Kompetencije za poučavanje djece rane i predškolske dobi engleskom kao stranom jeziku

The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at the competences of foreign-language instruc- tors teaching English to preschool-aged children. More precisely, the goal was to investigate the professional and teaching competences of EFL instructors in the Osijek Kindergarten (Dječji vrtić Osijek) a city-wide institution consisting 26 preschools. The results shed light on the following issues: the different qualifications with which EFL instructors certify their professional competence, the extent to which the instructors are language models to the chil- dren, the extent to which the subject-specific organization of teaching is adapted to the young age of the children, and the use of teaching materials and aids. The results show that there are four different profiles of EFL instructors in the Osijek Kindergarten: preschool teachers, primary-school teachers with an integrated EFL program, bachelors of English language and literature, and EFL teachers with MAs in English language and literature. It was also esta- blished that the approach to teaching differed somewhat between preschool teachers and other profiles of EFL instructors – i.e., preschool teachers choose activities and materials that are more suitable to the abilities and personal interests of preschool-aged children.