Teaching infants and youngsters

Interacting with young learners

Learn names and address them personally
Physically crouch down and be at their eye level.
Join in with their play and the games. Show interest and they will be more engaged.
Make sure you encourage children so they feel confident and give lots of praise.
Consider how you use your body, tones of voice and facial expressions to encourage them to respond appropriately – generating excitement, calming down, creating mystery
Identify what interests them, and you will be able to grab and hold their attention. e.g a cartoon character the class love or an interest/activity they share
Remember they can be sensitive and aim to please but can slip up from time to time.

Classroom Dynamics

Encourage good manners, raising hand, no shouting etc
Encourage sharing, turn-taking, and being a good friend.
Encourage them to work together and communicate with each other.
Get them to help you (and each other) during the class – assign tasks

The Pre-Primary English Teacher’s Toolkit – Karen Muckey

This is an interesting webinar which has some great tips on classroom management and working with young learners.

The Truth About Kindergarten Classroom Management

This is an article from Kindergarten Works which deals with classroom management techniques for young learners.

Classroom Practicalities

Establish toilet rules/routines. Perhaps make sure they go before the class starts
Water breaks. They usually bring water to drink. On a hot day or after a physical activity maybe have a quick water break for everyone at the same time.
Toys. They sometimes bring toys to class. I usually take them away nicely and put them away to avoid distractions.
Avoid distractions. Clear clutter away before they enter the class or else they will fiddle with it

Planning the classes and developing a routine

When children are familiar with class routines they are easier to manage and they feel more comfortable. However, surprises work well too, especially if they are not engaged. Make the classes fun with maximum student input. When developing the activities always think about the language the students can produce.

Plan your classes, but be prepared to let go and adapt activities. Having a range of brief activities and games planned and mixing them is the best way to keep children motivated.

If the activity seems too easy introduce a new structure. Kids like a little challenge.
If an activity Isn’t working as planned, move on to something else. Later think about what went wrong and how it can be presented next time.

Remember – Everyone has bad days, including us. So have some back up materials to hand.

In the class

Make sure all your materials, flashcards, songs, weblinks etc are ready before the children come into the classroom.
When children arrive, they leave their coats and bags outside.
Use different areas of the classroom for different activities/objectives – presentation of new language, practice activities using individual children, storytelling and opening and closing of lesson, and a ‘time-out’ area
Involve all pupils – ask individuals to perform a small task: pointing to something, choosing a picture or sticking it on the board.
Use lots or repetition and drilling.
Explain and demonstrate tasks clearly and use stronger students to help you model

Lesson Ideas for for young learners

Language Development

Introduce language using images, toys, costumes, images, plasticine, dolls, cars, blocks, Learning through play in this way offers a meaningful way for children to have fun as they learn and develop.

You can model the target language by asking questions, describing what you are doing, showing interest in what they are doing, and so on.

It is important that they produce the language correctly from a young age, they don’t mind repetition and drilling. Wherever possible use hand gestures to encourage them to self correct.

Play about with the pronunciation, this can be really fun.

Lesson takeaways – Post lesson reflection

At the end of each lesson reflect on what worked well and what wasn’t so successful. Did you lose their attention? Did an activity fail? Were there any moments of conflict or a lack of participation? What might the reasons be and how could it go better? Consider environmental factors, instructions given, lesson flow, use of space etc.