Preschoolers are just starting to develop their speaking skills, so it
is a prime time in their young lives to introduce formal basic English lessons.
Elementary students, on the other hand, have had at least a couple of years of
exposure to the principles of English, so educators must devise a teaching
strategy that is tailored to their level of competency.
Something
you need to take into account when teaching English to children…
Visual imageryRepetitionGamesFlash Cards
Visual Imagery.
Preschoolers are just starting to develop their speaking skills, so it
is a prime time in their young lives to introduce formal basic English lessons.
Elementary students, on the other hand, have had at least a couple of years of
exposure to the principles of English, so educators must devise a teaching
strategy that is tailored to their level of competency.
Repetition.
Preschoolers learn effectively when they are forced to repeat something,
but this is also true for students of any age. Consistent repetition gives
preschoolers and elementary students practice, which eventually develops their
ability to retain information. Make sure that your method for teaching English
to preschoolers involves a lot of basic repetitive activities, such as tracing
letters, but is more challenging for older students.
Games
Preschoolers and elementary school children alike welcome games as an
effective strategy for learning English. English lesson games should be
developed based on skill level and age appropriateness. For preschoolers,
create a worksheet game for matching lowercase and uppercase letters. List a column
of uppercase letters next to a column of lowercase letters and scramble them so
they're not in the same order. Then ask the students to draw a line between the
lowercase letter and the matching uppercase letter.
Elementary students will benefit from a more
challenging game. Give elementary kids worksheets on sentence structure.
Provide a diagram with grammar clues, such as "adjective" and
"noun." Provide a few sentences on the worksheet and have students
fill in the correct word on the sentence diagram to test their knowledge of
sentence construction.
Flash
Cards
You can teach elementary and preschool students about English through
flash cards. Make flash cards with various words that create a sentence. When
working with preschoolers, line up the flash cards in order, but leave out two.
Put the two flash cards underneath the broken sentence. Have the student select
which word should go in the empty spaces, so they complete the sentence. For
elementary students, tailor the activity by having them rearrange the flash
cards, so they can create a statement and then create a question by using the
same cards.
