Post
by revel » Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:03 am
Hey there!
The first time I was faced with a group of four and five year olds I made one of my biggest errors as an ESL teacher. I tried to give a formal class. In the first class I had two kids crying and one telling me that he didn't understand why all those foreign immigrants just didn't stay home instead of taking jobs that should belong to nationals (obviously his father speaking there....)
Three child psychology videos and five text-books later, I discovered something that I had always known: kids group reality differently from adults. They will soon enough have to put things as the older people think they should be, A before B, 7 before 8, noun before verb. They have a great advantage over us older folk in that they don't mind if it is BA or 87 or verb noun. But they also have a natural want to receive approval from the older folk they spend time with.
Does your student make good, complete sentences in her native language? At four years old, I would expect that she is still making some errors there. Why should you expect her to speak perfect English? I would rather, as Lorikeet points out, play with her, find her favorite games and play them again and again (kids have a wonderful ability for not getting bored with repetition). Sing songs. Teach her those things she needs as a four-year-old through example, not through lecture. Chances are that she does not yet structure reality as you do, that she still believes in Santa or the Great Pumpkin or the Tooth Fairy, or that her favorite doll really is having tea with her though there is nothing but air in the pot. Don't worry about the completeness of her sentences, rather, make sure your sentences are complete.
You might plan lessons based on a flow of sentences. For example, you might want her to greet you with "Hello, how are you" "Fine thanks, and you", well, every time you see her for the first time, you might insist on this exchange. After a few days, you might reply "I'm OK, thank you." She might or might not catch on that you've said something different, she might ask you what you had said. Keep the change until she does so, or until she begins using it as well.
Uuff, there is too much to be said on this subject to put on a simple message board. Have to get to work on that chapter of my book!
peace,
revel.
). With a child that young, can't you just play? For example, play house, play store, play school, play games... It seems just using the language would teach it. Of course, you can have a plan and organization of how to approach the communication, but she doesn't have to know about it.