teaching young learners

• we must find something to praise for every student
• when we praise students for what they have done, we should then give them a goal (a mission) for the future
• when students produce good pieces of work, we may put them up on the classroom walls or show them round to the rest of the class
• we can collect work from all the students in the class and folder them in a portfolio.

respect your students

• listen to what they have to say
• know who they are
• treat all students the same
• show them we are interested
• respect what out students say and do

do's

• speak slowly (enunciate and add pauses)
• use simpler vocabulary
• use simpler grammatical structures
• allow them thinking time

rough-tune

• is that unconscious simplification which both parents and teachers make. neither group sets out to get the level of language exactly correct for their audience. they rely, instead, on a general perception of what is being understood by the people listening to them.
  • examples: physical movement, gestures, expressions, mime.

giving instructions

• simple as possible (PREPARE INSTRUCTIONS!)
• they must be logical - follow an order! - demonstrate and use a student to give an example.
• check understanding with questions!

TTT vs STT

• what are the main strategies you use to maximise stt?
  • work in pairs or groups, ask them questions and listen (write it down)

focusing on the positive!

• create reward system when dealing with problems. reward them for talking in english, to participating, to working in groups.

checking homework

• f2f lessons: give students more time to follow the correction. if necessary, you can take the books home.
• don't assign a lot of homework at once. 1-2 pages are enough.