TEACHING VERY YOUNG LEARNERS

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

1. Teamwork, games and the sense of competitiveness

Students love competitions and YL are no exception. The only difference is that they love them even more! Hence you should take every opportunity to turn any activity into a contest. Start up by dividing the class into two or more groups. Give each team a name e.g. oranges and apples or red and blue. Very YL tend to forget which group they belong to so use colored chalk to mark their desks. On the blackboard write

each group's name and give them an equal numbers of points for a start. Warn the students they you will erase their points if anyone from the group shouts, walks around, keeps talking, does not raise their hand etc. Tell them that points will be added if group members speak English or complete tasks successfully. Reward the kids for every positive thing they do. Keep in mind that rewards have a much more encouraging and motivating effect than any form of punishment.

2. Demonstration not explanation

Whatever your experience may imply, always remember that children are not adults. Consequently different

techniques have to be used to explain to the students what you require. Forget checking instructions and wordy explanations. As an alternative, resort to demonstrations or ask a stronger student to explain what s/he understood to the other students.

3. Routine- handout

Children need order and quickly get used to routines and habitual activities. If you notice that e.g. blowing a whistle gets their attention, keep practicing that. Try to start and end a lesson in the same or similar way or have some always repeating elements in it. For instance, a good starting point is dividing a class into groups and a good finishing point might

be counting the points and drawing stars for all the group members on the poster.

4. Encouraging the usage of TL

Try to make students use TL (target language) from the very first classes. Expose them to the basic phrases and repeat these each time an opportunity comes up. Ignore the students who insist on using their mother tongue and they will sooner or later adjust to your behavior. Reward the ones who use TL by giving their group points, clapping or verbal praise.

5. Getting the students' attention

YL classes tend to be noisy by definition so raising your voice or shouting has a

poor chance of success. Instead, try using sound making objects - toy musical instruments (drums, maracas, and trumpet), whistles, rattles, bells etc. Not only will you save your throat but you will bring some fun to the classroom as well.

6. Praise and rewards

Nothing works better for students than a decent amount of praise. When it comes to kids however feel free to praise them all the time for the smallest things they do or say properly. They might not be able to understand "very good", "great" or "excellent" but they will surely get "bravo", "super" or "perfect". Thumbs up, clapping hands and a huge smile on a

teacher's face will definitely help the kids realize that they did a great job and made you pleased. Create a way of rewarding your students as well. Draw smiling faces, stars or use stamps or stickers to show your appreciation. Put up posters on the walls with the students names to keep record of their good work. Never stoop to bribery or material rewards. Sweets or mascots may make young learners do quietly what you order but once you forget the reward or want to quit the procedure a tragedy will follow.

7. Drama and acting

Do not be afraid to make a clown out of yourself. Teaching YL more than any

other type of teaching requires acting skills. Make faces, use body language and your voice. While presenting new vocabulary and drilling it is possible to make kids repeat words even ten times only by changing the tone of your voice. Thus if you want them to repeat the word "papaya" sound angry, quiet, interested, helpless, hopeful, surprised and so on. There is no way that they will not enjoy it.

8. A little fluffy helper

Sometimes course books offer mascots or puppets thematically connected to the topics covered by the book, so do not be afraid to use them. Otherwise find any old mascot of yours and bring it

to the classroom. Give it a name and age, and as the lessons proceed create its likes, dislikes, favorite food, color etc. Young learners get attached to mascots very quickly, especially if you bring it to every class and let the students touch, hug and talk to it.

9. Movement

Young Learners have loads of energy that we adults sometimes lack. It would be unwise not to use such a benefit though. Therefore make them move as much as you can. Think of games that involve running, races, coming to the blackboard. If you use songs or chants create movements to accompany them. Not only will it be a vent for the kids'

energy but it will also enable them to memorize the new vocabulary better.

10. Fast finishers

Always have an extra activity ready for the fast finishers. If kids have nothing to do they usually start walking around, talking etc., which is something we should try to prevent from happening. The extra activity does not have to be a worksheet though. You might tell the student(s) to draw the teacher, the classroom or his favorite animal in his notebook for instance. They might also be asked to help you organize your materials before the lesson is over or clean up the classroom.

11. Problematic students

Problematic students are the nightmare of every teacher but there are ways to deal with them. First, remember to praise any naughty kid for any good thing they do in front of all the other children. If necessary exaggerate! "Look everybody! Leyla has her notebook today! Well done! You are a very good student, Leyla! I'm proud of you!” and so on. After a few weeks they will crave your praise, so then feel free to use that. Make little naughty-no-more kids your helpers. Let them distribute the worksheets, play with the puppet etc.

12. Positive attitude

Smile! Hug! Pat the students' on the heads! Whatever happens, try to be positive and optimistic. Make an angry face when the students are naughty but don't shout. Children have to know that you are also their friend.

13. Classroom rules

Make the rules short and simple and make sure that all kids understand them. Moreover, be prepared to negotiate them and change them throughout the sessions and always make sure than the kids are following them. Try not to use ‘’no’’ or ‘’not’’ it sets out a negative atmosphere from the begging and to revise them at the begging of every

English class. Be strict about the rules you want the students to follow as well.

Example: Listen, Respect, Share + pics on the slide

ACTIVITY + HANDOUT Cambridge la final

LESSON PLANS

The lesson plans are very important to every lesson as they are the skeleton of our activity. So make sure you plan ahead your lesson. So what should such a lesson plan contain?

- The chronological order of the activities

- The estimated time of the activities

- List of the materials you will need- A list of back-up activities, just in case- +A list of targets you what to reach

by the end of the lesson

Handout: the farm animals lesson plan

You should focus on 4 main areas when you are preparing a lesson

VOCABULARY FOCUS:

FLASHCARDS: are one of the principal methods of introducing vocabulary to young learners

How do we use flashcards? Exemplifying introducing them with the help of a box, of a bag: slow, quickly, one part, turn it quickly and then starting activities with them

Pass the flashcard What’s missing? Pick one and name it Show me the… Give me the… Go to the… (if you place the

flashcards around the classroom) Repetition with the group while

increasing the number of words and then decreasing it

Listening exercise with flashcards – discuss it later

HANDOUTS- Primary Box Files

After you practice the vocabulary with the help of flashcards, which is an active part of the lesson, you should try to settle them down with the help of

handouts: drawing, coloring, circling, finding the color or the object, exercise their writing skills (if they have this ability). In this manner they can start responding to your instructions.

LISTENING FOCUS

Try and make the most of the resources you have, so if the center has a laptop or a CD player, do not hesitate to try some listening activities with your students, as they can respond very good to these.

A song routine is also good listening practice: If you’ re happy and you know it, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, Incy Wincy Spider, So long now, I’m a little tea pot – but make sure that you

don’t just listen to the songs, make connections between the words of the songs and actions, try to mime them.

In addition to this, for a vocabulary lesson from the Ziggy and Zaggy book you should listen the tape twice and work on the structure ‘’listen-repeat’’. On the second listening make them search for a certain structure on the tape (example).

Ex: Farm Animals lesson has 3 targets: name of the animal, the sound of the animal and the structure ‘’ this is a…..’’.

Extra listening activity could be the Simon Says Game- also trains them to respond to your instructions.

SPEAKING FOCUS

Handout: Pass the ball game

Ask them questions and encourage them to respond in English and to ask others questions in English. Mock small dialogues related to your vocabulary topic, try to create the scenery a bit for more excitement: At the market, at school. Develop the use of action verbs around the vocabulary (I eat/wear/play….).

Ex: At the market

-Hello! X2 /what do you want? / I want…..Thank you/ you’re welcome/ Goodbye x2

Encourage them to use English as much as possible, and praise them for this, even when they work on handouts (for example if they color they can sing along a song with you, or they can ask for the colors in English). And remember that they copy a lot of your behavior, so if they get used to a certain expression and they understand it, they will use it too!

GRAMMAR FOCUS

Grammar should not be one of your main focuses with very young learners, but you should definitely encourage them to use VERBS and PRONOUNS correctly with the vocabulary that they learnt.

You can teach them the verb TO BE (handout), TO HAVE, different verbs related to the vocabulary topic and the pronouns (I, You, and She, He etc.)

Activity: deliver& discuss 3 lesson plans (work in groups): Numbers, Toys, Places of town

THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE 2 OR 3 PARTENERS

The communication of the 2 or 3 partners is very important as you should try to coordinate and to deliver the lesson in the best way possible. As a consequence, you should make and discuss the lesson plan together and you should know your place in the classroom

very clearly in every moment. You should both be active during the lesson but make sure that you establish a certain balance, as the learners can get confused if there are two persons explaining at the same time. This doesn’t mean that the other partner should just stay and listen, he/she should make sure that the children are paying attention and are interested in what you are saying. You can also work in groups and in that case you can both have the lead role at the same time. In case one of the partners is missing, explain the situation to the children, express your apologies. In this manner you educate them to see

you as equal authorities, not to make differences between the two children.

ACTIVITY: 3 teams – WHISPER Challenge

Team one: non-formal education + May I go to the bathroom

Team two: classroom management + Teacher, I am bored

Team three: lesson planning + I want two stickers

-reward the winning team and then discuss the problems in the sentences

QUESTIONS FROM THEM

FEEDBACK FORMS