Teacher Discussion Forums

[longjianfeng71]

my daughter is five years old now, she can't correctly pronounce "z c "and"s", can I teach her English now? what to be taught? grammar? sentence drills? words and phrases?

[deborah8890]

for children, having funning in the learning of english is the most important thing, so whatever she is interested in is the best thing to be taught.

[longjianfeng71]

but my daughter has no interest in anything, maybe she is afraid of failure. I don't know how to motivate her to learn something. Most little kids of her age are curious to new things, but she isn't. how should I do?

[Lorikeet]

Have you tried making something together? Cooking? Playing? You could use English to do something that's fun for her. Do you encourage her to try, or is she afraid of letting you down?

[EH]

By the way, don't worry too much about /s,z/ pronunciation at age 5. Those are later developing sounds in most kids. It's still common to have difficulty with those sounds until age 7 or so.

Just have fun with your daughter. Don't try to make too much of a lesson out of English study. Read her some fun, easy kids' books in English. Start using more English words and short phrases throughout the day--without requiring her to respond. Just modeling English is useful in the beginning. Even watching English-language cartoons together on TV and commenting on them in English ("Oh look! The dragon is flying! Where's he going...? Ack! Lightning! He better watch out!" etc.) could be useful.

Good luck,
-EH

[shelleyvernon]

Try playing together, also reading stories and play English songs in the home.

Here's a site with some ideas for you to try.
If it is non-threatening it will most likely work for her.
If you correct her too much you could put her off wanting to say anything so be careful!

http://www.homeenglishteacher.com

All the best
Shelley