EXAMINATION OF THE OPINIONS OF PARENTS AND PRESCHOOL TEACHERS ON ENGLISH EDUCATION AND TEACHING OF CHILDREN AGED 3-6 LIVING IN JERUSALEM

Abstract

The purpose of this research; regarding the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language in the pre-school period, the approaches of the parents and preschool teachers of the children (most of whom are native speakers) attending the pre-school classes of the Jerusalem American School in Jerusalem to the teaching and learning of English in the pre-school period. At the same time, in line with the results obtained, trying to contribute to the English education and training of refugee children whose mother tongue is Arabic in the Turkish education system is another aim of the research. The study group of the research consists of 10 preschool teachers working in Jerusalem American School and 10 parents whose children attend this school. Semi-structured interview forms prepared by taking expert opinion were used as data collection tool in the research. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the research; it has been determined that parents give more importance to English because they think that English is accepted as a common language in the world, it will contribute to their children's education and career life and will take them one step ahead of other people. Teachers, on the other hand, emphasized that English is important in terms of contributing to children's multi-dimensional thinking systems and improving their learning skills as they learn new words and phrases in English. When the views of teachers and parents were examined, it was determined that both groups agreed that English education should be started in the pre-school period. The reason for this is that the brain development is faster and open to learning in the early period, and the information learned in this period is permanent. Both teachers and parents mostly focused on the positive effects of English on the mother tongue. In addition to the fact that children are constantly learning new words in English, they are also more sensitive to their mother tongue; It was determined that they supported them with their opinions that they could learn different words they did not know more easily.