how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Discussion about teaching ESL to children

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einszwei
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how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by einszwei »

Hello Forum,

I have a student who I am teaching English as a second language. His first language is spanish. He doesn't speak, write or read English. How can I teach this child English? I tried the Callan Method and that really didn't works since he can't really read the words on the board. What method can I use to teach him how to read and pronounce the alphabet?

Thanks

Kind Regards

Einszwei
Awalls86
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by Awalls86 »

Pictures, a ton of pictures and visual aids. If it's one to one - load the pictures on a computer maybe.
Actions - show actions and get them to repeat the action when you say it, then get them to say it by doing the action.
Cartoons/comics - for doing dialogue.

Alphabet - pictures of the letter, words that start with each letter.

And teach a little, use a lot. Only do a few things at a time then use them in many different games and activities.
Tonya 24
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by Tonya 24 »

one thing I love to use is the alphablocks, if you type it in on youtube there are loads of different ones and they show young learners letters of the alphabet, pronunciation and how these letters are used to make words. The clips are about 5 minutes long which is ideal, bright and exciting. I hope this helps.
rutherford
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by rutherford »

you have to show a lot of patience. i also recommend the use of pictures and making the class as engaging as possible to keep the child's interest going.
lucy123
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by lucy123 »

- Find out what he already knows, build on it

- What are his interests? (e.g., Transformers?) Build on his interests

- Use these cards to get him talking! They are funny, and he might laugh/ connect with you. Great resource.

Try this free resource!!!! It's fun and will get him talking!!!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Pro ... ee-2393362
allard02
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by allard02 »

You can start with basic speaking exercises where you build his ability to follow and distinguish certain words.

Start with things like: "Do you go to bed every night", and have him parrot back with a "Yes I go to bed every night." And keep doing it with different questions until he can accurately distinguish certain words. Then you can move on to past tenses of "Did you go to bed last night?" and the corresponding "Yes I went to bed last night". Honestly he doesn't have to always understand the meaning, but get used to syntax structures. It's boring, but you can make it fun with small rewards when he can answer without making any mistakes. As he gets better and progresses, change it up so it deals with subject-verb agreements (Does a horse eat grass/Do horses eat grass-Yes a horse eats grass/Yes horses eat grass), superlatives (Are cats smarter than rats-No cats are not smarter than rats).

You can also use pictures to teach basic vocab words. Show them pictures of objects and have them name it (That is a bottle of soda). Or pictures of people doing things and have them say "They are waiting for the train" "They are shopping for food"

And finally there are computer programs where they read a story aloud, show some fun animations and the boy can click on the words and have it be sounded out. Just make sure he sounds out each word each time. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Living Books series, but that's from the 90's, but there might be more recent ones.

Haha that's pretty much all I can give away without breaking agreements with educational institutions I've worked for. I can say Spectrum makes pretty good grammar books for the younger aged students (Kindergarten and up), and Sadlier-Oxford has a good grounding for vocabulary for first graders and up, I think the Red book was the earliest one, but I don't know for certain.
to know more visit http://www.iecuniversity.com/ hope i have offered some help here
allard
rutherford
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by rutherford »

Nice suggestion from allardo2
Eric Rom
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Re: how to teach a six year old English as a second language...

Unread post by Eric Rom »

I use small sentences and questions (each not exceeding 6 words). 6-year-olds have a very short attention span and mumble out the longer sentences.
I also use a lot of images both relevant and non-relevant to the topic. I try to relate a certain topic with something the kids can remember.

The other day, I managed to bring together the Letter F and relate it to a princess. So now, when I say "F stands for..." and the girls scream Frozen Princess!
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