The Natural Approach

Do you know the term Natural Approach? This is a method for beginners based on observation and interpretation on how a person acquires his first language. It emphasizes on communication rather than grammar. One of the things which is very important and conclusive when learning is that the input has to be comprehensible. However, if the input is not comprehensible, you can continue learning because the accent, the entonation... gives us some information. This is the non-verbal communication. 

For that reason, this kind of learning, which defends that we shouldn´t use our mother language in class, is so important in the Kindergarden. In this period, children can acquire a language more easily!

CLIL: Transforming theory into practice

Nowadays, everybody is talking about CLIL education. We can find a lot of interesting information about that new term. However, a CLIL teacher needs to learn how to transform the theory into practice and it is not easy!

Here we have a useful article in which we can learn how to prepare a CLIL unit for our subjects in only five stages. I hope it helps you!

http://www.unifg.it/sites/default/files/allegatiparagrafo/20-01-2014/coyle_hood_marsh_clil_toolkit_pp_48-73.pdf

A wonderful and helpful video for teachers!

I have found in British Council webpage a very enthusiastic conference by Carol Read who is a teacher, a teacher trainer and a materials writer with over 30 years experience in English language teaching. Nowadays, she works as a writer and international educational consultant advising on pre-primary and primary foreing language programmes and delivering customised teacher education courses.

If you are a teacher, this video could give you some resources to motivate your pupils, but I think that the real secret of motivating is the teacher, because he/she has the power to create an atractive learning.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/carol-read-secret-working-children