This discussion started with a request from Anne Vetterling in Germany requesting advice on content for a proposed teacher training course. Her initial ideas were to include:-

'...special emphasis on the language competence for the classroom (ca. 30%), and didactics (ca. 30%), and the rest covers social studies(ca. 20%) and linguistics and literature (ca.10%each) ...

Marianne in Holland replied outlining the processes that TT in Holland had developed:

- focus on general rather than subject-related competencies
-3 subject-related principles/starting qualifications for
English:
1 for language skills, focusing on the role of teacher talk / classroom language;
2 starting qualifications for didactics and general, subject related, teaching skills.

' ... as to language skills: as very little time is available in the curriculum at the colleges we focus on what English students need in the classroom to instruct or correct their pupils; about pronunciation (we opt for a combination of widely used forms of speech), and where is primary English on the scale of correctness, etc.

Because English is a compulsory subject in secondary ed. all pupils take a final exam in English so all our students have a general basis.

Students need to know about the general principles of language acquisition and specifically how to teach primary English (according to the four phase model), how to teach English to ethnic minorities, which are a larger part of our pupils in the big cities, how to differentiate, how to fit into the lessons the enormous input of English pupils are exposed to outside school;
what are the aims and objectives (laid down officially by the min. of ed.) both for primary and sec. and how to work according to these guidelines; how to improve the longitudinal approach to foreign language teaching from primary into sec.ed, (and we find a large gap in between, both in Holland and in Germany!)

Students get to know about the parallels and similarities in first, second and foreign language teaching, and how to use the parallels in the English classroom; to develop a critical mind with respect to resources and materials for  primary English, about teaching English to the very young (from 4 year old), etc.
Students need to know about the European framework of reference for modern languages and the use of the language portfolio and how to work with it, about TPR, how to use a variety of activities, to stimulate their pupils; about the role of English as lingua franca, about testing and evaluation of pupils, etc.
Last but not least: how to test your students at the college of  prim. ed., have them work according to competencies and how to evaluate them and all this in relatively little time, combined with teaching practice form ½ a day a week (1st year) to 5 months at a stretch(4th year). The choice of teaching materials for primary English is only a very small part of this curriculum.

Debra Smowton in Hong Kong responded with a suggestion to include:

' ... how students learn and how they learn L1 and L2 ... '

- identifying the teacher's values and beliefs about how YL learn

- acknowledging possible cultural differences between YL and T (if of a different nationality)

There followed a discussion about why some European speakers of English appeared to be more proficient than others.

Marianne in Holland outlined why she believed Dutch speakers were proficient and identifies a 4-phase model:

' ... many televison series and programmes on tv are in
English/American/Australian Engl. and are SUBTITLED. Songs on the radio are English. Many adverts on tv and in youth magazines, aimed at young children and teenagers, are in English: teenagers are more or less completely addressed in English because English is cool AND SELLS!
So that may explain why the Dutch and Scandinavians are supposed to be easy learners of the language: exposure to the target language outside school is very important for language acquisition. 

Comparison: In Germany all tv programmes are dubbed, not just series but even Pres. Bush/Tony Blair are dubbed when they deliver a speech in a news item.

In France there is a quotum for the percentage of songs sung in a foreign language on radio.

Why English is not important at  prim. ed. and the college for prim. ed. in Holland?
I think it is because of the failing transition from prim. ed. to sec. ed.: in sec. ed. teachers, subject teachers that is, think they can do better than primary teachers and should start from scratch, ignoring the fact that the pupils have learned a lot of English outside school and ignoring the fact that what prim. teachers do, that is start the process of foreign language learning, is very important (for the sec. ed. programme). Nowadays the coursebooks for sec. ed. English state, either in the manual
or in the pupil's material , that they take into account that the pupils have had English in prim. ed. So the sec. teachers can't ignore it, but many still do.

Pre-knowledge is also often ignored. My children all spoke English for a month at a stretch during the summer holdidays, but their teachers didn't know and wouldn't know, because their
lessons were according to the coursebooks.
   
The 4 phase model is a structured way to teach a foreign language ensuring that all components are present in your lessons and that communcation is the main aim. Teachers work with functions and notions. It is derived from the natural way of learning any language, and is ideal for primary ed. because we have very little time to spend on English. You work in themes,
like meeting s.one, where do you live, etc. The teacher distinguishes between receptive and productive skills and activities, inventorises the pre-knowledge of children and stimulates the pupils to use it in the activities. The pupils work to a practical goal, and at the end of a series of lessons the pupils are prepared to use the language outside the classroom. So they can describe other people (fashion show), order something
(in different types of restaurants), they can talk about hobbies and times( make an appointment with someone/fill in matching diaries/interview several people about their hobbies), etc.

First phase

Introduction:
-      invertorisation of exposure and 'pre-school knowledge' concerning theme;
-      Motivation for the subject; why would you want to learn this?
-      Revision, if necessary of earlier lessons.

Second phase

Input:
-      Introduction of input-dialogue, 'core-dialogue' and words
-      with questions concerning form and contents,
-      receptive activities (TPR, songs, pointing out, matching).

Third phase

Exercise:
-      Assignments, both oral and written, working towards the aims
-      from closed to more open exercises,
-      from receptive to productive activities,
-      gradual use of pre-knowledge.

Fourth phase

Transfer:
-      both oral and written
-      Pre-knowledge must be used
-      ready for the world oustide school

   
Differentiation according to pre-knowledge and children learn form each other, pairwork, groupwork, etc. Diff. per phase, but that would take a long time to explain.

There are so many parallels/similarities between L1 and L2 and foreign languages, and Englishwhich in holland has the status of a language in between L2 and foreign. There are so many pupils who speak Dutsch as a second language, that it is necessary for (future) teachers to know how to combine these skills. Strategies are very important in language learning as is the use of English as a classroom language.

Wendy Arnold in Hong Kong asked some questions about the Dutch TT situation and Marianne in Holland responded with :-

' ... 1 I can see that in Holland you also have this disparity between perspectives of importance between primary and secondary teaching/training. Now why is this? 

In Holland the entrance requirements for primary teachers are not much different than for secondary teachers. The main difference is that prim. teachers study and teach all subjects, while sec. teachers only study and teach one major subject and some minor subjects. So sec. teachers often ask themselves how prim. teachers can effectively teach a subject like English, which they study for only about 2, at the most 3, modules (80-120 hrs in
total) as part of the curriculum at the prim. college, when sec. students take 4 years (app. 6400 hrs.) to study the whole subject of English.

This is a logical question, but for the fact that prim. teachers learn how to teach applied subjects and gain more skills during teaching practice during their 4 -year-study. Secondly, the prim. college can count on very low esteem among students in general.

Thirdly, sec. students and teachers often have no idea what prim. students learn at the college given the limited time spent on each subject. If they knew, they would have more respect for them.
This lack of understanding influences the longitudinal line from prim. into sec. ed. not in a very positive way. It was the reason why at present a joint programme is being developed, including teacher training, both for prim. and sec. students , in which prim. students do some teacher training in sec ed. and the other way round.

2 Perhaps the YL background knowledge might not be exploited - interesting, and I wonder why?

From a recent survey by the inspectorate it appeared that most (language) lessons to 12-15 year olds go according to the same routine. Many sec. teachers use course books and follow the book rather rigidly. That explains why they are under the illusion that at the end of the ac. year they 'deliver' pupils who, having gone through the same book, are at some sort of general class level. Ignoring the fact that pupils differ in the way they deal with subject matter, and that they all have different background
knowledge. (Some even more than the teacher can imagine.)
Background knowledge is difficult to integrate in the classroom if teachers don't learn (at the college) how to do this and don't keep up with new developments in the teaching trade or/and in the language, including  'Youngspeak', global English, etc.

3 Has someone got a copyright for this model?  Is someone attributed to its design? 

Yes, it came up at the end of the seventies; Dieter Strauss, among others, published about it in the seventies, in German; Westhoff in 1978. in Dutch.

In 1981 Erik Kwakernaak published an article in the Dutch magazine for language teachers (Levende Talen) in which he explained the phase model for modern languages in app. 35 pages. When English was introduced into the primary curriculum in 1986 it was adapted to a 4-phase model for prim. education. So it's not brand new but it works. Sorry, it's all in Dutch (and German). I don't know about any reference in English (yet). 

4 Inventorizing is a term I invented. It should be: make an inventory. But it's more than that.

Before starting work on a theme a you ask pupils if they know words concerning the theme. There are various ways to do this
- the teacher can write words that pupils mention, individually or from group work, on the board ( to prevent pupils from making writing errors);
- have them bring food products from home, with English texts or names on the wrappings, name them and make a market stall from them to be used in the 4th phase;
- have them cut  food products from adverts or brochures, categorise them into e.g. breakfast, dinner, snacks, drink etc and glue them to a poster, etc.
b you also ask the pupils if they know sentences , eg. how to order in a restaurant (in English), if that's the aim of the lessons.
c ask the pupils about their experience: if they have done this in real life already (some always have);
d praise the class for whatever words and sentences they mention, even if they know very little.
Etc. You can do this with every theme.
 
All this background information should be used in the 4th phase. It's not only very motivating for children but also a way to differentiate.