This demonstration intends to provide teachers with the communications skills needed to approach early primary school learners. The methods used to teach include introduction to the short and meaningful sentence structure, rhetorical and non-rhetorical questions, and use of color and objects related to the text.
The goal of this presentation is to equip the instructors with the foundation needed to teach what is encoded in the picture book. This activity of using the picture book is to show that the instructor can encourage dialogue through key words and expressions. In turn, the learner can apply simple logic and stands to gain a sense of accomplishment, while veering away from the burdening task of answering open-ended questions.
In other words, although reading and writing often go hand-in-hand, as with listening and speaking; they are not mutually exclusive. And rather than focus on the grammar and the precise meaning of the text, the effective use of the picture book allows the learner to become the center of the activity. Picture books offer a great way to explore different points of views from the perspective of both the author and illustrator. The task for instructors then is to mediate the message, or the topic and create an easy, valuable learning experience for the second language learner.
Bio
Sonyong Beattie has been teaching ESL in Korea for the past ten years. She attended Florida State University for her undergraduate degree in English Literature and Philosophy. For her graduate studies she attended Columbia College Chicago for Directing in Cinema Production.
Her hobbies include running, blogging, and writing about film and culture. Sonyong has taught primary to secondary students in both private and public schools in South Korea. With the support of the Kyonggi Department of Education, she helped to establish a US-Korea exchange program for high school students at Suwon High School for Agricultural Sciences.
Sonyong Beattie has also taught business English to adults in the corporate sector and continues to teach graduate students pursuing TESOL degrees. She is currently working as a freelance instructor, and has worked as an adjunct lecturer at both Hoseo University and Nazarene University in Cheonan.
