How to Teach English to Children: 3 Powerful Strategies for Impressive Results

How to Teach English to Children: 3 Strategies for Success

Make It Fun

Fun, fun, fun! This is one factor that really matters to kids. And that goes for kids on the playground as well as those in the classroom. I’ll never forget what my nephew said after his first day of kindergarten: “We didn’t lea anything. We just played!” And though I’m sure his class contained some academics, they were hidden well beneath a thick layer of fun.

Some educators believe that kids lea best through play. And what is true of English-speaking children, in this case, will also be true of your English-leaing students. Here are some ways you can make leaing more fun with your students:

Play Games

Games are a great way to make leaing fun. Not only do games play on the competitive nature of most children, but games also give them a goal to accomplish. When you win a game, you have really done something, and you can feel good about your success.

There are so many games that can be used in an ESL classroom, we’ll only be able to scratch the surface today. But here are a few games that require little to no preparation, and are super fun for young students.

Simon Says: The classic Simon Says is great for practicing listening skills. You can use it to review body parts (“Simon says touch your head“) or prepositions (“Simon says put your foot on your chair”).

Mother May I: Take your movement games a step further and play Mother May I. Your students can use all sorts of adjectives to describe the types of steps they would like to take as they race to the other side of the playing area.

Memory: Memory is great for leaing vocabulary. Try putting a vocabulary word on one card and a picture showing the word on another. Or put synonyms or antonyms on two different cards. Lay all the cards on the table and have students try to remember where the matches are.

Be Creative

Doing the same things in class every day is boring for your students, and you’re liable to fall asleep on the job, too. So be creative with your plans.

Change things up on a regular basis. Rearrange your students’ seats so they get a different inspirational view from time to time. Give your students the test before you teach the material, and let them answer the questions as they lea. Invite guest speakers in whenever you get the chance.

You can keep the same basic schedule every day, but vary the types of exercises you do. Rotate between doing exercises from the textbook, having students work on the computer on social media or ESL leaing websites, and giving them real-life materials to work with rather than ESL materials.

Try a poem by Robert Frost rather than a simple reading passage. You can also have students come up with their own games, activities and exercises. Have your students write quiz question for each other, or give them some simple game supplies and let them make thier own review game for the latest grammar point. You might be surprised at how creative students can be.

Include Art in Your Class

Kids love to make colorful and exciting things in the classroom. Pablo Picasso observed that “every child is an artist.” Take advantage of that inbo quality and use art to teach your young students the English language. Of course you can talk about obvious things like colors and shapes when you use art, but creative projects have so much more potential.

Cultural Traditions: Invite your students to make an art project based on different cultural traditions. Then talk about that culture as well as their own—either as you make the project or once it is finished. Since kids are more concrete than adults, so having a piece of art in front of them will help them make coections to culture, which is a super abstract topic for kids.

Collages: Art projects are also a great way to talk about prepositions of location. Collages are easy, and you can make one with just about anything. As your students work, give them instructions on where to place different items using prepositions, or let them tell you what they are doing and where items in their collage are in relation to each other. Don’t forget to give each person a chance to talk about their completed artwork after any art activity.

Cooking: Don’t forget about the art of cooking. When you make any food in class, whether it is traditional or inteational, you have a chance to talk about all five senses. There is a saying that we first eat with our eyes, then our noses, then our mouths. Talk about all five senses when you cook with your students, and be sure to include the process of cooking. As you instruct your students, you cover grammar topics like imperative statements, transitions between steps, and cause and effect relationships.

Take Your Class Outside

Have you ever tried taking a class outside? If not, you’d be surprised at what they can lea in the great outdoors.

English Class for Kids

برچسبها: How to Teach English to Children, teaching English to kids, kids English, kids, kids English books آموزشگاه زبان کودکان شهران...