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Inspiration is a beautiful tool that teachers can share with their students, especially young learners between the ages of 5 and 13. By means of first assessing the culture, age, size, English-level, and needs of the class, we can then determine what kind of activities and teaching lessons we will utilize. When it comes to such receptive skills such as reading and listening, and productive skills such as writing and speaking, teachers have many options for engaging their students to learn English. Because not all young learners may have chosen to take our class, it is valuable that we take the time to observe, understand, and assess their culture and environment enough, that we begin to grasp their varying interests and needs. The ESA model of teaching encourages teachers to first begin by warming the students up with an 'Engage' activity that is short and fun, and that gets them thinking in English. This could be a game, such as Pictionary. Or, we could play a song that the younger learners (aged about five to nine years old) know or recognize. Also, we can find humorous pictures of animals, and even incorporate a listening activity where we hear the sounds they make. I love the idea of teaching them the song "Old McDonald had a Farm", because this is often very fun and educational for the children. In the 'Study' phase we are definitely correcting pronunciation and grammar, but with a fun game of tongue-twisters or hangman, students have a higher likelihood of enjoying the class. We can create themes, such as international cuisine, and elicit words of foods that students know in English. Maybe they love hamburgers, pizza, or ice cream, and children usually enjoy talking about these things. Furthermore, for an 'Activate' phase doing role-plays, surveys, games, and story-building are all wonderful options. If we continued with the theme of cuisine, we could (depending on the cultural appropriateness of the topic) have the students conduct a specific survey with foods and find out who liked what specified foods, and then report back to the class. Perhaps this activity is more appropriate for older learners (about between the ages of nine and thirteen), but an activity for the very young learners (5-9) could be drawing and coloring their favorite fruit, and we could also discuss colors. With children, their imagination is so fresh and limitless, so we as teachers have this advantage going in our favor. Always it is best to offer praise, to all students but especially young learners of English, and to stay positive and upbeat. If by chance students are not understanding the information, if they appear bored or disinterested, or if they are distracted it is important for us as teachers to notice immediately. Perhaps external factors are playing into their behavior, but in terms of the classroom materials it is our job to be very sensitive to the students' experience. If we are talking too much or sitting still for a long time, our youngest learners may become restless, or if we push our 9-13 year-olds into singing and dancing we may embarrass them and lose any established rapport (depending on the country and culture). Ultimately, the most important things for TEFL teachers to understand and practice are flexibility and creativity. If we are inspired by the material we are teaching then we will most definitely motivate our students to participate, to engage in speaking and playing games, and to deepen their understanding of another language.
