LEGENDARY Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 6
Activities in the pupil’s Course Book are presented spirally, with intensive support. Activities move gradually
from reception to production. Target lexical items and chunks from the Foundation Band I Core I word list
are extensively recycled, allowing pupils to gain confidence in the language.
The methodology behind Legendary integrates both language learning theories and language teaching
approaches that have been proven successful in foreign language instruction, as well as in research and firsthand experiences in the classroom.
The following are theories underlying the Integrated Multisensory Language Teaching Methodology in
Legendary:
Piaget’s Constructivist Theory
Children continually interact with the world around them and confront problems. Piaget theorized that it is
through the action of solving these problems that children construct knowledge. Legendary is built on
activities in which children are required to use the new language to solve problems.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Theory
Underlying Vygotskian Theory is the central observation that development and learning take place in a social
context, in a world where children interact and communicate with their environment. The people around
the children play an important role in helping them learn by bringing objects and ideas to their attention,
playing with them, telling them stories, and asking and answering questions. The ability to learn through
instruction and mediation is a core characteristic to human intelligence. The adult helps the child achieve
what the child cannot achieve on his/her own. Vygotsky refers to this as the Zone of Proximal Development
– what the child can do with the help of an adult, and how this enables him/her to progress.
Both Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories have had a clear impact on what teachers can do in the language
classroom in order to aid learning. The Legendary Teacher’s Guide implements these important ideas in
explicit instructions for the teacher.
The Natural Approach to Language Learning
The Natural Approach sees language as developing through the use of natural and meaningful contexts,
rather than a conscious learning of language and its structures.
Legendary is built on the assumption that young learners are curious and, therefore, attracted by interesting
stories, situations, and characters. The program is built around engaging, age-appropriate stories, which
stimulate children’s curiosity and allow for authentic communication.
The Integrated Multisensory Language Teaching Approach
Bejarano’s (1994) pedagogical concept is based on the firm connection between WHAT content is included in
the language teaching program and HOW that content is taught.
The “WHAT” includes explicit objectives and age-appropriate content, integrating all four language skills –
listening, speaking, reading, and writing – in natural aural/oral and written communication.
The “HOW” includes a variety of teaching techniques and activities which consider different learning styles
and forms of intelligences, as described by Howard Gardner (Gardner 1993). By doing so, the program
reflects the individual intellectual and cognitive strengths as well as the affective needs of each learner.
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