Introducing English in pre-primary education: The EAN Project

Title: “Nothing happens until something moves”: Presenting the EAN Project

This is a presentation of the EAN project, a journey that started in September 2021 when EFL was introduced in all Greek pre-primary schools. The main and most innovative features of the EAN project will be presented and ways of systematically supporting and supervising the project will be discussed. More specifically, the presentation will focus on various outputs of the project but also the training of EFL and pre-primary teachers, as well as that of the Education Coordinators, which was realised through a MOOC course. Preliminary results stemming from the evaluation of the training together with the results regarding the tracking of progress of the new pedagogical framework will be analysed. Finally, the presentation provides an overview of the scheme in place to monitor the use of educational scenarios that have been created.

Τίτλος: Η αξιοποίηση της κούκλας στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία: Πρακτικές εμψύχωσης και χρήσης στο πλαίσιο εφαρμογής του προγράμματος ΕΑΝ

Κούκλα ορίζεται κάθε παιχνίδι που αναπαριστά συνήθως μια ανθρώπινη φιγούρα, ένα πρόσωπο και προορίζεται κυρίως για τα παιδιά. Η κούκλα είναι η «σπίθα» που παρακινεί τους μαθητές στην ενεργή συμμετοχή τους, προσελκύει την προσοχή σε μεγαλύτερο βαθμό από ότι μπορεί ένας “απλός εκπαιδευτικός”, γιατί δημιουργεί μια ψευδαίσθηση ζωής μαγεύοντας τα παιδιά με το ζωντάνεμά της.

Η κούκλα αποτελεί ένα εκπαιδευτικό εργαλείο που επιτρέπει την ταυτόχρονη εκπαίδευση και ψυχαγωγία και διευκολύνει τη μάθηση των παιδιών. Τα θετικά αποτελέσματα από τη χρήση της κούκλας σε διάφορα εκπαιδευτικά περιβάλλοντα αναδεικνύονται μέσα από πολλές μελέτες στις οποίες διαπιστώνεται ότι η χρήση της κούκλας συμβάλλει θετικά τόσο στη γνωστική όσο και στη κοινωνικοσυναισθηματική ανάπτυξη των παιδιών. Επιπλέον, επισημαίνεται η θετική επίδραση της στη μάθηση της δεύτερης γλώσσας.

Στο εργαστήρι αυτό θα αναφερθούμε στις θεωρητικές αρχές που πλαισιώνουν τη χρήση της κούκλας και θα εστιάσουμε στη σημασία της εμψύχωσης ως διαμεσολαβητικής πράξης σε διαφορετικά μαθησιακά περιβάλλοντα. Η εισήγηση θα εμπλουτιστεί με βιωματικές πρακτικές εμψύχωσης της κούκλας στην καθημερινή εκπαιδευτική πρακτική δίνοντας έμφαση στη σύνδεση τους στο πλαίσιο εφαρμογής του προγράμματος του ΕΑΝ.

Title: Games as tools in promoting an effective learning environment in pre-primary CLIL classrooms

“Play is for the child, from the moment of birth, the natural way of learning and development… In a Pre-Primary Education curriculum, emphasis should be given to play, since this is the main medium for the holistic development of the child.” (Cyprus Pre-Primary Education Curriculum, 2020).

Games used in the classroom context promote the development of social skills and enhance the learning environment by increasing the interest and motivation of the children.

Making the important connection with the child's home and school environment, games are a stress free, relaxed, and fun way to learn. As games encourage students to interact and communicate, they create a meaningful context for language use.

They can respond to a variety of different learning styles / intelligences of pupils, they succeed in whole class participation, offering natural and effortless opportunities to repeat language without forcing the pupils to produce language but instead allowing them to participate through language.

Games may be used in all stages of learning, for the introduction of new topics, for repetition and practice of language concepts, for evaluation and consolidation.

The workshop aims to explore the idea of games as a successful technique to promote effective learning in Pre-Primary CLIL classrooms.

Participants will have the opportunity to look at an overview of the current theory on the importance of games in Pre-Primary education and become familiar with a variety of interactive games that are being used in Pre-Primary CLIL classrooms.

Title: Nursery rhymes in early English language learning: An underused resource

What do you know about nursery rhymes, early childhood education and language learning? They’re all connected, but how? In this hands-on workshop, I will look at a little bit of theory to support some very practical, hopefully, even inspiring ideas for how to bring nursery rhymes into your pre-primary English sessions. The workshop will be structured around six topics:

1. Why use rhymes?
2. Selecting and presenting rhymes
3. Experiencing rhymes
4. Rhyme sequences
5. Four stages for using rhymes
6. A tip and a warning

You will leave with an understanding of the importance of planning for nursery rhymes in your pre-primary English sessions and a range of practical ideas to help you feel confident to put your planning into action.

Title: We are going on a bear hunt Introducing English in kindergartens in a rural area

This paper aims at presenting two good practices in a rural kindergarten in Thessaly. The objectives of these practices were: encourage children to listen actively and understand the general meaning of stories, participate actively through play, learn repetitive chunks of everyday language and use it themselves in appropriate conditions, become aware of aspects of a different culture. The theoretical background is based on the characteristics of the children's age as well as the way they are learning.

In these two scenarios we will present how the combined use of stories, games and artistic creations as well as the cooperation with the main kindergarten teacher can have a positive effect in the way children become aware and learn the foreign language.

More specifically we would like to present two good practices: the use of the story “We're going for a bear hunt” and the use of Peppa Pig figures.

Both practices correlate with the general programme of the kindergarten as well as its philosophy that dictates learning by discovering and playing, learning the language while using it and learning interactively. Moreover it takes into account the differences of children who may not be ready to talk yet and respects each child’s individual rhythm. Both of them also address issues of multicultural learning (Alexiou & Kokla, 2019). In both scenarios the collaboration of both educators is necessary.

To design these two scenarios we took into account how stories and play can spur the imagination, keep children physically active, include repetitive chunks of language and help children learn without being explicitly taught.

The outcomes of these two practices are increased motivation, positive attitudes towards the foreign language and its culture as well as acquisition of lexical chunks and phrases.

Title: Better you will feel, if you eat a healthy meal

The specific co-teaching CLIL scenario on “healthy diet” is in tune with what pre-primary students are expected to be taught in English (L2) according to the thematic areas covered in their mother tongue (L1) through the pre-primary curriculum. It is inspired by the CLIL shower approach, so it is designed to last less time per session and be covered in 4 to 5 teaching hours. It has been tailored to aid the young learners’ needs and it has the flexibility to undergo changes, in order to offer quality learning to students with various intelligences and learning styles by enhancing them to familiarize naturally in a holistic learning approach with the L2. According to Tomlinson, “the goal of a differentiated classroom is maximum student growth and individual success”. Consequently, the scenario embraces individuals’ uniqueness and allows learners to be involved at their own pace in the process of L2 learning, through gradual, multistructured exposure at the safety of co-teaching. Learners can link what they have already heard with the newly received input. This way, what is kept in the learner’s working memory updates what is already stored in the long-term memory and new knowledge is easier to be learned, memorized and retrieved because strong connections are built between previous and new information. Brainstorming, chunks, TPR activities, storytelling, sequencing, tailored e-games for feedback, role taking, miming, vivid narration, crafting are some of the ways used in the specific scenario aiming not only to reinforce children’s natural curiosity for learning but also to regulate the limited attention span of children, as well as their natural spontaneity and distraction. Since learners do not learn in linear ways, the scenario’s main target is to help all students achieve the teaching goals as naturally as possible, always in harmony with the curriculum in their L1.

Title: A CLIL project on diversity based on the EAN project

In this workshop, we will present how a CLIL project was designed, implemented and assessed in our kindergarten class. This project is aligned with the EAN principles and includes some of the activities suggested in the EAN scenarios.

In kindergarten, young children are taught essential skills which prepare them for primary school but also values and attitudes which will form the basis of who they become and how they relate to others and the world around them. In this specific CLIL project, which lasted over a period of five weeks, the educators (kindergarten teachers and English teacher working together) focused on the theme of diversity so as to raise awareness and enhance values and healthy behaviours.

We will begin with a brief overview of how the kindergarten teachers incorporated this theme into the classroom and then we will explore the way in which this theme was addressed in the EFL kindergarten setting, while using English as frequently as possible. We will review the techniques and activities that were used to ensure the students’ active participation, while exposing them to the English language and providing opportunities for age-appropriate vocabulary building. Short extracts from video-recordings will also be presented to give a clearer insight into how this project was implemented. Finally, we will explain how this project was assessed both in terms of content and language as well as in other areas of development (cognitive, physical, social, cultural).

Title: Target Language only? CLILing with hygiene routines with very young learners

Within the European Union, communication in foreign languages is considered to be an essential attribute of European citizenship. As a result, the age of onset for foreign language learning has increasingly been lowered across many European countries. As traditional foreign language teaching methods have proved to be rather ineffective, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), combining subject matter and language, has been emerging as a promising field in second language acquisition.

The introduction of English into the Greek pre-primary school (EAN project) has been a major challenge as the developmental characteristics of very young learners call for a holistic approach to learning through interdisciplinary connections and cross-thematic unification. Hence, within the new curriculum for pre-primary education, English has been fully integrated methodologically and thematically. English educational scenarios have been created in the context of “soft “CLIL, which is more language-focused as opposed to “hard” CLIL, in which content takes precedence.

Can the “soft” CLIL approach be applied through the use of the Target Language only? As reports show that teachers make extensive use of the L1, a proposal is being made suggesting active involvement of motivated pre-schoolers with the English teacher using the foreign language entirely. In other words, the aim of this presentation is to highlight teacher strategies for maximal use of the TL to the very young learners’ benefit. That is illustrated through an educational scenario which was implemented with a kindergarten class in the pilot phase of the EAN project. Daily hygiene habits and routines were introduced among other topics through chants, songs, videos, games and lots of fun activities via the complete use of English as a vehicle of natural communication. The children’s, fellow teachers’ and parents’ positive response seemed to embrace the endeavor.

Title: Η προσέγγιση STEAM στο Νηπιαγωγείο

Η παρούσα εργασία περιγράφει την προσέγγιση STEAM στο Νηπιαγωγείο, με τίτλο: «Φτιάχνω το σκεπή του δικού μου σπιτιού». Σκοπός της είναι να καταδείξει πως στο χώρο του Νηπιαγωγείου μέσα από το παιχνίδι έχουν ήδη δημιουργηθεί οι προϋποθέσεις για την εφαρμογή της επιστήμης αφού τα παιδιά καλούνται να εντοπίζουν προβλήματα, να αναζητούν λύσεις και να αναπτύσσουν δεξιότητες μηχανικού σχεδιασμού και όλα αυτά μέσα από τη χρήση της μητρικής και αγγλικής γλώσσας.

Η διδακτική πρόταση έχει τη δομή του σχεδίου εργασίας καθώς το θέμα αντλείται από τις άμεσες εμπειρίες των μαθητών/τριών και τους παρέχει τη δυνατότητα για κατασκευή μοντέλων και τη διερεύνηση ερωτημάτων που έχουν νόημα για αυτούς/ές. Επεκτείνεται γύρω από έναν κεντρικό άξονα που συνδέει τα τέσσερα πεδία της επιστήμης, της μηχανικής, της τέχνης, της τεχνολογίας και των μαθηματικών και αξιοποιεί τη μέθοδο Project Zero του πανεπιστημίου Harvard (2016): see –βλέπω, think - σκέφτομαι, wonder - αναρωτιέμαι. Υλοποιείται σε τέσσερις κύριες φάσεις:

1. στον σχεδιασμό της δράσης με δραστηριότητες που αξιοποιούν τη λογοτεχνία, την κούκλα ζωάκι που εισάγει τα παιδιά στο προς διερεύνηση θέμα αξιοποιώντας λέξεις κλειδιά στην αγγλική γλώσσα, τη χρήση web 2.0 εργαλείων και την αξιοποίηση της προσέγγισης Project Zero (Harvard, 2016) με καταγραφή των σκέψεων των παιδιών σε τρεις στήλες σχετικά με αυτά που βλέπουν, σκέφτονται, αναρωτούνται και ομαδοποίησή τους με λέξεις στην αγγλική γλώσσα
2. στην έρευνα πεδίου κατά την υλοποίηση της οποίας παρουσιάζεται περισσότερο και πιο ρεαλιστικό πληροφοριακό υλικό στα παιδιά σχετικά με την κατασκευή σκεπών μέσω διαδραστικού βίντεο με σημεία στα οποία στην προφορική διήγηση αξιοποιούνται και οι δύο γλώσσες, παρουσιάζονται υλικά κατασκευής στεγών καθώς και η μέθοδος μηχανικού σχεδιασμού με το μοντέλο που αξιοποιεί πέντε φάσεις: 1) ρωτώ για το πρόβλημα, β) φαντάζομαι λύσεις, γ) σχεδιάζω, δ) δημιουργώ και ε) αποδεικνύω (Purzer & Douglas, 2018)
3. στις δραστηριότητες ολοκλήρωσης που περιλαμβάνουν αξιολόγηση της όλης πορείας με ανοιχτού τύπου ερωτήσεις ή και ερωτηματολόγια με τη χρήση της κλίμακας Likert, και τέλος
4. στις δραστηριότητες επέκτασης με ζητήματα που προκύπτουν από τα ενδιαφέροντα των παιδιών.

Βιβλιογραφία

Project Zero (2016). Harvard. http://www.pz.harvard.edu/

Purzer, S., & Douglas, K. A. (2018). Assessing early engineering thinking and design competencies in the classroom. In L. English & T. Moore (Eds.), Early engineering learning, (pp. 113–132). Singapore: Springer.

Title: ΕΑΝ…εγώ ήμουν εσύ or If I were you …”: Unpacking teachers’ emotions in the EAN Project

Current theorising about educational reforms and implementation of innovations highlights the role of teachers’ emotions and the way they affect their professional sense of self or identity. In such contexts, teachers’ emotions can vary from confidence and enthusiasm to disappointment, insecurity or even anger. These emotions can also affect teachers’ cognition and shape their decisions and actions in their daily practice. The EAN project has revolutionized language learning in pre-primary education and has triggered several changes regarding the teaching of English to very young learners in the Greek educational context. One such change is the simultaneous presence of EFL and pre-primary teachers in the classroom and the compelling need for cooperation between them so that the successful implementation and the sustainability of the EAN project can be guaranteed. This presentation, first, aims to illustrate both kindergarten and EFL teachers’ emotions as they are depicted in the fora of training sessions and/or posts in social media groups. Second, it aims to demonstrate how teachers’ communities of practice can become safe spaces for sharing emotions and practices. Last, it aspires to show how this approach can lead to an on-going developmental process where practitioners act as independent teacher-learners and as peer-mentors who share their practices, reflect on them and exchange views in an emotionally-safe environment, thus shaping a bottom-up educational reform.

Title: Sneezy the Snowman goes to kindergarten: Α soft CLIL scenario

The presentation is a soft CLIL scenario that was implemented in the 16^th Sykies Kindergarten for the EAN program. The main goal is to present and practice the winter clothing vocabulary and the activities were devised a way that covers all aspects of the children’s development according to the thematic fields of the new kindergarten curriculum: Child and Communication (winter clothing vocabulary: hat, scarf, gloves, coat, revision of numbers and colors). Child, Self and Society (empathy, involvement, action for help, we help out our friends, we share our clothes). Child and Science (the ice melts when it meets something hot), Child and Body Creation and Expression (we learn new body movements: sneezing, shivering, freezing, melting). The method used is Total Physical Response. The materials used are very easy to find: a laptop and a projector, flashcards, hoops, the children’s own clothes, their coloring materials, a handout and the preparation time is kept to the minimum. The scenario can be printed and used as guiding notes for a smooth and funny lesson. The estimated time is two teaching periods. Firstly, two songs and a Peppa Pig episode are used to revise vocabulary already known (numbers and colors) and initiate the new one (winter clothing vocabulary: hat, scarf, gloves, coat). Then the read-aloud-story video is presented and explored accordingly followed by five fun activities which aim to imprint the desired vocabulary into their muscle memory and enforce positive social behavior. Finally, a calm individual assessment activity is chosen during which the children are given a handout each and are asked to find the desired vocabulary items among others and color them with the color dictated by the teacher. The use of L1 can be completely avoided throughout the process, maximizing the desired language input.

Title: EAN brings us closer: Developing a cooperation culture tο support teachers

The recent social, economic and political developments, especially during the last three years, have caused significant changes in the field of education, affecting the role of teachers, the teaching methods and tools, as well as the content and the objectives of teaching. As a result, educational coordinators are called upon to respond to these emerging needs, through their guiding, transformative and formative role in ways that enhance innovation and teacher autonomy, with the ultimate goal of upgrading educational practices.

The present work reflects the framework and the actions of three Educational Coordinators (two in the area of EFL and one in Pre-school Education) in order to meet the needs of English teachers in the introduction of English to kindergartens (E.A.N. program) through the creation of a collaborative culture and the development of reflection processes that characterize a learning community.

These collaborative actions are divided into: a. actions that took place during the pilot application of the programme b. actions that took place during the generalization of the program. The success of the cooperation between the involved educational coordinators within the E.A.N. context has led to further collaborations aiming at strengthening the English teachers in both Primary and Secondary Education.

The aim of this presentation is to explain the framework and the actions of the three educational coordinators as another example of good practices for the motivation, support and guidance of teachers within the E.A.N, context, with the hope of creating the basis for more collaborative networks among all those involved in the program.

References

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Cambridge, D., & Suter, V. (2005). Community of practice design guide. A step-by-step guide for designing and cultivating communities of practice in higher education. EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). https://goo.gl/zcBy3e

Eades, C. (2001). A mingling of minds: Collaboration and modeling as transformational teaching techniques. Focus on Basics: Connecting Research & Practice, 5(B), 26–29. https://www.ncsall.net/index.html@id=252.html

Harrison, J., Dymoke, S., & Pell, T. (2006). Mentoring beginning teachers in secondary schools: an analysis of practice. Teaching and teacher Education, 22(8), 1055–1067.

Karavas, E., & Papadopoulou, S. (2014). Introducing a paradigm shift in EFL continuing professional development in Greece: the development of online communities of practice. In D. Hayes (Ed.), Innovations in the continuing professional development of English language teachers (pp. 179-206). London: British Council.

Alexiou, Τ., Penderi, Ε., & Serafeim, Μ. (2021). The pilot phase of the introduction of English in Greek state pre-primary schools: Portraying stakeholders’ perceptions. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34, 2–24. https://doi.org/10.26262/jal.v0i34.8517