TEACHING VERY YOUNG

LEARNERS
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
1. Teamwork, games and the
sense of competitiveness
Students love competitions and
YL are no exception. The only
difference is that they love them
even more! Hence you should
take every opportunity to turn
any activity into a contest. Start
up by dividing the class into two
or more groups. Give each team
a name e.g. oranges and apples
or red and blue. Very YL tend to
forget which group they belong

to so use colored chalk to mark

their desks. On the blackboard
write each group's name and
give them an equal numbers of
points for a start. Warn the
students they you will erase
their points if anyone from the
group shouts, walks around,
keeps talking, does not raise
their hand etc. Tell them that
points will be added if group
members speak English or
complete tasks successfully.
Reward the kids for every
positive thing they do. Keep in
mind that rewards have a much
more encouraging and

motivating effect than any form

of punishment.
2. Demonstration not
explanation
Whatever your experience may
imply, always remember that
children are not adults.
Consequently different
techniques have to be used to
explain to the students what you
require. Forget checking
instructions and wordy
explanations. As an alternative,
resort to demonstrations or ask
a stronger student to explain
what s/he understood to the
other students.

3. Routine- handout
Children need order and quickly
get used to routines and habitual
activities. If you notice that e.g.
blowing a whistle gets their
attention, keep practicing that.
Try to start and end a lesson in
the same or similar way or have
some always repeating elements
in it. For instance, a good
starting point is dividing a class
into groups and a good finishing
point might be counting the
points and drawing stars for all
the group members on the
poster.
4. Encouraging the usage of
TL

Try to make students use TL

(target language) from the very
first classes. Expose them to the
basic phrases and repeat these
each time an opportunity comes
up. Ignore the students who
insist on using their mother
tongue and they will sooner or
later adjust to your behavior.
Reward the ones who use TL by
giving their group points,
clapping or verbal praise.
5. Getting the students'
attention
YL classes tend to be noisy by
definition so raising your voice
or shouting has a poor chance of
success. Instead, try using sound

making objects - toy musical

instruments (drums, maracas,
and trumpet), whistles, rattles,
bells etc. Not only will you save
your throat but you will bring
some fun to the classroom as
well.
6. Praise and rewards
Nothing works better for
students than a decent amount
of praise. When it comes to kids
however feel free to praise them
all the time for the smallest
things they do or say properly.
They might not be able to
understand "very good", "great"
or "excellent" but they will surely
get "bravo", "super" or "perfect".

Thumbs up, clapping hands and

a huge smile on a teacher's face
will definitely help the kids
realize that they did a great job
and made you pleased. Create a
way of rewarding your students
as well. Draw smiling faces, stars
or use stamps or stickers to
show your appreciation. Put up
posters on the walls with the
students names to keep record
of their good work. Never stoop
to bribery or material rewards.
Sweets or mascots may make
young learners do quietly what
you order but once you forget
the reward or want to quit the
procedure a tragedy will follow.

7. Drama and acting

Do not be afraid to make a clown
out of yourself. Teaching YL more
than any other type of teaching
requires acting skills. Make
faces, use body language and
your voice. While presenting new
vocabulary and drilling it is
possible to make kids repeat
words even ten times only by
changing the tone of your voice.
Thus if you want them to repeat
the word "papaya" sound angry,
quiet, interested, helpless,
hopeful, surprised and so on.
There is no way that they will not
enjoy it.
8. A little fluffy helper

Sometimes course books offer

mascots or puppets thematically
connected to the topics covered
by the book, so do not be afraid
to use them. Otherwise find any
old mascot of yours and bring it
to the classroom. Give it a name
and age, and as the lessons
proceed create its likes, dislikes,
favorite food, color etc. Young
learners get attached to mascots
very quickly, especially if you
bring it to every class and let the
students touch, hug and talk to
it.
9. Movement
Young Learners have loads of
energy that we adults

sometimes lack. It would be

unwise not to use such a benefit
though. Therefore make them
move as much as you can. Think
of games that involve running,
races, coming to the blackboard.
If you use songs or chants create
movements to accompany them.
Not only will it be a vent for the
kids' energy but it will also
enable them to memorize the
new vocabulary better.
10. Fast finishers
Always have an extra activity
ready for the fast finishers. If
kids have nothing to do they
usually start walking around,
talking etc., which is something

we should try to prevent from

happening. The extra activity
does not have to be a worksheet
though. You might tell the
student(s) to draw the teacher,
the classroom or his favorite
animal in his notebook for
instance. They might also be
asked to help you organize your
materials before the lesson is
over or clean up the classroom.
11. Problematic students
Problematic students are the
nightmare of every teacher but
there are ways to deal with
them. First, remember to praise
any naughty kid for any good
thing they do in front of all the

other children. If necessary

exaggerate! "Look everybody!
Leyla has her notebook today!
Well done! You are a very good
student, Leyla! I'm proud of
you! and so on. After a few
weeks they will crave your
praise, so then feel free to use
that. Make little naughty-nomore kids your helpers. Let them
distribute the worksheets, play
with the puppet etc.
12. Positive attitude
Smile! Hug! Pat the students' on
the heads! Whatever happens,
try to be positive and optimistic.
Make an angry face when the
students are naughty but don't

shout. Children have to know

that you are also their friend.
13. Classroom rules
Make the rules short and simple
and make sure that all kids
understand them. Moreover, be
prepared to negotiate them and
change them throughout the
sessions and always make sure
than the kids are following them.
Try not to use no or not it
sets out a negative atmosphere
from the begging and to revise
them at the begging of every
English class. Be strict about the
rules you want the students to
follow as well.

Example: Listen, Respect, Share

+ pics on the slide
ACTIVITY + HANDOUT
Cambridge la final
LESSON PLANS
The lesson plans are very
important to every lesson as
they are the skeleton of our
activity. So make sure you plan
ahead your lesson. So what
should such a lesson plan
contain?
- The chronological order of the
activities

- The estimated time of the

activities
- List of the materials you will
need
- A list of back-up activities, just
in case
- +A list of targets you what to
reach by the end of the lesson
Handout: the farm animals
lesson plan
You should focus on 4 main
areas when you are preparing a
lesson
VOCABULARY FOCUS:
FLASHCARDS: are one of the
principal methods of introducing
vocabulary to young learners

How do we use flashcards?

Exemplifying introducing them
with the help of a box, of a bag:
slow, quickly, one part, turn it
quickly and then starting
activities with them
Pass the flashcard
Whats missing?
Pick one and name it
Show me the
Give me the
Go to the (if you place the
flashcards around the
classroom)
Repetition with the group
while increasing the number
of words and then decreasing
it

 Listening exercise with

flashcards discuss it later
HANDOUTS- Primary Box Files
After you practice the
vocabulary with the help of
flashcards, which is an active
part of the lesson, you should try
to settle them down with the
help of handouts: drawing,
coloring, circling, finding the
color or the object, exercise their
writing skills (if they have this
ability). In this manner they can
start responding to your
instructions.
LISTENING FOCUS

Try and make the most of the

resources you have, so if the
center has a laptop or a CD
player, do not hesitate to try
some listening activities with
your students, as they can
respond very good to these.
A song routine is also good
listening practice: If you re
happy and you know it, 5 little
monkeys jumping on the bed,
Incy Wincy Spider, So long now,
Im a little tea pot but make
sure that you dont just listen to
the songs, make connections
between the words of the songs
and actions, try to mime them.

In addition to this, for a

vocabulary lesson from the
Ziggy and Zaggy book you
should listen the tape twice and
work on the structure listenrepeat. On the second listening
make them search for a certain
structure on the tape (example).
Ex: Farm Animals lesson has 3
targets: name of the animal, the
sound of the animal and the
structure this is a...
Extra listening activity could be
the Simon Says Game- also
trains them to respond to your
instructions.
SPEAKING FOCUS

Handout: Pass the ball game

Ask them questions and
encourage them to respond in
English and to ask others
questions in English. Mock small
dialogues related to your
vocabulary topic, try to create
the scenery a bit for more
excitement: At the market, at
school. Develop the use of action
verbs around the vocabulary (I
eat/wear/play.).
Ex: At the market
-Hello! X2 /what do you want? / I
want..Thank you/ youre
welcome/ Goodbye x2

Encourage them to use English

as much as possible, and praise
them for this, even when they
work on handouts (for example if
they color they can sing along a
song with you, or they can ask
for the colors in English). And
remember that they copy a lot of
your behavior, so if they get
used to a certain expression and
they understand it, they will use
it too!
GRAMMAR FOCUS
Grammar should not be one of
your main focuses with very
young learners, but you should
definitely encourage them to use
VERBS and PRONOUNS correctly

with the vocabulary that they

learnt.
You can teach them the verb TO
BE (handout), TO HAVE, different
verbs related to the vocabulary
topic and the pronouns (I, You,
and She, He etc.)
Activity: deliver& discuss 3
lesson plans (work in groups):
Numbers, Toys, Places of town
THE COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN THE 2 OR 3
PARTENERS
The communication of the 2 or 3
partners is very important as
you should try to coordinate and
to deliver the lesson in the best

way possible. As a consequence,

you should make and discuss the
lesson plan together and you
should know your place in the
classroom very clearly in every
moment. You should both be
active during the lesson but
make sure that you establish a
certain balance, as the learners
can get confused if there are two
persons explaining at the same
time. This doesnt mean that the
other partner should just stay
and listen, he/she should make
sure that the children are paying
attention and are interested in
what you are saying. You can
also work in groups and in that

case you can both have the lead

role at the same time. In case
one of the partners is missing,
explain the situation to the
children, express your apologies.
In this manner you educate
them to see you as equal
authorities, not to make
differences between the two
children.
ACTIVITY: 3 teams WHISPER
Challenge
Team one: non-formal education
+ May I go to the bathroom
Team two: classroom
management + Teacher, I am
bored

Team three: lesson planning + I

want two stickers
-reward the winning team and
then discuss the problems in the
sentences
QUESTIONS FROM THEM
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