Developing Tasks and Materials to Promote Speaking and Listening: The Case of an English Language Class in a German Primary School in Iraq

This chapter focuses on the promotion of oral skills (i.e., speaking and listening) in the primary school foreign language classroom, discussing, in particular, the process of designing speaking and listening tasks for young learners (YLs; ages 5–12 years). Starting with a review of speaking and listening competences in a foreign language and how these develop in YLs, the chapter draws upon theoretical concepts and empirical research from task-based language teaching (e.g., Kolb and Schocker in Teaching English in the primary school: A task-based introduction for pre- and in-service teachers. Klett, 2021) and sustainable learning in education (e.g., Ben-Eliyahu in Sustainability 13:4250, 2021; Hays and Reinders in Int Rev Educ 66:29–52, 2020) to showcase an innovative approach to materials development that can be used by foreign language teachers to effectively promote YLs’ target language oral skills. Various factors to be considered when developing tasks are discussed, including the local context (e.g., curricula and standards), student characteristics, classroom environment (e.g., number of children, classroom setup, available equipment), and amount of exposure. Then, this approach is applied in conceptualizing and planning tasks, using an example context of a third-grade English as a foreign or additional language (EAL) classroom at a German primary school in the Kurdistan region in Iraq. Sequencing and implementing a storytelling task that revolves around reading The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson (1999), pedagogic tasks, including the use of hand puppets, read-aloud, dramatic play, and drawing activities are outlined in the context of pre-, during-, and post-storytelling phases. The chapter concludes with perceptions and advice shared by EAL teachers from the German primary school about using interactive tasks to promote speaking and listening skills in a sustainable way.