Need tips/help for teaching ESL students (3-4 year olds).?

Question

Any help for teaching 3-4 year old ESL students would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

At that age kids are like an sponge. They absorb everything you said. They will get the language pretty easy. I recommended to yo that talk with them a lot. Good Luck!!

Answer 2

This can be hard at first, especially when the children are trying to communicate with you and get frustrated, or they are scared because they don't know what's going on. Use pictures to communicate what is going on in the classroom or schedule--for example, you can have a picture of someone washing hands, then go the sinks and show how to do it as well as how to say it. You can use pictures to signify it is time to eat, time for a nap, time to read, time to go outside, anything. Along with saying the word in English and having them repeat it will help them build vocabulary.

You can also make games using the pictures, where the children take pictures, find the item in the room that matches that picture, then says the word for that picture. For example, you could have a picture of blocks, then have the child take that picture and find the real blocks on the shelf in the room, then say "blocks". Using stickers or a fun stamp or even a piece of candy can be a real motivator for kids this age.

Music is especially effective with children for learning English as well, especially if you can find music that has the songs in English and in their native language. Greg and Steve have great music for kids, and at least one song in both English/Spanish. Look at your local library to see what other music resources there are. Kids learn by singing as well, so starting with the alphabet song while pointing to the letters, then having the kids see if they can remember the letters you randomly point to afterwards would be a great thing to do. Not only do these kids need to learn English, but some culture as well, so teaching songs like "The Teensy Weensy Spider" and "Wheels on the Bus" will give them that.

Finally, books on tape are great for kids learning english, especially if they are read slowly. They even have books on cd now, so you could copy a bunch of stories off onto your own cd's, have copies of the books, and have the children follow along while it's read. These are especially effective because they tend to have music with the story, so it seems really special to the kids and they pay attention more.

Don't forget that kids this age need to alternate quiet/still activities with active activities. The active activities can help with English as well--you can call out an action word like "jump" or "hop" or "twirl" and have the kids mimic you doing the action, then say "stop" and have them stop. Seems pretty simplistic, but kids enjoy things like this.

I would recommend you researching books that can give you more activities for young ESL students.