Students name: Duong Hoang Phuc

Task: Book review

Instructor: Dr. Nguyen T. B. Hoang

Subject: Academic Writing

Book review
Longman Keys to Language Teaching: Teaching English to
Children
Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg (1990)
Series editor: Niville Grant
Reviewed by Duong Hoang Phuc
One of the most practical and welcome book in the Longman series Longman
keys to language teaching is Teaching English to children. As stated in the
preface, this book is compiled to respond to the ever-growing need of
teaching English to young children in societies worldwide. It is a useful guide
not only for new teachers, but also for those with years of experience in
teaching learners of other ages but limited contact with little children. It
provides teachers with sound, practical, down-to-earth advice on useful
techniques and approaches in the classroom. Similarly, at the back cover of
the book, the editor once again stresses the significance of the series as a
whole and this book in particular. The nine chapters of the book deal with
different aspects and skills of teaching young children.
In chapter 1, Niville provides readers an insight into what is defined as young
learners. There are basically 2 groups which are seen as young learners; one
is those from five to seven years old, and the other is from eight to ten.
There are some basic similarities between these two groups, but the
differences are quite significant as well. Therefore, the editor gives two
separate sections which elaborate on each age group in turn. This section is
particularly useful to teachers as it looks at the most basic of this group of
learners psychological traits and good understanding of these
characteristics is key to the success of teaching this group.
Chapter 2 is concerned with class management and atmosphere, another
section which gives practical advice to teachers; besides, teachers can feel
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Students name: Duong Hoang Phuc

Task: Book review

Instructor: Dr. Nguyen T. B. Hoang

Subject: Academic Writing

more confident and encouraged to proceed with their teaching career. In

addition, as the title of this section suggests, it provides teachers with ideas
on how to arrange the classroom sensibly to promote the best working
environment for the learners, how the pair-work and group-work systems
work as well as the importance of classroom language. Like other chapters of
this book, at the end of each chapter, a few questions are given to teachers
for reflection.
The following chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 deal with listening, oral work (speaking),
reading, and writing skills and techniques respectively. These chapters are
where the authors show and share their invaluable experience in handling
this particular group of learners. For listening, the writer starts by giving the
basic rule in a language class, which is then followed by descriptions of
activities from easy to more challenging ones. With a clear division of types
of activities, the teachers can easily systematize and remember the activities
better without regularly referring to the book. However, in this section, the
authors fail to gives comments on the negative aspects of some activities
and there is also a section listening to stories - which may cause
controversy among the readers.
What comes after listening is oral work; in other work, it is speaking. The
authors start off by general comments on different aspects of this skill as
well as the challenges in teaching this skill to young learners. Then, a
systematic presentation of different techniques and activities is given. This is
the section which takes up the most ink and paper in this book as every
activity is accompanied by an illustration and detailed description as well as
the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the activities.
Chapter 5 is to do with reading. At the beginning of this section, a short
comment on the significance of reading to the development of learning
language in general and second language learning in particular. Due to
different characteristics of the two age groups of young learners, different
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Students name: Duong Hoang Phuc

Task: Book review

Instructor: Dr. Nguyen T. B. Hoang

Subject: Academic Writing

methods and activities are put forward for consideration. However, they are
very limited in terms of variety.
The very first lines of chapter 6 give the assumption of most teachers as
regards the learning and implementation process and the mechanics of
writing. Following that, different practice activities are provided with clear
visual illustrations and detailed instructions on how to use each activity. It is
very easy to use because the activities are in order of increasing difficulties,
with the controlled writing practice first and the free writing given last. This
section is ended with the summary of dos and donts on free writing, which
reminds teachers of the possible flaws in designing and implementing this
type of practice.
In chapter 7, the authors and editor examine how topic-based tasks work and
the way to carry out the activities. The positive side of this section is the
clear division of the tasks according to the learners age groups, but as a
reviewer of this book, I find that this section is of the least significance in this
book because this is what many books now available on market have
included.
Chapter 8 of the book is about the planning of the lesson. It is an interesting
section because it offers me, the reviewer, a chance to look at an effective
lesson plan whereby only important ideas and steps are included, which is in
sharp contrast to the common practice that many teachers in my country
have been trained and have been forced to use. In fact, we, teachers here in
Vietnam, have to write our own lesson plan in great detail which is so timeconsuming and of little value.
The book is rounded off by a section named as the tools of the trade. As the
name suggests, it gives a list of materials which can be used in the
classroom. This is a very useful section as it helps readers know where to
look at when they need to use some particular items of teaching tools. A
section of great use!
3

Students name: Duong Hoang Phuc

Task: Book review

Instructor: Dr. Nguyen T. B. Hoang

Subject: Academic Writing

In short, even though there are only nine chapters in this book, but it
provides a great deal of knowledge as well as experience in teaching young
learners. There are certain weaknesses as mentioned in the analysis above,
but the benefits it brings to the audience outweigh its drawbacks. Hence, this
is a must-have book for those who have the intention of choosing to teach
children as their job.