Hi Karla,

Great idea starting a thread on Teaching Children. Well done!

I love children, but, admittedly I prefer playing with them rather than teaching them. =) In other words, I'm not a specialist at teaching young learners, even though I have some experience with this age group. Here are some hopefully useful ideas collected over the years (without any theoretical references, I'm afraid):

Lesson Planning - Be spontaneous. Improvise and Adapt!

I'd risk saying that the lesson plan for a younger learners' class will be more effective if teachers leave plenty of leeway for improvisation and adaptation. Anyone who's ever taught children will remember how quickly they can turn your detailedly timed lesson plan upside down. So, by cutting down some on their lesson plans, teachers will be in a better position to think on their feet if (when?) the class starts following an unexpected route. Perhaps one of the key words here would be spontaneity.

Speak only English in class.

A common attitude of teachers is believing that if they speak only English in class, the (young) learners will not be able to understand them. In my experience, that couldn't be further from the truth. Children are capable of developing amazing communication strategies and, in general, are very fast learners. The more teachers address their students in the L2, the more encouraged (and used) they will get to speaking the target language.

Settlers and Stirrers

As you mentioned in your introduction to the topic, children are indeed "full of beans". And when this energy is properly harnessed, the lesson flows harmoniously. Using a variety of settling and stirring activities possibly increases the level of engagement and increases the chances that input will become intake. In practical terms, I usually try and engage young(er) learners with an action song, a mingle or an action game right at the beginning of the lesson. Having released some of their energy, I follow up with a settler, which could be, for instance, a storytelling session with questions and answers or some kind of task with modelling clay or colouring pencils.

Classroom Management - Practise What you Preach

It's been said that a good start saves a lot of time. . . and pain! That's especially true when dealing with young learners. A clearly established class contract (or constitution) may well be the best thing to agree on with the kids on day one. So, whenever a rule is broken (by the learners or the teacher), the group will have a written document to refer to and put things back on track. The modern maxim "practise what you preach" completely comes to life here. Children (much more strongly than adults) do expect teachers to keep their word: it's self-defeating to demand something of your students that you yourself won't comply with. So, if you tell students not to use the L1 in class, don't do it yourself either.

Before closing, here are a few pieces of advice I like giving myself:

• Teachers do NOT teach a class, they teach individuals. . . one by one.

• Children are not empty vessels to simply be filled with information. They have a lot to share about themselves, their lives, families, etc.

• Let them share, let them talk, let them express themselves. And listen to them!

• Learning opportunities abound in freedom-filled, creativity-driven classes. Seize them!

• Young learners can easily tell the difference between the mediocre, the good, the superior and the great teacher: "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." (William Ward)

To conclude, let me just record that these are just some ideas I can remember off the top of my head. I don't claim authorship and would be thankful to anyone who could indicate any references and sources.

Cheers,

Fernando Guarany

Natal RN Brazil

Hello Karla, Fernando , Crespus and all ,

Firstly, I’d like to thank Karla for bringing such an interesting topic to the fore. I’d also like to congratulate Fernando and Crespus on keeping the ball rolling. ;-)

I myself have mostly been teaching young learners for the last four years. I’m a middle/junior high  public sector teacher, and like Fernando, I admit that sometimes I’m much more inclined to play and talk to my students rather than teach them. Young learners are fascinating, a bundle of energy and the owners of brilliant and enquiring minds.

I wholeheartedly agree with the ideas shared by Fernando and I’d like to add a few more of my own based on my own experience. As you may already know, very few public schools have English course books; therefore, I have to constantly photocopy anything I find that may be interesting or useful for the classes I teach (16 classes and in each of them I have somewhere under 40 students):

•  Young students love to talk/write about themselves. Teach them vocabulary, prefabricated sentences, anything related to their daily life irrespective of their current knowledge of the language – whether they’re beginners or not.
•  Engage young learners in small projects/tasks in which the use of technology is involved such as setting up a blog for school or visiting  video chat rooms – where they’ll have an opportunity to practice what they’ve learned in class. Young learners love technology and quickly figure out how to use the newest tools available on the Web.
• And, finally, I have learned that we teachers should always point out to our students that although we’re friendly, we’re not their “mates”. We may be open-minded, but we have to set limits. We may negotiate everything that is done in the classroom, but that doesn’t mean we have lost authority. Like doctors, and any other professionals, we know what we do in our classes. We have long studied to become teachers - and some of us are still engaged in this never-ending (learning) process.

As to an English-only class, I wonder if there are any public sector teachers out there who can teach a 50 min class speaking only English. I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions on that because I myself can’t do it.  Looking forward to reading your comments,

BC

Dear all,

Many thanks for your replies. It seems that both Fernando and Bruno have already had some experience with this age group as well. You should definitely give it a try, Ivan!

I’ve been teaching kids aged 8 – 11 for quite a long time and I can honestly say that although it’s been really demanding, I’m really into teaching them, they are absolutely fascinating!

Young learners are like sponges

You’re absolutely right, Fernando! Young learners are like sponges, they soak up everything we say and how we say it. Thus clear and correct pronunciation is of vital importance, since young learners repeat exactly what they hear. With the help of mixed activities, such as chants, songs, poems and rhymes students’ speaking abilities grow, their pronunciation gets better and their awareness of the language improves. Using songs, poems, rhymes and chants is a wonderful way of making students sing/talk and at the same time (unconsciously) work at their grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation.

Striking a balance

From my experience, we better manage and deal with kids if we strike a balance and alternate silent moments (copying, listening, reading, writing) and noisy/kinaesthetic  ones (games, miming, songs, chants etc).

Contract / Limits

You’re right, Fernando, “a clearly established class contract (or constitution) may well be the best thing to agree on with the kids on day one”, especially if they prepare the ‘rules’ by themselves. I’m also inclined to agree with Bruno in relation to setting limits. ‘We may negotiate everything that is done in the classroom, but that doesn’t mean we have lost authority. Like doctors, and any other professionals, we know what we do in our classes.”

Thus, I'm not so sure if I agree with you, Fernando, when you say that “the lesson plan for a younger learners' class will be more effective if teachers leave plenty of leeway for improvisation and adaptation”. Although I agree we should be flexible and adapt according to needs, I believe we should always have a carefully prepared lesson plan.  After all, we all have a syllabus and a timetable to follow, don’t we? Maybe, if we consider very young learners, we would have far more room for spontainety, improvisation and adaptation… I might be wrong. So, what do you all think about this issue?

Best wishes,

Karla

PS: I'm a bit short of time right now but I'll be back soon to make some comments on the use of English in class and the use of technology.