Theorie/Theory

[MarieNo]

Wie lernen Kinder Fremdsprachen im Grundschulunterricht?
How do children learn second languages in the primary school environment?

[XYZ]

Das ist ein toller Artikel:
http://www.familienhandbuch.de/cmain/f_ ... s_624.html

Ich würde diesen Artikel so unterschreiben.

Kleinkinder und Grundschulkinder lernen ganz anders Fremdsprachen, wie wir das aus den weiterführenden Schulen kennen. Da ist nix mit Vokabelheft, abfragen etc. Wie einfach und mit wie viel Spaß Kinder in dem Alter eine Fremdsprache lernen, fasziniert mich immer wieder!

[Steffi Bach]

Jigsaw tasks have communicative goals, which means that they do not concentrate on grammar but on conveying meaning. This relates to the theory of interactionism, which says that students acquire a language better when communicating with others (not only with more experienced speakers of the target language but with fellow students as well). Although the focus is not on grammar the students need to use grammar in order to convey the information. Jigsaw tasks are supposed to imitate real speech events in which at least one of the partners has information the other one doesn't, so that he has to ask for it. An example of a jigsaw task would be the following:
There are two students, both get a picture, the two pictures are similar but not the same. For example both show a park, but one of them shows three children playing soccer in the park and the other one just two. There need to be several differences. You tell the students that they are supposed to find out what the differences are, without looking at the other picture but just talking. Furthermore you need to tell them how many differences they have to find. If they find them all or at least almost all, the students managed to communicate successfully and practised the language, which is the goal of the jigsaw task.

To me jigsaw tasks are the most efficient way to practice a second language for learners who have already acquired basic knowledge of the language. You can use it for beginners too, but then you have to set easier tasks, probably not using whole sentences but new pieces of vocabulary.

[MarieNo]

I agree, a jigsaw task is a nice way to get people talking to each other in a classroom exercise. The focus is on getting a message across or on getting information from someone else, and you do this using the language you know. And getting students to talk to each other in pairs or in small groups in front of the computer or as part of the task you set around using computer software is one of the most important parts of a successful lesson. The computer software acts as a source of input, and generally requires non-spoken output from its user. Spoken output occurs during the task the teacher sets around the use of the software.

[MarieNo]

AlexIles has also written a posting about setting tasks that require speaking here: http://www.grundschule.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=399

[AlexIles]

I agree, a jigsaw task is an efficient way of learning a language. By
imitating a real-life conversation the student has the possibility of
improving his/her knowledge of the target language.
But unlike MarieNo's suggestion I would set a jigsaw task as the only part of a lesson because while working on computers it's nearly impossible to start a conversation near to everyday-life. To complete a software task the students really have to concentrate on the program. Consequently there is hardly any time left to involve the students into a coherent speech event.

[Materno]

Young children are curious, highly motivated and uninhibited language learners. They learn by imitation and experimentation, not by conscious analysis of grammar. So young children learn best intuitively - through games, songs, role play and simple conversation.Therefore the teacher at the primary school must concentrate on "input" more than "output", because children can understand a new language much earlier than they can speak it.

[Lalumi]

A very important thing is to give clear instructions to the
pupils so that they can concentrate on what they are doing with the
computer and don't need to wonder how to interpretate the task.

One of the general problems is that children in the primary school
usually do not understand that many words. Mostly they just have
learned word fields and the teacher needs to find software that's
appropriate for their level/knowledge.

That means children need feedback on errors and even on things they got
right to increase their motivation. In general software should be in English
but if the pupils have a problem they should have the possibility to get
information or help in their mother tongue.