Teaching young learners can be a delight – they are enthusiastic, funny, and eager to take part in whatever activities a teacher plans. But it can also be a challenge to manage kids lessons.
Amy Gowers (with experience teaching kids in Japan, Poland and the UK) has written an article in the IH Journal giving her six top tips for making the most of a young learner classroom.
A taster is below, but for all the detail and explanation read the full article in the IH Journal here.
1. Routines
Kids love a routine – it gives them the basic framework of how to behave and get on with work. It’s comforting for them. Time is a tricky concept for young kids, so the routine helps them follow the structure of the lesson. You can use routines at
- The start of the lesson (e.g. hanging up coats, getting out pens and books)
- When giving instructions
- At the end of the lesson
2. Letting students make decisions
Even with young children, taking responsibility for their own decisions means they are more invested in the result. In a classroom setting this can mean they are more engaged in the activities.
Simple ways to achieve this are allowing them to decide where to sit, letting them choose from alternative activities.
3. Repetition
Repeat, repeat, repeat! Practise makes perfect and repeating language is very important to learn it. But how can you do this without making the lesson boring? Well, you can change the dynamic, repeat with new partners, shout the words, whisper them, etc. Little changes will re-focus attention.
4. Be fair and consistent
Kids will notice quicker than anything if you pay more attention to one, or give one a sticker and not another. If there is ever a reason for kids to moan about their teacher its likely to be because “their weren’t fair”. Your role as the teacher is to develop everybody’s language, so be scrupulous about being consistent with everybody in your class.
5. Don’t be afraid to lose control
Kids are energetic. A class where they sit quietly on their seats for 60 minutes is not what they need. Be brave and allow them to run slightly wild for some activities (e.g. running dictation). You’ll regain control and they will have concentrated and learnt something.
6. Keep the pace up
If the activity you have planned is dragging on a bit, and you notice that some kids are day dreaming or getting restless, change things around. Don’t plough on just because your lesson plan has allocated 10 minutes to this. Move onto the next activity – the students clearly need something else.
Changing activities keeps the students interested and curious about what’s going to happen next. You may be able to go back to your original activity later, and rest assured they will get more out of it after a break.
We hope you found these useful. For for all the detail and explanation read the full article in the IH Journal here.