Developing a New Curriculum for School-Age Learners. TESOL Language Curriculum Development Series

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. 1925 Ballenger Avenue Suite 550, Alexandria, VA 22314. Tel: 888-547-3369; Tel: 703-836-0774; Fax: 703-836-7864; Fax: 703-836-6447; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.tesol.org

N

235

Curriculum Development; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Educational Change; Foreign Countries; Reading Instruction; English (Second Language); English; Teaching Methods; Language Role; Educational Objectives; Standards; Science Instruction; Cooperative Learning; Elementary School Students; Middle School Students

Belarus; China; Colombia; Egypt; Israel; Italy; Japan; Russia

978-1-931185-56-1

These are exciting and challenging times for English language curriculum development for school-age learners. The global reach of English has spurred a rethinking of its role in education and, consequently, a rethinking of how to teach it. The accounts in this volume represent differences in educational systems, language teaching traditions, purposes for learning English, and responses to educational reform. Despite these differences, it is clear that in many countries the role of English is shifting from language as a subject and end in itself to language as a means for academic learning and for cultural communication and exchange. In this volume, two chapters address curriculum development in target language-embedded contexts, both in the United States, and eight chapters address curriculum development in target language-removed contexts: Egypt, Japan, Belarus, Russia, China, Israel, Italy, and Colombia. Because different countries face different challenges, the contributors remind us that we cannot make broad generalizations about English language teaching and curriculum development throughout the world. And they help us better understand how various educational systems are currently interpreting traditions and innovations in language teaching in an age of change, a time when English is acquiring new identities. Contents of this book include: (1) Challenges and Opportunities in Designing a New Curriculum for School-Age Learners (Kathleen Graves and Lucilla Lopriore); (2) A New Way for a New Age: Developing a Standards-Based Curriculum for Young Learners in Egypt (Barbara Thornton, Nadia A. Touba, Ashraf Bakr, and Susan Iannuzzi); (3) Teaching Reading to EFL Students in Belarus (Liudmila Lapitskaya and Caroline Linse); (4) The Introduction of English for Communication in a Japanese Elementary School: "Having an English Shower" (Yuko Tomita); (5) Students as Teachers: Collaborating for Greater Success in Science for English Language Learners (Elizabeth Park); (6) Disturbing the Future: Curriculum Change in a Kibbutz School (Arieh Sherris); and (7) Distilling Content for Chinese Middle School Learners (Thomas Nowalk).

ERIC

2011

ED523342