Speakers
Description
The Teaching Younger Learners Special Interest Group is dedicated to supporting educators who work with children and adolescents in a wide range of teaching contexts. TYL values practical, research-informed, and classroom-tested ideas that help teachers build confidence, foster belonging, and support meaningful language learning for young people. This forum brings together presenters whose work reflects those priorities through hands-on, reflective, and teacher-useful approaches.
For the first part of the forum, Connor Baron will present “Turning ‘Guess Who’ into Communicative Practice: Teaching ‘Can you…?’” This session introduces a communicative “Guess Who”-style activity designed for fifth grade elementary school learners in Japan and aligned with New Horizon 5 Unit 3, “Can you…?” Using a visual ability grid featuring familiar characters and actions, students ask and answer target questions to identify a hidden character, giving them repeated and meaningful practice with key language patterns. Baron will explain how the activity uses gamification and clear scaffolding to support participation, especially for less confident learners, while also encouraging peer-to-peer communication, listening for specific information, and strategic interaction. The session will include a demonstration of the activity, practical guidance for classroom setup and modelling, and suggestions for adapting the task for mixed-ability classes. Attendees will leave with a ready-to-use activity, simple scaffolding techniques, and a practical framework for turning familiar games into effective communicative tasks.
For the second part of the forum, Alexandra Burke will present “Serious Fun: Hands-on ABC Bottle Cap Play: Building Classroom Communities and Foundations for Keyboarding.” In this session, participants will explore how combining fonts, paper, and bottle caps as a reusable tactile resource can support alphabet learning, build reading confidence, and encourage positive peer interaction. Drawing on classroom practice in both large and small-scale settings, Burke will share ways this approach can be used for spelling, vocabulary building, sentence formation, and QWERTY keyboard practice. The session will include a short introduction followed by a hands-on component using prepared materials, giving participants an opportunity to experience the method directly and reflect on how it might transfer to their own teaching contexts. This presentation will be especially relevant for teachers interested in practical, low-cost, and inclusive approaches that support engagement and help build strong foundations for later paper-based and digital learning.