TEYL Assignment

Prepared by: Asma Abbassi

Article: Developing thinking skills in the young learners’ classroom. By Herbert Puchta.

One of the most important skills that any child must have is the thinking skills, because it is

crucial for them in their future. No one can deny its importance in creating creative, smart, and

artistic learners. In fact, successful people in any domain don’t born with this intelligence in their

brains. However, it takes time to move from a low level of success, to a high level of success. To

elucidate, to be successful is a matter of patience, and to keep trying. Taking the example of Sophia,

she is smart and very intelligent, which is quite normal. But, which is very attractive, is her patience,

and her desire to be successful. Even in difficult tasks, she keep trying and searching for a solution

for the problem given. We need this sense of creativity and strength in our children to be successful

in the future. In contrast to Sophia, Christopher is so passive, and gives up in front of any difficult

task. He cannot engage himself in any task for more than few minutes, which is not beneficial for him

in the future. There is a gap between the two experiences given in the article. Indeed, to be successful,

the child must persist to achieve the goal even if it is hard. Because, a talent without persistence and

engagement, will lead to a failure in the future, But, a talent with the sense of curiosity, creativity,

and engagement, will create a generation who are good thinkers, good problem solvers, creative, and

very motivated. In accordance to Robert Fisher, thinking skills needs to be developed. In fact, a child

must grow up in a healthy environment, and this is the responsibility of his parents in a first stage to

engage them in meaningful tasks, and encourage them to communicate, think, try, and express

themselves. Those children are lucky, because they grow up in an environment in which they help

them to develop their thinking, and cognitive skills. In contrast to that, other children have not

conscious families who encourage, and enhance their abilities to think, to be curious, and creative.

The two mentioned types are lucky at the end, because they have another chance to develop their

cognitive skills, which is at schools with their teachers. A movement by the philosopher Matthew

Lipman highlights the importance of developing the thinking skills to be successful. In this context,

he gives an important and expressive example. The example emphasizes that “being successful is not

a matter of what you know, because knowledge is everywhere. But, it is a matter of what to do with
what you know and, how to do it”. If a child knows how to do what is said, he will be able to learn in

a safe way. Of course, to develop thinking skills their strategies that must be followed. In other

words, when dealing with a task, or a problem. The child must move through stages to arrive to the

solution. A child must start by observing the problem “what we have”. How is the problem

illustrated? He must understand the origins of the problem, and why it is presented in that way.

Then, he must focus on his goal and objective after dealing with the problem. In addition, a child

must think and be creative by seeing the problem from different perspectives, and predict the

solutions that can be provided. When following a systematic, and logic way to apply the thinking

skills. The results will be very beneficial on the learners’ abilities in their learning process.

In this article, the author presents three models of developing the thinking skills, and how it can be

applied in an EFL, and ELT classroom.

The first model is illustrated by Kieran Egan. This model insists on the importance of language in

developing the thinking skills. Indeed, the child cognitive skills, which are designed for the mother

tongue literacy, are important even for the language learning teaching. According to Egan (1997),

rhythm and rhyme are crucial, because a child can remember the chunks of language faster in an

early age when listening and speaking in rhythmic way. This way is very beneficial, because it is

funny for children. Besides, imagination is important for young learners. Indeed, learners can

understand better when they link their imagination to the language learning. For example, they can

create images, and uses their thinking to build an image in their minds to facilitate the learning

process. Moving to the story telling. In fact, stories have two major roles: entertainment, and

learning. They entertain themselves through listening to the stories, and the concentrate, to learn,

because they love stories. So, stories are so effective to convey the meaning, and develop learners’

thinking skills. Also, humor is crucial in the EFL classroom. To explain, humor is not just for having

fun, but also for exchanging the linguistic skills. It is crucial for developing the child’s cognitive

skills. This participation in the classroom provides the child with self confidence, social security,

allows him to participate, and to express himself in meaningful conversations. (Egan)

The second model is developed by Howard Gardner. He asserts that there is no such a thing called

intelligence, however there are multiple intelligences. He lists eight types of intelligences: Intra-

personal: self-smart, Inter-personal: people-smart, Logical-mathematical: maths-smart, Linguistic:

language-smart, Musical-rhythmic: music-smart, Visual-spatial: picture-smart, Kinesthetic-bodily:

body-smart, and Naturalistic: nature-smart.”

One cannot deny the existence of MI in the EFL classroom. In this context, Gardner highlights that

MI must not be the goal of the learning process, but a tool to achieve the lesson goal. When the

teacher keeps using these tools in the classroom, he will notice a progress in his students’ level. And

their cognitive skills will be developed, because of the development of the thinking skills. “These

cognitive processes are needed later in the language learning process”.

The third model is developed by Herbert Puchta and Marion Williams. This model insists on

the specific needs in the EFL or ELT classroom. In fact, activities must be given in a

meaningful context, must be challenging, and engaging. And the tasks given must be related

to the real life context. Because, every situation in everyday life, needs thinking skills to be

solved. The child must have a systematic, and logic order when solving the problem: moving

from knowing what is the problem, to having a solution. Children need to be creative, and

think for many possible scenarios. And he suggested 13 activities that enhance, and develop

the thinking skills, which are: Making comparisons, Categorizing, Sequencing, Focusing

attention, Memorizing, Exploring space, Exploring time, Exploring numbers, Making

associations, Analyzing cause and effect, Making decisions, Solving problems, and Creative

thinking.

All what is mentioned in the article is very important in developing the cognitive abilities,

and the thinking skills. All what is said is important, but it cannot be realistic without a wise

teacher. The teacher must be a guide, a monitor, and of course he must scaffold the learners

to help them to develop their necessary needs. Puchta clarify all what is said in a good way

with meaningful examples and activities.