Learning a Foreign Language in Infant

Education: a Challenge for the School

Carme Flores
Cristina Corcoll
FPCEE Blanquerna
Universitat Ramon Llull
Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 1

Laura walked towards the teacher as soon as she entered the

classroom. Swinging on her feet from one side to the other, and
playing with her hands, she drew a smile on her face and said:
“Teacher Montse, l’altre dia vaig anar al ZOO amb el meu DADDY i la
meva MUMMY i vaig veure un TIGER, un LION, un MONKEY i una
SERPENT!”1. The teacher was happy.

Children do not understand that we use language to communicate, do not want to know if
a language is foreign or additional, nor are they conscious of how important it is to speak
as many languages as possible. Children want to discover the world around them, want
to enjoy games and pauses, want to be spoken to significatively and to experiment, want
to discuss and reflect. They want to be children.

English teachers at Infant Education need to know what it is like to be a child if they want
to ensure the global approach that the stage requires. One of the main difficulties
specialist teachers have when they enter a classroom is their lack of knowledge of the
abilities, instincts and needs that children from 3 to 5 may have. This problem, which
could possibly be solved quite easily, has been either partially or totally ignored by
2
schools and other institutions, and the overall results have not been satisfying.

Up until now, initial training for Infant Education teachers has not contemplated
communicative competence in the foreign language. Moreover, the big social demand
and the development of the new law (provisional decree, article 4, section 6) have made it
necessary to rely on Primary Education teachers, specialised in foreign languages, on
other University graduates or on natives with no pedagogic training to teach one hour a
week of English in Infant Education

Undoubtedly, some of the consequences of this situation are the methodological

difficulties that specialist teachers have to face, the lack of specification or ambiguity in
the aims they must attain and, in some case, the insufficient knowledge of the language.

1
Teacher Montse, the other day I went to the ZOO with my DADDY and my MUMMY and I saw a TIGER, a
LION, a MONKEY and a SERPENT!
2
Studies carried out by the Research Group on Language Acquisition coordinated by Prof. Carme Muñoz in
the Universitat de Barcelona have not obtained results supporting the idea that “the sooner the better”. Even
though the results seem to indicate that it may not be necessary to introduce a foreign language in Infant
Education, some essential variables are presented. Methodological variables and immersion time seem to be
fundamental to support the introduction of the foreign language in this key-stage.

Learning English in Infant Education

Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 2

The fact that some of the programming units are adapted from Primary, together with the
fact that a good linguistic model is not guaranteed and that the language is reduced to
three or four semantic fields presented in a fun way (games, songs and stories) prevents
English from being perceived as useful and natural; it is actually perceived as a “different
language that is used to play and sing” 3. Even though this description can be considered
positive from a motivational perspective, it is necessary to reflect upon what and how
children learn based on partially undefined aims defined by most schools. What do we
mean by “introduce the children to English in a motivating way”? “Introduce” should not
be synonymous with present, repeat, limit, scatter or list language with attractive
resources. “Introduce” should mean start to live in the language, start to use language to
discover, to socialize, to try and try again, to express feelings and experiences, to
become more autonomous and reflective; and do all this while realising that the language
goes beyond the classroom and can be used for the same purposes than the languages
spoken at home. The continuous interactions that occur between teacher and children
naturally will therefore allow for experiences like Laura and Montse’s to become clear
examples of good practices.

It is convenient, however, to analyze more deeply the situation described at the beginning
of the article. A first reaction could make us think that Laura’s production is but evidence
that languages in contact interfere negatively in the acquisition process of the mother
tongue and subsequent languages. The girl addresses her teacher, who speaks in
English, and automatically activates her interlanguage. It is a very peculiar interlanguage
because it shows that there has been a very similar process of acquisition to that of the
mother tongue but it also incorporates the already acquired mother tongue.

The spontaneous narration of a life experience given by the child is clearly the
consequence of a communicative and natural close link between child and teacher and
also of the teacher’s creation of a classroom atmosphere that favours trust and
interaction. This is how a formal classroom setting becomes an immersion space where,
to the extent that is possible, the conditions that help first language acquisition are
reproduced and thus help the acquisition of other languages. Some of these conditions
are constant interaction with the adult as a source of input, language simplification so that
messages become more comprehensible, or carrying out significative activities. Some
activities that could be highlighted are, among others, experimenting with materials in

3
Sample answer to the question “what is English?” given by five-year-olds in private and public schools in
Barcelona.

Learning English in Infant Education

Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 3

order to discover and confirm hypotheses, developing projects based on the children’s
interests, working on habits and routines, immersing in the world of stories and
imagination, and using games for enjoyment and socialisation. The girl’s oral production
is, however, a mixture of Catalan and English. The Silent Period typical of any language
acquisition process, which is characterised by the child understanding the adult but not
reacting orally yet, becomes now a Substitution Period. The first truly communicative
productions will be very similar to Laura’s, where even though some words of very
precise meaning are substituted, the message is still fluent and fully understood by the
teacher. There is even an attempt to adapt the Catalan name of an animal (serp) to the
English phonology (sérpent)4 as the girl had forgotten the word the teacher had taught
when they were working on the zoo (snake). The latter example is an evidence of the
child’s linguistic creativity, which is based on the limited amount of language she has. It is
a natural and inherent ability, then, that should be promoted and welcomed.

Teachers do not only need to know about children and their language acquisition
process. It is also necessary to know the Infant Education keystage in order to integrate
English in a reality that has its limitations, but also offers endless oportunities. We need to
know about these limitations in order to introduce the language in the right context, as it is
stated in the Decree which organises the contents to be dealt with in the second cycle of
Infant Education (see http://www.xtec.cat/estudis/primaria/curriculum_infantil.htm).

The specialist teacher who, once or twice a week, goes into an Infant Education
classroom to teach an hour of English faces, to start, some space and time limitations
that make it difficult to respect the global approach the stage requires. Even though it is
true that the classroom setting allows for many possibilities for interaction; there are other
spaces, such as the playground, the corridors, the dining room or the bathroom that can
complement and support the classroom, especially when working on habits and games.
These spaces should be available when working on English immersion and interaction.

It has often been said that working for short periods of time –twenty or thirty minutes-
three days a week is better than doing so for an hour only once a week (drip-teaching)5.
The argument that has been used to justify this statement takes into account children’s
short attention span but forgets one of the most serious dangers that, up until now, has

4
The word serpent is an English word, but Laura does not know it. The teacher has always used the term
snake and the girl does not remember it, so she takes a risk and gets it right.
5
Drip teaching requires a systematic exposition, shorter but daily, instead of two longer weekly sessions.
“Ideally, children should have one hour a day taught by well-trained teachers; and, if a choice needs to be
made, the best should be with the youngest children to ensure a solid basis”. (González Davies, 2007)

Learning English in Infant Education

Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 4

been ignored by many schools: the sessions with the specialist become real marathons
full of dynamic and varied activities that include no pauses or silences. Children know
that, for a while, they will not stop doing new activities and they will very likely enjoy the
teacher’s proposals; but, it will be difficult for them to take it all in if there is no time
devoted to collective and individual reflection on what has been done. The specialist
teacher, in turn, will be exhausted and lacking the energy required to start again with
another group. Immersion time with no pauses is not the time to live in English naturally.
Frequency is essential, but the length and the intensity of the sessions must guarantee
that children do not experience a different and artificial time, but a natural continuity to
everything they do, want to know and can be every day.

Didactic proposals must take into account the time and space variables and, at the same
time, meet the aims and contents of the stage. Consequently, the coordination among all
teachers in Infant Education is basic. This coordination should not be limited to the team
of class teachers giving information on the topics that will be covered so that the
specialist teacher can design parallel sessions; this coordination should mean developing
a joint project that integrates all the activities in order to attain joint aims. The classroom
language will change, since the specialist will speak in English and will adapt the oral
productions to the group of children and the time, will use more visual support and body
language to convey meaning; the children, on their part, will try to understand the global
message –be it classroom instructions or narrations-, will use substitutions and
memorised chunks of language, will also use Catalan to keep the communication flowing;
there will also be specific didactic resources (such as English songs or stories). Despite
all this, the methodology will be the same: the methodology that is appropriate to the
stage and aiming at accompanying children in their process of socialisation towards
autonomy and reflection.

The specialist, defined as the teacher responsible for proposing, managing and promoting
a context of immersion in the foreign language (English) in Infant Education, must be
sensitive to each child’s characteristics and their needs. The specialist must be a
language model, should be able to interact constantly and to take advantage of all
opportunities to expand and repeat in English children’s oral productions, whilst always
responding positively to their participation. And the specialist shall never forget the global
approach that is a must in Infant Education and in all areas.

Introducing the foreign language in Infant Education is a school project and, as such, it
needs everyone in the educational community to play their role. The management team

Learning English in Infant Education

Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 5

will need to provide the most appropriate space and time organisation in order to ensure
that there will be moments of natural communication. The team of class teachers and
specialist teachers will need to work jointly in order to design didactic proposals that are
progressive and significative, have clear aims and cover contents that integrate the three
curricular areas. Families can also support what is done at school by helping children with
the foreign language at home or by welcoming positively their initial productions. In this
sense, parents meetings held at the beginning of the year are a good opportunity to
present the linguistic project and to ask for their cooperation. Luckily, most parents are
sensitive to this and welcome any proposal that intends to bring English to school in a
positive and effective way. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) also
offer many possibilities to inform, share and learn from the children’s immersion
experience at school.

And, in a setting like this, children will play, as they should, the main role. They will show
adults that the English language is not only a different language that we can use to sing
songs, but a language that can also be used to learn, to discover and even to let the
teacher know that, one day, Laura went to the zoo with her mum and dad.

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Learning a Foreign Language in Infant Education: a Challenge for the School 6

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Learning English in Infant Education