I am an English Primary school teacher and in my lessons i use the communicative approach methodology that helps me provide my students a good communicative competence in English. Using this methodology we work on communicative activities that make students feel free to interact with each other and be motivated during the activities. I provide the instructions to follow and then we carry out the activities.
I also use the TPR methodology because I think that one of the most important aspect to take into account when teaching children is to keep them active while learning because it makes the learning more meaningful. It is a good way to not feel under pressure.
In order to interact with my students I always use the English language and I want them to do the same. I know that for them is not easy but I try to not over correct mistakes, I use positive reinforcement because I consider that errors are part of their learning and are necessary to learn the language.
Talking about the communicative activities that we work in class I can mention for example the A/B game, that consists on working in pairs they have two cards with different missing information on them and they have to ask the partner the necessary questions to get the information that is not provided on the card.
Another game can be Find someone who that is the same game but instead of working in pairs they work the whole class together and they have to go round looking for the person who has the information that they need. Obviously, they have to ask to many students the same questions in order to find the correct one.
So, having seen what I do in my classes to make my students interact I can say that the most important aspects to make them want to interact are:
- Raise their motivation.
- Use meaningful topics for them, related to their previous knowledge or experiences.
- Use stimulating activities that make them feel sure.
- Use cooperative techniques, if they work together they would feel more likely to communicate in English.
- Use role-play and drama techniques, it is a funny way to create interaction in class.
-Communicative games.
- Positive feedback, we should never over correct mistakes, they are part of the learning process.
- The sitting arrangement can also influence on the interactions. We should be ready to change the desks depending on the activity.
The advantages of using that kind of strategies in class are that making the students feel motivated and involving them as much as possible in the teaching-learning process would make them love the English lessons and be ready to get the communicative competence that is my main goal.
There also some disadvantages when working with young children with communicative activities in a language that is not their native language. If they are not enough motivated and they feel that they cannot express themselves in English because the level is difficult for them, they would end up speaking their own language and doing the activities quickly. So, that is why we have to use topics that are familiar for them and use positive reinforcement whenever they try to use the English language in order to communicate.
