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With the provided theme and 2 paragraph, write an intro paragraph related to the theme by extend a discussion relate to the theme and take an alternative perspective, this intro- paragraph’s content should be as a set up and draw forth what comes in the 2 provided paragraphs. This paragraph should not be more than 200 words. No reference/citations are allowed in this paragraph.

Theme:  What considerations must a language teacher make in a classroom with young learners?

Paragraph 1:

Extension: One crucial factor the instructor must consider is the interplay of students’ class performances in shaping their learning.   I have some experience in teaching English public speaking to primary school students. I remember that there was one student who was highly motivated and engaged in class. She was almost always the first to raise her hand with strong eagerness to be called, whenever a question was posed. The reason for her high participation was partly because of her sufficient experience in speaking publicly in English, such as participating in study abroad programs, etc. By contrast, another girl in class was so hard to be motivated and I barely tried all out to get her to speak out but still ended up in vain mostly. When I investigated the reasons behind it, it turned out that she was so sensitive to the performance of the active student mentioned above that each time she wanted to speak out in English, the first thing she considered was not how to respond to the question but rather how the active student would think of her response. It may sound a little weird, but it did make sense in that young learners at such age are usually quite sensitive to the action of their peers, which may consciously or unconsciously impact their performances in class and the learning outside of the class.

Paragraph 2: We also notice that the “socially ingrained ideology of native English” (Marr, 2019, p.65) occurs in language classrooms for young learners. To help YLs learn “standard English” as early as possible, hiring NESTs is advertised as an advantage of some institutions or often

requested by parents. However, we think it should be considered carefully. Although YLs do have a higher potential of achieving “nativelike pronunciation or oral proficiency” (CMBS, p.553), it’s important to expose YLs to varieties of English so that the NS-centric norm can be challenged and that students can be prepared for variations of English in reality. Siya points out that, in ESL contexts, YLs may be misguided and even doubt their own identities, if NESTs are regarded as the sole criterion of correctness or authenticity. As they haven’t fully developed their conceptions, YLs, especially young immigrants, can be more confused about their positions in English-speaking environments than adult learners, and their concerns can be more challenging to address because of their inability to express confusions. Therefore, we suggest NNESTs should be highly involved in teaching YLs and their roles as mentors and inspiring role models, as suggested by CMBS, can exert nuanced impacts on YLs’ language learning and mental development through empathy and experience sharing.