Consultation “Early teaching children English. Methods of early teaching of foreign languages

PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS OF EARLY ENGLISH TEACHING CHILDREN

Esakova I. N.

Municipal educational institution "Krasnenskaya secondary school named after M. I. Svetlichnaya"

Four-year primary education is considered as the first stage of the new Russian school, which is assigned tasks that meet global trends in the development of education. At this stage, the formation of the personality of a junior schoolchild occurs, the identification and development of his abilities, the formation of the ability and desire to learn. Biboletova M.Z., candidate of pedagogical sciences, leading specialist Russian Academy Education believes that early teaching of a foreign language to students has its undeniable advantages:

Learning foreign languages ​​at a young age is beneficial for all children, regardless of their starting abilities, since it has an undeniable impact positive influence on the development of the child’s mental functions - memory, attention, thinking, perception, imagination, etc. Studying has a stimulating effect on the child’s general speech abilities, which also has a positive effect on proficiency in the native language. [M. Z. Biboletova]

Early learning foreign languages gives a great practical effect in terms of the quality of foreign language proficiency, creating the basis for continuing its study in primary school.

The educational and informative value of early learning of foreign languages ​​is undeniable, which manifests itself in the child’s earlier entry into human culture through learning in a new language. At the same time, constant appeal to the child’s experience, taking into account his mentality, the way he perceives reality allows children to better understand the phenomena of their own national culture in comparison with the culture of the countries of the language being studied.

The introduction of a foreign language into the number of subjects studied in primary school has unconditional pragmatic advantages; it expands the range of humanitarian subjects studied at this level, and makes primary education more joyful and attractive for children.

A modern child hears foreign speech everywhere: in the media mass media, at the cinema, using a computer. Focusing on the current situation and the ever-increasing needs of the child in mastering a foreign language, it seems important to study this issue more deeply.

It should be remembered that the methods of learning a language at an early age should be fundamentally different from the methods of teaching it in middle and older age.

Many teachers and psychologists emphasize the need for linguistic development as an important lever for a child’s intellectual improvement. The famous psychologist D. B. Elkonin notes that preschool age is the period in which there is the greatest sensitivity to linguistic phenomena. E. A. Tinyakova, in turn, argues that familiarity with other languages ​​teaches you to isolate in detail and subtly notice shades of meaning: unusual phonetic situations polish pronunciation abilities; Other grammatical structures serve as good logical training.

His future knowledge both in this area and in other subjects depends on what the child’s first steps on the path to mastering a foreign language will be. Due to this

An English teacher in kindergarten and primary school must take into account the age and individual characteristics of each child to create sustainable interest.

It should be remembered that there are certain difficulties in early learning a foreign language. They are due to the fact that there are differences in the psychophysiological development of five- to six-year-old children and seven-year-old students. During the transition from kindergarten to school, a child’s social role changes dramatically. His play activity, which before coming to school was the main way of understanding the world, includes educational activity, which will act as a leader in subsequent years of education. [Sh. A. Amonoshvili]

The problem of maintaining continuity in teaching a foreign language arises, without solving which a smooth transition from preschool to primary education is impossible. According to M.Z. Biboletova, continuity in this case can be considered in terms of vertical connections, which are ensured by the continuity of the goals and content of teaching foreign languages ​​and the choice of a reasonable modern teaching strategy.

Training must be structured taking into account the characteristics of children’s perception, thinking, attention, memory, giving only those tasks that fit into personal experience child, do not go beyond the limits of objects and phenomena known to him.

Existing approaches to teaching foreign languages ​​are divided into predominantly cognitive and predominantly intuitive, imitative. Approaches vary depending on the learning conditions, such as the availability of a language environment, the age of the students, and motivation.

In preschool age, the formation of language skills and speech abilities occurs mainly on the basis of imitation, unconsciously.

In preschool age, the leading form of activity is the game. The speech of preschoolers is elementary, uncomplicated, the child does not yet understand the structure of his native language, and with the transition to primary school, with mastery educational activities, the mental development of children receives an additional boost.

When preschoolers transition to primary school, their speech development the following changes are observed:

Speech in the native language becomes more complex linguistically, which affects the nature of communication skills in a foreign language;

The nature of educational activities becomes more complex and diverse;

Students have aspirations and the opportunity to analyze their speech in a foreign language, since they form some theoretical concepts in the process of learning their native language [Ivanova L. A.].

As a result, the intuitive path that was used in teaching children preschool age, does not give the expected effect in teaching primary schoolchildren due to significant changes in their mental and speech development.

Understanding the intuitive and conscious ways of mastering a foreign language indicates that they are largely determined by the degree of development of psychological processes and differ in the following:

The degree of reliance on the native language, in particular, the presence or absence of translation when semantizing language units;

The degree of participation of consciousness in mastering the language system, mastering elementary grammatical material.

The degree of development of students’ cognitive powers (memory, thinking, imagination) when mastering speech in a foreign language.

The importance of ensuring a flexible transition from teaching preschoolers to teaching younger students is obvious. Two early learning technologies should be highlighted English language:

Education based primarily on intuitive methods of mastering material, which is acceptable for preschoolers five to six years old due to their psychophysiological level and their leading type of activity

Training built on the interaction of intuitive methodological techniques with the gradual inclusion of conscious ways of mastering the material. This technology is more suitable for children who are developing learning activities.

The use of these technologies should be based on their reasonably balanced ratio depending on the age characteristics of students and learning conditions.

In the process of teaching preschoolers, it is advisable to use the strategy of an intuitive way of mastering the material:

Techniques that promote better memorization of educational material: gestures, mime, association, singing;

Building an outline from interconnected lesson plots;

Distribution of roles - masks;

Block delivery of educational material;

Block delivery of educational material.

When moving to primary school, children acquire a sufficient volume of lexical units and speech patterns for a given age.

In the process of teaching first grade students, the following methodological techniques of a conscious nature should be used:

Connection with the native language, use of reliance on it;

Carrying out sound-letter analysis;

Correlating a lexical unit with a picture;

Logical grouping;

Using modeling to form affirmative, negative, interrogative sentences and structure of utterances in English.

The inclusion of methodological techniques in line with a conscious approach to learning will provide solid knowledge and a more complete development of psychological capabilities.

At the beginning of teaching a foreign language to first-graders, it seems advisable to use mainly methodological techniques in line with an intuitive approach. And as you adapt to the conditions of schooling, gradually introduce certain methodological techniques of a conscious nature. This approach promotes the possibility of rational use of the capabilities of a child of primary school age at the transition stage from preschool to school education.

It should be noted that psychological characteristics younger schoolchildren give them certain advantages when learning a foreign language. One of the best motivators is the feeling of success. Children have different ways of receiving and assimilating information: visual, auditory, kinesthetic. All children go through the same paths of cognitive development, but at different rates. periods of rapid progress may alternate with periods when success is less noticeable. To effectively plan the learning process, it is necessary to take this fact into account.

The emotional side is just as important as the cognitive one. The affective side of communication includes communication and interpersonal skills, and determination. It should also be noted that children have different temperaments, some are aggressive, others are shy, others experience their failures too painfully and are afraid of making a mistake. Taking into account all these differences will help the teacher choose a more appropriate task or role for each child.

It is also necessary to take into account the characteristics of the physical development of preschoolers and primary schoolchildren. The development of muscles affects a child's ability to concentrate his eyes on a page, line or word, which is necessary for the ability to read. In order for students to achieve fine motor coordination between visual perception and mechanical movement, their hands need constant training. Children cannot sit quietly for a long time due to lack of control over motor muscles, so it is necessary to give tasks during the lesson that would allow them to move around the class (games, songs with movements, dances).

Taking into account the psychological, emotional, and physical characteristics of development, it is necessary to highlight the means that a foreign language teacher uses when teaching preschoolers and primary schoolchildren:

Scenario plans, plans - lesson notes various forms(integrated lessons; lessons using multimedia aids; lessons - games, lessons - fairy tales);

A set of games (lexical, grammatical, phonetic, interactive);

Development of physical education minutes, dynamic pauses, finger exercises

A variety of teaching materials: training and control cards.

It should also be noted a number of difficulties of a psychological and methodological nature:

Lack of regulatory documents and educational programs;

Technologies for teaching a foreign language in the first grade at the transitional stage from preschool education to school.

Solving these and other problems is a task that needs to be solved through joint efforts, combining theoretical knowledge and practical experience to organize the process of effective early foreign language teaching.

However, despite the existing problems, the main fact should be noted - the inclusion of a foreign language in the curriculum primary school is a serious practical step in the implementation of the personality-oriented paradigm of humanitarian education in the context of modernization of the Russian school.

Literature:

1. Arkhangelskaya L. S. Learning English. M.: EKSMO-Press, 2001
2. Biboletova M.Z. Problems of early teaching of foreign languages. – Moscow Education Committee MIPCRO, 2000
3. Ivanova L. A. Dynamic changes in techniques in English. System “Kindergarten – primary school// Foreign languages ​​at school. – 2009.- No. 2. – p.83
4. Negnevitskaya E. I Psychological conditions formation of speech skills and abilities in preschoolers: Abstract. – M., 1986
5. Continuity between preschool and primary levels of the education system. // Primary education. - No. 2, 2003
6. http://pedsovet.org

METHODS OF EARLY TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

The methodology for early teaching of foreign languages, which I have developed over the course of ten years, is a set of exercises aimed at developing foreign language speech and abstract thinking. Theoretically, it is based on the possibility of teaching a foreign language to children at an early age. It is necessary to clarify the boundaries of early childhood. Experts define this period of childhood differently: some – from birth to three years, others – from birth to five years. I adhere to the first point of view. Research by the American doctor Glen Doman convincingly proves that it is during the period from birth to three years that the brain develops with amazing speed, which means that mental capabilities at this age are unique.

This is confirmed by my experiments. Each lesson of the course for children under one year old lasts at least twenty minutes and can be repeated several times during the day. A lesson with children aged one, two and three years can last from 45 minutes to 3 hours, subject to the active desire of the little students. There are amazing examples. Three-year-old Elisha, after a three-hour lesson with one ten-minute break, began to cry and categorically did not want to let the English teacher go. Little students showed amazing results both in practical mastery of a foreign language and in the development of thinking.

The early learning methodology requires mandatory adherence to the following principles.

1. Creation of psychologically and physiologically comfortable conditions, that is, conditions that presuppose the competent organization of the child’s life. After all, the slightest discomfort under the age of three is a psychological trauma! The regime is selected strictly individually, taking into account the state of health and character (you can also take into account the baby’s horoscope). It is categorically unacceptable to wake a child when he is sleeping, force him to eat when he refuses, or communicate with him disrespectfully. Punishments are excluded altogether.

2. Situational approach to learning. Since the leading activity of young children is play, mastering language means occurs in play, as well as in constantly arising everyday situations that are turned into play situations by the teacher.

3. Since children under one year of age do not have any command of language as a means of communication, they must be provided with extensive listening opportunities. The student bathes in foreign speech through constant or at least systematic communication with the teacher, parents who are professionally fluent in the language, and when listening to audio cassettes.

4. Natural parallel use of the native language. There is a concept “untranslatable in translation”. In the native language there are such emotionally charged words that it is impossible to refuse when communicating with a child, for example: “darling”, “sweetheart”, “you are my golden one”. They break out naturally from the flow of the teacher’s foreign speech, without interfering with the acquisition of another language.

Fulfillment of these conditions ensures the organization of elite education. What do I understand this term to mean? In my dissertation, I proposed the following definition: elite education is education in psychologically and physiologically comfortable conditions, aimed at satisfying the cognitive needs of the child. Here it should be clarified that young children are characterized by an amazing thirst for knowledge. During the first years of life, the baby absorbs so much information, how much does an adult do in 60 years of intense intellectual work. This is what the outstanding psychologist and teacher Maria Montessori says. Hence the task of the teacher and educator is to provide the child with various information. Elite education is available to children whose parents are ready to pay attention to the child. This does not mean that large material costs are needed , the main thing is the competent organization of childhood and mutual assistance, interchangeability of parents: the parents gathered in a circle and decided who could give what to the children - one knows a foreign language well, another can teach how to draw, the third can organize an interesting outing. And all this at home, living in one yard! I will give some recommendations on early learning methods.

1. For a child under one year old, we can, as already mentioned, offer only listening. The teacher needs to choose a time when the child is calm, at good mood and start a conversation:

- Hello! I speak English. I am your teacher. My name is Lena. I can sing, I can play. I know many tales.

Next, the teacher tells the story to the quiet ones, in a pleasant voice. The fairy tale is repeated from lesson to lesson, after some time you will notice that the baby recognizes familiar words, smiles, puts his lips into a tube (this means that he is trying to repeat after you).

2. Working with fairy tales with children after one year. The teacher chooses a book with large pictures that are easy to understand. Each picture is examined with the child for as long as he is interested in it, accompanied by an explanation in a foreign language.

– Look: this is a Little Red Riding Hood. This is your mother. This is a wolf. This is a grandmother.

Before putting your child to bed, you can tell the entire story as many times as he likes to listen to. Those who communicate with the baby in their native language can tell the same fairy tale in Russian. By the age of one year, children can already apply their knowledge when reading fairy tales to identify the main characters and name them. At this time, the teacher asks the child questions, to which the child answers or points with his finger in the picture.

– Where is Little Red Riding Hood?
– Where is a grandmother?
– Where is a wolf?

3. Talking about surrounding objects is suitable for both newborns and older children. The teacher shows objects and talks about them: – This is your room. This is your bed. This is a window. This is a door.

Conversations, like fairy tales, often repeat themselves. After some time, naming the words, the teacher asks the child to point his finger at the corresponding objects. If the child points correctly, it means he has learned them well and can begin new material.

4. By the age of one year, children usually begin to say some words, so it becomes possible to activate the child in the lesson. The teacher talks with the child, encouraging him to take action, while at the same time checking his understanding of foreign language speech:

– Give me a cat! A cat likes milk. Give it some milk! Sit down, cat!

As already mentioned, the technique consists of exercises and games. Games are possible both individually and in a group. Consider playing lotto. Children as young as one year old enjoy participating in this game. First, the teacher offers the easiest option. He hands out pictures to the children, then takes the cards and says:

– Who has a turnip? Who has a carrot?

The kids answer:

– I have a turnip! I have a carrot!

Further the game becomes more complicated. The teacher chooses a student who has learned to speak the words well to play the role of the leader; the children play independently. Quasi-reading training also occurs in the game. The teacher offers the children cards with words. When students master guessing words, the second stage begins—the game of school. One kid is chosen to play the role of a teacher, the other to play the role of a smart student, and the role of a stupid cat (soft toy) is played by the teacher. Words are written on the board. The little teacher takes the pointer and asks to read. The cat is reading incorrectly. Smart kid student reads correctly. Usually the cat's mistakes make children laugh a lot. Such word guessing, or quasi-reading, contributes to reading acquisition and reading fluency in subsequent foreign language learning. After mastering the quasi-reading of a hundred words, I usually begin to explain the alphabet and reading rules (by the age of three). A special place in my methodology is occupied by a system of exercises for the development of abstract thinking. For example, this: the child is offered a picture of fruit (orange, apple, banana, another orange). The teacher points to the orange and asks the student:

– Look and find similar one!

This is an exercise to identify common features necessary for the development of abstract thinking.

It is possible to teach children to count in a foreign language. For example: the teacher lays out five cars in front of the child and counts:

– One, two, three, four, five.

Then he asks:

– There are 4 cats, 2 cats go away. How many cats are left?

This is how the student learns counting in a foreign language. I taught children under three years old to count and solve problems within five, but the capabilities of children are much greater.

Although the technique was developed for children under three years of age, practical use some of its elements gave good results with older children.

Alena Zhirnova, associate professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University

Early learning of foreign languages ​​is, first of all, a play activity aimed at the development and upbringing of a child, it is a way of socializing a child, as well as a process whose goal is to reveal the child’s potential, taking into account his individual characteristics.

Many parents ask the question: At what age is it advisable to teach foreign languages? Methodologists, psychologists, speech therapists and educators answer this question differently. Japanese teacher Masaru Ibuku believes that everything a child can learn, he learns before the age of three. But at the same time, most teachers and psychologists note three years of age as optimal for starting classes. The reason for this opinion is the fact that school-age children have a much more difficult time mastering foreign speech; a preschool-age child is “open” to receiving any information; there is even an expression that young children absorb everything like “sponges.” Children at this stage of development are very inquisitive and inquisitive, they have an inexhaustible need for new experiences and therefore it is necessary to use psychophysiological characteristics when learning.

It is also necessary to note the fact that there is a difference in the education of three-year-old children and four-five year olds and this is primarily due to age characteristics. Children aged three years perceive information primarily auditorily, and can only reproduce individual words or simple sentences verbally. While four-year-old children are very good at reproducing all the information they hear, imitating the teacher’s speech, trying to analyze and systematize. That's why When choosing a particular technique, it is very important to take into account the age characteristics of the child. Currently there is a large number of methods of teaching English, the most successful ones are based on the principle of stage-by-stage formation and development of speech action, when the simpler precedes the more complex. At all levels of material presentation, the principle of communication is implemented, that is, everything serves to achieve a certain result in communication.

Children like the gaming method; it is interesting and effective. The teacher conducts games during which children improve their language skills. The advantage of this technique is the ability to adapt it for any age (from one year), with its help you can develop both oral speech and knowledge of grammar, spelling, etc. Zaitsev’s technique is suitable for children aged three years and older. Recently it was adapted for learning English - on the famous Zaitsev cubes you can now see english letters. Glen Doman's method was developed for infants and is designed for the child's visual memory, so that pictures and words written on them will be remembered and will simplify learning to read and write in the future. The cards can be used not only with infants, but also with children up to middle school age. The project method is suitable for children aged 4-5 years. The teacher chooses a topic and devotes a series of lessons to it. He offers different types activities, with the help of which the children learn something interesting about the topic of the project, gives tasks for independent work (or with parents, depending on age). For the final lesson, children bring creative, large-scale works for their age on a given topic. The mixed method combines other methods, its main advantage is diversity.

Since the main activity in the preschool period is play, it is natural that the game method is used in teaching. With the help of a game system, children repeat material, learn new material, and analyze it. In the game, children create statements very naturally; the psychological characteristics of children of this age are taken into account (easily fatigued, instability of attention). Children love active activities, outdoor games, songs, and counting rhymes. During classes, children develop such personality qualities as sociability, relaxedness, and the ability to interact in a team. Bright things attract children, so learning takes place using visual aids. All vocabulary and speech patterns are introduced using toys, fairy tale and cartoon characters. A very important element of training is conducting classes in English using gestures, facial expressions and visual material. The fascinating plot of the lesson, game-based communicative tasks, and vivid visualization activate memorization and make it lasting.

A modern school requires learning a foreign language from the second grade. This is confirmation that “foreign language” is an important and socially significant subject in the implementation of long-term tasks of personal development. A sufficient level of proficiency in various types of communicative activities is one of the requirements for a school graduate today. The immediate task of teaching a foreign language, as is known, is the formation of communicative competence in unity with the cultivation of respect for the cultural traditions of different peoples and readiness for intercultural cooperation. It is quite obvious that the earlier this process begins, the greater the opportunity to achieve high results.

The benefits of early learning a foreign language have been proven many times. Everyone knows that at the initial stage of education, the formation of the personality of a junior schoolchild occurs. Identification and development of his abilities, formation of educational skills and mastery of elements of culture and behavior.

Language in this case is considered as a means of educating and developing the student’s personality, introducing him to European and his own culture, and national etiquette. Therefore, the currently published textbooks are bright, colorful, illustrated and fully reflect the linguistic and cultural picture of the world of native speakers.

At early school age, the student’s thinking process develops in such a way that a foreign language does not yet seem difficult to him. By mastering a foreign language during the period when active assimilation of the native language occurs, the child absorbs someone else’s speech as something natural, organic, which cannot be said about a later period, when the speech function of the brain has already passed the peak of its development. Also, at an early age, children are more receptive to learning a foreign language, thanks to their excellent memory, imagination, imitation, and talent.

Features of mastering a foreign language at an early age are associated with the spontaneity of children's perception, openness towards people speaking another language, and spontaneous mastery of other forms of communication. The experience of leading psychologists proves that the foundation for practical knowledge of a foreign language is laid at an early age. Children over 11 years of age have a number of difficulties in this regard, for example, lack of motives for learning a foreign language, the influence of their native language, etc. There is no doubt that a foreign language is easier to learn at an early age from 5 to 8 years, when children easily and firmly remember the material and reproduce it well. The desire to learn the language of another people is the beginning of a good attitude towards one’s own people, an awareness of one’s belonging to all the people of our planet, regardless of where one lives and what language one speaks. But supporting children’s desire to learn day after day, moving in small steps, is not an easy task. How to make each lesson interesting, exciting and ensure that it develops cognitive interest and creative mental activity of students?

Foreign language teachers working in primary school, in addition to traditional methods of teaching, they have in their arsenal many original and specific techniques that ensure physical activity in the classroom and contribute to effective learning. Among other advantages, these techniques do not require additional preparation or materials. It is necessary to determine the goal and do everything sincerely and in a good mood.

It is very important to remember that an English lesson in elementary school should be united by a common theme, but the activities of children in the lesson should be varied. It is necessary to frequently change types of work, interspersing them with dynamic pauses and games with elements of movement. But at the same time, each element of the lesson is needed to solve the overall problem.

I have been teaching English in primary school for 15 years, using various teaching aids, and I am increasingly convinced that the ability to competently teach communication in a foreign language to primary schoolchildren is not an easy and responsible task.

The success of students in learning a foreign language and their attitude towards the subject depend on how interesting the lessons are. The more appropriately the teacher uses various methodological techniques, the more interesting the lessons are, and therefore the more firmly the material is learned.

Learning a foreign language is the discovery of a new linguistic world for a child. The effectiveness of learning depends on many factors, including the child’s keenness of perception of this new world, his physical and emotional activity and the possibility of active participation in it. Physical activity sharpens all types of memory: tactile, motor, visual, figurative and auditory. A child will never confuse the verbs run, jump, sit, fly, if at the same time he runs, jumps or “flies”. Physical activity in the classroom not only helps make the process of repeated repetition and memorization of educational material more exciting and varied, but also simply relieves stress and gives the opportunity to get up from the desk once again, which is so necessary for young students.

Activating the cognitive activity of students is one of my main tasks in teaching a foreign language. I proceed from the fact that among all the motives of educational activity, the most effective is the cognitive interest that arises in the process of learning. It not only activates mental activity at the moment, but also directs it to the subsequent solution of various problems, creative activity in future.

In children younger age Involuntary memory is still very developed. At the beginning of training, we not only listen to texts and songs. Foreign language teachers offer children various types of activities, but focus primarily on passive processing of received information, giving the brain and speech apparatus the opportunity to tune into a completely different linguistic system than the one to which they are already beginning to get used. And it is not surprising that a child, having volunteered to be the leader in a game in a foreign language, comes out, is silent and smiles, and the teacher has to speak for him. At this moment, intensive work takes place in the child’s brain, he seems to be trying on this role, his brain is tuned to this function, and after a while he does this work in a whisper, then out loud. It's important not to rush it. During this period, the teacher first speaks instead of the child, then together with the child, and only then the child begins to speak on his own. This “silent” period proceeds differently for each child.

The adaptation period passes, and the return begins, the child begins to reproduce with pleasure foreign words and phrases, he becomes more confident and picks up the pace of speech. Early learning of a foreign language is also important because during this period children’s ability to imitate is clearly expressed: they absolutely accurately reproduce someone else’s phonetics. The child’s articulatory apparatus has not yet frozen, and at this time it is not too late to give him the correct sounds, like a native speaker. Correct pronunciation is a necessary condition for successfully mastering a foreign language. Therefore, from the very beginning of education, children develop the skills of understanding foreign language speech by ear and its adequate reproduction. Particular attention is paid to phonetic and intonation phenomena that are absent in the native language. A special place is occupied by the development of phonemic hearing in children, which contributes not only to the formation of correct pronunciation, but also, in the future, eliminates problems with written speech.

The more correctly a child pronounces sounds and identifies phonemes, the more competently he writes. Much attention in the lesson is paid to music, songs, and poems. Students enjoy learning and performing songs in English, both in and outside of class. The use of gestures gives good results when practicing not only pronunciation skills, but also speech phrases. The development of correct pronunciation is also facilitated by listening to audio recordings with songs and counting rhymes.

Correct phonetics, in addition to purely linguistic advantages, creates “psychological comfort” for children in another language. Fifth-graders who already have difficulty with phonetics feel uncomfortable in foreign language lessons. They are very embarrassed to make sounds, they are afraid of the ridicule of their classmates, especially since the psychophysical characteristics of this age make them very vulnerable, on the one hand, and very cruel to their peers, on the other. The success of mastering a foreign language directly depends on the child’s development in Russian, on the development of her sound culture. The more correctly a child speaks Russian, the easier it is for him to learn the rules of pronunciation.

In the lower grades, a foreign language lesson begins with phonetic exercises. Instead of individual words containing a particular sound, it is advisable to offer the class a specially selected poem and rhymes in which the necessary sounds are repeated quite often. When working on phonetics, I often tell tales about sounds, and then in the learning process the children themselves come up with continuations of these tales. For example, stories about the adventures of Miss Chatter (“Enjoy English-1”).

In cognitive activity, perception is inextricably linked with attention. The attention of younger schoolchildren is characterized by involuntary and unstable behavior. At this age, students pay attention only to what arouses their immediate interest.

The attention of younger schoolchildren becomes more stable if, while thinking about what they see, they simultaneously perform an action (for example, the child must pick up an object and draw it). All types of activities typical for a schoolchild junior classes, should, if possible, be included in the general outline of a foreign language lesson. And the more types of perception are involved in learning, the higher the effectiveness of the latter will be.

In my opinion, great attention should be paid to teaching the lexical side of speech to primary schoolchildren, since vocabulary is the most important component of speech activity. Students must master building material for communication and interaction. The teacher's speech is the main source of enriching students' vocabulary. Speech samples immediately give an idea of ​​how a given word or phrase might be used.

The teacher has a considerable supply of means, forms, and techniques to accomplish this and arouse interest among schoolchildren and support them.

Working with the word begins with familiarization. The meaning of a new word is revealed when a picture, object, or action is performed. Bright, multi-colored pictures arouse the interest and attention of students and, influencing their emotional memory, contribute to a strong mastery of vocabulary.

For students of primary school age, the most interesting, accessible and stimulating to their learning activities will be poems, proverbs, and sayings. Working with such material should give a feeling of joy and satisfaction and correspond to their aesthetic tastes and emotional needs.

Acquaintance with poetry, foreign-language folklore, and musical heritage helps to enrich the methods of teaching foreign languages ​​in primary school, thereby stimulating the interest of schoolchildren in the subject and maintaining it throughout all years of study. Work on poetry can take place both in foreign language lessons and in extracurricular activities.

It is very important that English lessons are not boring, and for this you need to use a variety of visual aids and a lot of games. This will make the lesson more interesting for the children. Learning a foreign language requires intense mental activity and attention from students. Not all children find a foreign language easy. There are students who have difficulty mastering pronunciation, intonation of sentences, and do not remember the structure of speech patterns. This, as a rule, causes dissatisfaction, lack of faith in one’s own abilities, and leads to a weakening of interest in learning a foreign language. Interest in teaching any subject is the driving force that ensures both high quality and mastery of the necessary skills. Therefore, we, teachers, are looking for ways to increase students' interest in our subject.

The organization of non-traditional developmental education involves creating conditions for schoolchildren to master the techniques of mental activity. Mastering them not only provides a new level of assimilation, but also gives significant changes in mental development. Having mastered these techniques, students become more independent in solving various educational tasks and can rationally organize their activities to acquire new knowledge.

Learning a foreign language makes a child more active, accustoms him to group work, awakens curiosity, and develops the child intellectually and aesthetically. When planning my lessons, I think not only about ensuring that students remember new words or this or that grammatical structure, but also strive to create every opportunity for the development of each child’s individual abilities.

My work experience shows that play helps children overcome psychological barriers and gain confidence in their abilities. A game always involves making a decision - what to do, what to say, how to win? The desire to solve these issues sharpens the mental activity of the players. What if the child speaks English? Are there rich learning opportunities here? Children, however, do not think about this. For them, the game is, first of all, an exciting activity. Everyone is equal in the game. It is feasible even for weak students. Moreover, a student with weak language training can become the first in the game: resourcefulness and intelligence here sometimes turn out to be more important than knowledge of the subject. Feelings of equality. An atmosphere of enthusiasm and joy, a feeling that tasks are feasible - all this allows children to overcome shyness, which prevents them from freely using English words in speech, and has a beneficial effect on learning outcomes. Language material is imperceptibly absorbed, and along with this a feeling of satisfaction arises - “it turns out that I can already speak on an equal basis with everyone else.”

The use of gaming techniques allows you to create conditions for the involuntary assimilation of all language means: vocabulary, grammatical structures, speech patterns. The development of verbal and logical memory is facilitated by the use of bright toys, pictures and cards with words.

Based on my work experience, I have come to the conclusion that one of the best options for playing in primary school is playing with toys.

The possibility of relying on gaming activities makes it possible to provide natural motivation for speech and make elementary statements interesting. Play is always about emotions, and where there are emotions, there is attention and imagination, and thinking works there.

They look forward to the phrase “Let’s play.” Their cheerful laughter and desire to speak English serve as indicators of interest and passion. After all, the game is feasible for everyone, even weak students; moreover, a poorly prepared child can show intelligence and resourcefulness, and this is no less important than language skills. The feeling of “equality”, the atmosphere of passion and joy, the feeling of the feasibility of tasks - all this creates a favorable psychological atmosphere for students, which, of course, has a beneficial effect on the learning outcome. And most importantly, there is a feeling of satisfaction. The game activates the children’s desire for contact with each other and the teacher, creates a condition of equality in speech partnership, and destroys the traditional barrier between teacher and student. It is also important that the teacher knows how to captivate and infect students with the game. The place for games in the lesson and the time allocated to them depend on a number of factors: the preparation of students, the material being studied, the specific goals and conditions of the lesson, etc. Basically, games are not purely lexical or purely grammatical in nature. Lexical games can become grammar games, spelling games, etc. The very fact that the game arouses the interest and activity of children and gives them the opportunity to express themselves in activities that are exciting for them, contributes to faster and more durable memorization of foreign words and sentences. This is also supported by the fact that knowledge of the material is a prerequisite active participation in the game, and sometimes a prerequisite for winning. The game provides an opportunity not only to improve, but also to acquire new knowledge, since the desire to win forces you to think, remember what you have already covered and remember everything new. Another condition of the game is its accessibility to children. The game puts the student in a search condition. Arouses interest in winning, and hence the desire to be kind, collected, and dexterous. In games, especially collective ones, the moral qualities of an individual are also formed. Children learn to help their comrades, take into account the interests of others, and restrain their wishes. They develop a sense of responsibility, collectivism, discipline, will, and character. At the age of 7-8, it is extremely important to form the volitional sphere, when the child learns to force himself to perform some, perhaps not interesting, but important task. Grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and spelling games help develop speech skills. Mastery of grammatical material, first of all, creates the opportunity for students to move on to active speech. It is known that training students in the use of grammatical structures, which requires their repeated repetition, tires children with its monotony, and the effort expended does not bring quick satisfaction. Games can make boring work more interesting and exciting. Grammar games are followed by lexical games, which logically continue to “build” the foundation of speech. Phonetic games are intended to correct pronunciation at the stage of developing speech skills and abilities. And the formation and development of lexical and pronunciation skills are to some extent facilitated by spelling games, the main goal of which is to master the spelling of the studied vocabulary. Games can be used at all stages of learning. Individual and quiet games can be completed at any time during the lesson.

It is advisable to conduct collective classes at the end of the lesson, since the element of competition is more clearly expressed in them, they require mobility, etc. As for recording errors during the game, it is desirable that the teacher does this without distracting the students, carrying out analysis after the end of the game. Encouraging students and encouraging their activities are necessary for the oral flow of the game and the creation of correct interpersonal relationships in the team. Conducting control in a playful way is popular with elementary school students and makes them forget that they might get a bad grade. The children are not doing a test, but playing. In turn, the teacher evaluates their knowledge, draws conclusions about how the material has been learned and what else needs to be worked on. So using various types Games are a successful and effective method for teaching a foreign language. A foreign language lesson is not just a game. The trust and ease of communication between the teacher and students, which arose due to the general gaming atmosphere and the games themselves, should provide freedom for self-expression. The main thing in the relationship between student and teacher is faith in the strength of children. A child develops only through activity, so in class we compare, prove, argue, and analyze. The learning process is a two-way process. And the result of this process largely depends on the position of the child himself, his activity. And combining the activity of the teacher and the child in this process is the most appropriate, leading to an increase in the level of cognitive activity. This is very difficult work, and here the emphasis should be on individual lessons with each child, especially since a certain part of children at this age have an inadequate perception of a foreign language. When starting to study a foreign language, children expect a lot from a new academic subject, so they begin to study it with pleasure. But the volume of material being studied gradually increases, and memorizing it becomes more difficult. Interest in the subject and cognitive activity begin to decline. To prevent such a situation from arising, the teacher should try to create an atmosphere of comfort, joy and success in the lesson.

Primary school age is the most critical stage of school childhood and largely determines the subsequent years of education. Therefore, by the end of primary school age, a child must want to learn, be able to learn and believe in himself.

Of course, classes in primary school cannot be effective if the lessons are taught by a teacher who works simultaneously at the middle and senior stages of education, since there is a danger of transferring technologies for working with middle and senior schoolchildren to children. It is necessary to take into account the psychological, physiological and age characteristics of students. Special training is needed for teachers to teach a foreign language in primary school. For this purpose, personality-oriented programs and textbooks have been developed.

It is quite obvious that today fluency in a foreign language is a pressing problem for most educated people. How to solve this problem?

The teacher’s task is to make sure that even at such a young age the child wants to learn a foreign language and does it with pleasure.

We present to your attention excerpts from the book " Theory and practice of teaching foreign languages. Primary school: Methodological manual."Galskova N.D., Nikitenko 3. N.-M.: Iris-press, 2004. - 240 pp. - (Methodology).

The initial stage of foreign language training in Russia and abroad

Early teaching of foreign languages ​​(FL) is one of the priority areas in educational policy as Russian Federation, and Western European countries. Suffice it to say that since 1994, more than 10 international seminars devoted to one or another aspect of this problem have been held within the Council of Europe.

At the same time, there is no consensus among scientists and practitioners as to what should be understood by early learning of a foreign language. Some believe that we can talk about early learning only if we are talking about introducing preschool children to a foreign language. Others believe that early foreign language teaching is about teaching primary school-age children. We will distinguish between early preschool education and early school education. The first is carried out in a preschool institution from the age of 5 (and in some cases earlier, for example from the age of 4) until the child enters school.

In turn, early schooling is the first stage of education for younger schoolchildren (from 1st to 4th grade or from 2nd to 4th grade). It is at this stage that students lay the foundation of linguistic and speech abilities necessary for their subsequent study of a foreign language as a means of communication.

Today we can confidently state that teaching a foreign language is becoming an integral part of the initial stage of education in both domestic and foreign schools.

Psychological and physiological factors

Psychologists and physiologists justify the introduction of early foreign language teaching by children’s natural affinity for languages ​​and their emotional readiness to master them. In this case, they usually refer to the sensitivity (sensitivity) of children of preschool and primary school age to mastering languages ​​in general, and foreign languages ​​in particular. The duration of the sensitive period varies among different researchers, but generally it is a period from 4 to 8 years. It is at this age that children are distinguished by their natural curiosity and need to learn new things. They are characterized by more flexible and rapid assimilation of language material than at subsequent stages. With age, a person gradually loses these abilities, his sensitivity to the perception of sounds and the ability to imitate them decreases, short-term memory weakens, as well as the ability for visual, and most importantly, auditory perception.

Another very important advantage of preschool and primary school age is the globally active play motivation in children, which makes it possible to naturally and effectively organize learning a foreign language as a means of communication and build it as a process as close as possible to the natural process of using their native language. This becomes possible because with the help of a specially organized game in the educational process, almost any language units can be made communicatively valuable. And then the effectiveness of developing the ability to communicate in a new language in younger schoolchildren increases due to the interaction of play motivation and interest in school learning.

Psychological and physiological factors are far from isolated, and today, based on numerous studies, it can be argued that they are not the main ones justifying the relevance of early learning of a foreign language.

You can successfully master a non-native language at any age if the chosen ways of learning and teaching it are focused on the specifics of a particular age, including an adult. True, there is one aspect that is mastered most successfully during the sensitive age period. This is an unaccented pronunciation of foreign sounds, words, intonation, provided that Small child constantly listens and imitates authentic foreign language speech. However, this fact is clearly not enough to justify the need to introduce children to a foreign language at an early age. To do this, it is necessary to turn to the second group of factors - anthropological.

Anthropological factors

The main meaning of these factors comes down to the fact that preschoolers and junior schoolchildren, while studying a foreign language, along with the language, gain experience in communicating with the outside world, with other people, and the process of socialization of his personality occurs. This becomes possible thanks to the child’s natural openness and receptivity to all circumstances that influence his development. If we take into account that the acquisition of social experience most often occurs in a monolingual (monolingual) and monocultural environment (i.e., in an environment in which subjects who are carriers of the same culture interact), then the child learns the “rules of the game” accepted only in a certain linguo-society - community of speakers of the same language and culture. However, as we know, the modern world and the child’s immediate environment are multifaceted and multicolored in terms of both languages ​​and cultures. Moreover, global integration not only in the financial and economic field, but also in other areas public life, modern information technologies make this world so “small” that every preschooler or primary schoolchild, even being geographically remote from the country of the language being studied, can every day encounter the linguistic and cultural phenomena of a foreign world and its representatives. And therefore, ignorance of languages ​​and characteristics of foreign cultures can lead to problems in communicating with their native speakers: a feeling of fear of another language and possible rejection of a foreign culture can become stable. To avoid this and enable children to adapt to multicultural living conditions in modern world, children should be introduced to a foreign language and, through language, to the world of other cultures.

The main stages of early learning of a foreign language in preschool institutions and in the primary grades of secondary schools in our country

We roughly distinguish three stages.

The first stage is the beginning of the 60s - the mid-80s of the XX century.

During this period, the problem of lowering the age threshold for mass learning of a foreign language acquires particular relevance. It was at this time that a large number of scientific works appeared on various aspects of early foreign language learning (I. JI. Bim, E. I. Negnevitskaya, E. A. Lenskaya, etc.); the first special manuals for preschool children were published educational institutions(O. S. Khanova, T. A. Chistyakova, S. I. Gvozdetskaya, etc.).

A lot of scientific and methodological work was carried out in the field of early learning of foreign languages ​​by the Research Institute of Contents and Methods of Teaching of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. The results of scientific and practical research conducted during the period under review showed the promise of the idea of ​​introducing children to a foreign language from preschool age. It was possible to formulate the main provisions concerning the organization and content of preschool teaching of a foreign language, namely:

The optimal age for starting to study a foreign language was identified - 5-6 years;

It was possible to determine the optimal occupancy study group in a preschool institution (no more than 15 people);

The duration and frequency of classes in the “visiting teacher” mode of operation were established;

The educational and educational significance of early foreign language learning has been proven, as well as the fact that preschoolers can develop an interest and positive attitude towards learning a non-native language outside the natural language environment.

However, if we generally evaluate the results obtained in theory and practice of early foreign language teaching in this period, it should be noted that due to a number of organizational and methodological miscalculations, foreign language teaching in kindergarten has not become widespread. Organizational problems were caused by the lack of a well-thought-out system of continuity between teaching a foreign language in preschool institutions and school (there was a break in teaching a subject for one year at school with a number of subjects taught in a foreign language and for three years in a public school). A significant reason was also the shortage teaching staff capable of teaching foreign languages ​​to preschool children. As for methodological miscalculations, they were associated, first of all, with excessive enthusiasm in the practice of work, both with preschoolers and with younger schoolchildren- imitation teaching methods. The consequence of this was the inability of children to use a foreign language as a means of communication in new situations. And the method of teaching children, in principle, differed little from the school method.

The second stage is the mid-80s - mid-90s of the 20th century.

In the second half of the 80s, there was a renewed wave of interest on the part of scientists and the public in the problems of teaching foreign languages ​​to children of preschool and primary school age. The beginning of this stage was marked by the International Meeting of Experts of UNESCO-MAPRYAL (Moscow, 1985), which was devoted to the psychological and pedagogical aspects of teaching preschool and primary school children in the spirit of mutual understanding between peoples. The conference participants were unanimous that:

Teaching children a foreign language has a number of specific features (emphasized by us - N. G. and Z. N.), associated both with the age characteristics of the students and with the learning conditions;

Foreign language learning is important process development of the child’s linguistic, cognitive, thinking and communication abilities; it allows him to expand his horizons, to get to know another country, its people and culture through language;

It is best to start learning a foreign language at the age of 5-8, when the child has already mastered the system of his native language quite well and he treats the new language consciously.

In 1987, by decision of the board of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, a large-scale Russian experiment on early teaching of foreign languages ​​in preschool institutions and primary grades of secondary schools began. This experiment was carried out under the direction of the Ministry's School Research Institute. As part of the experiment in 22 regions of the country, including Moscow and Leningrad, not only new methodological approaches were tested, but also (for the first time, an attempt was made to mass teach foreign language children: 4-year-old children attending kindergarten, and 6-year-old students primary grades.Note that there were no analogues in world practice for such foreign language teaching during the period under review, and there are none at the present time.

In kindergarten, a new teaching model was created: a foreign language was taught by a teacher with knowledge of the language; to develop foreign language skills in children, he used not only the opportunities of classes, but also everyday communication. The results of the experimental teaching of preschoolers were very positive: the proposed methodology for teaching a foreign language provided stable motivation for studying the subject and was focused on developing the ability to independently solve elementary communicative problems based on the conscious use of the means of the language being studied. At the same time, problems were also discovered related to both the low professional training of teachers with knowledge of a foreign language, and the insufficient development of the content and methods of teaching dialogic and monologue speech and the lack of stable teaching aids.

More successful in this regard was an experiment in elementary school, one of the main results of which was the release of a series of conceptually new educational and methodological sets in foreign languages ​​(English, German, French and Spanish) for grades 1-4 of secondary school. A number of them are, of course, used in an improved form at the present time.

It is important that it was during this period, or more precisely, from the second half of the 80s, that a program for training teaching staff with knowledge of foreign languages ​​for children began to be implemented. preschool institutions and elementary school. At the faculties of preschool education and primary education of pedagogical universities and colleges, an additional specialty “foreign language teacher” was introduced.

The development of scientific and methodological thought in the field of early foreign language education is reflected in numerous dissertation studies addressing issues of teaching content (N. N. Achkasova, O. A. Osiyanova, N. A. Malkina, S. A. Natalina, O. A. Denisenko, N. N. Trubaneva, JI. B. Cheptsova, etc.), teaching methods (N. N. Achkasova, E. V. Zhirnova, N. A. Yatsenko, S. V. Snegova, etc.), modeling of foreign language communication (A. P. Ponimatko, V. N. Simkin, S. S. Chasnok), etc.

One of the main achievements of this period should also be considered the Foreign Languages ​​Program for primary schools (grades 1-4), created by the team of the Foreign Language Teaching Laboratory of the Research Institute of Schools in 1994. This program for the first time formulated the goals and determined the content of teaching a foreign language from the perspective of possible real use of the studied language both in conditions of direct communication, including with its native speakers, and in situations of indirect communication (understanding of authentic audio and printed texts). The level approach to goal setting adopted in this document allowed its authors to show the connections between the general pedagogical goal of primary school, which is the development of the student’s personality, and the goals of teaching the subject. The latter were first presented in the form of learning objectives for each type of speech activity (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in their relationship with the topics and situations of communication, language and linguistic material, with regional information) with subsequent access to specific communicative skills that should students master.

The third stage - the mid-90s of the XX century - to the present.

During this period, interest in early foreign language learning becomes more intense. It is enough to look through the issues of the journal “Foreign Languages ​​at School” published over the years to be convinced of this: the magazine regularly publishes publications covering both theoretical and practical aspects of early school teaching of the subject. The practice of general education institutions indicates that work with preschoolers and primary schoolchildren is considered as an integral part of the entire system of language training for children. Thus, since 1995, early education has become one of the priority and promising areas for organizing the educational process in educational institutions Russia. The demand for a foreign language in society, on the one hand, and the understanding by parents that a foreign language is not only evidence of education, but also the basis for the future social and material well-being of their child in society, on the other hand, make early education during this period especially popular and relevant. This circumstance, coupled with new trends in the field of educational policy in general, as well as the achievements of methodological science, determine the period under review in the development of the theory and practice of early foreign language teaching. Its main trends are:

Further development of pedagogical and methodological pluralism;

Stimulating the creative activity of educators/teachers and students;

Development of new methodological approaches, forms, methods and techniques for teaching children foreign languages, including integrated courses (which, however, have not been widely used);

Finding ways of flexible management of the foreign language teaching system in the presence of different options for teaching the subject both in kindergarten and in primary school;

Establishing continuity between the content of early and subsequent education;

Personal development of the child through the means of the subject, the strategic goal of teaching a foreign language;

Refusal of the “imitative” methodology and recognition of the priority of children’s conscious mastery of linguistic and speech means of communication;

The emergence of various training courses and manuals on foreign languages ​​from domestic and foreign publishing houses (the latter, however, did not live up to teachers’ hopes for high performance, since they were focused on teaching a second language in the country of the language being studied and, therefore, are not entirely suitable for the conditions under consideration);

The rapid development of scientific and methodological thought: the subject of research by scientists is linguodidactic, psychological, pedagogical and methodological problems of primary teaching of foreign languages.

Similarities and differences between the academic disciplines “FL” and “native language”

The commonality of these subjects of the language cycle is manifested in the fact that each of them is aimed at the formation of the student’s linguistic personality (Karaulov Yu. N. Russian language and linguistic personality. M.: Nauka, 1987. P. 48). The concept (concept) of linguistic personality, which is discussed below, is associated with such personality qualities as emancipation, creativity, independence, the ability to build interaction and mutual understanding with communication partners, etc.

In addition, there is a commonality between the processes of acquiring native and foreign (non-native) languages. This commonality is due to the unity of language as an essence, as well as the fact that the processes of mastering any language are based on the same fundamental laws of acquisition and the object of acquisition is fundamentally the same - language.

The differences between the academic disciplines “foreign language” and “native language” are associated, first of all, with the goals of teaching these subjects. Within the first academic discipline, unlike the second, students do not develop a new language communication system, and educational and developmental tasks are rather related to familiarization with the theory of their native language, with its system. At the same time, the communicative goal of teaching the native language is to improve the skills of oral speech and teaching writing and reading, as well as mastering the ability to accurately select the means of transmitting information (General teaching methods... P. 13). For the academic subject “FL” the communicative goal is also the leading one. However, the general educational goals of teaching a foreign language are realized directly in the process of achieving a communicative goal. Moreover, the process of achieving this goal, as well as the process of mastering a foreign language, is different from what is specific to the native language.

According to JI. S. Vygotsky, the assimilation of a foreign language follows a path directly opposite to that which the development of the native language takes. The child learns the latter unconsciously and unintentionally, and foreign - starting with awareness and intentionality (Vygotsky L. S. Thinking and speech: Collected works in 6 volumes. M.: Pedagogy, 1982. Vol. 2). Consequently, the paths of language acquisition are multidirectional: the native language is characterized by a “bottom-up” path, while a foreign language is characterized by a “top-down” path. At the same time, the process of mastering speech in their native language is inextricably linked with the simultaneous development of thinking, since the child, while mastering linguistic means of expressing thoughts, simultaneously and inextricably learns about the surrounding reality. In the course of cognition of the world around him, concepts are formed that are reflected in language. Thus, awareness of the simplest cause-and-effect relationships in the objective world occurs simultaneously with the child’s mastery of linguistic means of transmitting these connections.

A different picture is observed when students master a foreign language. When starting to learn this language, the child already has a certain linguistic and speech experience in his native language and the ability to perform basic mental operations in this language. The process of his assimilation of new language means is not accompanied by the simultaneous formation of concepts about the reality around him, or mastery of mental operations. During this process, only the student is introduced to new ways of expressing thoughts (including those with national and cultural characteristics), but not to a new type of thinking. From here it is obvious that in the educational process in a foreign language there are opportunities to rely on the student’s thinking formed on the basis of his native language and improve his mental operations.

It is also important to note that, having mastered his native language in childhood and not being able to resort to an “intermediary” language, the child nevertheless learns the meaning/significance of each sounding word. To learn new words for him means to correlate each word with an object and use this word in his immediate objective activity. The word of the native language is acquired when the child establishes strong connections between a material object/phenomenon and its verbal equivalent. At the same time, the child must learn to handle this object properly, to know its qualities and properties (what it looks like, what it tastes like, etc.), that is, together with the sound of the word, he cognizes the world around him, creates a certain performance. A child learning a second language already has a certain idea of ​​the world around him. For him, the process of language acquisition will be effective if strong connections are established in his mind between the new word and its equivalent in his native language. In the fair opinion of I. A. Zimnyaya, it is precisely this circumstance, on the one hand, that determines the fragility of preserving a foreign language word in the memory of students, and on the other, confirms the need to rely as much as possible in the educational process on the speech experience of children in their native language (Zimnyaya I. A. Psychology of teaching foreign languages ​​at school. M.: Prosveshchenie, 1991. P. 29).

No less significant is the fact that in the process of mastering one’s native language, social development child. This means that the child masters not only the language system, but also the means of expressing his feelings, desires, and also learns the norms of social behavior. Since it is language that serves as a means of forming the child’s “I-image,” then simultaneously with his acquisition of speech experience in his native language, his social and individual identification occurs. He understands his belonging to a certain linguistic-ethnic group, his nationality, etc. In the process of mastering a foreign language, a student, as a rule, strives not to lose his own identity, which causes certain difficulties in mastering this language. True, children, unlike adults, quickly and easily learn a new language for them, which can be explained, first of all, by their lack of fear of losing their community with a certain social and linguistic environment (Apeltauer E. E. Gesreuerter Zwetspracherwerb. Voraussetzungen und Konse- quenzen ftier den Unterriecht (Hieber Verland, Miinchen, 1987).

It should also be noted that for a small child, the native language is vital necessary tool- the only means of communication, so there is no problem of motivation for language acquisition. The child “studies” his native language not in order to learn a certain number of words, read text, etc., but in order to satisfy his vital needs: he has not learned the rule of education plural, instead of two candies you will get one candy. A different picture can be observed in the process of learning a foreign language. Here, the problem of student motivation is one of the central ones, as well as the problem of students’ awareness of linguistic means. Therefore, it is precisely the early age that presents unique opportunities in this regard, since children 5-6 years old have play motivation, the use of which makes it possible to make almost any language units communicatively valuable (Negnevitskaya E.I. Foreign language for the little ones: yesterday, today, tomorrow / / Institute of Nuclear Sciences, 1987, No. 6). But at the same time, it seems extremely important to know the basic patterns according to which the process of a child’s mastering a non-native language is structured in educational conditions in isolation from the country of the language being studied.

Psychological characteristics of 6-year-old children taken into account when teaching a foreign language

Six years of age is the most favorable age for starting to study a foreign language. It is no coincidence that the recommendations of the International Seminar of the Council of Europe (Graz, 1998) noted that it is preferable to start early learning of a foreign language in primary school at the age of 6.

As is known, each age period is characterized by its own type of leading activity. Thus, at the age of six, a gradual change in leading activity occurs: the transition from play activity to educational activity. At the same time, the game retains its leading role. On the one hand, children develop an active interest in new educational activities, in school as a whole, and on the other, the need to play does not weaken. It is known that children continue to play until they are 9-10 years old.

One of the main directions of personality formation at the age of six is ​​the formation of learning motives. Studying the motives that motivate six-year-old children to study, psychologists have found that the most common of them are the following: broad social, cognitive learning motives (interest in knowledge, desire to learn something new) and play motives. The full development of educational activity occurs due to the action of the first two motives, but they are formed in six-year-olds when the play motive is satisfied. Moreover, if children's needs in play are not met, then significant damage is caused to the development of their personality, learning becomes formal and interest in learning fades.

From the theory of speech activity it is known that speech, with its motivational and target aspects, goes into other types of activity - intellectual, labor, communicative, gaming. With one speech, as the famous Russian psychologist A. A. Leontiev correctly noted, a person has nothing to do. Speaking for the sake of speaking is a psychologically unjustified process. The uniqueness of the six-year-old age is that it is at this time that it is possible to include the process of learning a foreign language in the context of gaming activities in order to create internal motivation and interest in mastering a new language in conditions when children do not have a natural need to communicate in the target language. According to the apt definition of I. A. Zimnyaya, a new game (with new fairy-tale characters, little animals that speak only a new language) is a psychological justification for switching to a new language in conditions when all communication tasks can be solved in the native language and not needs for foreign. Therefore, it is precisely this age that provides unique opportunities for implementing a communicative approach to teaching a foreign language through globally operating game motivation, which allows for the creation of natural motives for all speech actions of students, making even the most basic statements meaningful and interesting.

As for the development of such mental processes in children as memory, attention, perception, their main characteristic is arbitrariness. Thus, when perceiving material, six-year-olds tend to pay attention to its vivid presentation and emotional coloring. However, their attention is unstable: they can concentrate only for a few minutes. Children do not perceive long (more than 2-3 minutes) monologue explanations from the teacher, so it is advisable to construct any explanation in the form of a conversation. Six-year-olds are very impulsive, it is difficult for them to restrain themselves, they do not know how to control their behavior, so they quickly get tired. A decline in performance occurs within 10 minutes after the start of the lesson. At the first signs of a decrease in attention, the teacher is recommended to conduct an outdoor game with the children (preferably accompanied by music) and change the type of work. The development of children's voluntary attention is possible through the organization of a variety of interesting activities with a clear transition from one type of work to another, with specific instructions on what they should pay attention to.

The mnemonic activity of six-year-olds is also imperfect. Involuntary memorization predominates in them, that is, they remember well and quickly what is interesting and causes an emotional response. Involuntary assimilation of material is possible in the process of exciting interaction between children and each other. The widespread use of toys and pictures will contribute to the development of imaginative and associative memory, and a clear statement of communication tasks and the organization of their solution is verbal-logical.

The imagination of a six-year-old student is quite developed and is not only reproductive, but also creative. In turn, the development of thinking goes from visual-effective to visual-figurative. Taking into account this feature of six-year-olds, it is recommended, for example, to use cubes of different colors when familiarizing children with the structure of speech patterns, and toys and pictures when organizing training and use of mastered language means of communication (lexical and grammatical). It is advisable to gradually replace toys with pictures; this will also ensure the transition from play to the actual educational activity. Visual-figurative and logical thinking develop the following skills of children:

Independently analyze linguistic phenomena, relying on speech experience in their native language;

Highlight the main thing and establish cause-and-effect relationships;

Consciously apply knowledge and learned methods of action in independent foreign language speech activity. Six-year-old children are very sociable and enjoy being in a peer group. Of the various types of communication between a child and adults (business, cognitive, personal), personal communication predominates at this age. By interacting with adults, children get to know themselves better as they seek to gain appreciation for their personality. When organizing communication with children, you need to remember that they do not take the teacher’s comments and instructions personally to themselves if these instructions are of a general nature and apply to all students. A six-year-old student does not understand that, while addressing everyone, the teacher is also addressing him personally. He will only respond if the teacher addresses him personally.

In order for children to easily and naturally become involved in school reality, behavioral requirements (“you can’t stand up without the teacher’s permission during a lesson,” “raise your hand if you want to ask about something,” etc.) must be introduced gradually, ensuring their fulfillment only by the end of the first year of study. These requirements should take the form of requests and wishes, and their violation should cause the teacher regret, but not irritation.

Among six-year-old children, there are very significant individual differences in mental development(emotional-volitional sphere, memory, attention, thinking, etc.), which is determined by the different experiences of their life and activities in the family and kindergarten. The process of children getting used to school occurs differently. Some children behave confidently, others experience anxiety, others are capricious, etc. Some children have difficulty communicating in their native language. These children are either overly impulsive and impatient, or, conversely, passive and timid. Impulsive, restless children with a particularly unstable psyche should be paid attention to from the very first lessons. They need to be occupied with work, assigned roles that require constant involvement in general activities. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that children do not have toys for longer than is necessary to solve a learning task, otherwise children will be distracted. But you need to take away toys from children in a form that is natural and harmless to them: “The animals are tired and want to rest,” “The dolls are going to bed,” etc.

It is very important to find individual approach to each student, and constant contacts of the foreign language teacher with the primary school teacher, with parents and coordination of their actions can help with this. Great importance will have the first meeting with children (as, indeed, with students of any age), the gentle voice and friendly smile of the teacher, his kind attitude towards students.

- “Preschool education program “Teaching foreign language communication to children of senior preschool age”” Makarenko E.A. - 67-79 c. "Psychological and pedagogical support for a child's life in the conditions of preschool education (Part II) (recommendations for parents, educators, teachers)" // Under the general editorship. N.B. Romaeva. – Stavropol: Publishing house SGPI, 2008. – 124 p. (www.sspi.ru)