I found the below article yesterday and thought they did a great job at explaining 'how' to teach the young kiddos. If you're teaching 2nd and under, please read thru this article.
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Teaching ESL
Preschool
Ideas and Tips for Successful
Classes
Are
you looking for ideas for your ESL preschool class? Anyone who has taught
preschoolers will tell you that it is a challenge. While they are cute,
funny and often eager to learn, preschoolers are also energetic, active and
often difficult to keep on any particular task for more than a few minutes at a
time. That is why it takes a special kind of teacher and special ideas for
your ESL preschool class to work. Games, stories and songs are the
perfect answer to the challenge of teaching preschool ESL classes.
Background:
Why Games and Stories Work
Research
is beginning to show that preschoolers (and other young learners) actually do
learn better through games. There are many reasons for this, including
the theory of intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is the idea that people are motivated to do things because
of internal factors. Preschool children are not going to understand the
advantages that knowing a second language will give them. They are
probably also not thinking that they want to go to school to learn a second
language - especially because they are still trying to grasp their first
language.
That is why it is important to motivate them to want to do the class activities
and children will be more likely to join in and enjoy themselves when given the
option to participate in activities that incorporate play and physical
movements.
Other research includes the theory of activity-based learning or total physical
response. This theory states that movement stimulates neural networks and
activates mental capacities, which are not activated when sitting at a
desk. Children are more likely to be curious when presented with
music, games and total physical response activities, and therefore are more
likely to learn and retain knowledge.
An example of a total physical response activity would be making the shapes of
the alphabet with your body, or using your body and props to imitate different
types of weather, or using your voice, body, a prop or make believe to
represent vocabulary or meaning. For example a dull vocabulary idea is to
ask children to pick up pictures off the floor and name them. To turn
this into a total physical response activity and fun game tell your children
they are pirates who have lost their treasure overboard and they must dive down
and retrieve it. Demonstrate by taking in a big breath, hold your breath
and dive down and pick up one of the cards, then come up for air and ask the
children to name the card, or you name it, depending on whether you are doing a
speaking or listening activity. Then tell the children which pictures to
dive down and collect. You could make it even more dramatic by dimming
the lights when the children dive down and turning them up when they surface.
There are other theories that explain why play works in the preschool ESL
classroom. When you use games, songs and stories to teach ESL to your
preschool students, you are relying on absorption by repetition. The more
they hear and experience the vocabulary that you are teaching them, the more
likely they will learn it. But who wants to sit in a class simply
repeating words and what they mean? Certainly not three to five year
olds. You will soon have a classroom of unruly children who are not
learning a thing. If you engage them in a game or song or story that uses
the language you are teaching, however, they will understand and use the
language simply from the exposure.
By using games, play, movement and song, all things that most preschoolers
enjoy, learning language will be a fun and positive experience. The
environment of play and games is a relaxed environment (as long as you do not
use competition at this age) and allows the students to learn without the
stress or fear of possible failure.
A final thought on learning through games stems from Dr. Howard Gardner's
Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In this theory, Gardner has defined
several different areas of learning and also has explained that not everyone
learns in the same ways. The intelligences include the following:
- Linguistic
intelligence: Learning and using spoken and written language
- Logical-mathematical
intelligence: Logically analyzing problems, detecting patterns, reasoning.
- Musical
intelligence: Performing, composing, and appreciating musical patterns.
- Bodily-kinesthetic
intelligence: Using the whole body or parts of the body to solve problems.
- Spatial
intelligence: Recognizing patterns of wide space and confined areas.
- Interpersonal
intelligence: Effectively working with others.
- Intrapersonal
intelligence: Understanding self and feelings.
Using
ideas for games in your ESL preschool classroom to teach vocabulary will allow
you to reach students in whatever way they best learn. Traditional ESL
preschool classrooms will focus on linguistic-type lessons, but with a little
creativity and variety in the types of games used in the classroom, teachers can
begin to appeal to all students by tapping into their different learning
styles.
If you are still not convinced that games, stories and music are the best way
to teach language to preschool ESL students, then spend some time observing
children of this age. They can learn numbers when building a block tower
and counting to see how high they can build it. They can learn colors
when using crayons to color a picture. They can learn vocabulary (in
their own language) by playing make-believe with other children or
adults. Their minds are like sponges that absorb so much when they are
engaged in activities they enjoy.
Tips
for Teaching Young ESL Students
If you don't have a lot of experience or ideas for teaching ESL preschool, here
are some tips and tricks to help you enjoy your students more. The more
smoothly you can make the class period go, the more likely you will be
successful in teaching vocabulary and language to your ESL preschool students.
- Remember that
preschool students have small attention spans. You'll want to change
up your activities every five to ten minutes or so because if they go
longer than that, the children can become restless and you will spend more
time trying to keep their attention than actually doing the activity.
- Teach a small
amount of language in any given session. For this age group, try to
introduce three words at a time and then add to the list as you see they
understand the meaning of the words you've already introduced.
- Engage your
students on multiple levels. This includes using fine and large
motor movement, singing, talking, listening and looking. For
example, you could have a game where the students need to move around the
room to stand next to a picture or object of the word they heard you say
in engage them through listening, looking and moving.
- Preschool
students can get very excitable. Vary excitable games with quiet
ones to balance out the energy level in the classroom.
- Competition in
the preschool classroom causes undo stress on the students. Avoid
playing games or doing activities that have winners and losers.
Either have the class work together to "win" as a group or do
not distinguish between winning and losing. On the same note, be
sure to be supportive and encouraging to all of the learners in your class.
- Preschoolers are
very visual. Bring in real objects whenever possible. When it
is not possible, find colorful and vivid pictures to use in place of the
actual object.
- Preschool
students usually are not yet reading and writing (at least not to a large
extent) in their own language, so don't expect them to do it in a second
language. At this age, you can expect them to listen and understand
first. After a while, they will begin speaking individual words and
short phrases.
- Themes work well
in the preschool classroom. Focus your vocabulary learning on groups
of similar types of words such as foods, colours, numbers, animals,
families and body parts. You can work in short phrases that are
relevant to your theme.
- Because the
activities are short and you don't want to give preschool students too
much "down time" between activities, make sure you have all of
your supplies and activities ready to go before the children enter the
classroom. On the same note, plan more than you think you'll
use. Sometimes an activity will not go over well and other times
they will go faster than you had planned.
- If you have a
particularly naughty or rough student in the class, keep him or her close
to you. Ask him or her to be your special helper and be sure to give
a lot of praise when you see him or her behaving appropriately.
- Repeat, review
and revise. You need to periodically review the vocabulary that you
have previously taught or the children will quickly forget it.
- Don't use the
same game over and over again, or let a game go on too long. You'll
get bored and so will the students! That said, don't be afraid to
have a few "star" games that are favorites of the students that
you know will always be a hit. The best ones are the ones that are
easily adaptable to whatever topic or theme you're currently covering.
- If you use a
game and it doesn't go over well, examine what went wrong, put it away for
a while and then give it another try.
- Don't expect
preschool children to actually speak the words right away. It will
take a while. Just keep going and keep playing the games so that
they at least understand the words you're teaching. The speaking
will come.
Remember
above all to have fun with your preschoolers. If you and the children are
enjoying yourselves while engaged in English games and stories, then the
chances are the children will be learning.
