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

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

Stop Spanish!

Our approach is through active learning and total language immersion. It is essential that the students only use English in class. This helps them to learn the language more naturally and it also allows for a more controllable classroom.  Often when Spanish is spoken it is just an accidental slip as our students are usually keen to use their English. New students sometimes take a little adjusting but with some simple techniques they will soon get in the habit of speaking only English in the classroom.

It is important not to tell them off if they slip but to remind them in a friendly, supportive way. This is more encouraging and especially for little ones. Make sure they have the appropriate language to be able to do the task in English, this may require some pre-teaching or having the language viable in the room.

I have found that a 3 lives system works well. For older ones their name and 3 lines on a board works and little ones have 3 flags/stars/butterflies. You’ll find that when the slip up they go and take away a life on their own.

They may start to snitch on each other for speaking in Spanish. I just ask them and if they say yes, I always praise them for being honest (but they still lose a life) If they say no, let it go but remind everyone that there is no Spanish allowed.

If there is an issue with a particular child speaking Spanish, you can be a little firmer with them, ask them to sit out an activity unless they are prepared to speak 100% in English, have a chat on the side or talk to me. Don’t let them affect the others. If it persists, talk to us.

Misbehaviour: Prevention

• Set Boundaries. Children need to know what is expected of them rather than be told off and not know why. Establish a handful of memorable class rules such as no shouting, no going under or over tables, no throwing, no Spanish – If necessary you can make little posters to remind them.
• Be firm but friendly.
• Be prepared and responsive. Have a “back- up” plan. Carry a list of your favorite games, activities, and stories so that you can quickly make adjustments if you need to, with no stress to yourself and no wasted time for the students.  
• Names. Know the names of all your students. Sometimes just saying their name can help bring their attention back.
• Demonstrate. Clearly demonstrate what you want the students to do. Show the student by doing an action first for them. If you need to explain something, keep the instructions short and simple.
• Energy. When planning consider the energy levels for each activity. Plan the flow throughout the lesson. Have a couple of calmer activities to bring them back down
• Pacing. Pacing and timing are crucial. Stop an activity before it burns out.

Misbehaviour: Handling

• Warnings. A simple but firm ‘No’ will often suffice. Other methods to get the student’s attention are write their name on the board, change the seating or partners. Be clear in your initial warning but don’t make too big an issue of it.
• Understanding. Try to understand why there is a problem. Are they feeling ill or tired? Are they bored and under challenged? There may be a deeper issue in their lives or maybe something happened before coming to class. 
• Assign roles. Give them something to do.
• Exclusion. If a student doesn’t want to participate, don’t force them. Put them to one side of the room to avoid them distracting others. They may change their mind. Try not to let it disrupt the class. Ask a misbehaving child to sit out of a game or activity or give them a “time-out” spot.
• Be consistent. All the students need to be treated fairly. 

If a child is consistently misbehaved, talk to us and we will discuss how to deal with the issue.

Lesson takeaways

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.

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.

Further reading, podcasts or videos

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/managing-very-young-learners

The Truth About Kindergarten Classroom Management