SEVECEN Sayı: 28 - 2019

152 Gizem Gökgöz EnglIsh SpeakIng SkIlls Program At SEV we believe in the effectiveness of bilingualism and therefore, have integrated a Speaking Skills program in Grades 1, 2 and 3. In our Speaking Skills lessons an English teacher and Turkish teacher teach lessons on maths, science, music and art. When contexts are taught in two languages, students are able to grasp understanding and vocabulary much quicker as well a develop cognitive flexibility where they are able to switch from one language to the other. The aim of these lessons is not to give grammatical knowledge, but trying to help the learner to develop communicative competence. That is, students should develop their autonomy in language use, which means that they will be able to understand and produce language in different contexts like math, science, music, and art. It means that our work is to support learners to develop their communicative skills of listening, speaking, interacting, reading and writing. Our aim is to establish connections between learning and thought, so students can connect new knowledge with already acquired knowledge and also to help students to re-elaborate their answers and introduce new vocabulary. At SEV, students are helped to develop these skills and competences through science, math, music, and art. The main aim is to activate prior knowledge, guide thinking and at the end, obtain desired responses and gradually introduce definitions and the use of new vocabulary. Defne ÇALIK “I can understand place value (tens, ones), count by twos, fives, tens. I learned 2D and 3D shapes.” Defne YERLİKAYA “I learned new words in English like G clef. I learned percussion instru ments like drum, tambourine, xylophone, maracas, and cymbals.