Enjoy Learning English

Abstract

In Korea, there are parents who send their children to a private English kindergarten to gain benefits of immersion program. These parents believe that such programs will be able to provide their children with plenty of English exposure to help them to become fluent in the language. They assume that younger children pick up the language quickly and also good pronunciation and listening skills can be developed at an early age. However, when it comes to grammar, EFL children in the immersion program do not seem to reach the point of accuracy that native-children have without conscious attention to the grammar rules (Lightbrown & Spada, 2006, p157). The target students that I have chosen are 7 year-old Korean students who have been learning English in a private English immersion program since they were 5. All instructions and content in the classes are presented in English and the children receive 5 hours of the language exposure on a daily basis from Monday to Friday. All the subjects were taught only in English except for a half-hour Korean class. They are able to comprehend what native teachers say and what they read. They are also able to express their thoughts and feelings in spoken and written languages. Although they use English in all their classes, they continuously make the same grammatical errors in their sentences even after correction. Considering the amount of the language exposure, they are rather poor in accuracy in their language production. The students were able to successfully complete the grammar exercise in the textbook after teacher’s explanation; however, they do not apply what they have learned in their speaking and writing. This could be due to the fact that there is a fair amount of the target language input but there is a less amount of output opportunities for students to use what they learn. The target students’ proficiency level is at the ‘Emerging stage’ (Level 2) of both receptive and productive skills according to WIDA (2012). The students can understand when they have comprehensible input and can produce simple sentences. Despite the amount of the target language exposure, it is shown that they are reluctant to use what they learn in a real communication. In addition, most students consider grammar challenging and not interesting because there is a lack of grammar text books appropriate for the young learners. Also, most of the text books do not include tasks that allow students to use the target language in a meaningful context. The textbooks that are used in most English kindergartens in Korea are designed either for native children or for older learners who are studying for test preparation purposes. In order to solve the problem, this text book will present the target language with stories, songs and video clips in an engaging manner. In addition, students will be given opportunities to use the target language patterns by engaging in communicative tasks.