First time teaching with children aged 5

[sanjajerem]

Dear Ms. Pollard,

I am about to begin teaching pre-schoolers (5 yearolds) starting on Friday (10.15.), with parents present! They have never learnt English and I have never taught the language. I will be using Cookie and Friends, and this first lesson (a kind of presentation) will last up to 30 minutes. I would appreciate if you could give me some advice on what can I expect from the children,from the parents or some "trick" that always work to create an atmosphere or anything I should know or be aware of. I am trying to be as specific as I can. I just need a tip to make that first class a success.

Thank you in advance

Sanja Jeremic

[Lucy]

Dear Sanja,

As you are new to teaching, I suggest you follow the book closely; try to get hold of the teacher’s book and read up on advice in there. This is far easier for a new teacher; trying to invent your own lesson and activities can be very time-consuming and the result is usually not as good as the activities in a course book.

Remember that children of that age have a very short attention span; this means that you should vary the activities. In 30 minutes, you could probably do 2 new short activities; this is preferable to one activity that lasts 30 minutes. As for what you can expect, that is very difficult to say. Children of that age are very curious and eager to please but you cannot expect them to produce very much language. If they come away from the lesson understanding ten new words and being able to produce 2 or 3 words, you can consider the lesson a success.

I suggest you also speak to your Director of Studies; and maybe show him or her your lesson plan. You are a new teacher and you can expect to get some input from an experienced colleague in your first lesson. I suggest you also look through the Help Desk; I have answered many questions on teaching young children.

If you have any more questions before Friday, please feel free to write in again.

Lucy