Teaching ESL to Children

Along with the rewards a teacher of ESL experiences, there are just as many challenges. Patience is required as children learning the English language have no attention span at all. It would also help if the teacher enjoyed playing and liked having fun. In this article, we will be covering some very useful tips to aid any teacher in their adventure of teaching ESL to children.

1. Try to involve the children in as many hands on activities as possible. Most children are like sponges when they are young and by giving them the concepts and ideas in such a way as to include being physical, then they will absorb the ESL lesson all that much quicker. Dance, sing songs, get them moving playing games. Anything to get active.

2. I am sure that you remember being in a classroom and the teacher just lulled you to sleep at your desk! Well, the same thing will happen if you talk too much. The class is not about you, it is about teaching ESL and getting the students talking. So, AVOID TALKING for any length of time. Explain things quickly and get on with it! The same with item 1 above, keep things moving, active and interesting and you will have a classroom of attentive children.

3. Children learn best when interacting with others so try to get the children working in pairs or groups as much as possible. Also try to find the time to talk with each child separately in each class.

4. New information is absorbed but only has meaning when it is related to information the students have already learned. So REVIEW often and REVIEW again! Review the previous class lessons prior to the start of this lesson. Review each new concept after it has been taught and at the same time try to link it together with what the students have previously learned. Then at the end of the class review what THIS class was about. When teaching ESL, you can never review material enough.

5. If a student makes a mistake, give them the opportunity to try to correct themselves or if they cannot, see if any of the other students can correct the error. Being able to correct a mistake is a very important part of learning. Especially with learning a new language. It is OK for students to as “How am I doing?”. In fact, the teacher should let them know OFTEN that it is ok, especially in cultures where there is high authority.

6. When teaching ESL, make the lessons as real as possible so that the students can see that these contexts can be used in their REAL lives.

7. If a student does well, even if they don’t do well, PRAISE them. You will get more enthusiasm from them with praise than you will with anything else. If they feel like they are learning, having fun, and feeling good, they WILL go that extra mile.

Teaching ESL to children was by far the most rewarding of many teachers experiences.