Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JES0824]

any advice for teaching esl to really young kids? this is the only class I really struggle with. They don't understand much, and when they do understand they don't listen. There's only 3 of them, but there's no Korean teacher in the class with me. advice for teaching/discipline would be greatly appreciated!

[icicle]

I think I would start with things like songs ... There are lots of songs used with that age group in English ... and especially when they involve actions / movement ... the students tend to really enjoy them and get to know English through them. The other thing is using stories ... and building the rest of the lesson around it ... A possible sequence would be songs .... read picture story ... then do some sort of simple worksheet/s based on it ... Could be coloring pictures linked to the story ... tracing some of the vocabulary from the story ... You don't want it to be too complicated ... for that age group ... If they are anything like my classes at that age ... they love anything to do with coloring / drawing ... Sometimes we have written another book in a similar line to the book we have read .... It works well with stories which have repeated word patterns in them...

I think that the main though difficult thing with that age group is to try and relax with them ... and go with the flow ... They tend to be very sensitive to picking up on that ... And try to pick up on the non-verbal side of their communication ... I know that my youngest class who I have for a couple of classes every day of the week don't really understand how little Korean I can understand much less speak ... They do constantly talk to me and each in Korean ... And I try to work out (with a good level of success) what they want ... And if I really can't work it out ... and they are upset ... or it seems important I do have the option of going and getting a Korean teacher or the principal to come and check for me ...

I think the main thing to focus on at that age is making the English learning "fun" ...

[ttompatz]

[maingman]

http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/

http://www.first-school.ws/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/categories/preschool.shtml

[gotJesus]

play games like guessing the name of fruits, veggies and stuff.
on one side have a picture of it and on the other side have the name of it and whoever gets the answer reward them with stickers or maybe candy?

[tomato]

You can find a wealth of material right here on this forum,
because questions similar to yours have been asked 33 times since I started keeping count:

33 32 31
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The next time someone asks that question,
this will become thread number 34!

[LydiaSarah]

I taught pre-K in the U.S. for 6 years, so here's my two cents:

1) Keep to a routine! Kids at that age in any country love routine, and behavioral issues will be magnified if they do not know what to expect.

2) Don't try to 'teach' them English. Do things with them in English instead. As the above posters said, sing songs, color pictures, read stories, play games (Simon Says). They are natural language learners, so they'll pick things up!

3) Don't have any one activity last more than about 15 minutes. They will lose interest and you will lose their attention. Switch things up often, but do it in a predictable way. Tell them what's coming next.

Hope all this helps!

[Gamecock]

I never know if Tomato is trying to be helpful, or is sarcastically scornful of newbies who can't use the search function...

maybe both. Haha.

[tomato]

Other people appreciate my help whether you do or not.