How to teach english to young learners

Teaching Foreign Language to Young Learners? 7 Tips for Lessons They’ll Love

A box of stuffed animals lies in a corner.

Crayon and marker drawings paper the walls.

A beach ball lies to the side of the teacher’s desk ready for the morning hello ritual.

Where are you?

In a classroom of young language learners, of course! And while some might say the room looks more like a toy box than a classroom, each of these objects is there for a reason.

Teaching foreign language to young learners looks much different from teaching it to adults. Here we’ll look at seven ways to take advantage of your young learners’ unique qualities instead of fighting against them as you teach your foreign language class.

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What Does a Young Language Learner Classroom Look Like?

A young learner classroom isn’t all about bright colors on the walls and small chairs at little desks, though you’ll see that. The best classrooms for young language learners are different because of what the students and teacher do, not just how the space is decorated.

In an effective classroom for young learners, you’ll see a lot of movement, hear a lot of repetition and see lessons that look a lot like play. Kids are moving, engaging their senses and perhaps making more mistakes than their adult counterparts would. As with the classroom we described above, you can count on props, crafts and games not simply to create a fun, friendly environment, but also to get kids interacting with the target language.

You can take a peek into this classroom to see one that’s working the way it should. The teacher is using repetition in an effective way, engaging the students’ whole bodies and using a song to reinforce what he’s teaching. The kids are engaged, the teacher is meeting them at their level and everyone is having fun.

7 Need-to-know Tips for Teaching Foreign Language to Young Learners

So how does a language teacher specifically gear their class toward young learners? As we’ve just seen, it’s not only about what they stick on the walls but also what they do. Here are seven tips to help you engage young learners and set up a classroom that’s made just for them.

1. Prepare Extra Activities to Hold Their Attention

My five-year-old son’s favorite board game takes all of five minutes to play. I might feel fleeced if it weren’t for how much he absolutely loves it. (It’s called Dinosaur Escape if you’re interested.) But love it he does, and the playing length is just right for him because kids lose interest quickly.

Since the average child’s attention span is two to three minutes for every year of age, you probably won’t get a five-year-old to work at a project for 20 minutes. While you may be perfectly content to review past, present and future tenses all at the same time, that doesn’t mean your young learners can sit through a lesson long enough to cover it all.

So what’s a language teacher to do? Keep things moving.

I’ve learned the hard way to always have fillers and backup activities ready to go at a moment’s notice. My lessons often took much less time than I’d planned for them. But when you teach young learners, you have to plan to move quickly from one activity to the next. It’s not crazy to have a different activity ready for every five minutes you’ll be in class with your students.

But don’t be intimidated. Kids love repetition, so it’s perfectly fine to repeat activities each day of the week or even in the morning and then again before going home. Here are some easy ideas to incorporate into your daily lesson planning:

You won’t end up using every activity you’ve planned on any given day, but if you have them then you’ll be sure to keep your kids engaged and you won’t find them staring out the window lost in daydreams.

2. Total Physical Response Is Your Friend

Kids have energy! Anyone who’s ever raised one, been on an airplane with one or had one in the classroom knows how true this is.

Of course, each individual child is unique and has their own balance of activity and energy, but if you’re teaching young learners you can generally expect your students to outlast you every day of the week. In fact, requiring kids to sit for long periods of time actually makes them less able to learn. So working with this characteristic rather than against it is key in your language classroom.

That’s where Total Physical Response comes into play. This teaching method is built on the idea of students using their bodies in response to foreign language instruction. The teacher gives an instruction in the target language and the students perform the action.

A simple way to get started with TPR is to share action-focused sentences with your class and demonstrate what they mean. Then have students repeat the same. Have your kids walk around and associate body movements with the language structures you’re teaching.

Not only will your students start to build vocabulary associations in a natural way, TPR will also keep you on your toes as you teach!

There are tons of excellent writings on TPR, so we won’t go through all the details here, but if you aren’t very familiar with this great teaching technique here’s a thorough explanation and here are great resources to access TPR training.

3. Fuel the Courage Your Kids Already Have

Do you remember the very first time you tried to ride a bicycle without training wheels? Were you excited? Scared? I’ll never forget when I felt the rush of freedom that came with that first ride without two extra wheels.

Not every kid is so ready to take risks on a crazy balancing machine, but they’re pretty much all ready to take risks when it comes to language. Unlike many teen or adult students, kids are willing to give something a try even if they don’t entirely understand it. They may not know a word, but they’ll get information from the context, facial expressions and body language. They may not be able to say a word correctly, but they’ll say something as close as they can get it.

To take advantage of this in the classroom, be willing to ask more of your students than you think they can do. Most likely, they’ll rise to the challenge.

To make sure your classroom is a safe place for taking risks, encourage a culture where failure is just a part of learning. Show students it’s okay to laugh at themselves and be willing to laugh at yourself too. Make your classroom a place where there’s freedom to make mistakes.

When students don’t feel shame for making mistakes and if they can laugh at themselves, you’ll stoke the fire of their bravery. They’ll take chances, and even though it’ll be okay if they fail, they might surprise both you and themselves by succeeding.

4. Aim for Longterm Success Through Repetition

You’ve probably heard a kid say something along the lines of, “I can’t do it. It’s too hard.” While kids are willing to take risks, they often lack a stick-to-it attitude when faced with something difficult. This means that though they may jump right in and use the vocabulary you reviewed just a few minutes ago, it’s also possible that they’ll give up halfway through an assignment because they don’t have the energy to stick it out.

What this means for your classroom is your kids will fare better when you plan for longterm success instead of immediate results. Plan on repeating the same language at many times and in many different ways in class.

Can your kids name two or three colors they’re using to draw a picture? Great! Celebrate that victory rather than forcing them to cover every inch of the page and recite the other eight colors in the crayon box. But later, use the same color vocabulary when you bring out game pieces, when you toss a ball around and when kids bring out their paper bag lunches.

The more times you can bring the same content into your classroom, the more likely your students are to remember it and learn to use it successfully, without feeling overwhelmed.

5. Keep Lessons Concrete by Engaging Their Senses

Kids are concrete thinkers. They can’t use language to talk about language. They have to feel it, hear it, smell it, touch it and taste it. Trying to use linguistic concepts to explain grammar rules just isn’t going to cut it in the young student classroom.

Personally, I see that as an invitation to have fun in class! Teaching language in concrete ways means doing things like playing games, making cookies and running around outside.

You’ll have to decide specifically what works for your classroom, but as long as you’re engaging the senses when you teach, your kids are going to get it. How do you do this in a language classroom? Here are some ideas you can jump off from:

6. Create Learning Stations for Student Exploration

Kids are natural investigators. They want to pick up every rock, look in every box and talk to anyone you happen to be on the phone with. They like to explore their worlds.

You can use this to your advantage by creating a classroom worth exploring. And when you’re strategic about what kids will be exploring, you’ll also be making a way for your students to learn independently from you.

One of my favorite ways of making an interactive classroom is by creating learning stations for my students to use independently. You can create a learning station to teach just about anything you like with a little thought and creativity.

Some of my favorites, which don’t take a ton of setup work, are creating a reading nook and classroom library, tossing all my extra worksheets into a basket and letting kids do them at their leisure, setting up a computer with tabs for language games and videos that kids can play or having language games kids can play together.

7. Prioritize Listening and Speaking

Kids by nature are in the process of learning how to communicate through written language. If a child’s unable to write clearly and concisely in their first language, how can we as language teachers expect them to write proficiently in a second language?

What this means is that when we teach young learners, we have to change our focus from written language (reading and writing) to spoken language (listening and speaking). This works with the natural development of the child and doesn’t put undue pressure on them to perform in their second language what they can’t even do in their first language.

What does it look like in the language classroom? It’s reading books out loud to the class and reciting poems. It’s singing songs and letting kids work together. It’s play and laughs and not getting out dictionaries and textbooks on a daily basis.

When you’re focused on the spoken language, you may not be passing as many papers in and back as other language classrooms are, but that’s okay. You can be sure your students will be learning what you teach and using it in communicative ways.

If you’re considering teaching young learners or if you already have a classroom full, put those posters on the walls. Sit in those tiny seats. But take things to the next level by doing and not just decorating. By working with rather than against the great qualities your students already have, you’ll be amazed at how quickly and how well they learn.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

What you should know about teaching very young learners

There is a growing trend in many countries to make children start studying a foreign language at a very young age. This means that many teachers need to be trained to teach VYL. On the one hand, I will be honest, this age group is hard to work with. Some kids can be selfish and uncooperative, others may scream or bite. On the other hand, they are curious about everything, keen to learn, and very receptive.

In this article, we will talk about the characteristics, instincts, and interests of VYL that teacher should keep in mind teaching very young learners.

Who are very young learners?

The term “very young learners” (VYL) refers to children who have not yet started compulsory schooling and have not yet started to read. This varies according to the country and can mean children up to the age of six-seven.

What should teachers pay attention to while working with very young learners?

If you work with a group of students, make sure that every child gets the teacher’s individual attention as much as possible. That might be just a small talk or a little bit of help while drawing or colouring. Develop rapport with the students, talk about their weekends, friends, family. They respond well to praising and it is important to encourage and praise small efforts of every child!

Don’t worry if your students get distracted and start wandering off in the middle of a song or story to play with a toy or stationery. It does not mean they are bored, they just have a short attention span. It is very difficult to hold the attention of a whole group of small children and the best way to do it is to change activities every five to ten minutes (but don’t interrupt them if they are all really involved in what they are doing). What is more, vary the pace during the lesson: have dynamic activities, when students can run around, and quiet ones. Make notes of the things they really enjoy and which you know will get the attention of the whole group.

Remember that it might take a lot of time for young children to absorb language before they actually start producing anything. Don’t force them to speak in the target language as this can create a lot of emotional stress. Some children say nothing at all in class but go home and tell their parents what they have learnt. Some children feel stressed when they have to speak individually. What can help is doing repetitive songs, rhymes, games, and plenty of choral work.

Apply multi-sensory learning. Pre-school children learn through direct experience via the five senses and do not yet understand abstract concepts. For this reason, get the children to actually do or mime what you are talking about — use the TPR method. The younger the children are, the more important TPR is.

It’s not always easy to organize group work or pair work with VYL. Mainly the activities will be done either whole-class, led by the teacher (singing, choral work, listening to a story, etc.), or individually. However, it is important to teach children of this age to learn to co-operate. Sometimes children just do not want to join in. Don’t push them, usually, when they see that the others are having a good time, they will want to join in.

As in any lessons, some children might finish an activity earlier. Therefore, if possible, arrange the corners of the classroom as special areas (one corner could have some toys, one could have some games, another could have some picture-books) so that they could go to one of the corners and play for a few minutes.

It’s very important to always begin and end your lesson in the same way each time. The more children are familiar with class routines the easier they are to manage. You should also establish toilet or drinking water rules in the first few lessons.

Children can pick up a lot of language from a teacher through the normal day-to-day routine classroom routines. For many children, their only source of exposure to English will be the teacher. For this reason, it is advisable to take all possible opportunities to speak English in the classroom — greetings, instructions, running comments should all be carried out in English. Therefore, teachers who eager to work with VYL should have a high level of English proficiency. They are less shy than older learners. Ask them to repeat utterances, resort to mechanical drills. Working with kids isn’t easier than working with Upper-Intermediate students. Once my student brought small dinosaurs toys and asked to name them in English. Teachers can even respond in English if the children use their first language (children are very smart, they will understand most of their teachers say especially if the latter use a lot of gestures). However, that does not mean you should avoid using L1 at all.

Very young learners naturally acquire oral language by listening, imitating and repeating — they learn by doing! Concentrate on listening, enlarging vocabulary and speaking practice (starting with single words, then short phrases and, finally, use “backward chaining” to help children to remember longer strings of words). Use songs and chants with the repetition of vocabulary and phrases. Do not burden your children with reading and writing, they are still learning to write and read in their own language.

They enjoy imitating and skilful in listening accurately and mimicking what they have heard, so use a lot of chants, songs, stories etc.

Also, young learners learn best when they learn through games. Let games be an essential part of your teaching BUT avoid competition. Children like playing games, but they also like winning and become really angry if they lose. It can be stressful and overwhelm them. Play games where everyone wins.

Avoid abstract concepts and use real items (realia, puppets, toys, flashcards) that children understand and relate to.

They benefit from meaning-focused activities and natural language use — not from explicit rules.

Young children often need visual aids to help them judge their behaviour. Create a colour code chart (find a lot of free printables at Pinterest )

Every lesson, use short games to review vocabulary and phrases you have taught. If you neglect this, the children will have no recollection of the language you have covered!

Lots of children, especially very young, can mean lots of noise and challenge but it also means a lot of fun. If you are interested in other strategies and techniques, watch the webinar of Professor Herbert Puchta:

and check out videos from lessons with VYL, for example, this one:

How to teach english to young learners

Learning is fun!

TEYL or Teaching English to Young Learners refers to a more specialized area of teaching English‏‎ which deals with younger students.

Aside from the usual considerations which you should give to any TEFL class, there are certain extra considerations to take into account. This page offers general tips and ideas for the young learners classroom.

Note, young learners here are assumed to be about 3 – 12 years old.

First Lessons with Young Learners

In the first few classes with a YL group, it’s often good to just sit and play with the children and not to “teach” them. This way the children will begin to relax around you and not feel threatened or worried by the new face.

Also, and this is important, it’s good to speak English only. Young children who are learning languages are very proficient at working out what languages people speak and will switch automatically to what is appropriate. Even though you may understand the child’s mother tongue (MT) and be able to respond, unless it’s an emergency you should speak only in English with the child (while at the same time allowing the child to speak their MT).

Finally, speak naturally to the children. Don’t simplify your grammar‏‎ too much and speak “baby talk” to them, just make sure you use fairly basic words and phrases.

What to Teach Young Learners

A first general rule is to forget teaching grammar to young learners but instead concentrate on simple, useful phrases and conversations. Functional English in other words.

By this we mean don’t get them to learn and practice the present continuous‏‎, instead get them to talk about what they are doing and what their friends are doing. Young children do not tend to think in the abstract so make things real: talk about what they see and what they did and what they will do. Don’t practice conjugation‏‎s, instead read books together and get them to talk about their family and pets.

Tips and Tricks for Teaching English to Young Learners

Teaching English to young learners is a whole specialized field. Here we offer just a few ideas to think about when you begin.

Attention Spans of Young Learners

In general children have much shorter attention spans than adults. This means that while it is easy to get them motivated and involved, it is also very easy to lose them if the activity is too long or complex.

This being the case, it’s wise to break your lesson down into small segments. On the same lines, it’s also useful to break any instructions‏‎ down into small units (which you should do with any class).

For example, each activity should have an average length of perhaps 5 – 15 minutes at most. Once you see the children are getting a little bored or distracted, move on to something new.

Motivating Young Learners

Children are easily motivated by reward. They will do something because they will gain something at the end. If you can turn an activity into a competition with a prize (however small) it will motivate the students. Boys vs Girls is an easy one here.

Teacher Stress with Young Learners

TEYL can be more stressful than many classes. It’s noisier, young children have a shorter attention span and need more stimulation to keep them interested, and they are likely to give you less polite feedback!

In TEYL you need to try your utmost to keep calm during the class. There’s little point in getting mad or angry with children as it will upset both you and them further. Instead, after the lesson try to work out what went wrong and how it can be corrected for future lessons.

Abstract Thought in Young Learners

For children, the dominant sense is visual (as it is for most adults also, but for children it is especially important) so try to use as many visual aids as possible – flashcards‏‎ or realia‏‎ and especially toys. As children develop so too does their ability to think in an abstract sense so remember that whilst they are young it is easier for them to see a picture and understand what it is rather than hear a word and try to imagine it.

Language Development in Young Learners

The children in your class are probably still learning their own mother tongue. Although this is not going to cause a problem, remember that teaching grammar‏‎ is probably going to be out of the question since they will not even be able to apply to their own language and it will be extremely abstract for them to understand.

Instead, concentrate on teaching simple, useful language: colors, names, phrases and so on which are highly practical and useful and relevent to the classroom or their life.

Language Ability & Development in Young Learners

Even though the age of the students may be very similar, you are likely to find major differences in the abilities of your students as children develop at very different rates; this means you are very likely to be facing a mixed ability class.

To help counter this, build up a repertoire of different activities which you can change at a moment’s notice. Get the class used to working in small groups‏‎ on different kinds of activities as well.

Punishment & Young Learners

Try to avoid using punishment with children (and with classes in general, but especially in the TEYL classroom). They will be noisy at times and every so often there might even be a tantrum. But stay calm and let it pass.

Instead, reward positive behavior. It is a slightly longer process but worth it in the long run. Children will work because they want to please you, rather than because they are afraid of you.

Activities for Young Learners

Children love stories and there are plenty of books you can use – children’s books in English are fine with the right class since they are often very well written using very simple language. However, make sure to try and teach much of the key vocabulary‏‎ beforehand in other activities so the children do not lose track during the story telling and wander off (either mentally or literally).

Children also love games and songs so use them liberally in your class.

Mistakes from Young Learners

Avoid pointing out mistakes; instead, praise and point out correct English.

Other Children

Although you should encourage children working together in small groups, remember that young children can be very touchy about others in the class so you should avoid pushing students to work together when obviously one of them doesn’t want to be there and would rather work with their friend.

Parents of Young Learners

Bear in mind that the children in your class are likely to tell their parents everything which goes on! It is like teaching in a class with a dozen or more video cameras to avoid any problems, just imagine the parents are sitting there at the back of the classroom while you teach!

Related Articles

Teaching English to Teenagers – Tips on teaching students in their teens.

Teaching English to Adults – all about teaching mature students.

Top 8 Tips for Teaching Young Learners

Teachers need to consider the age of their students in order to teach them effectively, especially younger children. Use these tips for teaching young learners to best help your students.

Make Connections with Students

Young students need to know that their teacher cares about them. They need to feel a connection to their teacher. Learn about your students and how they learn. Show them that you care enough to get to know them individually.

Create a Positive Learning Environment

Students thrive in a positive learning environment no matter how old they are. Strive to create an environment where students receive peer support. Build their confidence and help them feel self-assured in who they are as students.

Get Students Moving

Young students have a lot of energy. Rather than trying to squash this energy, find positive ways to use it in the classroom. Plan fun, interactive activities. As you do so, students will have an easier time focusing when called to do so.

Change Activities Often

Studies have shown that younger students can only focus for about 10-15 minutes at a time. If you try to plan activities that last longer than this, you’re going to have more classroom management issues. Instead, try to keep activities short and change things up often. For example, have students come to circle time. Then, go back to their desks to complete an assignment. After a short period of time, students can get back up to move. Doing this will help them stay focused on the tasks at hand.

Mix Up Groups

By planning group activities, students get to see how others do things. They can learn a lot from working with their peers. Make sure that you mix up groups on a regular basis. Give students the opportunity to work with different people, so they can learn different ways of doing things.

Discipline Consistently

Classroom management is one of the biggest struggles for teachers who work with young learners. You need to be consistent, but you shouldn’t spend the day interrupting the lesson to address issues. One of the best ways to handle negative behaviors is through hand signals. Let students know what the hand signals mean. When a problem arises, give students the hand signal to address that particular issue without having to stop the lesson.

Create Routines

Young learners need to know what to expect and how to act. That is why you need to implement routines and procedures. When you have procedures in place and students consistently follow them, you’re going to have less classroom management issues. You can spend more time reminding students about the routine and less time disciplining them.

Have Patience

Young learners have a lot of personality fit into a little frame. As such, they need to wiggle and move. They want to share what’s on their mind and spend time with their friends. Learn about what to expect for the developmental stage of children at this age. Then, have patience with your students as they learn the procedures, routines, and rules of your classroom.

It’s not always easy, but with experience and these tips for teaching young learners, you’ll discover what works for you. Then, you can effectively teach your students and help them excel.

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Author

Jamie graduated from Brigham Young University- Idaho with a degree in English Education. She spent several years teaching and tutoring students at the elementary, high school, and college level. She currently works as a contract writer and curriculum developer for online education courses. In her free time, she enjoys running and spending time with her boys!

How To Teach Young Learners

Young learners, those attending preschool and kindergarten, will not have any personal reason for studying English.

It is simply another subject that they have to study at school or that their parents have told them they need to learn. At this point in their lives, they may not know or comprehend how important these classes can be. They might view your classes as simply another fun daily activity and that is just fine. Even at this early age, you can encourage them to develop an interest in learning English which will stay with them long after they have finished your classes.

How To Understand And Teach Young Learners Better

What Young Learners Want

Students at this level are just starting their academic careers. School may be intimidating for some of the students in your class so, in order to encourage everyone to participate, it is important to make your lessons relaxed and fun. YL Students will be learning very basic material but you can design creative lessons that get students moving around and speaking with one another. Young learners are generally very enthusiastic about songs, especially if they can sing along, and active games. Be sure to provide lots of encouragement and positive feedback. You want to create a safe, stress-free environment that everyone can enjoy learning in.

How Young Learners Behave

Keep exercises fun and short because these students have short attention spans and are easily distracted. Overacting and projection will help keep the focus on you. Teach students how to behave in a classroom by asking them to be quiet while you are talking and raise their hands if they have questions or want to answer a question. This may not be directly related to ESL but it is important that students learn good behavior early on; it will make their transition to primary school easier. Teach them to respond to basic classroom English phrases such as “Please sit down.” because these are expressions that they will hear repeatedly throughout their study of English. For students at this age, you are responsible not only for starting to teach them English, but also for preparing them for their next level of education. Students will perform better in their classes if they behave well and have a good understanding of basic principles.

What To Focus On

The primary focus of these lessons will be on communication and laying a solid foundation for further English coursework. Students should practice the different sounds of the English language and learn material such as the alphabet, numbers, colors and shapes. You will introduce vocabulary words gradually and may choose to study some simple structures that relate to everyday life too. It could be that reading and writing never enter into your classes but a focus on speaking and listening will help students become more comfortable and confident with English.

More YL Tips

There are many other things you can do to ensure that students succeed in class. There is no need to assign homework at this stage but be sure to track individual and class progress so that students can visually see what they have learned and how they are doing. Encourage students to try their best and create a constructive learning environment where students do not need to worry about making mistakes. Create activities and exercises that are entertaining. Help students learn how to interact with one another as well as how to speak English. Students will also feel more comfortable if you stick to a regular schedule so if you decide to make changes, implement them over a period of time rather than all at once. Constantly review and avoid introducing too much new vocabulary at a time. Students may not remember material from one day to the next so repetition is important. The more students are exposed to certain material, the faster they will learn it. This is how native speakers learn English, by listening to people around them and expanding their range of vocabulary gradually.

These learners can be a real pleasure to teach because they do not feel stressed by their studies and approach everything with youthful innocence.

You play an important role in helping them develop into lifelong learners. Foster a love of learning by creating lesson plans that appeal to them, suit their maturity level, and focus on what will help them excel in future English courses.