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Working as a TEFL teacher, you can find yourself in a different range of situations. At a particular point of your career, you may find yourself teaching kindergarten in China maybe teaching teenagers in Africa, or even businessmen in Japan. Regardless, you’ll come across students with different levels in different countries. Therefore a TEFL teacher needs to be very flexible in their teachings and to cope with these changing situations (TEFL Academy, 2017). Especially teaching between children in kindergarten compared adults can be very different. The main differences are in the expectations, motivation, and autonomy across the student’s learning abilities. Expectations Young children do not have an extensive learning background. They don't focus on how teacher teach as they cannot differentiate the difference. They are happy to go along with the activities, as long as the students find them fun! However, kindergarten students have a strong expectation to look to the teacher for guidance (Colquhoun, 2017). Adults, on the other hand, will walk into the classroom with expectations due to their previous experience of learning. They have their preferred way of learning that is most likely different to yours. Therefore, the teacher needs to earn their trust and build the desired learning lessons (TEFL Academy, 2017; Colquhoun, 2017). Motivation Children are very good at motivating themselves. They are filled with overflowing of energy, curiosity, and imaginations (Moran, 2012). Hence, your lessons need to appeal to their sense of learning. Beside overflowing energies, young learners have a very short attention span causing them to get bored easily. Therefore, the teacher needs to constantly change the games and activities to capture their interests and maintain motivations. Compared to children, the adults' motivation levels can vary depending on their mood and stress during the day (Colquhoun, 2017). Adults have others in mind besides learning English. They will bring stress and problems from family or work into the classroom. Besides these, adults have a higher level of motivation to start with, as they learn English for a specific purpose such as for external exams (Moran, 2012). If a student comes into the lesson feeling ‘deflated’ or lack of interest, it’s up to the teacher to create a motivating classroom atmosphere to get them in good spirits. Autonomy Children are more dependent on the teacher and need supervisions in the classroom (Colquhoun, 2017). This is due to the more likely for a potential conflict, for example, “Hyper kid knocking over the shy kid” or potentially hurting themselves (Deady, 2018). Children are less disciplined and responsible than adults. Therefore, the teacher needs to be in charge of the classroom, gives clear instructions for classroom management. On the other hand, adults are more independent and responsible. They can be trusted to work alone or in groups to complete tasks. The adult is well organized and is not afraid to voice their own opinion or say. Teaching adults, TEFL teacher needs to prepare clear notes to tick off the objectives of the lesson. There are numbers of differences between teaching EFL to children compared to adults, but the most obvious ones are expectation, motivation, and autonomy. TEFL teacher will need to be able to accommodate their teachings to the different needs and learning abilities of the students. Regardless of age, fundamental practices are still the same. The key to effective teaching is by authentic communication, engaging activities and maintaining a fun classroom atmosphere. References Colquhoun.,K. (2017). 3 Differences between teaching children and adults. Shane English School. Retrieved from http://shaneschools.com/en/3-differences-teaching-children-adults/ Deady.,K. (2018). Teacher talks: teaching ESL to kids vs. adults. Teachaway Blog. Retrieved from https://www.teachaway.com/blog/teaching-ESL-different-age-groups Moran.,A. (2012). How to Teach ESL: Difference for Children and Adults. Teach Abroad. Retrieved from https://www.gooverseas.com/blog/teaching-english-abroad-children-vs-adults TEFL Academy. (2017). 6 differences between teaching adults and young learners. Retrieved from https://www.theteflacademy.com/blog/2017/01/6-differences-between-teaching-adults-and-young-learners/
