III. The Young Learner

The Young Learner

         According to Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg in their book “Teaching English to Children” (1991), a young learner is a person who is in the process of learning a language that is not his or her mother tongue. It is important to emphasize that not every child is going to have the same characteristics the previous one had, but for the purpose of creating a basic guide for young learners, we must work with the concept of an average child. This student can be classified into two groups, and according to those groups, the English level of the student can be calculated and expected; from 5 to 7 years old, children are expected to be on the beginner level, and from 8 to 10 years old children may also be beginners or have some experience learning the language before, having some notions about it. Each one thinks differently and has different characteristics regarding the learning process, such as being able to distinguish reality from fiction, the level of attention that each one has according to their age, social abilities like empathy and argument, etc. 

         Keeping all this in mind, we decide to make our case study focused on children between 5 to 6 years old because the goals in both cases are not too different to achieve; also, they have similar characteristics that will make the process easier. At this age, kids show a very enthusiastic attitude related to learning, and they enjoy playing games that represent a challenge for them, so we expect to develop their English skills through activities adapted in order to reach the objectives in their learning process. 

In our class, we may find all sorts of likes, dislikes, and interests. There are children who love cartoons and fairy tales, others who prefer to take action into their own activities like painting, and others who prefer to play with other kids. Also, we may find children with different emotional profiles, children who are very confident, and others who need some time to trust the teacher, very empathic children, and others who are self-centered.

In summary, it may be a deal to find activities which work for everyone. On the other hand, you have to make the ones who are not in their comfort zone get well-involved into the activity; it remains to be a matter of testing different activities. 

Students with special needs are also an element to point out as their difficulties are a little more demanding than just a matter of likes and dislikes. Students with dysgraphia will have problems with activities involving the recognition of letters and words as long as students with dyscalculia may have trouble in sequence activities. In addition, it is not necessary to mention that students with ADH and who suffer from bullying will be especially challenging cases. At the end, this kind of students require special treatment and planification on how to help them work over their conditions. 

           In our case study, we work in an elementary public school located in the urban area of the city. Taking this into consideration, we can assume that our students belong mainly to the lower-middle economic class as they might not be able to afford a private school. Also, we may expect them to be very used to technology and its tools, and they have their interests oriented to city activities like movies, theater, music, etc. In such a case, using virtual resources might come in handy in order to keep our student’s attention in the class contents, but taking into account that not all of them might have direct access to those resources, so the teacher shall be the one who facilitates them to students. 

We can see the previous information reflected in the next table.

Nº	Student´s Name	Age	Date of birth	Emotional profile	Medical illnesses	Likes	Dislikes	Interests
1.	Carlos Ardon	5	Feb/ 12th/ 2015	Naugthy and a little rude with girls	Healthy	BKB	Get up early	Being a BKB player
2.	Miguel Sisibel	5	March/ 4th/ 2015	Very friendly and playful	Healthy	Soccer	Talk in public	Playing in a soccer team
3.	Beatriz Ruano	5	Feb /2nd/ 2015	Very expressive showing her feelings	Healthy	Painting	Sing	Being a painter
4.	Fernando Ordoñez	5	April/ 11th/ 2015	Shy with strangers, needs to be shown confidence	Bullying and shyness	Planes	Draw	Being an aviator
5.	Adaya Osorio	6	Nov/21st/2014	High social skills related to empathy and role plays	Healthy	Princess and colorful clothes	Be alone in the classroom	Being a ballet dancing
6.	Amelia Thermopolis	5	Dec/12th/2015	Preference on listening and stand-alone activities. Very attentive	Healthy	Watching cartoons and drawing	Painting with her hands	Being an animal rescuer
7.	Jared Palacios	5	Jul/6th/2015	Hyperactive, energetic	ADH	Playing soccer and running	Screams and noise	Being a famous athlete
8.	Susan Pevensie	6	Dec/19th/2014	Brave and likes to play with boys	Healthy	Listening tales,drawing and painting	Playing with boys	Being a nurse
9.	Keyla Menendez	5	Sep/13th/2015	Easily frustrated with activities involving numbers, sequences and steps	Dyscalculia	Helping animals	Dance and sing.	Being a chef
10.	Adriana Menjivar	6	June/ 14th/ 2014	Talkative and easily distracted.	Healthy	Listening to music	Color pink	Being an actress
11.	Abigail Vasquez	5	Mar/ 8th/ 2015	Very imaginative and talkative	Healthy	Singing, fairy tales, and painting	Little animals like frogs, mice and insects	Being a multiple artist

12.	Alejandra Quijano	5	Mar/ 18th/ 2015	Sensitive and cries easily	Healthy	Cartoons	Homeworkassigments	Be a cinema director
13.	Erick Jaco	5	Jan/ 22nd/ 2015	Impatient, needs to deal with failure when things go wrong	Anxiety Disorder	Basketball	Talking in public	Piano
14.	Chuck Bass	5	May/ 23rd/ 2014	Calculative and methodic	Healthy	Playing Golf	School	Clothes
15.	Valentina Olmedo	5	Dec/ 24th/ 2015	Curious and up to learn things by herself	Healthy	Painting	Taking a shower	Nature
16.	Henry Huezo	6	Feb/ 8th/ 2014	Constantly involved in dangerous activities	Healthy	Backyardigans	Animals	Movies
17.	Daniel Henriquez	6	Sep/ 17th/ 2014	curious and comic	Healthy	Soccer	Doing homework assignments	Be a doctor
18.	Rosa Vanegas	5	May/ 5th/ 2015	Imaginative and outgoing	Healthy	Listening tales	Taking showers	Be a ballet dancer
19.	Diego Rivera	5	April/ 24th/ 2015	Easily frustrated in written activities	Dysgraphia	Watching Bob Sponge	Eating vegetables	Be a veterinarian
20.	Blair Waldorf	6	Nov/ 15th/ 2014	Very empathetic with other’s problems	Healthy	Watching Doc McStuffins	Lobsters	Clothes