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There was a time when teaching English to young children was conceived of as mainly a matter of involving them in songs and games. Songs and games of course remain important for young learners, but our ideas have evolved considerably in recent years. We have come to realize that, for these kinds of learners, there is a need for more than just teaching the language – rather the language is just one element in a process of helping them to develop as ‘whole persons’: an educational rather than just a training process.

This book is one response to this need. The focus is on involving children simultaneously in activities promoting their personal development and in helping them to learn the language. Art and craft activities serve these twin aims in an ideal fashion. While making things, the children also make meaning. As they explore shapes, colours, textures, constructions, they are extending their experience and understanding of the world – and doing it through the medium of the foreign language.

We are fortunate that, in Andrew Wright, we have a unique blend of experience and expertise in art and in language teaching. For fifteen years Andrew was a teacher of art and design. He has been able to draw on this experience to inform his later work in language teaching. As an artist, he has a proper understanding of the educational value of art and craft in developing children’s understanding and sensitivity. He is passionately concerned that we should not trivialize art and craft activities just because the learners are young! As a language teacher and author, he appreciates the need to structure activities and to provide a framework of encouragement and support.

The book is a treasure house of imaginative, involving, and above all, practical activities. It is an invaluable addition to the resources of anyone involved in teaching younger learners.

Alan Maley