Unless you are sufficiently trained to teach children
aged 3 and younger, I suggest you leave it to the
professionals; otherwise most teachers will find that
many of the the skills and lesson planning which they
have learnt teaching elementary age, can be applied
to pre school children ages 4 and 5.
I am not confident about teaching any younger than
this age group so I am not going to attempt advice
here but everyone should realise and take very seriously
the responsibility that young childrens` first experiences
of learning will shape and condition their attitude
positively or negatively for the future. If you don`t
start out with this awareness, then you could be doing
a lot more educational damage then good! So if you
decide you feel less than able or negative about teaching
preschool, then don`t teach!
ABOUT TEACHING 4-6 YEAR OLDS AND INFANTS
UNDER 4 YEARS:
Of course every child develops faster and slower
in the different elements e.g. some 4 years olds have
better concentration than their elders; while some
6 year olds lag behind in their artwork or ability
to write ABC`s using a pencil. Pay attention to each
child` strong and weak points and support as needed.
Note that nearly all preschool children live in a
world where they truly believe that they should be
the centre of everyone`s attention! ,Because of their
being so self absorbed and narcissistic about their
needs being met, teachers also need to respect childrens`
sense of privacy – e.g. many preschool children
younger than 4 years old may not want to join in with
whole group activities and may actually say little
in class. However, that is not to say that they are
not learning efficiently by listening and concentrating
passively. Although infants may refuse to participate
much, as long as you have their attention even very
passively, they may in fact be learning more efficiently
than their more vocal peers.
WHAT DO PRE SCHOOL KIDS WANT?:
My personal experience is that 4-6 year olds want
to be challenged as well as have fun. They are really
at the stage in life where curiosity dominates and
they will happily eat up opportunities to learn `new
stuff`! Not only that, but they want `to show off`
their new found skills and knowledge to adults -especially
to parents and teachers, so invite the parents to
be involved as much as you can. I guess that in a
sense they believe that by showing off, they are `fitting
in` and are playing at imitating `adults`. By now,
you should know that `games` are not an activity to
appease kids to study, but the very lifeblood by which
kids learn and you as a teacher apply your lesson
content to interest and satisfy the kids god given
desire to play. Of course there are limits to the
kinds of activities you do which interest each age
group, but 1 point which all teachers should plan
lessons around is `Why teach, when you can play it?`.
ABOUT METHODOLGY:
As we know already that young children are good `watchers`
and `listeners` and enjoy `games`, introduce your
lesson content so that kids learn first via passive,
fun observation: use puppets to mime structures, be
silly, stupid, dumb –in fact, anything entertaining
to first get their attention. Teaching young kids,
classes tend to be very teacher centred as the kids
are usually way too lacking in attention/concentration
to work in pairs yet. Since you are the centre of
attention, enter the classroom with sense of presence
and maintain that presence.
Since young children live out their lives so much
in their imagination, make your job easier by exploiting
flights of fantasy in the classroom. It also helps
to collect their attention by starting and ending
lessons in a certain manner. My trick with new classes
is to start and end by flying abroad on a pretend-jet
plane and hand out seals on their fake passports.
Mums love this and it excites the kids and builds
expectation. If you want to us Japanese in the classroom,
I think it helps a lot at this early age as it can
be scary and confusing otherwise. Many schools have
a strict policy not to, but fact is that young kids
will open up more if they feel you understand them
in their own tongue. Alternatively, you may want to
ask a helpful mum to translate.
ABOUT CLASSROOM AUTHORITY:
Obviously if you start too soft with the kids, they
may take advantage of your kind manner- especially
if you are attempting to manage a large class and
teaching in a room which is not classroom. Be tough!
Make sure that the kids know that their time with
you is limited and that you will not accept monkey-ing
around. You are gonna have to tell them who is `boss`
and if they do doubt your authority, seek help fast-
don`t sit on a behaviour problem class ( it will only
get worse).
If need be, ask the mothers to sit in and reprimand
the kids when necessary or failing that, talk to the
school for help if you are experiencing a major headache.
It may be necessary for us to take a student aside
and give them a pep talk. When you start a class,
make sure that the kids names are labelled and that
you learn their names fast. Often if you can just
reprimand a child by name upon sight, bad behaviour
will not have a chance to develop. Furthermore, if
you can`t remember their names, what does that tell
the child about you?
TECHNIQUES FOR PROBLEM KIDS:
Here are some suggestions others have told me are
worth trying with children showing behaviour problems-
whether they will work for you or not is unknown,
but at least you can try. A few kids just need to
be given space to wander off at times and do their
own thing so long as they are not disturbing everyone
else. Some children are more sensitive than others
and this can mean that they get over-stimulated and
may need time on their own to unwind. Kid who display
really bad behaviour, you can try the soccer `red
card` policy.
What this means is that you warn them that they
will receive 2 warnings and upon the 3rd misdemeanour,
they are given the red card and are told top leave
the class. Personally, I have never tried this technique,
but if you have a Japanese asst., perhaps it will
work. Domineering, bossy kids maybe just need some
responsibility to given them- for example, I had one
5 year old girl who every week upset and physically
hurt the other students, but after a pep talk with
her ( translated by japanese asst.), she rose to the
position of `Teacher`s asst.` & seldom caused
a nuisance.
ABOUT LESSON CONTENT:
Please see the basic kindergarten curriculum plan
for each month. Of course you can decide yourself
what themes to teach, but what I do recommend is that
you stick to this well tried recipe of having a theme
for each month and repetitively presenting and reviewing
the same related structures and vocabulary each week
of that month plus the same song with gestures (which
may be unrelated). Allow children the chance to gradually
recognise the same material until it feels familiar.
There is no need to rush on to a new topic. You may
be surprised at how much language e.g. the words of
a song, kids will pick up and be able to sing back
to you after they have heard the same song several
weeks in a row. Teaching young kids is repetitive
stuff and they need to practise drilling in every
class ( no exceptions!). One of the best ways to drill
is of course via song.
TPR and LESSON PACE & MANAGEMENT:
Don`t overlook the powerful affect of large fun cards
( rather than less memorable cards) and the use of
T.P.R. (`Total Physical Response`). What TPR means
is that if kids are moving their body ( and thus brain
is activated more), they will absorb data more. Lessons
need to have a fast pace with variety of activities,
not too much sitting around or kids will lose their
very short attention span to something they find more
interesting than you and your lesson plan! Therefore,
check that you have all the class resources you will
need in the class organised in advance and foresee
in your mind before you ever start the stages and
the direction your lesson will take. If you are in
doubt, write it down in detail! Preparation: knowing
how & when to present your material is the key
to successful stress free teaching!
EDUCATIONAL AIMS & USEFUL VOCABULARY:
Besides the often overlooked social skills learned
at school, have you asked yourself deeply what are
your aims as a teacher of preschool? For example,
what kind of vocabulary and structures do you think
kids need to know to grow in English? Some schools
teach the names of flowers A~Z, but what use is that
to know? Our school opinion which we espouse to all
parents is that we want to instruct kids to learn
how to use & recognise with confidence simple
social expressions and greetings like ` I`m finished!`,
`Here you are!`, `I like…`, `Do you want…?`
Of course, it may too much to expect all pre school
kids to ask the questions themselves, but at least
to be able to answer to them. If kids can express
social exchanges and talk about their needs and desires-
even very basic ones, then they are started on the
process to wanting to learn how to use another language
( with its vocabulary and grammar) to express themselves.
For details of basic expressions we expect you to
teach, ask for a note.
TEACHER`S USE OF INSTRUCTION-LANGUAGE:
Often I hear teachers speaking out comments to the
class which it is obvious the kids cannot follow-
in fact the teacher knows very well that they cannot
but speaks to them as if in a soliloquy. This is foolish
since it only alienates yourself and the kids from
believing that you can in fact share the same space
to communicate, even if in radically simple terms.
If there is a really simple way you can say something
which may be guessed at with a demonstrative gesture,
then do that! Make it as accessible as possible!
USE OF STORY OR PICTURE BOOKS & CARDS:
Don`t forget that you are not reading the story,
but retelling it with the pictures & your own
gestures, using the simplest possible denominators
of meaning which a child can follow. Foresee how you
will present/tell the story in advance. Also foster
an atmosphere of quiet wonder to make storytelling
a special time. Actually the same point can be made
about how you present vocabulary cards.- don`t just
turn them over and ask them to translate what they
see- slowly slide out a hidden card or mime it.
MOTIVATION & LEARNING STEP BY STEP:
By studying child development, teachers will see
that children learn when they are emotionally involved
in something and they want to ask and answer questions
about it. Teachers should learn to utilize childrens`
natural curiosity to help kids learn in a child-centred
classroom. Although lesson pace & variety of activities
is essential, lesson topics should not jump greatly
from one structural key-point to another. That will
confuse kids. If you want to introduce new items,
then you should make links with what they have previously
learnt. Help children to recycle what they know already
to figure out new patterns in English.
Once kids are getting closer to elementary age, you
can swap colouring-in homework pages for ABC exercises.
Literacy skills help consolidate not only what was
taught in the lesson-time, thus doubling their exposure
to English; but also allow kids to gradually learn
to recognise how spelling and grammar is put together.
Give children the chance to improve themselves by
including reading and writing. Of course, before learning
the ABC`s, spelling and eventually grammar, children
should learn phonics (phonics is the study of how
we pronounce the sounds of the alphabet. An excellent
way to teach phonics is with a video-cassette which
explains how to make each sound).
SUMMARY in BRIEF:
Children learn by imitation, so let students learn
by your example: proceed step by step from passive
to active participation via a child centred, imaginative
approach. Using TPR & drills, let them act out.
RECOMMENDED REFERENCE TEXTS
AVAILABLE WE CAN LEND YOU:
1) Kim Lutz, `Balls, Balloons, Bubbles`,
Screenplay Publisher.
Topic based chapters with ideas for game-activities
to teach large classes at kindergarten schools.
2) `Longman Keys to Teaching Children English`, each
chapter highlights elements of teaching
3) Genki English, Teachers & Kids Curriculum
Planning Guide ( or see www.genkienglish.com)
