Nataša Gobec in Nina Škoberne, OŠ Dobje, Vrtec, Dobje
I want to present some ways of teaching English as far as the Handing Over The Learning to Learners theme section is concerned. Pre-school children have used some materials that are suitable for their age and can be used either inside or outside the kindergarten with the help of the adults. Using OneNote Class Notebook has also enabled me to evaluate their independent learning. Reading, storytelling and singing songs and rhymes are the most frequent activities used in kindergarten when making every-day lesson plans. Their influence on cognitive, social and emotional development of a child is huge. Furthermore, expanding vocabulary, storytelling and singing enable children to have a look at foreign culture. Teaching English by using authentic materials represents an important tool for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten. Before starting the project, using OneNote was introduced to children’s parents. We have put English video stories and songs in OneNote Class Notebook Content Library. There have also been some recordings of words and phrases, accompanied by clapping and pictures. I have wanted parents and children to record their children’s pronunciation of certain words and leave them in the collaboration part of the OneNote. Beside video stories, songs’ recordings and recordings of certain words, there have also been some interactive games available in OneNote. Children can identify main characters of the stories, match pictures with sounds and guess the missing part of a chain. Huge amount of different foreign materials on the web is not necessarily also appropriate for pre-school children. Using the methods mentioned above provide access to materials that encourage independent learning and repetition, necessary for young learners of foreign language. It also enables teachers to evaluate their progress. One of the advantages of the method is also that all the materials are available to everyone who uses mobile phones, smart devices or computers and is not necessarily connected to the internet. This is the way that ensures more online safety for our childern.
