Teach ESL to Kids

For many ESL learners, the focus really should be on speaking English and learning vocabulary. Should we even think about using the internet in the ESL classroom?

As always, the choice is up to you (or administrators who either ban or force it), but there are some ways that it could be a good idea for ESL students to use the internet:

• To research things that interest them. Many students are interested in American pop culture. Older students may be able to do a research and writing project based on the topic of their choice.
• To play a game. Show students Google (or another search engine) and play a game to see who can find a picture of a “pig” (or anything else) first. You can give points for fastest or best picture. It sounds simplistic, but it’s a way to practice/test their spelling.
• To interact with English speakers. You can use the internet to find penpals that can help you learn English. Older students may be able to find their own penpals through a site like Interpals, but you may want to connect with a teacher in a foreign country to find penpals for younger students.

One of the best things to do when teaching very young ESL learners is to teach them the words of things that are around their home, or other things that they come into contact with regularly. For example, teach them the words that you’d find in the kitchen.

Besides food (which is a whole different lesson), you may find:

• Forks, spoons, knives
• Plates
• Cups
• Pans
• Sink
• Spices
• Chopsticks
• Refrigerator

And so on.

Make sure you let their parents know so that they can practice and quiz them at home!

Games are an especially great way to teach ESL at the elementary school level.

Here are my top elementary ESL games:

KABOOM

The Airplane Game

Chopsticks Race

Circle Game

Big Karuta

The difference between the “l” and “r” sounds is very difficult for Japanese English speakers. It’s completely understandable why–those two sounds do not exist in Japanese. When you’re teaching adult learners, especially, it can be very frustrating for them.

Unfortunately, this is something that Japanese people can be very self conscious about because it’s something that they get made fun of for. I remember this one student I had would try to do this joke every time someone in the class would say “rice”. He’d pick at his hair and say “Lice?” It was clear that a teacher before me had taught this to the students like it was the funniest joke ever.

Yet, when something is completely natural to you, it can be really hard to teach it to someone else. That’s why this is such a constant problem.

However, there is something that you can do to teach the correct ESL pronunciation of /l/ and /r/.

First, say “la la la” out loud. Notice the position of your tongue. The underside of the tip is touching the back of your two front teeth. Now say “ra ra ra”. Your tongue is back further in the mouth, folded up with the tip of the tongue touching the middle of the roof of your mouth.

What you need to do is give your students the opportunity to see these tongue positions up close. Of course, this is much easier to do with children, but adults can benefit from it too. Don’t be shy. Let them have a good look.

Older students are likely to appreciate being able to take study English from the comfort of their own home. However, not everyone can afford expensive lesson fees. Luckily, you can find some free ESL classes online to help you get started learning English or to help you improve your skills.

Here are some great resources:

ESLgo.com has online ESL lessons that are separated by difficulty level and content (for those who need to study business or conversational English, for example).

English-Online also has a number of courses.

The ESL section of About.com has free ESL courses by email.

Of course, the most difficult part of learning English is the actual speaking part. So be sure to try to find some penpals or people that you can talk to using Skype to practice your English.

There’s no doubt that it’s sometimes a bit harder to teach ESL to middle school students. After all, once you get to be that age, there’s a lot of things that simply aren’t “cool” and studying is often one of them.

To be an effective middle school ESL teacher, you need a bunch of tricks up your sleeve. You can’t make them sit there repeating vocabulary words the whole time. That’s boring. You also can’t try to get them to play “baby games” like musical chairs. The trick is to find that balance…

I’ve used many of the ESL Games that I’ve listed with students from 5-12 years old. So you may want to try that.

MES English has a number of resources that work great with older children, including memory-type games and worksheets.

Finally, Genki English offers a number of games that are suitable for middle school age ESL students.

On the whole though, the best thing that you can do to teach ESL to older children is to follow their lead. See what types of things interest them or what types of games they like to play. As you get to know them better, you’ll be able to design lessons that suit their needs.

Some people know this, but I don’t actually teach ESL anymore. I moved back to the states with my husband, but decided that it’s important for me to maintain the site because I know that there just isn’t too much information out there.

Unfortunately, not being in the loop anymore makes it a bit hard for me to stay up to date with blog posts and site updates. In fact, when I logged into the blog, I had 546 comments to moderate, 544 of which were spam. Grrr.

I know that what I really need to do is take a chunk of time and write out some good blog posts to upload throughout the month. So I’m going to work on that.

Please forgive me and have patience. I love receiving emails from everyone!

You need some easy ESL activities to use with beginning students, especially young children. These activities should help you along:

• A good shopping role-play is always good. With repeated practice, students will become quite good at this. The best part is that it’s useful when going abroad.
• Touching vocabulary cards. Many beginning students feel too shy to speak out. Playing a game where they are only required to identify the word/picture helps them to feel at ease.
• Group activities. Again, students may not want to be singled out early on. A game like Simon Says will help them to participate but not have to stand out or perform by themselves.
• Ask your neighbor a question. Have students sit in a circle and each student must ask their neighbor a question. This is super-easy if you’ve already modeled a grammar point (e.g. “Do you like cats?” “Yes I do.”/”No I don’t.”

For more ideas, check out the Quick and Easy Activities for ESL Students page.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

For any new teachers out there, here is the basic lesson plan format for toddlers that I use:

1. Hello Song/Greeting
2. Questions and Answers
3. Simple Concepts (ABSs, counting, colors, shapes, feelings, etc.)
4. Harder Concepts (vocabulary words–>nouns, verbs, adjectives; Use them in sentences if possible)
5. Dancing Time
6. Rewards

You can see a more fleshed-out version of this at the Daily Lesson Plan page.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

Here are some children’s winter craft ideas:

Paper Snowman
Hat and Gloves Craft

Snowman Painting

Love,
Shannon Sensei