Teaching Literacy to Young EFL Learners

An open lecture by
Dr. Joan Kang Shin

When: Friday, March 2, 2018, 15:00-16:00

Where: Center for the Arts Auditorium

Organized by: The Graduate Master Class Series, School of Graduate and Professional Education

To reserve your place please contact Ms. Maria Kritikou via email: [email protected] or telephone: 210 6009800 ext. 1210


Lecture Description

In this workshop, Dr. Joan Kang Shin will show how literacy activities can be introduced with learners as young as pre-school age and provide the building blocks for balanced literacy programming for young EFL learners.

Developing literacy skills in a foreign language can begin as early as foreign language instruction begins. Although some EFL programs delay literacy instruction for young learners and only focus on oral language development, studies have shown that it is not necessary, or even recommended, to take this approach.

Dr. Joan Kang Shin

PhD., Language, Literacy & Culture, UMBC, 2008
M.A., ISD, Bilingual/ESOL Education, UMBC, 1999
B.A., Economics, Cornell University, 1993

Dr. Joan Kang Shin is an Associate Professor of Education at George Mason University and the Academic Program Coordinator of the Teaching Culturally & Linguistically Diverse & Exceptional Learners (TCLDEL) program. Dr. Shin specializes in teaching ESL/EFL to young learners and teenagers and has provided professional development programs and workshops to EFL teachers in over 100 countries around the world.

She is a Series Editor of National Geographic Learning’s young learner programs “Welcome to Our World”, “Our World”, and “Explore Our World”, as well as the teen program “Impact”, and an author of the professional development title “Teaching Young Learners English”.