Language teaching is frequently implemented in the early childhood. During this period, the child is more receptive to language acquisition than adults. The experts connect it with the explanation of »sensitive phases« in the early childhood. However, since we are talking about a preschool child, foreign language teaching should be interesting and attractive to him in order to stimulate his curiosity for language learning. Using information and communication technology (ICT) can contribute to this stimulation if it is used appropriately by teachers.
In the diploma paper entitled English Teaching in Kindergarten through the Didactic Use of ICT I researched how many kindergartens in Slovenia offer early English teaching, kindergarten teachers’ opinion on English teaching in preschool, their opinion on the use of ICT in kindergarten, how much ICT is used in English teaching in early childhood and what circumstances affect the frequency of using ICT in English activities.
The survey included all kindergartens in Slovenia (public kindergartens, primary schools with at least one kindergarten unit, private kindergartens and private educators). The questionnaire was intended for kindergarten teachers, educators and other employees who teach English at the preschool level. 70 kindergartens participated in the research. 54 of those offer early English learning, mostly in the course form. The results show that most of the participating professionals have positive attitudes towards learning English in the early childhood. A very small section of those think that children should start learning English in primary school, citing the need for good knowledge of the native language and a free childhood with no activities that would pressure the child even more. When asked whether ICT belongs in early childhood and whether it is used in English teaching, most respondents chose the answer yes. That indicates their positive attitude towards the use of ICT in early childhood. They think that ICT enriches activities, stimulates child's curiosity, is an inevitable part in learning, it is a part of child's life and helps in learning the foreign language. When teaching English to preschool children they see the biggest advantage of using ICT in a wide range of ideas for activities. They mostly use ICT to find ideas and for planning the activities. In the homeroom, they use ICT to learn and listen to songs in a foreign language. Most of the respondents have no problem using didactic ICT when teaching English to young children. Only a few of them experience lack of time to use it.
|