ICANEWS had the pleasure to interview Jane Cadwallader at the FAAPI Conference. Jane is a teacher, teacher trainer and textbook writer (Boomerang, English with Ellie, Frisbee, among others). She is now working with infants (three to six year-olds) in Madrid, Spain.

What is the approach to ELT that you follow with infants, Jane?
Well, the idea is that they learn English exactly in the same way that they learned their own language. You work with songs, games, stories, pretty much in the same way they picked up their L1. You have to enter into the child´s world.

What about the number of hours a week they have? How is this arranged?
It depends on the school. Some schools have 2 hours a week, some others have an hour every day.

Is that compulsory?
It´s not compulsory but it´s really “attractive”. There are now 190 state schools that have half the morning in “Infantil” in English. It´s becoming very popular. . .  And they are right to do it, kids pick up the language very quickly. Picking a language is about understanding, the foundations for learning are understanding so I think that what we are trying to do is giving the kids lots of exposure so that they can naturally pick it up.

Do teachers of English and Spanish work together?
Well, yes, that is really very important.
The content the students see in Spanish can be recycled in the English class and follow the cognitive development of kids.

What advice would you give to teachers? What principle or principles do you consider teachers should take into account when teaching infants?
1. Go into the children´s classroom and watch what the teacher does, work hand in hand with the class teacher, think about how you can do what she does, in  English.
2. You need to take English into their world

You have designed materials to work with these kids?
Yes, English with Ellie, to use with 3, 4 and 5 year-olds . Working with little kids is so rewarding, they are so used to making hypotheses in their own language, that I never got a “no entiendo”, that never happens.
And I´ve also written courses for older children, like Boomerang.

How long have you been working in Spain?
28 years.

And you work as a teacher trainer as well?
I work as a teacher trainer and I teach. That´s very important, I stay in the classroom.

How long does teacher training take in Spain?
Primary teachers do “magisterio”, I think that takes about 4 years. 
First they have to be teachers in Spanish and then they will be able to teach in English.

Do they teach in their teacher training course?
No, not to be English teachers. It is assumed that because they are teachers they can teach English, but that is wrong . . . they don´t do enough practice.

Do they have to follow in Spain regulations as to teacher training considered in other countries in Europe?
 If this happened it will be very good.