Teaching pragmatics to young learners

Abstract

My proposal examines if it is possible to teach pragmatics to very young learners in a British school. This chapter examines the school where the teaching practise took place. Starting with general information about the philosophy of the school and then it continues with specific information about the educational level where the activities where implemented. The teaching practise took place in: Elian’s British school which is located in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the second British school of the Iale-Elian’s Educational Group which was founded in 1967. It is characterised by making use of the English National Curriculum together with the obligatory Spanish curriculum; Spanish language, cultural studies and the regional language, Valencian. Classes are held in a British environment with British and Spanish teachers, that is, British cultural aspects of the country are presented and worked with pupils, from celebrating traditional festivals to talk about important historical events. In turn, the classes and school hallways are decorated with posters in English. Most of their students are Spanish 87% and the rest are international 13%. The average number of students per classroom is 18. The maximum number of students per classroom is 25. The teaching area is organised in levels to meet the needs of the students from a very early age until they leave to attend university. It consists of the following educative periods: Early years, primary, secondary and six form.