ESL at Home
Help Your Child Learn English

Dear Shannon Sensei,
How can I help with esl at home? My son attends an English language school during the day, but I want to help with esl at home also. Especially, how can I help him learn to write the ABCs? They are not doing this in school yet, but I want him to learn. He is almost 3 years old.
Thanks,
A Mom in Japan

Dear Mom,

It's great that you want to help your child learn esl at home. I believe that kids who have the support of their parents can go far.

First off, 2 years old is a little bit young to start learning writing, in my opinion, but you know your child best. If he is the type of kid that thinks learning is fun, then go ahead and help him out!

The most important thing is that he is having fun while learning esl at home. For some kids, "playing school" is a fun thing to do (I spent many hours as a girl doing phonics workbooks), but if he becomes distracted because he would rather be playing or watching cartoons, then you should let him do that. Don't push him to write if he is not interested.

I knew a young girl at my old school. Her mother was pushing her to write too early, and she grew to not like her mom. When mom would come to pick her up from school, she would cry. But when dad came, she was happy.

How long does your child spend in school? If he is there from 9-6, then writing practice is probably best saved for the weekends. It might be too much for him to come home and do more studying. Of course, if he thinks it's fun, then go ahead and let him write. If he is only at school until the early afternoon, then it's fine to have an afternoon "esl at home" session, again, only if it's something that he enjoys.

The hardest thing right now for him is going to be properly holding a pencil or pen. This is something that kids usually do when they are closer to 4 years old. We use them sometimes in our class, but mostly just to play with. Sometimes, the kids who stay for after school watch the older kids using pencils, so they can become interested. But it may be best to have him start without using a pencil. How can he not use a pencil? Here are a few suggestions:

  • Show him how to draw the letter in the air with just a finger.
  • Sprinkle some flour into a baking pan and draw the letters with his fingers.
  • Use paint and let him use either his fingers or a large paintbrush.
  • Give him many wooden chopsticks, or a similar toy and let him form the letter shapes out of them.
  • Use chocolate pudding as a finger paint and let him draw with that. (Then lick his fingers. Yummy.)
  • Use chalk on the sidewalk.
  • Use big/fat crayons or markers.
  • Print very big letters for him to practice with...one letter should take up the whole page. Then trace them very big.

Also, when we learn to print we say things. For example, with the letter "A", we'd say "down, down, across" as we write each part. I think that they do this in other languages as well, so I hope you can understand what I mean.

This website has free writing worksheets that you can print out:

http://learningpage.com/free_pages/home.html

Also, some of my students who are your son's age are ready to start learning to read. Right now, they are doing what we call "sight reading". It means that they kind of see the word as a picture, and can memorize that picture's meaning, the same way that they know a picture of an apple is an apple. But they doesn't yet know how to put the sounds of the letters together. What I mean is that if someone tells them that C-A-T is cat, they will remember that C-A-T is cat. But if they haven't been told, they cannot put together the different sounds to guess what the word is.

If your son seems to be at this stage, you can help him by working on the sounds that the different letters make. A good idea is to have a letter of the week, or a letter of the day. Point out many things that you see around the house that start with that letter. If you are outside somewhere, point it out when you see that letter. Make foods that start with that letter. For example, if the letter is B, then eat bananas and bread.

If you are interested in buying something that will help you with ideas about teaching phonics and esl at home, then click here:

Shirley's preschool activities

This is a curriculum for preschoolers which I have personally reviewed. I think it's really great. It's perfect for 2-4 year olds. Of course, it's in English, but the part that you need is only the lesson plan part and it's easy to read. This book is designed for mothers of native speaking English kids, but I think that it also works well for non-native speakers. And of course, videos and books are great to have around for practice with esl at home. For this, I think you can get the lowest prices by using Amazon in America. Even with the added shipping costs, it works out cheaper (and faster) than ordering from Amazon Japan or buying in a bookstore like Kinokuniya. The downside is that DVDs in America are different than DVDs in Japan, so you need a special DVD player if you buy DVDs from the site. Still, it's great for books...

Click here for Amazon's kids books.

That's all for now. If you want suggestions of specific books or videos or anything else please let me know.

I hope that this helps get you started with teaching your son esl at home.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

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