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Teaching English to Young Learners: A Parallel Project-Based Syllabus
Georgia Nasta
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DOI:10.17265/2161-623X/2025.04.004
Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece
The purpose of this article is to examine how a parallel syllabus may aid educators in their effort to teach young learners English as a foreign language. To achieve such a goal, it was chosen to create a parallel to the coursebook material project-based syllabus that comprises four lessons, all of which focus on the same topic. This theme-based syllabus aims at building various skills such as listening, writing, and speaking in tandem with integrating grammatical elements so that learners may eventually produce a piece of writing, more specifically a blog entry. All four lessons follow the same structure and include objectives that are to have been met by the time the project is complete and the students have produced their end product. The main reason behind choosing a project-based approach is that, on one hand, students learn to cooperate; on the other hand, projects are a great opportunity for cultivating learners’ imagination and creativity through playful and engaging group activities. Upon completion, the students were asked to fill in self-assessment forms in order for the teacher to be able to assess each individual and their team work in a holistic and more productive way.
project-based learning, multimodality, multiple intelligences, self-assessment, integrativeness, collaboration
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