class....’
5 ‘...As usual, learners told me three words they remembered from the lesson before they
left the classroom....’
6 ‘...In the lesson, I planned some activities where learners worked individually
because many learners work well individually....’ 15

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 Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies:
How can I help children develop their learning
strategies through language learning?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know more about the benefits of learning strategies to children’s
language learning
SKILLS: be able to identify a range of learning strategies and ways of helping
children to develop them through language learning

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hy do you think it is useful to help children develop strategies which help
W
them learn? Note two or three reasons.

COMMENTARY
Learning strategies are techniques children use to help them learn, and in this
case, learn English specifically. They may use some techniques consciously, and
some unconsciously. Learning strategies are useful to children because they help
them to become more autonomous, independent learners as they develop greater
understanding of what learning is and, therefore, how to learn without as much
help from the teacher. Through this, they improve their ability to learn. Children
can also apply many learning strategies they use for English to other subjects in
the curriculum; they may already use learning strategies to help them learn in other
subjects which they can transfer to learning English.
Teachers can teach children learning strategies explicitly, and can ask them to practise
them at home and in class. They can also highlight the connections between English
and other subjects in the curriculum, which will further motivate children in their
learning of English. Teachers will benefit from having more confident and efficient
learners in class, and they will be able to see how different children in their classes
learn best. From here, the teacher can plan and manage learning better for the specific
groups of children they teach.

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 Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat can we focus children’s attention on to help them become better
W
learners? Give one or two examples.

COMMENTARY
Learning is an active process, undertaken by the learner, and we can help children
become better language learners and learners in life in general by helping them
become more expert in the skills needed for the learning process. This may involve
helping children to understand about learning (metacognitively), be ready and willing
to learn better (emotionally) and develop the skills which will help them learn better
(learning strategies). Ellis and Ibrahim (2015, p. 9) explain that:
Learning to learn is primarily concerned with the processes of learning, and aims to
focus the child’s attention on what they are doing – and why – in order to develop
their awareness of the learning process and better understand how they learn, in
addition to what they learn.
Understanding about learning
Metacognition is defined by the Cambridge online Dictionary as ‘knowledge and
understanding of your own thinking’, in this case knowledge and understanding of the
learning process. Being more aware of how people learn languages can undoubtedly
help children learn more efficiently, so by making this process explicit to learners, we
can support them in their English language learning. This may include the teacher
explaining to learners why they are doing an activity in the classroom, or how an
at-home or out-of-class activity will support their English learning. Helping children
learn to plan, track and evaluate their learning is also metacognitive.
Being ready and willing to keep learning
An important factor in learning is motivation for learning, as motivation will
encourage a child to keep learning. There are many aspects to motivation: A teacher
might motivate children to learn through providing engaging activities, interesting
content and being sensitive to children’s needs in the classroom, for example. We can
also help children to develop intrinsic motivation – the motivation which comes from
within – and a love for learning in general by encouraging a growth mindset, which
helps children see that everyone can reach a learning goal if we take it step by step
(Dweck, 2006). In this way, an intrinsically motivated learner will continue learning
by reaching smaller learning goals, one by one. Through showing learners how they
are progressing and praising and rewarding effort, for example, children will be
encouraged, be motivated and will want to keep learning more and more.
Being supported as an individual
Each child develops and learns in their own way and at their own rate. This can depend on
various influential factors, such as the social and learning context, the topics and activities,
the teacher, the learner’s personality and their mood. Keeping notes on how different
children use particular learning strategies can help the teacher understand and take each
learner into account in their teaching, and therefore value diversity in their classroom.
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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the Key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat learning strategies do/could you use with children in your classroom?
W
Note at least three strategies.

COMMENTARY
The teacher may implement different strategies in the classroom to help children
understand the learning process and become more motivated to learn. These include
the following:

Learning strategy Example

Planning learning Before drawing a picture of rooms in a house and writing a short
description of it, two children agree on who will draw, who will write, and
on how long they will take for each task.
Setting learning In a tutorial at the beginning of the school year, a child tells the teacher
objectives that this term she wants to learn ten words about sports.
Selecting activities For a project on animals, the teacher asks children to work in groups. She lets
each group choose whether to create a quiz or design a poster.
Organising learning A learner writes new words she has learned from a graded reader under the
headings of Clothes and Colours.
Reviewing learning A child looks through a coursebook unit their class has just finished and
thinks about what they have learned.
Remembering A child looks at a new word, says it to himself, covers it, writes it down, and
language then checks that his spelling is correct.
Using reference A learner isn’t sure about the meaning of a word he reads in the
resources coursebook. He uses the glossary in the coursebook to check its meaning.
Developing As a result of hearing the teacher using he and she in class, and in an
hypotheses about animated song video, a child develops an idea that he is used for men or
language rules boys, and she for women or girls.
Comparing As a child listens to a song from the coursebook, she listens for similarities
in vocabulary between English and her L1.
Contrasting While watching a coursebook video clip on the topic of families, a child
notices that English has just one word for aunt and uncle. He finds this
interesting, because in his language there are many different words.
Self-assessment A child reflects after performing a dialogue with a classmate to the rest of
the class. She thinks that her pronunciation was good because she said the
words quite clearly but decides that she should speak more loudly next time
because sometimes her partner needed to ask her to say something again.
Self-correction Learner: (looking at a picture of a street scene) I can see two mans.
Teacher: OK, but… two mans?
Learner: Men… I can see two men.

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 Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies

Teachers can help children to develop learning strategies through using a Plan → Do
→ Review model in class. The three stages of the Plan → Do → Review model simply
involve, first of all, children thinking before an activity about what they already know,
and what they need to prepare or consider in order to do an activity successfully
(Plan). Children then do the activity (Do), and after it review and assess what they did
well, and what they could do better next time (Review). Cycles of Plan → Do → Review
can be integrated into normal teaching practice easily, as it is a very similar classroom
approach to using activities before, while and after when children are focusing on
listening, speaking, reading or writing.
The KWL model can also support learning strategies. In this model, before a topic,
lesson or classroom activity, children brainstorm what they already Know (content
and/or language). Then they express what they Want to know, that is they set
learning objectives, also in relation to content and/or language. Once the topic, lesson
or activity is over, they return to their objectives, reflect and say what they feel they
Learned. This can be extended for older children to include planning how they might
learn something (at the Know stage) and by identifying questions they still have at
the Learned stage, including how they will go about answering these questions (i.e.
goal setting). This can be done individually or in pairs or groups, using a KWL chart.
Examples of these are widely available online.
In addition, teachers can help children to develop effective learning strategies by
explaining specific examples to them, by providing opportunities for children to think
about their learning individually, and by giving them chances to explain and share
strategies they use for learning to their classmates.

Explaining learning strategies to children

Here is an example from a young learner
coursebook. This page starts the coursebook
What is music?
unit. The Teacher’s Guide recommends
5 Talk
Learn
Write
Say
about music.
how to make suggestions.
a biography.
how music makes you feel.
Create a music playlist.
teachers draw attention to the unit
learning objectives listed at the top of the
page; learners then share and discuss
What
can you their opinions and brainstorm content-
see? How do the
children feel? related knowledge before the unit starts by
answering the questions on the first page, as
shown. At the end of the unit, the teacher
will return to these to help children evaluate
their learning.

How can music help us Extract from Zapiain (2020) Cambridge Primary Path
express our feelings? Student’s Book 2: Cambridge University Press &
94
Assessment

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

The teacher may decide to explain to her class why this activity supports their
learning, and can ask children to reflect on this strategy. If the coursebook does not
include a focus on learning strategies, teachers can suggest strategies themselves for
children to try out, reflect on and talk about together in class.
Providing opportunities for children to think about their work individually
As younger children’s abilities to select appropriate learning strategies and analyse and
explain their thoughts are often less developed than those of older children, teachers
can ask younger children to provide simple visual responses to learning, for example
by asking them to put their thumbs up, sideways or down, or to indicate with smiley
faces or other symbols (e.g. ♥ ♥ ♥) how much they enjoyed an activity or how
well they think they did. They could also complete a termly or unit checklist of can-do
statements or lesson objectives, which children tick off as they achieve them.
It’s important also to go beyond visual responses to get children to think a little more
deeply and to consider the reasons why they enjoyed activities; any discussion of
this, both for younger and older children can be in L1 if necessary, as the main focus
is not on practising language, but on developing learning strategies. Older children
will respond more readily to linguistic prompts, and so teachers can find out about
learners’ learning and their own teaching through oral or written questions such as
What did we learn today? What was useful and why? What did I do well? What can I do better
next time? This learner self-assessment can also give the teacher an impression of the
learners’ learning so they can make changes to their teaching if necessary.
Giving children opportunities to share and explain their learning strategies
Before starting an activity, teachers can encourage children to think about possible
learning strategies they can use to be successful. For example, if children are going to
design a group poster about healthy food, teachers may ask children how they will
use their time so that they work effectively. Children’s responses (e.g. agree what food
to include, agree a format for presenting, do a draft version first, agree who does what, allow
time to review what we’ve done) can be shared in plenary, that is as a whole class, giving
children a chance to learn from each other and try out new strategies. The responses
also provide teachers with a chance to highlight effective strategies and to find out
important information about children’s attitudes and skills in learning.
After an activity, children can also share learning strategies they used. For example,
after an at-home task which involved children saying and remembering some
questions, children can compare how they practised in the next class (e.g. I looked, said
out loud, covered, said again, practised with someone at home, cut each question into separate
words and reassembled them.).
Out-of-class learning strategies
We can encourage learners to find English in their home or local environment, which
will help them become more independent, autonomous learners. An at-home activity
could be to find and play a word game on a mobile phone or other device, to watch a
cartoon in English (with or without subtitles in English or their own language), to find
some English print in their local environment (e.g. signposts, food packaging etc.) or to
find an English song they like and learn some words or lines from it. Requesting parent/
caregiver support will also open up an additional learning strategy; even if their English
proficiency is limited, they could partner their child in their language learning journey.

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 Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 149 for answers)

 ead the teachers’ questions and choose an appropriate response for

R
each. Then do the tasks.

Teachers’ questions Possible responses

Teacher 1: How can I deal with parents or A Adapt or supplement your materials by
caregivers who think that focusing on learning including a focus on learning strategies from
strategies isn’t very useful for their children? time to time.

Teacher 2: How can I encourage a growth B You can help them see that we learn little
mindset among my learners? by little. Praise each learner’s efforts at each
step of learning, however big or small – that
sized step is for that learner. Then show
them where to go next and how to get there.
Teacher 3: What can I do if my coursebook or C You can integrate the Plan – Do – Review
syllabus doesn’t provide opportunities for model into your normal classroom teaching,
children to think about learning strategies? with Planning occurring at the pre-lesson or
task stage and Reviewing at the post-lesson
or task stage.
Teacher 4: How can I help children in mixed D You can write a letter to them explaining
level or mixed ability classes focus on learning why you are focusing on learning strategies.
strategies? You can also invite them to come and talk to
you if they are still worried.
Teacher 5: How can I include development of E You can highlight the learning objectives
learning strategies into my already full class at the beginning of the lesson. At the end
time? of the lesson, you can ask learners to show
you thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs
sideways, in response to your questions
about these. Provide follow up questions
which ask learners to reflect more deeply
about what they have learned.
Teacher 6: How can I help children see what they F Encourage children to share and help each
have learned in a lesson? other in pairs and groups. Ask stronger
learners to help weaker learners when
appropriate.
Match the teachers’ questions 1–6 with the possible responses A–F.
Reflect: What alternative answers could you give to these teachers? Choose
two or three and note your ideas, based on your reading in this unit.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

REFLECTION

 rrange to meet other teachers in your institution, school or context,

A
if possible. Alternatively, you could meet online or do this task in an
online group or forum with teachers in another context.
Do the task together.

1 What learning strategies have you successfully used yourself to learn English or
another language?
2 How do you help children develop learning strategies in your lessons?
3 Put all your ideas from Question 2 together. Which strategies are or might be most
useful to young learners of English in your context? Rank the top five or six ideas.
4 Read the following comments about learning strategies. Discuss how far you agree
or disagree with them when keeping your own learners in mind:

‘Children without learning strategies are learners without tools for successful learning.’

‘The number of learning strategies children have is not important. What is important is how
they use and combine the learning strategies they do have.’

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the following discovery activities to explore the use of

L
learning strategies in your context. Choose two or three which are
most useful to you. If you are not a practising young learner teacher
right now, you could work with another teacher and their class.

1 Plan for a KWL strategy in your next lesson or unit. Keep a note of the KWL charts
developed by the children. Then try the KWL strategy again, at least one more time,
and compare the results. Think about how the children have developed learning
strategies, and where they may need extra help. Continue with the strategy for
a term or longer period, giving the help needed. At the end of that time, do you
notice any change in their learning strategies?
2 Plan for a Plan – Do – Review model in your next lesson. Keep notes on learners’
responses at each of the stages alongside your lesson plan. Afterwards, review those
notes to see if you could improve the way you implemented it. Then plan to use
it again; repeat as necessary so that you develop a way to use the model to its best
effect with your learners.
3 Think about the learners in one of your classes. Which learning strategies can and
do most of them use, and which ones do they need help in developing? How can
you provide this help?
4 Look at a lesson or activity you will teach soon in your coursebook. Identify two
or more learning strategies that children will need to use in order to learn more
successfully in the lesson/activity. Plan and teach your lesson and reflect on what you
learned about children’s use of learning strategies. How can you help your learners
improve or develop learning strategies that would help them in this kind of activity?

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 Unit 2 Developing children’s learning strategies

5 Ask children to brainstorm in groups the strategies they use outside of the classroom
to learn or simply encounter English. They could share their ideas with the class
by making a poster for display. As you give feedback to the class, provide any extra
suitable strategies they haven’t thought of.
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of this investigation.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, look at the learning strategies and the three classroom activities
listed A–C.
Choose the classroom activity (A–C) which matches the learning strategy.

1 Planning learning
A The teacher asks children what they know about giraffes and what they want to
find out.
B The teacher asks children whether they like giraffes and have seen one at a zoo.
C The teacher asks children what a giraffe looks like and where it lives.
2 Developing hypotheses about language rules
A The teacher asks children to guess the title of a story from a picture she
shows them.
B The teacher asks children to say how they think a story about a gardener and a
princess will end.
C The teacher asks children to underline past tense verbs in a story and tell her how
they are formed.
3 Setting learning objectives
A At the start of the lesson about colours, children tell each other all the colour words
in English that they know.
B At the start of the lesson about colours, children say how many colour words they
think they can learn in the lesson.
C At the start of the lesson about colours, children test each other on the spellings of
five colour words.
4 Selecting activities
A In a lesson about sports, children choose which partner they would like to work with.
B In a lesson about sports, children choose whether to answer a quiz or play a
guessing game.
C In a lesson about sports, children choose which is their favourite sport.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

5 Reviewing
A At the end of the lesson, the teacher gives children time to think about what they
have learned.
B At the end of the lesson, the teacher gives children time to talk about their
weekend.
C At the end of the lesson, the teacher gives children time to copy the homework
task from the board.
6 Using reference resources
A Children take it in turns to write true sentences about their families on the board.
B Children make a family tree and form groups to talk about the people in their family.
C Children use picture dictionaries to check that they know the words for different
family members.

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 Unit 3 Developing thinking skills: How can I
help children develop cognitive strategies
in language learning?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know more about the role of language learning in helping children
to develop cognitive strategies
SKILLS: be able to identify a range of cognitive strategies and ways of helping
children to develop them through language learning

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat does the term ‘cognitive strategy’ mean to you? Use a dictionary to
W
check if you need to.

COMMENTARY
Cognition is a word meaning thinking, so cognitive strategies are the mental skills
children use in order to process and understand the content or the language they are
learning. As children practise using cognitive skills in different ways, they will be able
to develop them for use outside of language learning. For example, they might predict
what happens next part of the way through a story, or deduce the meaning of an
unknown word they hear from the context in which they meet it.
Cognitive strategies are important because they are essential to children’s learning in
all school subjects. Helping children to develop cognitive strategies while they are
learning English therefore plays an important part in children’s general development
as learners and thinkers. Thinking skills development is seen as one of the ‘4Cs’, which
are the four main life skills children need to develop to help them be prepared for their
future as adults in the 21st century: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking
and Creativity.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat are the cognitive skills and what kinds of strategies might children use
W
to practise them? Try to think of three or four examples.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

COMMENTARY
Part of Bloom’s Taxonomy, first published in the 1950s, identified cognitive domains
and put six related goals in order of complexity. This was later revised and is now often
presented in a hierarchical triangle (see Figure 1) to show how the goals build upon
one another. For example, as part of the cognitive process of evaluating something, we
need first to understand and analyse it.

Create

Evaluate

Analyse

Apply

Understand

Remember

Figure 1: Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy of cognitive goals (Anderson & Bloom, 2001).
The three lower levels of the triangle are also sometimes referred to as Lower Order
Thinking Skills (LOTS), which involve basic gathering and memorisation of information,
while the upper three require Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), which involve
deeper and fuller understanding, processing and application of knowledge.
Children need opportunities to practise and use cognitive strategies when they learn
English so that they can develop their abilities as thinkers. Their thinking skills develop
as they mature, so younger children are less adept at HOTS than older children, but
we can help children develop cognitive strategies involving both LOTS and HOTS
even at the younger age range. Classroom activities and teacher language graded to
the children’s age and developmental level can help all 6- to 12-year-old children
practise and develop cognitive skills. Look at the examples in the table below, which
are ranked broadly from least to most complex.

Cognitive Bloom’s Classroom activities which Example teacher language

strategies Taxonomy help children develop
level cognitive strategies include:
identifying Level 1: ● labelling visuals Look at the jungle picture and
Remembering ● naming objects in the find three animals. Which
classroom animals can you see?
● finding vocabulary items in
a short supplementary or
coursebook text

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 Unit 3 Developing thinking skills

skimming Up to level 2: ● reading quickly or listening Read the dialogue very quickly
Understanding once to get the general and tell me if Yuki is happy
meaning of a text (e.g. story, or sad.
song, chant)
scanning Up to level 2: ● reading or listening to find Read the game instructions
Understanding and understand specific and tell me how many people
information in a text can play.
categorising Up to level 2: ● putting things with the Look at these animals. Are they
Understanding same characteristics into pets or wild animals? Speak to
groups your partner and make a pets
list and a wild animals list.
matching Up to level 3: ● putting together: If you have an animal picture
Applying – words and pictures card, find your partner, who
– questions and answers has the word card for the same
– half-sentences to make animal.
complete sentences
sequencing Up to level 4: ● putting events or steps in Listen to the recipe again and
Analysing the order in which they put these steps in the right order.
happened
predicting Up to level 4: ● using context to guess what Look at this forest. Who will the
Analysing will happen next in a story boys find in the forest? What do
● using a picture or key words you think?
to guess what a song will
be about
● using context to guess the
next line in a dialogue
ranking Up to level 5: ● putting things in a set order Look at this list of five types
Evaluating (this order could be based of transport. Number them in
on fact, opinion, preference, order from fastest (number 1) to
etc.) slowest (number 5).
deducing Up to level 5: ● guessing the meaning of Look at the picture and the
meaning Evaluating unknown words other words in the sentence: is
from context ‘dangerous’ something good
or bad?
risk-taking Up to level 6: ● using hypotheses about OK, you know the words dancer
Creating language to say or write and teacher… So, what do we
something the child hasn’t call a person who writes books?
been formally taught yet
in English
creating Up to level 6: ● making something new Make a list of important words
Creating based on understanding or in our environment topic. Use
knowledge the words to create a word
● using different materials puzzle, like a crossword or
and resources to make wordsearch with clues.
something new

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 ow can teachers use questions to help learners develop thinking skills?
H
Note two or three ideas.

COMMENTARY
There are many ways teachers use questions in their classrooms, such as to check
understanding, to see how well children are meeting learning objectives or to check
children’s reaction or feelings. We can see that asking questions is a key teacher skill.
Different question types can serve different purposes. For example, simple yes/
no questions, or questions which ask children to give short factual answers (closed
questions) have a useful role in the young learner classroom because they allow children
to develop confidence in their ability to understand and to produce language. They also
help the teacher to check children’s comprehension. Children have big imaginations and
plenty of ideas, and so need opportunities to put their own thoughts into words. That is why
it is also very important for teachers to ask open questions when appropriate. Open questions
do not have a right or wrong answer, so they provide children with an opportunity to
develop their thinking by expressing their own ideas. If children are listening to a story about
a boy who is lost, for example, the teacher might stop the recording, and ask: How can he find
his way home? If they are going to read a simple graded reader about elephants, the teacher
might ask: What would you like to find out about elephants? Open questions often allow children
to process language at a deeper emotional level than simple yes/no questions, and so make
language memorable and learning interesting. They can also stimulate children’s thinking at
a deeper level, for example when asked to give and justify an opinion.
Teachers can also help children to develop cognitive strategies by allowing wait time
after they ask open questions. Children need time to check that they have understood a
question, that they can answer it, and to think about the words they need to explain their
thinking. Fisher (2005, p. 23) explains that allowing children three seconds or longer to
think before answering a question can result in more children in a class who are willing to
answer, and responses which are longer, more thoughtful and imaginative than when an
immediate answer is required. Strategies such as Think-Pair-Share, where children first
think for themselves, then check their ideas with a partner before sharing it with a bigger
group or the whole class, are also effective in giving thinking time (wait time).
It is quite common that one or two learners dominate classroom interaction, perhaps
by often shouting out answers, always having their hand held high (and eager). It is
important, therefore, to nominate different learners, giving them the opportunity to
be heard, to contribute actively and help you gauge their progress and understanding
of language. This will prevent the dominant students from answering everything, and
can encourage all the students to think if you ask the question first, give a little wait
time, then nominate someone to answer it. This will also give you the opportunity to
differentiate, as you can nominate different learners for different kinds of question, give
more or less wait time and so on, depending on the ability of the learner you nominate.

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 Unit 3 Developing thinking skills

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 149 for answers)

 ook at the two coursebook extracts and identify the cognitive

L
strategies they involve for learners.

Extract 1:

Which cognitive strategies do the

activities in Extract 1 require learners
to use? Choose more than one
answer:
A Sequencing
B Skimming
C Creating
D Predicting
E Deducing meaning from context

Extract from Elsworth and Rose (2017) Academy

Stars Pupil’s Book 5, p. 34: Macmillan Education

Extract 2:

Do that!

1 90 Listen and act out with your teacher. Then listen again
and number the pictures.
Which cognitive strategies do the
activities in Extract 2 require learners
to use? Choose more than one
answer:
A Sequencing
2 Read the sentences from the story and draw lines. B Creating
a Open the window. b Put the spider outside. C Predicting
c Catch the spider. d There’s a big spider on
the table. D Ranking
e The spider waves goodbye. f You’re in the living room.
E Risk-taking
3 Work in groups.
a Make new sentences. b Listen to a friend and act out. F Scanning
You’re in the garden. You’re in the garden.
There’s a ...
... There’s a little cat under a tree.

Extract from Williams, Putcha, Gerngross and

Touch the cat.
Lewis-Jones (2022) Super Minds Student’s Book 1,
80 Creativity p. 92: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

REFLECTION

 ead these teachers’ comments. How would you respond to

R
each teacher?

Teacher 1: I try to include both simple factual questions and open questions in my lessons
when I can.

Teacher 2: Open questions are a good idea, but children don’t have enough English to
answer them.

Teacher 3: A good answer is worth waiting for.

Teacher 4: I like the idea of wait time, but I think silence will feel uncomfortable.
I think it’s better to fill silences with praise or a comment, or just move to the
next learner.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ollow the steps to investigate about questions and wait time in your
F
classroom practice.

Find out about your practice: Questions and wait time

Step 1: Choose an activity or topic you are going to use soon in class. Plan some
appropriate closed questions and open questions to ask which will encourage children
to use HOTS as well as LOTS.
Step 2: Teach the class. Remember to use wait time after you ask your questions.
Focus on children’s responses to your questions. Make brief notes about children’s
responses to your questions (mental or on paper) during the class and spend a short
time immediately afterwards to expand your records and notes.
Step 3: As soon as possible after the lesson, spend time looking through your notes.
Think about:
1 whether children’s answers to the open questions showed evidence of their
thinking.
2 whether wait time produced more participation from children.
3 whether there were differences in children’s responses to closed or open questions.
4 what difficulties occurred and how you dealt with them.
5 what you have learned from using open questions and wait time.

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 Unit 3 Developing thinking skills

Step 4: Set yourself one or two action points to improve your questioning in your
classroom practice, for example:
– To give one or two seconds more wait time when I ask open questions.

– To give children the opportunity to share or discuss their answer with a partner

before nominating a student to share their answer with the class.

You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of this investigation.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, match the teachers’ descriptions of classroom tasks involving pictures
with the main cognitive strategies they focus on listed A–C.
Choose the correct letter (A–C).

Main cognitive strategies

A categorising
B sequencing
C predicting

Classroom tasks involving pictures

1 I asked children to look at the picture and tell me which activities are healthy and which
activities are bad for your health.
2 
I showed children one half of a picture of a house and asked them to guess what was in
the other half.
3 
As children listened to a song about a friendly dinosaur, they put three pictures
describing the story in the right order.
4 
Children looked at a picture of a forest, two children and a river, and told me what they
thought the story would be about.
5 
Children read a recipe for mushroom omelette and numbered pictures to describe the
correct steps for making the omelette.
6 
Children helped me to put the sports flashcards into two piles: summer and
winter sports.

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 Unit 4 Developing communication skills: How
can I help children develop communication
strategies through language learning?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know more about language and non-language strategies commonly
used in communication
SKILLS: be able to identify a range of communication strategies and ways of
helping children to develop them through language learning

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat do people use in order to communicate? List as many points as
W
you can.

COMMENTARY
When people interact with one another, they communicate using words and other
non-language tools. We begin communicating the moment we are born – babies
communicate their basic human needs to their parent or carer: I’m hungry! Something
hurts! I want a hug! They do this by crying and cooing. As we grow up, we begin to
convey information more precisely – older babies will begin to use simple words,
like More!, gestures such as reaching, and later, pointing. These usually become more
intentional strategies before a child’s first birthday. Later, our communication becomes
more sophisticated, and we can express our needs more precisely and clearly. We
become more skilled at communicating using both words and non-language tools,
such as gestures, voice, facial expression. For example, to communicate a need for
help, we may use the word Help!, but are likely to shout it in a tone of voice which
reflects the degree of urgency. We might wave an arm and wear an expression of fear
or shock, all depending on the situation.
A function is the reason or purpose for using language, e.g. making a suggestion; giving
advice (TKT Glossary, p. 18) and, therefore, functional language is the particular words,
chunks or phrases that we use to perform different actions. This language can be
categorised in different ways, for example:

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 Unit 4 Developing communication skills

1 Personal expression (e.g. talking about yourself, introducing yourself, expressing

feelings and emotions)
2 Social interaction (e.g. greeting and introducing people, thanking people, saying
goodbye)
3 Conversation skills (e.g. asking for clarification, asking someone to speak more slowly
or to explain more clearly)
4 Explaining, giving and asking for information (e.g. getting information, describing
something, answering requests for information)
5 Expressing an opinion (e.g. talking about likes, dislikes and preferences, agreeing and
disagreeing, accepting or refusing)
6 Getting something done (e.g. asking about something, asking for permission, buying
something)
These functions can take place in various situations and in interactions with different
people. Younger children may be less experienced in these kinds of interaction
than older children or adults, and may have more limited language resources at
their disposal. As with the other kinds of strategy we talked about in Units 2 and 3,
helping children develop interaction skills is important for their overall development,
regardless of the language they use. We can support children of all ages in becoming
more skilled in communicating in English by helping them develop communication
strategies, which they can use to support their communication. These are intentional
or unplanned actions used by a speaker to support them in the communication
of meaning. They may be verbal (e.g. use of chunks or functional language),
phonological (e.g. tone of voice, word or sentence stress) or non-verbal (e.g. gestures,
facial expression).

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat kinds of strategy for communication do/would you teach your young
W
learners? Think of as many as you can.

COMMENTARY
When our students practise using language in a communicative activity, they need to
use some form of communication strategy in the same way that people almost always
use communication strategies in everyday life. Speakers often use these strategies
without thinking or unintentionally, but young language learners may need to notice
and try to use these more deliberately, at least until they become more automatic for
them. Added to this, some non-verbal strategies may be unique to or differ in meaning
or nuance between specific cultures, such as the hand gesture to beckon in Japanese
or the South Asian head shake.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

There are four types of strategy, and each has different features or involves particular
considerations:

Verbal (spoken) Verbal (written)

• Choice of words, e.g. use of adult/typical • Choice of words, e.g. use of adult’s/typical
children’s words, colloquial language or slang children’s words, use of colloquial language or
• Level of formality slang
• Pitch and tone of voice • Level of formality (as appropriate to genre)
• Speed of delivery • Use of fixed expressions or conventions for
• Clarity of meaning specific genres (e.g. email openings, use of
internet language, e.g. LOL, BFF)
• Structure (at word, sentence and paragraph level)
• Clarity of meaning

Communication
strategies

Non-verbal Visual
• Facial expressions • Visuals such as emoticons, GIFs, images, video
• Posture clips, drawings etc. to support or replace verbal
• Gestures and touching strategies,
• Eye contact • Appropriacy of content (e.g. age, culture)
• Culturally-specific features
(e.g. particular gestures or body language
used in a culture)

When we are using a second or foreign language, we may need to rely on more
non-verbal or different verbal strategies to interact with other people than we are
used to using in our everyday interactions. At a beginning stage, these may be
survival strategies, but will continue to be strategies such as using a gesture to support
meaning or asking someone to repeat if you don’t understand something or your
conversation partner is speaking too fast for you. Learners can develop these through
communicative language practice activities, but we can also explicitly teach important
communication strategies.
In a language learning classroom, it is assumed that the learners and perhaps the
teacher are speakers of another language. In a monolingual classroom, that is one
where learners all speak the same first language, this language then becomes a tool for
communicating in English. In the language classroom, mediation is a communication
strategy where learners or the teacher use the other language to support their
communication. This may involve, for example, using or translating some words or

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 Unit 4 Developing communication skills

explaining a concept in the L1 to another learner who needs help understanding

something. A language learner’s first language will not go away, so it is important to
show learners how to use it as a communication strategy. This will help them become
more confident in communicating in real-life situations in the future.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat kinds of classroom activity are suitable for teaching communication
W
strategies to young learners? Think of two or three examples.

COMMENTARY
Here are some examples of ways in which we can explicitly teach communication
strategies:
Classroom language posters
Learners work in groups to brainstorm useful classroom language in English; this is
likely to be functional language. The teacher’s role is to suggest ideas as necessary and
to help the children express the words and phrases accurately.
Children gather their classroom language examples together and write them on a
poster. This could be a group or whole-class poster. They could illustrate the poster to
show meaning or they could add a translation.
Learners practise the language first by repeating it, with attention paid to appropriate
pitch, tone and relevant non-verbal strategies, before doing a practice activity. Later,
children can refer to the poster when they want to communicate something in
the classroom.

Example classroom language poster (Shin, et al. (2021) p. 43)

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

Learners could also write their own checklist of phrases and expressions. Each time
they use one of these, they can tick it on their checklist. At the end of each class, week
or unit, they can share the phrases they have used (and not used).

The example classroom language poster shown may have been written by the teacher
or collaboratively produced by a group or whole class of students. With younger
learners who are not able to read, the poster could show gestures or mimes which
prompt children to combine with learned phrases and expressions.
Role plays with a communication checklist
Before children do a role play activity, the teacher can brainstorm useful or important
functional expressions or chunks of language as a whole class. For example, the
children are going to do a role play where they buy an ice-cream in a shop. The
teacher may elicit ways to greet the shop assistant, to ask politely for something or to
say thank you and goodbye. They can be practised as part of a model dialogue before
learners devise their own role play exchange. When pairs perform their role plays
in groups or to the class, the rest of the class can use a checklist of phrases (e.g. the
language brainstormed earlier in the lesson) to see which ones the pairs use in their
dialogue. They can use this to give peer feedback.
Communication without words
There are numerous games young learners can play in the classroom where they
need to communicate without using words. These include miming games (gestures),
drawing games (visual), or emoticon games (facial expression) and can involve
children trying to communicate a word or message through non-verbal means,
while others guess what is being communicated and/or respond in an appropriate
way (verbally or even non-verbally). For example, children work in pairs. One
child looks at a card which reads ‘Say hello!’. The child should gesture the message
to communicate with their partner, e.g. by waving, shaking hands or bowing. The
partner should respond verbally, e.g. by saying ‘Hi! How are you?’ or ‘Nice to meet
you!’. Alternatively, learners look at a set of emoticons, choose one and do the facial
expression to show the emotion shown. The other children guess which emoticon
their classmate is performing.
Drama activities
Using drama in the classroom brings many benefits, including helping children think
creatively, to build self-confidence and self-esteem and to find and use their own
voice (See Hillyard, 2016, for more about using drama to support English language
learning). It can also support children as they practise all kinds of communication
strategies, both those using words and those without words. In drama, we may
exaggerate non-verbal strategies, for example, while verbal strategies can be
incorporated into the script. The script, in turn, can be adjusted to support this by the
teacher or written by the children themselves.
Collaborative groupwork
When working in collaborative groups, children will need to utilise a number of
communication strategies in order to collaborate as a group member and move the
group task forward. This may especially be the case when children work on projects
or problem-solving tasks. They may need to express their ideas clearly, ask for

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 Unit 4 Developing communication skills

clarification, agree, disagree, protest, suggest and so on. Some children, especially
younger children or children who lack confidence, may need extra support with
communication strategies for group work. Functional language or non-verbal
strategies could be introduced, practised, then put on a checklist before collaborative
group activities begin. This may involve images, such as emoticons, question marks, a
hand up, which may indicate agree, disagree, question, suggest and so on, or it may be
a list of chunks or expressions. A rule allowing only two or three of each to be ticked
off during an activity will help manage dominant learners and support shy children.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 150 for answers)

 ead about three well-known, commonly played games which can be

R
used to teach English to young learners. Answer the question.

Game 1: Happy families

We usually play this card game in groups of four. The pack of 16 cards includes
cards showing various members of different families. Players start with four cards
and try to collect all four from the same family by, in turns, picking a card from the
pile or asking another player for one of their cards, e.g. ‘Do you have someone from the
Smith family?’ The player asked should give their card if they have one and say, for
example, ‘Yes, here you are’. Other language in the game might include: ‘I’m sorry, I
can’t help you’, ‘It’s your/my turn’ or ‘Could you repeat that, please?’
In the young learner English classroom, the families might be replaced by words
from different lexical sets (e.g. animals, transport etc.); older children could use
more complex questions, such as ‘Do you have a person who works on a farm?’ or be
required to respond in more detail.

Game 2: Charades
In turns, players think of a book, film or TV show. They first indicate to the other
players what type of media it is and how many words make up the title, then they
mime the title, either word by word or as a whole. They must not make any sound,
give clues, write or mouth words while they mime. The other players should guess
the title, by saying, for example, ‘Is it…?’ or ‘It could be… Am I right?’. Whoever
guesses the title has the next turn to mime.
The game can be played in this way, using familiar books, films and so on.
The teacher may decide to provide prompts or ideas for the children to mime.
Alternatively, the game could be modified so learners mime characters (e.g. from a
story they have been reading as a class), people in different professions and so on.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

Game 3: Hopscotch
Young children often play this game in the school playground, although it can
be played in an indoor space too. All you need is a piece of chalk and a stone.
Together you draw a hopscotch grid (you can find examples of this online) on the
ground, and number the squares one to ten. The learners take turns to throw the
stone onto the squares, starting at number one and moving up one each time, and
should jump onto all the squares, missing out the one with the stone. If they jump
or throw the stone outside the box, they miss a turn. The winner is the first to
complete square 10.
They may use particular phrases to manage the team game in English, such as ‘Miss
a go!’ Or ‘It’s my go’. They could also say the numbers or other words or phrases as
they jump on the hopscotch squares each time.

Look at communication strategies in the table. Which ones are or could be practised
in each of the games? Put ticks in the table. There are several possible strategies for
each game.

Communication strategy Example Game 1: Game 2: Game 3:

Happy families Charades Hopscotch
Using functional language Well done!
to congratulate a winner
Using functional language It’s your turn!
for turn-taking
Using functional language I think it’s…
to give opinion
Using functional language Can I have…, please?
to ask for an object
Using functional language Here you are!
when giving something
Using functional language Let’s…
for collaboration
Using visuals Using numbers;
pictures
Using gestures and body Miming
language to explain

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 Unit 4 Developing communication skills

REFLECTION

Answer the reflection questions A and B.

A. Look at these example communication strategies. How might they be

useful to children learning English?
1 Clarifying 4 Asking for information
2 Attracting someone’s attention 5 Describing an action, routine or appearance
3 Giving a reason 6 Asking for permission
B. Choose three or four of the communication strategies from question A.
a. What language chunks, phrases or expressions in English do/could children need
for them?
b. Think of one or two communicative activities which will give children the
opportunity to practise each strategy.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the discovery activities to explore teaching and learning in

L
your context. Do one or two activities which are most useful to you
in your context.

1 Look online, in supplementary resource books or packs at games for young English
learners. Find a game or activity that you haven’t used before, that would be
suitable for your learners and that you would like to try in your classroom.
Analyse the game/activity – what kinds of communication strategies will the children
need to use to play the game/do the activity? How could you introduce these strategies
before children play the game, so they can practise them in that game?
2 Arrange a time to meet and talk to other teachers in your school, area or
Professional Learning Network. Together, brainstorm the communication strategies
that your learners use or could use in their English lessons to help them interact
more in English in the classroom.
Share and discuss strategies that have been successful in helping learners with
communication strategies.
3 Informally, observe one or two of your learners in one or more of your lessons.
Make a note in your TKT: YL PD Journal of all the communication strategies they
used, either in English, their L1, another language or non-verbally.
After the lesson, decide which of these would be useful to teach to the other
learners in your class(es) or context.
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of this investigation.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, look at the strategies. Two of the example strategies are communication
strategies. One strategy is NOT a communication strategy.
Decide which strategy (A–C) is not a communication strategy.

1 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?

A Problem solving
B Giving your opinion
C Using gestures
2 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?
A Disagreeing
B Setting learning goals
C Adding a smiley to a message
3 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?
A Matching
B Describing a personal experience
C Describing what someone looks like
4 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?
A Clarifying
B Using colloquial language
C Skimming
5 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?
A Ranking
B Greeting
C Nodding
6 Which of these strategies is NOT a communication strategy?
A Disagreeing
B Smiling
C Deducing meaning

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 Reflection on learning in Part 1
You have come to the end of Part 1. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module
aimed to deepen your understanding of the characteristics of children aged 6–12 as
learners, and guide you in considering the implications of this for teaching English to
these learners. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module also aimed to support
your knowledge and skills in preparation for the first part of the TKT: YL Module test:
Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners.
Look back to the introduction in Part 1. You assessed your level of understanding
before beginning the first unit. Re-assess your understanding in each area.
You also wrote two or three questions or identified areas to find out about in each
unit. How well do you think you have achieved these? What can you do to better
achieve those areas you need to work on? For example:
● Reread a section of the unit(s).

● Re-do or do more exploration activities (Second C of each unit).

● Discuss the unit(s) content with other teachers in your school or network.

● Re-do the TKT: YL practice task(s).

● Look in the TKT glossary or the glossary in this book to check meanings of key terms

and concepts you are unsure about.

● Reflect on your classroom teaching more closely.

● Look for other readings or resources on the topic(s).

Write yourself two or three objectives for further learning and development in your
TKT: YL PD Journal.

■ References and further recommended reading

PART 1 REFERENCES
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press & Assessment.

Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset. Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential. London:
Robinson.

Ellis, G. and Ibrahim, N. (2015). Teaching Children How to Learn. Peaslake: DELTA
Publishing.

Elsworth, S. and Rose, J. (2017) Academy Stars, Pupil’s Book 5, p. 34 Oxford: Macmillan
Education.

Fisher, R. (2005). Teaching Children to Learn. (2nd ed.) Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Halliwell, S. (1992). Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. Harlow: Longman.

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 Part 1 Knowledge of young learners and principles of teaching English to young learners

Hillyard, S. (2016). English Through Drama: Creative Activities for Inclusive ELT classes.
Innsbruck: Helbling Languages.

Read, C. (2003). Is Younger Better? English Teaching Professional. (Issue 28, July 2003).
Pp. 5–7.

Shin, J. K., Savic´, V. and Machida, T. (2021). The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of
English Learners. Alexandria: TESOL International Association.

Williams, M. with Puchta, H., Gerngross, G. & Lewis-Jones, P. (2022). Super Minds.
Student’s Book 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Zapiain, G. (2019) Cambridge Primary Path. Student’s Book 2. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press & Assessment.

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING

Pfenniger, S. E. and Singleton, D. (2019). The Age Debate. A Critical Overview. In S.
Garton & F. Copland. The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English to Young learners.
Pp. 30–43. London: Routledge.

Pinter, A (2006). Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Puchta, H. and Williams, M. (2018). Teaching Young Learners to Think. ELT Activities for
Young Learners Aged 6–12. Innsbruck: Helbling Languages.

Rixon, S. (2013). British Council Survey of Policy and Practice in Primary English Language
Teaching World-wide. London: British Council.

Willis, N. (2018). Growth Mindset: A Practical Guide. Sydney: Bloomsbury.

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 Part 2 
Planning and preparing young
learner lessons
Introduction to Part 2
Part 2 aims to enrich awareness and skills in planning and preparing lessons for young
learners, including analysing, selecting, adapting and supplementing materials and
resources for learning.
This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module will support your knowledge and
skills in preparation for the second part of the TKT: YL Module test: Planning and
preparing young learner lessons. You can find more information in the TKT: YL syllabus in
the module handbook, which is available online.
In the first unit of this part, Unit 5, we’ll look at lesson planning, thinking about what
to take into consideration when planning for young learner lessons. You’ll think about
what a lesson plan is, how it might look, and why planning is important, particularly
for young learner lessons. Then, you’ll look at what a lesson plan might contain.
Unit 6 turns to classroom materials. You will find out about different types of teaching
and learning materials and think about deciding factors when choosing materials.
Finally in this unit, you’ll reflect on some issues we may have with materials and how
we might change the material to address these issues.
In the next unit, Unit 7, you will find out more about selecting, adapting and
supplementing classroom learning resources. This unit will ask you to think about
why we use additional resources in young learner classrooms, how we can use them
to enrich learning and better meet the needs of our learners. The final section of this
unit considers how some additional resources may differ or be used differently with
younger and older children in the 6–12 age group.
Towards the end of each unit, you will find follow-up activities, which are designed
to deepen and extend your thinking in relation to the unit content. These will help
you reflect on the classroom application of your learning in your own context. These
are followed by a set of TKT: YL practice questions based on the unit theme. It is
recommended that you use your TKT: YL PD Journal to keep and organise your notes.
As you did in Part 1, look at the can-do statements before you begin the units in Part
2. Evaluate your own understanding and skills for each one. After completing Part 2,
return to these and re-assess yourself. From that, you can develop an action plan to
continue focusing on any particular areas you feel necessary.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

SELF-ASSESSMENT

Unit Rate yourself from: Rating Rating

1 (Limited or not at all) to 5 (This is a strength) before Part 2 after Part 2
5 I can identify key features of a lesson plan and say why they
are important factors to consider in planning.
6 I can analyse materials and find solutions for potential
problems in use with a group of children.
7 I can identify and select appropriate resources for a specific
teaching context or moment.
In your TKT: YL PD Journal, identify two or three questions or areas you’d like to
know more about in each unit in Part 2. When you have finished Part 2, return to
these to see if you have answered them. If you haven’t, read around the topic using
the recommended reading list at the end of Part 1. You can also find many resources
for teacher professional development online.

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 Unit 5 Lesson planning: What do I need to think
about when planning language lessons
for children?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know how and why teachers prepare lessons using lesson plan
documentation
SKILLS: be able to identify key features of an effective young learner lesson plan

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter questions and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.

What is a lesson plan? Do all teachers’ lesson plans look the same?

COMMENTARY
A lesson plan is a document which outlines the learning that the teacher hopes or expects
will take place in a lesson. For the teacher, it serves as a guide, map or instructions for a
lesson, which has been prepared with a number of key considerations in mind so that
learners are most likely to meet the lesson aims and objectives.
Teachers hold different views on lesson planning, and their lesson plans may look
different on paper (or computer), depending on their background: their training
as well as the length and type of their teaching experience and teaching context.
However, before beginning a class, an effective teacher will have a clear idea of what
they are going to teach, what their learners will gain from the lesson (content and
skills) and how they are going to teach the lesson in order for that to happen. Some
teachers’ lesson plans are less detailed and include less varied information than others’,
although effective teachers consider similar questions when deciding what and how to
teach their class.
We will see in this unit that lesson planning has an impact on the success of children’s
learning as well as on teachers’ own development. Lesson plans are not only a plan for
upcoming lessons, but can also be used for reflection on a lesson or series of lessons.
In cases where a teacher teaches the same lesson multiple times to different groups, or
the same course year after year or term after term, the lesson plans can be revised and
reused for successive courses.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.

What are your reasons for planning your lessons? List at least four reasons.

COMMENTARY
It is important for all teachers to plan their lessons, and there are many reasons for this
which relate to the teacher and teaching or the learner and learning. Moon (2000, pp.
100–101) usefully categorises these into four broad areas:
Practical reasons
Practical reasons refer to the importance of the plan as a guide or support in helping
the teacher before and during the lesson. This includes planning what to prepare
and take to the lesson (handouts, additional resources, etc.), computer hardware or
software to set-up, as well as what to do at each step (stage) of the lesson (outlined in
the lesson procedure part of the plan), how long it should take and how to manage or
differentiate learning for children during the lesson. In other words, the plan serves
as a reminder in the classroom so that the different stages of the lesson happen at the
right time, in the right order and in an organised, well-managed and coherent way,
which creates conditions for children to learn effectively and efficiently. Systematic
planning will help ensure that a syllabus and/or curriculum objectives can be met.
A teacher who has planned thoroughly is, therefore, likely to have confidence in
themselves and their teaching; in turn, the learners can trust in that teacher and
know that their language lessons will help them learn what they expect to learn. This
inspires positive behaviour and motivation in learners.
Finally, a well-written, detailed lesson plan can also be re-used or used by another teacher,
which can be valuable when teachers repeat lessons, work in groups, share lesson plans or
perhaps need to cover for a colleague who is sick or unable to teach a class.
Professional development
As mentioned in the previous section, lesson plans can serve as a document or data for
teacher reflection and self-evaluation after teaching a lesson. The teacher can do this
by monitoring and reflecting on their own teaching performance in order to identify
ways in which they can improve. The teacher can use it to see whether the lesson
objectives have been achieved, for example, and if not, consider why not. Systematic
reflection on a lesson plan is essential for identifying where a lesson might need to be
adapted for subsequent uses, either in order to make it suitable for different individuals
or classes, or to improve it in a more fundamental way.
Accountability
Lesson plans can also serve as evidence of teaching which allows for transparency.
Documentation of lesson planning is sometimes required by an institution or school for
their records, for quality assurance, for school inspectors or for parents/caregivers. In
some contexts, for example, teachers plan lessons for a unit, theme or school term in
advance and make these plans available to parents/caregivers so that they know and
understand more about what happens in their children’s English lessons.
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 Unit 5 Lesson planning

Confidence
Lastly, but importantly, planning can make teachers more confident about their
teaching. This can come from being better organised and prepared, and also from
a feeling of ownership and control over their own professional development and
learning as well as over their classroom. When working with children, the level of a
teacher’s confidence plays a particularly key part in effective classroom management
and learner attitude. As mentioned previously, a teacher who delivers a smooth, well-
planned lesson, who has everything ready, is decisive and doesn’t hesitate, get lost or
become confused, will have greater authority in the classroom and gain more respect
from the learners. As a result, the learners will usually be more attentive, focused and
respond more positively to the teacher as they trust the teacher to be in control and
find themselves in a safe, secure learning environment.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat do you need to ask yourself when planning your YL lessons? List at
W
least three questions.

COMMENTARY
There are many questions to ask ourselves when planning a lesson. We need to think
about what, how, how long and, of course, why to teach – always keeping our learners
central in our thinking. Consider the questions to ask yourself in this four-step process:

Step one: Deciding what to teach

• Where are the learners in their course (early on, near the end, etc.)?
• What have learners already/just learned? (language and/or topic)
• Do they need to review or redo this learning?
Syllabus fit & • If not, what comes next in the syllabus or coursebook?
previous learning • Do they need everything that comes next in the syllabus or coursebook?
• Are they interested in what comes next?*

• What do I want this lesson to achieve, specifically (lesson objectives)?

• What do I want my learners to get from this lesson, specifically (learning
Lesson objectives outcomes)?
& learning
outcomes

*Note: Although we may be guided by course material such as a coursebook, it

is always important to consider any changes to that material which will help our
particular learners learn best. We will focus on this later in Units 6 and 7.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Step two: Deciding how to teach it

At this stage, we can begin to plan the procedure of the lesson, that is we decide
on the best activities to use and how to sequence them so that learners build their
understanding and skills throughout the lesson, meet the lesson objectives and achieve
the learning outcomes. We should consider how to: open the lesson, introduce the
topic, find out what learners already know, present language in a relevant context,
have learners work with the new language, provide different kinds of practice activity
and interaction patterns (pair work, group work, individual work), and so on. Again,
we may be guided by a syllabus or coursebook, but we should always consider what is
best and most engaging for our learners.
Step three: Fine-tuning the lesson plan
Certain questions will also need reflecting upon when deciding on the details of the
lesson procedure, to be sure your lesson plan is effective and practically helpful.

• What equipment will I need to teach the lesson? (e.g. equipment such as an
interactive whiteboard (IWB), student tablets, internet connection)
• What other resources do I need, and how many? (e.g. handouts – one per
Learning pair, flashcard sets, realia (real things), reference materials, audio/video files,
resources student-made resources)

• What kind of interaction will happen at each stage of the lesson (e.g.
individual, pair work, group work)?
• Is there a good balance of different interaction types?
Interaction
patterns

• How can I support children who may have difficulty with language or ideas?
• How can I challenge children whose language level is high?
• How can I incorporate different activty types and/or offer choice of activity
Differentiation or product?

• How will I know if the learners are meeting / have met the lesson objectives?
(e.g. an activity which I can monitor to see how well learners use new language
or skills; questions for a quick scan to check achievement, such as hands-up or
Assessment traffic-lights [see Part 4 for more on this strategy])
evidence

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 Unit 5 Lesson planning

• Problem: What might my learners have difficulty doing or saying? (e.g. spelling
a particular word); What could go wrong? (e.g. learners might not understand
such complicated game rules; they may not want to work together)
Problems and • Solution: How can I plan to avoid or address the problem? (e.g. show the
solutions written word on the IWB or on a flashcard so learners can copy it if they need
to; simplify the game; have learners choose their own partners)

Step four: Finishing the planning process

Finally, in order to complete our lesson planning, we will also need to think about:

• How might learners review, extend or further practise the target language in
the next lesson(s)?
• (How) is this lesson preparing learners for the next lesson(s)?
Follow-up (e.g. preparing for a project; providing basic topic-related vocabulary or content)
suggestions • Do I need to ask learners to prepare for the next lesson? (e.g. to review, do an
at-home task, bring something from home next time)

• What aspect of my classroom teaching can I focus on improving? (e.g. using

questions to support learning; projecting my voice)

Personal
teaching aim

• Leave space on the lesson plan to make notes and comments during
the lesson about how well it goes, any unexpected problems or ideas for
improvement.
Lesson • Include a space at the end to write a short summary to evaluate what went
evaluation well and what problems arose, after the lesson.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 151 for answers)

 ook at the teacher’s plan for a Grade 3 class. Match the elements
L
from the box below to the content of the plan (numbers *1–10). Note
there are two extra elements.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Elements:

Personal Learning Follow-up

Differentiation
teaching aim resources suggestions
Possible
Extension Learning Lesson
problems and
activity outcomes evaluation
solutions
Syllabus fit
Assessment Interaction
Procedure and previous
evidence patterns
learning
Teacher’s lesson plan:

Lesson plan Part A

Class: Lion Class (Grade 3; 15 children, aged around 8 years) Date: 28th June
*1 Unit 5, Lesson 3. Speaking and listening practice of language and vocabulary introduced
in Lessons 1 and 2. Learners have already encountered target language and key
vocabulary.
*2 By the end of the lesson, learners will have practised describing people’s appearance in a
group speaking activity using (S)he has a… (+ noun); (S)he is… (+ adjective).
*3 Sets of ‘people’ flashcards (1 set per group of four children)
Bingo card (1 per child); blank bingo cards (1 per child); Set of people pictures to show on
the screen
Coloured pens and pencils
*4 Some children may take a long time to draw pictures, while others may find it difficult
to choose and write appropriate words. // Set a clear time limit; Give students the
choice to draw or write, or a combination of both. If some learners are having difficulty,
suggest that they choose one or more flashcards from the people set to put on their
bingo card.
Two children in the class often only want to work with their friends, but they would
benefit from trying to work with other children too. // Use a strategy such as apples-
pears-bananas to assign groups (e.g. deal out flashcards of particular things/categories
or have students take coloured blocks of specific colours from a bag, then all the
students with the same flashcard, category or item make a group), reminding children
they can return to their seats after the activity. Monitor carefully and offer support
where needed.
*5 I want to take care when I set up activities to be sure that I get children’s attention
before giving instructions, that I check my instructions and that children are able to use
the target language so that they can all participate in the activity in English.

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 Unit 5 Lesson planning

Lesson plan Part B *6:

Stage Teacher notes and actions Learner action *7
Warmer Greetings routine Children sing Hello, how are you? Ss (whole
(5–10 mins) song and respond chorally and class)
individually. S (individual)
T-S
Play guessing game Who is it? – Children guess who the teacher (individual)
describe a student in the class is describing
Review Play bingo. Children listen to the description T-S
target Note how students respond of the people, find the picture on
language to the target language (*8 their bingo card and cross it off.
(10 mins) ). Review further if
necessary.
Speaking Show the set of people pictures Children look, read and match Ss
activity on the screen. As a class, words to pictures on the screen.
preparation elicit then match the key Children choose six people from
(10 mins) words (adjectives and nouns) the screen. They add the people
to each picture by dragging onto a new bingo card how they S
and dropping. like (by drawing or describing
Show children how to choose using words). They could use one
six people. They can choose to or more of the people flashcards
draw, write or use a flashcard, to put on their bingo card if time
depending on their preference or is short (*9 ).
ability (*9 ).
Speaking Demonstrate how to play bingo Children take turns in their S-Ss (Groups)
activity in groups. group to describe a person. They
(10–15 Review target language and cross off the person they hear, if
mins) check instructions. they have it on their bingo card.
Monitor and listen to students The winner is the first to make
as they use the target language; a line.
note how well they work with
their classmates in groups
(*8 ).
Feedback Conduct whole class feedback Children feed back on the Ss-T
(5–10 mins) and review common mistakes activity and participate in error
using a game-like error correction game.
correction activity.
Closure Exit tickets – ask children to Children write in their notebooks S
(5–10 mins) complete today’s exit ticket (in English or L1):
(*8 ). 3 words they used today;
2 things they did well;
1 thing they want to do better or
remember for next lesson.
They show and explain to S-T
the teacher as they leave
the classroom.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Lesson plan Part C

*10:
How did the students perform and behave in the lesson?
Were they able to participate in the activity in English?
Did they achieve the learning outcomes?
What can I do differently next time? How?

REFLECTION

 irst, reflect on the plan you saw in the previous activity. Answer
F
the questions in A. Then think about your own lesson planning and
answer the questions in B.

A: The sample lesson plan

Imagine you would like to use the lesson plan in the previous activity with a group of
learners in your teaching context. Learners in your context may have different needs
relating to their age, context and interests.
1 How easy to follow is the plan for you?
2 How suitable is the plan, including the procedure, for learners in your
teaching context?
3 What changes would you make to the plan if you used it with learners in
your context?
B: Your planning
1 Until now, how have you planned your lessons? What did you write on your plans?
If you are not a practising YL teacher, what have you been shown, have used in
teaching practice or would include?
2 How do/would you like to use your lesson plan (e.g. during the class, as a checklist
to keep you on track; as a tool for reflection on your practice; as a document for
future planning or accountability)?
3 What changes would you now like to make to your lesson planning? Why?

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the collaborative discovery activity. Follow the steps to

L
develop an effective lesson plan template for use in your teaching
context. If you are not a practising YL teacher, you could collaborate
with a teaching colleague who has young learner classes as they do
the activity.

Work with a colleague, if possible:

1 Review this unit and make a list of lesson plan headings and other elements to
consider when lesson planning. Decide which are important to include in your
teaching context.

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 Unit 5 Lesson planning

2 Devise a lesson plan template which requires the information you have identified
as important.
3 Together or individually, plan a short series of lessons using the lesson plan template.
4 Teach the lessons and reflect on the effectiveness and efficiency of the
planning process.
5 Meet your colleague again to reflect and discuss the planning process together.
Focus on both the effectiveness of the planning in relation to teaching and learning,
and on the efficiency of the planning in terms of focusing on the aspects which are
important in your context.
6 Revise the lesson plan template, if necessary, so that it better meets your needs.
7 Continue using the template for some time, e.g. a term or more, then meet again to
discuss further and reflect on the impact of your detailed planning:
● Is it useful as a practical tool (including its efficiency in relation to the focus and the amount

of time you have for planning)?

● Does it make you feel more confident in the classroom?

● Have you noticed an improvement in your classroom practice?

● Have you noticed any change in your learners’ engagement or progress in learning?

● Have you used it for accountability? (e.g. shared with parents/caregivers)

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, match the teacher’s planning questions with a heading which relates
to the section of the lesson plan which will answer that question, listed A–G. There is one
extra lesson plan heading which you do not need to use.

Lesson plan headings

A Syllabus fit
B Learning outcomes
C Learning resources
D Possible problems and solutions
E Extension activity
F Assessment evidence
G Lesson evaluation
Teacher’s planning questions
1 How will I be able to see how much progress the learners are making in the lesson?
2 What will I need to prepare and take to this lesson?
3 What do I want my learners to learn and take away from the lesson?
4 What might go wrong and how can I avoid it?
5 If some learners have time left after the main activity, what can they do to further
their learning?
6 Where does this lesson come in the unit?

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials: How can I challenge
and support children’s learning when I
select and use classroom materials?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know how to analyse materials for suitability to a group of children
SKILLS: be able to find appropriate solutions to common problems with
classroom materials

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat kinds of materials are you familiar with, or are available in your
W
teaching context?

COMMENTARY
Learning materials are ‘anything which is used specifically with the intention of
increasing pupils’ knowledge and experience of the language’ (Moon, 2000, p. 86);
they come in many forms and use different media. They may be developed for
language teaching and learning, or they may be designed for ‘real’ purposes. They are
often tied to a curriculum or course syllabus, depending on the teaching context, but
they may also be additional resources (see Unit 7).
Print-based teaching and learning materials
Courses often follow a coursebook (sometimes known as ‘textbook’), which may
include different components such as a Student’s Book and Workbook for the children
to use, a Teacher’s Book, which supports the teacher in lesson planning, and other
multimedia resources such as classroom audio (e.g. on a CD or as web-based audio
files), video (e.g. on a DVD, as web-based media files or streamed) and other web-
based resources which children can use online or which teachers can download and
print to use as handouts, flashcards or classroom posters to manage their classes. These
kinds of coursebook packages can help a teacher provide a range of different language
input and practice activities in a coherent way.
Teachers may also turn to sets of printed photocopiable resources, often for supplementary
materials, which can be in the form of handouts, complete lessons or sequences of lessons.
An example is ‘Primary Communication Box’ and others in this series of photocopiable
resources for primary ELT from Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials

Often these kinds of print-based materials are developed for a global market. They are
usually written and produced by experienced teachers and writers, and are generally
very appealing visually and of high quality. However, they may not fully meet the
needs of specific children or contexts, so may need adjusting, as we will see later in
this unit.
Stories, picturebooks and readers
Many young learner coursebooks include short stories within the units or as additional
components. As additional resources, teachers may also find and use picturebooks
written for English language learners, such as a graded reader, or for English-speaking
children. They might be printed or digital, and some printed books come in a large
format (big books), so they can be used easily with a whole class.
Stories are an excellent support for language learning and can really motivate children.
It can sometimes be challenging to find a story which suits the age and language level
and needs of your students, however. We may choose to read a story aloud and make
minor changes to the language if necessary, or to pre-teach key words to make it
more accessible.
Audio-visual materials
These may be on a CD or DVD, or they could be sound or video files downloadable or
streamed online. Again, they may be developed for use with a particular course, for
English language learners or fluent English speakers. These materials bring a range of
different voices and characters into the classroom. If a recording is very challenging,
it can be supported by showing some or all of the transcript, or by focusing on
understanding main ideas rather than specific detail. It can be difficult to re-make
professionally made recordings.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat do you think about when deciding which classroom materials to use in
W
your lessons? List three or four points.

COMMENTARY
Materials are an important element in teaching and learning because they are a visual
or audio source of language input and support, but they need to be used effectively
in order to motivate learners and provide them with what they need to learn. Often,
courses follow a coursebook which has been chosen by an institution or school,
although many teachers are allowed to use it flexibly. Some teachers may decide to
create all their own materials, but this can be very time-consuming and expensive,
and requires the teacher to have a strong understanding of the principles of materials
and course design for young learners, as it requires a specific skillset. This includes
skills in developing a coherent set of well-produced, age-appropriate materials which
will motivate children and support language growth and development over time. In
some teaching contexts, teachers are required to follow a prescribed coursebook which

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

follows a curriculum or syllabus, often prescribed at a national level by an Education

Ministry, with lessons already planned for them. At the other extreme, some teachers
may need to decide on all their materials themselves which will help the children in
their class work towards specified course, syllabus or curriculum objectives. In other
cases, children may make or find the materials themselves. In most cases, teachers
use a range of materials, and therefore need to make regular decisions about materials
when they plan and deliver lessons: what to use, when to use it and how to modify or
supplement it.

Learner needs
As we saw in Part 1, every learning context and every child is unique. This means
that different learners have different needs. When teachers choose materials, they
may think about the following key questions, among others, to decide how suitable
materials are for their lesson:

Language and skills Is the level of language at and slightly above my learners’ level?
Is the language authentic, useful and contextualised?
Is there an appropriate balance of (or focus on) listening, speaking,
reading and writing?
Is there a focus on non-language skills and strategies (e.g. cognitive
strategies, learning strategies)?
Content Is the content interesting and relevant to my learners’ lives?
Is the content at the right level of maturity for my learners?
Is the content culturally appropriate for my learners?
Practice activities and Is there a variety of tasks and activities?
tasks Are the tasks and activities communicative?
Is there a variety of interaction patterns?
Do the tasks and activities stimulate 21st century skills?
Are the tasks and activities fun and motivational?
Is there opportunity for personalisation?
Physical attributes
We also need to consider the quality and availability of materials:

Quality Are the materials accurate (e.g. give accurate models of language)?
Are the instructions clear and supported with pictures, icons, models
or examples?
Are the materials well presented and appealing to the age group?
Availability Do I need access to printed copies? If so, how much do they cost?
Are the materials copyright free, photocopiable or downloadable?
Do I have access to the right equipment to use the materials (e.g.
teacher or student device, projector and/or interactive whiteboard)?
We can see, then, that selecting materials in lesson planning can require thought, care
and attention.

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat kinds of problems do you or other teachers sometimes have with
W
materials? Think of two or three problems and some possible
solutions.

COMMENTARY
Teachers often need to adapt materials if they don’t meet some of the key criteria
noted above, which is quite often the case. This is the case for coursebooks as well as
material teachers may source from other resource books, authentic materials, materials
from the internet or those shared by colleagues.
We learned in Part 1 of The TKT Course: YL Module that we should scaffold learning,
that is actively help and support children so that they can learn to their own potential.
Often the material may need to be changed to provide your class or individual children
with either support – help and assistance when the material or a part of it is too difficult
or outside of the children’s experience – or challenge – an additional push when the
material or part of it is too simple in its language, cognitive demand or content for
some or all of the children in the class.
There are numerous ways in which teachers might change material in order to make it
more suitable for the children in the class:
Adapt – make changes to the material
For example:
● You may rewrite a written text to add, simplify or remove detail or language; if it is
too long, break it into parts for a jigsaw task or shorten it.
● You may modify a task. We can help learners with a difficult reading or listening text

by providing a simplified task. Similarly, we can add challenge to a task if the reading
or listening text is quite simple. You can do this by, for example, adjusting the level of
cognitive challenge (making the task simpler in the kind of thinking it involves), or by
changing the skill focus to one which your students prefer or need more practice in, e.g.
they write something instead of saying it, or the other way around. You could change
an activity to make it more interactive, or to one where children collaborate on a group
task, rather than work alone or alongside each other.
● You may decide to change the skill focus – for a class with low level literacy skills,

learners may achieve a task more easily if it is spoken rather than written, or they
may benefit from hearing a text while following the words in a written version with
their finger.
● You may want to change an activity so that it is more child-friendly or better suited

to the cultural background of your learners, for example: Hangman could be adapted
so it involves stepping stones leading up to a house; ‘What’s the time, Mr. Wolf?’ might
have Mr. Wolf as a bee, trying to get pollen from the flowers (the other children).

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Add – provide something in addition to the material

For example:
● You could add an initial stage for brainstorming ideas or to support children with
key vocabulary, concepts or skills.
● You may wish to provide more visual support or examples using flashcards or

realia to help children understand ideas and vocabulary, particularly if this helps
children relate learning to their own life. To provide support with a challenging or
complicated task, use prompts, models and examples. These could be written on the
materials themselves or could be included when giving instructions.
● A further addition to support children could be a word bank, a glossary or a mini

dictionary, which learners can refer to as they read or listen or use when they do a
speaking or writing task. It might be on the page, on a separate handout, or could
be something learners create themselves. A word bank might include words and
phrases you have brainstormed with learners and put on the board.
● You may want to add an opportunity for personalisation, which will help learners

make meaningful connections with their classroom learning, such as extending a

food quiz activity to include guessing which foods other learners like or don’t like,
or encouraging learners to compare something in a text with their own experiences.
● Extension activities may be useful for additional practice in a language skill which

your learners particularly need to review or develop, or you could extend a project
by adding an extra research task.
Omit – take something out
For example:
● You may want to remove or skip something in the material where, for example,
there is too much on the page or too many activities for your lesson.
● Alternatively, you may feel that your class don’t really need to practise a particular

skill or vocabulary if you feel they have already acquired the language. Sometimes,
however, these tasks could be set as at-home tasks or be used in review lessons.
● You may rewrite materials, omitting some language which is too far above children’s

level, or is inappropriate for them, or you may remove words, phrases or sentences
if a text is too long.
● Similarly, if images or ideas are culturally or age sensitive, they should probably

be removed.
Reject – decide not to use the material
You may decide that the material is too difficult to change or is completely inappropriate or
unnecessary in the time you have, in which case you may reject it altogether.
As coursebooks are designed to build understanding and learning across the units,
concepts are often returned to and built upon in later learning. When modifying
course material, we may look backwards in a course to see what is missing or has
not been covered or reviewed enough for our learners. It is also important, however,
to look forwards in the course to make sure we are not taking out something that
features again later as assumed knowledge. This could be vocabulary or language
needed in a later activity, lesson or unit, but may also sometimes be part of a story line
involving coursebook characters or a two-part project or task.

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 151 for answers)

 ook at the extracts and material below. Read the teacher’s

L
comments and question. What advice would you give to each
teacher? Make a note of your answers.

1.

Vocabulary 1
1 The teacher says:
1 1.07 Listen and point. Then listen again and colour.

Grandpa, Jenny and Jim are mountain

‘We are starting a new unit in the coursebook.
outside, in the countryside,
with their friends Eva and Tom.
lake
It begins with vocabulary and a chant, which
forest river the class listen and respond to.
ground
grass
leaves leaf
Many of these words are new to my students,
field
though, and they may have difficulty relating
rock
to some of them because of their home
tractor
environment (e.g. field, lake or forest). Our
community is in a very hot, dry, desert climate,
which is very different from the picture.
2 1.08 Say the chant. What could I do to make the material clearer and
3 Listen and say yes or no.
more relevant to my learners?’
1.09

Countryside 7

Extract from Nixon and Tomlinson

(2017) Power Up, Level 2, p. 7: Cambridge
University Press & Assessment

2.

Find
out
Step 2
Try it
out The teacher says:
MY
‘My class is learning about life cycles in other
What do plants drink?
DICTIONARY
1 Work in groups. Take
three plants from the
line. Add cola to one of
the plants. Add vinegar
subjects, so I would like to build on this topic
bush
in English. I like the project in this material
to another one.

2 Add water to the third

Let’s call this plant
Control plant – write it because it is activity-based and helps to
on the bag.
grass
Pre
dict develop cognitive and learning strategies.
What will
happen to the
plants?
The instructions in the project use difficult
tree
Control plant Hang the bags up
again. Make sure
language, however, and I don’t think the
they are closed.
pictures are enough to help my learners
trunk
understand what to do.
Trees have got a t .
Bushes have got lots of w
s .
woody stems What advice would you give me so I can use this
G is bendy.

47
fun activity?’

Extract from Alarcón, Domínguez and Quesada (2019) Science Skills

Level 1, p. 47: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

REFLECTION

 rrange to meet other teachers in your institution, school or context,

A
if possible. Alternatively, you could meet online or do this task on a
teachers’ forum with teachers in another context. Do step 1 of the
task to prepare for Step 2, the meeting.

Step 1:
Look through a coursebook you know well or would like to use. Using the mind map
template, note positive points about the coursebook in green and negatives in red, at
least one for each category. You can add more categories if you wish.

Language
level

Balance of
Activities
Name of skills
material:
_________
_________

Physical Topics and

attributes content

Step 2:
Meet with the other teachers. Share your views about the coursebook you evaluated.
Listen to their opinions of the coursebooks they chose and discuss ways they improve
their coursebooks to suit their learners.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

Follow the steps for investigating your use of learning materials.

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials

Planning
● Look through an upcoming unit or sequence of materials you plan to use with your
class. This could be the same material you had in mind in the reflection activity in
this unit.
● Answer the questions outlined in the Key concepts section in this unit.

● Based on your answers to these questions, decide what you will do with the

materials so that they better meet the needs of your class. Will you adapt them in
some way? Add something to them? Take something out (omit)?
● Make the changes to your materials.

Teaching
● Plan and deliver your lesson(s) using these materials. As you deliver the lesson(s),

observe the children to see how they respond to the materials. Monitor so you
can watch and listen to them as they do the tasks. You could collect some of their
written work, if included.
Evaluating and reflecting
● During and after the lesson(s), ask the children’s opinions on the materials and note

their answers. Children of all ages can give you useful feedback on materials if you
ask specific questions. You could ask them what they liked and didn’t like about the
materials, and whether they found them clear and easy to follow or understand. Older
children in the 6–12 age range may also be able to say how effective for learning they
were and/or what they would like to see more or less of in the materials.
● Review your notes and samples of work. To what extent did the changes you

made to the materials improve teaching and learning? What can you do to further
improve the materials?
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of this investigation.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, read the teacher’s comment about a decision they made about their use
of materials. Choose the correct description listed A–C.

1 Teacher’s comment:
‘I found a great song to use with my class, which matches the topic and vocabulary we
are learning perfectly. I want the children to try to sing along after hearing it and doing
some miming activities, but it is very fast! It’s difficult to simplify a song, so I’m going to
ask students to listen for just a few words and phrases, then mime and sing those.’

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

The teacher plans to:

A Adapt the song
B Provide a simple task
C Omit the song
2 Teacher’s comment:
The current unit is about fruit and vegetables. There is a text in the unit about healthy
eating which includes some vegetables my children have never seen in real life. I think
I will look online and find some pictures to show students so they can see what these
vegetables look like and talk a bit about them.
The teacher plans to:
A Add some visual support
B Adapt the text
C Simplify the topic
3 Teacher’s comment:
I found a storybook on the same topic as our unit. However, it’s written for English-
speaking children, and some of the language is quite difficult. I noticed that a few of
these unknown words are key in understanding the story, but other vocabulary isn’t. I’m
going to prepare some pictures to show learners before reading the story to introduce
them to these words. Then they’ll understand the story better.
The teacher plans to:
A Pre-teach vocabulary
B Personalise content
C Rewrite the story
4 Teacher’s comment:
There is a really valuable task in the coursebook that I would like to use in class.
However, the instructions are quite complicated as the task has several stages, and I
don’t think the children will understand what to do. I’ve broken down the instructions into
steps and put them on a separate worksheet. I’ve added some pictures to show learners
what’s expected of them at each step.
The teacher plans to:
A Personalise the activity
B Provide examples
C Simplify the task by omitting steps
5 Teacher’s comment:
The children want to play some online vocabulary practice games related to the topic. I
previewed the game: It looks fun and will help them practise the topic words, but there
are some words in it that we haven’t covered in the class material. I’ll prepare a glossary,
which learners can check if they need to.

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 Unit 6 Classroom materials

The teacher plans to:

A Provide an example
B Add written instructions
C Add support
6 Teacher’s comment:
Some children in my class are at an early stage of literacy development; their listening
and speaking skills are stronger. There is a writing activity in the coursebook where
children should write sentences about their family. I think this would be useful practice
for them, but these children are not usually able to write sentences independently,
so I have added a stage to my lesson where we will work together to write example
sentences on the board. I’ll leave these on the board so that the learners can refer to
them if they need to.
The teacher plans to:
A Provide model sentences
B Add a transcript
C Personalise the content

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources: How can
I select, adapt and supplement classroom
resources?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know when and what kinds of additional resources teachers may
plan for to enrich teaching and learning
SKILLS: be able to choose appropriate additional resources for a specific teaching
context or moment

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter questions and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat do you understand by the term ‘additional resources’? Why use them
W
in YL lessons? Write a definition and think of at least two reasons for
using them.

COMMENTARY
Additional resources are, simply, learning resources that teachers use in addition
to their course material. We sometimes see the equivalent term ‘supplementary
resources’. The range of resources teachers might use to supplement their course
material is almost limitless, but often they may use realia, flashcards, songs, video and
so on. We will look at examples in more detail in the next section.
We saw in Unit 6 that course material often needs adapting and supplementing in
order to make it more appropriate for our own learners. This may help us to:
● engage learners, gain and keep their attention through active participation.

● add interest, creativity, fun or physical activity to our lessons by balancing sitting

time with moving time (stirrers and settlers).

● add extra language or vocabulary practice activities.

● provide language practice in a different way, using (a) different skill(s).

● support understanding of topic, language or vocabulary.

● extend learning of language or vocabulary, for example using the language in

a different context, or adding some vocabulary items, perhaps those which are
especially relevant to our own learners.
● extend learning of content or align it with the curriculum (i.e. add a cross-

curricular element).

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources

Above all, additional resources can help develop the whole child, because they can
stimulate children in different ways and help develop a wider range of skills than those
supported in the course material, including 21st century skills, in particular the ‘4Cs’:
critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 ook at the purposes for additional resources listed in the previous section.
L
What kinds of resources could / do you use for these purposes? Note
resources suitable for three or four of these purposes.

COMMENTARY
Additional resources can be made specifically for children (or any learners) learning
English, for more general classroom use, or they can be authentic, that is materials
which are designed for real-world use but have been borrowed to use for language
learning, for example:
● Printed materials from outside the

classroom: menus, greetings cards,

maps, photographs, etc.
● Printed materials for English-speaking

children: picturebooks (and

supporting resources, such as finger
puppets, toys, props), comics, etc.
● Rhymes, songs and chants: These

may be borrowed from published

collections or be well-known (often
available online as audio or with
video clips). Teachers also write
rhymes themselves sometimes.
● Children’s games: word puzzles (e.g. wordsearches, crosswords), common

playground or classroom or playground games (e.g. hopscotch), memory games

(e.g. ‘Pelmanism’, ‘Kim’s Game’), etc.
● Toys: Toy vehicles, fruit, animals, etc., finger and hand puppets, masks, dolls and

teddies, etc.
● Art and craft materials: These involve learners using resources to design and make

things, such as mini books, origami, masks, puppets, greetings cards, collages, etc.
● Other realia: Real objects, such as clothes, food packaging, objects of different

colours, shapes etc.

Authentic materials can be very stimulating. They often provide a familiar, real-
world context for language, drawing language away from the coursebook and into
a real-world use which is familiar to children in their daily lives. They can be used
to demonstrate meaning clearly, to connect topics, vocabulary and language to
children’s understanding of the world. Some language used in published resources

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

(e.g. brochures, stories, songs) may be above-level, however, so it is important to

make a related task achievable, based on the language the learners are capable of, and
focus attention on parts of the text they can largely understand. Learners can be very
motivated by the sense of achievement at understanding or using something authentic
in English, and will enjoy doing so.
Non-authentic resources, that is resources made specifically for use in the classroom,
are also often stimulating; they are designed to meet the classroom needs directly,
often relate specifically to the course material, and can be photocopied or easily used
with children.
We may use resources which are commercially produced, teacher-made, or they may
be learner- or class-made. Let’s look at how teachers might use different kinds of
authentic and non-authentic material in the language classroom:
Visual learning resources
As we saw in Part 1, children learn in
many different ways, and children’s
cognition is often stimulated or supported
by visuals, which can help them
understand and remember concepts,
language and vocabulary, and relate
the ideas to their own understanding
or knowledge of the world. We can use
different kinds of visuals to help show the
meaning of vocabulary or language clearly,
to let children associate or read words
connected to images, and to show how things are related, such as in size, category or
meaning. To do this, we may use teacher flashcards and pictures, sets of flashcards
for learners to manipulate or play games, posters for children to refer to or use in
an activity.
Often these kinds of resources come as components with coursebook packages and
match the course material. However, learners themselves can create their own sets
of flashcards, which gives them extra practice and is sometimes more engaging and
meaningful to them. Learners can create and use their own drawings, paintings and
crafts in the classroom, which can then be used as visual resources.
Many children enjoy watching films, TV and short video clips. We can use this kind of
visual to present or review a language point or vocabulary, for storytelling, or songs.
Children could act out scenes, guess, imagine or create scripts, lyrics or short dialogues.
Groups or whole classes can easily create their own video clips or shorts, which can
encourage them to work to the best of their ability and take pride in their work.
Comics and graphic novels are authentic and visually appealing. They are popular
among children and can stimulate creativity and thinking. They can be adapted for
productive skills practice, for example writing alternative speech or acting out scenes.

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources

Multi-sensory resources
Multi-sensory learning is where learning activities are designed which stimulate
more than one sense at the same time or in a sequence. This supports understanding
and memory, connects classroom learning to real life, and can be fun and motivational
for all learners, while helping children to use and develop different ways of learning.
We can often use realia or sometimes ICT for multi-sensory learning, for example,
which children can see, hear, touch, smell and taste (Note that it is essential that
parental/caregiver consent is given, in case of allergy or health issues). We can also
use resources such as small dishes of sand, modelling clay and objects we find in
nature. These can be manipulated by children to represent letters and words, or used
in collages or to represent props, characters or events in a story in a post-story activity.
Sound files are easily found online and can be used to represent or portray specific
items, moods, actions and so on.
Art and craft resources
Art and craft activities and their resources can be used in the classroom for a wide
range of purposes. Children may need to listen to or read instructions as they create
origami animals, stimulate their curiosity about nature as they size-order sticks or
stones, make and play puzzles, do simple science experiments and so on. These
activities may be a part of a project; they may require children to use cognitive
strategies (e.g. to predict outcome), to work collaboratively (e.g. through joint
planning or presentation) or to learn cross-curricular content (e.g. to learn about
colour or perspective).
Digital and web-based resources (ICT or
Information and Communication
Technology)
There are more and more teaching and
learning materials and resources available
online or offline which are specifically
for language learners, including app-
based games children can play using a
hand-held device or computer, and other
digital resources which come as part of a
coursebook package (see, for example, the
language learning game for mobile and
other language-based games and activities
for children.
In addition to such games, there is such
a wealth of downloadable, printable
worksheets and materials such as pictures,
flashcards and games available online,
that it can be quite an overwhelming
choice. Often, this kind of material has
Figure 1: Guess What!, Cambridge
been made for another specific group of
University Press & Assessment
learners or may contain inappropriate or
even inaccurate language or content. It is very important, therefore, to check any
web-sourced materials very carefully before use and to be ready to adapt them for
your learners if necessary.
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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Video material is also readily available online, including songs, short video clips and
animations. These can supplement a coursebook or syllabus by presenting or giving
extra practice of vocabulary or language in a stimulating way; songs and music can
help us incorporate physical activity in our lessons, through dancing and showing
understanding through gestures and mime. As mentioned above, children may make
their own videos, which could be shared on a password-protected space online.
Older children can be directed to the internet to find out information and research
a topic, for a project or a task such as a group presentation, poster or writing task.
When children use any web-based resources, it is essential that they are sent to the
resource or a child-friendly search engine directly, or that a child internet safety
control service is in use which will ensure safety online by, for example, preventing
learners from accessing inappropriate sites and pages sharing personal information
or details, or interacting with unknown people online. Before you use the internet
with your learners, or as part of a classroom rule-writing activity at the beginning of
the year, negotiate and write guidelines for safe internet use with your learners. They
may be related to searching or sharing information, staying on task (e.g. keeping only
relevant pages, sites, tabs or apps open); you may also wish to address concerns such as
identifying fake news, critical reading and appropriate use of web-based sources.
People
Teachers and learners are resources in themselves – free and always available, too! We
can use our bodies in TPR (Total Physical Response) activities, miming, action rhymes
and songs, and drama-based activities, for example. Using physical exercise, dance,
yoga, meditation and mindfulness training activities can support children’s emotional
needs and development and promote physical and mental health. This could be part of
a routine at a particular point in a lesson, as a stirrer to break up a desk-based activity
or as a physical response to new language.
Learners are often very interested to know more about their teacher, and your own
anecdotes, stories, personal photos and experiences can be a motivating learning
resource. Learners of all ages also have their own experiences, stories and ideas to
share, and these too can be used as a resource.
The classroom
Most classrooms have their own resources already available to teachers. The board
(blackboard, whiteboard or interactive whiteboard) for example can be used by the
teacher and also by the children, who can write or draw on it to show understanding
or explain something. It can also be used for whole-class activities, team games and so
on. Different coloured chalk or pens are very useful. Classrooms often have a screen
with a data projector, to show a computer screen, and some may be equipped with
interactive whiteboards. In both cases, children can interact with these as learning
resources, help demonstrate activities, take part in online games, deliver mini
presentations and so on.
Teachers may also be allowed to use a display board or to decorate the classroom in
other ways. Learners may choose to display some work, create a topic-based display,
put up posters with useful classroom language, negotiated classroom rules, banks of
‘tricky words and phrases’ and so on. By adding labels and other written words around

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources

the classroom, children will regularly see words, so will remember them more easily
from this print-rich environment.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 ow might additional resources and props, such as toys, games, puppets,
H
class mascots, music or routines be used differently for younger and older
children in the 6–12 age range? Brainstorm your ideas for one or two
resource types.

COMMENTARY
We saw in Unit 1 that there are some differences between older and younger children
in the 6–12 age range. These include cognitive, physical, social-emotional and other
needs and characteristics. They also include what is familiar and enjoyable to them.
When considering additional resources, the question of age-appropriacy is important,
as children often have strong preferences for or against particular types if intended for
younger or older children.
Toys: Younger children are more likely to see toys as something they play with
regularly and will be motivated as a result. Older children, on the other hand, may feel
they are only for little children. While we may use toys often with younger children
as visual or physical resources in different activities, we may need to be more selective
and choose age-appropriate toys as props or characters for drama, dialogues and other
animation tasks, or perhaps to demonstrate meaning.
Games: Older children may find word games, problem-solving games and games with
more complex rules stimulating and fun, for example board games, crossword puzzles,
role-playing games and online games. Simpler, more visual games, which can be easily
explained and demonstrated, and are less complex in their gameplay, are usually more
suitable for younger children. They may involve fewer or no written words and may
be more physical. Children of all ages can play games in the playground, although
these may also differ depending on the age group.
Puppets and mascots: Typically, teachers of younger learners may use a class puppet to
help manage the classroom, to model language, to carry out routines and allow children
to use or speak directly with the puppet to help and encourage them speak, especially if
they are a little shy. The class puppet is a character with his/her own name, personality
and background, and often only speaks and understands English. Older children may
respond better to a class mascot which is like a class supporter, than a puppet and are
less likely to want to interact with it directly; however, a mascot can also serve as a
sounding board for ideas or a friendly listening ear for children who wish to talk in
private to someone. Children can make their own puppets and mascots, as well as
masks, which can also help some children feel more confident, whatever their age.
Music: Music can be used effectively in many different ways, such as in the background
for calming effect, for singing along to, for dancing to, for doing actions and mimes

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

or even for meditation and relaxation times. Children generally enjoy singing along
or dancing to music at any age, although younger children may be less inhibited.
A positive, uninhibited model by the teacher is likely to motivate and inspire older
children to sing and move to music, or a teacher may decide to use more chants
and fewer songs with older children. Similarly, younger children usually engage
quickly with dancing and physical responses, whereas older children may need extra
motivation or prefer responding verbally to music.
Routines: Unit 1 introduced the benefits of routines in the classroom: these are a
resource in themselves and can make use of other kinds of physical additional
resources, such as calendars, registers, interactive mood or weather wall charts.
Routines often also involve songs, chants and movement, especially with younger
children. They are, however, suitable for any age group, but may differ in their use of
resources and the language used by both teacher and learners. For example, younger
children may sing a goodbye song at the end of the lesson or hold up a smiley face
card to show how well they remember vocabulary or target language in a lesson, while
older children may be asked to complete exit tickets as part of a closing routine,
where they reflect more on their learning.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 151 for answers)

 ome teachers are asking for advice. First, read the teachers’
S
questions and think what your response would be. Then, match two
possible responses with each request. Could any of these ideas be
useful in your teaching context?

Teacher 1: I’m planning to introduce numbers 1–10 with my beginner class of 6–7-year-olds.
I’m looking for a fun, active way to practise counting. What additional resources would
you recommend?

Teacher 2: In the new coursebook unit, my upper primary learners will learn food-related
vocabulary for a healthy-eating topic. I wanted to play a flashcard game to help them
remember the words, but I don’t have any of the right flashcards. What can I do?

Teacher 3: My 7–9-year-olds’ class is really enjoying the animals topic in the coursebook, so I
would like to extend it. They love all kinds of songs, storybooks, comics, cartoons and so on.
Do you have any recommendations?

Teacher 4: I found some kids’ brochures about famous places to visit in Italy – they are for
English speakers. There’s quite a lot of difficult vocabulary and sentences, but I think they
would motivate my learners in the travel unit. What can I do?

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources

Teacher 5: I noticed that several learners have problems spelling some basic words.
How could I use additional resources to provide extra practice for them in a
fun way?

Teacher 6: I asked the children to bring some old magazines from home. I want them to find
some pictures and words related to the topic we are looking at, but I don’t know what to ask
them to do. Can you suggest something?

A: You could ask learners to work in

pairs. They play a guessing game – one
B: They could cut out the pictures and,
learner turns around; their partner
in pairs, use them to describe a scene or
traces the letters of a word on their back
a story by sticking them to paper.
with their finger. They should guess
which word is being spelled.
D: You could ask children to bring some
food packaging from home. They could
C: You could give animal story starter
cut this up and stick it to card to make
prompts (e.g. using story flashcards).
their own flashcards. Then they can
Children create their own simple story,
use the flashcards to play a game such
then write and draw a cartoon using a
as Happy Families or a ranking activity,
template.
putting them in order from most healthy
to least healthy.
E: You could ask children to draw
their own flashcards. They could write
F: You could play a game with giant dice
word cards to go with them, then
where children guess or predict what
play pelmanism, where all cards are
number they will throw (you will need
placed face-down; learners take it in
to teach up to 12 though!).
turns to turn over two cards to find
matching pairs.
H: They could play a guessing game in
small groups. After cutting out three
G: You could bring in some modelling
or four pictures each, they put them
clay or toy letters. Play a game where
together in the middle of the table. They
children should spell a word correctly
play a 20 questions game to guess which
using the clay or letters. They could play
picture a learner has chosen (the group
this game in small groups. It could be a
can ask up to 20 yes/no questions to
competition or it could be collaborative.
discover which picture the player are
thinking of).

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

I: You could pre-teach some of the

vocabulary which is useful to your
learners and specific to a place (e.g.
cathedral or Roman). Then set a simple J: You could bring in a storybook to read
scanning task – first ask them to predict with them, such as The Tiger Who Came to
which place description will contain Tea or Going on a Bear Hunt.
these words. They can then look
through the text to find out if they
predicted correctly.
L: You could use a counting song,
K: You could focus children’s attention like Ten Green Bottles or 10 Little Ducks.
on the pictures and on sections which Children could hold up flashcards, toy
are easier to understand as they look at ducks or bottles with numbers on when
the material. they hear the numbers, then practise
singing the song.

REFLECTION

 rainstorm and list different additional resources. Evaluate them

B
for use in your teaching context, or a context you know well. Make
notes using a chart similar to the one below. You could copy it into
your TKT: YL PD Journal.

Additional Age How it could How these Possible Where/how

resource appropriacy be used learners might problems to find it
react to it
Puppet

Food realia

Web-based
vocabulary
games

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 rite and conduct a survey to find out about the kinds of additional
W
resources your colleagues or other teachers in your network use in
their lessons. Share the findings with these teachers.

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 Unit 7 Additional classroom resources

Step 1: Think about what you would like to find out from other teachers, for example:
● The kinds of additional resources they use frequently in their teaching
● The kinds of activities the learners do with these resources

● How they supplement the coursebook or other course material

● Where they get the resources from

● Which age group, topic, language etc. they are useful for

● The kinds of problems they have experienced with additional resources in

the classroom
● How they solved these problems

Step 2: W
 rite a short questionnaire to survey the teachers. It should take no more than
5–10 minutes to complete. It could be in English or in another shared language.
Step 3: C
 onduct the survey with teachers in your school or network. You could use
paper, email or a web-based surveying tool.
Step 4: Look at and analyse the findings and put together a short report.
Step 5: S
 hare the report with the teachers. You could do this in a meeting and then talk
more about this topic.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, what kind of additional resource are these teachers talking about?
Match the teacher’s comments 1–6 with the additional resource type A–F.

Additional resources

A Realia
B Art and craft materials and activities
C Puppets
D Learner-generated video clips
E Flashcards
F ICT

Teacher’s comments
1 ‘I’m going to supplement the coursebook material with a creative group project using
items children found on a trip to the park.’
2 ‘The children each brought one old (clean!) sock to class. I’m hoping to use them for
storytelling.’
3 ‘I want the children to review vocabulary (meaning and spelling of words) by playing a
game in pairs, where they match pictures and words.’
4 ‘The children have prepared and learned role-play dialogues. They are going to record
them so that others can watch.’

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

5 ‘The children are learning colour words, so I’m looking for things in my classroom to use
for a colour categorisation activity.’
6 ‘I’ve found a fun app where children take part in a learning adventure as a character,
answering questions and solving problems.’

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 Reflection on learning in Part 2
Well done, you have completed Part 2. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner
Module aimed to extend your understanding and skills in planning and preparing
lessons for young learners, and in analysing, selecting, adapting and modifying
materials and resources for learning. This part also developed your knowledge and
skills in preparation for the second part of the TKT: YL Module test: Planning and
preparing young learner lessons.
Look back to the introduction to this part of the book. There, you assessed your
understanding before beginning the unit. Re-assess your understanding in each area.
You also wrote some questions or identified areas to find out more about in each unit.
How well do you think you have achieved these? What can you do to better achieve
those you need to work on? For example:
● Re-read a section of the unit(s).

● Re-do or do more exploration activities (Second C of each unit).

● Discuss the unit(s) content with other teachers in your school or network.

● Re-do the TKT: YL practice task(s).

● Look in the TKT glossary or the glossary in this book to check meanings of key terms

and concepts you are unsure about.

● Reflect on your classroom teaching more closely.

● Look for other readings or resources on the topic(s).

Write yourself two or three objectives for further learning and development in your
TKT: YL PD Journal.

■ References and further recommended reading

PART 2 REFERENCES
Moon, J. (2000). Children Learning English. Oxford: Macmillan.

Nixon, C. and Tomlinson, M. (2018). Power Up. Pupil’s Book. (New Ed.), Level 2.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Science Skills Level 1, Pupil’s Book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press &
Assessment.

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING

Arnold, W. and Rixon, S. (2008). Materials for Teaching English to Young Learners. In
B. Tomlinson, English Language Learning Materials. A Critical View. London: Continuum.

Bland, J. (2023). Compelling Stories for English Language Learners. London: Bloomsbury.

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 Part 2 Planning and preparing young learner lessons

Dobbs, J. (2001). Using the Board in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press & Assessment.

Garton, S. and Copland, F. (Eds.) (2019). The Routledge Handbook of Teaching English
to Young Learners. (Part 4 – Technology and Young Learner Curriculum). London:
Routledge.

Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapter 9).

Shin, J. K., Savic´, V. and Machida, T. (2021). The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of
English Learners. Alexandria: TESOL International Association. (Chapter 3).

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 Part 3 
Teaching Young Learners
Introduction to Part 3
Part 3 will help you better understand as well as use strategies and activities to teach
and manage a young learner classroom effectively. You will deepen your knowledge
about how to scaffold children’s understanding and use of language through your own
use of language and through strategies you may use in the classroom, then consolidate
learning using appropriate practice activities. You will also consider strategies and
techniques for managing young learners in class. This part of The TKT Course: Young
Learner Module will support your knowledge and skills in preparation for the third part
of the TKT: YL Module test: Teaching Young Learners. You can find more information in
the TKT: YL syllabus in the module handbook, which is available online.
In the first unit of this part of the book, Unit 8, you’ll think about how to support and
challenge learners using teacher language and teaching strategies. First, you’ll consider
the use of the term scaffolding, both metaphorically in education and in its real-
world use. You’ll then reflect on the teacher’s role in scaffolding understanding and
use of language before looking at strategies a teacher may employ to do this.
Unit 9 looks at practice activities, that is how we can use motivating, effective
classroom activities to engage young learners and give them the opportunity to
consolidate their language use and understanding through practice in the classroom.
You’ll consider specific features of effective practice activities and points to keep in
mind when planning them, before looking at examples of activities teachers have
found effective in YL classrooms.
In Unit 10, we will focus on managing learning in YL classrooms. You will first
think about what the term ‘classroom management’ means, then will consider how
teachers can develop a positive classroom atmosphere, which will support children in
their learning. Finally in this unit, you’ll look at how teachers can be more effective
managers of challenging behaviour.
Towards the end of each unit, you will find follow-up activities, which are designed
to deepen and extend your thinking in relation to the unit content. These will help
you reflect on the classroom application of your learning in your own context. These
are followed by a set of TKT: YL practice questions based on the unit theme. It is
recommended that you use your TKT: YL PD Journal to keep and organise your notes.
As you did in Parts 1 and 2, look at the can-do statements before you begin the units in
this part of the book. Evaluate your own understanding and skills for each one. After
completing Part 3, return to these and re-assess yourself. From that, you can develop
an action plan to continue focusing on any particular areas you feel necessary.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

SELF-ASSESSMENT

Unit Rate yourself from: Rating Rating

1 (Limited or not at all) to 5 (This is a strength) before after
Part 3 Part 3
8 I can identify or select appropriate scaffolding strategies to support
children in their learning.
9 I can plan motivating, effective practice activities to help children
consolidate language use and understanding.
10 I can choose appropriate strategies to manage children’s learning
in the classroom.

In your TKT: YL PD Journal, identify two or three questions or areas you’d like to
know more about in each unit in Part 3. When you have finished Part 3, return to
these to see if you have answered them. If you haven’t, read around the topic using
the recommended reading list at the end of this part of the book. You can also find
many resources for teacher professional development online.

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language: How can
I scaffold children’s understanding and
use of language?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know about scaffolding children’s learning to support their
understanding and use of language in the classroom
SKILLS: be able to identify how teachers use verbal and teaching strategies to
support children’s language in the classroom

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat do you understand by the word scaffolding – as a teacher or in your
W
own everyday environment?

COMMENTARY
Scaffolding, in everyday speak, is a structure used in construction to help builders access
their work or to support a building being constructed or renovated. Scaffolding style,
materials and use can differ quite considerably between different places and uses:
aluminium and steel poles, wooden planks and a wide range of fixings are common
in parts of Europe, while more natural, bamboo scaffolding, constructed in an array of
different styles depending on the building, can be found in many parts of Asia. See for
example the image of bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong shown below:

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

The term scaffolding was first used metaphorically by the educational psychologist
Jerome Bruner (Cameron, 2001) to refer to the support or assistance given by an adult
or more skilled peer to help a child develop from their current level to a higher level,
one which is within their potential. This may be development in a skill, knowledge or
understanding. In its everyday-life, non-educational meaning, the scaffolding is put in
place to support the construction of the building, and it gradually rises or shifts as the
construction work progresses, and this function and process is similar in learning and
development. Also similar is the idea that scaffolding type, material and form differ
between contexts, sometimes quite dramatically, depending on local norm, function
and available resources.
Take an example from everyday life: a young child who begins to learn to ride a
bicycle. At first, they may use training wheels, or be held firmly by an adult, moving
slowly. The training wheels or adult’s grip may be gradually loosened as the child
begins to balance a little better. Eventually, when the adult thinks the child can
balance well enough, they may remove the training wheels or let go altogether. And
off the child rides on their bike. The adult is likely to stay with them to help a little
more when needed, such as with steering the bike, or their speed, perhaps.
In this example, we can see a skill is being developed. The adult and/or the training
wheels provide assistance and support, a scaffold, for the child. This may be physical
support but is also likely to be emotional support, with the adult encouraging the
child, and giving corrective feedback on the child’s skills. As the child improves at the
bike-riding skill, the scaffolding is reduced step-by-step, until finally, it is removed
altogether. At this point, new scaffolding needs to be put in place, which will support
the child to get to the next stage in the skill, and so on. If the scaffolding is inadequate
or removed too quickly, the child risks falling off the bike, which can be demoralising
and painful. Some children may not want or need as much support, however –
perhaps they are more independent or determined, so they try it alone or with a
friend’s help, not caring about the risks, or they may have used a special pedal-less
bike before so can learn to use a pedal bike very quickly. A particularly cautious child,
on the other hand, may not want the scaffolding to be removed so soon. Each child
differs in the type, intensity and duration of support they need or want, although
there is usually a need for some kind of scaffolding by someone who knows more
about riding a bike than the child.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat do you think the teacher’s role may be in scaffolding in the YL
W
classroom? Make a note of two or three ideas.

COMMENTARY
When we take this metaphor into the classroom, we can see that it is important to
give help to children so they can reach a higher level of understanding and production
of language. Learning outcomes of a lesson describe what the learners can do with

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language

language by the end of the lesson that they were not able to do at the beginning.
Scaffolding, then, is what teachers (or another more knowledgeable person, including
a peer) do to help students achieve those outcomes. Scaffolding also happens at a
micro level when we provide help to children so that they understand more in a text,
or are able to produce more language in an activity, for example.
There are many different ways we can scaffold children’s understanding and use of
language, and the teacher can also bring in support from others such as children in the
class, family, caregivers or other people in the school or community. Children can also
be shown how to provide scaffolding for themselves through the development and use
of some of the learning strategies we saw in Unit 2.
Here, we will focus on two main types of technique for scaffolding children’s
understanding and language use:
● Teacher language – something the teacher says or writes.

● Teaching strategies – something the teacher does or provides.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 ow can teachers use language and strategies to support learning in the
H
YL classroom? Note one or two examples of teacher language and of
teaching strategies.

COMMENTARY
Teacher language
Often without realising, a parent or caregiver may use parentese when interacting
with their child: language which is slower, more carefully articulated, has a higher
pitch, is modified, and often features a lot of repetition and exemplification. The
parentese will change as the child grows up and becomes a better user of the language
themselves. Adults will continue to modify their language even when speaking to
older children in order to make their meaning clear and comprehensible, and also
to help the child increase their vocabulary or correct some remaining grammatical
mistakes, which are all a normal part of their language development. The same
scaffolding tool is commonly used by teachers, usually more deliberately, as they
modify the way they use language to meet the needs and level of their students. This
is likely to change as the children get older and/or become more proficient in English.
Teachers may use their language to scaffold in the following ways:

Graded language is language which is at or near learners’ level. When managing

learning, activities, interaction, feedback or giving emotional support to a child, for
example, the teacher should use language with simple, comprehensible structure
and vocabulary, which is delivered deliberately, clearly and at an appropriate pace.
Adjusting language use may involve repeating something or explaining through
rephrasing it in different, simpler language.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

Questions often serve a scaffolding purpose, to check understanding and guide a

child towards understanding or improved language use. These may be concept check
questions (CCQs), which are simple, closed questions to check understanding, or
they may be questions which aim to have a child think, to produce a longer, more
detailed answer, for example open or divergent questions. Giving plenty of wait
time after asking a question will also help the child organise their thinking and
formulate their answer.
Translanguaging is where we use another language to support understanding or use
of the second language, here English. This is often a child’s first language (L1) but
may be more than one language in the case of multilingual classrooms, families or
communities. This(These) language(s) can be used judiciously by the teacher to
support understanding through translation, exemplification or explanation, or it
could be used by the child to help express ideas too complex to say in English or
support a peer in doing so (mediation).
Correction of learners’ spoken language might be done explicitly (for example finger
correction), through recast and reformulation (where the teacher provides the correct
language, but doesn’t draw attention to the mistake), echo correction (where the
teacher repeats the mistake but uses intonation to signal it as a mistake), questions and
clarification requests (where the teacher might ask about the language the child has
used to encourage them to correct themselves). Alternatively, the teacher may ignore a
mistake or decide to deal with it later in the lesson.
Praise can be a way to scaffold children’s language use and understanding. It is not
only important to show them how to improve on what they are able to do with
language, but also to explain to them what they are doing well, so that they can
continue doing this. Praise should always be formative, so it is clear to the child
what they are being praised for and are doing well at. It may use language or can
sometimes gestures.
Non-linguistic support might be given to help children understand or communicate.
This might include the use of gestures, body language and other actions, for
example using facial expression, making sounds, nodding and so on.

Teachers may use spoken or written language to scaffold in these ways. Written
feedback on children’s work is particularly relevant for children who are in the upper
age range or who have a higher level of reading and writing ability. This may be
feedback on an at-home task, on a written or oral classroom activity or it could
be in written communication with learners or their caregivers, such as an end-of-
term report, comments on a class website or blog, and so on. Teacher language is
also important when giving clear instructions (orally or as rubrics in materials),
then checking both the instructions and the children’s understanding of concepts
or language.
Finally, we should bear in mind that the scaffold may be different for individual
children, as we saw earlier with the various types of scaffolding used in construction.
It may be used to support and help children at different levels, so that each child
can progress in their language learning. We may use language to push children by

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language

asking more linguistically challenging questions or making our language slightly

more complex when interacting with some children in the class. This will help us
differentiate our teaching so that we meet the needs of individual children in the class.
Teaching strategies
This is action which the teacher takes, or something the teacher does in order to help
children in their understanding and use of language.
Look at some examples of such strategies the teacher could use:

Contextualising Here the teacher may use or create a clear and familiar
language context for language in an activity or text so that children can
understand how and when to use language, that is, to give
it a clear, logical and genuine purpose. They will understand
language better if the context is familiar, and personalising
language and activities can also be very valuable for
this reason.
When children are familiar with the language in a known
context or content, then we can move to the less familiar
or unknown.
Preparing for an The teacher should provide models of the language the
activity children will need to do an activity, so that it is clear to them
what and how to use language. These models could be full,
or they may simply be prompts to remind children of the
language as they do an activity. They could use props for
this, such as puppets, class mascots or cartoons. This is often
combined with demonstration of an activity, which shows the
children what to do, so it doesn’t rely on their listening skills
but provides visual support. Children can also be involved in
demonstrations of language and activity.
Some key language or content could be pre-taught to allow
the teacher to focus on skills.
Using the senses The visual mode is often utilised by teachers to scaffold
understanding and language use, and this may be through
focusing attention on something visible, such as realia,
flashcards, gestures or movement through TPR (Total
Physical Response), for example. This may be to support
understanding or to help children when they use language
to communicate.
Children are often more in tune with all their senses than
adults in a learning situation, and the senses of smell and
taste can also be powerful tools to support understanding and
help recall when using language. Visualisation – listen and
imagine visually in your mind - can be equally valuable in
this way (see Unit 9). The sense of touch can be stimulated
through the use of realia and textured props.

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Language support In addition, we can provide extra material to support children

material as they take part in an activity, or children could make some
of these themselves. Examples include word banks, picture
dictionaries, conversation frames (to supply question/answer
stems and structures to build on), prompts and sentence
starters, information in the form of charts or tables, and so
on. They could be illustrated in different ways to make them
more child-friendly, such as using speech bubbles, cartoons
or animations.
Managing interaction Groupwork can be challenging for many children, as
they usually have less developed social and interaction
skills (e.g. turn-taking). We can use strategies to support
learners as they attempt to participate in groupwork, such
as: contribution cards or tokens which children ‘use up’ as
they participate; setting a minimum and maximum target
(e.g. ‘Say at least three words’); or appointing group managers
to encourage or support their peers’ interaction. This helps
ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate
and practise using language. We will look again in more
detail at this in Unit 10.

Strategies for challenging fast finishers

As much as every child is unique, every group of children is also unique, and different
degrees of scaffolding are needed for each individual and each group. Some may need
a lot of support to achieve the learning outcomes, while others may reach them easily.
It is important that we challenge all these children and push them to their potential for
learning. We often identify these children easily, as they may regularly finish activities
before their classmates – without the quality of their work being impacted. We call these
children fast finishers. It is important to plan for fast finishers in our lessons, and that
planning should involve something constructive to do while they wait for others to
finish, so that they do not disturb the other children who are still working on the task
and are able to push a little further into their potential. It is perhaps tempting to reward
children for finishing quickly and letting them play or do something ‘fun’; but this is
sending out the message that it is speed and completion which are important. In fact,
we should encourage children to take care over their work, however easy or difficult
they find it – we should focus on what they do, not how fast they do it.
Given this, there are a number of ways we can extend learning for fast finishers. An
initial step should be to encourage them to check their own work carefully, and this
can be encouraged from a young age. Then they could offer help to their partner
or others in the group or class, for example by answering their questions, checking
their work, explaining something in L1. This may be more suitable for slightly older
children who are better able to help rather than to take control and do the work for
their partner. Children of any age can be given an extension activity. This should
be related to the activity or topic, and could extend the vocabulary, provide extra

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language

practice or practice using a different skill. For example, they could illustrate and
annotate something they have written about or write about something they have
talked about with a partner. They could add more words to a word list, create a class
dictionary entry or design a review activity for the class. Fast finishers could also
review a previous lesson. It is a good idea to develop a bank of generic activities for fast
finishers, which can be adapted easily to fit different topics and language.
Depending on the classroom context, children could be given the opportunity to
use classroom resources, if the teacher thinks they can do this quietly. They may, for
example, choose a storybook or graded reader from the bookshelf; younger children
could be allowed to engage in free play with resources used in the English lessons,
such as flashcard sets, toy animals, games and so on. This kind of fast finisher activity
requires minimal extra planning.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see pages 151–153 for answers)

 ook at the examples of a teacher scaffolding using language and

L
strategies. Answer the questions.

1 A
 teacher is setting up an activity with a group of 10–12 lower primary children.
They are all sitting in a circle on a carpet on the floor. In the transcript below, we
can see the language and strategies this teacher uses to support understanding and
use of language.
Read the extract and decide which of the following ways the teacher
uses scaffolding:
Teacher language:
1 The teacher grades their language.
2 The teacher repeats or rephrases their language.
3 The teacher asks questions to check children’s understanding.
4 The teacher uses or has children use a language other than English.
5 The teacher corrects children’s language in different ways.
6 The teacher uses non-linguistic support.
7 The teacher praises the children.
Teaching strategies:
8 Contextualising language
9 Preparing children for an activity
10 Stimulating the senses
11 Providing language support material
12 Managing interaction

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

Key:
// = overlapping speech
Speech indicated using italics.
The teacher uses exaggerated intonation and sentence stress.
[Actions indicated using square brackets.]

1 Teacher One-two-three, eyes on me! [The teacher uses mime to accompany routine.]
2 Students One, two, eyes on you! [Students mime to accompany routine.]
3 Teacher Great. Let’s start. [The teacher takes a card from the pile, looks at it and
holds it to their chest so students can’t see it.]
Hmm… What is it? [The teacher stands up and mimes an elephant.]
It’s big and it’s grey. What is it?
4 Students Elephant.
5 Teacher Is it an elephant? Let’s look. [The teacher turns over the card and shows
the students.]
6 Students Elephant!
7 Teacher That’s right. It’s an elephant! Well done! [The teacher gestures to the students.]
Who wants to play? Jun? [Jun shakes his head.]
Kaya? [Kaya nods.]
OK. Kaya, take a card. Don’t show your card. [The teacher gestures
‘keeping card hidden’.]
[Whispers to Kaya] What…?
8 Student What…
9 Teacher What is…?
10 Student What is it?
11 Teacher Kaya, stand up. Show us the animal. [Kaya stands up and mimes.]
Good. Thanks. Tell us, is it big? Small?
12 Student Small.
13 Teacher OK. [To the class] What is it? What do you think? What is it?
14 Students Snake. // Mouse. // Cat. // Hippo.
15 Teacher [The teacher laughs] Kaya?
16 Student Mice.
17 Teacher OK. Yes. How many? [The teacher gestures ‘one’.]
18 Student One.
19 Teacher Yes, one. So, we say one… [The teacher gestures ‘one’ and indicates the card.]
20 Students Mouse.
21 Teacher That’s right. One mouse [The teacher gestures numbers using fingers.]
and two, three, four, lots of…
22 Students Mice.
23 Teacher Great. So, this is a m… [The teacher points to card.]
24 Students Mouse.
25 Teacher Yes. Thank you, Kaya, you’re a super mouse! Who wants a turn? [The
teacher pauses.] Who wants to play? [The teacher gestures.]
26 [The teacher repeats model with two more volunteers.]

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language

27 Teacher Very good. You’re going to play in groups. Jun, number 1. Aiko, number 2.
Yoshitaka, number 3, and Mayumi, number 4. [The teacher gestures.].
Please play together. [The teacher has students move so they are sitting in
a small circle together. The teacher continues to group students.]
Here are your cards. Please place them face down. [The teacher distributes
cards and indicates face down.] Remember, do you show the cards? [The
teacher gestures ‘show’.] Or hide the cards? Like a secret? [The teacher
gestures ‘hide’.]
28 Students Secret. // Hide. // [Students copy the teacher’s gesture for ‘hide’.]
29 Teacher Yes. And we ask: What…?
30 Students What is it?
31 Teacher Excellent! Who is number one? Raise your hand.
[Number 1 students raise their hands.] Good. Number 1s, you start. Take
a card. Then number 2s. Raise your hand number 2s. [Number 2s raise their
hands.] OK, you’re second… [The teacher repeats for all numbers.]
Are you ready?
32 Students Yes!
33 Teacher OK. Go!
2. Look at these examples of teacher language in different situations. How could
the teacher improve their language so that they can scaffold the children’s
understanding or use of language more successfully? Note some improvements the
teachers could make.

A Teacher is giving instructions to a class of 11–12-year-olds.

‘OK, so, you’ve got some words, right? Look through them, look through the list on your
handout. See if you can find fruit words. Do you understand? OK. Go on, start.’
B Teacher is giving feedback on an activity to a class of 6–7-year-olds.
‘Good job, guys! You’re amazing!’
C Teacher is explaining a new word to a 6-year-old student.
‘You know, it’s a kind of tool which people use to cut things. Or chop them up. (…) Food. It’s
for cutting ingredients. It begins with the letter k.’
D Teacher is checking understanding and drilling a new structure to a class of
9–10-year-olds.
Teacher: Yes, Mingze? [shows a flashcard of a girl reading a book]
Mingze: She… er… reading book.
Teacher: No. Try again.
Mingze: She reading book?
Teacher: 
She is reading a book. (…) Next. Yan? [shows a flashcard of a boy riding
a bike]
Yan: He read bike.
Teacher: He’s riding a bike. Well done.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

REFLECTION

 ead what the teachers say. To what extent do you agree or disagree
R
with them?

Teacher 1: I speak the same language as the children, so the best way to explain new
vocabulary clearly is to give them the translation.

Teacher 2: I teach mixed level classes, so I often provide support material such as
conversation frames with prompts and give plenty of examples. This supports children’s
language use while letting them choose the language to use in the activity. They can be as
creative as they like, or they can use the examples they heard.

Teacher 3: I try to use a wide variety of props to support children’s understanding, including
realia, my own photos and photos they bring from home. I find this really useful to provide
familiar, relevant contexts and it gives me the opportunity to personalise learning.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

Choose one or both discovery activities. Follow the steps given.

1. Scaffolding using teacher language

● Audio or video record a part of a lesson you teach.
● Review the recording and transcribe what you say. Analyse your language. What

examples of scaffolding can you find in your use of language? Did you miss any
opportunities to scaffold using language?
● Identify and try out a kind of scaffolding you haven’t used. Think about which part

of your next lesson you could you try it in and how you will modify it for different
learners in your class, if appropriate. Reflect on how successful it was for your
learners’ understanding or use of language in the lesson.
● You should check your school policies on data collection and protection before

doing this task.

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 Unit 8 Supporting children’s language

2. Scaffolding using teaching strategies

● Talk to some of the teachers in your school or teaching institution. How many of the
senses do they employ in scaffolding strategies?
● Gather their ideas and categorise them into the five senses in a chart. It is likely that

they will use mainly sight and sound. Together, brainstorm and add examples for
other senses.
● Finally, share your chart with teachers in your school. You could put it on the

noticeboard in the teachers’ room or share it in editable digital format, for example
using Google Documents. Don’t forget to leave space for teachers to add more ideas
as they have them.
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of this investigation.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Try to answer the questions in
D
under ten minutes.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, match each example to a scaffolding strategy from A–H. There are two
extra options which you don’t need.

Scaffolding strategies

A Allowing wait time after asking a question

B Moving from known to unknown in an activity
C Using visual aids to support meaning
D Revising language children need for a task
E Demonstrating an activity through a model
F Using the children’s L1 when appropriate
G Relating activities to children’s experience
H Creating opportunities for learning through one of the five senses (smell or taste)

1
Teacher:  verybody, please close your eyes. Now, I’m going to pass you something on
E
a plate. Tell me, what is it? Don’t open your eyes, don’t taste it and don’t touch
it! What is it? OK, here we go. Jassim?
Jassim: Oh! Er... chocolate.
Teacher: Yes! That’s right. How do you know?
Jassim: I use nose.

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2 A teacher writes in their lesson plan:

Stage 1 Pre-teaching Show animal flashcards. Say the words and have
children mime the animals. Show the flashcards again
and have children repeat the words as they mime.
Stage 2 Listening activity Hand out flashcards. Play the farm animal song. Children…

3 Part of teacher instructions for a pairwork task:

Teacher: María Teresa, you’re going to ask the question. First, who can remind María
Teresa of the question?
José: What time do you.. er.. get up?
Teacher: That’s right, José, well done. Let’s all practise together: What time do you get
up? Everyone: What time do you get up?

4 Teacher’s introduction to an activity:

Teacher: Have you ever got lost somewhere? What did you do? Yes, Louline? Tell us
about it…
Louline: I, with my family, went to shopping. I lose my mother in the shop.
Teacher: How did you feel? What did you do?
[Teacher exchanges with Louline about her experience.]
Teacher: So, we’re going to do some drama. You are with your family at the museum,
but you lost them somewhere in the museum....

5
Teacher: The main character in the story is Ben, isn’t it? What is Ben like, do you think?
[Teacher looks slowly around the class. There is no response. Teacher pauses
a few seconds longer.]
Teacher: Ndeye, what do you think? Tell me about Ben. What is he like?

6
Kazu: Ge-mu ga suki. I.. er.. I like... nan da? Ge-mu. I like ge-mu.
Teacher: Ah, you like video games? Ge-mu in English is video games.

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice:
How can I use practice activities to
consolidate children’s language learning?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know about the importance of practice activities in language learning
SKILLS: be able to identify demands and appropriate support for learners when
using different language practice activities

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.

 hy are language practice activities an important element a language lesson?

W
Note two or three reasons.

COMMENTARY

What is a practice activity?

Simply put, a practice activity is one where learners use the skills and language
that are being focused on in the lesson (or series of lessons). This language is often
known as target language and may be a grammatical structure, vocabulary items, set
phrases, functional language or chunks. The practice may be spoken or written if it
is productive, or it may involve listening or reading if it is receptive; it may focus on
subskills of these skills.
Why practise?
It seems clear that in order to learn to speak a language, we should use it – consider
the expression, ‘Practice makes perfect’. However, in some teaching and learning
contexts, language is seen as a subject to study, rather than something we learn to
use. In such a situation, learners may practise only rarely and as a result, at the end
of their studies they may know a lot about language, but are often less able to use the
language in communication with another speaker of that language.
Constructivist learning theories tell us that learners need to be active in the learning
process – they are not passive receivers of knowledge, but actively build their
understanding of concepts and language. Meanwhile, behaviourist views say we
learn from mimicking and memorising language. Interactionists, on the other hand,
suggest we learn through communicating and negotiating meaning with others
(see Lightbown & Spada, 2021, especially Chapters 4 and 6, for an in-depth look at

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

second language learning theories). While some of these and other theories are more
influential than others in modern thinking, we can clearly see the importance for
learners to have the opportunity to actually practise using the language, trying it out
and getting used to it. In this way, the language becomes more automatic and easily
accessible for communication in real time as it passes from short-term memory to
long-term memory (Harmer, 2007, p. 85). This is known as internalisation.
In order for internalisation to happen, we should plan for deliberate practice activities
(Pinter, 2006, p. 85) which engage and actively involve all the learners in the class and
which provide plenty of repetition of language in different meaningful situations and
contexts, over a period of time.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hat are some key features of an effective practice activity? Name at
W
least three.

COMMENTARY
Practice activities can vary widely in their type, their goal and, of course, their focus.
For a practice activity to be successful in its purpose, it should:
– Have a clear language teaching objective(s).

The learning objectives of the activity should relate to and specify the target
language being taught, which means that the learners will be using the target
language in the activity.
– Have a well-defined language-oriented outcome(s).

This is what the children will produce or gain from the activity. It could be a
written (e.g. a poster, a blog post, a sentence) or spoken (an answer to a question,
a dialogue, a single word) product; it may be a process outcome, such as a skill or
attitude (e.g. gain in confidence, improved collaborative skills) or a communicative
outcome (e.g. to ask for something in a shop). It is important to keep in mind our
learners’ needs when considering learning outcomes and objectives.
– Have a clearly identifiable and meaningful purpose.

Learners should see a reason for using the language, ideally a real purpose (e.g. to
find out personal information in a survey, to find differences between two pictures,
to create a classroom display). The objectives and outcomes, therefore, will shift
away from a linguistic focus, for example:
To practise ‘families’ vocabulary. (linguistic objective) becomes: To find out about your
friend’s family.
This will motivate learners as well as provide a context for language and
language practice.

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice

– Engage all learners in language practice.

An activity which requires just one or two learners in the class to use the language
does not give everyone the same opportunity to practise. Pair or small group
activities are often useful to ensure that all learners get the opportunity to use
language, whereas whole class teacher-student interactions or open pairs give that
opportunity only to those who the teacher chooses.
– Provide repeated opportunity for practice.

In a practice activity, have students use the target language or skill more than once.
For example, they may ask three questions about their partner’s family, or talk
to two friends in the classroom. Where possible, provide more than one practice
activity so that children can meet and use the language in different contexts.
– Require the use of L2, whose form is clear to learners.

Where an activity can’t be undertaken as easily in English, learners may resort

to using their own language (L1) to do the activity, especially in a monolingual
class setting. Similarly, learners need to have the linguistic resources (i.e. some
knowledge of the right language) to carry out the activity. It may be that it is a
specific form to be practised or it may be that they are choosing or using language of
their own choice. If this is unclear or unknown to learners, they are again likely to
revert to their L1. The model of language form(s) is likely to have come from input
given before the activity begins.
– Stimulate and motivate learners.

A practice activity which stimulates learners’ thinking and provides the right
amount of challenge will motivate them to engage in the activity. If the level of
challenge is too high, however, it will make it difficult for them to focus on the
language practice itself. A fun activity can be inherently motivating, but if it is too
easy or does not engage learners’ thinking skills, then that motivation may quickly
disappear. We will consider this point in more detail in the next section.
Controlled and free practice
In controlled practice, the language and context are pre-defined and the learners are
repeating language they have heard (or read). This could be spoken or written; in
the case of controlled practice, the response is fixed, and the focus is inherently on
form (the structure of the target language). It is important, however, that there is also
a focus on meaning in controlled practice. These kinds of activity give an important
opportunity for learners to hear new language and practise articulating it in context,
so are useful when focusing on pronunciation in particular, and also contribute to
internalisation of new language. They are usually accuracy-focused.
Free practice activities, on the opposite end of the scale, are those where learners can
use whatever language they wish to complete a task. These kinds of task and activity
may focus on developing fluency and encourage learners to put together different
language they have learned in order to interact to do the activity. There is often greater
scope for personalisation with free activities.
Most activities will come somewhere between tightly controlled and completely free,
so may be described as ‘more/less controlled’ or ‘freer/less free’. It is possible to place
activity types on a cline, although the degree of language support the teacher gives will
have an effect on the degree of control/freedom.
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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

More controlled

Drills are when learners listen to a model,

often the teacher but it may be from an
audio or video clip, and repeat what they
hear. They often involve simple repetition, Gap-fills, sentence completion,
or the teacher might ask learners to change reordering and other activities
words, in response to some kind of input, where learners manipulate
such as a flashcard or word card. This is language or answer closed
known as a substitution drill. questions are often controlled
activities because there is a single,
Games, puzzles and quizzes often require fixed answer. They can be written
a fixed response, so are also a form or spoken and can utilise visuals
of controlled practice. Wordsearches, or movement to help stimulate
crosswords and other word games are and motivate young learners.
useful for focusing on form (e.g. spelling),
while a wide range of games and game-like
activities might require learners to use fixed Surveys and questionnaires may
phrases, expressions or vocabulary when be more or less free depending
playing, so can also sometimes be classed as on the degree of freedom
controlled. learners have when creating the
questions as well as the kinds of
Information gap activities often require responses they require from the
learners to use specific question forms respondents.
and/or responses. Generally speaking,
the information itself is controlled, so the
teacher can predict vocabulary and target
Role plays and other drama
language.
activities could be placed higher
or lower on the cline, depending
Problem-solving, researching, sharing ideas on the extent to which learners
and experiences, sequencing and similar write their own scripts and are
activity types are likely to be freer activities, supported in doing so.
although a language frame could be used
to support learners, adding a degree of
control.
Discussions and debates may
require learners to draw on all
Free play gives younger learners the
their language resources, which
opportunity to practise language they have
can be difficult for the teacher to
learned. Although they may choose to
predict. However, a teacher could
practise specific target language, perhaps by
provide support by supplying
singing a song or repeating a dialogue from
functional language, such as
class in play, the choice to do this is the
phrases for making or refuting
child’s, so this can be classified as freer.
an argument.

Freer

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice

Finally, it is important to note that when designing any practice activity, however
controlled or free, it is essential that there is a clear, meaningful, age-appropriate
context. Wherever possible, there should be the possibility for personalisation, which
makes practice relevant and relatable to the learner.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat considerations do or should you make when planning a practice activity
W
for young learners especially? Identify two or three considerations.

COMMENTARY
In Part 1 of this book, we looked at developing learning, cognitive and communication
strategies through language learning, and saw examples of activities which might
allow us to develop these areas. In the language classroom, these activities will
naturally be geared towards language learning through practice. We can see, then,
that similar principles apply for practice activities, most notably that we should
use activities which support the child in different areas of development alongside
language; we should focus on whole-child development.
When considering practice activity selection or design for young learners, it is
particularly important to think about what the learner actually needs to do in order to
succeed at an activity. A simple, controlled drill, for example, may require learners to
listen, articulate and repeat something in English: there is minimal cognition involved
in this activity; it will be relatively easy for learners to achieve and, therefore, to have
practice of the target language. On the other hand, a more complicated activity, such
as a game with a sequence of steps or rules, or a collaborative problem-solving activity
might require the use of social skills and HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), so
learners need to think carefully about what they are doing as well as the language
they are using. Cameron (2001) identifies six types of task demand. The degree of
need to account for these demands will vary according to the child’s age as well as
other individual factors, such as their social-emotional skills, motor skills, attention
span and so on. Cameron’s (2001, p. 25) task demands include:
● Cognitive demands: Interpreting the activity input and procedures (e.g. a need to read

a clock; understanding what is shown in illustrations).

● Language demands: Whether it is oral or written, the grammar form needed; the

degree of requirement for use of L2.

● Interactional demands: Whether it requires collaboration or co-operation, such as in

pair work, group work, interacting with a teacher, etc.

● Metalinguistic demands: The use of technical language in instructions, talking about

language, etc.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

● Involvement demands: How easily the child is engaged and stays engaged: linked to
interest, length of steps, etc.
● Physical demands: The amount of movement and sitting still; the need for fine
motor skills.
When planning practice activities, we should consider all kinds of demand so that
we can understand how best to support children in accomplishing the activity and
practising the language: in other words, so that they can reach the learning objectives
and outcomes of the lesson. Look at some practice activity examples:

Stirrers and settlers

The principle of stirrers and settlers is that we manage children’s natural energy
and excitement levels using a pattern of active (usually physically and involving
groups or whole class), exciting activities where children can expend energy (stirrer,
such as a TPR (Total Physical Response) game), followed by a quiet, calm, often
individual activity, sitting at tables (settler, such as a coursebook, workbook or art
activity). In turn, this should be followed by another stirrer, then a settler, and so on.
In this way, we can manage children’s physical and interactional needs to help them
focus individually for an activity with higher cognitive and/or language demands.
Competitive and co-operative activities
Many children love competing with others, and this can motivate them to
participate in an activity. However, competition does not favour all children and
can take away from our efforts to help children develop a love for learning and for
English – their motivation becomes instrumental rather than intrinsic.
Co-operative activities which require all children to participate and take on a role in
an activity often involve group work. Children may have a specific role in the group
or may have specific information in a jigsaw or information gap activity. These
kinds of activity have high interactional demand and will help children develop
social-emotional skills. Some children may need the teacher’s support to interact
with their peers; care is needed when deciding how to group children so that they
are able to co-operate well.
It is therefore important to favour co-operative activities, although an occasional
competitive game can be fun as a warmer or cooler.
Songs, chants, rhymes and poems
There are many examples of these kinds of activity, and nowadays, source material
is often easily available online. Depending how we use these, they may provide
very controlled practice (e.g. by singing a song or repeating a chant which utilises
specific language, exactly how it is heard, such as a Hello! song), or it could be freer
if we encourage learners to create new verses or lines or to respond to them as
input. They might describe a character, scene or item in a poem, or draw and talk
about something in a rhyme using adjectives of their choice, for example. These
kinds of activity not only cater to children’s interest in music and rhythm, but can
also be combined with TPR, dancing or drama, and are naturally appealing and
familiar to children. They are ideal for focusing on pronunciation and rhythm, i.e.
word and sentence stress. Children may become excited when they are active, so
may need reminding of the target language being practised.

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice

Cognitive activities
These include activities such as: memory activities (e.g. flashcard games such as
pelmanism, quizzes); categorisation, ranking, sequencing or ordering activities
(e.g. grouping food words based on characteristics or preference); problem-solving
activities (e.g. webquests, mystery adventure or detective games, escape room
games). The degree of control of language will vary depending on the activity, but
the cognitive demands of these activities is often high. If children struggle with such
activities, they may need task support to be able to practise the target language;
their difficulties may not be caused by a lack of understanding of the language.
Stories
Storybooks can be a rich source of highly contextualised language and can be used
in different ways. The teacher may read to the children and focus on particular
language in activities before, while and after reading. Older children may read short
stories such as graded readers. The language demands may be high as children
will probably encounter a lot of new language. It is important, therefore, for the
children to learn to focus on key information and language to understand particular
aspects of the story, rather than to attempt to understand every detail or word.
Similarly, the teacher may tell stories to the children, using mime, gestures, voice
and perhaps visuals to support their understanding of specific language and the
story as a whole.
Listen (or read) and respond
We may have learners listen to something and show their understanding by
responding in some way, for example: listen-and-do, listen-and-make, listen-and-
draw, listen-and-say, listen-and-visualise or -imagine, listen-and-write, listen-
and-act. Dictation is an example of this kind of activity, e.g. picture dictation. The
response activity could be more or less controlled depending how it is structured,
although the teacher usually has control over the language input in the listening
stage. Note that the input could be given by a student (e.g. in a pair or group
activity), or be a written text, at sentence or paragraph level for older children, or at
word level for children who have less developed literacy skills. We should consider
the demands of both the listening aspect of the activity and the response, and offer
support accordingly, perhaps by repeating what is said, pausing, giving models of
the response.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see pages 153–155 for answers)

 ook at the extracts from published materials showing practice

L
activities, and answer the questions.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

5 Under the sea d

e
1 Read and complete with was, wasn’t, were or weren’t.

The golden toad

1 Complete the words. Then look and match. Many years ago there (1) were golden toads in
Costa Rica. There (2) many pools for them.
a f
It (3) very hot in 1987 and there (4)
1 s e a h o r s e any water in the pools. There (5) no more
2d p golden toads.
b 3t t
4o p The T-rex
5s Millions of years ago there (6) dinosaurs.
6s f Most dinosaurs (7) very big. There (8)
c
a change in the climate and it (9) very cold.
7s l g
h
There (10) food for the dinosaurs. There
8a o (11) any more dinosaurs.

2 Look and complete the sentences.

2 Read and write words from Activity 1.
A long time ago Now
1 It has a hard shell. turtle 3 A boat has one of these.
2 It has eight arms. 4 An animal lives inside this.

3 Read and write the words from the box.

follow love sure clever worry anywhere

Dad: Where’s our boat? I can’t

see it (1) anywhere.
Angela: I don’t know. Wow! Look, a dolphin!
I (2) dolphins! 1 A long time ago there was a house behind the swimming pool .
Dad: Yes, they are beautiful … 2 A long time ago there .
and very (3) . 3 A long time .
Let’s (4) it!
4 A long .
Angela: Are you (5) ?
5A .
Dad: Yes. Don’t (6) . I think the dolphin is looking after us.
6 .

58 Sea creatures Was / Were 59

Extract 1: Puchta, Lewis-Jones, Gerngross and Zagouras (2022) Super Minds Level 3 2nd Edition
Workbook, pp. 26–27: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

1 What kinds of activity are these? Which, if any, is/are an example of:
● Matching

● Short answer question

● MCQ (multiple choice question)

● Visualisation

● Gap-fill

● Crossword puzzle

● Sentence completion

2 What exactly are learners practising in each activity?

3 How might you categorise the five activities as: controlled; less controlled;
freer; free?
4 What demands on learners are important to consider for each activity?
5 What kind of support is given to learners in each activity?

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice

17 Wh t’s on the menu?

Do the food project!
Look at Extract 2. Are these
Learners look for information about food they are not familiar statements True or False?
with. They can then make a poster.
They can include information on where the food comes from, if it 1 This is a very controlled practice
grows on a tree, in the ground, etc.
For example: (Pineapples) are fruit. They’re (yellow, brown and activity.
green.) They grow (on plants) in hot countries, for example,
(Australia, Costa Rica). People eat pineapples for (breakfast/ 2 This activity practises past simple
lunch/dinner).
You can display the posters around the classroom. for describing condition, state
Suggested sources
http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/sheet.aspx?siteId=15&sectionId=
and habits.
64&contentId=49 3 The teacher could support
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/food.html
learners by providing a sentence
frame such as in the third point
shown. This would make the
activity more controlled.
4 Learners practise mostly
Speaking and Listening in
this activity.
5 Learners could work
collaboratively in a group in
this activity.

15
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2015

Extract 2: Robinson and Saxby (2015) Cambridge English Fun for Starters Additional Resources for Teachers,
p. 15: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

REFLECTION

 ook in a coursebook or other learning materials you use in your

L
classes, or have access to. Find two or more example practice
activities. Copy the table below into your notes and complete it.

Activity reference (Source + Activity type: Category Practice

page number/link): (controlled- in (target
free): language or
skills):
Activity description (including objectives and outcomes):

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

Activity demands: Support:

To what extent does it:

- Have a clear and meaningful purpose?
- Engage all learners in practice?
- Provide repeated opportunity for practice?
- Require the use of L2?
- Stimulate and motivate learners?
How might you improve this practice activity for your learners?

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ry the discovery activity to explore teaching and learning in your

T
context.

A: Identify a practice activity type from this unit that is new to you.
B: Plan to use it in your teaching:
– Write a language practice objective for this activity.

– Think about the demands and support you should give your learners.

– Plan the activity as part of a complete lesson.

C: Teach the lesson and observe the learners practising the language.
D: Reflect.
– How effective was the activity in meeting the language practice objectives?

– Did learners have the right amount/type of support relative to the demands of

the activity?
If you do not currently teach young learners, you could ask another teacher if you can
work with them or their class. Alternatively, you could either do steps A and B only
OR Steps C and D using a recording of a lesson you’ve found online.
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of your work.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

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 Unit 9 Classroom activities for language practice

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Try to answer the questions in
D
under ten minutes.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, look at the description of teaching and/or learning. Then read the
related statements A–C. Which ONE statement (A–C) is NOT true?

1 Learners sit in a circle and sing a ‘How are you?’ song at the beginning of each lesson.
The teacher then asks some children ‘How are you today?’; the children reply using
different adjectives, based on how they are really feeling: ‘I’m…. How about you?’
A Learners are practising pronunciation in a controlled way when singing the song.
B The song uses TPR.
C The teacher-learner interaction is freer than the singing activity.
2 Learners play a team game where they write as many words as possible within three
minutes into a chart on the topic of transport.
A This is a brainstorming activity.
B Learners are practising writing at sentence level.
C The teacher could support interactional demands by setting a limit to the number
of words each learner in the group can contribute.
3 Pairs of learners complete a drawing of a make-believe animal by adding different body
parts, coloured patterns and giving their animal superpowers, using a template. In new
pairs, learners dictate their picture to their new partner, who completes a new template.
Learners return to their original partners. They now have three animal pictures. They
make sentences to compare the animals using adjectives in the superlative form.
A The stages in this activity move from controlled practice to free practice.
B Learners can be creative with language in the initial stage of the activity.
C Learners practise speaking and listening with more than one partner.
4 The teacher would like learners to practise speaking using food vocabulary they have
been working on in the lesson.
A Learners could do an information-gap activity in pairs, where they each have
similar pictures of a market stall and should find the differences between them.
B Learners could do a memory activity, where they look at pictures of plates of food
for one minute, then tell their partner what was on each plate.
C Learners could do a visualisation activity, where they listen to a recording then
draw a picture.
5 A teacher would like to plan practice activities which involve a high cognitive demand.
A The teacher could choose a problem-solving activity.
B The teacher could choose a choral drill.
C The teacher could choose a memory activity.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

6 The teacher works with a school in a different country to set up an e-pal project.
Learners in the two schools meet each other online through video call and then
communicate with each other by email, at first as a whole class and then individually.
The project lasts for the whole school year.
A This activity allows free language practice.
B Learners may be motivated by a genuine context and need for English language
use to communicate.
C Learners are likely to need minimal support for this activity.

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 Unit 10 Managing learning: How can I manage
children in class?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know about different areas of classroom management
SKILLS: be able to select appropriate classroom management strategies for use in
different classroom situations or contexts

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.

What does the term ‘classroom management’ mean to you?

COMMENTARY
‘Classroom management’ is an extremely broad area and covers all teacher skills and
strategies which are done in the classroom to ensure as much learning happens as is
possible. It is a practical classroom-based aspect of teaching and one which can give
rise to many a teacher concern, when not handled appropriately. The TKT Glossary
defines classroom management as follows:
‘The things teachers do to organise the classroom, the learning and the learners,
such as organising seating arrangements, organising different types of activities and
managing interaction patterns’ (p. 7).
Most teachers aim for a classroom where their learners are engaged and productive, and
where they feel secure and confident to make every effort to learn. In such a positive
learning environment, learners will achieve to the best of their ability and the teacher
will also be positive and motivated. However, the well-developed organisational skills
and confidence the teacher needs to achieve this can take time and effort to acquire.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 ow can teachers develop a positive classroom atmosphere to promote
H
learning? Note up to three points.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

COMMENTARY
As we can infer from the definition on the previous page, there are several areas of
classroom management teachers need to be aware of and develop in order to create a
classroom where learners are motivated, respected, confident and willing to learn. We
can break these down into six main areas:
1. Organising the classroom
2. Organising the learners
3. Organising learning
4. Managing time
5. Developing a respectful relationship with learners
6. Interacting with learners

1. Organising the classroom How can I best

organise my
– How to make effective use of classroom space classroom?
– How to arrange the furniture
– How to organise materials and resources

Classrooms vary greatly in their physical layout, and institutions vary in the degree
of freedom they give teachers to modify this. Creating a welcoming, comfortable and
English print-rich classroom is an initial step towards developing a positive learning
atmosphere where all learners feel secure and ready to learn.
The board and screen, if available, should be easily and comfortably visible to all
learners. Some classrooms have different areas, spaces and resources, especially those
for younger learners in the age range. These might include:
– a large carpet for circle time, story time and other whole-class activities.

– a play, reading or relaxation area, where resources such as storybooks, graded

readers, props, visuals and other materials used in class can be kept so they are
available for learners to use freely.
– visible and accessible display areas and noticeboards, where the class can create

spaces for temporary and semi-permanent, interactive and static displays of

learners’ work.
Tables are usually best arranged so that students can sit in groups. This will help them
work together, share ideas and resources, and collaborate on activities such as projects
or art and craft. It will also give more space in the classroom to move around for both
the teacher and the students. In some teaching contexts, it may not be possible to
move tables and chairs, or they may need to be left at the end of the lesson as they
were found at the beginning. Build in routines where the children help to organise the
furniture, or get up to move to each other’s tables for pair or group activities. Learners
will quickly become accustomed to these routines and be able to do them quickly.
A print-rich environment is one where written text of different forms can be seen in
the classroom: this may be displays, but also includes notices, posters (e.g. with useful
language or classroom behaviour expectations or rules, which can be clearly pointed

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 Unit 10 Managing learning

towards when necessary), labelling of furniture, resources and so on. Much of the
text is added gradually during the term or year and may include learners’ work. This
constantly visible text will gradually become familiar and well-known to all learners
who use the classroom.
How can I best
2. Organising the learners
organise my
learners?
– How to pair and group learners
– How to arrange seating

There are different ways we might pair or group learners, depending on an activity, on
the learners and on the learning context. Pairs could, for example, mix or put together
learners based on language level, gender, age, personality and other individual factors.
While younger learners may be accepting of an assigned partner or group member,
they may have less developed interactional or social skills, so may find it challenging
to work with other children. Older learners, especially from around 10 or 11 years old,
may have stronger preferences as to who they work with. The teacher may also have
their own reasons for pairing or grouping in the way they do.
It is common for teachers to pair and group based on level, where a stronger learner
may support a weaker one. While this is often effective, it is equally true that stronger
learners together will push each other’s learning, and lower level learners can support
each other at their level. Often, mixed level pairings are effective for controlled
activities, while same level pairings work well for freer activities. Similarly, while
grouping friends together can make the learning experience more enjoyable, it may be
more difficult to manage behaviour. It is important to consider individual preferences,
although it is equally important for young learners to learn to work with different
people. As such, varying pairs and groups is key; also, sometimes using a technique to
assign learners randomly.
The classroom should be set up in such a way that pair and groupwork is facilitated by
the position of the tables or desks. Where furniture is fixed, learners could move their
chairs or stand around one table or even in a small circle away from the tables. The
classroom layout should never prevent interaction in the classroom.

3. Organising learning
How can I
– How to organise activities best organise
– How to manage interaction learning?
– How to encourage learners to be responsible
for their own learning

We saw in Unit 9 that alternating stirrers and settlers can help manage learners’
energy levels to allow them to focus on learning. We have also seen that routines can

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

help learners understand and develop responsible behaviour and feel secure in the
classroom through their familiarity.
There are different interaction patterns available for teachers to employ in the
classroom, as we have seen (pair work, group work, individual work, for example). We
have seen ways in which we can group and pair learners, and it is equally important
to think about how we set up interactions and how we interact with learners, such as
when the teacher addresses or asks a question to the whole class. We might insist that
children raise their hands to answer a question or elicit information, which can help
keep control of a class, while nominating learners directly allows us to check progress
and understanding for specific children. Care is needed to ensure that all children are
given the opportunity to contribute and participate without fear or embarrassment.
Nominating should never be used as a punishment, to shame or to test an individual
in front of the class.
Finally, we can encourage children to gradually take control of their own learning
and foster a sense of belonging by giving them responsibilities in the classroom and
encouraging them to manage their own learning and behaviour. This may be done
by having class monitors, whose responsibilities might include keeping resources and
displays tidy, cleaning the board, overseeing the use of English in the classroom, and so
on. Having a responsibility in the classroom builds children’s self-esteem and sense of
belonging and allows them to become more independent learners. This can be further
strengthened by encouraging learners to take care of and organise their work, to set
and review learning goals and plan their work.
4. Managing time
How can I best
– How to plan lesson time manage time?
– How to use time limits and countdowns
– How to manage transitions

Lesson plans should always consider the timing of different stages in a lesson, taking
into account the time needed for setting up and feeding back after activities as well as
the time needed for the activity itself. We noted in Unit 8 that fast finishers should also
be planned for, and some teachers plan an if-time flexi-stage, which they decide to
use or not as the lesson progresses. This also allows adequate time for the later stages
of the lesson, which are quite often the ones where learners are working on the most
meaningful and motivating activities.
In the classroom itself, the first key step is to tell learners how long they have for an
activity. After that time has elapsed, stop learners. You may give extra time if needed,
or you might choose to stop the activity if most learners are finished. Using a timer,
writing the finish time on the board or having a countdown are useful. There are
plenty of tools available online which can be used with a projector or interactive
whiteboard and have their own sounds. Being clear – but realistic – about timing helps
learners manage the pace of their work and understand time as a concept, especially
younger learners.

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 Unit 10 Managing learning

Transitions are the moments in the classroom where we move from one activity to
another. There are various techniques we can use to mark that time, and routines are
a valuable strategy to help students stop working, tidy up as necessary and change
focus to a new task or to listening to new instructions. Transition routines may
include a song or chant, or could involve a clear signal from the teacher or action
by the children. Clear transitions help children organise themselves and re-focus
their thinking quickly onto a new learning activity. Over a year, they are a valuable
opportunity for extra learning, like any routine.

5. Developing a respectful relationship with learners

How can I best
– How to develop a positive teacher personality gain respect of
– How to use your voice my learners?
– How to interact with learners
– How to get and keep learners’ attention

Teacher presence is the ability to respectfully ‘own’ the class, to show and be in control
by gaining and holding the attention of the class when necessary. A strong teacher
presence will generally require:
● an assertive – but not aggressive – personality, which learners feel confident in but

not afraid of.

● a strong, clear voice which projects well but doesn’t shout angrily.

● a preference for positive reinforcement of good behaviour to negative reactions to

challenging behaviour, such as punishment.

● a mobile teacher, who frequently moves around the classroom to instruct, monitor

learning, speak privately to individuals and give feedback to the whole class.
● an accessible teacher, who learners feel uninhibited to speak to (physically

or emotionally).
● a teacher who uses appropriate strategies to get learners’ attention and to maintain

it, never instructing or beginning an activity unless all learners know what is
expected of them.

6. Interacting with learners

How can I best
interact with
– How to respond to learners’ individual needs my learners?
– How to use Teacher Talking Time
– How to correct effectively

Teacher presence is also impacted by the way in which we interact with our learners.
To gain their respect, it is important to view and treat them as individuals, to make an
effort to get to know each learner and to be sensitive to their needs in our classroom
management and lesson planning. Initially, learning and using their names will help
foster the relationship, but we can also find out about learners’ personality traits, interests
and preferences to help fine-tune the learning outcomes of our lessons and materials.

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We interact with our learners using language, and in many contexts the teacher is the
main source of exposure to English. We should try to use English as much as possible
in our class, although may reserve the learners’ first language for dealing with specific
problems or for supporting learners’ emotional needs. Teacher Talking Time (TTT)
is the amount of class time we spend speaking English to learners. While quality TTT
is valuable input, we also should try to maximise STT (student talking time, that is
when all students are using English) in order to ensure plenty of opportunity for
language practice to all learners. All teacher talk should be clear, concise and graded
to the learners’ level, and supported through gestures, demonstration, visuals and so
on, as needed. It is rarely essential to instruct in L1, and in cases where this occurs
frequently, learners will miss out on the opportunity for input from the teacher.
In accuracy-focused, controlled practice activities, mistakes in target language may
need correction by the teacher, the learner themselves or a peer. This should be done
sensitively and in a measured way. Allowing learners to share answers with a partner
before whole-class feedback (Think-Pair-Share) will encourage peer correction and
reduce potential stress of speaking in front of the class. When focusing on fluency,
teachers may make a note of common mistakes in target language and then deal with
them (anonymously) in plenary, perhaps in form of a quiz or game to correct as a class.
Some other factors that impact on classroom management may be outside the
teacher’s control. These can depend heavily on context, but might include external
factors, such as noise from air-conditioning, construction or a road nearby, the
weather, limitations imposed by school rules, cultural, political or religious influences,
access to technology and other facilities, such as internet or a library, and so on. It is
the teacher’s responsibility to make themselves aware of such external influences and
try their best to find solutions.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 eachers of young learners sometimes encounter challenging behaviour. What
T
kind of classroom manager might be able to deal with these issues effectively?

COMMENTARY
Despite our best efforts to develop a positive learning environment and to develop
a strong rapport with our learners, teachers of young learners may face challenging
learner behaviour in their lessons. By working on our classroom management style
from the beginning, we may reduce the likelihood of such problems. We might do this
by keeping six Cs in mind:

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 Unit 10 Managing learning

Be clear about your expectations of

appropriate behaviour; be clear about 6 Cs of classroom management:
what you want the children to do and Be Clear, Consistent, Calm,
say in an activity. Considerate, Communicative and
Be consistent in your response to Collaborative.
learners, whether it involves praise
or reacting to challenging behaviour.
Treat all learners equally and follow
through on what you say (do what you say you will).
Be calm and avoid anger and shouting when facing a challenging situation. You
will be able to think more clearly and the learners will not lose their respect for you.
Be considerate towards the learners. A learner may behave poorly when there is
a separate, personal issue, and he or she is looking for your attention or sympathy.
Meanwhile, consider the other learners in the group and minimise the impact on them.
Be communicative by allowing the learner to have their say and express their
opinions. If you encounter unexpected bad behaviour, try to find out from the
learner what might have caused it. It is important to first find out why this
situation has occurred. You may want to use learners’ L1 to ensure you are both
communicating well, if this is an option.
Be collaborative with learners in their learning by negotiating classroom rules,
learning content and objectives and assessment strategies. This will help them take
ownership over their learning and become more independent learners.
Above all, if you frequently encounter challenging behaviour and are trying out a new
technique to manage it, don’t give up easily – be persistent. Seek help from other teachers
in your school or network. It is likely they may have encountered similar problems with
the same learner(s), class, or context. And finally, if a situation arises where any child is
at risk, you should seek help from another adult. Never leave a classroom with young
learners unattended, and never exclude a child from your classroom.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 155 for answers)

 ead teachers’ classroom management challenges. How would you

R
advise these teachers? Make a note of your answer.
Then match each challenge to a possible solution. To what extent are
these the same as your suggestions?

Challenges:
Teacher 1: A student in my Year 3 class (8 years old) often shouts out silly answers when I ask
the whole class questions. I find it very irritating and get quite annoyed with the student. I don’t
know why she won’t stop!
Teacher 2: Sometimes when I want to start a new activity, the children just carry on with the
previous one. So, I just give instructions to the class anyway, and then go to each student and try
to get them to move to the next activity.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

Teacher 3: Often, I give instructions and tell students to start, but they just sit there and don’t
do anything! I ask them if they understand what to do, and they say yes. I don’t know why they
don’t get on task quickly.
Teacher 4: My 9–10-year-old students sit at desks individually in their own classroom. The
teachers must leave the classrooms in the way they found them, so I never move the desks. But it is
very difficult to do pair, group and mingling activities.
Possible solutions:
Solution A: You could use a transitions routine. For example, when it’s time to finish
an activity, use an online count-down. When time’s up, chant ‘1-2-3, eyes on me!’,
students stop what they are doing and reply ‘1-2, eyes on you!’. Then you can tell
them to put their materials away, and begin instructing the next activity. Make sure
you set clear time limits!
Solution B: It’s likely that some or all of the children haven’t understood the
instructions or weren’t paying attention when you gave them. Make sure you always
have their full attention before giving instructions. Use plenty of demonstrating and
check their understanding by asking closed questions, such as ‘How many words do
you need to write?’ or ‘Are you working alone or with your partner?’
Solution C: Try to stay calm and avoid showing anger as this could weaken your
presence in the classroom. You could try to manage participation by giving learners
tokens, which they ‘spend’ to answer a question; ignore any answers given without
raising hands and being invited to answer, and reward the children who do raise
their hands.
Solution D: You could ask students to move their desks to make pairs or groups, or
the desks could be pushed to the side of the room for mingling activities and other
whole-class activities. At the end of the lesson, the children can help put their desks
back into position. Alternatively, students could stand to do some activities, or they
could gather around one desk, or even go outside to the playground or another
communal area.

REFLECTION

 hoose one or more of these reflection activities which will suit

C
your context.

Activity 1
Arrange to meet other teachers in your school, community or professional learning
group. Share your classroom management challenges by giving just one or two
each. Work together to suggest solutions to these problems. If possible, regroup
after a period of time so you can report back to the group on the outcome of these
suggested solutions.

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 Unit 10 Managing learning

Activity 2
Write your own ‘Six Classroom Management Top Tips’. Try to focus on different areas
of classroom management we have seen in this unit. Share it with other teachers in
your school, community or professional learning group to get their feedback. Ask them
to add to your six tips so that you can develop a longer list, then share the longer list.
Activity 3
At the beginning of the year or course, spend some time with your learners talking
about and sharing expectations. In groups or as a whole class, students write a
classroom expectations poster. Put this in a prominent place in your classroom so
you – and the students – can refer to it when necessary.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the two discovery activities to explore classroom

L
management in your context. Choose one to do which is most useful
in your context.

Activity 1
Plan and write a short survey to find out from your students what they think makes
an effective teacher, for example their management style, their use of language and
strategies and other areas which are relevant or particular to your context.
Gather and reflect on the data from the survey. Develop two or three action points for
your own development. Share the survey findings and your action points with your
class. Return to this after a specified time and reflect on any changes.
Activity 2
Record yourself interacting with your students in the classroom (audio or video).
Analyse the recording so you focus on the way in which you use your language to
manage the class. Reflect on your analysis:
– To what extent did you achieve the 6Cs?

– Which of the 6Cs were your strengths?

– What areas could you improve upon?

Write an action plan, including what you hope to improve on, how you will do it, and
over what period of time. After that time, record another lesson and reanalyse your
language. What changes do you notice?
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of your work.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Try to answer the questions in
D
under ten minutes.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, look at the description of what the teacher is saying and/or doing. Then
read the areas of classroom management A–C. Which area does it match? Choose A–C.

1 The teacher says: OK. We have just two or three more minutes of today’s lesson. Today’s
jobs are: Tiger Team, please tidy the readers in the book corner; Crocodile Team, please
put away all the materials and toys; Hippo Team, please shut down the computer. Then,
everyone please check you haven’t forgotten anything and line up by the door. Are
you ready?
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A checking understanding.
B using routines to develop responsible behaviour.
C using pair, group and whole class work.
2 The teacher stands in the middle of the classroom with their finger held up to their lips,
saying nothing. The teacher looks at the children and waits until they are all quiet. Then
the teacher says: Good! Now listen carefully…
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A using indirect correction.
B checking understanding.
C getting and keeping children’s attention.
3 Children take a card from a mixed set. The teacher says: Who has an animal on their
card? Hold it up. OK, you are the Animal group. Who has some food on their card?
Show me. Good, you are the Food group…
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A setting up pair or groupwork.
B managing challenging behaviour.
C using routines to help children feel secure.
4 The teacher says: Ana, Luis, please look at the poster. Do you remember, we agreed that
we will be kind to each other at all times? Ana, were you kind to Luis then?
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A using negotiated classroom rules to manage inappropriate behaviour.
B getting and keeping children’s attention.
C using routines to develop responsible behaviour.

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 Unit 10 Managing learning

5 The teacher says: Yes! It’s ‘arm’. Mika, show me your arm. Good!
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A correcting language.
B checking understanding.
C rewarding positive behaviour.
6 The teacher says: Mei, could you help me collect all the cards, please?
Area of classroom management: The teacher is…
A using individual work.
B giving children practical responsibilities.
C giving positive feedback.

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 Part 3 Teaching Young Learners

Reflection on learning in Part 3

You have come to the end of Part 3. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module
aimed to deepen your awareness and skills relating to teaching young learners in the
classroom. You explored scaffolding strategies, practice activities and areas of classroom
management. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module also supported your
knowledge and skills in preparation for the third part of the TKT: YL Module test:
Teaching Young Learners.
Look back to the introduction to Part 3. You assessed your level of understanding
before beginning the unit. Re-assess your understanding in each area.
You also identified questions or areas to find out about in each unit. How well do you
think you have achieved these? What can you do to better achieve those you need to
work on? For example:
● Re-read a section of the unit(s).

● Re-do or do more exploration activities (Second C of each unit).

● Discuss the unit(s) content with other teachers in your school or network.

● Re-do the TKT: YL practice task(s).

● Look in the TKT glossary or the glossary in this book to check meanings of key terms

and concepts you are unsure about.

● Reflect on your classroom teaching more closely.

● Look for other readings or resources on the topic(s).

Write yourself two or three objectives for further learning and development in your
TKT: YL PD Journal.

■ References and further recommended reading

PART 3 REFERENCES
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press & Assessment.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. (New Ed.) Harlow: Pearson Longman.

Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (2021). How Languages are Learned. (5th Ed) [ebook]
Oxford University Press

Robinson, A. and Saxby, K. (2015). Fun for Starters: Additional Resources for Teachers Third
Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Pinter, A (2006). Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Puchta, H., Lewis-Jones, P., Gerngross, G. and Zgouras, C. (2022). Super Minds 2nd
Edition: Level 3 Workbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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 RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING
Moon, J. (2000). Children Learning English: A Guidebook for English Language Teachers.
Oxford: Macmillan. (Chapter 4)

Slattery, M. and Willis, J. (2001). English for Primary Teachers. A Handbook of Activities and
Classroom Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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 Part 4 
Assessing young learner learning in
the classroom
Introduction to Part 4
Part 4 will help you understand and use formative, classroom-based assessment
activities to monitor and assess progress and achievement of learning. You will
deepen your knowledge about purposes and focuses of different assessment strategies
and think about ways in which teachers and learners may respond to the results of
assessment. You will also consider ways in which we can assess learning and look in
more detail at feedback given by teachers and learners. This part of The TKT Course:
Young Learner Module will support your knowledge and skills in preparation for the
fourth part of the TKT: YL module test: Assessing Young Learners. You can find more
information in the TKT: YL syllabus in the module handbook, which is available online.
In the first unit of this part of the book, Unit 11, you’ll think about the purposes of
different assessment types in teaching and learning. First, you’ll consider the use of the
term ‘assessment’ and reflect on your interpretation of this term in response to reading
about the formative assessment cycle. You’ll then look at different types of assessment
appropriate for use with young learners and then consider how these may serve
different purposes in teaching and learning.
Unit 12 turns to the focus of assessment: what to assess. This will consider areas
we can assess in addition to language and language skills. The unit then looks at
techniques for assessing these different areas and focuses on assessing non-language
skills in the young learner context.
In Unit 13, you will look in more detail at the outcomes of assessment and the kinds of
actions teachers or learners could take as a result of assessment outcomes. In the first
section, we look at different ways teachers might adjust teaching and learning, based
on assessment evidence. Then there is a focus on oral and written feedback before a
closer look at using peer feedback with young learners.
At the end of each unit, there is a series of activities which will extend your learning,
thinking and understanding, and help you explore and relate the unit theme to your
own classroom practice or teaching context. These are followed by a set of TKT: YL
practice questions based on the unit theme. It is recommended that you use your TKT:
YL PD Journal to keep and organise your notes.
In the same way as in Parts 1, 2 and 3, read the can-do statements before you begin
the units in this part of the book and evaluate your own understanding and skills for
each. After completing Part 4, return to these statements and re-assess yourself. From
that, you can develop an action plan to continue focusing on any particular areas you
feel necessary.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

SELF-ASSESSMENT

Unit Rate yourself from: Rating before Rating after

1 (Limited or not at all) to 5 (This is a strength) Part 4 Part 4
11 I can identify several different purposes for assessing
children’s language learning
12 I can use classroom-based activities to assess different
areas of children’s progress and achievement
13 I can respond appropriately to assessment evidence in
order to improve teaching and learning

In your TKT: YL PD Journal, identify two or three questions or areas you’d like to
know more about in each unit in Part 4. When you have finished Part 4, return to
these to see if you have answered them. If you haven’t, read around the topic using
the recommended reading list at the end of this part of the book. You can also find
many resources for teacher professional development online.

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 Unit 11 Why assess learning: What purposes
do different types of classroom-based
assessment have?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: know more about different purposes for various types of classroom-
based assessment
SKILLS: be able to identify why teachers use particular classroom-based
assessment techniques

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.

What does the term ‘assessment’ mean to you?

COMMENTARY
Assessment is a key part of teaching and learning; it can be defined as: ‘to discover,
judge, or form an opinion on learners’ ability, achievement, proficiency or progress
either formally or informally’ (TKT Glossary, p. 4).
There are several different kinds of assessment including formal assessment, such
as testing, where we assess children individually on their skills and knowledge, and
informal assessment, which is carried out without the teacher setting a test: teachers
continually assess informally during regular classroom activities, as a part of their
everyday classroom practice. This is also known as classroom-based assessment. It
may involve the use of classroom activities the teacher uses specifically to assess
children, so they are planned as assessed activities which the teacher may observe
or collect students’ worksheets from, or it may be through the use of strategies such
as monitoring, observing, concept checking, eliciting and other kinds of questioning,
which the teacher uses all the time to gain a sense of children’s language and skills
use. The teacher may plan these strategies in advance of the lesson, for example
by scripting some questions to check understanding. We can see, therefore, that
assessment can be anywhere from very formal to very informal, unplanned
and unstructured.

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 Unit 11 Why assess learning

More informal More formal

- Classroom-based - Individual
- Planned or unplanned Assessment - Tests or exam

Figure 1: The assessment formality cline

Assessment may be done at the end of a period of learning, such as a term, course or
even unit, in order to find out what was achieved, and not achieved. This is known
as summative assessment; it is often formal. This is a final assessment of learning, so it
does not influence future teaching and learning.

Teaching and Learning Assessment

Figure 2: Summative assessment of learning

On the other hand, when assessment gives us information to help improve future
teaching and learning, it is formative assessment. This is assessment for learning
because we can use the assessment to improve teaching as well as learning. This kind
of assessment usually happens in the classroom, so it is informal.

The classroom

Assessment

Learning Teaching

Figure 3: Formative assessment for learning

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your
notes as you read.
What kind of assessment can teachers use with young learners? Note
reasons for your answer.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

COMMENTARY
Children are still developing in different areas, including cognitively, physically,
emotionally and socially, as well as developing in different skills such as literacy,
numeracy and their first language (L1). They are in a state of rapid change, and
as we learned earlier, each child is unique in that development: they all develop
from different starting points, in different areas at different times and different
paces. This has implications for assessment, not least that we should assess regularly,
with a focus on the progress they make, rather than assessing only at a single final
point, that is, assessing overall achievement. This means we need to prioritise regular
formative assessment (assessment for learning), even if we also assess summatively,
as might be required in some contexts. If we break down learning into small steps,
then we can assess achievement of these small steps, which will help us see progress
overall. Therefore, it is important to be systematic and keep careful, regular records
of performance, so we can see how children’s language and skills develop over time.
This allows us to see how each learner is progressing from their own starting point
or level. To do this, we can collect information during regular classroom activities on
an ongoing basis, as well as at several key moments during the term through more
deliberate, planned, but still informally assessed tasks. This will help us give feedback
to our learners on their progress and can show us when and how we need to support
individuals, or even the whole class. This means that the results of the assessment can
be used to shape our teaching and learners’ learning, making assessment a central
driver of the teaching and learning process.
Classroom-based assessment
Children perform best when working under normal conditions that they are familiar
and comfortable with. They may work at their best when they are with their friends
doing fun activities, which engage them and encourage them to use English in a
meaningful context. These are the ideal situations to get an accurate picture of learners’
abilities. If we ask children to sit a formal test, they will often feel stressed, nervous
and even confused, especially as they are emotionally less mature than older children
and adults. This will mean that many learners perform differently – often worse – than
usual. So, when we assess children informally through a normal classroom task or
activity, we will gain a better idea of what they are really able to do and, therefore,
where they can go next in their learning. They will also be less impacted by the
assessment emotionally and will probably enjoy the experience more.
Effective classroom management strategies can also give us information for assessment
purposes. For example, a teacher who monitors carefully is constantly assessing
their learners. Similarly, asking questions, nominating or eliciting from learners
in the classroom gives teachers information about different learners’ progress
and achievement.
Self-assessment and peer assessment
Self-assessment is where children evaluate their own progress and achievement,
while peer assessment is where they evaluate a classmate. Both of these assessment
types ask children to use metacognitive and higher order thinking skills, which they
may find challenging at first. However, when we regularly ask learners to use these
kinds of assessment and give them guidance and support, they will begin to develop

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 Unit 11 Why assess learning

these skills. We can therefore use these kinds of assessment to develop learning and
cognitive strategies. Children can also gain a sense of ownership of their learning and
start to appreciate each other as a resource to help them learn, so they become less
dependent on the teacher. These kinds of assessment can be used in combination with
or separate from teacher assessment to form an overall picture of either progress or
achievement. We will find out more about self- and, in particular, peer assessment
in Unit 13.
Portfolio assessment
Portfolios are an effective way to combine different types of assessment. A portfolio is
a collection of learners’ work done over time. The learners choose their best classroom
work to showcase in different areas, so it is positive and fair as it focuses on what they
can do well. This helps them analyse and understand their learning and to see progress
over time. Children in the upper end of the age range can be asked to justify their
choice of work, which strengthens the element of self-assessment.
Formal assessment
Sometimes learners may need or want to take a formal exam, for example to
show their level of English (e.g. Cambridge Young Learners English Tests) or as a
requirement in their school or even education system. Teachers can help learners to
prepare for such tests using formative classroom-based assessment. The TKT Course:
Young Learners Module focuses on classroom-based, informal assessment. For useful
information on formal assessment and testing in the young learner context, see Papp
(2019) and Hasselgreen and Caudwell (2016).

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hat purposes can classroom-based assessment serve? Note two or three
W
ideas, then compare them to the following assessment purposes.

COMMENTARY
We have seen that assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process.
It is assessment which can drive learning forwards in a meaningful way for individual
learners by helping us – and them – identify strengths and weaknesses and, therefore,
plan next steps in learning. We may measure progress, for example by comparing
ability in a specific language area with previous ability, or achievement, for example
we can measure a learning outcome to see whether the learning objectives are met.
Assessment may be used for several different purposes for example:
To diagnose strengths and weaknesses
Just as a doctor examines a patient to make a diagnosis, using classroom-based
assessment, we may want to get an idea of learners’ current state, to find out
where they need to improve, as well as to diagnose their strengths in language use,
understanding, learning strategies and use of skills. This will let us plan or make

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

changes to our teaching and, through feedback, can show learners the next steps in
their learning. This can help them in their journey towards achieving the learning
objectives in a lesson or in a syllabus or to becoming better learners. We will also be
able to identify children who need extra support or challenge in an aspect of their
learning; we can see where to support all children so they can reach their potential in
our classroom.
To identify children’s likes and dislikes
We might also aim to find out information about children’s learning preferences, their
likes and their dislikes in relation to the kinds of classroom activities we ask them to
do. We can gauge this through observation, or we can ask children directly what their
preferences are. This will help us to tailor our teaching so that it is more appropriate,
relevant and interesting to the children in our class.
To get feedback on our teaching
We can find out about our learners’ perception of our lessons and our teaching,
which can help us improve our practice by making it better suited to our learners’
expectations. Where these expectations are not realistic, then we can talk openly with
the learners and try to negotiate some kind of compromise. These may be related
to the way we interact with learners, how we manage them in the classroom and
the kinds of activities we use regularly. It ties together with identifying their likes
and dislikes.
We may also gather feedback on the effectiveness of the learning resources and
materials, classroom strategies and activities or approach. In addition, we may be able
to use findings from classroom assessment of learning to tell us about this. This kind
of evaluation might be organised by the school or institution and can involve different
people in giving their opinions on the effectiveness and appropriacy of methodology.
To inform parents or caregivers about their child’s progress and achievement
When we regularly collect and record information on each learner, it is easier to
report to their homes meaningfully, for each learner. We are better able to give
detailed individualised information about their performance, their progress and their
achievement, for example in teacher-parent meetings, termly reports and other
communications with parents and caregivers, such as through social media, an online
learning management system or by email.
It is important that our assessment activity matches what we want to assess, and that
it is fit-for-purpose. If our purpose is to identify children’s achievement in listening
skills and we ask them to write full, accurate responses to a listening task, then we are
probably assessing writing more than listening. Similarly, if we ask children to work in
groups to assess speaking skills, then we should keep in mind that a child may not feel
confident to speak in a group setting, so it may not be fair to assess their speaking skills
in this way.

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 Unit 11 Why assess learning

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 155 for answers)

 ead how a teacher uses a classroom-based assessment technique.

R
Complete the task that follows.

Following a sequence of lessons focusing on the topic ‘In the town’, the teacher
sets up a role-play activity, giving clear, supported instructions and modelling
language carefully.

Children work in pairs to conduct the role play, using a language frame.

The teacher walks around the classroom, listening and watching different pairs
as they do the role play, assessing their use of the language previously taught and
their speaking skills, as well as their ability to work effectively with each other in a
pair. The teacher makes notes on areas children struggled with as well as what they
did well.

When the children have finished the activity, the teacher asks them to think of
two things they did well and one thing they could have done better. Some children
share their feedback with the class, and the teacher asks if they enjoyed the role-
play activity. The teacher notices how these compare to their own notes.

Then, the teacher gives feedback to the class, highlighting strengths as well as
weaknesses, and explaining what they will do to work on these in the next lesson.

Identify the following purposes for assessment and mark them in the text:
1 Identifying children’s achievement in the use of language and skills
2 Analysing children’s use of learning strategies
3 Developing children’s thinking skills through self-assessment
4 Diagnosing strengths and weaknesses
5 Identifying children’s likes and dislikes
6 Moving learning forwards through assessment

REFLECTION

 ook at the reflection questions below. Make notes of your answers

L
in your TKT: YL PD Journal.

1 In what way(s) has your view of assessment changed having completed this unit?
2 How would you respond to these teachers:
Teacher 1 says, ‘I don’t assess children in my classes because they find it too stressful. I just use
one end-of-year test so that I can give them a grade for their report.’

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

Teacher 2 says, ‘The children keep online English portfolios. They upload their work when
they feel proud of it. At the end of term, we review it and select their best.’
Teacher 3 says, ‘At the end of every class, I ask my children to review the lesson objectives and
discuss whether they met them or not. Then I ask them which one(s) they will review at home’.
3 If you are able to, meet with colleagues and discuss these scenarios.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the discovery activities. Choose one or more to help you

L
investigate your assessment practices in more detail.

1 Think about the kinds of assessments you use:

– assessment you used last year or term or..
– assessment you’ve used so far this year or term or..

– assessment you plan to use this year or term.

Make a note of your answers:

● What type(s) of assessment are there?

● Are they classroom-based?

● What are you assessing: progress or achievement?

● What is the purpose of your assessment?

● Does the assessment actually test what you want it to test?

2 Look up the term assessment in the TKT Glossary, where you can find different types
of assessment. For each type, think about how suitable it is in your context:
– What are some of the benefits of each type for you and your learners?

– Do you have any concerns about using this kind of assessment with children in general or with

your learners specifically? What are they?

3 Review the terminology you have encountered in this unit (such as formal-
informal assessment; formative-summative assessment, portfolio etc.). Check your
understanding of these by thinking of examples. If you feel you are unsure of the
meaning of these words, follow up by expanding your reading. You can refer to the
books listed at the end of Part 4, or you could look online at educational and/or
ELT-related websites.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions. You should be aiming to complete
it in six minutes or less.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

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 Unit 11 Why assess learning

For questions 1–6, read about assessment strategies. Choose the correct sentence A–C.

1 A teacher walks around the classroom to monitor children as they work in pairs. The
teacher notes which learners are able to use the target language accurately.
A This teacher wants to assess progress in use of skills.
B This teacher wants to diagnose strengths and weaknesses.
C This teacher wants to assess achievement in use of language.
2 After an activity, the teacher asks the class of 6–7-year-old learners to put their thumbs
up if they enjoyed the activity a lot, thumbs sideways if they quite enjoyed it and thumbs
down if they didn’t enjoy it.
A This teacher wants to assess achievement in use of language.
B This teacher wants to find out about children’s learning preferences.
C This teacher wants to identify children who need extra support.
3 The teacher asks her 9–10-year-old learners to plan and draft writing in pairs before they
write a final version. The teacher asks learners to hand in the plan, the first draft and final
draft of their writing in order to see how they managed this process.
A This teacher wants children to assess their own learning strategies.
B This teacher wants to assess children’s achievement in use of skills.
C This teacher wants to assess children’s use of learning strategies.
4 The teacher sets up termly portfolio assessment with her class or 6–7-year-old learners.
Learners choose samples of their best work in each skill to include in their portfolio. The
teacher has a short interview with each learner to ask them why they chose each piece.
A The teacher wants to use self-assessment.
B The teacher wants to identify children’s likes and dislikes.
C The teacher wants to identify achievement in the use of language.
5 The teacher observes learners as they work on classroom activities during the course
and keeps brief, regular records on their performance in each skill. The teacher then
uses these notes to write end of course reports to take home.
A This teacher wants to get information on learners’ progress in order to give
feedback to parents.
B This teacher wants to measure achievement of course learning objectives.
C This teacher wants learners to self-assess using a portfolio of their work in
each skill.
6 The teacher sets a fairly formal test at the end of the course which aims to see how well
learners have met the course learning objectives.
A This teacher wants to measure progress in use of language.
B This teacher wants to measure achievement in learning strategies.
C This teacher wants to measure achievement in use of language.

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 Unit 12 What to assess: What focuses do
different types of classroom-based
assessment have?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: be more aware of a range of focuses of classroom-based assessment
SKILLS: be able to select classroom-based assessment techniques appropriate to the
focus of assessment

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat can teachers assess in the young learner English classroom? Think of
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more than one possible focus of assessment.

COMMENTARY
Teachers of English may well feel it is their role to assess their learners’ English – and it
is, of course. However, we can and should assess more than just their English language
in order to support the teaching and learning process.
Language and skills
We might want to assess learners’ achievement or progress in their use of language
through speaking and writing activities, where we can see their productive skills or
their understanding of language through receptive skills activities, that is reading and
listening. We may also assess the subskills of any of these four main skills, such as
listening for specific information, fluency, scanning, use of punctuation, and so on.

Example: Playing a card matching game where learners match picture flashcards
with their word card assesses vocabulary knowledge and reading at word level.

Learning strategies
Similarly, we can assess children’s use of or progress in learning strategies. Giving
constructive feedback on their learning strategies will help them become better, more
independent learners and, therefore, drive their learning forwards. Many of these
skills are transferable to other school subjects, so can support them in their broader
education and learning as well.

Example: Reviewing and giving feedback on learners’ vocabulary notebooks or

learner-made picture dictionaries assesses this learning strategy.

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 Unit 12 What to assess

Cognitive strategies
These are strategies which involve the use of thinking skills. As with many learning
strategies, effective use of cognitive strategies not only supports learners’ English
language development, it also helps their development overall. We can assess and give
feedback to learners on their use of such strategies or on their progress in them, and
this allows them to develop further.

Example: Playing ‘What’s missing?’ (‘Kim’s Game’), where learners tell you what
item you have secretly taken away from a scene or word from the board, assesses
learners’ memory as well as vocabulary knowledge.

Communication strategies
These are also life skills which have a particular impact on children’s ability as learners
of language. By assessing their communication strategies, we can give children
valuable support in their development and help them understand how better to
communicate with others in English.

Example: Playing ‘Happy Families’ card game, where learners politely request
cards from each other to make a thematic set, assesses the strategy of asking for an
object. It also assesses language and vocabulary, as well as the cognitive strategy of
categorisation.

It is always important to bear in mind that our assessment should match our learning
objectives. If, through an activity, we are aiming to develop specific target language as
well as a particular skill or strategy, then we can use this to assess in these areas. Look
at this longer example:

Learning objective: To practise using greetings phrases in a role-play situation.

Activity: Learners collaborate to create, rehearse and present short dialogues using
target language (greetings)
Here we might assess:
Language: the use of the specific phrases used (target language); but not other
language used in the dialogue.
Skill: Speaking and listening; but not their writing, if they write the dialogue.
Strategies: How well the dialogue is performed (i.e. the learning strategy of
rehearsing a dialogue to help memorise language); Use of appropriate language for
greeting and responding to greetings (Communication strategy).
We may also choose to assess their behaviour and interpersonal skills involved
in collaboration.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 ow can we assess these areas? Note one idea for each area given in the
H
previous section.

COMMENTARY
We saw in Unit 11 that classroom-based assessment is most appropriate for young
learners of English. For this reason, teachers should ideally assess learners informally,
when they are engaged in regular classroom activities. They can do this by monitoring
and observing learners as they work in the classroom, then making notes on
individuals’ performance. This could be done using a checklist of objectives achieved
or it could involve more informal notes on different learners, or be a combination of
both. Teachers with large classes can focus on a small number of learners each time,
which is easier than trying to assess all the class in one go.
If specific assessed tasks are needed, then these should also mirror those regular
classroom activities, including the use of pair and group activities, so that learners are
familiar with the activities and understand how they should be using language, skills
and strategies in the activity. This will give a more accurate, truer picture of a learner’s
abilities, and learners will be less stressed and psychologically or emotionally impacted
by assessment.
It is also helpful to collect learners’ work, such as their worksheets, writing, pictures
and so on, or to use a mobile phone to take photos of their work for assessment
purposes. If appropriate permissions are obtained, videos could be made as learners
work on speaking tasks, so they can be assessed later. Work can be marked in this
way, with feedback given to learners in written form or even orally, as a video clip or
voice message.
We also saw in Unit 11, that learners can be involved in assessment through self- and
peer assessment. This helps them develop an understanding of the learning process and
encourages them to reflect on their progress and plan future learning by setting their
own goals and targets. This could be done using questionnaires after a lesson, theme
or unit, where learners respond to simple can-do statements relating to the objectives.
They can also identify what they need to do to improve on this kind of questionnaire.
See Figure 2 for an example which could be used in conjunction with a review activity
such as in Figure 1.

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 Unit 12 What to assess

3 Play the game. Say the words.

Finish

Start

63

Figure 1: Review activity from Nixon and Tomlinson (2017) Kid’s Box Level 1 Updated
Second Edition, p.63: Cambridge University Press & Assessment

I can say the words in I need to

the game.
________________

My friend can say the My friend needs to

words in the game.
________________

Figure 2: An example self- and peer assessment form

Learning goals and success criteria
Learners can be involved in the assessment for learning process when we help them
decide what they should and want to learn in an activity, lesson, theme or unit
(learning goals), think about exactly what they need to have done (standards) to know
they have achieved the goals (success criteria), then afterwards, by guiding them to
reflect on what they did learn (self-assessment). This helps develop children’s learning
strategies and their awareness of the learning and language acquisition process, and
supports them in becoming motivated, mature and independent learners. Look at
these two examples of useful strategies we can use:

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

KWL
⇒ What do you Know already? Before learning, children brainstorm their current

knowledge of language, topic and so on.

⇒ What do you Want to know? Also before learning, children set their own learning

objectives based on what they are curious about. These could be content or
language related.
⇒ What did you Learn? After the learning, children return to their objectives and

decide how far they met them. At this stage, they can set new objectives for what
they still want to know.

WALT and WILF

⇒ WALT: We Are Learning To…

The teacher and/or the learners express learning goals in terms of an activity,
lesson, theme or unit, beforehand. They could be individual or for the whole
class, such as on a wall display.
⇒ WILF: What I’m Looking For…
WILF accompanies WALT - success criteria are expressed as what I’m looking for.
For example:
WALT: We are learning to write scary stories
WILF: I’m looking for at least five describing words to make the story scary

This allows later assessment of learning by teacher and learners. In some activities,
such as writing, WILF can be used as part of process writing, that is to help review,
self-correct and re-draft writing. The teacher might hold a whole-class discussion about
achievement of the goals after the learning, or learners may reflect this individually.
The teacher can also use these goals and success criteria to assess learners. It may be
beneficial to use learners’ L1, if possible.
You can find out more about these kinds of strategy in Britton (2021).

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hy and how should teachers assess other non-language skills? Note your
W
ideas on this.

COMMENTARY
In the Key Concepts section in this unit, we saw that learning, cognitive and
communication strategies can be assessed in order to support learners in their
development. Similarly, we can assess a number of non-language skills. These include
affective non-language skills, or factors, and other life skills.

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 Unit 12 What to assess

Affective non-language skills and factors

These include behaviour, motivation and attitude, three areas which are closely related
and sometimes difficult to separate. Learners’ attitude towards learning English,
towards the English-speaking community – at home or abroad – and towards learning
in general will have an impact on their intrinsic motivation to learn English, that is
the motivation that comes from within them. While many other factors are at play,
motivation is a significant factor influencing children’s behaviour in the classroom. All
of these, therefore, impact on the success of teaching and learning of English and other
learning. By assessing non-language skills, we can give feedback to learners and help
them become more aware of and to develop these skills; we can also identify where
we need to make changes to our teaching in order to better engage learners.

Example: The teacher observes a group of learners in each lesson, and makes notes
about non-language skills, such as: how well they co-operate with each other and
work together; how carefully they listen in the classroom (e.g. to instructions); how
quickly they get on task; how willing and careful they are with at-home tasks; and
how appropriately they behave at different stages of the lesson.

Life skills
Life skills are the kinds of skill that people need and will need to operate in the world
of today and tomorrow. The social nature of the language classroom is ideal for helping
learners develop these skills, even if at a beginning level. We sometimes hear the term
‘21st Century Skills’, which involve the ‘4Cs’: Collaboration, Communication, Critical
thinking and Creativity – skills which help children learn and which help to set them
up for the future (for more on this, see Shin, et al., 2021). Cambridge University Press
& Assessment’s Cambridge Life Competencies Framework further outlines competencies
in three broad areas: emotional development, digital literacy and subject knowledge,
and gives a clear picture of how these skills develop at different stages of learning
throughout life (see the Cambridge University Press & Assessment’s website for a
downloadable copy of the complete framework). We saw an example of assessing
learning, cognitive and communication strategies and skills above; here, you can see an
example of how we might assess digital literacy as part of classroom-based assessment.

Example: Depending on children’s age, the teacher might observe while learners
use tools to interact with their device (e.g. the mouse, trackpad, touchscreen and/or
keyboard, with older children) and keep records on their competences.

It is also important to gain information on children’s use of the online environment

to ensure their safety and wellbeing online. We might do this by asking learners to
keep a record of the sites they visit or clicks they make when researching for a mini
project (this could be done using the browser history).

We have seen in this section that we should consider assessing more than just
children’s use and understanding of target language. In order to support children in
their development and in their learning, we should focus on affective factors and
life skills, which lets us give learners feedback and helps us and them to push their
development forwards in these areas. By supporting learners with these skills, they
will also become more effective language learners.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see pages 156–157 for answers)

 ead about two classroom activities which could be used for assessing
R
young learners. Think about what could be assessed in each activity
and complete the table.

Step 1: Read about the assessed activities.

Assessed activity 1
Learners: 9–10 years old
Materials: Simplified local map using a grid, showing key roads, buildings, etc.
Activity procedure: Learners each have a map. They draw or mark their home on the
map. Learners work in groups of four. They take turns to explain the location of
their home to their group on the map, e.g. My apartment is in the town centre. I live in
the building between the bookshop and the convenience store. The group members check
their understanding by confirming the grid position, e.g. Do you live in square D4?
Learners should draw or mark their friends’ homes on their map.
Assessment procedure: The teacher monitors and observes two groups as they do the
activity. The teacher uses a checklist to make records. The teacher collects the maps
from these learners to compare and check they are the same.

Assessed activity 2
Learners: 6–7 years old
Materials: Realia or toy food items (several of each item)
Activity procedure: Learners sit in a circle. There are some food items (realia or toys)
in the middle of the circle. The teacher asks learners to look and find which food
they like best. They should take and hold that food item. The teacher nominates
learners to tell the group about the food they have, e.g. I’ve got a banana. It’s a fruit.
I love bananas.
Assessment procedure: The teacher uses a checklist to record performance in
various skills.

Step 2: What could the teacher assess in each activity? Put a tick or cross in the table.
Make some notes relating to your answers.

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 Unit 12 What to assess

Assessed Assessed
activity 1 activity 2
Speaking skills
Listening skills
Reading skills
Writing skills
Use of target language (grammar; vocabulary)
Understanding of target language
Communication strategies
Learning strategies
Cognitive strategies
Affective non-language skills
Life skills

REFLECTION

Arrange to meet colleagues or other teachers in network.

Monitor and record your assessment practices. Share and discuss
them together.

Work with some colleagues or teachers in your network.

First, keep an assessment diary for a period of time (e.g. one month). Note all the ways
in which you assess learning in your classroom. Note the type, purpose and focus of
these assessment activities.
Meet with other teachers (face-to-face or online). Share your diaries and discuss the
assessment activities. You could think about:
– How far do these activities give you a clear and accurate picture of learners’ progress and

achievement (individually or together as a set of assessment practices)?

– Overall, how effective were these activities as classroom-based assessment?

– Which of the assessment practices used by your colleagues do you want to use with your

learners? Why?

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ollow the steps of the discovery activity, which is a mini research

F
task focusing on learning goals and success criteria.

Step 1: Re-read the section on Learning goals and success criteria. Follow up on this
topic by searching for techniques online or in books recommended here for Part 4. You
could further investigate KWL, WALT and WILF or find other strategies.
Step 2: Plan to try out one of these strategies with one of your classes for a period of
at least one month.
Step 3: Try out the strategy as it is recommended in your reading. Keep field notes of
your observations and comments. You could use your TKT: YL PD Journal for this.
Step 4: Reflect on its success after a few tries using your field notes: Do you need to
make any changes to the strategy? Perhaps your learners are very young and the process
or wording need to be simpler. Perhaps the strategy will work better if learners do it
individually, or together as a class. Make the changes to the strategy as appropriate.
Step 5: Continue to implement the strategy for the period, making more small
adjustments as necessary, and continuing your note-keeping.
Step 6: Reflect again. Use your notes to help you reflect on the success of the
strategy as you continue to try it. At the end of the trial period, talk to your learners
about the strategy: Did they understand why you were asking them to do this? Did they find
it useful? Was it enjoyable? Would they like to continue doing it? Why? Remember you can
use learners’ L1 if necessary and will need to grade your language and the concepts so
they are appropriate to your learners’ age and level. Make a final reflection.
You can use your TKT: YL PD Journal to record and keep track of your work.
Remember to follow any ethical procedures required by your institution and to ensure
you have informed consent of your learners and other participants before collecting
any classroom data.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions. You should be aiming to complete
it in seven minutes or less.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, read the statements about assessment strategies. Match each strategy
to its main focus A–E. You can use a focus more than once.

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 Unit 12 What to assess

Assessment focuses
A Learners’ language
B Learners’ use of cognitive strategies
C Learners’ use of learning strategies
D Learners’ use of communication strategies
E Learners’ behaviour

Assessment strategies
1 Learners play a card game where they take a picture card. They tell their group what it
is, e.g. ‘duck’. If they already have the same flashcard in their hand, they discard both
and say ‘ducks’. If not, then they keep the card.
2 Learners work in a group of six to eight children. Each learner has a pencil sharpened
to a different length. The teacher asks the children to stand in order, according to the
length of their pencil.
3 The teacher gives learners a set of words which form a jumbled-up sentence. The
teacher says the sentence; learners listen and reconstruct the sentence they have heard
using the words.
4 The teacher asks learners to do a self-assessment activity at the end of the unit.
They assess their achievement of the learning objectives of the unit as well as their
participation in class, and say what they would like to do better in the next unit.
5 The teacher observes some learners while they work quietly on a writing activity.
The teacher makes notes on learners’ ability to work quietly without disturbing
other children.
6 At the beginning of the term, the class and the teacher work together to make a
poster showing useful expressions and functional language for communicating in the
classroom. Each learner has a copy of the poster. When they use any of the language,
they can tick it off. Around the middle of the term, the teacher asks the learners what
they have used and what they haven’t used yet.

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment:
How can I act on the results of
classroom-based assessment?

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this unit, you will…

KNOWLEDGE: have found out about ways teachers and learners may respond to
classroom-based assessment findings
SKILLS: be able to better implement appropriate adjustments and give formative
feedback based on the results of assessment

■ Starter Question
Before you begin this unit, read the starter question and make some notes. Then read the
commentary and compare it to your notes.
 hat do/might you do after assessment? Think about how assessment
W
impacts on teaching and learning in your classroom. Note three or
four points.

COMMENTARY
In Unit 11, we saw how assessment for learning drives teaching and learning forwards
as a result of the information it can give teachers and learners. This information
is sometimes known as ‘assessment evidence’, and it can be used to make changes to
teaching and learning and to set new learning goals. It might be evidenced in the
teacher’s notes from observing learners as they work on different activities, learners’
worksheets, coursebook exercises, or written work, and so on.
There are a number of different areas we might consider changing in our classroom,
based on what we find in that assessment evidence. For example, we may decide to
review learning:

Example: The teacher sees that learners have not achieved the learning they
wanted them to (as per the learning objectives), decide that learners need more
practice in that particular language area or skill, and then plan to review that area
in an upcoming lesson.
Example: The teacher notices from our monitoring and observation that several
learners have difficulty with the pronunciation of one or two words in the unit
vocabulary, so decides to review or even re-teach the pronunciation by giving extra
models and playing a speaking game which focuses on discriminating sounds.

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment

The teacher may decide to change the pace or to skip course content:

Example: The closing stage of the lesson shows the teacher that learners have
excelled and have achieved learning outcomes earlier than expected. The teacher
decides to skip some upcoming activities or sections in the course plan or
coursebook which give more practice in that area.

Teachers might also make adjustments to their planning and practice for a class,
based on assessment evidence. They may make adjustments to the type of activity,
for example:

Example: The teacher adds support with TPR (Total Physical Response) to help
learners understand and remember action verbs or key vocabulary in a chant.
Example: The teacher simplifies the task demands of a writing activity (e.g. the
amount of content or the number of words) when learners were not able to write
in as much detail or length as required.

Adjustments may also be made to teaching materials or resources:

Example: A text proved too challenging for learners, so the teacher repeated the
activity using a simplified version of the text.

Another area teachers may decide to modify in response to assessment is

classroom management:

Example: Learners didn’t perform very well because they didn’t participate equally
in an assessed groupwork activity, so the teacher decided to adjust and re-do the
activity so that they are working in pairs.
Example: Learners got over-enthusiastic and used too much L1 in an assessed speaking
game, so the teacher decided to set some parameters (rules) about use of language and
made sure learners had a settling activity before the next similar activity.

Finally, another area of classroom management which may need adjusting is time: this
may be to increase or decrease time given for an activity or it could be wait time, in
the case where learners seem unable to respond to a question:

Example: The teacher asked a series of similar questions. He noticed that only the
stronger students in the class were able to respond, so he decided to wait a few
seconds longer between asking the question and providing a prompt or reformulate
the question to help the learner answer.

Teachers can respond to assessment evidence by making changes to how they teach
the whole class, but assessment can also give us evidence to help make changes to
how we teach or manage individual learners in the class. This doesn’t necessarily
mean making several substantial adjustments for each learner in the class like those
mentioned above; we may make simple adjustments to help individuals, such as:

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

● changing the types of question we ask different learners to challenge or

support them
● monitoring particular learners more closely to give them support or to manage their
behaviour or interactions
● avoiding or preferring particular pairings or groupings
● giving additional activities to challenge fast finishers and extra practice to those
who continue to have difficulty meeting learning objectives.
We can see, then, that the teacher can make small adjustments to their planning and
classroom practice, based on the learners’ response to and performance in activities.
This kind of assessment for learning has a central role in developing effective classroom
practice which supports all learners in their learning. A teacher who is constantly
aware of how each learner in the class is performing can make their classroom more
learning-oriented and help build the self-esteem of their learners. A key element in
this process is feedback. We will look at this in the next section.

■ Key concepts
Reflect on the key concept question. Brainstorm your ideas, then expand your notes
as you read.
 hen and how do/could you give feedback to your learners? Make some
W
notes, read the commentary and expand your notes.

COMMENTARY
One of the most common ways to react to assessment evidence is to give feedback.
This could be oral or it could be written. It might even be non-verbal, such as the use
of gestures, like giving a thumbs-up. Feedback could be given by the teacher, other
learners (peers) or by the learner whose work is being assessed (self).
The TKT Glossary reminds us on page 16 that there are three angles to feedback. The
first two of these are relevant to this unit:
1 To tell someone how well they are doing. After a test, or at a certain point in the course,
teachers might give learners feedback on how well they are doing.
2 Teachers also give feedback after an exercise that learners have just completed; e.g. after
learners have done a gap-fill activity the teacher conducts feedback by asking learners to
tell him/her which words they have put in the gaps. He/she writes the correct answers on
the board.
Note that feedback should follow an assessed activity as well as regular classroom
activities; it should also be given periodically to tell learners about their progress
more generally. All such feedback contributes to the teaching-learning-assessment
cycle of assessment for learning (see Unit 11) as they help to improve and push
learning forwards.
For any feedback to help learners move forwards, it needs to be formative. This means
it needs to give more than a score, grade or a simple but empty ‘Well done!’. Teacher-
to-learner feedback should recognise what the learner did well and point forward

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment

to the next step in learning. It should always use positive language and be worded
and delivered sensitively and with care, as negatively perceived feedback can be very
damaging to children’s self-esteem and motivation.
Marks, scores, grades and comments
Often, teachers collect learners’ written work, including artwork, project work, posters
and so on, and will mark, grade or correct it. Giving just a score, grade or mark (e.g. 6/10,
65%, or B), however, is not helpful; nor is covering the learner’s work with red pen
corrections. The learner needs to know what they did well and what they did not do
well so that they know what to focus on in their upcoming learning. They also need to
know how they can improve: the feedback needs to be formative and realistic, that is
it focuses on what learners are able to improve. Many teachers will have observed that
young learners tend to look immediately at their mark at the top of a paper returned to
them, and may likely ignore the written comments that are the formative feedback. It
can be useful to give only comments; if grades or scores are essential, then they could
be given later, separately. Allow time in class for learners to read their feedback, rather
than having them put it straight away in their bags to be forgotten. This will encourage
learners to read the feedback, so they are more likely to take it on board and, then, act
on it. ‘DIRT’, Directed Improvement and Reflection Time, is a strategy whereby time
is provided, usually at the beginning of a lesson, for learners to review and reflect on
feedback they’ve been given, and to plan how to apply it in order to improve their
work. Wiliam & Leahy (2015, Chapter 5) also discuss a number of studies on feedback
strategies and outline a series of further useful techniques.
Feedback based on goals, success criteria and learning objectives
Through a process of goal-setting, where the success criteria are clear to the learner
(see Unit 12), we can assess and give feedback specifically on the learner’s progress
towards those goals. See Petty’s (2009, Chapter 6) ‘Medals and Missions’ feedback
model for a useful example of how to structure formative feedback.
Similarly, if our learning objectives are related to content (what) or strategies (how), as
well as language, then our feedback should be tuned to those as well. Even where our
objectives are related to skills (such as in a writing activity, where learners write an
email to a friend, or annotate a comic), we can comment on ideas as well as language.
Sensitive feedback: Even Better If…
The acronym EBI (Even Better If) reminds us to use positive, sensitive language when
giving constructive feedback. For example, we may give balanced feedback such as:
‘You answered all the questions in detail. Your work will be even better if you write neatly and
check your spelling carefully.’ Indeed, feedback often involves us saying what a learner
did not do well, and in order to help push learning forwards, we need to focus on
areas that the learner needs to improve. We need to be sensitive when expressing this
kind of feedback so that learners do not feel demotivated. It should focus on what can
be done in future to help improve, that is, it should be forwards-pointing (e.g. Next
time, use an online or physical dictionary to check the spelling of words you aren’t sure of; Try to
spend a little longer on the activities and check your work before you hand it in.). This will help
ensure it is not phrased negatively (e.g. Your spelling is not very good; You didn’t try hard
enough). In this way, learners also begin to realise that we can learn a great deal from
mistakes, that mistakes are part of the learning process.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

Children in particular may be concerned about how they appear in front of their
classmates. It is important to deliver individual feedback quietly and privately to avoid
any feelings of embarrassment or fear. Regular self- and peer assessment can help
learners get used to giving and receiving feedback and reduce these negative emotions,
letting them feel more safe and secure in their learning environment.
Tips for giving feedback
We may give feedback orally, during the class for example, or in writing, on paper (or
computer) based activities. Consider these tips:
Tips for effective oral feedback
ü When giving individual feedback, try to do it privately and in a quiet voice when
you are monitoring or, if in a whole class situation, encourage and prompt self-
correction using positive language, facial expressions and gestures; balance the
feedback, including praise for effort when relevant.
ü Consider giving delayed feedback (i.e. not immediate), by taking notes of common
mistakes as you monitor, then looking at those mistakes together as a class after
the activity has finished, perhaps correcting them as part of a whole-class game or
activity. This not only avoids interrupting learners doing an activity, but it also lets
you anonymise the feedback.
ü Remember to use a positive tone and non-accusatory language when giving feedback,
so it is encouraging, even when you are drawing attention to something that can be
improved.
ü Ask questions to involve the learner in the feedback process, so it is two-way, rather
than being directed from you. This will also allow you to know whether the learner
can self-correct.
Tips for effective written feedback
ü Avoid using red pen, which is aggressive and stands out more than the learners’
writing.
ü Write legibly and intelligibly so the child can read and understand your comments.
You could give some of the feedback in their L1.
ü You can use stickers, stamps and emoticons to make your feedback clear and child-
friendly, but vary these so that they don’t become equivalent to grades (e.g. A =
very happy face; B = fairly happy face, etc.)
ü Avoid correcting all the mistakes. Encourage self-correction of selected mistakes in target
language using a simple error correction code.
ü Respond to content (what they have written, their ideas, their illustrations) and
effort, as well as language.

■ Key concepts and the YL classroom

Reflect on the key concepts and the YL classroom question. Brainstorm your ideas, then
expand your notes as you read.
 hy and how might you involve learners in formative assessment and
W
feedback? Think of at least one reason and two ways you do or could
do this.

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment

COMMENTARY

As we have seen in this part of the book, self-assessment is where learners assess their
own learning, while peer assessment is where they assess a classmate. Sometimes we
might think that young learners are not very good at assessing themselves or giving
effective feedback to others, but we can focus on developing these skills from an early
age, in a simple way at first, then in a more sophisticated way as learners become more
mature, gain more developed thinking skills, become better at interacting with others
and better able to understand and reflect on the learning process.
There are many benefits to using self- and peer assessment. As we have seen
already, both self- and peer assessment are very valuable learning strategies for
English language learning and for other subjects, as well as being a life skill. Through
developing these skills, children can become more independent and effective learners,
who are better able to take responsibility for and manage their own learning. It
allows them to have a voice in this process; this voice can be made stronger through
involving them in setting their own goals and success criteria because they will
understand where they are and where they are moving towards. Peer assessment
in particular gives learners’ work an audience, someone to appreciate it, which is
especially important in large classes where the teacher might not be able to see and
assess all the work of every child. It also helps learners to develop respect for each
other, improve their social and communication skills, and to learn to receive feedback
and accept failure or criticism.
In this section, we will look in more detail at peer assessment. Peer assessment and
feedback can happen in a structured way, or it might happen less formally as learners
work collaboratively in pairs or groups. If young learners are unskilled or insensitive
when giving feedback to each other, it can be quite upsetting for the receiver of the
feedback. It is very important, therefore, to help learners become skilled givers (and
receivers) of feedback. We can do this by:

1 Spending time talking to learners about the importance of being kind and
sensitive when giving feedback to each other. Agree on rules for giving feedback
(e.g. Make sure your comments are kind. Make sure you are giving ideas to improve.) and
focus on accepting feedback. You could do this in learners’ L1.
2 Scaffolding: Provide a form, worksheet or feedback model (see below) to help
learners with language and structure.
3 Scaffolding: Provide language for feedback. You could brainstorm some useful
expressions and phrases, then put them on a classroom poster or on a feedback
support sheet, or you could give learners a language frame to use.
4 Scaffolding: Provide a model of good feedback by using the same feedback model
or tool that the learners use.
5 Feed back on feedback: Have learners to reflect and report on the peer feedback
process so that they can develop their skills over time.
6 Start simple and actively develop skills over time, based on step 5 and on your
own modelling. Learners will need that time to develop effective feedback skills.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

There are a number of models for peer assessment, for example Two stars and a wish: In
this model, learners are asked to give feedback which has two positive points (stars)
and one constructive point (a wish), expressed in positive, non-accusatory language.
The feedback can be guided in this way to help learners develop skills, for example
they complete a feedback form:

I really I really
liked your liked your

Wish
I’d like to help you to

Figure 1: Two Stars and a Wish

Additional strategies to consider include:
Sharing success: Learners find a quote or a point that they like in their partner’s work
and share this with the class. It could be on a collaborative document online or put on
a poster.
The sandwich model: In this model, constructive feedback is the sandwich filler, and
positive comments are the bread. A series of feedback statements start with something
positive, then move to a comment on what could be improved (and how), and finish
up with another positive comment, leaving receiver on a high note. Learners could fill
in a diagram of a sandwich with their feedback on a worksheet.
The feedback burger: It is similar to the sandwich, but the burger has four layers: The
first is initial praise (the bottom burger bun), then the second is correction (the meat
or veggie patty), the third is a suggestion (the lettuce), and finally the big bun on the
top represents more praise. Written feedback can be presented in the form of a burger
(Shin, Savic´ and Machida, 2021, p. 70).
Use of stickers: Learners put small stickers next to the part they would like to feed back
on. The image or words on the stickers represents the kind of feedback being given
(e.g. a heart for something great, an inquisitive emoticon for something to think about
or work on). You could use stamps or drawings, which would be cheaper and more
ecological than stickers. The learner will need to explain the feedback to their partner,
in order for it to be formative.

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment

Many of these, and other strategies for peer feedback can also be adapted for use in
self-assessment, and some are already borrowed from teacher assessment strategies.
If we can align self-assessment, peer and teacher assessment and feedback, then the
messages will be clear and consistent, and learners will be able to develop these skills
more rapidly and effectively.

■ Exploring the concepts in practice

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY (see page 157 for answers)

 ead the examples of teacher written feedback. Consider how

R
effective they are and how they might be improved.

1 Fantastic, Yen! 2 You need to try harder.

3 Beautiful, neat work, especially the diagram. 4 Next time, check your spelling.
5 Can you write more about the animals in 6 You gave a very detailed description of the
your story? Are they friendly? Scary? How do scene. To improve your work, try to include
they move? all the key words. Look back and check the
list to see which ones you left out.
7 34% 8 How did he feel? How do you know?
9  10 Your work has improved a lot, Dani. Be
careful with ‘a’ and ‘the’. I can see you are
trying hard – well done!

REFLECTION

 ollow the steps of the KWL procedure to guide you in a mini

F
research task.

Identify one or two areas from this unit which you would like to find out more about.
Follow a KWL model to guide your research. Make notes:

What do you already Know about the area?

K Review the unit and make notes. Add points you already knew as well, if relevant. You
could create a mind map, for example.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

What do you Want to know about it?

Write some detailed and precise research questions to guide you. You might want to
W know about the place of this area in the teaching-learning-assessment cycle, or you
might want to know more practical suggestions to help you implement it. Find sources of
information online or use the bibliography for this part to help you find useful resources.
Make notes as you read.
What did you Learn?
L After you have researched, try to answer your research questions. Do you still need or
want to find out more?

You could share what you have learned with teachers in your context or institution.

DISCOVERY ACTIVITY

 ook at the three discovery activities to explore teaching and

L
learning in your context. Choose one or more which are most useful
in your context.

1 Keep an assessment diary where you track the assessments you use with one of
your classes, the results of it and the adjustments you make based on those results
(e.g. review, an area of classroom management, task types, teaching materials).
If you already keep assessment records, you could add a section to those records
where you note the adjustments, or you could create a table such as:

Date Class Assessed activity Notes (findings) Adjustment made

12/06/23 Tiger Pairwork activity Jelena & Teo: co- Review prepositions
class (giving directions) operated well; with a game next
struggled to use lesson
prepositions (TL)
accurately;

2 Investigate your feedback:

A: L
 ook back at examples of written feedback you have given learners in the past,
e.g. written work you have marked or reports you have written for parents.
How formative is your feedback? How can you improve it?
B: R
 ecord yourself giving oral feedback to learners (Don’t forget to check your
school policy and to seek informed consent or permission for this from the
school, parents/caregivers and students as necessary). You can use your mobile
phone for this quite easily.
After the lesson, review the recording and analyse your feedback.
How formative is your feedback? How can you improve it?
Write some goals for your own development of feedback skills.

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 Unit 13 Responding to assessment

3 Experiment with self- and peer assessment models.

A: Review the various feedback models for self- and peer assessment introduced in
this unit. Identify one or two which look interesting and relevant. Research them
further online and plan to implement them in your lessons several times.
B: Record or keep detailed notes on the feedback your students give themselves and
each other.
C: Analyse your notes to see how effective the technique has been.
D: Think about how it might be modified to be more effective for your learners and
try it out again.

■ TKT: YL Practice task

 o the practice task for this unit. Time yourself to see how long you
D
take to answer all the questions. You should be aiming to complete
it in seven minutes or less.
Then check your answers in the answer key on page 158.

For questions 1–6, read about the responses to assessment. Match each response to its
type by choosing the correct statement A–C.

1 ‘Some learners were very noisy when they worked in same-gender pairs (boys with boys,
girls with girls). So, I decided to mix boys and girls for the next pair-work activity.’
A This teacher adjusted the task type.
B This teacher adjusted classroom management.
C This teacher adjusted the pace of learning.
2 ‘All of the learners in the class could easily finish the exercise in the coursebook. I could
see they understood and could use the target language really well, so I decided to skip
the end of the unit and start the next one.’
A This teacher adjusted learning objectives.
B This teacher gave learners oral feedback.
C This teacher adjusted the task type.
3 ‘I usually add a funny stamp to the place in learners’ work which needs attention. Then I
put sandwich style feedback at the end of their work – the filling of the sandwich relates
to that stamp.’
A This teacher used oral feedback.
B This teacher used peer feedback.
C This teacher used written feedback.
4 ‘I noticed that several learners in the class had difficulty reading the words on the
flashcards, so I decided to add pictures to the words written in their coursebook so they
could understand them better.’
A This teacher adjusted teaching materials.
B This teacher reviewed learning areas.
C This teacher gave written feedback.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

5 ‘Three learners in my class of six were having problems remembering the target
language form in the previous lesson. I decided to add an activity to the next lesson
where they had to work in pairs to create a sentence jigsaw (containing the target
language) for another pair to solve.’
A This teacher adjusted the time spent on activities.
B This teacher gave feedback to pairs.
C This teacher reviewed learning.
6 ‘My learners reviewed their at-home writing task in pairs and prepared a star or heart-
shaped badge for their partner. On the badge they completed the sentence: ‘Hi! My
name is _____ . I’m good at ____.’ On the back of the badge, they completed the
sentence ‘Next time, I need to _____.’ Then they awarded their partner with the badge.’
A This teacher gave written formative feedback.
B These learners self-assessed and gave written feedback.
C These learners peer assessed and gave written feedback.

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 Reflection on learning in Part 4
You have come to the end of Part 4. This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module
aimed to deepen your awareness and skills relating to assessing young learner learning
through classroom-based assessment. You explored purposes of assessing learning,
focuses of assessing learning and ways teachers and learners may act on assessment
evidence, including feedback.
This part of The TKT Course: Young Learner Module also aimed to support your
knowledge and skills in preparation for the fourth part of the TKT: YL module test:
Assessing Young Learners.
Look back to the introduction to Part 4. You assessed your level of understanding
before beginning the unit. Re-assess your understanding in each area.
You also wrote two or three questions or areas to find out about in each unit. How
well do you think you have answered these? What can you do to better achieve those
you need to work on? For example:
● Re-read a section of the unit(s)

● Re-do or do more exploration activities (Second C of each unit).

● Discuss the unit(s) content with other teachers in your school or network.

● Re-do the TKT: YL practice task(s)

● Look in the TKT glossary or the glossary in this book to check meanings of key terms

and concepts.
● Reflect on your classroom teaching more closely.

● Look for other readings or resources on the topic(s).

Write yourself two or three objectives for further learning and development in your
TKT: YL PD Journal.

■ References and further recommended reading

PART 4 REFERENCES
Britton, M. (2021). Assessment for Learning in Primary Language Learning and Teaching.
Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Hasselgreen, A. and Caudwell, G. (2016). Assessing the Language of Young Learners.

London: British Council.

Nixon, C. and Tomlinson, M. (2017). Kid’s Box. Level 1. Updated second edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

Papp, S. (2019). Assessment of Young English Language Learners. In The Routledge

Handbook of Teaching English to Young Learners. S. Garton & F. Copland (Eds.).
Pp. 389-407. London: Routledge.

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 Part 4 Assessing young learner learning in the classroom

Petty, G. (2009). Teaching Today. A Practical Guide. (4th edition). Cheltenham:

Nelson Thornes.

Shin, J. K., Savic´, V. and Machida, T. (2021). The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of
English Learners. Alexandria: TESOL International Association.

Wiliam, D. and Leahy, S. (2015). Embedding Formative Assessment. West Palm Beach:
Learning Sciences International.

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING

Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press & Assessment.

Ellis, G. and Ibrahim, N. (2015). Teaching Children How to Learn. Peaslake:

DELTA Publishing.

Fisher, R. (2005). Teaching Children to Learn. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

McKay, P. (2006). Assessing Young Language Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press & Assessment.

Petty, G. (2014). Teaching Today. A Practical Guide. (5th edition). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

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 Follow-up activities: Answer keys
and commentaries
UNIT 1 2 B: A person who has a growth mindset views
A True: The activity includes TPR (physical), learning as a series of small, achievable steps
various thinking skills (cognitive), interacting which will lead the person to achieving a
in pairs and collaborating to plan and conduct bigger goal.
a survey (social). 3 A: We don’t always need to add in extras to
B True: Children work individually when our lessons, we can often adapt the material
surveying family or friends and reporting on we are asked to use. We will look more at this
the data; they work in pairs to practise the in Part 2 of this book. Answer C would also be
language; they work in groups to conduct a possibility here as it is an example of the kind
the survey. of learning strategy learners could reflect on.
C True: They first listen to the story and 4 F: Children can learn a great deal from each
do the actions. Then they practise the other; it is important to remember too, that
language in pairs, before creating their own children’s level of language does not indicate
survey questions. the same level of ability to use learning
D True: The example of a chunk here is What strategies.
time do you…? Children add the verb to this 5 C: The Plan – Do – Review model can easily
chunk to create the survey questions. be incorporated into a lesson without taking
E False: This is not a classroom routine. up extra time or requiring supplementary
F True: Many daily routines are carried out materials.
at home (e.g. get up, brush your teeth); 6 E: Children will improve at self-assessment
children read a story, which may be a home the more they do it. Over time, they will be
activity; they are asked to survey their able to reflect more effectively on what and
family or friends and report on this as part of how much they have learned. We will look at
their findings. related ideas in Part 4 of this book.
G False: Depending on the story or media you
choose, it can be very suitable for children UNIT 3
in either the younger end or upper end of Extract 1) B; D; E. In part 1, learners predict
the 6–12 years age range. Similarly, younger the content of the texts, based on the images;
children can present their findings in a very They will need to skim read the article (read it
simple way, whereas older children in the quickly) to check their answers to the questions
age range can work with more advanced in part 1. They are directed to find specific words
data presentation techniques such as a in the text and work out what they mean, based
more complex table or maths concepts, e.g. on the context.
percentages. The teacher will need to model Extract 2) A; B; F. On the second listening in
and give support to children of all ages in activity 1, learners need to put the pictures in
using the computer to create tables, print and the correct order (sequence), based on what they
stick; a template may be useful. heard. They may then scan the sentence options
in activity two to find key words which match
UNIT 2 the stages in the story sequence and, therefore,
1 D: It is important to explain the reasons specific items they can see in the pictures.
behind some of our classroom practices to Children create their own situations in Activity 3
parents or caregivers, so that they will support and may also take risks with language, although
us and their children in their learning. they are not specifically encouraged to do so.

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 Follow-up activities: Answer keys and commentaries

UNIT 4

Communication Example Game 1: Game 2: Game 3:

strategy Happy families Charades Hopscotch
Using gestures and Miming  (This is a key
body language to part of this
explain game)
Congratulating a Well done!  (There is  (There is  (There is
winner a winner a winner a winner
who can be who can be who can be
congratulated) congratulated) congratulated)
Turn-taking It’s your  (Learners  (Learners  (Learners
turn! take it in turn take it in turn take it in turn
and can use and can use and can use
language to language to language to
communicate communicate communicate
in order to in order to in order to
manage this manage this manage this
together) together) together)
Giving opinion I think it’s…  (This is a
guessing game,
where learners
give their
ideas)
Use of visuals Using  (This relies on  (The hopscotch
numbers; picture cards, grid is a visual.
pictures although these It will also
could also be show numbers
word cards for and can use
older children) pictures.)
Asking for Could I have  (This is a key
something it, please? part of the
game)
Giving something Here you are!  (Learners can
be encouraged
to use a
language
strategy to
communicate
this)
Collaborating Let’s…  (This can be a
collaborative
game if played
in pairs or
small teams)

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 Follow-up activities: Answer keys and commentaries

UNIT 5 UNIT 7
1 Syllabus fit and previous learning Teacher 1: F and L
2 Learning outcomes Teacher 2: D and E
3 Learning resources Teacher 3: C and J
4 Possible problems and solutions Teacher 4: I and K
5 Personal teaching aim Teacher 5: A and G
6 Procedure Teacher 6: B and H
7 Interaction patterns
8 Assessment evidence UNIT 8
9 Differentiation Question 1
10 Lesson evaluation 1 The teacher grades their language. Yes.
The teacher uses simple and clear language,
UNIT 6 although also tries to make it natural. We
1) The teacher could do one or more of the don’t know how quickly or clearly they are
following: speaking, however.
– Omit one or more vocabulary items 2 The teacher repeats or rephrases their
from the picture by covering them up language. Yes. There is repetition in 13,
or by displaying a modified version on a which is where the teacher is modelling the
classroom screen. question form. There is rephrasing in 27,
– Add more visual support using photos of where the teacher uses ‘hide’ and ‘secret’ and
landscapes in temperate climates which in 25: Who wants a turn? [pause] Who wants
include some of these features. Elicit from to play?
the class what they can see and talk about 3 The teacher asks questions to check
the features which are less familiar. children’s understanding. Yes. The teacher
– Personalise the content by adding some checks understanding of the groupings and
questions after the activity: ask children order of turns in 31.
which of these things they can see in their 4 The teacher uses or has children use a
community or local area. language other than English. No. We only
– Add a game-like activity to pre-teach the see English in the transcript.
potentially challenging vocabulary. 5 The teacher corrects children’s language
2) The teacher could do one or more of the in different ways. Yes. The teacher elicits
following: the correct singular form (mouse) when Kaya
– Simplify the language in the instructions uses the plural form (mouse) in 17­–24.
and/or the project steps. 6 Non-linguistic support. Yes. The teacher uses
– Prepare a set of control and experiment a lot of gestures to support understanding of
plants by doing the project in advance. language and the procedure of the activity.
This can be used as a model of the final 7 Praise. Yes. The teacher uses praise to show
product so children know what they are students they are correct using different
aiming at. expressions such as ‘Well done!’ (7) and ‘Very
– Add to the instructions by asking questions good!’ (27) and Excellent! (31).
about the children in the pictures (e.g. What 8 Contextualising language. No, although
are they doing? What is in the cups?). the language is already contextualised in this
– Use some of the children’s own language game because it is a genuine guess.
to explain challenging key words of steps 9 Preparing for an activity. Yes. This is the
(e.g. vinegar). These words could be added main focus. In particular, the teacher provides
to ‘My Dictionary’. clear oral models of language children will
– Add a stage to the project to look at the need in order to do the activity. The transcript
final outcome of the experiment (this shows the modelling of the activity students
comes later in the material). will do in groups by the teacher and by
volunteer students.

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10 Using the senses. Yes. The demonstration Teacher:  Exactly, well done. Please turn to your
makes use of the sense of sight and partner. You have 5 minutes, starting…
hearing. Other senses are not necessarily now! [Teacher sets timer on the
used, although there is also movement and computer].
mime involved. B There are two concerns with this feedback:
11 Language support material. No. First, the feedback is imprecise, so students
There is no material used to support have no idea what they did well exactly. It
understanding or use in this example. is possible that there were aspects of their
Flashcards show students which animal work which was not done as well as others,
they should mime. so students don’t know what they have
12 Managing interaction. Yes. The teacher achieved and what they still need to work on.
takes time to set up the groups and the Secondly, the tone of the feedback may
order in which the students should take be friendly and encouraging, but is
their turns when playing the game. They inappropriate. ‘Guys’ generally refer to boys
also check that students understand this. and men, for example.
Note that the transcript opens with a short
routine to help the teacher get students’ ‘Well done on your work, everyone! I could see you
attention before starting to model the all tried your best, which is great! You all spoke
activity. Students are sitting in a circle to really clearly and explained your pictures using
help them focus and keep their attention. the right words. Next time, try to do more to show
you’re listening to your partner. We’re going to
Question 2 learn about this in our next lesson!’
A The teacher’s instructions are unnecessarily
complex, using some language which may C The explanation of the word by the teacher
be difficult for all children in the class to is unnecessarily complex – using higher level
understand. The instructions are poorly words than the word being explained! The
organised and lack coherent sequencing. teacher could simply say: ‘We use it for cutting’,
Finally, the teacher does not demonstrate and use mime or gestures to model using a
the activity and does not check students knife. If the teacher has predicted this as a
know what to do appropriately. Note that new word in the lesson when planning, they
the question ‘Do you understand?’ is not could show a flashcard, realia, or an image
a reliable way to find out if children know on the screen or, if not predicted, draw a
what to do – they may say or think they simple picture on the board. The teacher
understand, but haven’t, or they may just say can then drill the word and have children
yes, even if they don’t! mime cutting with a knife as they say the
word. The teacher may ask concept check
Suggested improved instructions: questions, especially to check they haven’t
Teacher: Look at the word puzzle. (Shows the misunderstood the word to mean ‘cut’. Note
worksheet on the screen). Some fruit that giving the initial letter of the word is
words are hiding in the puzzle. Who can also very confusing, not only because the
find a fruit word? ‘k’ is silent, but also due to the age of the
Student: Here! Orange. children, who are likely beginning literacy
Teacher:  Yes! Well done, that’s right. (…) OK, so skills development.
please work with your partner. Find ten
fruit words in the puzzle. (…) Who can D The feedback given by this teacher is
tell me: How many words will you find? confusing and inaccurate. This activity is
Students: 10! probably a controlled practice activity, such
Teacher: Yes. And what kind of words? as a drill, which has an accuracy focus.
Students: Fruit! The teacher should, therefore, correct the
children’s language clearly and overtly.
The teacher may use different techniques

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to do this, such as recast, reformulation, Teacher: 

Great, well done! She’s reading a book.
echo correction, elicitation and should have (…) Ok, now the next one. Yan? What’s
the learner repeat the correct sentence. he doing?
For example: (Teacher shows a flashcard of a boy
riding a bike)
Teacher: Yes, Mingze? (shows a flashcard of a Yan: He read a bike.
girl reading a book) Teacher: 
Read? Is he reading? (mimes reading)
Mingze: She… er… reading book. Or riding? (mimes riding)
Teacher: She mmm reading… Yan: Riding. He riding a bike.
Mingze: She is reading book? Teacher: OK. He’s riding a bike. Yan?
Teacher: Good. She’s reading a book. (…) Say it Yan: He’s riding a bike.
again, Mingze? Teacher: That’s right. Well done, Yan.
Mingze: She’s reading a book.

UNIT 9
Extract 1

1. Activity 2. Practice 3. Category* 4. Demands** 5. Support

type
Activity 1 Gap-fill (letter Vocabulary Controlled Cognitive: Letter prompts;
on p. 26 fill) activity (receptive and interpreting Picture prompts
productive); pictures;
Spelling. consider order
of letters in
words.
Involvement:
there are 9
words to write,
which is quite a
high number.
Physical: Fine
motor skills
(drawing lines).
Activity 2 Short answer Reading; Controlled Cognitive: Uses Picture prompts
on p. 26 question Writing words from to choose from
(copying); Activity 1.
Vocabulary Language: Need
(receptive) to read and
understand
clues
(descriptions).
Activity 3 Gap-fill Reading; Controlled Cognitive: Need Options in a
on p. 26 (choose from Vocabulary to understand box;
options in a (inducing context from Picture to
box) set phrases/ dialogue and provide context
chunks, word picture. for dialogue;
class); Language: Need Surrounding
Writing to read dialogue words and
(copying) carefully. context of
the text

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1. Activity 2. Practice 3. Category* 4. Demands** 5. Support

type
Activity 1 Gap-fill Reading; Controlled Cognitive: Need Pictures for
on p. 27 (choose Writing to understand context;
from limited (copying); context from Surrounding
number of Grammar text and words in the
options) (past simple picture. text
of the verb to Language: Need
be, positive to read text
and negative; carefully.
Recognition
of singular/
plural)
Activity 2 Sentence Writing at Less controlled Cognitive: Need Picture input;
on p. 27 completion sentence level; / freer to understand Decreasing
Vocabulary context from sentence stems
(town words, pictures, (note that
prepositions of including the this support
place); concept of is gradually
Grammar (use changes in time removed)
of to be in past to the one place
simple) shown and, the
need for past
simple to talk
about the left-
hand picture.

*If we look at the activities, we can see that all the activities on p. 26 and activity 1 on p. 27 are
tightly controlled. There is only one possible answer and there is no freedom for the learner to be
creative with language. It would be difficult, therefore, to say which is more or less controlled.
Activity 2 on p. 27, however, is freer because the learners can choose what to focus on in the picture
and, therefore, what to write. However, this also limits the possibilities for the focus of their answers.
The sentence stems also limit learners somewhat, but this is in order to elicit the past form of to be,
which is the objective of the practice activity. Note that in later sentences, learners could be more
creative, e.g. sentence 3, the learner could use a different verb such as A long time ago, people fished
in the river; for sentence 6, the learner could write about ‘now’, if they wanted: Now, there is a big
supermarket carpark. As such, this could be classed as ‘less controlled’ or ‘freer’.

** Note there is no use of metalanguage to talk about grammar (e.g. past simple) in this extract.

As this extract comes from a workbook, these are all activities which are settlers and involve
children in individual work.

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Extract 2 • Learners practise mostly Speaking and

• This is a very controlled practice activity. Listening in this activity.
False: There is considerable freedom given False: Learners will practise some Speaking
to learners in terms of content and language. and Listening as they talk to each other and
They are limited to a food topic, something to the teacher when working on the activity,
they don’t know well, but choose and but the main objective of this activity is for
research using specific web-based sources Reading (from web-based material and each
(note that we should always consider other’s posters) and Writing (on the poster).
directing young learners to specific sources The teacher could encourage the learners
for research-based tasks, to encourage safe to draft and check their text before writing
internet usage). it on the poster, which will allow a process
The sentence frame is provided in the writing focus.
teacher’s notes, but it is up to the teacher • Learners could work collaboratively in a
whether to restrict the learners to this group in this activity.
language (see below). True: This is an ideal activity for pair or
• This activity practises past simple for group. Learners could be given or could
describing condition, state and habits. choose roles to play in the group (or pair),
False: It practises present simple. such as researcher, scribe (writer), designer,
• The teacher could support learners by manager, artist, and so on. This will
providing a sentence frame such as in the encourage all learners to participate.
third point shown. This would make the
activity more controlled. UNIT 10
True: As mentioned above, a frame is 1 C
provided and the teacher can choose whether 2 A
to give learners all or some of this frame to 3 B
work from as a support. This could be done 4 D
using a model poster that the teacher creates
before the lesson.

UNIT 11

Following a sequence of lessons [1: this suggests we are looking at achievement] focusing on the
topic ‘in the town’, the teacher sets up a role-play activity, giving clear, supported instructions and
modelling language carefully.

Children work in pairs to conduct the role play [1: the focus is on the speaking skill], using a
language frame [1: the focus is also on language use].

The teacher walks around the classroom, listening and watching different pairs as they do the
role play, assessing their use of the language previously taught and their speaking skills
[1: the focus is on skills and language], as well as their ability to work effectively with each other in
a pair. The teacher makes notes on areas children struggled with as well as what they did
well [4: this is a diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses].

When the children have finished the activity, the teacher asks them to think of two things
they did well and one thing they could have done better [2, 3: here children self-assess using
a learning strategy]. Some children share their feedback with the class, and the teacher asks
if they enjoyed the role-play activity [5: the teacher asks about likes and dislikes]. The teacher
notices how these compare to their own notes.

Then, the teacher gives feedback to the class, highlighting strengths as well as weaknesses, and
explaining what they will do to work on these in the next lesson [6: this moves the learning forwards].

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UNIT 12
Assessed activity 1
Speaking skills Yes. Learners should tell their friends where their home is in the town; they
also should ask to confirm the grid location. The teacher can also assess
pronunciation.
Listening skills Yes. Learners should listen to each other in order to complete their maps.
Reading skills No. There is no reading required. To assess reading, the teacher could ask
learners to prepare a short, written description of the location of their home,
which they share with their group to read and follow.
Writing skills No. There is no writing required. To assess writing, the teacher could ask
learners to prepare a short, written description of the location of their home,
which they share with their group to read and follow.
Use of target Yes. The target language is likely to be prepositions of place, places in the
language town, question and answer forms. Learners need to use this accurately to
(grammar; achieve the task.
vocabulary)
Understanding Yes. Learners need to understand the language mentioned above in order to
of target locate their friends’ homes.
language
Communication Yes. Learners may need to use strategies such as asking for clarification,
strategies repetition, thanking and so on.
Learning No. There are not really any learning strategies needed in this activity.
strategies
Cognitive Yes. Map skills involve several cognitive processes, including the grid system
strategies and other spatial skills.
Affective non- Yes. Learners need to co-operate and collaborate to work as a group; they all
language skills need to participate actively in order to complete the activity.
Life skills Yes. Some life skills are already mentioned. In addition, the activity could
be done using online maps to help assess digital skills. There may be some
subject knowledge required (e.g. local geography).

Assessed activity 2
Speaking skills Yes. Learners’ speaking skills are assessed when they use the target
language. The teacher can also assess pronunciation.
Listening skills Yes. The teacher can assess learners’ understanding of the instructions.
Reading skills No. There is no reading in this activity. The teacher could use word cards
instead of items if they wanted to assess reading.
Writing skills No. There is no writing in this activity. The teacher could ask learners to
write labels for their food items to help assess writing at word level.

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Use of target Yes. The target language is the structures (I’ve got a..; I like…; It’s a…) and the
language vocabulary for the food items and categories.
(grammar;
vocabulary)
Understanding No. There are no receptive skills needed relating to the target language.
of target
language
Communication No. There is no communication in this activity, although learners may need
strategies to use some communication strategies if they don’t understand what to do,
or need help.
Learning No. There are no learning strategies needed in this activity.
strategies
Cognitive Yes. Learners need to categorise the food item.
strategies
Affective non- Yes. The teacher can assess learners’ behaviour, their motivation and other
language skills affective non-language skills. This can be easy to do when they are sitting in
a circle because they are visible.
Life skills No. There are not really any life skills involved in this activity.

UNIT 13
1 This feedback is positive and the learner may feel good as a result, but it doesn’t tell the learner
what was so good in their work. There is no comment on what to improve next time.
2 As with comment 1, this feedback has no detail. The learner doesn’t know what they haven’t
done well at – perhaps they did try hard but were unable to succeed. They don’t know. It is
important to always find something positive to include in feedback.
3 There is positive feedback here and some detail, although it is limited. There is no comment on
what to improve next time.
4 This feedback is forward-looking and includes a little detail, but does not include anything
positive. It could be more specific – spelling of what?
5 This feedback is formative and helpful in that it suggests ways to improve the writing. There is no
positive feedback here.
6 This feedback is detailed and formative. It is a good example of effective feedback.
7 This feedback is not helpful. The learner knows they did not do well at all, but has no idea what
they did poorly for 66% of their work, or well for 34% of it! They don’t know what or how to
improve next time.
8 This feedback helps learners think critically and helps learners improve on their writing. There is
no positive comment, however.
9 Teachers often use sets of stamps for giving their feedback or for peer feedback. This stamp shows
the learner’s work is adequate, but the learner does not know what was OK or how they can
improve, to get the smiling stamp next time. A comment is needed alongside the stamp.
10 This feedback is presented as a sandwich, but it lacks detail. The teacher needs to explain how
the learner’s work has improved and what he is trying hard at in particular. The ‘meat’ in the
sandwich is precise as it says where there is a problem with the learner’s grammar, but the learner
doesn’t know exactly what the problem is or how they can improve it. Adding this detail might
make the feedback more like a burger than a sandwich.

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ANSWER KEY FOR TKT: YL PRACTICE TASKS

1 1 C 2 E 3 A 4 F 5 G 6 D
2 1 A 2 C 3 B 4 B 5 A 6 C

3 1 A 2 C 3 B 4 C 5 B 6 A
4 1 A 2 B 3 A 4 C 5 A 6 C
5 1 F 2 C 3 B 4 D 5 E 6 A

6 1 B 2 A 3 A 4 B 5 C 6 A
7 1 B 2 C 3 E 4 D 5 A 6 F

8 1 H 2 C 3 D 4 G 5 A 6 F
9 1 B 2 B 3 A 4 C 5 B 6 C
10 1 B 2 C 3 A 4 A 5 B 6 B

11 1 C 2 B 3 C 4 A 5 A 6 C
12 1 A 2 B 3 A 4 C 5 E 6 D
13 1 B 2 A 3 C 4 A 5 C 6 C

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 List of terms found in the TKT Glossary

Term/Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Accuracy ü ü
Achievement ü ü
Aim ü
Approach ü
Art and craft activity ü ü
Assessment ü ü ü
Attention span ü ü
Attitude ü ü ü ü
Authentic (materials) ü ü
Brainstorm ü ü ü
Can-do statement ü ü ü ü ü
Chant ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Choral (drill) ü ü
Chunk ü ü ü
Classroom-based assessment ü ü
Classroom management ü ü ü ü ü
CLIL (Content and Language
ü
Integrated Learning)
Closed question ü ü ü ü
Collaborative/collaborate ü ü ü ü ü ü
Colloquial ü
Communicative (activity) ü ü ü
Concept check questions
ü
(CCQ)
Context ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Controlled (practice) ü ü
Correction code ü

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 List of terms found in the TKT Glossary

Term/Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Coursebook ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Curriculum ü ü ü ü
Deduce ü
Dialogue ü ü
Dictation ü
Differentiate ü ü ü
Discriminate (sounds)
Drill ü ü
Elicit ü ü ü
Extension activity ü ü
Facial expression ü ü ü
Feedback ü ü ü ü ü ü
Finger correction
First language (L1) ü ü ü
Fixed expression ü
Flashcard ü ü ü ü ü ü
Fluency ü ü ü
Focus on form (FoF) ü
Focus on meaning (FoM) ü
Formal assessment ü
Formality ü ü
Formative (assessment) ü ü ü
Free practice ü ü
Function/functional language ü ü
Gap-fill ü ü
Gesture ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Goal ü ü ü ü ü ü
Grade (language) ü ü
Graded reader ü ü ü ü ü ü

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Term/Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Handout ü ü
Higher Order Thinking Skills
ü ü
(HOTS)
Informal assessment ü
Information gap ü
Input ü ü ü
Interaction pattern ü ü ü ü
Interactive whiteboard (IWB) ü ü ü ü
Intonation ü ü
Jigsaw (activity) ü ü
L1 (First language) ü ü ü ü
Language frame ü ü ü
Learning strategy ü ü
Lesson plan ü ü ü
Learning preference(s) ü ü
Lexical set ü
Literacy ü ü ü ü
Model (v/n) ü ü ü ü ü
Monitor ü ü ü ü ü
Motivation ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Mixed level/ability ü ü
Nominate ü ü
Objective ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Observe ü ü ü ü ü
Open pairs ü
Open questions ü ü
Outcome ü ü ü ü
Pairs ü ü ü ü ü ü
Peer assessment ü ü ü

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 List of terms found in the TKT Glossary

Term/Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Peer correction ü
Peer feedback ü ü
Personalisation ü ü
Picture dictation ü
Plenary ü ü
Portfolio (assessment) ü
Practice (activity) ü ü
Pre-teach ü ü ü ü
Predict ü ü ü
Problem-solving ü ü ü
Procedure ü
Productive ü ü ü ü
Proficiency ü
Project ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Prop ü ü ü
Realia ü ü ü ü
Recast ü
Receptive ü ü ü
Reference resources ü
Reformulation ü
Resources ü ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Rhyme ü ü
Role-play ü ü ü ü
Routine ü ü ü ü
Rubrics ü
Scaffolding ü
Scan ü ü ü
Self-assessment ü ü ü ü
Self-correction ü ü

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 List of terms found in the TKT Glossary

Term/Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Settler ü ü ü
Stage ü
Stirrer ü ü ü
Student talking time (STT) ü
Subskill ü ü
Summative (assessment) ü
Supplement ü ü ü
Supplementary materials/
ü ü
resources
Syllabus ü ü ü ü ü
Syllabus fit ü
Target language ü ü ü ü
Teacher talking time (TTT) ü
TPR (Total Physical Response) ü ü ü ü ü
Transcript ü
Visualisation ü ü
Wait time ü ü ü
Whole class ü ü ü ü ü ü ü
Word bank ü ü
Worksheet ü ü ü ü

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 Glossary of TKT: Young Learners terms

Term Definition Unit(s)

Action song A song which has actions to accompany it, for example a song 1
about daily routine, where learners listen to and/or sing the song
and mime the different routine activities as they hear them, such
as get up; brush your teeth, etc.
At-home task An activity or task the learner is asked to do outside of 1, 2, 5, 6,
the classroom. Often this is done at home; sometimes call 8, 12
‘homework’. The task should review, consolidate or extend
learning, or it might be in preparation for a lesson.
Big book A very large sized storybook or picturebook, which is large 6
enough for the teacher to hold, facing towards the learners, as (s)
he reads the book with them.
Circle time A phase of the lesson where learners sit in a circle, often on a 1, 10
carpet on the floor. This allows whole-class activities and games,
allows teacher and learners to have a good view of everyone in
the class. It also helps learners feel a sense of belonging to a
group (the class).
Cross-curricular A theme, topic, focus or skill which is relevant to, taught in or 7
important for more than one school subject, that is it spans
different elements of the curriculum.
Developmental Adjective: related to the cognitive, physical, social, emotional, 1, 3
linguistic, etc. development of the child
Display board An area on a classroom, corridor or another wall in the school 7
where learners’ work, posters and so on can be placed for
display. It may be an area of a notice board in or outside of the
classroom.
Drama In this kind of physical activity, learners mime, perform or 4, 7, 9
activities pretend. They take on a role of another person, character or
animal. It involves a script, which may be provided, improvised
or learner-written. It is often to an audience, but may not always
be so.
Exit ticket A strategy to informally assess learning in a lesson where a 5, 7
learner completes a mini review task or answers a question
at the end of the lesson before they leave. It may be an
open question or vary between learners, depending on their
learning needs.
Extra-curricular Learning or an activity which is not part of the curriculum. It is 1
often optional (for parents or children).

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 Glossary of TKT: Young Learners terms

Term Definition Unit(s)

Fast finisher A learner who completes an activity or task more quickly than 8, 13
others. It is important to consider these learners when we plan
so that we can prepare an activity for them which will extend or
enrich their learning and prevent them from disturbing others in
the class.
Fine motor Bodily movement skills which use the small muscles, usually 1
skills in the hands or feet. For example, cutting and using scissors,
holding a pencil, wiggling your toes.
Free play Play which is completely directed by the child(ren). The children 8, 9
are free to play how they want, with whoever and whatever they
like. There is no adult direction or instruction.
Gallery walk An activity which follows the display of learners’ work, for 1
example on the classroom noticeboard. Learners walk around
freely and look at each other’s work. They will ask questions and
make comments on it between themselves and with the teacher.
Game/game- Games (and game-like activities) are activities which have a clear 1, 9
like activities purpose, structure, roles and often formulaic scripts. They are
usually fun and language learning games often draw on those
from other areas of children’s lives. See Mourão with Ellis, 2020,
Chapter 4 for more on this.
Kim’s Game An activity often used to help learn vocabulary. The teacher 7
shows various items (or pictures) on the IWB, projector or on
a table or tray. Learners close their eyes and the teacher takes
away one item. Learners try to remember what was there to say
what the teacher took away (and repeat). This cognitive strategy
supports memory and attention skills.
KWL (Know- In this model, before a topic, lesson or classroom activity, 2, 12
Want to know- children brainstorm what they already Know (content and/or
Learned); KWL language). Then they express what they Want to know, that is
chart they set learning objectives, also in relation to content and/or
language. Once the topic, lesson or activity is over, they return to
their objectives, reflect and say what they feel they Learned.
A KWL chart is a worksheet where learners record their
responses at each stage.
Language of The language which is used in the school and in the regular 1
instruction classroom. It may be the children’s L1 or it may be another
language. Sometimes it is English, in a non-English-speaking
context; also known as EMI (English Medium Instruction)

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 Glossary of TKT: Young Learners terms

Term Definition Unit(s)

Motor skills Bodily skills of physical movement. 1, 9
Multisensory Resources which stimulate more than one sense at once: sight, 7
resources hearing, touch, smell, taste. Such resources support different
learning preferences and enrich learning.
Numeracy The skills of understanding and working with numbers. 11
Parentese The modified language that a parent or caregiver uses when they 8
speak to a baby or young child. Among other features, it tends
to use repeated, very simple language, is slower, more deliberate,
often higher pitched and can sometimes use ‘baby talk’. Also
known as ‘motherese’.
Pelmanism A game played with a set of flashcards which have multiple 9
pairs of cards (two the same, a word and a matching picture,
associated words, etc.). All the cards are mixed together and
laid out face-down. Learners take turns to turn over two cards
and try to find pairs. Various rules can be applied to make this
a language-oriented game. It is often used for vocabulary and
reading practice, and is a cognitive strategy.
Picturebook / Books which use a combination of pictures and words to tell a 1, 6, 7
Storybook story. These are often designed for very young children, but can
also be found in language teaching to children, especially under
8 or 9 years old. A book which tells a story, with more emphasis
on the words than the pictures, usually for older children, is
a storybook.
Playground An area in a school where children play. It is often outside and 4, 7
may be equipped with slides, climbing frames and so on.
Primary Primary school is often the beginning of compulsory education 1
in many contexts. It is the level of schooling for children aged
5 or 6 to 10 or 11 years old. It is sometimes referred to as Basic
Education or Elementary School.
Print-rich An environment which is rich in examples of written language. 7, 10
This may be posters, labels, signs, word cards, word walls,
newspaper cuttings and so on. This exposure to written language
sensitises learners to written English and supports motivation
for learning to read.
Puppet A toy character which can be animated, usually with the hand. 7
Often an animal or person, which can be animated by the
teacher or learners so it has a character, it speaks and moves, as
it interacts with learners.

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 Glossary of TKT: Young Learners terms

Term Definition Unit(s)

Puzzle An activity where learners put pieces together to make a whole. 1
It may be a picture, or it could be words. It could also be a
problem-solving activity, such as a mystery to solve where
learners put pieces of information together to solve the puzzle.
School Official representatives of an education ministry or governing 5
inspectors body who conduct regular visits to schools to monitor and
evaluate teaching, learning and other factors to assure quality.
Secondary Secondary school is the next stage of education after Primary or 1
Elementary school. Children may begin around 10 to 12 years old.
It is sometimes split between lower and upper, or middle/junior
and high school.
Storybook See picturebook. 8
(School) subject Subjects learned in a school context, such as maths, science, 1, 2
languages, geography and so on. These may be taught by a
subject teacher, who teaches just that subject, or by a class or
generalist teacher, who teaches all the subjects to one class,
often integrated in the daily school timetable.
Think-Pair- In this strategy, the teacher asks learners to think about 3, 10
Share and sometimes to note their answer to a question or a task
individually first. Then they have time to share their answers or
ideas with a partner. Finally, the teacher nominates or learners
volunteer to share their answers with the class or group. This gives
learners time to reflect before answering, supports peer learning
and helps them build confidence to contribute to the class.
Transition The moments of a lesson between activities, where one finishes 1
and another starts. Learners may need to stop what they are
doing and/or organise their materials and resources, and/or
move to another area of the classroom or seating arrangement.
Webquest A learning task where learners use the internet to answer a series 9
of questions, mini-tasks or clues, which takes them on a virtual
journey around different websites to complete an overall task
(the quest).
Whole child This approach to teaching and learning emphasises the 7, 9
(development/ importance of focusing on multiple areas of development.
approach) As such, when teaching English, we should also consider how
we are helping children develop cognitively, metacognitively,
physically, emotionally and so on. We may focus on social skills,
learning strategies and content areas (e.g. CLIL) as well as English
to support development of the whole child.

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 Test tips for TKT: Young Learners
The TKT: YL Module test has 80 questions and lasts for 80 minutes. The questions are
all closed, single-answer questions, which are recorded on an answer sheet (see the
sample on page 184). They are a combination of multiple choice, matching, ordering
and identifying the odd one out.
Preparing for the test.
To help prepare for the test, you are strongly recommended to:
ü work through the units in this book, including reading the unit content and doing
the pre-reading, follow-up and discovery tasks, which will introduce you to key
terminology, deepen your understanding of key concepts and help you connect
your learning to teaching practice.
ü Review the list of TKT: YL terms used in this book and in the TKT Glossary online.
Make sure that you understand these terms: reflect on the concepts behind them
and their application to teaching and learning.
ü Do timed TKT: YL practice tests. You will find sample questions at the end of each
unit in this book as well as a complete sample test. You will also find a complete
sample TKT: YL test on the Cambridge Assessment website.
ü Review your answers to sample test material and reflect on any mistakes you made.
Review the relevant unit(s) in this book as necessary.
During the test.
ü Open your question booklet when you are told to do so and briefly look through
the whole paper to get an idea of its content.
ü Work through the test questions in order. Mark your answer directly on the answer sheet
as you do this or you could note them on the booklet to transfer later to the answer sheet.
If you do this, you will need to have plenty of time to do this carefully and accurately.
ü Remember to use a pencil, not a pen. If you rub out any answers to change them, make
sure you do this carefully so there are no pencil marks on the incorrect answer spaces.
ü Always read the instructions for the questions carefully before attempting to
answer them. Make sure you understand what is being presented (e.g. teachers’ or
learners’ comments, or a lesson plan extract) and what you are being asked to do.
ü Take care with odd-one-out questions, which ask about what is NOT true or correct.
ü Take care with matching questions as some may have more options to match than
questions, so some will not be used.
ü Don’t spend too long on one question. If you are unsure of an answer, you could
put the answer you think is correct on the answer sheet, and circle the question on
your question booklet. Then you can return to it later, if you have time, when you
have completed the 80 questions.
ü Avoid second-guessing the answer key (e.g. if I’ve used answers A and B already,
then it must be C). This is not a useful strategy and could take up a lot of your time
and mental energy.
ü Give yourself at least five minutes to carefully transfer your answers, as needed, and
check them carefully. The invigilator will let you know when you have ten minutes left.
ü Try to relax. If you feel nervous or stressed, pause, close your eyes and take a deep
breath to help you refocus. Do the best you can, but you don’t need to aim for perfection!

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST
YOUNG LEARNERS
Practice Test
1 hour 20 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Do not open this question paper until you are told to do so.
Write your name, centre number and candidate number on your answer
sheet if they are not already there.
Read the instructions for each part of the paper carefully.
Answer all the questions.
Read the instructions on the answer sheet.
Mark your answers on the answer sheet. Use a pencil.
You must complete the answer sheet within the time limit.
At the end of the test, hand in both this question paper and your answer sheet.

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

There are 80 questions in this paper.
Each question carries one mark.

PV1
© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2023

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 1–7, match the strategies teachers aim to develop with the instructions listed
A–C. Mark the correct letter (A–C) on your answer sheet.

Teachers’ instructions

A only instruction X

B only instruction Y

C both instructions X and Y

Strategies teachers aim to develop

1 The teacher wants the children to categorise lexis.
Instruction X: Look at the words on the cards and put them into piles of animal
words, clothes words and people words.
Instruction Y: I’m going to say some words. Put your hand up each time you know
a word I say.
2 The teacher wants the children to develop predicting skills.
Instruction X: Tell me six things that you know you are going to do tomorrow.
Instruction Y: I’m going to tell you a story called The Princess and the Frog. What
do you think the story will be about?
3 The teacher wants the children to learn how to scan a text.
Instruction X: Underline all the names of people in this little story.
Instruction Y: Draw a picture which shows the main thing that happens in the story.
4 The teacher wants the children to develop fluency by doing a ranking exercise.
Instruction X: With a partner, number these seven birthday presents. Number 1 is
the present you would most like most; number 2 the second most
and so on.
Instruction Y: Please put yourselves in a line, with the smallest person at the front
and the tallest at the back.
5 The teacher wants to see how good the children are at deducing the meaning of
vocabulary from context.
Instruction X: Look at the text. Highlight all the uses of he, she and it.
Instruction Y: Look at these sentences from the text with words underlined. Can
you give a definition of the words?

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

6 The teacher wants the children to work on sequencing when telling a story.
Instruction X: On each piece of paper you have one sentence from a fairy tale. Put
them together to make the story.
Instruction Y: These pictures show some children having an adventure. Can you
use them to tell a story?
7 The teacher wants to improve the children’s confidence in risk-taking.
Instruction X: Tell me about yourself and your family. If you make a mistake, just
carry on.
The important thing is to practice speaking.
Instruction Y: These pictures show some children having an adventure. Can you
use them to tell a story?

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 8–13, look at the statements about supporting children’s characteristics
as language learners and choose the option (A, B or C) which does NOT complete each
statement.
Mark the letter (A, B or C) which does NOT complete each statement correctly on your
answer sheet.

8 Praising good behaviour and commenting on good work establishes positive

relationships with children, so I
A encourage children to think carefully before doing a difficult task.
B give stars to pairs and groups who work well together.
C use words like great, well done and good work all the time.

9 Using language chunks is an important part of language learning for children, so I

A use jazz chants to build children’s confidence with language.
B use substitution tables to practise target language.
C use word cards to raise awareness of individual lexical items.

10 Some children have a limited attention span, so I

A vary interaction patterns and task types.
B include both stir and settle activities in my lessons.
C provide regular opportunities for extensive listening.

11 Developing literacy is a key part of children’s learning, so I

A ask the class to tell their personal stories after the weekend or holidays.
B use storybook reading as a whole class activity or for individual fast finishers.
C often ask children to write letters, words or sentences on the board.

12 The children I teach may be at different stages of cognitive development, so I

A plan tasks which involve both concrete and abstract thinking.
B provide extra challenge for children who need it.
C concentrate on tasks which involve children doing practical activities with
real objects.

13 Children respond positively to familiar routines in the classroom, so I

A start by taking the register and finish by reviewing lesson language.
B use different seating plans during the term.
C set clear rules of classroom behaviour.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 14–20, match the extracts from a lesson plan in which children draw and
write about pictures of monsters with the lesson plan headings listed A–H.
Mark the correct letter (A–H) on your answer sheet.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Lesson plan headings

A Assessment of learning

B Interaction patterns

C Personal teaching aim

D Follow-up suggestions

E Learning outcomes

F Resources

G Differentiation

H Previous learning

Extracts from a lesson plan

14 Whole class; group; pairs; individual
15 Children know colours, body parts and has/have got.
16 Pictures of three different monsters, colouring pens and pencils, worksheets 1 and 2,
plain paper
17 Give children a questionnaire to complete with smiley faces for their learning diaries.
18 Production of a picture of a monster with short descriptive text
19 Remember not to interrupt children when they are speaking.
20 Invite another class to read or hear the descriptions and try to identify the
appropriate monster.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 21–26, match the problems teachers have with using films in class with
possible solutions for providing support listed A–G.
Mark the correct letter (A–G) on your answer sheet.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Teachers’ problems Possible solutions for providing support

21 Some films have a lot of different A Work in pairs or small groups.
characters in them.
B Stop the film and ask children to
22 Some children complain that they’ve predict the next scene.
seen a film before and I don’t want
C Establish clear behaviour rules before
them to be bored.
watching a film.
23 There is no opportunity for speaking
D Show the film in parts over a series
practice while watching the film.
of lessons.
24 Children are often unable to sit still for
E Give children a handout with pictures
very long.
and names.
25 Some films contain a number of words
F Provide challenge by using
that are beyond the children’s level.
worksheets which include extension
26 Some children are likely to speak and activities.
disturb others during the film.
G Prepare target vocabulary lists to
study before watching.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 27–34, look at the advice about preparing storybook-based material for
children and choose the option (A–C) which completes each statement.
Mark the correct letter (A–C) on your answer sheet.

27 Identify language and learning goals which correspond to the story by

A making reference to schemes of work and course syllabuses.
B checking results of peer and self-assessment tasks.
C asking the class what types of stories they like and dislike.

28 Choose a story and, wherever necessary, adapt difficult language by

A using L1 to narrate parts of the story.
B simplifying the verb tenses and descriptive vocabulary.
C describing only what children can see in the illustrations.

29 Decide what additional materials to prepare for the story such as

A sentence transformation tasks.
B ‘Can-do’ statements.
C domino games in which children sequence sentences.

30 Make the story relevant to the class by

A connecting the story to their own experience in some way.
B allowing them to read the story alone beforehand.
C selecting a story with a surprising ending.

31 Plan how to manage the classroom so everyone has a good view of the book and
teacher by
A arranging to use the school hall or other large area.
B asking the class to sit on the floor in a semi-circle in front of you.
C removing from the classroom walls visual aids which may attract
children’s attention.

32 Select storytelling techniques which best suit the story and target language such as
A using mime to focus on target language.
B asking children to take it in turns to read pages of the storybook aloud.
C asking children to proofread the story.

33 Prepare review ideas for the story by including

A displays of children’s work related to the story.
B continuous assessment tasks.
C games which focus on action words.

34 Assess the language and learning outcomes of story-based work by

A using a placement test.
B using a transcript.
C using a checklist.
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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 35–40, look at the scaffolding provided in different coursebook activities and
the three descriptions of this scaffolding (A–C).
Choose the description which matches the scaffolding used in the coursebook.
Mark the correct letter (A–C) on your answer sheet.

35 Use this example to help you talk about the picture.

The boy an ice-cream.

The girl a sandwich.
The baby is eating an apple.
The man an orange.
The woman a banana.

A providing a word bank

B providing a glossary
C providing a substitution table

36 Use this example to help you write your letter.

Dear __________
Are you free on __________ ?
I’m going to the __________ . Would you like to come __________ ?
Your friend,
__________

A providing a sentence starter

B providing a language frame
C providing a speech bubble

37 Help the farmer to count his animals!

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

A providing a clear purpose for an activity

B providing a language model
C providing a demonstration

38 Ask three friends about their favourite food.

Friend Favourite food

A using realia
B using a multisensory activity
C using personal experiences to relate to learning content

39 Use this example to talk about how our class gets to school.

A using a bar chart

B using a pie chart
C using a flow chart

40 Say the names of three things in this bedroom.

A encouraging children to predict

B encouraging children to record lexis
C encouraging children to use context

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 41–47, match what the teacher says with the scaffolding strategies
listed A–H.
Mark the correct letter (A–H) on your answer sheet.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Scaffolding strategies

A creating a familiar context for an activity

B supporting meaning with visual realia

C connecting meaning with physical activity

D providing a meaningful purpose for an activity

E demonstrating how to do an activity

F checking understanding of meaning through a concept question

G providing a language model for an activity

H using a chart to help children consolidate learning

What the teacher says

41 Now stand up and do what I say – but only if I say Simon says before my instructions.
Is that clear?
42 Watch while Jose and I play the card game. Then you can try it yourselves.
43 Some other classes are going to come and watch the short plays you have prepared.
So you must speak very clearly.
44 Write the animals with an /æ/ sound in their name in the first column, animals with an
/ɪ/ sound in the second column and animals with an /ɒ/ sound in the third column.
45 Use the example holiday postcard I’ve written on the board to help you write a card to
your English friend.
46 You like to watch television, don’t you? Your favourite programme has just begun
and your mum says you must go and do your homework at once. What do you say
to her?
47 If you are looking forward to seeing someone, do you want to see them or not?

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 48–54, match the teachers’ reasons for using different activities in the young
learner classroom with the practice activities listed A–H.
Mark the correct letter (A–H) on your answer sheet.
There is one extra option which you do not need to use.

Practice activities

A problem solving
B songs
C listen and do
D role-play
E brainstorming
F dictation
G surveys
H writing stories

Teachers’ reasons for using different activities

48 Children enjoy moving around, talking to each other to get information and having a
task to complete. Using these activities is a powerful way of developing questioning
skills. Other skills are also practised as the answers to questions have to be
recognised and recorded.
49 These activities energise children. If done orally in open class, they can be fast
moving and can give children language and ideas for following activities.
50 Children enjoy doing this type of activity – it allows them to use their natural ability to
mimic and encourages them to communicate about things that they might not talk
about usually.
51 These activities help children to learn language with ease. For example, chunks of
language and word and sentence stress are supported and made memorable.
52 Children love activities like these which get them moving. They don’t need to
understand everything – just the instructions. They give them the chance to acquire
the language.
53 These activities are enjoyable and allow children to share their feelings. Children
practise language in context and can support their work with pictures.
54 Children need to work through a number of steps to find the right answer in a task.
These activities can also support cognitive development.
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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 55–61, look at the statements about the uses of classroom practice activities
and choose the option (A, B or C) which does NOT complete each statement.
Mark the correct letter (A, B or C) which does NOT complete each statement correctly on
your answer sheet.

55 Stirring activities can be used to

A create a competitive atmosphere in the classroom.
B provide children with practice of language in pairs and groups.
C calm and quieten children after a game or an active task.

56 Chants can be used to focus on

A language chunks.
B creative writing.
C pronunciation.

57 Class surveys provide an opportunity for children to

A review on their own in the class.
B interview a partner in the class.
C mingle with others in the class.

58 Brainstorming ideas provides an opportunity for children to

A revise language learnt previously.
B develop their ability to talk about their own experience.
C guess meaning from context.

59 Information-gap activities can be used to help children to

A focus on word boundaries.
B learn from social interaction.
C remember language and content.

60 Dictation activities can help children to focus on

A punctuation.
B spelling.
C linking.

61 Songs can be used with children to

A establish routines so that children feel comfortable.
B develop awareness of layout.
C develop children’s ability to listen for gist and detail.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 62–67, match the problems teachers have identified from observing classes
with the classroom management solutions listed A–G.
Mark the correct letter (A–G) on your answer sheet. There is one extra option which you do
not need to use.

Classroom management solutions

A Have your own supply which you collect again at the

end of the lesson.
B Introduce children to a puppet who does not know
the children’s L1.
C Ask children to repeat your instructions in L1.
D Speak together in L1 after the class if you think this
is necessary.
E Use more settlers in your lesson.
F Use pictures and oral drills to clarify.
G Use short activities and vary interaction patterns.

Problems identified during classroom observation

62 Children are not sure how to say the time in English.
63 Some children often forget to bring pencils or pens to lessons.
64 Some children are very tired in the last lesson of the day.
65 A child seems very upset at the end of a lesson.
66 Children sometimes get overexcited if there are a lot of games in class.
67 Some children seem a little shy to speak English.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 68–73, match the classroom tasks with the main reasons for assessing
learning listed A, B and C.
Mark the correct letter (A, B or C) on your answer sheet.

Main reasons for assessing learning

A identifying achievement in learning vocabulary

B identifying strengths and weaknesses in organising learning

C identifying whether the children can narrate past events

Classroom tasks
68 Children work in groups to plan their end-of-term presentations and agree
responsibilities.
69 Children write about what they did on the trip to the local history museum last week.
70 Children look at a picture of a day on the beach and read a text. They have to circle
things they can see in the picture that the text mentions.
71 Children match the names of the ingredients of a cake they tasted yesterday with
their definitions.
72 Children decide and note down what their group project will be on and where they are
going to look for information they want to include.
73 Children work in pairs and tell each other three things that they did at the weekend.
They then report this back to the class.

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 TEACHING KNOWLEDGE TEST YOUNG LEARNERS

For questions 74–80, read the teachers’ comments about acting on assessment evidence.
Match Teacher Y’s comments with the appropriate classroom action listed A–D.
Mark the correct letter (A–D) on your answer sheet.

Classroom action following assessment

A provide written formative feedback

B select practice activities to review and clarify areas
of learning
C adjust areas of classroom management
D modify task types

Teachers’ comments
74 Teacher X: Lots of children in my class are unclear about word order.
Teacher Y: Why don’t you prepare a class survey to focus on question forms?
75 Teacher X: I’m finding it very difficult to get the class to finish tasks. The children
want to go on forever!
Teacher Y: H
 ave you tried setting a time limit for the task and then counting down
towards the end?
76 Teacher X: That listening exercise didn’t work. It was much too complicated for children
to listen, read the class timetable and fill in the gaps at the same time.
Teacher Y: I’ve had the same problem. Reducing the number of gaps seems to help.
77 Teacher X: The children’s work isn’t improving as quickly as I’d hoped.
Teacher Y: I usually give a grade or mark on homework with a suggestion of one
thing to work on such as spelling or organisation for next time.
78 Teacher X: I noticed that some children found it very hard to assess their partner’s
work for the peer-assessment task.
Teacher Y: W
 ell, next time why don’t you give a demonstration before the task, or ask
some volunteers to give their assessments as examples?
79 Teacher X: The children seemed to really enjoy speaking to me individually in the oral test
but they were sometimes distracted by the behaviour of their classmates.
Teacher Y: W
 hat about arranging the interview so the child has their back to the
class, so that you can still monitor what’s going on?
80 Teacher X: The vocabulary and spelling was good in the story-writing task but they
need to work on continuity and joining sentences together.
Teacher Y: You could try using a sentence dominoes game.

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 Sample test answer sheet for TKT: Answer
sheet
YL practice test
28694
OFFICE USE ONLY - DO NOT WRITE OR MAKE ANY MARK ABOVE THIS LINE Page 1 of 2

Candidate Candidate
Name Number

Centre Centre
Name Number

Examination Examination
Title Details

Candidate Assessment
Signature Date

Supervisor: If the candidate is ABSENT or has WITHDRAWN shade here

Teaching Knowledge Test Candidate Answer Sheet
Instructions
Use a PENCIL (B or HB).
Rub out any answer you want to change with an eraser.

For Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5:

Mark ONE letter for each answer.
For example: If you think A is the right answer to
the question, mark your answer sheet like this:

A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
1 13
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
2 14
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
3 15
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
4 16
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
5 17
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
6 18
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
7 19
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
8 20
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
9 21
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
10 22
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
11 23
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
12 24

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 Sample test answer sheet for TKT: YL practice test

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A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
25 53
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
26 54
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
27 55
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
28 56
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
29 57
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
30 58
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
31 59
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
32 60
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
33 61
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
34 62
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
35 63
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
36 64
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
37 65
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
38 66
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
39 67
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
40 68
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
41 69
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
42 70
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
43 71
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
44 72
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
45 73
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
46 74
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
47 75
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
48 76
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
49 77
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
50 78
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
51 79
A B C D E F G H I A B C D E F G H I
52 80

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