Quote EricJapan  Hey there
Teaching kids that young is a pretty unique experience. I'd taught kids in elementary school to adult and thought I would be well prepared to teach at a kindergarten but I learned that there really is a big difference.
The approach is different for a variety of reasons. With the very young students (2-3 year olds) they really don't even understand the concept of a lesson. They don't really know that they're in the room to practice and learn English. They just know that their Mom put them in this room and now there is this strange looking person standing in front of them saying things they don't understand. So off the bat you're dealing with a group of people who don't understand that you have a goal and they don't understand what's expected of them.
In addition, the younger students don't understand the concept of games, teams, and other things that you'd normally use with a kid's lesson. So all of that is off the table. No junkin games. No point scoring. Just getting them to line up will take some effort in the beginning, so anything that involves more than just very basic rules will be difficult to achieve your goals.
So....that being said....what can you do? The approach I take it to make a fun activity and add English to it. The students might not focus on the English, but at 2-3 years old they're not expected to. You want to get them engaged in an activity where they hear English or say a few words. You want them to want to participate even if they don't know the real purpose of teaching English. That's kind of the key....keep them engaged and focused on you and the activity and add English to it.
One game I use for vocabulary building is with flashcards. You can't really stand in front of them and have them listen and repeat for longer than a minute or so. Their minds wander off too easily. So take just a few cards and have them L/R. Then take the cards and hang them from a string just out of reach. Call on one student, call out a card, and the student have to jump and touch the card. After he touches it, take the card down and have all of the students listen and repeat.
The students don't really care about the English, they don't really have much interest in producing the words, but they sure as hell want a chance to jump up and see if they can touch the card. That's what you want. You want them to want to participate. In your mind you're teaching them a new word, in their minds they're trying to touch the card. It's like you're slipping in English into a game but they don't really realize it.
Another game is to take colored paper and cut them into small squares. Use maybe 5 or 6 different colors. You'll also have boxes that are different colors off to the side. Take all of the squares that you've cut up (all colors combined) and throw them into the air so they rain down. They should end up scattered all over the floor. Pick up one of the boxes, the blue box for example, and then tell the students to pick up the blue pieces only. They'll race to pick them up. In the meantime, you're going to be saying "blue" as much as possible and sometimes stopping a student before they put their pieces into the box to get them to say "blue." After you've done all of the colors you should have had each student say at least one of them. Again....to them it's a fun game watching the squares fly then racing to pick them up. For you it's just a way to teach them different colors.
Another thing I do is to make 4 small doors out of colored paper and I attach them to the whiteboard. Just take some paper and basically cut out a flap and add a doorknob. Make them big enough to where a flashcard can fit under the flap. You're going to call on one student and have them choose any door they want to and "open" it by pulling on the flap. That will expose the flashcard. Show the flashcard to the class and have them listen and repeat. Like with the other two examples, they aren't interested in saying the English word, but they really want to open a door because it's fun to open a fake door and see what's behind it. It's something where all of the students will want to participate and again, that's the key.
Over time your mind will switch from the classic teaching that's done with older students to more activity based teaching which involves keeping younger students engaged. That's usually my goal....plan a fun activity and slip in English. You can always make the activity more difficult for older students (4 or 5) by simply asking questions, confirming details, adding more information, etc. Instead of having them open a door and say the card you can play a game where they have to "find the fireman" and the students open the door and you ask them if that is the fireman or not. Then you can get into "Is this a fireman?" "No, it's not." 'What is it?" "It's a nurse" kind of thing.
A few more points.... Kids love books and songs. If you lesson is 45 minutes you can easily do 2 books and 3 songs. Always mix it up and don't dwell on any project for too long. For example I might start with a book to calm them down when they first come in, then switch to a song, then do an activity, then sing another song, then do another activity, then read another book. You have to keep them engaged and stimulated.
One last thing is to have a routine where you're teaching everyday phrases at the beginning of class. Do things like asking them their name, what day is it, the weather, etc. You should do this no matter what your theme is for that day/week/month. My lessons usually start the same, then I get into the theme after about 15 minutes.
I hope this helps! |