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2.2.IntegrationofEnglishandtheprimarycurriculum
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Thethirdcommonpointforworkontheforeignlanguageandothersubjectsisun-
derstandingthroughseeing.ForHalliwell(1992b),itisimportantthatthemessagethat
iscommunicatediscarriedoutbymoresourcesthanwords.Theunderstandingofthe
messageispriortotheunderstandingofthelanguage,anditshouldbesupportedby
non-verbalsourcesofinformation,suchasseeing,feelingorhearing.Inotherwords,the
understandingofthemessageisenhancedbygesture,mime,demonstrations,model,
etc.,andonthebasisofthisunderstoodmessage,theunderstandingoflanguageshould
bebuilt.
Thefourthareaofsimilaritybetweenforeignlanguageteachingandtheteachingof
othersubjects,andthusthepotentialforintegration,isrespondingthroughdoing.Phy-
sicalresponseisoneofthenaturalwaysofconfirmingtheunderstandingofthemessage.
Forinstance,whengiveninstructions,peopleusuallyfollowthemanddowhattheyare
told,whichisoftendonenonverbally.Inallsubjectsteachersmakeuseofnonverbalre-
sponsetoconfirmthechildren,sunderstandingofthecontenttaught.Inlanguageclasses
theconceptofthephysicalresponsetothetargetlanguagehasbeenexploitedfordeca-
des(theTotalPhysicalResponsemethod)andisparticularlypopularinearlylanguage
education.Itisalsoinlinewiththefrequentneedofyounglearnersfora‘silentperiod,,
i.e.thetimewhenthechildrenareallowedtorespondnonverballytotheforeignlangu-
ageusedinclass.
Followingthelistofcommonfeaturesinteachingaforeignlanguageandothersub-
jects,Halliwell(1992a:133)considersdifferentwaysandlevelsofintegrationwithre-
gardstovaryingteachingandlearningcircumstances.Theideasrangedependingonthe
extenttowhichintegrationtakesplace.Atthebasiclevelofintegration,teachersusestu-
dents,workfromlanguageclassesasthebasisforotherlessons,ortheytaketechniques
whichthechildrenarelearninginothersubjectsandusethemforlanguagework.At
amoreextensivelevelofintegration,teachersusetopicsfromothersubjectsinlanguage
lessons,oreventeachothersubjectsinthetargetlanguage.Thelastoptionisoftencalled
ContentandLanguageIntegratedLearning(CLIL).Variouswaysandaspectsofintegra-
tionwillbediscussedbelow.
2.2.1.Integrationthroughthetopictopic-centredlearning
Lowerprimary,aswellaskindergartenteachersteachinan‘integrated,way.Insteadof
teachingatimetablestrictlydividedintolessonsfordifferentsubjects,e.g.Polish,
Science,Maths,teachersexploretopics,e.g.seasons,oppositesortime.AsHolderness
describesit,‘theteacherstructuresthechildren,slearningsothatintheirtopicworkthey
areinvolvedinawiderangeofactivities,(1995:18).Holdernessclaimsthattheseactivi-
tiesmaybescientific,creativeorinvestigative.Shearguesthatsuchanapproachin
whichchildrenlearnthecurriculumfromthetopicalperspectiveisbeneficialforthem.
Theadvantagesareasfollows:
contextlanguagelearningmusttakeplaceinacontextandithastofitintochil-
dren,sexperience;newwordsorsentencescannotappearinisolation,buttheymustbe
partofawidesituation;