Helpful Ideas for teaching English to young learners

Helpful ideas for teaching Young Learners

​WHAT IS A YOUNG LEARNER

Word Cloud

HOW OLD IS A YOUNG LEARNER?

*"A young learner (YL) is someone who is between 7 and 12 years old."

*A very young learner (VYL) is someone under 7 years old.

THESE ARE FIVE ASPECTS TEACHERS SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS.

• Supplemental activities. (Movement, sounds, senses)

• Visuals and Realia.

• Moving between activities.

• Teaching in Themes.

• Using stories and contexts familiar to students.

SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES

*Movement
*Sounds
*Senses

TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) is a method by Doctor James J. Asher. In these kinds of activities students listen to the teacher and physically respond to the instructions.

​"Simon" gives a command to the class and they have to follow his/her instruction. If the participant does not say "Simon Says" the class should not follow the instructions.

​​Simon Says

​Students should follow the instructions rhythmically.

Songs and Nursery Rhymes

​The teacher says and performs an action that students repeat. The last student to react is out.

Circle game

Multiple Select

SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES REFERS TO...

• Activities outside the classroom

• Lessons, exercises on the board, presentations.

• Activities in the book or worksheets

• Activities that are not meant to be focused on grammar structures or topics in specific.

*YLS tend to have short attention spans and a lot of physical energy.

*Additionally, children are very much linked to their surroundings and are more interested in the physical and tangible.​

Visuals and
Realia

​Students at a young age are very receptive to their environment. They are willing to experience through all their senses.

Classroom decoration

​Students are very attracted to new materials in the classroom. Use these elements to have your students focused on their experiences.

Real objects

Supporting brain development, enhancing memory, and developing fine motor skills.

​​Visual and tactile activities

Multiple Choice

CHOOSE THE MOST SUITABLE CONCEPT OF "REALIA".

• Virtual reality used in teaching and learning
• Fictional objects created for educational purposes
• Real objects or material from the real world used in teaching and learning
• Abstract concepts applied in real-world scenarios

Poll

WOULD YOU RATHER WATCH TIKTOK VIDEOS OR YOUTUBE VIDEOS?

• TIK TOK VIDEOS

• YOUTUBE VIDEOS

​CNLD Testing & Therapy

Average Attention Span by Age Group

• 3 years old: 6-8 minutes

• 4 years old: 8-12 minutes

• 5-6 years old: 12-18 minutes

• 7–8 years old: 16-24 minutes

• 9–10 years old: 20-30 minutes

• 11-12 years old: 25-35 minutes

Moving between activities

Noisy (Rules)
Different Skill
Pair Work / Whole Class / Group
Student - Student

Activity 2

Quiet
Exercises
One Skill
Individual
Teacher - Student

Activity 1

Balancing activities

Multiple Choice

CHOOSE THE BEST SCENARIO OF "BALANCING ACTIVITIES"

• Color the drawing with your favorite colors.

• Read page 25 and answer the questions.

• Choose the ingredients to make a pizza. Then, work with a classmate and ask him/her about his/her ingredients Finally, make a short conversation.

• Complete pages 30-31-32-33-34-35-36 of your "calligraphy book"

​It is the selecting and highlighting of a theme through an instructional unit or module, course, or multiple courses.

Teaching in themes.

YLs can share their own experiences based on what they have already experienced in their families.

​​Family

YLs can learn about people's ways of living and also their culture. Students can bring all these elements into their reality.

Way of living

YLs can observe how people celebrate around the world and compare it with their contexts.

Festivities

​EXAMPLES OF THEMES THAT MAY HELP STUDENTS CREATE MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES WITH THE LANGUAGE AND KNOWLEDGE.

TEACHING IN THEMES

• Allows students to focus more on content and communication than on language structure.

• Common themes for YLs: Animals, friends, family, environment, shopping, celebrities, citizenship, and movies.

Multiple Choice

WHAT IS "TEACHING IN THEME" ABOUT?

• Teaching in theme is about promoting rote memorization over critical thinking.
• Teaching in theme is about following a strict curriculum without deviation.
• Teaching in theme is about structuring a group of lessons around a central topic or idea.

• Teaching in theme is about focusing on individual student needs.

​Using stories and contexts familiar to students

• Students can be educated through stories.

• It can lead to harmony, understanding, and a peaceful environment.

• It is fun.

• Reading and telling stories in a class is a natural way to learn a new language.

​

Why stories?

Multiple Choice

What are some benefits of teaching through stories and context familiar to students?

• Decreases student engagement and understanding
• Enhances engagement, memorability, understanding, retention, and application of knowledge.

• Limits students' ability to retain information
• Creates a disconnect between students and the material

To sum up

• Come up with extra activities in the classroom (songs, TPR activities, etc)

• Try to involve your students in a visual environment.

• Use Realia. Students enjoy working with objects that are not common in a classroom.

• Implement more than one activity during your classes.

• Make your students work on their topics of interest.

• Have your students reflect on their reality.

​MR. JESÚS CORONADO