Carlos and his English - interactive English learning.

Helping your children get more involved in reading English.

(Read a version of this article in Spanish at my sister site...)

As a teacher of English to Spanish children, for a long time now I have been aware of the necessity to encourage and help my students in reading the language. Only too often, children see reading in English as just another school homework task and are reluctant to open a book and read just for pleasure. Reading in English is essential if children are going to develop their English language skills sufficiently. It provides a means to allow students to absorb the language by exposing them to complete sentences and a wide range of vocabulary like verbs, adjectives and common nouns all in clear meaningful context. This type of exposure to English leads to a better acquisition of the language for expression both in written and spoken skills.

Carlos and his suitcase in Carlos and his English.

With the above thoughts in mind, I have written an English learning book for children so as to involve them in fun activities while reading in the target language. It is called Carlos and his English and is written in British English. I have carefully chosen a simple vocabulary to make the book accessible to children at primary school age (between 8 and 11 years old). The illustrations are large and colourful in the style of a picture book to make the story even more attractive to the reader and to facilitate meaning.

Synopsis of the book Carlos and his English.

The book is about a nine-year-old Spanish boy, Carlos, who is sent by his parents to England to improve his English language skills. Over the years of my experience as a teacher in Spain, I can distinctly remember those times when students perhaps as young as Carlos were sent away without their families to the UK for a period of time to learn English and always felt rather sorry for them. In the case of Carlos, his English classes at school were going badly and so his parents thought it the right thing to do to send him away to rectify the problem of bad school reports and comments from his teacher saying Carlos did not progress. Like many children, Carlos has little interest in English and considers this journey as just another boring homework task.

At London airport, his Aunt Mary comes to pick Carlos up. Aunt Mary is English, married to Carlos's uncle, and although she is kind and friendly she knows no Spanish nor how to talk slowly enough for her nephew to understand. So, inevitably, misunderstandings occur, which lead to Carlos wanting to be free of his aunt and he escapes from her garden. Carlos ends up by becoming completely lost in the city of Southend-on-Sea and his poor English pronunciation and comprehension drive him ever further away from his aunt's house.

Carlos meets Aunt Mary
Carlos meets his aunt in Carlos and his English.

However, Carlos survives and not only survives but manages to extricate himself from the situation of being hopelessly lost for one simple reason. Despite his constant errors in English, he tries to use the language. This effort he makes to express himself, in whatever way he can, finally means that he is rescued and brought back to his aunt's house safe and sound - all thanks to his English. So there are language learning morals here. One is that the important thing is to use the language and communicate with it as best we can. The second is that to learn a language we must make errors and that the errors we make are not just inevitable but also essential if we are going to improve in that language. Children at school these days live in an educational environment that tries to avoid errors, which are neatly crossed out by the teacher's terrible red pen. Perhaps, if teachers and students could appreciate the error as beneficial to language learning and that it forms an integral part of the language development process then we might see fewer frustrated teachers and more motivated and happier learners.

The interactive reading elements in Carlos and his English.

Everybody wants to be a teacher! Well, this is debatable, but it is true that we often like to know the answer and correct others. Children especially love to correct their peers or parents with the right answer. It is this aspect of human nature that Carlos and his English takes advantage of. The dialogue is shown in the book exactly as it is - full of mistakes made by Carlos. Therefore, the child reader/learner is invited to correct Carlos's English while they read. The idea is not that this is just another homework task but that the reader can show off their superiority over the unfortunate Carlos by correcting his mistakes. Furthermore, I highly recommend and encourage the reader, alone, with a brother or sister, friend or parent, or a teacher with a small class group to read the text aloud in English so as to improve pronunciation and speaking skills. Here is an example from the book as to how the correction process works.

Carlos meets Fred on the plane in Carlos and his English.

A parent could read the narrated part of the story in English and the young learner reads the dialogues. In the above example, the child reads the phrase "I is much sorry" and corrects it aloud to "I am very sorry". The incorrect words are always in red so that the learner recognises there is an error to be corrected. The parents, who should know enough English to carry out the English tasks at this level, help the child to get the right answer, or the answers can be found at the end of the book. There are some eighty examples of English errors to correct in the book all related to the structures, vocabulary and pronunciation points often confused during English study at primary school. Besides this particular activity, I also suggest the parent or teacher encourages the child or children to engage in the reading games included at the end of the book.

A book with full audio version of the story

The purchaser can download the audio from this site and enjoy reading in English and following the story narrated by the author with full sound effects. Also, the audio can be used in activities suggested at the back of the book.

See Carlos and his English in Amazon, UK.