Interview with a teacher - Chainez, France

Chainez is an ESL teacher from France with 5 years experience. The youngest children she has taught were 3 years old. Read what she has to say …

1. Tell me about the teacher who has influenced your life the most and what made him/her different from all the others?
I have always  been impressed by my teachers, most of the time in a positive way, but I have to mention one:  I remember  my  physics teacher who was efficient, nice and respectful towards us. That’s what made her different from my previous teachers.

2.When you first started teaching small children, what did you find the most challenging and how did you deal with it?

The most challenging  thing was to keep them interested in the lesson all along the lesson. Then, I found out that it was important to prepare different activities in advance and only use  some of them  according to their interactions and mood.

3.What do you find the most rewarding aspect of teaching kids?

For me, it’s definitely to hear them speaking English so fast with a good pronunciation (no matter if a lot or a little bit).

4.How do you think a perfect ESL-for-kids classroom should look like?

I don’t think there is only one perfect ESL classroom because kids’ behaviors and needs change from  one place to another and from one generation to another. That’s why it’s important to be flexible as a teacher. However, there’s one point in what I believe shouldn’t change: teach English in English.

5.What is your favorite song to sing with the children?

There’s one song which I appreciate singing with the children.“The Potato song”, because we play a game with a real potato, and the children are so happy and excited to touch it and use it to count.

6.What is your favorite game?

"Colours game" is my favourite : each child is supposed to find and point to anything related to the colour they’re learning in the classroom (blue table, blue window, blue shirt that their classmate is wearing..etc)

7.What is your favorite book to work on with the kids?

At the beginning of my teaching experience  with the small children I used to work a lot with “Pandy the Panda” collection books, but through time I realized that it’s better not to have one favourite book and to always look for new ideas and teaching materials.

8.Can you tell me about a successful behavior management strategy you have used in the past that helped engage a pupil or a group of pupils?

Well, to be honest, I can’t pretend that I have found THE successful behavior management strategy yet, I’m still looking for it “ : ) “ ;  I try to adapt myself to the classroom's general atmosphere. (For example, if the children are excited and are not concentrated, we play quiet games, like performing soft movements with hands, arms…). 

9.How do you evaluate small children?

I think small children need to be evaluated all along the school year, and notes should be taken accordingly. It’s also possible to do it by showing them pictures or cards referring to the vocabulary of a lesson taught not a very long time ago.

10.What advice would you give a new ESL4kids teacher? If there’s one piece of advice I could give is “NEVER TRANSLATE” : show pictures, use books, do gestures, songs…..or any other tricks to teach vocabulary .

One more thing: spend all the time necessary to teach something and always make a link between old and new lessons.