How to Teach English as a Second Language to Kids (Complete with FREE Lesson Links)
The global demand for teachers who teach English as a Second Language to kids has been on the rise particularly in Asia, where parents become increasingly aware that the ability to use English can be their kids’ competitive advantage in the future.
These parents, who are generally non-native English speakers, look for teachers who can teach English as a Second Language to their kids either online or in traditional classroom setups.
To teach English as a Second Language to children, however, can be a challenge for some teachers.
Children can have short attention span, be a bit shy, and are sometimes slow on the uptake of anything but simplified lessons.
Teach English as a Second Language to Young Learners – Useful Tips
Teaching English as a Second Language to young learners can be a fulfilling job. Below are some useful tips for handling lessons with them:
- Enlist the help of parents. Familiarize them about lesson plans and remind them about future activities, worksheets to be done, and games to be played.
- Smile. By smiling, children are likely to feel at ease while studying.
- Make things simple. Use simple words, expressions, and sentences all the time.
- Take note of mood swings. Change activities according to the moods of children. Encourage them to study but do not force them.
- Customize lessons according to the personality of each child.
- Spice up the lessons! Change voices when telling stories, make gestures to show actions, and use comical faces to express feelings.
- Make lessons interactive. Allow children to work by themselves. Let them talk, act, draw, sing, color, paint. etc.
- Repeat lessons but give these lessons a new twist. It may take time for children to learn about concepts so it would be useful to repeat lessons over a period of time. To make repeated lessons interesting to kids, it’s important to change activities.
Teach English as a Second Language to Kids with this Sample Lesson Plan
Many tutors who teach English as a Second Language to kids usually explain one particular concept in English in more or less 30 minutes. A new concept may call for a separate session.
Below is a sample time allocation for lessons with kids. Obviously, tutors should be flexible with their time allocation and switch activities depending on kids’ moods.
- 0-5 minutes: Do icebreaker activities. Try to establish rapport with children by befriending them and speaking with them.
- 6-25 minutes: Teach English as a Second Language to kids, making sure that varied activities are ready to suit their personality or moods.
- 26-30 minutes: Reinforce children’s self-esteem by mentioning what they did great. Give assignments that would hopefully help them improve their weaknesses. Suggest activities that parents can do with their kids as a form of review or advanced studies.
Teach English as a Second Language to Kids with these FREE Websites
There are plenty of good-quality and free websites that tutors who teach English as a Second Language can use when teaching young learners. Below are some of them.
Kindersay
A simple, well-illustrated, and free video website that tutors can use to teach English as a Second Language to kids is Kindersay.
There are over 500 online activities uploaded at Kindersay, all of which are in pointed up on show formats.
Some of the lessons taught at the site include the alphabet, numbers, animals, parts of the body, foods, colors, time, people, cities, and arts.
Perhaps the best thing about the site is the My Family section, where children get to learn about English words by seeing familiar faces of family members that they can easily change by uploading pictures of their own family.
Literacy Center
A professionally done, free, online resource that tutors can use to teach English as a Second Language to children is Literacy Center, a site that helps tutors teach children to become effectively bilingual.
Literacy Center has lessons in English, French, Spanish, and Dutch.
The site is catered to pre-school kids. Thus, the lessons here include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, shapes, writing, words, numbers, colors, and even keyboards.
The teaching method at the site is described as modified Montessori approach, which needs to be supported by further offline tutorials on English as a Second Language.
Kids Front
A superb site that tutors who teach English as a Second Language can use to get free pintable worksheets is Kids Front.
Kids Front helps kids learn English through learning activities like coloring, drawing, stories, rhymes, explorations, puzzles, and math.
The site is suitable to pre-school kids, although some activities can be an excellent refresher for any young, beginner learner of English as a Second Language.
Kiz Club
Another site that tutors can use to teach English as a Second Language to kids is Kiz Club, an easy-to-use site that has teaching extras and nursery rhymes.
Kiz Club focuses on language arts for both pre-school and elementary learners.
Some of the materials provided include crafts, story patterns, flashcards, nursery rhymes, ABCs, phonics, and other topics.
Copyright © 2011 Kerlyn Bautista
All Rights Reserved
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