Teaching Beginners Aged 5-8 - suggestions? :)

[GeorgeD]

Hi and thanks for clicking on my post.

So, some background. I've been teaching English since 1995, mostly business and general English, mostly privately. The great majority of my students have been adults. Years ago I did a few uk summer schools, teaching teenagers and adults.

The youngest students I ever taught were 11 years old in a summer school. I always asked my DOS to have older students as the young ones are just not my thing. Some people are great with children, and those people have my respect. Adults or older teenagers, fantastic.

Now I live in a tiny village in central Europe and the locals have talked me into running 11 one-hour sessions on a weekly basis for children aged five to eight or so. Absolute beginners to elementary. Open door, anyone can come.

This is completely different to anything I've ever done before! If anyone on this board has any suggestions or advice they can impart, it will be most gratefully received. Suggestions both in terms of individual activites and the overall development of the course very welcome!

The first 'taster' class will be on Thursday 24th October 2019 in the afternoon.

I used to be a professional musician (but not a singer, they are different), so the guitar will probably make an appearance.

Please... HHHEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mohsen]

In this age children like chanting , so the teacher should know how to make up the words into rhyme.

[roozbehrah]

I have some experience teaching to young children. there are two challenges you will face:
* their attention span is really short so whatever you do you should keep the class interesting
* music helps a lot (most children language learning methods include a lot of music)

[Alia Shen]

Hi! I am a English teacher teaching in an International School in China, the students here are above 15 years old. But my friend Mary has taught English in China for a long time. She told me that teaching kids needs enough patience. You can try to integrate some directions into detailed stories or song vividly. Hope it helps!

[Tim Cahill]

I understand that I had a similar situation myself. I didn't have time for a son from the word at all, but thank heaven they helped me. They suggested that you should try the programs from the wunderkiddy website, and to my surprise they began to bear fruit.

https://wunderkiddy.com/activity/number-cube

[Tim Cahill]

I understand that I had a similar situation myself. I didn't have time for a son from the word at all, but thank heaven they helped me. They suggested that you should try the programs from the wunderkiddy website, and to my surprise they began to bear fruit.

https://wunderkiddy.com/activity/number-cube

[Mr Greg]

You got to learn what motivate the students.

Students under 5 years old are motivated by simple rewards, such as high fives or stickers when getting a correct answer. For students in the 5-8 bracket, in my opinion, need to have that competitive edge to motivate them to do better. Everything has to be a game that encourages them to engage.