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2.Approaches,methodsandtechniques
meaningonlyifthetopicisrelevanttochildren,sexperienceandinterests,isit
alsomeaningful.Interestingtopicswillchallengethemtoexplorethemfurtherandin-
vesteffort;
purposetheabovetwocreateagenuinepurposeforusingthelanguage.
Childrenstartusingittoincreasetheirknowledgeinmanyareas,andextendtheirlearn-
inginacross-curricularway.
Theabovecanbesummarizedinthisway:‘Theadvantagesoftopic-centred
learningarethatitprovidesaclearcontextwhichmakeslearningmoremeaningful,and
createsagenuinepurposeforlearningandforusinglanguageintheclassroom,(ibid).
ForCameron(2001:181),topic-basedteachingandlearningissynonymouswith
theme-basedteaching.Inthiskindofinstruction,whichistypicalofmostprimaryclass-
roomsinEurope,childrenspendalldaywithoneteacherwhointegratesdifferentareasof
thecurriculumwithoutseparatingthemintosubjects.Suchtopic-ortheme-basedteaching
requirestheteachertoselectathemeoratopic,suchas‘lifeinthemeadow,,andplanava-
rietyofactivitiesconnectedwiththistheme.Thoseactivitiesshouldincludeaspectsof
Mathematics,Science,Language,History,Geography,Music,Art,etc.Forexample,
childrenwhoare6or7mayworkwiththeteachertolistalltheanimalsthatliveinthe
meadowanddrawandlabelallplantstheyknowinameadow.Onaschooltriptheycould
pickflowersandherbsinthenearbymeadowanddrythemtomakeaclassexhibitionand
personalherbalbums.Inoneoftheotheractivities,thechildrenmaydiscusshowpeople
benefitfromthemeadowandputtogetherprocessesofacquiringdifferentproductsfrom
themeadowplants.Theactivitiesinvolvedinsuchtopic-basedteachingmightalsoinclude
countingleavesandpetalsondifferentkindsofflowersandherbsandselectingedible
herbsandtalkingabouttheirbeneficialproperties(,It,sgoodformystomach,,‘It,sgood
whenI,vegotacold,).Theteachercanalsoincludesomeartactivitieswhichdevelop
children,simaginationandcreativethinkingaswellastheirmanualskills,e.g.making
apicturebystickingdifferentleavestoapieceofpaperoraddingasymmetrichalftohalf
ofamapleleaf.LaterchildrendescribetheirworkinEnglishusingsimplewordsorsen-
tences,e.g.‘Thisismy“leafdog”,,‘Thisismy“leafdoll”,.
Althoughtopic-basedteachingisassociatedwithprimaryclassteaching,teachers
whoteachforeignlanguagestochildrenalsousethisapproachbecauseitseemstoprovide
numerousopportunitiesforlanguagelearningwhiledealingwithathematiccontent.
WhenplanningintegrationofcontentfromotherareasofthecurriculumwithEnglish,
Read(2007:237)advisestakingintoaccountthefollowingaspects:
concepts:whethertheconceptsarealreadyknowntothepupilsinL1;
cognitivedemandsandthinkingskills:whethertheyareadjustedtotheagegroup
andtothelevelofthepupils;
languagedemandsandskills:whethertheymatchcognitivedemands,whatlan-
guagethechildrenwillneedtounderstandanduse,whichofitisnewandwhichisre-
vised;
otherlearningskills:whatotherskills,likesocialskills,motorskills,learning
skillswilltheactivitiesinvolve;
attitudes:whatattitudeswilltheactivitiesenhancetothetopic,otherculturesand
itsspeakersaswellaslearningthelanguage.