Ways to teach EFL vocabulary to children

Transcription

1 UNIVERSIDAD VERACRUZANA FACULTAD DE IDIOMAS Licenciatura en Lengua Inglesa Ways to teach EFL vocabulary to children Rosa Isela Trujillo Hernández (S ) Claudia Lizeth López Gómez (S ) Advisor: Claudia E. Buenfil Rodriguez

2 Index 1. Introduction... ii 2. Teaching children FL vocabulary Research context Participants Methodology Findings and discussion Observation logs Realia Pictures Songs Games Storytelling Interviews Children s interview Teachers interview Conclusion References Appendix 1. PNIEB abstracts Appendix 2. Example of lesson plan Appendix 3. Children s interview guide and Teachers interview guide Appendix 4. Observation log format i

3 1. Introduction This study is focused on teaching vocabulary to children. Our motivation to carry out this study is that we are interested in discovering how to teach English to children, in addition our findings will enable us to provide some recommendations for future trainee teachers. Although working with children is something interesting and fun, it is also a little difficult because first we need to know how to teach them and what activities to carry out in the classroom. Therefore, it is hoped that this study will be a tool that may throw some light onto the art of teaching English to children. In order to achieve the purpose mentioned above, we conducted a study using a qualitative research which tries to identify and understand people s feelings or perspectives about something. According to this, some aspects that will be analyzed are how children respond to different techniques used when teaching English vocabulary and how confident and comfortable they feel with these techniques. Moreover, the qualitative approach employs interviews and observation as data collection methods, which were useful to explore these issues. The importance of carrying out research in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), is that nowadays English is a vital aspect of globalization, because it is spoken in most of the cities and countries in the world. As a result, learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has become an essential part of any educational syllabus in Mexico and it is a requisite to obtain a professional job. For these reasons, the job of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) is in demand. Therefore, a lot of people are studying a degree in English language to become teachers, translators or interpreters. In Mexico there are several universities which offer this degree. One example of this is the University of Veracruz whose English Language Faculty is located in Xalapa, the capital city of the state. At present, teachers of English language are studying more techniques to teach not only adults or adolescent students, but children too. The interest of TEFL teachers in teaching children has increased in recent years. It could be due to the ii

4 fact that the SEP (Secretariat of Public Education) wants to implement TEFL classes in all the syllabuses of primary schools in Mexico. This particular study is interested in how children learn English, more specifically in how children learn English vocabulary. Owing to the fact that vocabulary learning is the first step in learning EFL, this study will analyze which techniques may facilitate children s English vocabulary learning. iii

5 2 Teaching children FL vocabulary This study is focused on trying to discover how to facilitate children s language learning process regarding vocabulary. First of all, it is necessary to explain what vocabulary is. Vocabulary is not only the single words in a language, but it also includes phrases. When children are learning EFL vocabulary they learn single words such as cat, table, classroom, etc., as well as phrases such as greetings, idioms, collocations, etc. Secondly, it is important to remember that a word does not have only one meaning, but several meanings that students need to know. In the words of Thornbury (2002:15) at the most basic level, knowing a word involves knowing its form and its meaning. Knowing the meaning of the word is not just knowing its dictionary meaning, it also means knowing the words commonly associated with it, as well as its connotations, including its register and its cultural accretions. Cameron (2001:18) gives a similar definition, in language teaching terms, the development of words, their meaning and the links between them will be covered under the term Vocabulary. TEFL vocabulary for children does not comprehend all these aspects of a word because they are more difficult for children and have to be learnt over much more time. However, it is essential that children learn many words. Kwiatkowska (2007:1) argues that: teaching vocabulary at this level is a very important element of teaching English, because children, knowing more and more words, can better communicate with other children. Moreover, without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (Wilkins 1972 in Thornbury, 2002: 13). That is, without grammar children can try to communicate with others and to express their opinions, but without vocabulary they cannot say anything. Teachers of EFL need to take into account that children have already learnt a first language and that it enables them to relate meanings of words of both languages 1

6 and as Pinter (2006:8) argues, they may acquire through hearing and experiencing lots of English, in much the same way as they acquire their first language. Another aspect that should be taken into account is that helping the child to learn and develop becomes more important than simply teaching the language (Phillips, 1993: 3) since children usually want their teachers be a helper or a facilitator, rather than an authority that simply gives them new knowledge. One characteristic is that children are quick to learn words This may be because words have tangible, immediate meanings (Phillips, 1993: 74), or because the word is a recognizable linguistic unit for children in their first language and so they will notice words in the new language (Cameron 2001: 7). For these reasons, the vocabulary that children between five and seven years old are expected to learn is basic vocabulary such as greetings, classroom objects, members of the family, numbers, colours, etc. which are used in a context that is familiar to children. Consequently, children begin to discover that another language or languages exist by which they can communicate with others. It is also important to consider the processes children are going through. Jean Piaget pondered that children s reasoning and understanding differ depending on their age. Based on that, he argues that all people pass through the stages in exactly the same order. It is important to note that the age ranges associated with the stage may not apply to every child. Some children may reach a particular stage earlier or later than the others. Piaget (AeU, n.y. p: 35) This is called the theory of cognitive development and is divided into four stages: Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 yrs During this first stage, children learn entirely through the movements they make and the sensations that result. They learn: that they exist separately from the objects and people around them that they can cause things to happen 2

7 that things continue to exist even when they can't see them Preoperational Stage 2-7 yrs Once children acquire language, they are able to use symbols (such as words or pictures) to represent objects. Their thinking is still very egocentric though -- they assume that everyone else sees things from the same viewpoint as they do. They are able to understand concepts like counting, classifying according to similarity, and past-present-future but generally they are still focused primarily on the present and on the concrete, rather than the abstract. Concrete Operational Stage 7-11 yrs At this stage, children are able to see things from different points of view and to imagine events that occur outside their own lives. Some organized, logical thought processes are now evident and they are able to: order objects by size, color gradient, etc. understand that if = 7 then 7-4 = 3 understand that a red square can belong to both the 'red' category and the 'square' category understand that a short wide cup can hold the same amount of liquid as a tall thin cup However, thinking still tends to be tied to concrete reality Formal Operational Stage 11+ yrs Around the onset of puberty, children are able to reason in much more abstract ways and to test hypotheses using systematic logic. There is a much greater focus on possibilities and on ideological issues. (Baker, n. y. paragraph: 1) 3

8 Similar to Piaget, Reilly and Ward (1997: 3) consider that who they call very young learners, that is children between five and seven years old, are in the preoperational stage. Cameron (2001: 81) agrees with Piaget s ideas that five year olds learning a foreign language need very concrete vocabulary that connects with objects they can handle or see This is because children begin to familiarize with the world and need to use language to socialize with their peers. This does not only happen in their first language, but in English too. For this reason, it is important that children learn a wide range of vocabulary to communicate with others in context. In order to contextualize the vocabulary we need to use different ways to teach it. Some of the more common ways to teach EFL vocabulary are by means of translation, real things (realia), actions (gesture), pictures (illustrations, posters), use of synonymy and definition, songs, storytelling, games, using readings, etc. (Gairns& Redman,1986; Phillips, 1993; Kwiatkowska, 2007). However, not all of these ways to teach EFL vocabulary are adequate for very young learners. The ones that are used with them are realia, pictures, songs, storytelling, actions and games (Phillips, 1993; Reilly & Ward, 1997). This study focuses on realia, pictures, songs, storytelling and games which we think will be very useful for teaching vocabulary during our research. The reason for not using actions (gestures) as a single way of teaching EFL vocabulary is because they are also involved in songs and games. Although games and storytelling are not considered by some authors as techniques to teach vocabulary, for the purposes of our research we will refer to games and storytelling as teaching techniques. Realia is maybe one of the most useful ways to teach vocabulary because it uses authentic material (Sumarni, 2008:4). Wright (1997: 7) refers to realia in these terms: Objects (sometimes called realia ) are an ideal way of showing the meaning of English words for concreting things. In other words, realia is the use of real objects such as stuffed toys to teach animals or plastic or real fruits and vegetables to teach food. It involves children using their senses, for example, the 4

9 sense of touch to identify some textures, the sense of smell to smell the fruits and the sense of sight to observe and identify some objects. Pictures are perhaps the most common way to teach vocabulary. Pictures could be designed by the teacher or taken from magazines, newspaper and books. They are extensively used for conveying meaning and are particularly useful for teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food or furniture, and certain areas of vocabulary such as places, professions, descriptions of people, actions and activities (such as sports and verbs of movements). (Gairns & Redman, 1986: 73) Pictures allow teachers to catch children s attention more easily, teach vocabulary in a fun way and exemplify the concepts without translation. Songs are another way to teach vocabulary. Firstly, it is because they are especially good at introducing vocabulary because songs provide a meaningful context for the vocabulary (Griffee, 1992: 5). In this way, songs can be used as a warm-up in the class to introduce new vocabulary to children and as a way to motivate them to learn. Secondly, one of the obstacles presented in teaching children is that they are very restless, so songs and music can be used to relax students and provide an enjoyable classroom (Ibid: 4). Thirdly, they can be very useful for pattern practice and memory retention (Ibid: 6) because songs give pleasurable repetition with no boredom and provide active participation in the language (Ibid: 6). In addition to this, they also involve listening and speaking skills and children love and enjoy singing a song at the same time as they learn. Finally, in the classroom, an EFL teacher can use a chant, that is a song without music, to teach children the sounds and rhythm of English, to reinforce structures and vocabulary, but above all, to have fun (Phillips, 1993: 100). Games are also a very useful way to teach vocabulary because they help children to learn new vocabulary in the same way that they learn it in their mother tongue. In games the language is used as a means to an end rather than an end in itself, and children are motivated to learn because they are enjoying themselves (Reilly & Ward, 1997:27). In fact, one of the main aspects of using games in the 5

10 classroom is that children enjoy doing them. Consequently, games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work (Wright, Betteridge & Buckby, 1984: 1). In the same way as songs and storytelling, games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful (Ibid: 1), so that children can note how to use the vocabulary learned outside the classroom. Games can also be used as way to review vocabulary and provide the key feature of a drill with the opportunity to sense the working of language as living communication (Ibid: 1). Storytelling is another very useful way to present vocabulary because it uses a combination of pictures, mimes, realia and sounds. Stories help children to become aware of the general feel and sound of the foreign language. Stories also introduce children to language items and sentences without their necessarily having to use them productively (Wright, 1997: 7) Stories can be used as a source to motivate children to learn. An EFL teacher can use the favorite story in the children s mother tongue and translate it into English in order to attract children attention. In the words of Wright (1997: 6), stories are motivating, rich in language experience and inexpensive. In conclusion, vocabulary is an important aspect of a language. Owing to this, there are several ways to teach it. In addition, it is necessary to teach it to children in a way that enables them to learn the vocabulary they need to communicate with others. To achieve this, an EFL teacher has to take all this into account and use different ways to teach EFL vocabulary such as realia, pictures, songs, and games to enable children to learn vocabulary in the same way they do in their mother tongue. 6

11 3. Research context This study focuses on an elementary school context because it is at this stage of life when a human being develops the necessary skills to fit into the society where they live. This particular context was part of our social service which began in August 2011 and finished in December We were teaching EFL, cycle 1 (according to the PNIEB guidelines). The PNIEB (National English Program in Basic Education), which is a pilot program for basic education, aims to implement English as a subject in preschool, elementary and secondary schools. The main premise of PNIEB is that foreign language teaching in basic education is for students to get the necessary knowledge to engage in social practices with spoken and oral language to interact with native and non-native English speakers by means of specific activities with the language. (Secretaría de Educación Pública, 2010: 21) The PNIEB (Appendix 1) is organized in cycles as is illustrated in the following diagram. We worked with children in cycle 1 and at the same time, we were using some techniques, which are mentioned in the Teaching children FL vocabulary chapter, to teach EFL vocabulary to very young learners. The techniques were employed during all the period of our social service taking into account the themes of each lesson. To carry out our research in this elementary school we had to ask the principal for permission to explain to the teachers of the groups we worked with what the research was about. Figure 1.Organization in Cycles preschool Elementary Secondary grade 3rd 1 st 2nd 3rd 4th 5 th 6 th 1st 2nd 3rd cycle 1 cycle 2 cycle 3 cycle 4 Formal English Language Formal English Language (SEP, 2010, p: 62) 7

12 The elementary school of our research context is a public school. This school is in a small area and it is not well-equipped because it does not have either a library or a computer centre. The classrooms are small and the number of the students in each group is large (from 30 to 45 children). In addition, there are some danger zones such as the steps and the stony ground and there are no green areas. We also realized that most of the children are from the middle class. Most of the time, these children did not wear the complete uniform and did not have all the necessary school supplies needed for studying. 3.1 Participants We focused our study on two groups in the first grade of this elementary school. Group A had thirty three children and group B thirty four children. These children were between five and seven years old and most of them were female. Owing to the fact that the participants were in the first grade they only read and wrote simple words. Although this was the first time that they had taken an English course, a few of them knew some basic words like some colors, numbers and animals. The other participants were the teachers in charge of the two groups. They were female and were 49 and 47 years old. One of these teachers had studied at the Normal Veracruzana and the other one at the Normal de Zaragoza Puebla. They have taught children for a long time, but they have taught first graders for thirteen years. At present, they teach children all the subjects of the official syllabus, such as Spanish, Mathematics, Science, etc. They have never taken an English course. 8

13 4. Methodology This study is based on qualitative research which is a type of research which attempts to increase our understanding of why things are the way they are in our social world and why people act the ways they do. (Hancock, 1998: 1) In this case, this research attempts to identify and understand how children in the first grade of an elementary school respond to certain EFL vocabulary teaching techniques. In order to do this, our study involved the following: 1) We planned our lessons before starting with the classes (Appendix 2). When planning the lessons we took into account the themes of each lesson and we adapted the techniques we wanted to apply in that class. It is important to mention that in all lessons it was necessary to use at least two different techniques because children can concentrate for shorter periods (Spratt, 2005: 53) and they are not very able to control and plan their own behavior (Ibid: 53). Thus, we needed to catch the children s attention and we also wanted to keep them busy. Furthermore, in some lessons, we used the techniques to teach different topics to see with which topics the techniques worked the best with according to the children s observed responses. 2) The methods we used to identify which technique children preferred were interviews and observations registered in observation logs. Based on Hancock s (2002: 17) comment that Observation can also serve as a technique for verifying or nullifying information provided in face to face encounters. we carried out observations in the groups ( A and B ) to reinforce the investigation and identify how children responded to the techniques. These observations were recorded in observations logs. Observation logs are called different names such as journals, diaries etc. by different authors. Judith bell (1993:102) describes them as records or logs of professional activities. They can provide valuable information about work patterns and activities For the purpose of our research we will refer to them as logs. 9

14 We designed an observation log (Appendix 4) that helped us to describe and remember how children felt with the different techniques. The observation logs were written at the end of every class we applied a technique. During the lessons we observed how children responded to the techniques. For example, how they seemed to feel or how well they worked when we used a different technique. The observation logs contained the following information: teacher s name, name of the school (elementary school) subject (English), level (cycle 1), number of students, topic (of that class), technique (the technique used in that class), material (needed to apply the respective technique), procedure/actions (of the teacher), children response and notes (what about the techniques). In order to facilitate our work, we wrote the part of procedure/actions before the class. However, we could not write notes during the lesson regarding the children response and notes because we were the teachers so we had to do it at the end of the class. The kind of interview used was the semi structured interview which involves a series of open ended questions based on the topic areas the researcher wants to cover (Hancock, 1998: 9). The reason for using this kind of interview as a method of collecting data was to help children and teachers feel more confident since Interviewees should feel as though they are participating in a conversation or discussion rather than in a formal question and answer situation. (Hancock 1998: 10) It is important to mention again that our participants were first graders and could not read or write in Spanish. We thought children would feel more at ease answering our questions in an interview because they had a good relationship with us and so would be able to answer freely and openly. For this, an interview guide for children and teachers was designed with key questions that guided us to obtain the information we sought. (Appendix 3) The interviews had five main questions which were the guide to interview both, children and teachers. The questions were in Spanish because neither the children 10

15 nor the teachers speak English. We carried out the interviews with both, children and teachers, at the end of the course because it was when we finished applying all the techniques prepared for our study. We recorded all the interviews with our participants. The interviews were carried out in the audiovisual classroom of the school in order to avoid the noise of the other children. The participants were twenty children in the first grade (ten from group A and ten from group B ). These children were chosen at random with the purpose of interviewing children with different personalities that are in the classrooms. Furthermore, the teachers of each group were also interviewed because they were who observed the children in the English class when the techniques to teach vocabulary were used. The children s interview questions were the following: 1) How old are you? 2) Do you like to learn English? Why? 3) Did you like the English lessons? Why? 4) Have you learnt any words in the English lessons? Which ones? 5) How do you like to learn English? Through pictures, games, songs, objects (realia) or storytelling. Why? Question number one functioned as a warm up. This was because we needed children not to get nervous and pay attention. Moreover, it was important to know their age because this affects their skills to work inside the classroom. Question number two was to obtain general information. Nowadays, the objective of our government is to implement English as a subject in the syllabuses of basic education (kindergarten, elementary and secondary school) due to the importance of the English language in the world. The reason for this is clear for adults, but it is also important to know what children think about learning EFL at this stage of their lives. The third question had a personal interest. Although this may be considered irrelevant for the study we decided to include this question because it was important for us to know if children liked the course we had given them during our social service. Another reason was to discover what children liked about our 11

16 classes to find more clues about what facilitates children s learning of EFL vocabulary. Question number four was to know what words children learnt and to identify which technique we used at the moment of teaching that vocabulary to children. Finally, question number five was focused on the purpose of this study. Teachers interviews were carried out when we finished interviewing the children. The teachers interview questions were the following: 1. Do you think that it is important that children of this age learn English? Why? 2. How do you teach Spanish vocabulary? Why? 3. The following techniques are used to teach vocabulary: a. pictures b. games c. songs d. objects/realia (puppets, stuffed animals, etc.) e. stories f. Which one do you think is the most effective? Why? 4. According to the techniques we used in the classroom, which one(s) do you think children liked the most? 5. Which one(s) do you think children liked the least? Question number one functions as a warm up and as a way to obtain general information about English teaching and learning. The purpose of question number two was to compare how Spanish teachers teach vocabulary with the techniques we used and in the third question we mentioned to teachers the techniques we used during our English course and asked them which of these they thought was more effective. Question number four was to know what teachers have observed about the techniques used in their respective groups. These are important observations for us because while we were applying the techniques they could observe the children responses. Finally, with the last question we wanted teachers to identify which technique children did not like or which one could have been boring for them. 12

17 5. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The findings of the study were obtained through the investigation methods mentioned in the methodology chapter. In this part of the study we describe the findings of the interviews and the observations we conducted. We also describe the observations we registered in the logs we kept Observation logs We applied the same techniques, but each of us used them to teach different topics. We analyzed the observation logs about the techniques in the same order that these appear in the teaching children FL vocabulary chapter Realia We employed realia with the topics of classroom objects, school supplies, and animals in group B. Meanwhile, in group A the topics were family and animals. What we observed when we used stuffed animals with the topic of animals was that children looked interested at the beginning of the class, but later they become distracted because all of them wanted to touch the stuffed animals. In addition, they began to talk about their toys, and some of them started to fight because they wanted to play with the same stuffed animal we gave them. Consequently, we had to change the activity because they became out of control. The class in which the topic was family there was only half of the group because their teacher divided it for exams. Puppets of a family frog were used to present this vocabulary. We realized that puppets are helpful to catch children s attention because they were colorful and cute. Most of the children liked the puppets and it was surprising that some children already knew this vocabulary. Moreover, it was a lot easier to work with half of the group because we could manage them without problems. When we taught the topic of classroom objects and school supplies we used the objects that were in the classroom such as the whiteboard, markers, eraser, door, etc. What we noticed was that children were interested in learning how to say the 13

18 objects that they see and use during the English lessons. However, after a time they began to talk and only some children paid attention because it was a lot of vocabulary related to this topic. In addition, we organized an activity using the objects but it did not work because not all the children could participate. To sum up, as Davies (2000) argues, we could say that realia is a good option to present vocabulary, but it is important to consider that children may become distracted easily. Although classroom objects and puppets worked, stuffed animals did not because these are toys and the first thing children think about is to play with them. For this reason, the use of stuffed animals was not a very good idea for our groups, but possibly they may work with other children Pictures Pictures were used to teach colors, weather and numbers. In group A the topics were weather and colors, and in group B numbers and colors too. We realized that by using pictures we could catch children s attention easily. It could be because we designed colorful pictures and children are strongly attracted to them. For example, with the topic of weather we used a smiling sun for sunny, a cloud over a sun for cloudy, an angry cloud for windy and a smiling cloud with a lot of drops of water for rainy. We noticed children were very interested when we showed them these pictures. Consequently, it was easy for them to learn and remember that vocabulary. When we taught colors and numbers, we used some pictures of smiling numbers and lollipops with one group and colored pencils with the other one. Children were not interested about these topics because some children had already learnt this vocabulary by watching some TV programs, such as Dora the explorer, Go Diego Go, Sesame Street, etc. As a result, they thought it was not new for them. However, although they were distracted during the lesson, they practiced this vocabulary. As we have seen, pictures were successful with both groups. They helped us to catch children s attention quickly and worked well with big groups. We also realized 14

19 that children had a taste for bright colors. Hence, it is important to use colorful pictures that are appealing to them. This is corroborated by Ur (1996:289) when she claims that pictures the more clearly visible, striking and colourful the better. In addition, pictures are a good way to present vocabulary without using translation because it is easy for children to make the connection between image and meaning Songs Songs were used to teach parts of the body and feelings in both groups ( A and B ). The songs we used were head, shoulders, knees and toes and if you are happy. Both of them implied that children made movements while singing. These songs were used as a warm up at the beginning of the class and as reinforcement at the end. Children loved these kinds of songs because they considered them games. Consequently, it was easy for them to learn the vocabulary; they appeared to be learning without realizing while they were having fun. We also noticed that at the beginning of the class, children were a bit stressed because they wanted to sing the song but they could not. However, they learnt the song quickly and easily imitated the pronunciation of the words. Moreover, children enjoyed singing the songs and asked us to sing again. Another thing we noticed was that when we were interviewing children, they made the movements of the songs to remember the vocabulary of these topics. Songs are a good way to introduce vocabulary because children love them and learn the words by singing. They also help children to develop listening skills and learn the pronunciation of the words. Furthermore, as Griffee (1992) argues, they are useful to relax children when they are restless. Teachers can use the same song as a warm up in different classes to create a routine and to revise vocabulary. Finally, songs worked very well with our groups, so we can say that as well as pictures, songs worked well with big groups. 15

20 Games We used games to present vocabulary of animals, greetings and the family. The games we used were pass the ball for greetings and animal memory game in group A, and animal bingo and memory game for family in group B. We observed that the pass the ball game did not work because the group was big and children got anxious and bored while waiting for the ball. Moreover, we had to carry out the game inside the classroom because it was raining outside. Owing to the classroom was small; children were too close to each other so they began to talk. Consequently, they became out of control and we had to stop the game. The memory game was very useful with the topics of animals and family. Children were enthusiastic about this game because they already knew how to play it. What we saw in group A was that they played this game with their Spanish teacher too. We realized that with the animal memory game, children related the images with their pets and it was easy for them to remember that vocabulary. Meanwhile, with the family memory game, we used The Simpsons characters to represent the different members of the family. Thus, children found it easy to recognize and to learn the vocabulary because most of them watch this cartoon. To play animal bingo we asked children to work in pairs because of the number of students. This game was useful because it allowed us to recycle that vocabulary. At the beginning of the class, children were quiet, but after a time they began to get out of control because all of them wanted to win. As a result, children began to stand up and claimed to have won although they had not. Games worked in both groups because children love to play. Every time we used games children looked enthusiastic about these and wanted to participate. Reilly and Ward (1997) as well as Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984) support this idea and affirm that games help children to learn and to be motivated during the activity. However, not all games are useful to present vocabulary, but they could work to reinforce it. It is important to consider the size of the classroom if a teacher wants to use games with a large class of students. If the classroom is small, the teacher 16

21 could carry out the games outside. Another important aspect is that if games are used as a competition, teacher should give prizes to all children to prevent them from feeling bad or demotivated. Furthermore, Ur (1996) asserts that prizes motivate children to do the activities better Storytelling Storytelling was used to present vocabulary of the topic of family in group A and the days of the week in group B. It is important to clarify that when we taught the family topic, group A was divided into two parts because of the exams, which made it easier to manage the group. What we observed was that children looked interested when we showed them the puppets of a frog family that was made in foam. They also listened carefully when we were telling them the story. As a result, they understood what the story was about and they repeated it in Spanish. The use of puppets as a complement of storytelling was a very good idea because it was easy for children to recognize the members of the family. We also realized that group A s Spanish teacher tells stories to children, and some other children read stories every night before going to sleep. So, in general children were familiarized with this kind of activities. In group B we also used characters made of foam. The story was about an ant that wanted to visit its family. We told children what the ant eats every day when it arrives home. Children looked interested about the story and about the context. As in the story of the frog family, they said in Spanish what they thought was going to happen. Moreover, they paid attention and when we asked then what was the story about they remembered the ant s whole routine. Storytelling is a good option to present and revise vocabulary. In addition, it helps children to develop their listening skill as well as comprehension. It is because storytelling gives children a context in which the vocabulary is used. Thus, children not only learn the vocabulary we want them to learn, but also other words related to the context. Additionally, we realized that storytelling works better when it is accompanied by pictures or realia. Ur (1996) supports the idea of combining 17

22 storytelling with pictures as it can be more successful than only using storytelling. This is due to the fact that children visualize the vocabulary and this helps them to use it correctly. The information in the observation logs showed that all the techniques were useful to teach vocabulary. It is important to consider that every technique has advantages and disadvantages and its success depends on each group. It was satisfactory to notice that children did their best to participate actively with every different technique we used; even though they could not help getting distracted. Another thing we observed was that it is of paramount importance that teachers make the necessary adaptations according to the teaching context they work in: Size of the class, classroom conditions, materials available, actual time devoted to the English lessons, children s ages and distinctive behaviors. In the words of Spratt (2005:96), the most important thing is to make sure that the materials, tasks and activities we select are the ones that will help a particular group of learners to achieve the aim we have identified. In fact, we tried to make the most of what we had to teach, because there were not enough resources to work with and we had to make use of our own resources Interviews Children s interview The first question asked to children was: how old are you? To this question the answer was that children were between the age of five and seven. 10% of the children were five years old. 20% of them were seven years old and 70% were six years old. It showed that most of the children were six years old, which is the appropriate age of children in the first grade of an elementary school. The second question was: do you like to learn English? Why? The results showed that all the participants are interested in learning a new language, in this case, English. Most of the children answered that they liked learning English because 18

23 they found it fun, they could learn words in English and could speak in this language. Other answers were that they wanted to learn it for their future English classes and for visiting the USA because some of their relatives live there. Although some children s answers may sound very mature and thoughtful for their age, we think this happens because they were strongly influenced by their family contexts. It could be said that the main reason children gave to learn EFL was to communicate with others. The third question was: did you like the English lessons? Why? Children s answers were very similar to the second question. It could be because children see English classes as an extracurricular class where they learn something new, different from the syllabus contents of the school. For this reason, children s answers were that they liked the classes because they considered them fun and could play. Moreover, they said that they could learn something new, for example, new words in English, and perform activities such as painting, drawing, cutting, etc. In general, learning English was perceived by children as an enjoyable experience. House explains (1997) that children learn from experiences as they cannot distinguish between what is a situation designed for them to learn or to achieve any other purpose. The fourth question was: have you learnt any words in the English lessons? Which ones? The results were the following in order of preference: colors, numbers, animals, the family, parts of the body and greetings. It shows that children learnt the basic vocabulary and the words that they probably find more frequently in their context; for example, words that they hear or see on some TV programs, or that they hear older classmates using, etc. Considering this, we observed that the techniques used to teach these sets of vocabulary were pictures, realia, games and songs. However, this is not the final conclusion of the study. For this, we need to move to the next question and to analyze teachers interviews. This reinforces Cameron s claims (2001) concerning the fact that children are more likely to learn in L2 what they have already had contact with in L1. 19

24 Finally, to analyze the results of the fifth question, which was: how do you like to learn English? Through pictures, games, songs, objects (realia) or storytelling. Why?, we designed a graph to illustrate what techniques children preferred. Techniques to teach EFL vocabulary 38% 14% 7% 24% 17% Games Songs Pictures Realia Storytelling According to children s answers, they preferred realia because they could use their senses. For example, most of them mentioned they found the class interesting when we used stuffed animals to teach animal vocabulary because they could play and touch them. In addition, these are objects that they see every day in their home and this helped them to remember the vocabulary more easily. In fact, Davies (2000: 160) ponders that specific realia can be used to illustrate stories because children could be more interested if they visualize the story. The second most preferred technique was games. This is because children found the classes fun when we used some games. They said that in this way they learnt while playing. Moreover, they felt comfortable with games because they saw them as an extra activity not as a class. This coincides with Ur (1996:289) in the sense that games are recreational time out activities which allow children to relax and have fun, but at the same time they help them to learn. A game that children often mentioned was the memory game or pelmanism used with the topic of the family. Through this game children repeated the vocabulary every time someone found the right pairs. Consequently, they learnt the new vocabulary without trouble. 20

25 The third technique children chose were songs. Children found the classes fun when a song was included. They also told us that they liked songs because it was easy for them to learn new things by singing. Through repetition, songs helped them to reinforce the vocabulary. Griffee (1992) agrees with the idea of songs in the classroom because they can get children to repeat the vocabulary we teach them without becoming bored. For example, with the Bingo song, children practiced spelling. Furthermore, mime and movements are activities they enjoyed doing with songs because in the If you re happy song they have to mime when some feelings (happy, sad, tired, etc.) are mentioned and children performed the movements the song says (clap, jump, turn around, etc.). The song that some children remembered is head, shoulders, knees and toes. It is because they loved to move and touch the parts of their body as they were singing. In fact, the TPR approach assures (Reilly & Ward, 1997) that children should experience the language by means of movement and touching to get better results. Storytelling was one of the techniques with an apparently low preference percentage only 14% of the 100%. Children answers about this technique were that they liked it because they liked listening to stories and because it is good for them to read. However, storytelling was not about getting children to read stories in English, but listening to stories in that language. We could not get children to read English stories because they could not read in their mother tongue yet, so it would have been very difficult for them to read them in English. Furthermore, children answered that they enjoyed stories. It could be because they also listen to stories and tales in Spanish. This reinforces what Ur (1996:289) claims about the fact that children love having stories told to them and that stories are useful for students of all ages. Pictures was the last technique that children chose. Their teacher uses pictures to teach them vocabulary in Spanish; as a result, it could be the reason why they found pictures monotonous. Children may not remember pictures because they were used to being presented new vocabulary like that. However, although some children found pictures boring, some of them liked them. These children answered 21

26 that it was fun to learn new things by using pictures because it was easy for them to remember the new vocabulary Teachers interview We found it difficult to interview the teachers. They did not have time to answer the interview because they had to look after their groups all the time and they did not have an assistant teacher who could take over the group. Teachers have not had any English courses either. For this reason, they were very kind about our English classes and always helped us to manage each group. The first question was: Do you think that it is important that children of this age learn English? Why? Both teachers agreed that children between the age of five and seven are at an appropriate age to learn another language and they mentioned that it may be better if children began to learn EFL since they were at kindergarten level. In addition, they answered that it is important for children to know that there are more languages apart from Spanish. Another reason to learn English at this age is that now English is part of elementary school syllabuses and it is a requirement to get a good job. In the second question, how do you teach Spanish vocabulary? Why?, one of the teachers answered that she teaches vocabulary by using pictures because she considers that most of the children are visual and it is easy for her to catch their attention. While the other teacher answered that she teaches vocabulary using sentences and short readings because it is important for her that children learn how to read fluently. The results show that one of them uses pictures as a technique to teach vocabulary as we did, but the other uses what she thinks is best for children learning. In the third question we mentioned to the teachers the techniques that we used to teach vocabulary: pictures, games, songs, objects/realia (puppets, stuffed animals, etc.), stories, and we asked them which one they thought is the most effective and 22

27 why. One teacher answered the most effective technique could be pictures. She thinks that they can help to catch children s attention and they also help children to remember what they learn in previous classes. The other teacher answered that for her, the most effective are games and songs. She considers that songs can help children to discover new words when they are singing and games because at this age, children love to play. Thus, it is easy for them to learn while playing. The fourth question was: according to the techniques we used in the classroom, which one(s) do you think children liked the most? The answers were that children liked songs and games. They could notice this because children were not only singing the songs during our class, but in other classes too and because when we played some games children looked very interested and all of them wanted to participate. Furthermore, they said that all the techniques can help children to learn English vocabulary if they are used together during the class. Regarding the last question, teachers observations were that their pupils liked all the techniques we used. We wanted teachers to identify which technique children did not like or which one could be boring for them, but we did not obtain the answer we expected. One of the teachers mentioned that she considered choral repetition as the least useful way to teach vocabulary because it does not ensure that children remember the words after a certain time. However, when we asked them about the techniques we used in the classroom they answered that all of them are good options to help children learn English vocabulary. It is important to mention that the interviews were a very useful instrument for collecting data, because they allowed us to register the information we needed without making children nervous. Through the interviews we carried out, we realized that the techniques children preferred were realia, games and songs. It could be because their teacher does not use these techniques in their Spanish classes. In contrast, the techniques that least caught the children s attention were storytelling and pictures, probably because these are the techniques that their Spanish teacher uses to teach Spanish vocabulary. Therefore, they are common 23

28 for them. Teachers agreed with the children s answers. They also considered that the techniques children liked the most were songs and games, because it is what children love to do. They also answered that there was not an unsuccessful technique because they believed that the techniques, in general, were successful as we used more than one technique in every lesson. This is corroborated by Davies (2000: 129) when he mentions that There are important implications for teaching children. The younger the children, the more your lesson plan should consist of games, vocabulary linked pictures and realia, manual activities such as drawing and colouring, songs and rhymes, and stories. 24

29 6. Conclusion This study was a qualitative piece of research whose main purpose was to identify what techniques facilitate children s EFL vocabulary learning. We decided to choose this topic because we rendered our social service in a public elementary school located in Xalapa and because we like to work with children. In order to learn more about this topic, we read about how to teach English vocabulary to children nowadays; this information was included in the Teaching children FL vocabulary chapter. We also wanted to know the characteristics of our students so as to respond to their needs in the form of our lessons. Taking into account all this information, we selected the techniques we thought were useful with first graders. These techniques were realia, pictures, songs, games and storytelling. Considering these techniques, we planned the lessons for our social service and then we put them into practice. In order to identify and register how children responded to the techniques we selected, we used interviews and observations as data collection methods. We designed two interview guides for both, children and teachers of the two groups, as well as an observation log to register the observations. Interviews were carried out at the end of the course and observation logs were done at the end of every lesson we implemented the techniques. According to children s and teachers interviews and the observations we kept, children preferred activities that involved the use of all their senses (realia) and their movements (especially when we used games and songs). Through the techniques used, we observed that children of this age enjoy moving, singing, touching, seeing and interacting with other children of the same gender. Hence, we can say that these techniques facilitated the vocabulary learning of our pupils. Probably, the results will vary depending on different groups of children. Although the other techniques we applied (pictures and storytelling) appeared to be not as interesting for our children, they participated and remembered the vocabulary, which were our main objectives. The children may not have been as 25