Integrated learning is one aspect of learning that covers not only one area of the child's development, but deals with it comprehensively. Its objectives are achieved by cross-curricular integration. By interweaving the goals of two different subjects, students can develop in many areas: cognitive, social, emotional, cultural, motor and physical, with the latter two being particularly intertwined. Therefore, it is good for the student to take movement activity more generally and not only in relation to physical activity. Cross-curricular integration is all the more advisable in the first grade of the elementary school, since it enables learners to make easier transition from pre-school to school. Knowledge of English has a very special significance today, consequently teaching of English was introduced into the first three years of elementary school. Learning has to take place in the most natural way with appropriate methods such as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and TPR (Total Physical Response). For the reasons described above, we decided to link early teaching of English with the content of sports.
In May 2018, we carried out an evaluation study that took place at the elementary school in the context of foreign language lessons. 51 pupils participated in the study, of which 25 were in the experimental group, where the content of the sport was included in English classes, and 26 in the control group, where English classes were conducted in a classical, sedentary manner. The purpose of the experiment was to design a model for integrating sports content into English classes in the first grade of the elementary school, to test and evaluate such a model of teaching in terms of advancement in knowledge and to determine whether such a teaching method influences the student's motivation for learning a foreign language. The results showed that pupils who learned foreign languages through the inclusion of sports content in classes were more motivated to learn English and had greater progress in knowledge than pupils who studied foreign languages in the classical way.
|