Introduction
Before we get into the nitty gritty of ‘how’ to teach younger learners (infantile and early primary), I feel it is important to first look at the ‘why’ ‘who’ and the ‘what’ of this guide to help us understand its aim and get the most out of it.
Who is this manual for?
It’s written for any teacher of younger learners (3 – 8 year olds), regardless of experience, who feel that they need help or reassurance with teaching these age groups. It could be that you’re a teacher who is new to teaching younger learners and are feeling a little overwhelmed or you’re a teacher who has been teaching younger students for some time but feel you would like to be reminded of some strategies, or get some new ideas.
Why was this manual written?
This manual was written primarily as an in-house guide for teachers here at Active Language. As a large amount of the work we do here at the academy is with young learners and very young learners, many of us will have classes with these age groups.
As a teacher who really enjoys working with younger learners, and who has been lucky enough to be able to do this over the past eight years, I’ve been faced with situations that I’ve not been able to look up in one of the number of great resource books or blogs that are out there, written by experienced EFL teachers and experts. Although I have learned many useful strategies, and good practices through these books and blogs, and also courses and workshops that I’ve attended (which I do include in this guide too), the realities and day-to-day classroom have presented myself and many colleagues with some moments of difficulty (or sheer bewilderment or amusement) that we haven’t felt prepared for at the time, that we have reflected on afterwards. Or questions that we have had when planning a specific topic or class for a certain group of students. Therefore this manual was written so that teachers (here at Active Language) can feel more supported in their day-to-day teaching with these rewarding but often difficult aged classes.
What is in the manual?
There is mixture of theory as well as practical ideas too. With the theory parts, problems that can occur have tried to be highlighted, reflected upon and suggestions on how to solve them has been given, when possible. There are practical ideas (and a little theory for these ideas), example lesson plans, and materials (in the appendix), as requested by many teachers, to help us share our work and help reduce our individual workload.
How it is included
There is a quite a difference between how we would teach three-year-olds to how we would teach seven- year-olds, however some of the main principles are the same. Therefore this manual talks about youngers learners as a whole, but are separated and labelled when appropriate. Infant students (3 -5 year olds), will be referred to as very young learners (VYLs) or infants, or I have referred to their specific levels here at Active Language (I1, I2, and I3) when needed; whereas early primary students, 6 – 7 year olds will be referred to a Young Learners (YLs) or their specific levels S1 and S2.
Who was involved in the writing of this manual?
This manual was written by teachers, for teachers. I have primarily written the manual from my own experiences and experiences colleagues have shared with me, be it in the staffroom, during meetings on casual conversations on the bus over the last few years (So thank you to all Active Language teachers past and present – you know who you are). Secondly from colleagues’ feedback, I have edited with their suggestions and additions. So a big thank you to Simon Pearlman for all your editing help and advice, Carmen Plaza, Lauren Grenfell and Laura Hickson for discussing student related problems, and to Lucy Brophy for your additions in the flashcard game section and for letting me observe your S2 class, which has given me tips to help with my own current S2s and your feedback also helped with the writing of this manual.
This manual is not a definitive article, there are always things that can be improved upon and problems that can arise. So this is designed to be something we at Active Language can add to and expand on, when needed. So if you have any further ideas or input, please let us know…