S . ESL Teaching

I often get asked about classroom management, especially with small children.  The mistake teachers often do is that they presume that kids will be sitting nicely on the chairs (or wherever) all lesson long and listen and interact with them the way they want them to. And if that's not happening, they feel incapable of managing a class and believe they are not good teachers. The problem with this is .. it is IMPOSSIBLE for a child to sit still during such a long period. No matter how great of a teacher you are and no matter how calm the child normally is. It is just not in their nature to sit still. As Sir Ken Robinson once said: A 3-year-old is not half a 6-year-old.  And a 9yo is not half a 18yo. You get the point. How long the attention span actually is, depends on different factors: age, but also the type of activity and the motivation of the student. The general concentration span of a child is between 10-15 minutes, when the task is not very demanding a...

I still remember the first time I taught a kids class, 15 years ago. The fact that I still remember it so well should give you hint about how traumatic it was for me. I still feel sorry for the poor little guys!! Just kidding. Well no, I DO still feel sorry for them. And quite frankly I did everything in my power to not have to teach them. I started out teaching teenagers, so dealing with 3 year olds was really not on my radar until my boss told me to teach her new group. I thought she was kidding and was literally begging not to get this group. I told her that I have no idea how to deal with small children, that actually, I have never even SEEN a child in my life (well, yea, this exaggeration did not help much, but hey, it was worth a try). For some reason, she really believed in me (what I’m thankful for today) and basically made me understand that I have no option and that I should not worry too much, she would show me how to teach them (you don’t even want to know how that...

Teaching with flashcards is my favorite way to teach new vocab. You should see the shoeboxes full of flashcards on my shelf! Whenever my husband comes into the office he points to my boxes and asks: “We throw them? We need more space!” :p. Don’t touch my boxes! Anyway, even if flashcards are a great way to teach new vocabublary, do yourself and your students a favor, and switch from time to time. Teaching with flashcards all the time can get anyone bored out of their skin. I also use realia (real objects) or ppt presentations, for example, but there are tons of other ways. But let’s get back to the flashcards. How I usually introduce the new words is by showing a flashcard, saying the word and have the kids repeat (yea, that’s the boring part .. but not for long). The same again with the second word. Once I have 2 words, the fun can begin.  I stick the cards to the board (the 2 that I taught so far), pointing to one card and saying the word, then pointing ...

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 asp...