07.02.2009
АВС with Ace & Christi, Speaking English with Ace & Christi from Brenda Jones
A.C.E. has a program called Speaking English with Ace and Christi--It teaches about 1800 words and phrases and lays a good language foundation to build on. The vocabulary is the same as in the Preschool Program, the ABCs, and the PACEs up to about 1036. The best thing about it is it needs no translation--it is demonstration and pictures. The students first hear the word and see the instructor demonstrate, then they begin to understand. Words are taught with games and songs. The physical activity helps the students to remember the words.
The program is geared for children 6 to 8 years old--but it is easily adapted for younger children (many people think the best age to begin teaching English to children in a group is about 4 years of age--and I agree). I have even used it with adults.
Speaking English is used before the ABCs program. It teaches the children the names of all the animals and enough nouns and verbs so that they can understand a simple version of the animal stories with no translation. The program has 60 lessons, 12 weeks of 5 lessons, if there are no holidays. In actuality, the program usually takes 3 1/2 to 4 months, allowing for a day or two off, with the extra review this means--or if several children miss the same lesson. With 4 lessons a week, more review is needed and the program will take about 5 months to complete. With three lessons a week, the students will still make progress, but it will take much longer. 5 lessons is much better than 4 and 4 are much better than 3. (Each lesson is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours long--depending on the number of students and their age. )
There are no Bible stories with these lessons, but I find that after about PACE 4 of the program I can add simple Bible stories. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's ark work great with young children and a flannel board. Many of the songs speak about Jesus in the program and the vocabulary for learning Bible concepts are taught. It is not difficult to make Him part of every lesson. I open my classes with prayer, and after 5 or 6 PACEs and listening to my prayers each day, usually the children are confident enough to thank God at the end of the day.
Something important to know is that since the lessons require demonstration, a monitor is necessary. I have done the program by myself, but found that I needed to get a volunteer for at least the first several lessons until the children knew what was expected and how we learned. With a monitor, it is easy to model conversation and teach the meaning of new words and phrases. With no monitor, there is no way for the children to listen to English conversation--and it is difficult to get them beyond the teacher asking a question and the student answering to really USING their English to communicate. With no monitor, it sometimes takes repeating a word or phrase a LOT of times in different contexts before the children begin to catch on to the meanings--so it will take longer to go through the program. (However, this program with one teacher is still better than any other program I have run across).
If the students go through Speaking English and the ABCs program with a supervisor and a monitor who do not translate--they are ready to work in the PACEs. They will recognize the words they read and be able to talk about the stories. They have the foundation they need to ask questions and learn the meaning of new words.
To find out about training and PACEs, you will need to contact Lena Ulyanova at the International School in Moscow. The e-mail is
customerservice@schooloftomorrow.ru
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