Problems and technologies of teaching foreign languages at early ages

Алиева Жанар Ибрагимовна – магистрант 2 курса группы Ая-16-1м
Нурекешова Г.Р. – научный руководитель, к.ф.н., ассоциированный профессор
Кызылординский государственный университет имени Коркыт Ата (Кызылорда, Казахстан)

Nowadays the problem of teaching foreign languages ​​continues to be one of the most important problems of methodological science. This is natural, because today the social order of the society in teaching foreign languages pushes the task of developing the spiritual sphere of children, increasing the humanistic content of instruction, and more fully realizing the development potential of the subject as applied to the personality of each child. Therefore, the main goal of teaching foreign languages ​​in high school is to develop the personality of the schoolchild who is able and willing to participate in intercultural communication and independently to improve in the acquired activities.

In the context of modernizing Kazakh education, the problem of teaching foreign languages from the first grade in the general education school is topical. Interest in the teaching of a foreign language for junior children has been steadily increasing in recent years.

What are the characteristics of primary school age? Are children of primary classes ready to learn foreign languages?

 In his famous work "The Physiology of the Mind", V. Renfield and R. Roberts say that "starting to study foreign languages after 9 years is like marrying after 60". In the same work, they note that "the human mind has a special ability to learn foreign languages, which declines age by age."

Most modern psycholinguists and psychologists agree that a special susceptibility to the study of foreign languages is manifested, usually up to 8 years, and to begin learning foreign languages after this age is too late.

K. Chukovsky in his book "From 2 to 5" argues that children of this age are particularly susceptible to learning foreign languages and that they are pleased to learn the rules and meanings of words[1]. It seems as if their brain at this age specializes in language learning.

However, by starting English from the second grade, teachers may encounter some problems.

Every school class is heterogeneous, because the schoolchildren, who are studying in it, differ in many parameters: the level of training, the potential ability to learn, the ability to learn languages, the ability to communicate in a foreign language in a group, intellectual abilities, motivation to learn a foreign language. Schoolchildren also differ in their priorities in the choice of the form of perception of the material, the nature of the character, interests, general development.

The second class is attended by children who have not started studying a foreign language and children who already have experience in studying a foreign language at a preschool age[2]. Children who have studied English before the school are more receptive to language, more relaxed, more motivated, easier to communicate, work better with the book, are more willing to work in pairs and small groups. They are more successful in mastering the articulation of the English language, are familiar with the phonetic exercises, which cause certain difficulties for children who have not completed the course of study. Therefore, it is required to distribute the educational material based on the lessons, taking into account the skills and habits that have been formed in children engaged and not engaged in English in the pre-school establishment. The solution to this problem is not only in planning, but also in implementing the plan in the learning process. Child-specific lesson plans are based on an analysis of the children’s needs. The opportunities and needs of specific class members determine how the objectives of the lessons are formed, how the content, methods and techniques of work are selected, as well as methods and forms of control.

One of the problems of early learning is the psychological and age characteristics of a particular child. By considering the psychological characteristics of the development of perception, attention, memory, imagination and thinking of younger schoolchildren, it is beneficial to use the figurative thinking of children, the elements of the game, in the educational process. The game is a powerful stimulus to mastering the language, it leads to development. The developmental value of the game lies in nature itself, because the game is always emotions, practical activity in the formation of skills and abilities - where emotions, there activity, there is attention and imagination, there works thinking process.

The next problem is the contradiction arising in the study of grammatical material.

Children at the time of acquaintance with the grammar of the English language do not know the grammar of the Kazakh language fully, which creates certain difficulties. There is a need to explain Kazakh grammar, and then grammar of the English language. What takes a certain amount of time.

A certain problem in teaching a foreign language at a younger school age is the acquisition of written speech[3]. A letter is a complex speech skill. In teaching English at the initial stage, writing plays a big role. It promotes a more lasting assimilation of the lexical and grammatical material, as well as the improvement of skills in reading and oral speech. But to fulfill this important role, especially at the initial stage and, in particular, in the first year of study, children must learn the technique of writing, learn to write letters and master the spelling of words learned in spoken language and used in written exercises. The learning of written speech has to devote more time than planned by the program. The tempo of writing children is very slow also in Kazakh language. Therefore, all written tasks must first be performed verbally, and then in writing form.

It should be added that parents who are most often approached by children with questions during homework or who wish to share their successes in studying a completely unusual subject can provide a great help in mastering children with English. Parents are the first helpers of children with difficulties in any subject. However, a foreign language occupies a special place, because some parents have not used it for a long time in everyday life, or have forgotten the language. Quite a few parents who either do not show any desire to help their children, or themselves, although they know English well, but cannot help methodically competently and as a result only complicate lessons, forming in schoolchildren misconceptions and wrong knowledge.

It should be noted that the level of physical development and preparedness is more important in the education of junior schoolchildren. It's no secret that 90% of children suffer from various chronic diseases. Weak health affects the assimilation of educational material. Children can be required additional physical activity. Some schoolchildren quickly become tired. In this regard, there is a need to draw up a lesson planning taking into account the physical capabilities of children.

To solve all the problems in the teaching of English in the primary classes, the various pedagogy methods and technologies have been studied. The most acceptable and used were the following:

1) The personal-oriented approach.

The personal-oriented approach in teaching foreign languages involves learning in cooperation, the method of projects and a multilevel training[4]. This technology creates conditions for active joint learning activities of schoolchildren in different learning situations. Children are different: some quickly grasp all the explanations of the teacher, easily master lexical material, communicative skills; others need not only more time, but also additional explanations. In such cases, it is possible to combine children into small groups and give them one common task, as a result, a situation arises in which everyone answers not only for the result of their work, but also for the result of the whole group. Therefore, weak children try to find out from the strong children all the questions they do not understand, and strong children are interested in ensuring that all members of the group, especially the weak child, thoroughly understand the material. As a result, joint efforts eradicate the problems.

2) Project methodology.

One of the promising forms of teaching a foreign language is the project methodology. The application of this method in the educational situation allows us to talk about the school project as a new pedagogical technology that allows solving the tasks of the person-oriented approach in teaching effectively. Teachers can apply project methodology when studying any topic provided by the school curriculum. During the work on the assignment, the project team is united by a single activity; the group becomes the subject of the learning process. This methodology will allow teachers to create conditions for the development of independence, creative activity, and emotional sphere of children, for the education of personal and collective responsibility for the work entrusted. While working on the project, schoolchildren will learn to use the knowledge gained in practice. The project methodology will make it possible to attract weak children to work equally with strong ones, to increase the interest of trainees to a foreign language. The systematic application of this methodology helps to strengthen motivation, significantly improve the effectiveness of training.

Thus, the technologies of the personality-oriented approach will help create a situation of success for the child. They contribute to the development of intellectual and creative abilities of schoolchildren, to uncover their mental potential, independence, responsibility, communication skills. Radical changes in the psychological situation in the classroom, for many children the learning process will become joyful and desirable. The style of the relationship between all participants of the educational process will change.

3) Game technologies.

Among the various methods of organizing classes, games and play situations evoke the greatest interest among junior schoolchildren, as they bring speech activity closer to natural norms, help to develop communication skills, facilitate effective development of linguistic programming material, and provide practical training. Games that teachers widely use in the classroom, at all stages of teaching English, help to solve these problems[5]. Depending on the purpose of the games in the lesson, teachers use the following groups of games:

• games for the formation of speech skills, role-playing games; games for the development of lexical, grammatical and phonetic skills; controlling games;
• games for the development of thinking; games for the development of intelligence;
• games to relieve tension.

From the point of view of methods and means of conducting games, they can be divided into: games using verbal visibility (creation of speech situations) and games using subject-matter visibility (cards, pictures, objects).

The observation of the process of teaching English with the use of games and game situations shows that their use makes it possible to instill in schoolchildren interest in the language, creates a positive attitude towards its study, stimulates the independent speech activity of children, and enables them to more purposefully implement an individual approach to teaching.

- Use of health-saving technologies

As already mentioned above, in the primary school there are problems such as poor children's health, low level of their activity. For more effective achievement of practical, general educational and developmental goals, maintenance of motivation elements of health-saving technologies are used, which give positive results[6].

First of all, the physiological and psychological characteristics of children are taken into account, and such types of work are envisaged that relieve tension and fatigue. The teacher should strive to ensure that the whole lesson passed unconstrained, and the tone of the teacher was vigorous and friendly, a pleasant, well-equipped environment would be created. Mandatory elements of the lesson became exercises - relaxation. By the time it takes 3-5 minutes. The purpose of relaxation is to remove mental stress, give children a small rest, to evoke positive emotions, a good mood, which leads to an improvement in the assimilation of the material. Relaxation is used such as: various kinds of movement, games, singing, dancing, and interest in something new, unusual.

The use of health-saving technologies will create favorable conditions for successful mastering of necessary knowledge in a lesson to overcome difficulties.

All of the above will allow the teacher to make the process of teaching a foreign language in the primary classes successful and effective.

List of literature:

1. Kornei Chukovsky, Collected Works in 15 vol. T. 2: - From two to five, M., Terra - Book Club, 2001.
2. Babenko EI, Gerasimova NN, Oganesyan M.R. On the experience of early learning English in the system of "preschool education - primary school" // IYASh. - 2003. - № 4 - p.20-25.
3. Gribanova K.I. Training of written speech at the initial stage // IYASh. - 1999. - №2. - p.18-21.
4. Aryan M.A. Personality - oriented approach and teaching a foreign language in classes with a heterogeneous composition of trainees // IYASh.-2007-No.1-p.3-11.
5. Stepanova E.A. The game as a means of developing interest in the language being studied // YIYSh.-2004 - №2. - p.66-68.
6. Shlyakhtova G.G. Elements of health-saving technologies in English language lessons. - p.44-47.

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