Universität Koblenz – Landau
Children’s literature
Campus Koblenz
Dr. Isabel Martin
Institut für Anglistik
“Spot goes to school” by Eric Hill
IFA (Integrierte Fremdsprachenarbeit)
Natalie Querbach und Simone Mülligann
WS 2002/2003
29. 11. 2002
Thematic Unit “school” – “Spot goes to school”
by Eric Hill
Spot at school
Source: www.funwithspot.com
1. Why
should
teacher
work
with
foreign
children’s
literature in the classroom of primary schools?
 Teacher can easily catch the attention of pupils by telling a story
 Children are able to develop their imagination by listening to a fantastic and
exciting story
 Young pupils are very spontaneous. They are not afraid to tell a story again
with their own words  important prerequisite for teaching a foreign
language to primary school children
 Children get in contact with authentic language
1
 Pupils develop their understanding skills
 Children’s literature in a foreign language means to offer pupils a challenge
 They are motivated to understand the story.
 ….
2. Criteria for deciding which children’s book is useful or
not
 the material must stick to the didactic and methodological principles of
the primary school
 it must guarantee didactic conceptions and methodological treatment
 the content and the methodological treatment must be useful for
learning the foreign language in a very simple and easy way and it must
raise children’s awareness of culture
 it must guarantee pleasure and joy in learning the foreign language
 it should offer possibilities for integration
 it should also have some handbooks for the teacher or probably some
work-sheets
 the work-sheets should concentrate on oral exercises and not writing
exercises
 the pictures inside and the text must be appealing for the kids and the
teacher
 the text should be short and easy to understand and must include some
important topics, for ex. School, numbers, animals ect.
 the sentence structure of the book should be authentic language so that
the children could use it in real conversation situations
2
3. “Spot goes to school” by Eric Hill
3.1 Eric Hill – Biographical notes
Eric Hill
Source: www.penguinputnam.com
 Eric Hill was born 7th September 1927 in London where he attended
Pools Park Elementary
and Tollington Park central School until the
outbreak of the Second World war in 1939.
 At the beginning of the Second World War he had to leave London
because he was evacuated to a small village in Huntigtonshire.
 Eric Hill got back to London in the early 1940ties
 He left school at the age of 15 and started his first job at a shipping
office in London.
 When he was 16 he changed to an art studio, where he started to draw
cartoons in his spare time.
 After a stint with the Royal Air Force, he returned to the studio again and
his cartooning work was published in different English newspapers for
the first time.
 Later Eric Hill worked freelancing as an art director, graphic designer
and illustrator.
3
 In 1976 his son Christopher was born.
 Christopher was about two years old when Eric Hill created a story
about a small puppy to read at bedtime. The character of the little dog
SPOT began to develop.
 In 1980 the first Spot-Book “Where’s Spot?” was published, whom a lot
of other picture books followed.
 In 1983 Eric Hill and his family moved to the USA. The author still lives
and works in the west coast.
3.2 Spot’s world
3.2.1 Spot and his family
Spot’s family
Source: www.funwithspot.com
Spot lives together with his family in a big house with garden. He often
visits his grandparents who live in their neighbourhood.
Sam: Sam is Spot’s dad. He is farmer.
Sally: Sally his Spots mum.
Grandma and Grandpa: Spot’s grandma loves reading stories to Spot.
His grandpa is a retired fireman.
4
3.2.2 Spot’s friends
Spot’s friends
source: www.funwithspot.com
Spot shares his spare time with his best friend:
Steve: Steve is a monkey, who lives next door to Spot. He Likes
climbing and playing different kind of games.
Helen: Helen is a hippo. She likes ballet and making cookies. She also
enjoys riding her bike and going to the park.
Tom: Tom is a crocodile. He often plays with Spot. He enjoys going
fishing and flying his kite.
2.3. The story of “Spot goes to school”
The little dog Spot has his first day at school. One the one hand he is
afraid but on the other hand Spot is excited about what is going to
happen at school. He meets his teacher and a lot of new friends. Spot
get to know how to write his first word. He sings together with his
classmates and he draws a nice picture.
5
At the end of his first school day, Spot does not want to go home
because he has enjoyed the first day at school.
4. Teaching possibilities
 Storytelling
 Working with flashcards
 Singing a song “The School Song”
 Games
 Working material
Sources:
Altenburg, Erika (2002): Say Please – Say Yes. Bilderbücher im fremdsprachlichen Unterricht. In: Die Grundschule. Heft
10/2002. S.23-25.
Bebermeier, Hans (1992): Begegnung mit Englisch: Frankfurt am Main: CornelsenScriptor.
Börner, Otfried (Hrsg) (2001): Green Keystones. Year 1. Arbeitsheft für den Englischunterricht in Klasse 1. Activity book.
Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Moritz Diesterweg.
Fremdsprachliche Kinderliteratur in der Grundschule (1999) In: Die Grundschulzeitschrift. Sonderheft 1999
Hill, Eric (1984): Spot goes to school. London: Penguin Books.
Niemann, Heide (1993): Englisch in der Grundschule – Kinder- und Jugendbücher gehören dazu. In: Die
Grundschulzeitschrift. Heft 68/1993. S. 42-43.
Rönnfeldt; Andrea: Unterrichtseinheit: At school. In: Fremdsprachlicher Frühbeginn. Heft 5/99, S. 39-48
Schmid – Schönbein, Gisela (2001): Didaktik: Grundschulenglisch. Berlin: Cornelsen.
www.funwithspot.com
www.penguinputnam.com
www.englishbox.de
6
7