TEACHING CHILDREN

By: Ana Paulina Suárez C.

The teaching of English to young children has become especially important in

recent years. One reason for this has been the introduction of primary EFL teaching
in a number of schools. There is a lot of very good teaching in primary EFL
classrooms. However, it is a fact that many teachers now find themselves teaching
in primary school even though they have not been trained for this level.
Teaching a child could be defined as instructing him in a certain area.
Educating a child, however, is enabling him to develop mentally, morally, physically
and socially, and as such it encompasses teaching. You can teach a child to brush
his teeth just like you can train an animal to perform a trick, but to educate him you
need to explain the reasons for doing so. You cannot teach something to a very
young child without educating him first.
When a three-or four-year-old starts school, he may never been away from
his mother for any length of time, may have had very little contact with children of his
own age, or at the most, have had contact with only a very small, secure group.
Going to school is an enormous step and the first thing a child has to do is to become
socialized in this environment.
This means learning the ‘dos and the don’ts’ of getting on with others; how to
be accepted by others and how to accept them; how to gradually become
independent, whilst taking part in a community that is much wider than the family
circle.
This part of the child’s socialization is the first step in the child’s school
education. It is our responsibility as teachers to help our pupils to develop and
mature as well as to learn. It is no easy task as we are setting the basis for the years
to come.
The main things to remember are:
• Enjoy your students
• Be as relaxed as possible
• Be firm and consistent in your discipline
PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE TEACHER

When a three-or four-year-old knows you and is comfortable with you, he

usually wants a lot of physical contact. When he arrives in the classroom he may
come straight to you and hold onto your leg or stand by your side, waiting for a sign
of affection that will make him feel secure before he goes off to play. His dependence
on you will be almost total.
Little by little, over the next few years, he separates himself both physically
and psychologically from his teachers, becoming a more independent person.
However, even seven-and eight-year-olds still need direct physical contact with their
teacher at times. You will see them find an excuse to sit beside you or fight among
themselves to hold your hand when you stand in a circle with them.
Provide physical contact simply by placing your hand on a child’s shoulders
when speaking personally to him or by smacking a palm, of your hand against one
of his, or by shaking his hand to congratulate him, saying Good for you! As you do
so.

CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT

The chart below outlines children’s basic development, form three to six years
old, and from six to nine years old. It aims to show what you can and cannot expect
from children in these age groups, and how you can teach them in ways that are
appropriate for their stage of development.
Remember that these are just general guidelines, and that there can be great
differences between individual children.
 CHILD DEVELOPMENT

AGES
AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT IMPLICATIONS
3-6 6-9

• Still developing, so a • Muscles are • Activities should be varied

great need for stronger and more and should help develop
physical exercise. resistant. large motor movements
CONTROL OF • Control of body is (running, jumping, etc.) and
greater. hand-eye coordination
MUSCULAR (cutting out, modeling, etc.)
• The teacher should
MOVEMENT remember that physical
changes can generate
insecurity.
• Very unstable; can • Begins to • Activities should be short,
have sudden cooperate with with lots of variety.
tantrums and whims. others. • Teacher should be warm,
• Feels both insecurity • Has greater well balanced and able to
and omnipotence. control of restore child’s equilibrium.
EMOTIONS • Does not know how emotional • Should offer constant
to wait, which causes ambivalence. encouragement.
frustration. • Is interested in
sexual differences.
• Symbolic thought • Is more realistic • Activities should use toys
begins (can and rational. that imitate real life. (Toy
substitute drawing or • Becomes more cars, toy food, etc.)
game for real object). objective. • Activities for 6-9 year-olds
• Thought is subjective • Discovers should widen their minds
INTELLIGENCE and egocentric. coincidence. and develop reasoning
• Confuses fantasy • Opens up to the and logic, as well as
and reality. outside world. creativity and imagination.

• Can express himself • Uses tenses • Activities should develop

clearly in L1 by age correctly at age 6; oral and writing skills.
LANGUAGE 3-4. understands them
from age 8-9.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT
 AGES
AREAS OF EDUCATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT IMPLICATIONS
3-6 6-9
• Is egocentric, • Initiates relationships • Teacher should favor
subjective and with peers. group work to encourage
dependent. • Alternates periods of sociability, sharing and
• First contacts with silence and concentration.
peers are ambivalent continuous talking. • With 6-9 year-olds,
(can be aggressive • Can work very simply teacher should be
SOCIABILITY and friendly to same in a team from age 7- concerned with their
person). 8. scale of values.
• Starts to be aware of • Needs the group for • Teacher should know that
his potential (both security and self- conflict with adults is
abilities and esteem. normal with older age
limitations). • Learns moral values group.
• Plays parallel to from adults.
others.
• Extremely keen to • Very active child • Teacher should
communicate, in order starts to become encourage
BEHAVIOR to differentiate himself calmer. communication.
from others. • Usually keen to read • Teacher should persuade
• Passionate and non- and write. child to do required
systematic in ways he • Often admires activity (e.g. suggest he
does things. teachers and thinks does it later).
• Does not always want they know • Teacher should monitor
to do suggested everything. aggressive behavior,
activity. without over-reacting.
• Physically aggressive, • Teacher should try to be
without a motive. good role model for older
• Takes other children’s children.
toys as a way of
affirming himself.
• Interrupts activities to
gain attention.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS

• Words are not enough: Don’t rely on the spoken word only. Most
activities for the younger learners should include movement and
involve the senses. You will need to have plenty of objects and
pictures to work with, and to make full use of the school and your
surroundings. Demonstrate what you want them to do. The balance
 will change as the children get older, but appealing to the senses will
always help the pupils to learn.
• Play with the language: Let the students talk to themselves. Make up
rhymes, sing songs, and tell stories. Play with the language – let them
talk nonsense, experiment with words and sounds: ‘Let’s go – pets go.’
‘Blue eyes – blue pies.’ Playing with the language in this way is very
common in first language development and is a very natural stage in
the first stages of foreign language learning too.
• Language as language: Becoming aware of language as something
separate from the events taking place takes time. Most eight-to ten-
year-olds already have this awareness in their own language. The
spoken word is often accompanied by other clues to meaning – facial
expression, movement, etc. We should make full use of these clues.
When students start to read, the language becomes something
permanent and there are fewer other clues to meaning. Pupils take a
book home, they can read it again and again, and they can stop, think
about the language and work it out. The same is true of writing.
Therefore, reading and writing are extremely important for the child’s
growing awareness of language and for their own growth in the
language, although both are very demanding and take time and
patience to learn.
• Variety in the classroom: Since concentration and attention spans
are short, variety is a must – variety of activity, variety of pace, variety
of organization, variety of voice. Older students can concentrate for
longer periods of time and you should allow them to do so, but you still
need lots of variety.
• Routines: Children benefit from knowing the rules and being familiar
with the situation. Have systems, have routines, organize and plan
your lessons. Use familiar situations and activities. Repeat stories,
rhymes, etc.
• Cooperation not competition: Avoid rewards and prizes. Other forms
of encouragement are much more effective. Make room for shared
experiences – they are an invaluable source of language work and
create an atmosphere of involvement and togetherness. Most of us
enjoy the feeling of belonging and this is particularly true of young
children. Group children together whenever possible. This does not
mean that they have to work in groups all the time, but most children
like to have other children around them, and sitting with others
encourages cooperation. Genuine cooperative pairwork and
groupwork in usually the result of a long process. Some students work
best alone.
• Grammar: Children have an amazing ability to absorb language
through play and other activities which they find enjoyable. How good
they are in a foreign language is not dependent on whether they have
learnt the grammar rules or not. Very few of your students will be able
to cope with grammar as such, even at the age of ten or eleven. They
may be very aware and clear about the foreign language, but they are
not usually mature enough to talk about it. As teacher, you should note
the structures, functions and grammar items which you want your
students to learn as well as those they already know, but your actual
teaching should only include the barest minimum of grammar taught
as grammar, and then for the older children only. This does not mean
teaching grammar rules to the whole class. The best time to introduce
some sort of simple grammar is either when a student asks for an
explanation, or when you think a pupil will benefit from learning some
grammar. This may be when you are correcting written work, or it may
be in connection with an oral exercise which practices, for example,
‘did she…? or does he…? Older students, specially those at level two,
may ask exactly what the difference is between ‘did’ and ‘does’, since
both are used for questions, and you can then use the opportunity to
explain the difference in simple terms. The important thing is that the
 explanations should be given on an individual/group basis when the
students themselves are asking questions, that the explanations are
kept as simple as possible, and that the pupils are able to grasp the
point and therefore benefit from it.
• Assessment: Even though formal assessment may not be a
compulsory part of your work, it is always useful for the teacher to
make regular notes about each child’s progress. You may want to tell
parents how their children are doing, and you should be talking to the
children regularly about their work and encouraging self-assessment.
From the beginning this can be done in very simple

TEACHER’S RESOURCES

We come to the job with our personalities already formed, but there are
abilities and attitudes which can be learnt and worked on. As a teacher of young
children it helps a lot if you have a sense of humor, you’re open-minded, adaptable,
patient, etc. but even if you are the silent, reserved type, you can work on your
attitudes and abilities.

ABILITIES

We can all learn to mime, to act and to draw very simple drawings. We can
all learn to organize our worksheets so that they are planned and pleasing to look
at.

ATTITUDES

• Respect your students and be realistic about what they can manage at
an individual level, then your expectations will be realistic too.
 • As a teacher you have to appear to like all your students equally.
Although at times this will certainly include the ability to act, the children
should not be aware of it. Children learning a foreign language or any
other subject need to know that the teacher likes them. Young children
have a very keen sense of fairness.
• It will make all the difference in the world if you yourself feel secure in
what you are doing. Knowing where you are going and what you are
doing is essential. You can build up your own security by planning,
reading, assessing and talking to others.

HELPING STUDENTS TO FEEL SECURE

Once children feel secure and content in the classroom, they can be
encouraged to become independent and adventurous in the learning of the
language. Security is not an attitude or ability, but it is essential if we want our
students to get the maximum out of the language lessons.
• Know what you are doing. Pupils need to know what is happening, and
they need to feel that you are in charge.
• Respect your students.
• Whenever a student is trying to tell you something, accept whatever
he or she says – mistakes as well. Constant, direct correction is not
effective and it does not help create a good class atmosphere.
Correction has its place when you are working on guided language
exercises, but not when you are using the language for
communication.
• Allow your students to make mistakes. Ideal pupils shouldn’t laugh at
others’ mistakes, and this has to be one of the rules of the class.
Children of all ages are sometimes unkind to each other. Students
have to be told that everyone makes mistakes when they are learning
a new language, and that it is all right.
 • Establish routines: ‘Good morning. It’s Wednesday today, so let’s hear
your news.’ Friday is the day you read a book. Have a birthday
calendar, so that you know when everybody’s birthday is, and have a
routine for what to do on that day. Routines of this kind build up
familiarity and security for both age groups.
• Give the children the responsibility for doing practical jobs in the
classroom – making sure the calendar is right, sharpening the pencils,
giving out the library books, watering the plants. These activities are
genuine language activities and involve both taking responsibility for
learning and helping others to learn.

THE PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS

Young children respond well to surroundings which are pleasant and familiar.
If at all possible, put as much on the walls as you can – calendars, posters,
postcards, students’ drawings, writing, etc. Have plants, animals, any kind of
interesting object, anything which adds character to the room, but still leaves you
space to work.
Your classroom is probably used for other subjects or other classes as well,
but try to have an English corner – you need shelves, a notice board, and either a
pile of cushions or a couple of comfortable chairs (preferably not traditional school
chairs). If you really can’t manage even a corner of the classroom, a section of wall
that you can pin things on is better than nothing.

RESOURCES FOR ACTIVITIES

You will probably find it useful to gradually build up a set of materials to use
in your classroom for creative activities, storing items like books or pens, or helping
the children identify items that belong to them. Here you’ll find a list of resources that
might be useful in various situations:
 • Crayons, pencils, felt-tip pens (with non-permanent ink), round-tipped
scissors.
• Paints (make sure that they are washable!) and thick and fine
paintbrushes.
• Glue sticks. They are much cleaner to use than paste or glue in a
bottle.
• Wide and narrow scotch tape; double-sided scotch tape.
• Large pieces of paper for making murals, displaying class projects, etc.
• Magazines and comics with children can cut out to make pictures,
flashcards, collages, etc.
• Rolls and transparent adhesive plastic covering to protect homemade
cards and flashcards.
• Old newspapers to cover tables or floor when doing messy activities.
(Ask your students to bring them in).
• An old sheet can be hung on the board line as the stage curtains, or
used as something to pin scenery on to make a backdrop, or for more
games.
• A washing line of clothes pegs are useful for some games, for hanging
up artwork to dry or exhibit, of for plays.
• If you can spare the room, it can be worth asking the children at the
beginning of the school year to bring in things like empty toilet rolls,
wool, buttons, bits of material, pipe cleaners, etc. to have on hand for
crafts.
RESOURCES FOR STORAGE

• Large plastic bottles, with the tops cut off, make handy containers for
scissors, pencils, paintbrushes, etc. Cover the cut-off edges with
masking tape so children do not cut themselves.
• Envelopes to keep your own and the children’s flashcards in.
• Shoe boxes for storing envelopes, or other objects. Draw a picture on
the front of what is kept in the shoe box.
 • A few big boxes to hold toys, Lego, etc. (depending on the age of your
children). Cover them in colored wrapping paper and put a picture on
the front or top of what is kept inside.

RESOURCES FOR IDENTIFICATION

• With younger children, you can tie different colored ribbons onto
scissors, or other objects. Children identify their group’s scissors by
the ribbons (scissors with green ribbons are for the green group…)
• With older children, you can write their names on a piece of ribbon and
the tie it to various objects.

CLASSROOM LANGUAGE

At the start of the school year, choose a few expressions of simple classroom
language to teach your pupils. If you repeat the expressions every time you do a
particular activity, the children will soon understand them. As the year progresses,
you can gradually introduce new ones. Here are some examples:
• Come here
• A sheet of paper
• Go back
• Stand un
• Sit down
• A rubber
• Be quiet
• Calm down
• Whisper
• Shout
• Repeat after me
• Can you lend me your …?
• Come to the front
• How do you say … in English?