Teaching English to young learners is both a difficult and enjoyable

experience. It is difficult for you as a teacher, because you always have to find
new and interesting methods and approaches in order to stir the learners
interest; but in the same time it is enjoyable because you are given the chance of
becoming child again, of seeing the world through a childs eyes, when woring
with children.
!s far as young learners are concerned, they, mostly, find these lessons
enjoyable, as they are active parts in the process. They use the language in
order to communicate ideas, to play games, and later on to tell stories. It is well"
nown that children, young learners, learn more rapidly than older ones and
adults. !ll the information received at this age becomes a useful thing for the rest
of their lives. The first years of study are, perhaps, the most important since now
it is developed the childs attitude towards the new language. This thing involves
a lot of factors which interfere in order to achieve its purpose # maing the child
love or at least enjoy studying English.
The use of drama activities has a definite place in the $oung English
%earners classroom. &uch activities provide meaningful and enjoyable language
practice, and they encourage learners to explore the wonderful world of the
English language through drama. 'rama activities also develop students
intelligence by stimulating their imagination and creativity. The more drama the
children do, the better language learners they will become. (ne thing to
remember that if you are having fun, your students will have fun) *sing different
visuals, voices, and movement to animate the characters help students stay
interested and really helps aid in comprehension of the language.
The &tandard"+ased English %anguage ,urriculum for -alaysian .rimary
&chools is designed to provide pupils with a strong foundation in the English
language. Teachers should use &tandard +ritish English as a reference and
model for teaching the language. It should be used as a reference in terms of
spelling and grammar as well as pronunciation for standardi/ation. This
document is for use in the national type primary schools .
!s English is the second language for pupils, it is believed prudent and
pedagogically sound to defer the learning of grammar to a later stage. .upils
should be given the opportunity to develop an awareness of grammar in their first
language and this awareness may then be exploited when English grammar is
introduced in $ear 0. This approach will reduce the load and stress of learning in
the early years where the emphasis is on learning through fun and play.
There are three broad themes have been identified in the curriculum. That are
1orld of &elf, 2amily and 2riends, 1orld of &tories and 1orld of 3nowledge.
I was chosen a fable entitle The Ant and The Dove . It is a story under the World
of Stories theme for a Year 2 class. World of Stories dealing with a whole new
exerience that the children gain as they enter into a world beyond their ersonal
exerience. This theme can bring the children try out different exeriences without
having to deal with the conse!uences in real life. They also can learn from the characters
in the story who dealt with situations and aly this in their own lives.
(ne day a thirsty ant stopped to have a drin from the river. 4ust
then he lost his balance and fell into the water and was washed away. !
dove happened to be sitting in a tree nearby and saw what happened. 5e
6uicly pluced a leaf off the tree and threw it down into the water next to
the ant. The ant was able to climb onto the leaf and was saved from
drowning.

! while later a hunter came by with his trap. 5e started setting up
his trap to catch doves. The ant new what he was up to. 75ow can I let
this hunter catch the dove that saved my life89 he thought. 7I must do
something) +ut how can a little ant lie me save my friend from a great big
man89 Then he had an idea. 5e hurried across the path, climbed the
mans leg and then gave him a very sharp bite. 7(wwww)9, yelled the
hunter and dropped his trap. The dove flew off. 7Than you, dear ant, for
saving my life,9 he called. 7Ill never forget your indness)9
THE ANT AND THE DOVE
NARRATOR
(ne warm sunny day, a thirsty ant went to the river to 6uench his thirst
with some cool sweet water.
ANT
I am so parched) (h good, there:s the river.
I:ll just run down and get a few sips of water.
NARRATOR
5alf way down the ban, !nt slipped and with legs flailing tumbled into
the swift running river.
ANT
5elp) 5elp) I:m being carried away. The flow of the river is too strong for me)
NARRATOR
'ove alertly heard tiny !nt desperately trying to stay afloat.
DOVE
(h no) .oor little !nt is in trouble) 5e can never hold his own
against the strong current.
NARRATOR
Thining 6uicly, she threw some leaves into the river near the !nt.
DOVE
5urry little !nt, climb onto a leaf)
NARRATOR
!nt gratefully hauled himself up onto a leaf and floated safely to the shore.
! hunter enters.
HUNTER
;<astily=
.erfect) ! lovely, plump dove. &he doesn:t sense that I:m here,
so I should be able to easily trap her)
NARRATOR
!nt, recovering on the ban after his ordeal, saw 5unter hiding behind a tree,
preparing to snare gentle 'ove.
ANT
(h no, my friend 'ove is in danger) I must save her.
NARRATOR
,rafty little !nt shoo off the water and scrambled over to the 5unter.
1ith all his might, he priced the man:s heel.
HUNTER
;4umping up and down in pain=
(w) (w) -y foot)
NARRATOR
'ove was startled by 5unter:s wailing and fled to the safety of a high branch.
DOVE
That was a close one. -any thans, my 6uic thining little friend)
ANT
$ou are most welcome) It was the least I could do.
NARRATOR
The moral of the story> (ne good turn deserves another.
The story that catches my eyes and attention is The !nt and The 'ove.
*nlie the other story, this story is more enjoyable. It is also simple, yet amusing
which suits the vigor of young learners. 2or that matter, it is believed that this
story could achieve the ultimate aim of storytelling which is ac6uiring language
sills. To start with, the story goes about telling an adventure of a little ant and a
dove which is helping each other although they are not a friend. &urely, we all
maybe will not do the same thing as well. This shows that the dove is helpful
animal are resplendent with curiosity. 1hat moves this story is its characters.
The main character of the story is the main reason why I choose this story.
!nother is adorned with beautiful illustrations that able to compliment
every part of the story and its setting successfully. The theme provides suitable
topic to introduce to $ear ? pupils. 2urthermore, the story establish a great
opportunity for pupils to learn phonics such as emphasi/ing on the sound and
allows pupils to learn many new vocabulary as the author describes and
introduce new situation. The story holds great moral value and teaches children
to never give up in finding the place they belong.
In addition to the selection of this story, the setting of the story also
influences my decision. The place are at the jungle . The diction in this story puts
the emphasis on the style of enunciation in speaing. It is no doubt more and
more sounds being introduced and exposed to the pupils so that they would
familiari/e with the sound of English words.
%ast but not the least, children boos, as always come with excellent
illustration. The images are clear and colourful, in fact. Their si/e is big enough
for pupils to see and understand the images. 1hat is great about this
arrangement is that every passage is accompanied with an image to explain
better. -ore about this story is that the length of the story is suitable enough for
young learners. It contains ?@ pages with great illustrations.
+y using this story, I am sure that it is the safe way to explore emotions
and behaviors. Through this story the children can learn to explore the ways on
overcoming the problems. It also provides moral values that can help the children
to become a better person. In conclusion, a good story can be a powerful
influence for the children. It is not only to discover enjoyment, but it helps to
develop favorable attitudes.
'rama and plays can be defined as a type of play where children accept
and assign roles, and then act them out. It is a time when they brea through the
walls of reality, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves,
and dramati/e situations and actions to go along with the roles they have chosen
to play. !nd while this type of play may be viewed as frivolous by some, it
remains an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing
children to develop sills in such areas as abstract thining, literacy, math, and
social studies, in a timely, natural manner. There are some features of stories
and drama that we now. &tories and drama share a number of features ;Aead,
?@@B=, which mae it natural to integrate and combine them in develop children
language learning during language lessons with children are they build on
childrens capacity for play.
!lso, they engage -ultiple Intelligences. In a pedagogical context, stories
and drama provide opportunities for children to use different combinations of their
-ultiple Intelligences ;linguistic, visual"spatial, musical, inesthetic, logical"
deductive, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist= ;Cardner, DEF0= as 7entry
points9 to learning ;Cardner, DEEE=. Through engaging different intelligences in
storytelling and drama activities, individual children have opportunities to build on
their personal strengths in order to consolidate, extend and deepen their
learning. This also provides for variety and helps to broaden and maximise the
appeal of activities and activity cycles within lessons, a factor which is important
with any group and particularly with large classes.
+esides that, drama and play enhances child development in four major
areas. &ocialGEmotional # 1hen children come together in a dramatic play
experience, they have to agree on a topic ;basically what 7show9 they will
perform=, negotiate roles, and cooperate to bring it all together. !nd by recreating
some of the life experiences they actually face, they learn how to cope with any
fears and worries that may accompany these experiences.
.hysical # 'ramatic play helps children develop both gross and fine motor sills
# fire fighters climb and parents dress their babies. !nd when children put their
materials away, they practice eye"hand coordination and visual discrimination.
,ognitive # 1hen children are involved in mae"believe play, they mae use of
pictures they have created in their minds to recreate past experiences, which is a
form of abstract thining. &etting a table for a meal, counting out change as a
cashier, dialing a telephone, and setting the cloc promote the use of math sills.
%anguage # In order to wor together in a dramatic play situation, children learn
to use language to explain what they are doing. They learn to as and answer
6uestions and the words they use fit whatever role they are playing. .ersonal
vocabularies grow as they begin to use new words appropriately, and the
importance of reading and writing sills in everyday life becomes apparent by
their use of literacy materials that fill the area.
'rama can help students reframe their nowledge into new perspectives.
It is a way of exploring subject matter and its relationships to self and society, a
way of 7maing personal meaning and sense of universal, abstract, social, moral,
and ethical concepts through the concrete experience of the drama.9 ;<orman,
DEFD, p. H@, as 6uoted by +olton, DEFH, p.DHH=. !ccording to 'orothy 5eathcote
;DEF0> B@D=, an important value of using drama in the classroom is that 7in drama
the complexity of living is removed temporarily into this protected bower so that
students not only can learn it and explore it, but also enjoy it.9
'rama is an aesthetic learning medium. 5istorically the art form of drama
has provided a frame for societies across time to explore issues of human
behaviour and social narratives in analogous life situations. ,lassroom drama
can enable children to explore such issues and offers a child"centered approach
to curriculum planning. 'rama as aesthetic pedagogy involves children in
in6uiring into problematic situations and abstracting from them principles to guide
problem"solving activities ;Elliott ?@@0=. +ecause they are wittingly caught up in
the pretence, children may gain an analytic reflective window on their own and
others play behaviour as they evaluate implications of their affective play
responses.
This may be achieved by building up the drama painstaingly in small
increments, gradually building volume, cross"checing. Importantly too, children
need to be involved in de"rolling afterwards, returning the set to its original state.
&imilarly, it has proved helpful to use a simple prop or item of costume to signify
when taling to them in role, clarifying when the mae"believe is starting and
stopping.
'eveloping a hierarchy of 6uestioning, moving between closed and open
6uestions has elicited responses from those with limited verbal ability, and using
a multi"modal approach, combining speech with signing ;gesture andGor
graphics= has supported them in accessing meaning. *sing other visual hoos
;pictures, puppets, mass, attractive props= has not only helped rivet their
attention, but also provided a context for early declarative communication, crucial
for establishing early foundations of shared meaning> objects for showing, giving,
establishing ga/e alternation, joint attention and pointing gestures ;.ar ?@@?=.
'ramatic play engages children in both language and aesthetic values. Its
real value lies in the fact that it increases their understanding of the world they
live in, while it wors to develop personal sills that will help them meet with
success throughout their lives. These strategies have enabled explication with
children with wide"ranging learning difficulties of Ilived through experience
;5eathcote DEFJ> EB=. 'rama has also enabled them to explore cultures or
worlds otherwise difficult or impossible for them to access; for example,
experiences at the 5ome 2ront during the &econd 1orld 1ar ;.eter DEEH=.
http>GGathysmile.blogspot.comG?@D?GD@Gusing"drama"for"young"learners.html
http>GGwww.play"script"and"song.comGthe"ant"and"the"dove.html
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