Using Religious Stories in Designing English Materials for Young Language Learners

The historical connection of English to colonialism, imperialism, and more recently globalization has made it subject to various critical appraisals; among which is the way commercial English Language Teaching (ELT) products including textbooks, pedagogical movies, software and the like are employed for disseminating certain ideologies or worldviews that are almost Western or Eurocentric in nature. In the context of World Englishes, there have been sporadic attempts in a number of non-English speaking countries, including Muslim ones, for claiming ownership of English language teaching and learning through designing English curricula based on sociocultural norms and local values. Locally speaking, despite the frequent calls for confronting the current hegemony of English through relying on Islamic-Iranian philosophical, academic, and intellectual traditions, practical cases of such endeavors are still infrequent. The dearth of innovative and artistically-designed pedagogical materials prompted us, as a community of English and non-English major practitioners, to set heart on designing materials targeted at young beginner language learners in which various themes like nature, seasons, weather, colors, animals, travelling, family and the like are introduced through illustrated Qur’anic and religious stories, purposefully-composed nursery rhymes, and meaningful language activities. We hope the narrated experience would be instrumental and inspirational for other language teachers and materials developers interested in similar expeditions.

Keywords:

Young English language learners , Materials design , Qur’anic and religious stories , nursery rhymes