Methods for Teaching English to Preschool & Elementary School Children

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.