Evdokia Karavas

8/10/2019 Evdokia Karavas

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Introducing English in the first grades of primary school: The

teachers response and their emerging training needs

New foreign language

education policies in schools:

learning English in early

childhood

code. MIS 299506, 299512 & 299514

Poliglotti4.eu Expert Seminar

on Early Language Learning

9-10/2/2012

Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Dr Evdokia Karavas

Faculty of English Studies

University of Athens


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The EYL Project

The project entitled English for Very Young

Learners is part of the Action: New foreign

language education policies in schools:

learning English in early childhood

Action:New foreign language educationpolicies in schools:

learning English in early childhood

Project:English for Very Young

Learners

The project is co-funded by the European Social Fund and the Greek state

through the Regional Operational programme (Education and Life long

learning), is implemented by the University of Athens and realised by the

Research Centre for English Language Teaching, Learning and Assessment

of the Faculty of English Studies (http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr).
http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/


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The project

Design and development of

the curriculum, the syllabi,the learning materials andtasks (for the first and secondgrade of primary school) andthe design of an e-learning

educational portal forteachers and parents.

Training of teachersappointed to teachEnglish in the first

and second grade ofprimary school for

the first time

Evaluation (internaland external) of the

project which seeks tomonitor and assess theimplementation of each

phase of theprogramme and eachstage of the training

programme.

The internal evaluation will take place during the first two yearsof the

project implementation (2010-2012),while the external evaluation will take

place during the third year (2012-2013).

The external evaluation will be carried out by experts in the field who will also

act as plenary speakers in an international conferencethat will be held in

Spring 2013for the dissemination of the project results.

The project (launched in 2010) involves the introduction of English to students of the first

and second grades of Greek public primary schools and is part of the wider interventionsin the educational system implemented by the Ministry of Education for the development

of the New School.


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The project implementation timeline

Development of the curriculum and learning materials and tasks forfirst/second grade learners; implementation of the programme in 800 all

day primary schools throughout Greece.; development of the EYL

educational portal; information seminars to school advisors and primary

school teachers; specialized training of 15 in-class teachers (project

partners) in teaching English to Young Learners (JuneAugust 2011);

bottom up evaluation of the materials; revision of materials for the first

grade and development of materials for the second grade; internalevaluation of the project; development of the textbook for the third grade

of primary school(available onlinehttp://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/peapabc/cclass.htm)

Implementation of the revised materials and tasks for the first and second

grade in 950 all day primary schools; ongoing evaluation of the materials for

the first, second and third grade; development of online teacher training

modules and materials for face to face training; training school advisors and

trainers; ongoing internal evaluation of the project; hard copy developmentof materials for the first and second grades in the form of a dossier.

Nationwide

implementation of EYL

programme in the first

and second grade of

primary schools;

ongoing training all

primary school English

language teachers;external evaluation of

the Project ; monitoring

of the nationwide

implementation of EYL

during which teachers

will be asked to

develop cross-curricular

activities (in

cooperation with

teachers of other

subjects and primary

school teachers).

2010 - 2011 2012 - 2013

2011 - 2012
http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/peapabc/cclass.htmhttp://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/peapabc/cclass.htmhttp://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/peapabc/cclass.htm


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The EYL curriculumThe curriculum

is learner centred and task based facilitating the development oflearners cognitive, social, affective, psychomotor skills.

taking into account Greek young learners needs and interestsaims at the development of social literacies that learners have

already developed in their mother tongue and the developmentof learners intercultural awareness

consists of a series of graded tasks on familiar everyday topicsorganised in cycles which correspond to each school semester.

All material is accessible and downloadable from the EYL website

http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/englishinschool
http://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/englishinschoolhttp://rcel.enl.uoa.gr/englishinschool


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Each task is accompanied by description, aims, teacher notes on

activity implementation, supplementary materials (activity pages,

pictures, songs, stories etc)


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First year of EYL project implementation:

Baseline and formative internal evaluationBaseline evaluation - September-December 2010:

Survey of the profile of 897teachers engaged in the

project through aquestionnaire completed

during the informationseminars and online.

Survey of the profile of schoolunits through online questionnaires

that were filled in by the pilotschool headmasters. They provided

information about their schools,their teachers and their students.

The data was used as a springboardfor reports and articles written by

the Project Team.

Collecting data from 1135

teachers across the country thattook part in information seminars

organised by School Advisors.Information about the teachers

was collected through schooladvisor reports

of their seminars.

Survey of parents attitudes and

viewswhose children attendedEYL project classes (7250

completed questionnaires). Thesurvey was conducted through

questionnaires distributed by theEnglish language School Advisors.


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First year of EYL project implementation:

Formative - internal evaluation

175 teachers who taught in the first andsecond grade evaluated the educationalmaterial by filling in questionnairesdistributed by the School Advisors.

The teachers evaluated the educationalmaterial and reported on their experience.

The results of this evaluation were used bythe materials development team (consisting

of practising teachers) for the revision andenrichment of the first and second grade

tasks and materials .

At the end of the 2010-2011 school year,online questionnaires were filled in by 405teachers in order to evaluate the entire

Project.

Data was collected with regard to their

experience, their cooperation with othercolleagues, their students and the schoolunits.

The data collected were analyzed and

evaluated for further development andimprovement of the EYL Project.


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Investigating the profile of first and second

grade primary English teachers

Questionnaireeliciteddataon

Questionnaire completed by 897 teachers (163 online and 734 during

information seminars)

2010-2011: 800 all day primary schools throughout Greece, 2000teachers

a) teachersbackground

b) thecomposition

of classes

c) availabilityand quality of

school resources

d) teachers

perceived difficultiesin teaching young

learners

e) teacheridentified

training needs


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28,9%

39,7%

31,4%

Age25-35 years old 36-45 46+

40,2%

35,2%

22,8%

Teaching Positionpermanent position

hourly paid

seconded from secondary schools

Profile of teachers: Biodata


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1-5

years

26,9%

5-10years

19,9%

11-20

years

47,9%

Teaching experience in thepublic sector

65%12,9%

22,1 %

Teaching experience in

primary/secondary education

experience in primary education

experience in secondary educationexperience in both



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50,6 %

49,4 %

Teaching first/second grade

taught either 1st or 2nd grade learners

taught both grades

89,4%

10,6%

Attitudes towards the

introduction of English in the

first and second grade

positive or very positivenegative or neutral


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Profile of classes

Teachers reported

having on average

20 students/class

89,6% reported having 1-10

learners from different

ethnic backgrounds in

1stgrade

92,3% reported having 1-10

learners from different

ethnic backgrounds in2ndgrade


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Learners attending English lessons outside school

%

teachers

No of first grade

students attending

English lessons

outside school

%

teachers

No of second grade

students attending

English lessons

outside school

16,8% 0 2,5% 0

62,5% 1-5 43,2% 1-5

15,2% 6-10 36,7% 6-10

3,7% 11-15 12,1% 11-15

1,9% 16-20 5,4% 16-20


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Teacher perceived difficulties in

dealing with young learners

Do you experience difficulty

with the following:

Great difficulty % Some difficulty % No difficulty %

Getting learners to

concentrate on task17,2 75,9 6,8

Training learners in following

class rules23,8 70,2 5,9

Training learners in respectingothers 15 70,7 14,3

Adapting activities to suits the

needs of my class3,8 49,2 47

Designing appropriate

activities for my class7,3 51 41,7

Dealing parents concerns and

anxieties2,9 32,8 64,6

Cooperating with class

teachers4,3 16,6 79,1

Accessing writing materials 27,1 49,5 23,4


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5.7

60.6

19.9

10.3

8.5

5.9

1.4

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Lesson plans

Activities/materials

Audiovisual materials

Guidelines for teaching young learners

Model lessons

Websites with EYL activities

syllabi

% teachers (437 responses)

Need for extra material

C i hi i


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Comparing teaching experience

with perceived difficulties

Teachers with no experiencewith very young learners

reported having difficulties or

great difficulties in dealing withyoung learners (training in followingclassroom rules, helping learnersconcentrate on the task at hand)and in designing and adaptingactivities for very young learners.

Teachers with experience reported

experiencing less difficulty in these areas

C i hi i i d d


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Comparing teaching situation and postgraduat

studies with perceived difficultiessecondary school

teachersseconded toprimary school

primary schoolteachers

Marked tendency for secondary school

teachers seconded to primary to experiencegreater difficulties in dealing with students

and in designing appropriate activities than

their primary school counterparts.

Marked tendency for teachers with

postgraduate studies but no primary teaching

experience to experience greater difficulties

than their less advanced but experienced

counterparts in dealing with young learnersand designing activities.

Non experienced

teachers withpostgraduate

studies

Less advancedbut experienced

teachers

Fi di d th i i li ti


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Findings and their implications:

Facts, realisations, decisions

Fact 1

Over half of our teachers were well experienced (11-20 years of teaching experience)

and over 60% had experience teaching in the primary sector BUT despite theirexperience these teachers had never received formal systematic training in younglearner methodology.

1/3 of our sample were novice teachers (1-5 years) and lacked any kind of formalsystematic training in EYL methodology.

Over 60% of our sample did not have any prior teaching experience with very younglearners which meant that the majority of our teachers were not familiar with the

special characteristics and challenges posed by the particular age group. In the vast majority of EYL project classes a significant number of students are from

different ethnic backgrounds and are learning English as a third language

Realisation

The training programme addresses a very diverse group of teachers with a wealth ofdifferent training needs.

Decision

The training programme had to include a range of general and more specialized trainingmodules in order to cover the needs of the less and more experienced teachers.



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Fact 2

As data from the teacher profile were being analysed we were

informed that due to school mergers which were decided by thegovernment as one measure against the financial crisis, the projectschools in the following year would rise to 960. As a result of thesemergers, the teaching body in project schools would change by40%.

Realisation

Designing a long term coherent training programme with face toface seminars spanning the three years of the project is not viabledue to constant changes in the composition of our teaching body

Decision

The training programme had to be viable and sustainable regardlessof changes in the composition of the teacher body or in thecomposition of our trainer group. The training programme had tobe coherent offering training in more general areas of EYLmethodology and progressively leading to training in morespecialized areas



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Fact 3

We had managed to collect data from less than half of our project teachers despitethe fact that a) seminars by school advisors were offered throughout Greece and b)teachers also had the option of completing the questionnaire online. This shed doubtson the effectiveness of the cascade model of training in this particular context.

Given that a number of our project schools are located in remote areas and islands inGreece, providing face to face seminars to these teachers is extremely costly in termsof time, money and human resources.

Realisation

Difficult to ensure the quality and reliability of training through the cascade model.Difficult to coordinate and manage a large group of trainers (who have not specializedin EYL methodology) and to ensure that a consistently high level of training will bedelivered to all project teachers throughout Greece.

Decision

The EYL training programme could not focus exclusively on face to face seminars

delivered by trained multipliers. In order to ensure that all teachers have the sametraining opportunities, in terms of quantity and quality, the training programmeshould take the form of a distance learning on line programme consisting of a range oftraining modules each focusing on a different area of EYL methodology andresponding to the needs of the less and more experienced EYL teacher. The onlinetraining modules will also be developed for use in face to face seminars organised byschool advisors.

Th EYL i i


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6. Dealingwith parents

5. Storytelling for

young learners

4. Organising theatre

activities and classevents

3. Using games &crafts

2. Using chants &action songs

The EYL training programme:Training Modules

1. INTRODCUTIONUnderstanding and

managing the younglearner classroom:

Teaching YoungLearners

The pre-primarylearner

Teacher as Manager:Class Management

Teacher as materialsdeveloper (T's Kit)

Using the L1 and L2

in the young learnerclassroom

Culture throughLanguage

Cooperating with theschool principle andfellow teachers

Each module consists of:

a) lively powerpoint

presentation with

information relating

to the module theme

b) extracts from videotaped

EYL project lessons

c) pre-while-post viewing

activities

d) awareness raising and

self-assessment quizzes

e) suggestions for further

reading and suggested sites

with related material.


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The training programme 2012-2013

Development of threefurther training

modules

Developing crosscurricular projects

Using technology in theyoung learner

classroom

Assessing younglearnersMaking the on-line

training platform moreinteractive


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Questions?

Thank You!

Evdokia Karavas

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