This webinar is about building a strong foundation for young learners of English. The speaker, Eugenia Corbo, discusses the importance of phonics, vocabulary development, reading, speaking, and grammar instruction. She also shares some tips on how to make these lessons fun, communicative, meaningful, relevant, and memorable.
The webinar starts with a poll asking the participants what they think are the building blocks for a strong foundation for Young Learners of English. The options include listening, speaking, vocabulary, and phonics.
Eugenia then goes on to discuss the importance of phonics and how to teach it to young learners. She says that phonics is about teaching kids the relationship between sounds and spelling. She also says that it is important to focus on the sounds that are not direct transfers from the students’ native language.
Next, Eugenia discusses vocabulary development. She says that this is one of the biggest challenges for teaching reading to young learners because they are just learning a new language. She suggests teaching vocabulary explicitly and using songs, games, and other activities to make it more engaging.
After that, Eugenia talks about reading. She says that there are five building blocks of reading that are necessary for students to have a strong foundation: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension. She then goes on to discuss each of these building blocks in more detail.
Eugenia then moves on to discuss speaking. She says that speaking is the foundation of all language learning. She also says that there are three main goals for speaking instruction: fluency, accuracy, and coherence.
Finally, Eugenia discusses grammar instruction. She says that grammar is important for communication, but it should not be the focus of language learning. She suggests teaching grammar in a way that is relevant to students’ needs and interests.
The webinar ends with a Q&A session.
