Teaching English to Very Young Children
English proficiency is a crucial sign of social status in China, many Chinese parents desire their children to start discovering as early as possible. Students as young as two and three typically begin with some fundamental English in kindergarten.
Make and follow a clear lesson plan
Whether you're teaching service English to grownups or very standard English to kindergarten students, every ESL lesson needs planning.
This is twice as essential when teaching English to really young students, as kids, especially young children, require regular.
Constantly start and end your lesson in the same way
You might start with a "hello" tune and end with a "goodbye" song, or possibly begin by asking each trainee to state their English name (if they have one).
This in itself may be challenging for extremely young children so it's worth repeating each lesson.
You might likewise begin by having students respond to some basic instructions such as "stand up", "take a seat", "listen", "be quiet", etc
Ensure each lesson has some target language and a theme.
The previous for three-year-olds usually does not surpass present-simple sentences, e.g. "My name is (English name)" or "It's a (vocabulary item).".
For the latter, you can teach them the vocabulary for basic colors and toys.
Remember to keep vocabulary to a minimum, perhaps no more than four new words per lesson.
Your aim ought to be to have each student produce a simple sentence (three or 4 words) utilizing the target vocabulary by the end of the lesson.
Keep it basic
Make good use of the present-practice-produce approach.
The teacher must provide the target language and vocabulary, perhaps by clapping out the syllables of sentences and having trainees repeat, or by revealing students' flashcards.
Next, have students practice that target language, maybe with an easy game that includes them responding to concerns from the teacher. Have students produce the language by themselves.
You could also include an activity where the trainees ask each other easy questions. For the youngest learners, this will probably disappear than asking each other's names or, "What is this?".
Remember, little kids have attention deficit disorder and often require a very long time to take in very little details.
Do not stress over duplicating things over and over again. In fact, the more your repeat things, the quicker they'll get it.
Present classroom rules
Don't be afraid to be a little stringent with your young students (without terrifying them, naturally). In any class, trainees require to comprehend some standard rules set by the teacher.
Without them, lessons might end up being chaotic and the kids unteachable.
When teaching English to really young trainees, you ought to most likely limit your initial discipline to two or 3 fundamental guidelines, such as no speaking Chinese in class and no running.
After this, you can present fundamental instructions. Get students to put their fingers on their lips to suggest "be quiet" and to cup their ears to suggest "listen".
By doing this students will understand what to do when they see these actions from the teacher.
Make certain your trainees likewise understand what the repercussions are if they do not follow the rules. Perhaps have a reward system in which each student starts the lesson with five stars.