Teaching English to Children

by Ika
(Jakarta,Indonesia)

I've taught English (from toddlers-adult) for about 4 years. I live in Indonesia (not an English Speaking Country). I enjoy my job..love it a lot. But, you know, I still have difficulties teaching English to kids. How to make them feel happy and enjoy learning English in my class....you know, some of my play group students are in the classroom during the lesson, so they are always staring at me...it makes me feel awkward and nervous...

Please help me. How can I solve this.

Thanks alot Diana.

Ika

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Ika, it is lovely to meet you (via the web) and I hope that I can help you. I don't specialize in teaching children, as my experience is with adults and mainly business situations. This aside, everyone needs to know how to teach children because even a 45 year old bank manager wants to be entertained.

I think the best way to make children comfortable, in the beginning, is focus on yourself. If you have any special talents or come from a different country present that to them.

I don't have much experience teaching children but I do have a little. From that experience I learnt a couple things about teaching children;

1) You have to create energy in the classroom. If you are tired, bored or negative your students will mirror you.

2) Set the rules at the beginning. If you make the rules clear at the beginning then they know what the rules are and if they break the rules there are consequences.

3) Reward systems are great. I divided the class into two groups. Green and Blue. I gave the groups points for performance. For example, if you do your homework you get a point. Then I added up the points for each group and wrote it on a poster sheet for everyone to see. You would be amazed at how motivated children will get. You will even see some students telling others to do their homework so they get more points. It is really effective and fun.


4) I think the best thing about teaching is being honest, friendly and approachable. If you are a friendly and approachable person your students will reflect that back to you and the classes will go much smoother.

5) If you are nervous about the other kids watching. This is hard. Because as I said above, how you are really creates the mood of the class. If you are nervous then your kids will be too. Try to relax and just have fun. Depending on what level the kids are...you can try to include the play group students in your classes (not directly but drawing attention to them). For example if you are learning clothes you can ask your students what one of the play group students is wearing. I think that if you face your fear (being watched by the other kids) then it will fade or even go away.

6) Make your classes interactive. Play games, sing songs, act out dramas, listen to music, do dictations, let a student direct the class for 5 minutes...be creative.

If you would like more information, I do have a section on the site regarding children learning English. Sadly I only have a couple articles there because I haven't had time to write more.

I hope that helps you Ika. Have a wonderful day and let me know how things workout. Leave a comment here later on if you like.

I'd love to know how it goes!

-Diana

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Need more help Ika? Just ask!

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