Young children learn through play body coordination and social cooperation such as how to get along with others, enjoy give and take and solve conflicts. The development of these skills will help children succeed in their future life.
Teachers of young children should take this into account together with the fact that young learners are naturally curious, cooperative and full of energy with short attention span. So, here are some tips to help you make your classes more engaging.
- Be a strong and flexible leader as you play an important role in their lives.
- Set the rules and stick to them. Children will learn to show respect for authority and peers, and will develop a sense of responsibility.
- Be energetic and playful. Move around and laugh with your young learners.
- Provide young learners with opportunities to see, touch, taste and smell.
- Create activities in which young students can walk around, talk to each other and have fun such as "Follow the leader".
- Use songs. Children love singing along with audio CDs, and repetitious phrases help them internalize the language in meaningful chunks. Invite young learners to mimic the lyrics while they sing.
- Short plays facilitate the usage of the foreign language in a meaningful way, repetition of patterns and putting on costumes to act.
- Create a bond between the foreign language experience and young children's real world organizing birthday, Easter, Halloween and Christmas parties.
- Making crafts give children an opportunity to follow instructions and put them into practice.
- Watch short videos and do post watching activities such as drawing.
- Trigger young learners' imagination creating short stories in groups.
- Correct mistakes at the end of the lesson and explain what was wrong to the class.
- Build up young children's self-esteem in every language-learning situation.
No doubt teaching young children is challenging so I hope these tips will be helpful when you plan your future classes.
References
- British Council the .ELT documents: Projects in Materials Design. English Language Division. Central Information Service. London, UK. 1980.
- Rivers Wilga. Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA. 1968.
- Spock Benjamin, M.D and Rothenberg Michael, M.D.. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care.6th edition. Pocket Books. New York. 1990.
- Taylor Brown, Susan. "The Craft: 50 ways to think like a Child". Marketplace. Children's Writer Newsletter. August 2001,Volumen 11, number 1,Redding, CT, USA.2001.
- Well Newell William. Games and Songs of American Children. Dover Publications. New York, USA. 1963.
- Wyndham Lee. Writing for Children and Teenagers. Writer’s Digest Books. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. 1988.
About the author: Monica Haydee Di Santi is an ESL teacher and has a master degree in Linguistics. She has been a teacher and speaker in Chile, Argentina and USA. She’s also a published translator and writer. Her work has been published in Mexico, USA, Hong Kong and India. She’s the owner and director of www.e1-network.com
Comments
Have you ever thought about writing an e-book or guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based upon on the same subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e mail.
Georgia
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