The use of Hervé Tullet's storybooks as an incentive to learn colours in english in the early childhood

The teaching of English in the pre-school period is becoming increasingly widespread in Slovenia. More and more parents are aware of the advantages of learning English in kindergarten, many of them enrol their children in various afternoon courses. The advantages of early learning of a foreign language are also recognized by the vast majority of educators who provide children with knowledge through various activities such as reading books, listening to poems, movement activities, using a puppet to teach language, etc. We live at a time when English is present everywhere, so learning it is more than welcome at an early age. In the diploma thesis, I investigated whether the picture books motivate and encourage pre-school children to learn the English language. I also explored if I can successfully teach pre-school children the vocabulary of the colours in the English language with the selected picture books. In the theoretical part, I wrote about early teaching of a foreign language, when to begin with it, what the advantages are and I also focused on the conditions that are necessary for successful learning of English in the preschool age. The empirical part contains the planning and implementation of activities in English with pre-school children in kindergarten. Through five meetings I worked with children and I presented them the names of colours in English and showed them how the colours mix together with the help of picture books. After that, I gave them the opportunity to try and experience mixing of colours through different activities. At the end, I analyzed the activities and came to the conclusion that children in preschool age are willing to learn English, enjoy learning English and have no major problems with learning. The only thing we have to take care of is providing all appropriate conditions and taking into account criteria which among other things include an appropriately qualified teacher, good quality material, an appropriate environment and the support of parents which, in my opinion, are crucial for teaching a foreign language in the preschool period