Describing Learners

Something that I want to remember from this chapter was the age factor, that age is essential in the successful develop of class. If u as a teacher know the age of the learner you can easily get ready for your class, of course, there are other factors, but especially this one has a certain importance. Also, you have to ask yourself all the time Who are your students? One can find second language learners all around the globe, in almost every country. They are people who speak African, French, Thailand, Mandarin and who have varying degrees of education. They also have different personalities, learning styles, and reasons for studying a language. These language learners can be divided into two groups: the age group, consisting of children, adolescents or adults, and the proficiency level group, where students can be beginner, intermediate or advanced learners of English.

Age group: as I said before, age is the main factor in make a decision what to teach and how to teach it, different ages have several needs, competences and cognitive abilities.

a) Children's persons from 1 to 12 year of age (include pre-adolescents): elements to consider: biological, cognitive and social. Children learn differently in the following ways. The younger, the better brain plasticity: even though children can be less inhibited than adults when it reaches speaking in a new language, they can also be discouraged. Therefore, it is important that you find English tasks for your pupils that are challenging without being overtaxing. If the task is beyond them, the childrens will lose confidence and, in the absence of constant and sympathetic encouragement, they may begin to think themselves as poor languages learners. If this happens, then they can easily give up trying and become bored.

• Keen to talk about themselves (topics friends-cartoons, movies)

• Pick up the language easily

• Good pronunciation / learn through imitation

• Need individual attention

• Enthusiastic for learning

• Need for teacher approval

• Limited attention

• Prefer involves movement

b) Adolescents: Teaching adolescents can be a challenging process. Adolescents are not children nor are adults. They are capable of taking care themselves, yet their role in society is not clearly defined. Adolescents go through major biological and psychological changes. Biological changes will affect their self-esteem, consciousness, and security as they're fluctuating hormones cause periods of restlessness or fatigue. Even as adolescents begin to realize their personal goals and desires, their parents still have a very strong influence on their lives. Adolescents may or may not be learning English because they want to, most often it is because they want to pass an English proficiency examination to attend a secondary or post-secondary educational institution either in their home country or abroad. 

• Need for self-esteem

• Search for identity

• Need for approval

• Must be encouraged to respond to texts & situations with own thoughts 

• Great creative minds

c) Adults: Teaching adults may be as challenging to the teacher as any other age group. Adult learners have experience and maturity. They usually approach learning with a sense of whom they are want to learn. Adult learners often have time to learn only what they need to learn. They usually lead complex and busy lives with many commitments. They do not have time to learn what is irrelevant to them. Adults learners usually know what they want to learn. They have definite goals.

• Prefer learning by studying the language situations

• Easily engaged

• Self-motivated

• More disciplined

• Have a whole range of experiences to draw on