The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework
Young Learners
Introductory Guide for Teachers and Educational Managers
Why teach Life Competencies? Our world is changing fast and we need to prepare our students with the skills and experiences that go beyond learning an additional language. We see the increasing need to work together with people from around the world, to think creatively and solve problems, to analyse sources more critically, to communicate our views effectively,
and to maintain a positive mindset in an increasingly complex world. The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework supports teachers in this challenging area – we understand that the engaging and collaborative nature of the language classroom is the perfect place to develop and embed these key qualities.
Hear from our experts
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What is the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework? The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework helps teachers and educators who want to understand how life skills, or 21st century skills, can be integrated more effectively into English language programmes. The framework has six Competencies that describe how these essential skills develop and vary across different stages of education, as learners grow and change. CREATIVE THINKING
Learners actively participate in creative activities, generate new ideas and use them to solve simple problems.
CRITICAL THINKING
Learners identify patterns and relationships, evaluate ideas and use these skills to solve problems.
LEARNING TO LEARN
Learners develop practical skills to support and take control of their learning and reflect on their own progress.
COMMUNICATION
Learners choose the most appropriate language to use in different situations, manage conversations effectively and express themselves clearly and confidently.
COLLABORATION
Learners work well together in groups through actively taking part in group activities, listening to others, sharing tasks and finding solutions to problems.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Learners recognise and describe different roles and responsibilities in a variety of groups and understand cultural and global issues.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Learners describe and manage emotions and develop positive relationships with others.
The Learning Journey The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework supports learners at all stages of their learning journey, from very young pre-primary learners right through to adults in education and at work. The framework maps out how learner behaviours typically found within each competency can change and develop as learners encounter new situations and circumstances in their lives, both within and beyond the classroom. This booklet describes how the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework allows us to support learners of English in pre-primary and primary education.
Pre-Primary
Primary
Secondary
Higher Education
At Work
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Understanding the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework The framework describes what each Competency really means by breaking it down into sub-skills. Each Competency is divided into Core Areas, and those are divided into Component skills. Can Do Statements describe the observable behaviours that could be suitable targets or objectives for learners at each stage of their learning. This booklet gives one example Can Do Statement for each Component. Example Language is also provided as suggestions for how learners might express the actions and behaviours in each Core Area. See this example for one Core Area within Creative Thinking at the Primary stage: COMPETENCY
CORE AREA
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
CREATIVE THINKING
Implementing ideas and solving problems
Experimenting with and refining ideas
Experiments with own ideas for doing creative activities like colouring, drawing and building.
I’m going to use…
Implementing, presenting and explaining ideas and solutions
Uses resources to initiate their own play or own games
Let’s use [a pen].
Get Involved The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework is an ongoing project, evolving through stages of validation and teacher feedback. Go to cambridge.org/clcf to see how you can get involved.
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What is Creative Thinking ? Creativity is the ability to generate new ideas, alternatives, or possibilities rapidly and elaborate on them. Some of the attributes of creative thinking include curiosity, divergent thinking, imagination, cognitive flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity or unpredictability, intrinsic motivation, and enjoyment of things previously unknown. We have identified three key Core Areas within Creative Thinking: • Preparing for creativity includes taking part in activities that promote the development of creative skills. These might be drama, music and artistic tasks but also include discussions of hypothetical scenarios, brainstorming and problem-solving activities. In addition, it involves exploring issues that need to be solved or concepts that a learner needs to grasp, ensuring that they see this from multiple different perspectives. This lays the foundation for coming up with original and useful ideas. • Generating ideas requires coming up with lots of new and varied ideas (fluency and flexibility), developing those ideas (elaborating), and coming up with ideas that do not occur to most people (originality). This will often require divergent thinking and imagination. • Implementing ideas and solving problems involves learners testing out the ideas they have generated and refining them. It also involves them being able to confidently present and explain their ideas to others. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
CREATIVE THINKING
Preparing for creativity
Participating in a range of creative activities Exploring issues and concepts Considering multiple perspectives Finding connections
Generating ideas
Generating multiple ideas Elaborating on and combining ideas Imagining alternatives and possibilities
Implementing ideas and solving problems
Experimenting with and refining ideas Implementing, presenting and explaining ideas and solutions
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Creative Thinking Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Preparing for creativity
Participating in a range of creative activities
Engages in fantasy or pretend play after listening to a story.
Let’s pretend we…
Exploring issues and concepts
Demonstrates curiosity by asking questions.
Where did she go?
Considering multiple perspectives
Participates in activities that involve taking the role of familiar people (e.g. being a teacher, parent, doctor or police officer).
I want to be [the teacher].
Finding connections
Draws pictures to represent vocabulary and familiar concepts (e.g. an animal, a house, a happy girl, etc.).
This is [a dog].
Generating multiple ideas
Produces more than one solution to a problem (including fun and playful solutions).
I have another idea!
Elaborating on and combining ideas
Adds some details to their ideas.
And then…
Imagining alternatives and possibilities
Thinks of new, imaginative roles for self through play.
I’m driving [on the moon].
Experimenting with and refining ideas
Experiments with own ideas for doing creative activities like colouring, drawing and building.
I’m going to use…
Implementing, presenting and explaining ideas and solutions
Uses resources to initiate their own play or own games.
Let’s use [a pen].
Generating ideas
Implementing ideas and solving problems
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PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Preparing for creativity
Participating in a range of creative activities
Engages in activities with fantasy or mystery elements.
Let’s imagine we’re…
Exploring issues and concepts
Actively participates in investigative and exploratory tasks.
I think … will happen.
Considering multiple perspectives
Acts out the roles of various characters in games and drama.
Who are you?
Finding connections
Identifies connections between the contents of a poem and their own experiences.
I feel the same when…
Generating multiple ideas
Produces multiple possibilities for substituting words or lines in a song or poem.
Let’s change it!
Elaborating on and combining ideas
Finds new uses for objects and explains these ideas in detail.
We can throw/drink/ sit on it!
Imagining alternatives and possibilities
Imagines alternatives endings to stories.
In the end…
Experimenting with and refining ideas
Experiments with using different media to make and describe their own designs.
I’m going to use…
Implementing, presenting and explaining ideas and solutions
Narrates own stories.
Once upon a time…
Generating ideas
Implementing ideas and solving problems
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Creative Thinking in the classroom PRIMARY It is possible to foster creative thinking in the classroom, through the use of different types of tasks. By simply tweaking a familiar task – for example, adding a game-like element (e.g. a time or word limit) – teachers are able to introduce an element of spontaneity and unpredictability in class. This can also be done by offering learners more choice, by prompting them to use their imagination, to interact more with their peers or simply to ‘think outside the box’ and encourage original ideas. Overall, whatever the age, the following methods for fostering a creative environment in the class are worth considering: • Celebrating originality – giving praise to learners demonstrating creativity and reward out-of-the-box thinking. • Asking learners questions and encouraging them to ask questions too. By using questions as a vehicle to dive deeper into your learners’ thoughts and ideas, you are promoting creative thinking and encouraging learners to consider different perspectives. • Allowing learners to be playful in their creative thinking – no answers are wrong answers; they should celebrate diversity and even absurdity. • Ensuring learners feel that the classroom is a safe space in which to engage in creative thinking. At this level, getting learners to engage in a fantasy or a mystery element is easier than with older learners because younger learners are often less inhibited and their attitude more playful. They are innately creative, and from the very early years they use imagination in a wide variety of contexts, particularly during play activities. At this age, it is less about teaching creative thinking skills, and more about fostering and developing skills that are already inherent.
Photo here
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Creating poems and stories Working with a variety of texts, such as poems and stories, can be an effective way to get learners creating new content from their own ideas or other resources. For example, in this task called ‘I am…’ (from Goldstein’s 2008 publication Working with images – see further reading page at the end of this booklet) learners: 1) read and identify the object described by deciphering a text and then; 2) produce a similar text by personalising an object, allowing them to conjure up new and unexpected images from the object’s material, size, shape, location, etc. without giving the game away too early. For example, learners read the following text and guess the object. They then create their own ‘I am….’ verse using the text as a model. I’m sometimes made of plastic. I’m usually round. I have many different shapes. But I’m often quite small. I have numbers. I often sit next to the bed. You usually use me during the week. You need me but you don’t like me. (Answer: alarm clock)
This task allows learners the opportunity to think outside the box and show originality. It also requires them to consider others’ perspectives, as their classmates will try to guess their object, and so the clues in their poem need to be at the appropriate level of challenge. Even the process of guessing the object involves some creative thinking and problem solving – teachers can get learners to work together on this part to negotiate and agree on possible answers. To add a game-like element, the teams who work out the answers the quickest could be awarded a prize, or classmates could vote on the best ‘I am’ verse. This task can also develop divergent thinking, imagination, cognitive flexibility, and tolerance or enjoyment of ambiguity or unpredictability. These skills are necessary to participate in creative activities and are central to this key competency as established in the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework.
Over to you… 1. Try this task with your class. When planning the activity, try to make the task as open as possible to encourage divergent thinking and imagination. 2. Reflect on the activity: did it work well? If so, in what ways? Could you improve it? What would you do differently next time? 3. A key element of creative thinking for learners is developed through facing mystery, ambiguity or unpredictability. How could you foster this in class? Consider modifying course book story materials to encourage predictions, guessing, and use of imagination in learners, before showing them the complete stories. 9
Creative Thinking in learning materials PRIMARY
Here, students develop their creativity by learning about acrostic poems (exercise 1) and making word lists (exercise 2). They then use their knowledge to generate multiple new ideas when they come to write an acrostic of their own (exercise 3).
My p portfolio
An acrostic poem 1
Read these poems, p which are called acrostics. What is an acrostic?
F un and laughter R unning around I n our playground E njoy N ot alone D reams S unshine
D inosaurs were huge I n a time far away N o people on Earth O ne hundred million years ago Strong A nd dangerous U nder water and on land R eally S cary
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Work in groups. Create ideas for an acrostic poem.
a
Make lists of words that start with the same letter.
A: apple, angry, and, art, ... B: blue, before, but, ... b
Agree on a word which you all like, for example HOLIDAY, SEASIDE, CHOCOLATE, DRAGONFLY.
c
Write the letters of the word in a list down the page.
d
As a group, discuss words or word groups that express the idea of your word.
Holidays are great / Hotel in the sun On the beach / Our big tent Lying on the sand / Lots of ice cream I D A Y
3
Choose ideas and plan your own acrostic. Show your plan to your teacher to help you.
4
Write your acrostic out neatly, using colours if you want. You can add a picture too.
i
Tips for writers T
Itt’s IIt’s It’ ’s a always lway good to check your lway spelling, but it’s even more important if you’re writing an acrostic poem or planning puzzles such as crosswords or wordsearches. Use a dictionary to help you if you aren’t sure how to spell a word.
Revision
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Super Minds Level 6, page 117, ISBN 9781107458291
What is Critical Thinking ? Critical thinking refers to higher levels of thinking that learners need to enable them to think effectively and rationally about what they want to do and what they believe is the best action. Thinking critically is effortful (Halpern, 2014) and consists of skills such as identifying links between ideas, analysing and evaluating arguments and undertaking reasoning in order to come to appropriate conclusions. We have identified three Core Areas within Critical Thinking: • Understanding and analysing ideas and arguments refers to a learner’s ability to identify and analyse information in order to recognise patterns and relationships. This helps students to gain a deeper understanding of ideas and arguments as well as to interpret and draw inferences about the information they are presented with. • Evaluating ideas and arguments is related to a learner’s ability to judge which arguments or ideas they can rely on and which they should be sceptical about. This includes evaluating evidence presented in an argument as well as the argument’s overall logic. Mastering this competency helps learners draw appropriate conclusions and construct strong arguments themselves. • Solving problems and making decisions involves many skills such as identifying and analysing problems, gathering appropriate information, evaluating a range of options, making decisions about which options to implement and finally, evaluating those decisions to further refine solutions. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
CRITICAL THINKING
Understanding and analysing ideas and arguments
Identifying and classifying information Recognising patterns and relationships Interpreting and drawing inferences from arguments and data
Evaluating ideas and arguments
Evaluating specific information or points in an argument Evaluating arguments as a whole Drawing appropriate conclusions
Solving problems and making decisions
Identifying and understanding problems Identifying, gathering and organising relevant information Evaluating options and recommendations to come to a decision Justifying decisions and solutions Evaluating the effectiveness of implemented solutions
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Critical Thinking Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Understanding and analysing ideas and arguments
Identifying and classifying information
Sorts, arranges and describes objects by shape, size, colour, weight, texture and position.
It’s a [square/circle/ triangle].
Recognising patterns and relationships
Matches objects, people, letters, pronunciations and words.
They’re [comparative adjective].
Interpreting and drawing inferences from arguments and data
Draws simple inferences from pictures or stories (e.g. guesses from a picture of a broken toy that there was an accident).
She is [happy/sad/ angry].
Evaluating specific information or points in an argument
Judges whether something is true or not.
True!/False!
Evaluating arguments as a whole
Identifies whether a text is factual or fictional.
That’s [real / not real].
Drawing appropriate conclusions
Chooses which ‘point of view’ they agree with most.
I agree with… because…
Identifying and understanding problems
Identifies characters’ problems in stories.
It’s not working!
Identifying, gathering and organising relevant information
Identifies some options for solving a problem.
He/she can [verb].
Evaluating options and recommendations to come to a decision
Explains what is good and bad about different options.
It’s good because…
Justifying decisions and solutions
Explains why they have chosen a particular option.
Because…
Evaluating the effectiveness of implemented solutions
Explains whether a solution is working or not.
It doesn’t work because…
Evaluating ideas and arguments
Solving problems and making decisions
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PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Understanding and analysing ideas and arguments
Identifying and classifying information
Identifies characters, setting, plot and themes in a story.
It’s about [a man]…
Recognising patterns and relationships
Compares different types of information (e.g. looking for similarities and differences).
In the first [picture/box], there’s…
Interpreting and drawing inferences from arguments and data
Explains why things happened (e.g. identifying cause and effect in a story).
He was angry because…
Evaluating specific information or points in an argument
Judges whether something is true or not, and gives a reason.
I don’t think so.
Evaluating arguments as a whole
Explains why they believe or don’t believe what a character says in a story.
[He]’s telling a lie because…
Drawing appropriate conclusions
Suggests possible reasons for problems described in a text.
Maybe…?
Identifying and understanding problems
Describes problems in a situation given in a story (factual or fictional).
There aren’t any…
Identifying, gathering and organising relevant information
Identifies potential solutions to a realworld problem (e.g. reducing pollution).
[We] could…
Evaluating options and recommendations to come to a decision
Describes consequences of different potential actions of characters in a story.
If [he]…, [he] will…
Justifying decisions and solutions
Articulates preferences and can justify their choices.
I prefer…because…
Evaluating the effectiveness of implemented solutions
Makes predictions and estimations from given information.
This plant will grow faster than the others.
Evaluating ideas and arguments
Solving problems and making decisions
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Critical Thinking in the classroom PRIMARY Regardless of the age of learners, at the heart of critical thinking is the notion of asking questions. Learners should be encouraged to continually question the information they receive and the conclusions they come to. The teacher should push learners to deeper critical thinking by asking them questions, such as: • Why is that your answer? • How did you come to that answer? • Do you think there could be another answer? Teachers should genuinely listen to learners when taking feedback and respond accordingly, by properly evaluating their ideas and arguments. In so doing, they show their learners that they too are critical thinkers (i.e. act as an effective model). Young learners are naturally curious. As such, it is crucial that learners do activities which actively encourage this curiosity. To this end, it is important to create an atmosphere in the classroom which encourages learners to think critically. Teachers must ensure learners really listen to each other during speaking activities so they can ask effective questions, and in doing so understand and analyse links between ideas. The following are some classroom activities and strategies that teachers can use to promote critical thinking development: Translanguaging When teaching speaking, teachers should consider using ‘translanguaging’, where learners can ‘mix and match’ their first language with the target language (i.e. English). This practice, which is common in many multilingual societies, can help manage the problems that occur when the content of an activity is too linguistically challenging, and help learners in better understanding and analysing links between ideas. This can be seen as an intermediary stage, prior to learners being able to do the task entirely in the target language. Storybooks Storybooks can be a useful resource when developing critical thinking skills with young learners. When teaching reading with a storybook, more predicting could be encouraged – for example, guessing what the story is going to be about from its title, or from the pictures. This can continue throughout the story through dialogic reading practices, i.e. asking learners questions at key points.
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The doughnut method After a task is a complete, learners feed back to others on what they have learnt. This activity encourages task repetition, so that learners deepen their knowledge on the topic. Learners follow these steps:
Doughnut method 1.
2.
3.
1. Learners form two rings facing each other – learners in the inner ring present their feedback to the learners opposite them; 2. After two minutes, learners in the outer ring move round to the right one place; 3. Learners in the outer ring then tell the learners opposite them what the previous learner said; 4. The process repeats itself several times. Visual organisers These can be useful tools for learners to organise, evaluate and compare their thoughts and ideas. For example, a Venn diagram can be used to help learners to identify similarities and differences.
Compare your answers with a partner. Write your ideas in the left circle. Write your partner’s ideas in the right circle. Then write things you agree on in the middle. What we both think
What I think
What my partner thinks
Over to you… 1. Choose one of the example activities in this section and try it out with your class. – Following the activity, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their critical thinking skills. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could make these activities more effective in developing critical thinking skills.
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Critical Thinking in learning materials PRIMARY
Here, students practise critical thinking by identifying problems (‘What goes wrong with this?’ in exercise 3) and coming up with solutions (‘What can fix this?’ in exercise 4). This involves students evaluating the options that are presented to come to a decision as to which one is best in each case.
‘What’s ‘Wh ‘W h this?’ asked Phoebe, looking at a machine that looked like a big eg egg. ‘That’s my amazing hairdressing machine,’ said the professor. ‘Choose any style or colour, then sit under it and in five seconds the machine will do your hair for you. Give it a go. You’ll love it!’ ‘Erm, no thanks,’ answered Phoebe. ‘I like my hair the way it is.’ ‘Hey, professor?? What happens if I pull this?’ asked Patrick, w who was standing next to another next inve in vent ntio io ‘Don’t touch invention. that!’ shouted the professor. ‘That machine isn’t finished yet.’ Too late! The lever was already down. A yellow light started glowing by the machine. ‘Now that’s strange,’ said the professor. ‘I’ve no idea what that is.’ ‘But we know what it is,’ said Phoebe. ‘Goodbye, professor.’ The children walked into the light. They were gone in a flash.
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Look at the pictures and answer the questions.
1
What goes wrong with this?
2
What goes wrong with this?
3
What goes wrong with this?
4
Why doesn’t Phoebe want to use this?
5
Who pulls this lever?
6
What does this last machine do?
4
Think!
What tool does the professor need to fix these problems?
1
2
3
4
Reading for pleasure
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Super Minds Level 6, page 75, ISBN 9781107458291
What is Learning to Learn ? The rate of change for what we need to know and be able to do at work is accelerating, and it is essential that we continue to learn new skills and knowledge throughout our working lives. Even within schools, developing effective learning skills underpins our students’ success in all subjects, and is critical to building their autonomy and self-direction. Education and training needs to focus as much on the skills of learning as on the outputs of learning. We have identified three Core Areas within Learning to Learn: • Developing skills and strategies for learning includes important techniques such as making notes, storing and retrieving information as well as techniques for learning and remembering information. In an ELT context, learners also benefit from using strategies to help them understand and communicate in English. There are various methods for engaging in these techniques, and learners need to experiment and choose the one which best suits their own personal style, needs and resources. • Taking control of own learning implies developing self-regulatory strategies, becoming autonomous, maintaining motivation, and staying focused on the task at hand in order to achieve the best results. To accomplish this, learners need to be clear about their learning goals. • Reflecting on and evaluating own learning involves learners reflecting on their own learning in order to assess what worked for them and what did not. This reflection can inform decisions regarding whether to persevere with certain courses of action or to make changes. As a result, learners are able to identify and use effective learning techniques and strategies. In addition, learners who keep track of and evaluate their own progress in learning are more able to continuously improve, helping them succeed in reaching their learning goals. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
LEARNING TO LEARN
Developing skills and strategies for learning
Engaging in directed activities Using effective systems for finding, keeping and retrieving information Using effective strategies for learning and retaining information Using effective strategies for comprehension and production tasks
Taking control of own learning
Setting goals and planning for learning Taking initiative to improve own learning Managing the learning environment Managing attitudes and emotions
Reflecting on and evaluating own learning
Keeping track of progress Evaluating learning and progress Using feedback to improve learning
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Learning to Learn Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Developing skills and strategies for learning
Engaging in directed activities
Follows instructions and class routines.
Like this…?
Using effective systems for finding, keeping and retrieving information
Asks simple questions to find out information.
What’s this?
Using effective strategies for learning and retaining information
Engages with memorising tasks.
There was a [ship/ flower/hat].
Using effective strategies for comprehension and production tasks
Uses pictures to help understand a story.
He looks happy.
Setting goals and planning for learning
Chooses which activity to complete when given a choice.
I’m going to [read this book].
Taking initiative to improve own learning
Asks the teacher for help.
What does … mean?
Managing the learning environment
Organises learning equipment tidily so that it can be found when needed.
I usually put my [crayons/ruler/eraser] in here.
Managing attitudes and emotions
Regulates affective reactions (e.g. disappointment, mood or conflicts with other children).
Keeping track of progress
Uses basic checklists to show what tasks they have completed.
Done!
Evaluating learning and progress
Changes learning behaviour if it does not seem to have the desired effect (e.g. starts putting hand up to answer a question when they notice the teacher does not pick them to give an answer when they shout out).
Oops! It’s wrong to shout!
Using feedback to improve learning
Acts on language feedback from teachers or parents.
I’ll try again.
Taking control of own learning
Reflecting on and evaluating own learning
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PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Developing skills and strategies for learning
Engaging in directed activities
Follows instructions to complete tasks in class as required.
I’ve finished!
Using effective systems for finding, keeping and retrieving information
Searches for information on a specific topic when doing a project.
I found out that…
Using effective strategies for learning and retaining information
Memorises and repeats key words and phrases.
I can remember it now.
Using effective strategies for comprehension and production tasks
Looks at pictures, titles and subtitles to get the gist of a text before reading it.
I think it’s about…
Setting goals and planning for learning
Identifies the learning objectives for the lesson or task.
We’re learning about/ to…
Taking initiative to improve own learning
Asks other children for help.
Could you explain it to me?
Managing the learning environment
Works productively with others without becoming distracted.
Managing attitudes and emotions
Regulates affective reactions (e.g. anxiety, disappointment, mood or conflicts with other children).
Keeping track of progress
Shows awareness of own progress in learning English (e.g. by using progress checklists).
I’ve learnt how to…
Evaluating learning and progress
Reflects on what they did well in a lesson.
I’m getting better at…
Using feedback to improve learning
Listens and responds positively to feedback, and understands why a correction was given.
Taking control of own learning
Reflecting on and evaluating own learning
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Learning to Learn in the classroom PRIMARY For learners at pre-primary to be able to begin their journey of developing Learning to Learn skills, they will benefit from the teacher introducing and maintaining a range of routines (through into primary): • for starting a class, such as doing a chant; • for carrying out activities, for example, electing learners to be in charge of handing out or collecting worksheets or other learning tools; • for transitioning between activities by using certain cues. It will take time for these routines to become fixed and consistency is vital. In terms of instructions, these need to be clear and include demonstrations, and learners will need the time and experience to build strong links between instructions and expectations. Growing familiarity with classroom task types and activities will help, as learners will become familiar with the routines that these tasks and activities require. Once learners are comfortable with a routine, they will be able to engage in activities without repeated instruction or explanation, thus developing learner autonomy. Reflecting on learning As part of the beginning of their journey to becoming more autonomous, young learners need to develop the reflective and evaluative skills required to monitor their progress in learning. Teachers can scaffold this development by providing simple tools such as a post-task self-feedback form in which learners evaluate their performance in a given task. Learning materials increasingly include these, but even if they are not included, it is possible for teachers to make one which can be adapted for use across a range of task types. Here is an example: MY PROGRESS
I followed all the instructions I gave my opinion clearly I asked my classmates for their opinions I agreed and disagreed with my classmates politely I helped my group to summarise the discussion to feed back to the whole class
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Developing familiarity with what is expected is important. The process of reflection and evaluation, and completing reflective tasks takes time to master and consistent use of such tasks over a period of time will help learners become more competent at assessing themselves in this way. With the progress table example, the first couple of times it is used, teachers would need to explain to or remind learners how to use it, i.e. if they think they have followed all the instructions, they then colour in all the smiley faces; if they think they have followed most of them, they then colour in four smiley faces, etc. Some of the sentences could be used across tasks, while others would change according to the task type. Once learners are accustomed to the procedure, they will need little prompting to carry out the task effectively. These kinds of tasks also provide the scope for learners to compare their performance over time for similar task types.
Over to you‌ 1. Choose one of the example strategies in this section and try it out with your class. – Following the implementation of the strategy, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their Learning to Learn skills. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could use these activities to develop your students’ Learning to Learn skills.
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Learning to Learn in learning materials PRIMARY
Here, students develop skills and strategies for learning by following instructions in directed activities (exercises 4 and 5). By making musical instruments (exercise 6) and writing a music quiz based on their own research (see ‘mission’ box), they need to take initiative and control of their own learning.
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Culture
4 Read the text. When and how do you listen to music?
What music do people in your family like? What festivals with music are there in your country?
Music is all around us. We can hear it everywhere. We can also take it with us wherever we go, but that wasn’t possible until the 1980s. Now we have our favourite music on our phones and on our computers. Headphones let us listen to our music on the bus or in the car. We can hear it, but other people can’t. This is good because not everyone likes the same kind of music! There are many styles of music. Some people like classical music and others like folk, jazz or hip-hop.
5
2.06
Music is important in many cultures and different musical instruments are typical in different places. In many countries the drum is the most important instrument and you can see them in different shapes and sizes. Music is also very important at festival time in many countries.
Listen to Liliana talking about music at the Rio Carnival. Read and choose the correct words.
1
Brazil celebrates carnival in February or March / December or January.
2
Carnival happens only in Rio de Janeiro / all over Brazil.
3
People celebrate carnival at home / in the streets.
4
Samba music came from Africa / America.
5
Samba musicians use guitars and trumpets / drums.
6 Make your own Brazilian instruments. Use materials that you have at home or in class.
STAGE 3 Research a country’s music and write quiz questions. Choose a country and research Write three quiz questions. Give its music. three possible answers (only one of which is correct). Let’s find out about music in … Good idea!
My
diary Activity Book page 30
Learn about Brazilian carnival music
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Power Up Level 4, page 37, ISBN 9781108414661
What is Communication ? Communication is an essential professional and life skill, enabling us to share information and ideas, as well as express feelings and arguments (Cenere et al., 2015). It is also an active process influenced by the complexities of human behaviour in which elements such as non-verbal behaviour and individual styles of interpreting and ascribing meaning to events have significant influence. Mastering effective communication is more than just mastering the core language resources of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. It’s about using those resources for the desired effect – whether that is persuading someone of your argument, apologising for a mistake, or making friends. We have identified three Core Areas within Communication: • Using appropriate language and register for context refers to a learner’s understanding that there are formal, semi-formal and informal situations which require them to vary their language and expressions and adapt their communication style. Learners can use language for effect by employing a variety of language and rhetorical devices, for example, to be more persuasive in an argument, to engage and catch attention or to add emphasis or humour. It also refers to learners’ awareness of differences in communication styles across cultures. • Facilitating interactions is related to a learner’s ability to converse with others effectively and efficiently by knowing how to initiate, maintain and end conversations appropriately. Learners are aware of and use key communication strategies that can help them convey their own messages as well as support others in communicating successfully. • Participating with appropriate confidence and clarity refers to a learner’s ability to communicate effectively with appropriate fluency, confidence and pace. This may include using appropriate tonal and structural variation, facial expression and eye contact as well as an ability to structure content to create coherent and cohesive texts. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
COMMUNICATION
Using appropriate language and register for context
Using language appropriate for the situation Using a variety of language and communication strategies to achieve a desired effect Adapting language use according to different cultures and social groups
Facilitating interactions
Using communication strategies to facilitate conversations
Participating with appropriate confidence and clarity
Structuring spoken and written texts effectively
Using strategies for overcoming language gaps and communication breakdowns
Using appropriate language and presentation styles with confidence and fluency
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Communication Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Using appropriate language and register for context
Using language appropriate for the situation
Uses simple, polite forms of greetings, introductions and farewells.
Hello/Hi/Hey.
Using a variety of language and communication strategies to achieve a desired effect
Changes sound levels and pitch of voice when doing drama to communicate different emotions.
Adapting language use according to different cultures and social groups
Adjusts language for playing different roles (e.g. a teacher, an animal or a character from a story).
[A gold star for you!/ I’m a very hungry lion!].
Using communication strategies to facilitate conversations
Takes turns when speaking.
And you?
Using strategies for overcoming language gaps and communication breakdowns
Uses basic communication strategies, such as asking for repetition.
Pardon?
Structuring spoken and written texts effectively
Uses simple connectors to link groups of words.
…and/but…
Using appropriate language and presentation styles with confidence and fluency
Asks and answers simple questions with confidence.
What’s your name?/It’s…
Facilitating interactions
Participating with appropriate confidence and clarity
24
PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Using appropriate language and register for context
Using language appropriate for the situation
Responds appropriately to invitations, suggestions, apologies, etc.
Good idea!
Using a variety of language and communication strategies to achieve a desired effect
Uses intonation and gesture to communicate different emotions during a drama or role-play.
I’m [a bit/really/so] sad.
Adapting language use according to different cultures and social groups
Adapts language according to the social group (e.g. talking with teachers at school vs parents at home).
Excuse me, Mr/Mrs/ Miss/Ms…
Using communication strategies to facilitate conversations
Interrupts others politely.
Sorry,…
Using strategies for overcoming language gaps and communication breakdowns
Tries to use alternative words or expressions if they are not understood.
I mean…
Structuring spoken and written texts effectively
Uses connectors to add additional points.
Also…
Using appropriate language and presentation styles with confidence and fluency
Tells a story or describes something clearly.
My story is…
Facilitating interactions
Participating with appropriate confidence and clarity
25
Communication in the classroom PRIMARY Communication skills are so inherently embedded within language teaching and learning; the question is not so much whether they have a place in the language classroom, but rather, the extent and ways in which teachers provide an overt focus on them. Learners at this age tend to be more communicative generally – they can be confident and motivated to speak – but often lack the skills to work more effectively together in groups. Raising learners’ awareness of effective communication strategies, and engaging in tasks that promote these skills, are key to supporting young learners in this area. Young learners can be introduced explicitly to these communication strategies as outlined in the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework. This could involve useful language and phrases for different contexts. Ground rules An example is setting some ‘ground rules’ for classroom communication amongst peers or between learners and teachers, such as:
Ground rules for classroom communication 1. Speak clearly 2. Listen carefully 3. Ask questions 4. Show you’re interested – nod, smile, keep eye-contact 5. Say if you don’t understand something – use phrases like: a. Sorry, could you please repeat that? b. I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Could you explain, please? c. Could you speak more slowly/loudly, please? 6. Wait for your turn to speak
These ‘ground rules’ can be made more meaningful to learners if they are decided together as a whole class.
26
Storytelling For promoting communication in the classroom, storytelling is a useful method that can be exploited in numerous ways. For example, introducing young learners to greetings, making polite requests or asking for permission. The context provided by a well-chosen story can help convey the meaning of useful phrases. Further questions can establish the situations in which they are used, supporting the child’s developing awareness of language function and register. Primary learners could also practise retelling the story to develop their communication skills. By adding a self- and peer-assessment element to this activity, learners are more motivated to retell the story accurately and clearly. This type of assessment can also help to develop receptive skills and learner independence. The success of this approach depends upon the establishment of clear, appropriate and achievable success criteria and the ability to review learner output. The ability to record and listen back to their answers using digital tools (e.g. tablets) can support this.
Over to you… 1. Choose one of the example activities in this section and try it out with your class. – Following the activity, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their communication skills. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could adapt these activities to have a greater focus on communication skills.
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Communication in young learner learning materials PRIMARY
Here, students are practising communication skills by structuring texts using connectors (exercise 2). This helps them to use language to express thought processes with clarity. By working in a group (see ‘mission’ box), students need to use communication strategies to facilitate interactions.
5
Language practice 2
1
2.34
Listen and choose the correct picture.
1 A
What clothes do George and Grandpa talk about? B
2 A
What have George and his parents decided to do tomorrow? B C
2.35
C
Grammar spotlight
The weather’s really cold, so we have to wear warm clothes. Today we couldn’t go skiing because it was foggy.
2 Match to make correct sentences. Write the sentences. 1
There was a bad storm, …
a
2
They were wearing warm clothes … b
3
It snowed heavily, …
c
because there was a lot of snow. so we could go sledging. so we couldn’t play in the park.
STAGE 2 Draw a map with weather symbols. In groups, draw a map of the country you chose. Draw the weather symbols on your map for a day in winter.
The weather in the north is foggy and cold because it’s near the sea.
My
It’s snowy in the east because there are mountains.
diary Activity Book page 56
Conjunctions: so and because
28
61
Power Up Level 4, page 61, ISBN 9781108414661
What is Collaboration ? Collaboration is often described as a key skill for 21st century education (NRC, 2011). Some advantages of collaboration over individual problem-solving are effective division of labour; use of information from multiple sources, perspectives and experiences; higher levels of creativity and better quality of solutions (OECD, 2013). When people interact with each other, they are not simply sharing information but are supporting each other in collective thinking. This collaborative interaction allows participants to achieve more than they can alone. We have identified four Core Areas within Collaboration: • Taking personal responsibility for own contribution to a group task refers to a learner’s ability to participate actively in group activities through taking on a variety of roles, to share their own ideas freely with others and demonstrate a willingness to provide explanations for their own contributions as required. • Encouraging effective group interaction includes a learner’s ability to listen carefully to others and to acknowledge their views, even when conflicting with their own. Learners are thus able to take turns appropriately in a group task, provide constructive feedback and also put forward their own solutions and ideas in a way that helps the group progress towards completing it. It also involves groups establishing effective ways of working together and offering mutual support to one another. • Managing the sharing of tasks in a group activity refers to a learner’s ability to identify tasks and sub-tasks in a group activity and to share them fairly amongst group members. • Working towards task completion is related to a learner’s ability to ensure the group is making progress towards their goals. This might include evaluating multiple options and points of view during a group activity and recognising the most suitable solution for the resolution of the task. It also involves effectively identifying and resolving issues that may arise during the course of an activity. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
COLLABORATION
Taking personal responsibility for own contribution to a group task
Actively contributing to a task
Encouraging effective group interaction
Listening and responding respectfully
Taking on different roles
Establishing ways of working together Engaging and supporting others
Managing the sharing of tasks in a group activity
Agreeing what needs to be done
Working towards task completion
Ensuring progress towards a goal
Managing the distribution of tasks
Identifying issues and challenges Resolving issues
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Collaboration Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Taking personal responsibility for own contribution to a group task
Actively contributing to a task
Shares ideas about pictures, stories and experiences.
Do you know the story about…?
Taking on different roles
Identifies how they are going to contribute to the activity.
I’ve got to [count].
Listening and responding respectfully
Builds on others’ ideas (e.g. in a role-play activity).
And he [lives]…
Establishing ways of working together
Establishes the rules of a game.
We take turns.
Engaging and supporting others
Makes sure everyone joins in by asking them to share their ideas.
Do/did you like…?
Agreeing what needs to be done
Explains the steps needed to complete an activity.
We’re going to…
Managing the distribution of tasks
Suggests roles for group members.
Please can you…?
Ensuring progress towards a goal
Keeps the group focused on the goal despite distractions or obstacles.
Hurry up.
Identifying issues and challenges
Recognises if own or another child’s behaviour is causing a problem.
Don’t fight.
Resolving issues
Tries to resolve problems in the group (e.g. through finding a compromise).
Do you want to share?
Encouraging effective group interaction
Managing the sharing of tasks in a group activity
Working towards task completion
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PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Taking personal responsibility for own contribution to a group task
Actively contributing to a task
Shares ideas and suggestions about familiar and unfamiliar topics during tasks.
We could…
Taking on different roles
Identifies how their own sub-task contributes to the aim of the task.
I’m going to…
Listening and responding respectfully
Interrupts politely at appropriate moments in group talk.
Please can I speak now?
Establishing ways of working together
Contributes to establishing group rules.
Remember to…
Engaging and supporting others
Encourages other members of the group who may be shy or less confident in speaking English (e.g. by using inclusive body language).
Go on.
Agreeing what needs to be done
Incorporates others’ ideas about how to organise and carry out an activity when appropriate.
Let’s do it [like Jane says].
Managing the distribution of tasks
Suggests roles for group members.
[Name] writes well. Can he…?
Ensuring progress towards a goal
Keeps the group focused on the goal despite distractions or obstacles.
Hurry up.
Identifying issues and challenges
Recognises when there are problems between group members.
She’s fighting [with…]
Resolving issues
Decides how to work out problems so that the group can achieve their task.
Why don’t we…?
Encouraging effective group interaction
Managing the sharing of tasks in a group activity
Working towards task completion
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Collaboration in the classroom PRIMARY Here are some strategies for making the classroom more collaborative: • Tasks should have clear goals and steps. • By using the Core Areas and Components when planning lessons, teachers can clearly focus their activities to specific aims and therefore be more confident; teachers need to select tasks which require collaboration and which will motivate their learners. • The task should be at the appropriate level of challenge for the learners so that they do not become demotivated by the task or complete it too quickly. • It is crucial for teachers to explain and discuss the need for collaboration within each task with their learners.
32
• Learners should understand the aim of what they are doing and how their own contributions fit into the whole task – that the success of the task is the responsibility of each member of the group. • Teachers must monitor group work and give timely feedback. The teacher can also encourage peer feedback. • Learners should be encouraged to celebrate the success of the task by reflecting on their own contributions and roles, as well as setting goals for improvement. • Active listening skills should be taught (making eye contact, showing empathy and understanding, not interrupting, summarising what the speaker has said, etc.) and the language of turn-taking introduced. • Tasks should allow choice so that learners can choose to work to their strengths (for example, the best at drawing does the illustrating), or the opposite, in order for learners to be able to try things they are not confident at to develop new skills. Additionally, the learners that do have strengths in one particular area can coach others and support general upskilling.
33
Developing collaborative skills with young learners can be challenging as, in the early years, children tend to be more egocentric and often do not find sharing natural. It is therefore important to lay the foundations for collaboration, starting in pre-primary classes, by creating positive class routines that steadily build up teamwork. Teachers can explain to their learners the merits of collaboration (if necessary, using the learners’ mother tongue), and model the behaviour and appropriate language for collaborative tasks. The following are examples of effective tasks/strategies for building collaboration skills: Shared tasks With support from the teacher, the learners take on different roles and collaborate, so that at the end they can see the result and understand that this was only achieved by working together. An example of an activity that would work well would be building a castle which will be used in a story-telling activity. Games Games require turn taking, paying attention to classmates and giving appropriate responses like ‘well done’ or ’never mind’, which are all important aspects of collaboration.
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12 3
Choral work
Listen and point. Sing.
5 CD4
A good example of choral work would be action songs, where children have to follow not just the teacher, but also each other to be synchronised and feel part of the whole class. Learners could be grouped to take on different roles within the song, and will be responsible for singing and doing the actions at the relevant parts. Only by playing their part can the class get through the whole song – this can foster a sense of togetherness and responsibility among the learners. An example of a song that could work well is included here. Throughout these activities, teachers can monitor and encourage good collaboration techniques, and reward members of the group demonstrating these skills. This could be done by taking photos or videos of group activities to show to the learners at the end of the task as evidence of their collaboration.
I’m writing a new song, I’m writing a new song. At the beach, at the beach. Suzy’s getting a lot of shells, Suzy’s getting a lot of shells. At the beach, at the beach. Scott’s swimming in the ocean, Scott’s swimming in the ocean. At the beach, at the beach. Dad’s walking on the sand, Dad’s walking on the sand. At the beach, at the beach. Mom’s reading in the sun, Mom’s reading in the sun. At the beach, at the beach...
Over to you… 1. Choose one of the example activities in this section and try it out with your class. – Following the activity, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their collaboration skills. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could make these activities more collaborative.
4
Ask and answer. What’s Sally doing?
beach mountain ocean sand shell sun
She’s writing a song. 85
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Collaboration in learning materials PRIMARY
Here, students practise collaboration skills by working in a group to prepare some travel advice (see ‘mission’ box). The teacher could use this opportunity to encourage effective group interaction through discussing ways of working together.
5
Culture
4
2.38
Listen and read about the different seasons in Argentina. Answer the questions. Argentina is a very large country in South America. It’s in the southern hemisphere, so winter begins in June and summer begins in December. However, it isn’t cold in winter in all of Argentina because it has different climate zones.
Let’s look at two examples. The north of Argentina is near the equator and it has a tropical climate. There are lots of rainforests and there are high temperatures all year, even in winter. The south of Argentina has a polar climate. It’s close to
1
Why are the seasons different in various parts of Argentina?
2
Where are the rainforests?
3
Where is the polar climate zone in Argentina?
Antarctica, so it’s very cold all year – cold enough for penguins – because it’s never near the sun. In many countries we can say, ‘I go skiing in winter and I love swimming in the sea in summer.’ You can do those activities in Argentina, but in any season. Why? The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world and 4,000 kilometres of it is on the border between Chile and Argentina. Argentina also has almost 5,000 kilometres of coast from north to south. It’s no problem to go skiing in summer and swim in the sea in winter. You only have to choose the correct place!
4
Can you only find penguins in winter?
5
What’s special about the Andes?
6
Are the Andes in Argentina longer than the coast?
5 Make a poster about the seasons in your country.
Use your poster to describe the things you like best about each season.
STAGE 3
Write some travel advice. In your group, think about the weather and prepare travel advice. It’s snowy in the mountains. You can go skiing! Be careful, there will be ice on the road.
My
diary Activity Book page 56
Learn about climate in Argentina
36
63
Power Up Level 4, page 63, ISBN 9781108414661
What are Learning ? to Learn Social Responsibilities How do we engage with other people in an increasingly globalised world? This competency looks at how we can help people develop the skills to contribute better to the social groups they engage with. As the groups they become part of change over time, they need to be able to think about their roles within them, and how they contribute positively to them. They also need to improve their ability to work and link up with people from very different backgrounds and cultures to their own. There is, in addition, the need to step back and see their social engagement from a more global perspective: what are the major issues affecting the world and how do they relate to their own lives? We have identified three Core Areas within Social Responsibilities: • Understanding personal and social responsibilities as part of a social group refers to identifying and perceiving the significance of personal and social responsibilities across different levels, ranging from the local to the global. This involves learners fulfilling their personal and social responsibilities as a member of a social group and/or as a global citizen, and taking responsibility for their own actions. • Showing intercultural awareness refers to a learner being able to describe and analyse features of their own culture and of the culture of others, and to make comparisons in a positive and respectful way. It also includes being able to collaborate with people from other cultures. Culture in this context can relate to cultures of different countries or to cultures of different groups and organisations, e.g. workplaces. • Understanding global issues includes identifying, discussing and understanding a range of perspectives on global issues, for example on topics related to health, human rights and the environment. Learners will be able to understand how their own behaviours can contribute positively or negatively to the identified issues. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Understanding personal responsibilities as part of a social group
Understanding responsibilities within a social group
Showing intercultural awareness
Understanding aspects of own culture
Fulfilling responsibilities within a social group
Understanding aspects of other cultures Interacting with others across cultures
Understanding global issues
Discussing a range of global issues Recognising personal impact on global issues
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Learning to Learn Social Responsibilities Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Understanding personal responsibilities as part of a social group
Understanding responsibilities within a social group
Describes in basic terms roles and responsibilities they have at preschool (e.g. tidying up toys, following directions and following playground rules).
At school, I tidy my toys.
Fulfilling responsibilities within a social group
Recognises when they are behaving badly and corrects their behaviour.
I’m sorry.
Showing intercultural awareness
Understanding aspects of own culture
Identifies and can name familiar places and landmarks in their environment (e.g. pre-school, playground, home, etc.)
This is my school.
Understanding aspects of other cultures
Compares food, festivals and music from different parts of the world.
Our food/music is different.
Interacting with others across cultures
Asks other children for their opinions.
What do you think?
Discussing a range of global issues
Identifies basic needs in human life (e.g. shelter, food, water, etc.).
We need food and water.
Recognising personal impact on global issues
Describes ways they can safeguard the environment (e.g. save water, recycle, etc.).
Recycle bottles/plastic/ paper.
Understanding global issues
38
PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Understanding personal responsibilities as part of a social group
Understanding responsibilities within a social group
Describes roles and responsibilities they have as members of social groups (e.g. family, friendship groups, school class etc.).
At home, I clean my room.
Fulfilling responsibilities within a social group
Follows school rules and makes positive choices about behaviours.
I must [put up my hand in class/follow rules].
Showing intercultural awareness
Understanding aspects of own culture
Describes basic information about their own culture (e.g. language, food, entertainment and pastimes).
In my country we often eat…
Understanding aspects of other cultures
Identifies similarities and differences between own and other countries (e.g. names, geographical location, languages etc.).
In my country we speak French. Also, people speak French in…
Interacting with others across cultures
Identifies similarities and differences in the way people from their own and other cultures communicate.
People bow when they say hello in…
Discussing a range of global issues
Describes common diseases and the importance of prevention (e.g. through hygiene measures).
Wash your hands before you eat.
Recognising personal impact on global issues
Demonstrates understanding of the need to share and protect resources.
We shouldn’t waste water.
Understanding global issues
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Learning to Learn Social Responsibilities in the classroom PRIMARY The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework offers a good starting point in ensuring that young learners come away from a lesson better informed and equipped with new skills for interacting with the world around them. Role play The following is an example of a role play activity that can be used to integrate the topic of personal responsibilities in society into an English class. Learners could be introduced to their roles through visual cues (brother or sister/son or daughter/classmate/friend/team member) and match these to the responsibilities of each role (the responsibility to share, be considerate of other’s feelings, be fair, respect others’ opinions, help the more vulnerable, follow rules, etc.). Learners could work in pairs or groups to role-play a situation, such as the following: • A classmate at school or family member at home is not fulfilling their duties responsibly; • Learners imagine they are leaders of their country and brainstorm a list of the roles and responsibilities they would give to people in their country.
40
Comparing Cultures Another area of Social Responsibilities that affords learners opportunities for exploration and discussion is that of cultural awareness. A country that is a contrast to the learners’ own is a good starting point: for example, learners in Germany could focus on Bangladesh and vice versa. The lesson could begin with learners adding details to a map of the focus country (capital city, rivers, mountains, etc.) using online resources to help them. Learners then read a short text about a child of a similar age, entitled ‘A day in the life of…’. This can spark a number of creative activities such as: • Writing a diary entry from the point of view of that child which might include his/her thoughts, feelings and hopes for the future. • Learners work in groups to look at pictures which show different problems that the child faces in their everyday lives. Each group could discuss the problem (in their mother tongue if necessary) and prepare a short presentation for the rest of the class on how they would resolve it.
Over to you… 1. Choose one of the example activities in this section and try it out with your class. – Following the activity, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their skills related to Social Responsibilities. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities you may be using or topics that you may be teaching in your classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could use these to build on your students’ Social Responsibilities skills. 41
Learning to Learn Social Responsibilities in learning materials Here, students engage with Social Responsibilities by learning about ways of protecting the environment. Thinking about their personal impact as well as that of their social group, they are developing an understanding of the ways in which personal and group behaviour can affect global issues.
PRIMARY
Trevor’s values
Reuse and recycle 3
Listen and say the number.
3 CD2
1
2
4 3
Ask and answer.
4 What’s this?
It’s a flowerpot.
What’s it made from?
It’s made from a boot.
What do you reuse at home?
5
I reuse ... at home.
bottles
paper
plastic bags
Vocabulary
bottle
42
flowerpot
keyboard
paper
plastic bag
31
Kid’s Box American English Level 2 Student’s Book, page 31, ISBN 9781316627013
What is Emotional Development ? Emotional development is an important foundation for success at all ages and emotional skills underpin and support both social and cognitive development in learners. Indeed, emotional development impacts on academic and social success over and above the effect of cognitive ability (Izard, 2002; Qualter et al., 2011). It affects our learning and our ability to carry out tasks effectively at work or in education. It is distinct from the other areas of competency in that the approach to supporting and evaluating emotional development is in most cases less explicit or teacher-directed. Generally, the recommended approach is to support emotional development by creating activities around other learning objectives that also give learners the opportunity to develop their emotional skills. We have identified three Core Areas within Emotional Development: • Identifying and understanding emotions refers to a learner’s capacity to become aware of, understand and express how they feel in different situations and contexts. It involves understanding what may cause different emotions and the effects that these emotions might have on behaviour. This could be achieved through reflection and self-appraisals of their strengths and weaknesses, thinking about their emotions and verbalising them, and identifying and describing their beliefs, values and actions. • Managing own emotions relates to the ability to utilise emotions once they have been identified in order to deploy coping mechanisms in emotional situations, to minimise negative emotions and to enhance positive ones. Learners are able to adapt to aversive or distressing emotions by using self-regulatory strategies that lead to emotional resilience. • Empathy and relationship skills involve understanding others’ perspectives and being able to empathise with and support others. This is important in building and maintaining relationships and handling interpersonal problems such as conflict with respect and care. Within these Core Areas we break things down further, defining the Components that make up each Core Area:
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Identifying and understanding emotions
Recognising and describing emotions
Managing own emotions
Monitoring and reflecting on own emotions
Empathy and relationship skills
Establishing and maintaining positive relationships
Understanding emotions
Regulating emotions
Showing empathy for the feelings of others Supporting others
43
Emotional Development Can Do Statements and Example Language PRE-PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Identifying and understanding emotions
Recognising and describing emotions
Identifies core emotional states (e.g. happy, sad, excited, bored, angry, scared or hurt).
[I’m] happy/sad/angry/ excited/bored/scared.
Understanding emotions
Names things that make them feel good and/or things that make them feel sad.
[Dogs] scare me.
Monitoring and reflecting on own emotions
Verbalises what emotion they are currently experiencing.
[He] made me sad.
Regulating emotions
Attempts to control own impulses.
It’s my turn now.
Establishing and maintaining positive relationships
Starts to create friendships.
Do you want to play with [us]?
Showing empathy for the feelings of others
Begins to show understanding of interactions that are hurtful or unfair to others (e.g. lying, ignoring, teasing, hitting, excluding, etc.)
It’s wrong to [tease people].
Supporting others
Consoles others (e.g. by hugging them or offering them a toy).
Do you want a [hug/toy]?
Managing own emotions
Empathy and relationship skills
44
PRIMARY CORE AREAS
COMPONENTS
EXAMPLE CAN DO STATEMENTS
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE
Identifying and understanding emotions
Recognising and describing emotions
Describes different emotions.
I feel really [bored/ excited].
Understanding emotions
Describes what makes them feel happy, sad or upset.
[The sun] makes me happy.
Monitoring and reflecting on own emotions
Engages in self-talk and/or talk with others about their emotions.
I don’t understand why…
Regulating emotions
Uses strategies of controlling emotions when upset or stressed (e.g. breathing techniques).
When I’m angry, I count to ten.
Establishing and maintaining positive relationships
Identifies ways of making friends and being a good friend (e.g. sharing, listening, helping, respecting other people’s belongings etc.)
Are you alone?
Showing empathy for the feelings of others
Shows concern and compassion for other children when they are hurt or upset.
Are you OK/alright?
Supporting others
Helps and comforts others where necessary.
Let me help you.
Managing own emotions
Empathy and relationship skills
45
Emotional Development in the classroom PRIMARY Incorporate an individualised approach • Acknowledge that all learners experience emotions in different ways; for a strategy to be effective, it must fit the individual learner and the specific context. • Coach learners in understanding and managing emotions and fostering effective relationships with others.
Example activity: ‘Name it to tame it’ Simply put, naming feelings helps individuals understand them and develop an ‘emotion vocabulary’. There are two ways of using this activity: dealing with negative emotions and understanding others’ feelings. 1. Dealing with negative emotions:
Teachers encourage learners to say silently or aloud, or write down, the negative emotion they are experiencing – as they are experiencing it – in order to gain distance. If learners can recognise their emotion, they do not have to accept it – they can consciously become aware of their bodies and minds and disengage from the emotion.
2. Understanding others’ feelings:
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Teachers use the idea of labelling emotions as a means of developing an understanding of the emotions in play during interactions with other learners. Simply silently naming the emotion being felt by the other, for example asking themselves ‘what is this person feeling right now?’ brings it to consciousness and provides information necessary to respond more empathetically. Empathetic teachers and learners understand and share the feelings of others, which first necessitates that they can identify the emotion.
Minimise students’ anxiety • Create the conditions to provoke positive reactions in your students. Some learners may feel anxious in class which causes physical reactions, such as their heart racing. Students should be supported in recognising these physical symptoms of their emotions and re-directing this energy into enthusiasm. If students can recognise these reactions, they can develop coping strategies when experiencing these situations. • Create environments conducive to less anxiety, for example by reducing competition between learners, or practising using the language in different ways.
Example activity: ‘Three good things’ Learners write down three things that went well during the day and briefly describe the reason. The ‘reason’ step is critical as it requires more genuine thought than merely writing down events. This task can help boost happiness and give the learner a sense of achievement whilst reducing negative emotions. The following template can be used: Three good things that happened today
Reasons:
Raise awareness of how emotions can affect students • Build positive self-beliefs amongst students and encourage them to adopt incremental beliefs about intelligence. • Support students in understanding how to regulate their emotions by changing their perspective or situation to enable their emotions to shift.
Example activity: ‘Finding the silver lining’ Learners in this activity pay particular attention to problems – big and small – that arise in their classes or lives outside of school. The aim is to engage the student in finding the positive side of a negative situation by creating a habit of considering both the positive and negative consequences that the situation may have. Learners can use their language skills to verbalise their ‘silver linings’ of any situation to teachers and classmates or document each episode in writing. Teachers need to challenge learners: every time they encounter something problematic, the learner has to find at least one good thing about it. This could be done using the following template: Situation:
What is negative about this?
What is a positive consequence of this?
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Encourage students to express their emotions • Create opportunities for students to talk about their emotions with peers and their teacher. • Provide students with the language and communication skills they need to express their emotions. • Encourage mindfulness by showing students different techniques and activities they can do to achieve this.
Example activity: ‘Savouring’ Savouring refers to being mindful of pleasant experiences and intentionally reminiscing, experiencing them in detail and making them last. Learners concentrate attentively on a particular experience, event or achievement to become totally immersed in the pleasure of the moment. To develop savouring skills, teachers encourage learners to stop and notice something enjoyable and use their language skills to share it with others. They could then be encouraged to take something from the event, like a photo or memento to reminisce over and remember the positive emotions they associate with the event. For example, teachers can take learners on a ‘nature walk’ and ask them to find three things that they would not have noticed before. Learners could touch them, smell them, and carefully observe them so that when they get back to the classroom, they can share their savoured experience with their peers. Teachers could challenge learners to make this a daily habit.
Over to you… 1. Choose one of the example activities in this section and try it out with your class. – When planning the activity, you may find the guidance above helpful. You could follow the instructions here or adapt the activity to suit your class. – Following the activity, reflect on what worked well and what could be improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to recognise and express their emotions. 2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your classes in the next week or so. – Consider how you could adapt these activities to raise awareness of emotional development strategies and to encourage your students to think about their own emotions.
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Emotional Development in learning materials PRIMARY
Here, children learn about emotions by identifying characters’ feelings (Tomás is sad, then excited in exercise 2A; Valentin is sorry, then happy in exercise 2B). Through a role play activity (exercise 2) they are asked to practise expressing emotions, showing empathy and consoling others.
When Tomás came back he was surprised to find that El Viejo wasn’t there. ‘Where is he?’ he said. ‘Oh, he walked away down the hill,’ Valentín answered. ‘I don’t know where he was going.’ Tomás started crying. ‘No!’ he said. ‘He can’t! El Viejo! Come back!’ Before Valentín could stop him, Tomás ran back to the house shouting, ‘Mummy! Daddy! El Viejo has gone!’
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When Valentín got home, he found his brother sitting at the kitchen table. His mother and father looked at him in that special way, the one they used when they weren’t pleased with him. Valentín said, ‘I’m sorry, Tomás,’ and then he asked his brother to go back to the hill. ‘We’ll make another El Viejo,’ he said, ‘lots of them.’ ‘Can we?’ Tomás asked. ‘Can we, Valentín?’ And that was what the brothers did for the rest of the day. They fi lled the hillside with snowmen. Valentín was happy that his brother was excited and he thought to himself, ‘Well, there’s always tomorrow – I’ll go snowboarding then.’
2 Role play a conversation with a partner. Imagine you are Tomás and Valentín.
A
You are Tomás. You’re very sad about El Viejo. You were very excited when you made him and you were very sad when you saw that El Viejo wasn’t there. Tell Valentín how you feel. I’m very sad, Valentín. I liked the snowman so much!
B
You are Valentín. You’re sorry that you made Tomás sad. You only wanted to go snowboarding. Say sorry to Tomás, tell him what happened and talk about the new snowmen you can make together. I’m very sorry, Tomás. I didn’t want you to be sad. Let’s make lots more snowmen. They’ll be bigger and better than El Viejo. Social and emotional skill: Showing remorse
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Power Up Level 4, page 65, ISBN 9781108414661
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Selected further reading For more information on Life Competencies, please see: Creative Thinking: Dörnyei, Z., & Murphey, T. (2003). Group dynamics in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Goldstein, B. (2008). Working with images. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kaufman, J., Glăveanu, V., & Baer, J. (Eds.). (2017), The Cambridge handbook of creativity across domains. (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Maley, A., & Peachey, N. (Eds.) (2015). Creativity in the English language classroom. Available at: englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/ files/attachments/pub_f004_elt_creativity_final_v2_web-1.pdf Sternberg, R.J. (2006). The nature of creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 18(1), 87–98.
Critical Thinking: Anderson, L. W., & Krathwohl, D. R. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman. Black, B. (2008). Critical thinking – a definition and taxonomy for Cambridge Assessment: supporting validity arguments about critical thinking assessments administered by Cambridge Assessment. Paper presented at 34th International Association of Educational Assessment Annual Conference, 9th September 2008, Cambridge. Butterworth, J., Thwaites, J., & Thwaites, G. (2008). Thinking skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ennis R.H. (2015) Critical thinking: A streamlined conception. In M. Davies & R. Barnett (Eds.) The Palgrave handbook of critical thinking in higher education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Fisher, A. (2011). Critical thinking: An introduction (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Learning to Learn: Chamot, A. & Harris, V. (Eds.) (2019). Learning strategy instruction in the language classroom: Issues and implementation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Dörnyei, Z. (2005). Psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mulwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Dörnyei, Z. & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. London: Routledge. Ellis, G. & Sinclair, B. (1994). Learning to learn English: A course in learner training. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Griffiths, C. (2008). Lessons from good language learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Little, D., Dam, L. & Legenhausen, L. (2017). Language learner autonomy: Theory, practice and research. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Oxford, R. (2017). Teaching and researching language learning strategies: Self-regulation in context. New York: Routledge. Pawlak, M., Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A. & Bielak, J. (Eds.). (2017). Autonomy in second language learning: Managing the resources. Berlin: Springer
Communication: Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy. In J. C. Richards & R. W. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and communication (pp. 2–27). London: Longman. Celce-Murcia, M., Dornyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 5–35. Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Available at www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/home Dörnyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication strategies in a second language: Definitions and taxonomies. Language Learning, 47(1), 173–210. Kellerman, E. (1991). Compensatory strategies in second language research: A critique, a revision, and some (non-) implications for the classroom, in R. Phillipson, E. Kellerman, L. Selinker, M. Sharwood Smith, & M. Swain (Eds.), Foreign/second language pedagogy research: A commemorative volume for Claus Færch, (Multilingual matters). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
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Collaboration: Hess, N. (2001). Teaching large multilevel classes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McCafferty, S., Jacobs, G. & DaSilva Iddings, A.C. (Eds). (2006). Cooperative learning and second language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mercer, N. (2000). Words and minds: How we use language to think together. London: Routledge. NRC – National Research Council (2011) Assessing 21st Century Skills: Summary of a Workshop. J A Koenig, Rapporteur. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2017). PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2015 results (volume V): Collaborative problem solving. Paris: PISA, OECD Publishing.
Social Responsibilities: British Council. (2008). Global citizenship in the English language classroom. London: British Council. Council of Europe. (2002). The Maastricht global education declaration: European strategy framework for improving and increasing global education in Europe to the year 2015. Available at: rm.coe.int/168070e540 Corbett, J., & Thornbury, S. (2010). Intercultural language activities (Cambridge handbooks for language teachers). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OECD. (2016). Global competency for an inclusive world. Paris: OECD. Available at: www.oecd.org/education/Global-competency-for-an-inclusive-world.pdf Oxfam. (2015). Global citizenship in the classroom: a guide for teachers. Oxford: Oxfam GB. Available at: www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/global-citizenship-in-the-classroom-a-guide-for-teachers UNESCO. (2016). The ABCs of global citizenship education. Paris: UNESCO. Available at: unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002482/248232e.pdf
Emotional Development: Arnold, J. (1999). Affect in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York, NY: Routledge. Gregersen, T. MacIntyre, P.D. & MacMillan, N. (2019). The emotional rollercoaster of teaching abroad: In search of silver linings in difficult times. In C. Gkonou, J.-M. Dewaele, & J. King (Eds.), Language teaching: An emotional rollercoaster. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Lopes, P.N., Salovey, P., & Straus, R. (2003). Emotional intelligence, personality, and the perceived quality of social relationships. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(3), 641–658. MacIntyre, P. D. & Gregersen, T. (2013). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening emotional power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(2), 193–213. Reeve, J. (2018). Understanding motivation and emotion (7th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Laura and Olivia Language Research Team, Cambridge University Press
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You can find information about the other competencies in the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework at cambridge.org/clcf
✓ Creative Thinking ✓ Critical Thinking ✓ Learning to Learn ✓ Communication ✓ Collaboration ✓ Social Responsibilities ✓ Emotional Development
© Cambridge University Press 2020