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Teaching Young Learners
Updated over a week ago

Mastering English Instruction for Young Learners: A Comprehensive Guide

Teaching English to young learners can be both rewarding and challenging. Their initial hesitation or intimidation towards learning a new language requires a delicate approach to ensure successful lessons. Here, we provide teachers with a comprehensive guide to teaching children and teenagers effectively.

Establishing Comfort and Success

Engendering a comfortable and conducive learning environment is crucial. Consider the following strategies:

  • Mind Your Language: Adapt your language to the child's level, utilizing repetition, rephrasing, and gestures to aid comprehension.

  • Use Visuals and Objects: Incorporate visual aids such as puppets or mascots to enhance understanding.

  • Contextualize Activities: Provide clear and relatable contexts for each activity, ensuring they resonate with the child's perspective.

Effective Correction Techniques

While corrections are integral to learning, employing appropriate techniques is essential:

  • Recasting and Reformulating: subtly correct errors by restating them correctly, without drawing explicit attention to the mistake.

  • Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer guidance and correction in a supportive manner, fostering confidence in the learner.

Clear Instructions and Guidance

Clarity in instructions is paramount to the success of activities

  • Break Down Instructions: Divide instructions into manageable steps to facilitate understanding.

  • Demonstrate Through Examples: Model activities to illustrate expectations effectively.

  • Utilize Visual Aids: Incorporate visuals and objects to reinforce comprehension and engagement.

Scaffolding Learning

Supporting young learners through the learning process is essential:

  • Review Language Concepts: Recap language points relevant to the activity or topic.

  • Provide Supportive Tools: Offer sentence starters, speech bubbles, or visual aids to scaffold their learning.

  • Ensure Understanding: Regularly check for comprehension to address any gaps in understanding.

Cultivating a Positive Atmosphere

Fostering a positive and supportive atmosphere is key to engagement:

  • Create a Friendly Environment: Establish rapport with students to cultivate a welcoming learning space.

  • Encourage Participation: Motivate learners to engage actively by fostering a sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Proactive Engagement Strategies

Recognizing and addressing attention spans is vital for sustained engagement:

  • Incorporate Movement: Integrate short movement breaks to re-energize and refocus students during lessons.

  • Encourage Physical Activity: Utilize simple physical tasks to invigorate and maintain student attention.

Conclusion:

Teaching English to young learners requires a nuanced approach that balances linguistic instruction with emotional support and engagement strategies. By implementing these multifaceted techniques, educators can foster an environment conducive to effective language acquisition and student growth.


How to use and open Oxford books eg. Bright Ideas 1?

Are you ready to dive into the world of Oxford books (which are listed at the end of the article including grades children are in) like Bright Ideas 1? Follow these straightforward steps to access and utilize these valuable resources effectively:

Finding the Resources:

  • Navigate to the Course Profile: Locate the course profile with Bright Ideas 1 book.

  • Open Materials: Within the course profile, find the "Open Materials" button. Clicking this button will open a new tab on your browser. (number 1 in the screenshot below)

  • Automatic Access: Access to the materials is granted automatically 15 minutes before your scheduled class time. However, if you wish to access the materials earlier, click "Open Materials" and then "Request Access." (screenshot below)

  • Sign In: Use the credentials provided under the "Open Materials" button to sign in to the website that opens in the new tab. (number 2 in the screenshot)

  • Submit the credentials from the course view and click sign in (number 3 in the screenshot below)

Opening the E-Book:

  • Dashboard: Once signed in, you'll see a dashboard. Click on the "Learn" tab to access the book, then select "Gold B2 First New Edition Reader+." (number 4 in the screenshot below)

  • Bookshelf: You'll be directed to the bookshelf, where you'll find the coursebook. Click on it to open the materials. (number 5 in the screenshot below)

Using the Interactive E-Book:

The e-book is interactive, with embedded audio and video files. Explore the various tools available, and adjust page display settings as needed. Start to share the screen to show the book to a student. The best way is to share a tab only. Make sure you share with sound so a student can hear the audio.

You can also use the tools available such as zoom in or out, draw, highlight, and more (screenshot below)

❗ Before closing the e-book, erase everything that you have drawn, written, or highlighted. Then sign out from the account. This way you’ll leave the e-book ready for the next lesson. ❗

Clearing the book

To erase each page with just three clicks, follow these steps:

  • Click on the "Draw & Highlighting" tool.

  • Then, click the bin icon to erase all handwritten, drawn, or highlighted content.

  • Finally, click the "Clear answers" icon to remove all typed or marked content.

  • Once everything has been erased, you can close the e-book by clicking the "Save and" button.

Signing out

  • To sign out click on the icon in the right upper side (number 1 in the screenshot below) then move down to the button 'sign out' (number 2 in the screenshot)

❗ It's crucial to sign out each time to let other teachers use the book to conduct their lessons ❗

Thanks to these steps, accessing and leveraging Oxford books like Bright Ideas 1 becomes a seamless and enriching experience. Unlock the full potential of these resources to create engaging and effective learning environments for your students. Happy teaching! 📚🌟

Technical issues with the book

To overcome the issues please click the button below. The section 'Technical issues with Oxford and Pearson Books' will be displayed on your screen.


Additional materials for non-adults

ESL resources for kids and teens

Preschool Children under 7

For these young learners, incorporating movement, gestures, and interactive activities is essential to keeping them engaged. Here are some effective strategies:

  • Seek inspiration and resources from educational blogs like "Head Full of Ideas" for lesson ideas and materials.

  • Maintain a positive and welcoming demeanor as children learn best from those they feel comfortable with.

  • Foster collaboration with parents by informing them of lesson goals and providing tips for supporting their child's learning at home.

School children between 7 and 14

Engaging school-age children requires incorporating fun and interactive activities into lessons. Here's how to effectively teach this age group:

Teens and young adults between 15 and 20

Teaching teenagers and young adults requires understanding their unique needs and preferences. Here are strategies to effectively engage this age group:

Description of level and books used in teaching young learners

As teachers, accessing appropriate resources is essential for crafting engaging and effective English lessons. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the resources available at Fluentbe, offering valuable guidance for selecting materials suited to various course types and student levels.

For Kids (A1-A2)

  • A1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Bright Ideas 1, 2

  • A2 Level:

    • Coursebook: Bright Ideas 3, 4

For Teens (A1-B2)

  • A1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Oxford Discover 1

    • Supplementary Resource: Metro Starter or 1 (11 yo+)

  • A2 Level:

    • Coursebook: Oxford Discover 2, 3

    • Supplementary Resource: Metro 2 (11 yo+)

  • B1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Oxford Discover 4, 5

    • Supplementary Resource: Metro 3 (11 yo+)

  • B2 Level:

    • Coursebook: Oxford Discover 6

For Young Adults (A0-C2)

  • A0 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Beginner

  • A1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Elementary

  • A2 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Pre-intermediate

  • B1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Intermediate

  • B2 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Upper-intermediate

  • C1 Level:

    • Coursebook: Headway 5ed Advanced

❗ Students have the option to purchase digital or paper copies of coursebooks, they need to contact the office via mail at [email protected]. Note that the "Metro" series is not suitable for children under 11 years old. ❗

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