Page 145 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Classroom Interaction and Teacher Talk

Bridge Is Falling Down.’ The children are encouraged to sing along and at the
same time follow the direction to make a circle. Several web sites are today
available offering a number of songs and chants, together with ideas and ac-
tivities appropriate for classroom use. Some of the most popular are: British
Council Learn English Kids, Super Simple Songs, Maple Leaf Learning.

Hello Song Is it cloudy?
Hello, hello, Is it rainy out today?
Hello, how are you? Is it snowy?
I’m great! Is it windy?
I’m fine! What’s the weather like today?
How about you?
Hello, hello, Make a Circle
Hello, how are you? (Tune: ‘London Bridge Is Falling Down’)
I’m sleepy! Make acircleround andround,
I’m tired! round and round, round and round.
And hungry, too! Make acircleround andround.
And how are you today? Make a circle! Make a circle big, big, big,
(Bratož et al., 2019) Small, small, small, big, big, big.
Make a circle big, big, big.
Weather Song Make a circle!
(Tune: ‘Oh My Darling Clementine’)
What’s the weather? Months of the Year
What’s the weather? (Tune and movement: ‘Macarena’)
What’s the weather like today? January, February, March, and April
Tell us (child’s name), May, June, July, and August
What’s the weather? What’s the weather September, October, November, Decem-
like today? ber.
Is it sunny? These are the months of the year!

Classroom Interaction and Teacher Talk
The constant and natural exposure to the FL which characterises classroom
interaction offers a vast intrinsic potential in FL instruction. As Mercer and
Littleton (2007, p. 21) state, ‘for a teacher to teach and a student to learn, they
must use talk and joint activity to create and negotiate a shared commu-
nicative space.’ This space does not only include the teacher’s explanations
or instructions for performing activities but all kinds of comments made by
teachers during the lesson, such as asides, chit-chat, and jokes (Scrivener,
2011). Classroom communication can therefore be seen as a useful source
of language input at all levels of foreign language teaching, including YLs
(Cameron, 2001). In this regard Scott and Ytreberg (1990) explicitly maintain

145