Dissonant voices of kindergarteners in an English immersion experience

This paper reports findings of an innovative project which provided partial immersion English experiences for three groups of five-year-old children from a local preschool through a partnering program with three international preschools. The project was consisted of two phases :(I) initial visits between partnering children to establish friendship (II) a week’s program of English informal activities like games, song singing, story book sharing to enhance young learner’s interests and motivation to speak English in an authentic interaction context. 39 project children were interviewed on their views of learning English before and after the project to see if the immersion experience has aroused their interest of speaking English. A few but strong provocative voices have illuminated important messages for both teachers and parents to take note of when planning immersion experiences for very young children.
本文報告一所本地幼稚園與國際幼稚園英語交流的計劃結果。本地幼園的三組五歲班幼兒分別配對於三所國際幼稚園的五歲班幼兒成為學習伙伴。計劃共分兩部份︰第一部份是透過互訪，本地幼兒及國際學校的幼兒互相認識及建立友誼。第二部份是學習伙伴一起參與一周的英語興趣活動，目的是利用真實互動情境，增進本地幼兒對學習英語的興趣及動機。研究員透過在計劃開始前及結束後訪問參與計劃的39位幼兒，初步探究此項計劃能否有效提升幼兒對學習英語的興趣。訪談結果中，數位幼兒對是次部份英語浸入經驗發出強烈負面的聲音，這些聲音向老師及家長揭示了一些重要訊息，值得日後計劃同類活動時作參考。 Copyright © 2010 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.