Abstract:
This article aims at describing how the innovative methodology used
in teaching foreign languages to young learners (three and eight years of
age) was applied in Romania by Euroed Foundation, Iasi. The method has
been developed by the “The Adventures of Hocus and Lotus” project cofinanced by the European Union under the Lifelong Learning Programme.
One of the most important innovations of the project which was highly
appreciated in Romania was that it gave kindergarten teachers the possibility
to teach a foreign language in their classes without them being language
teachers or having an advanced level in the foreign language. The key of the
method is the fact that it aims at teaching a limited amount of linguistic
content and, as a consequence the kindergarten teacher has to master the
foreign language to a certain extent, mastery that can be acquired through a
training programme, less extensive than one of qualifying foreign language
teachers. The paper focuses on the training programme. Instead of
blanketing the teachers with theory, it aims to provide them with an
educational model whose pedagogic lines are consistent with the natural
developmental processes of language acquisition. An added value of having
foreign languages taught by the class teachers is the special communicative
and emotional relationship between the children and their teacher. The
method was also applied to the mentally disabled children with good results
