5 Best Approaches to Teaching Grammar to Young ESL Learners
English is not the native language of those who begin to learn English. For children in Vietnam as a country using English as a second language, learning English grammar is difficult for children to learn. So how to teach children grammar effectively and children remember and use it most naturally.
Young children have a habit of imitating and following quickly and not selectively, so if we understand this point, we should teach them how to develop naturally. There are many ways to teach grammar to children. Here are some ways I recommend when teaching grammar to children.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Le N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
1. Learn grammar through games:
Usually, children often enjoy learning while playing. Children will not feel the pressure of difficult English formulas and memorize them naturally. You need to be persistent and often refine old Knowledge for children. English grammar is inherently difficult and dry and not interesting for children, so integration into the game is essential when applying grammar teaching. Games must create excitement for children who will be curious and bewitched. Thereby also teaching more vocabulary in English, this is very helpful.
2. Practice:
No matter what you learn, you have to practice. More English grammar must be practiced in a real environment, allowing children to go to age-appropriate clubs or to organize picnics where English is used. The purpose is for children to use the Knowledge they have learned and allow them to experience it. If teaching English grammar does not facilitate practical use, then grammar study will not be effective.
Young children can memorize grammatical definitions such as subjects, nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. However, if they only learn to remember but do not understand and do not know how to use it is considered a failure. . Knowledge in books can be easily learned. Still, learning, in reality, is a matter of use and experience. When having experiences, children will understand and remember subconsciously. The purpose of grammar study is for practical use, so children have to use what they have learned.
3. Learning English in a mixed and systematic way:
Not all children have the opportunity to meet and interact with native speakers, so after days of not having to go to school, they can learn at home through social networking sites like youtube, cartoons, and funny pictures. and especially speaking in English. Children can memorize grammar sentences through conversations while watching. Children can sit for hours to watch and remember the structures, sentences, and the habit of imitating quickly.
Children remember unconsciously without knowing that they are learning grammar. The teaching of grammar is also based on topics such as: * You are greeting when you meet for the first time. * Traveling. * Visiting the villages, how to say goodbye .... Teachers must choose very close sentences and vocabulary with the child's age that communicates how to make it easier for children to remember and understand.
Make the lesson always appealing to learners. This is the most important factor.
4. Set up groups, create environments for children to read and write.
Children will not realize what they have done wrong, but it will be easier to compare the differences if friends in the same group work together to learn differently. The child will have a question then the teacher will have the opportunity to explain and through which the child will remember and never forget. Whatever the environment, competitive comparisons are always interesting, so is learning English grammar. Children who study alone will not reflect because there is no companion and no comparison, but group study is different. This is a favorable environment for the child's development. Children will be more likely to admit mistakes if their friends all make a pattern that only one person in another group will recognize the difference and understand the problem.
Always create conditions for children to read and write when they have the opportunity to remember, not only to read but forget to write or vice versa. Always suggest that children use the brain because when using the brain to practice movement habits, instead of teaching English grammar to write grammar structures to memorize, the teacher can let children read symbols and write them down. The goal is to see if your child has mastered it before teaching a new structure in English. When children do not understand, do not remember, the teacher will raise problems little by little to help them understand that they are wrong.
5. Simplify, review and edit:
Why should it be simple and correct because? Children are young because they learn English mostly as a second language, so it is easier for children to understand and recognize errors. There will be different development for children at each age stage when teaching to choose simple vocabulary, easy to understand, and familiar explanation to learn and remember. The grammar structure usually does not make it difficult for children to be difficult because they do not know how to use it. Children can not imagine spoken language when they speak, but when rewriting, they can write correctly because they learn formulas and exercises in books, but they do not know how to apply them.
Understanding this problem right from the beginning, the focus teacher starts when teaching children and communicating to understand so they can go a long way to conquering grammar to help them remember and not forget to apply. Children need to have a so-called review and correction of grammar knowledge learned. So teachers should be the ones who facilitate the repetition of grammar knowledge learned through activities to check that young children have acquired the Knowledge before teaching a new lesson. Usually, review the previous lesson first and then start teaching and learning new lessons.
Teachers should teach children who are very bored quickly that they should change activities, often avoiding repetition. When children love, they will learn and be attracted to what is taught.
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Summarizing through what I have experienced in teaching children grammar, I recognize some of the problems encountered, as mentioned in the lesson. Hopefully, this article will be useful for those preparing to teach to have a look before going to the stage of communicating to learners.
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