The colours of emotions: English as a communicative and social resource in the primary school

The present thesis will focus on teaching English in the Italian primary school and using picture books as an educational tool. First, this work will outline the situation of teaching English since 1985, going through the significant reforms and regulations that shape the current scenario of English in primary school. The fil rouge of the paper will be the importance of teaching English to pupils since they are infants, analysing the advantages of early exposure to this foreign language and debunking the myth of bilingualism as dangerous for a child’s growth. Therefore, it will analyse children’s emotional development and use picture books as a valuable resource for teachers from a linguistic perspective and as an instrument to help children develop some social aspects of their life, such as the emotional sphere. Finally, the last part of the thesis will be represented by a Learning Unit focused on the expression of emotions thanks to the use of the picture book “The Colour Monster” by Anna Llenas and the development of activities based on different educational techniques.