Teaching English through Play Performance : Based on CLT and Project-Based Instruction

Abstract

English exposure to young learners in Korea has improved in the last two decades. In the current elementary national curriculum, 3rd and 4th graders participate in two-forty minute lessons a week and 5th and 6th graders in three lessons a week (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2011). Still, however, it is not enough for students to have opportunities to use English and build communicative skills. Also, dialogues often are separated from context or real communicative use in most Korean textbooks (Park & Kang, 2013). Furthermore, common topics (e.g. food, animals, and colors) used in the elementary textbooks do not seem to be interesting enough to motivate the young learners. Target students of this book are 3rdand 4th graders in elementary school (aged 10 to11). In particular, my school has English camps for two weeks during vacations. We spend two hours for four days to practice play performance. On the last day of the week, students perform their play in front of an audience, their parents and friends. A class consists of 12 students with level 2 Emerging to level 3 Developing (WIDA, 2012). Last winter, “Frozen” was a box office hit and children liked it very much. Afterwards, my students asked whether they could practice and perform “Frozen” for the next camp. This gave me an idea to design a book based on famous children’s animated movies and musicals. Although this book is aimed for the English camp programs at (for) public school, it can also be used for private institute or after school programs that are interested in including fun, communicative projects for young learners.