Teach English in Yitang Zhen - Linyi Shi

Teaching English at a kindergarten can be a fun and rewarding job but it is not without it's challenges. Some people are not sure whether it is right for their children to start learning a foreign language at such an early age (2-6), and some believe that we are imposing too much on them by asking them to do so, but this is really wrong. It is already scientifically proven that children at this age actually have a strong potential to acquire almost an infinite number of new information, especially when second language learning is concerned. Moreover, it has been proven that children who learn a second language at a very early age (compared to those who don't), have more active brain spheres and later have fewer difficulties in school subjects other than English. When I started teaching English in kindergartens in Japan 9 years ago, I always thought that teaching younger students was very simple. At that time, I thought that teaching kindergarten kids was little more than teaching colors,play games and singing songs. As that time has passed, I have now realized how difficult it is to get the students' attention, to able to communicate, and to become an input facilitator. Teachers of young students need to be motivated by the challenge of seeing their students improve day by day. Teaching English to children who have not yet reached a first-grade age presents challenges which may not be so noticeable at first. It is the young children who exhibit voracity and aptitude for assimilating English which definitely diminishes with age. In light of this, there are several facets to bear in mind which will make teaching this special age bracket all the more rewarding. Kindergarten aged kids are noisy, struggle to listen to anyone or anything for more than thirty seconds, and are extremely emotionally volatile. Simple things can make them burst into tears or grow restless, and once that happens your plans for your lesson go out the window as your class descends into chaos. Here are some skills I’ve learned that help me to not only survive this age group and overcome many challenges, but actually love teaching kindergarten aged students: •You Must Have a Positive Relationship with Your Students. All you need to do is be positive, smiling and loving, and this is especially true with the badly-behaved children. Positivity is a game changer for them. Truly, I would say that for young kid’s punishments should be a last resort, not the first. Positive reinforcement is 100% better than negative reinforcement, and that is universally true, and it will also make you a happier teacher because you are being kind and caring rather than scolding kids all the time. •Use Clear Instructional Words and Body Language. Children aren’t as adept at picking out words in a string, especially when it is in a foreign language. For EFL students you need to “chunk” the important parts into individual phrases or even words that they can clearly understand. In this kind of age, the lesson themes should be simple and to the point, themes such as: Greetings, colors, numbers, family members, body parts, animals, food, clothes, weather, etc. Another important tactic to use is getting down to the students level, If a child is running around and behaving badly and you need them to stop, shouting at them across the room may not work at all, Go up to the child, crouch down to their level and lightly hold their shoulders to face them towards you. Use firm and clear language to say what you need to say and get their agreement on what will happen. Shouting at a child from across the room rarely works. •Use Appropriate Material And Personalise Wherever Possible. Use visuals, including graphs, posters, videos, picture books, cards, educational computer games and realia to help students acquire language. Bring in a bag of old clothing when teaching the names of clothes,share banana slices or use Cheerios for counting and M&Ms; for color. •Classroom Management. Your classroom management is a reflection of what you want for your class, children in this age can’t follow instructions that have more than a few steps. They don’t care what the goal is because their goal is always to have fun. keep it really simple and then show the children how much fun it’s going to be. If it is fun and they are doing the thing that helps them reach the goals you have for the activity, that is a success. Play little games with everything, it is so much easier to hold children’s attention when you are making it silly and fun all the time. For example, when I introduce something new, like a picture book or something I want the students to see, I hide it away from them. I put it behind my back and pretend like it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Then I’ll pick a student to show it to, and give them just the tiniest glimpse of it, then hide it again while giggling as though it was the funniest picture in the world. Children mirror older people so almost invariably the child I showed the picture to will start laughing or looking surprised, and then all the other kids want to see the picture too. Then when I reveal it, they get really excited! •Children Need to Move. If you plan activities that get kids moving and using the English they have learned not only by listening and speaking but by jumping and moving, you’ll be well on the way to an affective class that the kids enjoy. Action-based activities will grab their attention and keep their interest. Children of this age group enjoy movement play. This isn’t a waste of time, children need to move and if they are made to sit still they become anxious and irritable. It’s important to Add movement into your class as often as you can – it helps both the teacher and the students. •Make A Lesson Preparation and Always Have A No-Prep Activity Ready To Go. Always prepare the lesson you about to teach and the activities you about to do but be flexible for changes, many things can happen in class and plans can change, that’s why you always have to learn to be calm, prepared and adaptable so you can continue the lesson. there’s always a chance that things can go wrong in class, but that’s why we prepare for that, because it’s always a possibility. Be ready for it because it is guaranteed to happen sometime. •Don’t Do It For Them. Help Them Do It Themselves. Let the kids fail, on a daily basis, and encourage them to try again. Not only will this help them become independent and confident learners who are willing to try new things, but it will also take a lot off your plate as their teacher because they will be more able to look after themselves. if you basically made their craft for them and then you say it’s very good, they know they didn’t make it and they will feel badly about it. •Be Free! There is perhaps no better place to experiment with your teaching than in a preschool or kindergarten classroom. Children at that age are so full of wonder and so empty of experience. you can really take advantage of this and be as creative with your classes as you want to be. You can break free from the shackles of the classroom and find new and inventive activities. To sum it up, first of all, if you don’t like to work with children, this job is not for you. children are very sensitive to the mood of the room. If you don’t know what you’re doing, they will feel it. When you show lots of kindness to your students, build relationships with them and prepare well for your classes, you can really make a huge difference in your student’s lives. There are no limits to your creativity. Even if your school has a rigid curriculum, it is still up to you to decide how to teach it. The endless enthusiasm of young children makes it a great place to try out new games, incorporate new songs, try different activities and really make things interesting, both for yourself and the kids. this is exciting work that changes daily and is always throwing up new challenges. I really love teaching kindergarten. You get to learn a lot of things from the kids that you can’t get through teaching adults. All the hard work pays off as you get hugs, kisses, and smiles from them. Nowhere else do you have such a great connection with the students, and kindergartners will show you so much love if you are someone they care about, and their improvements will be the most pronounced of any age you teach.