Teach English in Houping XiAng - Chongqing

Teaching EFL in a KindergartenWhen teaching English in a kindergarten a teacher needs to be very patient. The children learn a lot from repeating, so at times you can feel like a stuck record. You must always use the same language for objects and instructions you wish the children to follow. Instructions should be animated with gestures and demonstrated by the teacher. Actions and facial gestures are very important. When giving instructions to the children as well as always using the same spoken language you should use the same gestures and body language. Children this young are visual learners everything needs to be big, bright and fun. It is also important that children are taught English using topics and situations they are familiar with, or that they have experienced. Myself, My family, My House, Animals, My School, Food etc. Each child is an individual with a different way and level of learning, just like adults and you must remember this when teaching young children. One child?s pace is different to the next child?s pace. Also some children may have two other languages as well as English. Mum may speak Spanish and Dad my speak German. These children tend to speak English later than a child who a child who has one other language as well as English. When teaching young children everything has to be practice as young children have a short concentration span. Physical activities, arts and crafts, songs, games and stories, cooking, and kindergarten trips are a great way to learn. Some examples of physical activities are:- 1. Obstacle Courses:- as well as the children having fun and improving their gross motor skills and their small manipulative skills, you are introducing new language. The names of the equipment, bench, rope, cones, tunnel, hoop, ball, bean bag etc. You are also introducing prepositions, on, under, behind, in front of, next to, over. 2. Parachute Games:- you are introducing colours, red, green, blue, yellow, as you ask the children to take a handle in a certain coloured section. You are introducing instructional language, everybody stand up, everybody sit down, everybody walk around, lift the parachute up, put the parachute down. 3. Races:- You are introducing verbs, run, jump, hop, skip etc 4. Music and movement;- as well as this being a great opportunity for the children to use their listening skills ( use English nursery rhyme CD?s) they will be listening to instructional language e,g pretend you are a horse, pretend you are cat etc. This is also a great activity to assess how much a child understands. Arts and Crafts:- There is a huge variety of activities you can do in arts and crafts, painting , gluing, cutting, printing, model making. The language that is introduced is limitless. Colours, shapes, names of the materials your using, names of the techniques your using, topic related vocabulary e.g Myself, hands, fingers, face etc, instructional language. These are also great activities for assessing understanding and ability to use the English language as these activities tend to be one to one or in very small groups. Songs, Games and Stories:- Songs are a great way to learn new language and reinforce old language, the children pick the language up quicker by singing than any other way, because of the music and the fact it is fun, there are hand actions to learn to go with the words. Games whether they be singing games, e.g Lucy locket, the bear game or whether they are table top games e.g bingo, pairs, as well as learning the children to take turns, how to win and lose they are a good opportunity for new language and reinforcing learnt language. Stories as well as introducing new spoken language, the children use their listening skills and see what English writing looks like. It also introduces the fact we use different tones and intonations in different situations. Cooking:- This is another great opportunity for Language as you can make a whole project out of it. Look at the recipe together talk about what you will need. Using scissors and glue make the shopping list together, go to the shops together and buy the ingredients and finally make the cakes, pie etc. The children are experiencing print by looking at the recipe and seeing that the writing go?s from left to right and it is also the beginning of them learning that print carries meaning. They are using their listening skills when listening to the instructions, the teacher reading the recipe, they are making marks, the beginning of learning to write when writing the shopping list ( next to the pictures) and they are also using their speech when talking about the recipe (naming the items) when in the supermarket and when making the end product. Kindergarten Trips:- This also an unlimited opportunity as there are so many different places you can visit, the park, the zoo, a museum etc and the amount of new language is unlimited to what can be introduced. The thing with young children is everything is a new experience for them so you always have their willingness and enthusiasm. They also are not afraid to make mistakes so they are like little sponges soaring up the new language with the new accent ( British, American etc).