Teaching English to young learners is a very popular branch of TEFL worldwide. You can find work in schools and language academies in most countries where you would be required to teach children. Many children attend extra classes after their regular school day for one or two hours a week. Teaching young learners is quite different to teaching adult learners, as we’ll see. It takes some specical considersation and techniques to maximise the learning process with this type of student 

Why do children learn English?

There are very few children who might voluntarily ask to sign up to English classes. Most are placed in their classes by their parents who want them to learn. English is a global language, and most parents realise the importance of it. Learning English from a young age can help increase fluency and improve pronunciation, allowing the child to obtain a good level by the time they reach young adulthood.

In today’s world, if one can become fluent in English at a young age, they have more opportunities open to them in terms of work and education. They might even attend university in a foreign country and their English language skills will help with this. Parents often wish they had learnt English more when they were younger, so will want this opportunity for their children. Being able to speak English also helps with travelling and will increase young people’s confidence to travel with or without their parents in the future.

What are the challenges of teaching English to young learners?

A big challenge is simply the fact that children don’t choose to be in school. It’s something that is imposed upon them by law or by their parents. For this reason, they might not have the highest motivation levels. They won’t understand the “importance” of English and be motivated to learn this in the same way as adults. It’s important that they enjoy their classes and learning to become more internally motivated, as external factors aren’t likely to affect them as much.

Young learners are often still learning how to learn in their own language. It can be very difficult and overwhelming for them to have to do this in a second one. The younger the students, the more skills and behaviour they will still be learning. This can include things such as learning how to hold a pen properly and write or simply sitting still on a chair for a whole lesson. It’s important to be patient with them and remember that they are developing these skills.

 Behaviour is a big factor when it comes to teaching young learners. Even slightly older children who have been in school for longer might have issues in the classroom. These issues need addressing just as much as the actual English teaching part of the class. It can be more challenging than teaching adults. Implement rules from day one and you will have a much easier time. If you’re too relaxed at the beginning, students might take advantage of this.

Having a reward system always works well for young learners. This could be a tick or sticker system or, for older learners, it can be a reward such as getting a homework free weekend. Anything that motivates them to behave and learn is a win!

Teaching young learners by simply using a textbook and having them do activities is not the most efficient way to get them interested in learning and will end up leaving them demotivated. They will find grammar questions dull and will generally want something more exciting in their lessons.

 Here are some creative ways to teaching young learners and ideas for your classroom

Games

This is the most typical way to facilitate young learners’ classes. Incorporating games will motivate your learners and will help them learn without even realising it. Adding a competitive edge is always a good way to get learners involves. Young learners are often quite competitive. It’s important to establish rules and remember that they are there to enjoy themselves, so don’t let things get too out of hand!

Here are some quick ideas for adding games to your lessons!

Bingo 

This is a classic but young learners love it! You can use this for any vocabulary the students are learning and it can be added at the end of the class to fill the final 5 minutes. 

Strip Bingo (or Rip Bingo) 

This isn’t as scandalous as it seems! This is a fun alternative way to play Bingo that students love. For this game, you need to fold the paper in a concetina fold (if your learners are very young, you might want to preprepare these for them). The students add one word per section of the paper. The teacher calls out the words and the students can rip the word off if it is the first or the last on the paper. If the word is in the middle, they can’t do anything. You will need to repeat the words until someone wins. It’s more kinaethetic for students to play!

Board races 

Anything that gets the students up and moving will be sure to entertain them and stop them from getting bored. You can do anything with a board race. You can test students on their vocabulary, spelling or grammar. They can play individually or in teams! This can also be done with mini boards if your school has them. Kids love to write on the board!

Flashcard games 

If you have younger learners then using flashcards is a great idea as they are more visual for your students. You can play many games with them also. This includes “back to the board” where a student has to guess which flashcard they have been allocated, “students vs teacher”, where the students repeat after you if you say the correct word or not if you don’t – they love competing against the teacher!

Songs

You can incorporate songs for teaching English in different ways for young learners. Learners under 10 tend to enjoy singing along. Many young learners coursebooks feature songs so be sure to utilise them. They add some fun and help with pronunciation at the same time. 

Older learners might not enjoy singing along so much but you can still utilise songs in the classroom with them as they often welcome the break from the textbook. You can make gapfills where they add in the missing word or even write an extra verse. It’s a good opportunity to add some Engliish-speaking culture to the classroom for your students or add something that caters to their tastes in terms of music.

Task-based learning and projects 

 A different way of teaching English and learning for young learners is to use task-based project learning. This works well as they can collaborate together on a project and, if done well, will end up speaking a lot of English in the process. A project can be for only one class or it can be for several, just ensure that the time is productive. Ideas can be creating something like a game or a presentations, writing stories, scripts or newletters or even making a video in class.

Students can be given time during the class to do this and then present in the next one. They could also do individual parts at home and bring it together in the classroom. When working in groups, it’s good idea to assign roles so that everyone has a part to play and is involved. These roles will depend on the project but can include leader, technology leader, the person who takes any questions etc.

Social media and collaborative tools 

The internet and social media is here to stay whether we like it or not and kids are using it more than ever. It’s not recommended to encourage students to use things like Instagram or Facebook for projects, as you can’t monitor that. You also shouldn’t be in any WhatsApp groups with them.

You can look at using platforms such as Moodle for teaching English to create a digital classroom for your learners. They can share their posts and ideas and comment on others and you can see their work and comment also. You can upload homework assignments or use the calendar for important dates such as exams. You can also turn off any private messaging features so you can monitor all interactions between students, this helps protect against any inappropriate online behaviour. Using social media tools in the classroom will allow them to feel like they are learning in a more modern way.

Another useful tool for collaboration is Padlet, which is a tool where students can work together and post their work on a page (on a “Padlet”). This updates online as they work and the teacher and others can view their post. They can also comment and like on the publications.

Remember to always have a purpose to incorporating fun and interactive ideas in the classroom when teaching English. It can be tempting to do something just to take up time or because your students really want to get out of doing that writing task. In the long run, this won’t be productive for them. There should be an objective to playing a game or doing a project which will enhance their learning. Too many games won’t help them and might get some complaints from the parents!

It’s important to keep young learners engaged in their classes so they will genuinely enjoy learning. Learning English is a great opportunity for them and can give them a strong headstart in their studies and professional life. You are part of that opportunity and should do everything you can to make learning fun for them. This also makes it more interesting for you as the teacher as the material is more engaging to teach and implement. Remember, a happy class is a happy teacher!