English in Early Childhood: Language Learning and Development Course - British Council
Online, United Kingdom
Course
DURATION
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
Key Summary
About: Learn how very young children acquire English as an additional language in this online British Council course. You’ll study play-based approaches, language acquisition, child development and practical strategies for parents and practitioners. Through articles, videos, live events and downloadable resources you’ll hear from educators (Sheona Gilmour, Tracey Chapelton), join discussions and interact with experts. The course runs on FutureLearn; date to be announced. It includes Learning Time with Timmy in partnership with Aardman.
Career Outcomes: You can apply this training toward roles such as early years teacher, EAL practitioner, nursery practitioner, teaching assistant and materials developer for early education.
Discover how very young children learn English as an additional language and how you can help them progress.
Teaching English to children while they’re still learning their mother tongue is a challenging but rewarding prospect. In this online course, you’ll learn how and why children learn best through play. What can parents and practitioners do to enable children to get the most out of a learning experience?
This course for parents and practitioners will explore how young children learn English and investigate many more aspects of early childhood learning and development.
British Council educators will share their insights and experiences so that you can learn how to best talk to young children; how to create the best environment for them to learn English as an additional language; and how to monitor their progress.
Through articles, videos and live events you will hear from early childhood experts and parents, and see for yourself how young children learn inside the early years classroom. At every stage, you will be offered tips, advice and downloadable resources that will help you with teaching English as a foreign language to children.
You will join discussions and have the opportunity to interact live with our experienced educators.
When would you like to start?
Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts.
- Date to be announced
Who will you learn with?
Sheona Gilmour
More than 20 years of experience working with early years children and young learners in kindergartens, schools and teaching centres. I never stop learning, growing and changing.
Tracey Chapelton
I have been teaching languages for over 25 years. I love the creative aspects of teaching and learning, and I now mostly work in the areas of teacher development and materials writing.
Who developed the course?
British Council
The British Council is on the ground in six continents and over 100 countries connecting the best of UK culture with a global audience and providing high-quality English language courses.
Learning Time with Timmy - British Council
The British Council presents an innovative approach to learning English for 2-6-year-olds in partnership with animators Aardman.
Learn on FutureLearn
What topics will you cover
- How children learn
- Learning through play
- How to talk to young children
- Learning: English and everything
- Feeling safe and happy
- Watching children learn
What will you achieve
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:
- Investigate how children learn and how they acquire language.
- Discuss the importance of play and look at language development opportunities.
- Reflect on ways to communicate effectively with young children.
- Explore meaningful learning and developing language in context.
- Demonstrate the connection between learning and a child’s well-being.
- Identify ways to support and challenge children, and measure their progress.
Who is the course for
This course will be of interest to you if you are: a parent of young children who wishes to support their child learning an additional language; an English teacher or an early childhood practitioner; or someone who is interested in the area of child development and language acquisition.
If English is not your first language please be reassured that this course is suitable for those who have learnt English to around intermediate level (approximately B1 on the CEFR).
The principles of learning an additional language during early childhood apply to all languages, so if you are a parent, teacher or practitioner interested in teaching languages other than English, you will find plenty of relevant methods in the course.
