Resource centre - Young Learners - Teaching children
To meet the challenge of teaching children, George Stocker suggests the first step is to stop thinking of them as "short adults"!
Teaching ESL to children is challenging but also very rewarding. Before I walk
into a class of 10-year olds, I take a deep breath. Children have no attention
span AT ALL, and so I tell myself to slow right down before I start. Teaching
children requires patience and a sense of fun and playfulness. Even though it
seems obvious, a common mistake is to think that children are simply 'short
adults!' This is sure to get you off on the wrong foot!
Here are some tips for teaching ESL to children:
1. Involve children in hands-on activities. Children's minds
are incredibly open and they learn by absorbing ideas and concepts directly.
Children need to be actively involved. Get students up and out of their chairs
and moving around. Sing songs, and play games.
2. Avoid talking for long periods of time. I find that the
energy level of the classroom drops lower and lower. Explain an activity quickly
and then go to it. Keep the energy moving! If your planned activity is a flop,
move on. Keep a few extra activities handy for this purpose. Children need lots
of stimulation all the time.
3. Children learn by interacting with each other and with the teacher.
Try to talk to each child individually each class. Whenever possible, have
children working in groups and in pairs.
4. Review, Review, Review. New information is absorbed and has
meaning when it is related to information students have already learned. Quickly
review new concepts at the beginning of each class.
5. Encourage students to correct themselves and other students.
Self correction or self-regulation is an important part of learning. Students
should be encouraged to ask, "How am I doing?" and "Am I doing this right?" in
an open and non-judgmental environment. Children raised in authoritative
cultures may need additional re-inforcement.
6. Use what is learned in different contexts. The more contexts
used the better, and the more concrete and 'real life' the contexts the better.
Make it real for students by talking about them and their lives.
7. Praise, Praise, Praise. Encourage and build students up in a
natural way. Learning occurs when students are motivated and feel good about
themselves.
Looking back on my years of teaching, the children's classes took a bit of
getting used to, but were the most memorable and fun!
George and Daisy Stocker have traveled the world teaching ESL to children and adults. Their website, www.esl-storybooks.com offers ESL curriculum, including textbooks and Storybooks for children age 7 - 12. Their adult ESL site, www.efl-esl.com offers ESL activites and curriculum for adults.
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What has been mentioned here
is very interesting. Actually after reading, I found that children acquire
language faster than adults although they might not have the proficiency in
using the levels of the language. The reason for that is because they want to be
part of the whole group. They want to play, communicate and express themselves
easily. In addition to this, they don't feel shame if they make mistakes in
using the language. Although it might seem easy to teach children, I can say
that teaching children needs a very proficient teacher that has the effective
skills and the sense of humour that makes children devoted to learning and happy
while they are in class.
The article is certainly going
to be helpful. For trained teachers, it's not going to be any new information. I
do see it as a refresher, reminder; something to get you back on course just in
case you were just going through the teaching motions and not really thinking
about the psychology of teaching ESL.
Yes, positive, positive
stimulation, energy definitely. But any ideas for me? I teach EFL to European
teenagers at a Riding School in the UK. It's the parents idea for them to work
on their English when they'd rather be out on the back of a horse. I have a
complete age and ability range every 2 weeks, e.g. last week I had 13 students
ranging from 8 to 17 in a basic hut in a field. Luckily the 8 year old was
motivated to try to keep up with the others but sometimes that's not the case...
Any suggestions would be welcome!
Good ideas to remember. I also
think that there are different levels children respond. Your school expects you
to get a certain distance in the book. Students have different attention spans
even with games. My school has some three hour classes for nine-ten year olds to
learn English. All can handle and enjoy one hour. 90% are still positive after
two hours. But less than a third go to the wire. Few want to learn English for 3
hours with thirty other students in a room that is about 82 degrees and humid.
-- Hainan Island, China
I think this article is great.
I'm from Chile and I'm going to be a teacher of English in a few years. This is
very interesting for me, because I don't have experience with children or even
doing classes. It's a challenge for me to try to teach children and to obtain
meaningful learning. I'm still not able to speak English 100%, but I'm trying. I
have a question... How can I use English didactic in order to obtain meaningful
learning in children learning English as a second language?
Very useful ideas to take into
account when having children as students, and even more when their age-range is
around 10 or 11. I've got almost 7 years experience teaching them, and I can
say, as a fact, my secret is, acting as another child, otherwise children will
see you as the adult, and the adult at that age is seen as the enemy, of course,
in the sense of not having the same interests, or perhaps not relating to their
way of perceiving things. I can say that teaching children has been the most
gratifying professional experience I have come across.
Thank you for sharing your
views. I believe that some of the things you mentioned are true for even the
elder students, like reviewing, self-correction and praising. I have only been
teaching for almost a year, therefore these tips will be help me a lot. Thanks
again.
I agree. Children can't
concentrate on long speech. They tend to stop listening and start talking with
their peers. Short to the point is needed when giving the instruction. And
children love being praised. I also use this strategy with my beginner adult
class and it really works. They seem to be so proud of themselves when they are
praised after completing the activities. It appears that the positive feedback
they obtain can encourage them to speak more in class, which means that they
have also built their self-confidence.
These tips are things which I
believe in and which I try to apply for my students. I think that is the reason
they like me more than the other teachers :)) I mean they enjoy my lessons very
much. They don't realise they are learning English but they are. One more thing
that I want to add... we must love the job we do, we must be creative as an
English teacher and we must love children. Thanks for reminding me of my duties.
Thanks a lot for these
suggestions, I tried some of the ideas and they worked.
I agree with Kurt that the
article is certainly going to be helpful even to trained teachers. I do see it
as a refresher, a reminder, something to get you back on course just in case you
were just going through the teaching motions and not really thinking about the
psychology of teaching ESL.
Great tips but how can the
learning be evaluated? School directors always want to see tangible results.
Hello, everyone. I have taken
a job working at a new English school teaching intensive classes to children and
teens. I don´t think it's very common to have an intensive esl English class for
children. I think 3 hours is a long time to keep children in a class. Is this
normal in some schools? If not shall I mention it to the director who is the
owner of the school? To make a suggestion? I have read the advice given for
teaching children because as I mentioned before 3 hours is a long time and I
need all the ideas I can get.
Best wishes to you all
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