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Kindergarten students are easily comparable to sponges. They soak in information with such ease and joy, their curiosity is endless and imagination ever so boundless. I am a very happy parent of a kindergartener and have been lucky enough to be able to volunteer in her class. In addition, my daughter’s teacher is the best one out there. Well before I considered taking this course, I admired her teaching skills. While taking this course, I was able to recognize certain teaching strategies and techniques. From this experience, I would highlight the following- positive encouragement does wonders, clear and straightforward instructions are a must, kind and compassionate attitude helps with discipline, and consistency can be very calming for the learning environment. That said, to encourage kindergarteners to speak a different language than their native tongue can be a challenge. The use of written word is not particularly practical as most of them do not know how to read yet. Simple words connected with pictures can be introduced to help build up vocabulary, starting with so called “sight words” might be a good idea so as to get the reading skills kick-started. But, obviously, kindergarten is not only about learning, it should be a lot of playing, too. When we connect the two, we are on a good path. Using visual clues, realia, songs, rhymes, stories, maybe some Sesame street and Daniel Tiger videos, games and having fun- in a nutshell that should work for any age, but having enough interesting, engaging and fun activities on hand are a key for kindergarten. As we all know, kindergartener’s attention span can be a whirlwind. Using group work and having “stations” set up as so to do rotating activities during a class can be a good use of teacher’s monitoring time. My classroom rules would probably be: persistently using English (native tongue only in case of true difficulties), don’t laugh at each other but with each other (that is most encouraged); give a helping hand, be honest and have fun together. I do see one stumbling block teaching English to kindergarteners and that is frequency of classes. To get the full benefit of the second language there is a need to have a frequent dose of it. Unfortunately, I have not been persistent using my native tongue with my daughter and hence she has more difficulties to learn Czech. That said, I understand the importance of strictly adhering to English while in the class, encouraging students to speak and expose them to as much language as possible. A fun “homework” could be an episode of English speaking series a day. I am a big fan of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood- the language used is simple enough, the speech is slow and often repeated and the topics can actually be helpful in other spheres of life. It would also be a good source for some role- play games. The only challenge might be to have enough time in the lesson for everyone to be the “good guy” and the “bad guy”.
