How to teach a language to non-speakers?

Question

Here is the situation:

Teacher needs to teach english in a third world country for 5 days.

Teacher also has to entertain and preoccupy children.

Children are ages 4~12.

Children and teacher do not know a common language.

I came up with making puppets or drawings but I'm totally new to teaching and I have to go to Guatemala in 2 weeks.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Wow, you've gotten some good replies.  I taught children in Honduras like that this past winter.

One thing the parents wanted was for me to teach English, but it is really hard to do in such a short time.

So I made up picture cards for the parts of the body.  I put the Spanish word first and then the English word.  We sang it every day with the motions.  You can keep the cards up so they can practice the English words.

Since my situation was different from yours, I only taught one song in English.  We sang Jesus Loves Me in Spanish.

I think you could find other Englsh songs with common vocabulary words:

My Hat It Has Three Corners

Old MacDonald (Use animals common in their country) You could rename Old MacDonald  Senor Carlos

This Is the Way We Wash Our  Clothes (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush)

Hokey Pokey (This should be a blast!)

I hope this helps.  Maybe this will help generate more ideas.

Wish I could go with you.

Answer 2

I forgot to mention games where you draw the names of animal, colours and whatever from a hat with both languages written on it, the kid does a charade and when they guess it, he says the english word on the card and the kids repeat it.

Answer 3

flash cards. their language on one side and the other language on the otherside with a picture or something to help.

Answer 4

English as a Second Language Links

http://free-esl.com/

http://www.eslcafe.com/

http://www.zozanga.com/

http://www.learnenglish.de/

http://grammar.free-esl.com/

http://www.talkenglish.com/

http://www.usingenglish.com/

http://www.eslgold.com/toefl/links.html

http://free-esl.com/channels/articles/de...

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/llc/languages/lang-...

Answer 5

Hey Dude great question. Congrats on your new teacher job. My advice would be to sing songs. When you are teaching someone to speak English its better to sing a song in their language first and then English. this activity not only get their attention, but keeps them entertained for a long time. Kids really love activities that are hands on, you should also be unique and use balloons, food, and movies to teach them about topics. I have worked with kids for three years and in my experience I have learned that as long as we keep them active you will not only achieve your goal in teaching, but also of them liking you and that becomes the best accomplishment. My last tip is to teach kids English by putting a pen or pencil in the mouth as they over pronounce all the words. The pen and pencil help them to open their mouth and to be louder.  GOOD LUCK and have fun. Take Care.

LATEZ

Answer 6

hey, your ideas are great.  Since it is a short term teaching time, go for the fun and games methods.  Songs, chants, jazz chants, activities that anyone of any language can do that include vocabulary words... like colors, shapes, numbers and simple phrases.

There are a lot of great websites for teaching English especially for young children.