Job Discussion Forums

[almuze]

Does anybody know the educational/lingusitic theory behind Oxford U Press? Is there a reason that it is better to spend months teaching young children fruit and toy vocabulary before they learn how to say "this is my ----(friend)? Does listening to songs in english that they don't understand really help them learn the language? or just expose thier young ears to a variety of sounds? And, does Oxford U Press now have it's own tv show? the one with penguins who make nonesense noises? Are these books only popular because they are glossy and well known?

[mrauc941]

I don't know a lot about the books you mentioned...but I really like the Oxford books Im using with my 3rd graders. They are all based around a boy their age named Kipper and his family. They are short simple stories whose plot can easily be understood through the illustrations.

The theory they are working with is this:

'Children may have trouble recognizing individual words or learning them out of context. However they can retain a simple story told in natural-sounding language patterns. Pictures and text work together to give the children cues and clues to help the predict the meaning of simple sentences.'

'The sequence underlying the approach is top down: Meaning > Sentences > Words > Sounds/letters.'

The books certainly dont work with target language like "Whats your name?" "How old are you?"

But I use this language in reference to the characters. For example we first learned their names: Kipper, Floppy, Mum, Dad etc. "Whats his/her name?" (point)

Kipper!

'Whats your name?'

Enes!

I would definitely say that I do a lot of adaptation with these books but like them a lot. They certainly cant be used 'as is'. I would add that working through these stories really seems to keep my students' attention.

[almuze]

I am using OUP books for kids under age 8, and they are not so great. But I am also team teaching with a turk who is basically teaching english via translation, using only the "target lang" listed at the top of the lesson for english words.. so maybe thats it.

My kids are not predicting sentences yet, so thier lessons are almost totally target language, and OUP is not the best at this. Plus, the book charcter names are 2 penguins called "Pengi" and "Pengu" and they look almost identical.

Is anybody using not OUP books that they really like?

[queenfrog]

Yes, we use Robby Rabbit for kindergarten and Playway for 1st - 4th. The kindergarteners love Robby and the entire lesson is done in English with no problems. Wonderful color books but not glossy like yours. It's our second year with these books and the kids are happy.

P.W. is nice and active but a little daunting. Lots of complicated songs but the kids still like them. Not so easy to use if the teacher is not used to being active and lots of cut and paste activities. This our third year using these books.