English picture books in English lessons in the first cycle of primary school

Paper

Two important factors for learning English as a foreign language with young learners are the desire to learn and the enthusiasm for foreign languages. Teachers need to consider that young learners perceive the world holistically and learning a foreign language depends on their developmental stage. Young learners learn a new language spontaneously and without prejudice, which makes their learning effective. Activities must be chosen in order to attract pupils’ attention as well as amuse and teach them, therefore the knowledge is more durable. A great tool for learning English are picture books. Picture books develop imagination and help readers to focus on the pictures. Pupils see things and at the same time learn the language and new vocabulary. When we choose a picture book, we have to be careful that it is adapted to the child's level and their current knowledge. It is important for a child to develop visual literacy, as giving information through pictures is an important part of communication in the global world. Based on the pictures in the picture book, the pupil will be able to tell us what the story is about, even though he or she does not yet understand the foreign vocabulary. The purpose of this paper is to present examples of picture books and their use in English lessons in the first cycle of primary school. A general lesson plan with activities for a given picture book is presented in the paper. Because picture books cover different themes and topics, the activities are also different but adapted to the developmental stage with the aim for pupils to become active »readers« of the story.