Teaching English to Kids

There are a few reasons why you may want your kids to learn to speak English. It may be that your family has moved to a country where English is spoken, or you may have a situation where English is not usually spoken at home but you want your children to learn to speak the language as contact with persons outside of the home and your community increases. In other cases, you may be living in a country where English is not natively spoken, but you want your children to learn the language as early a possible, so that they will eventually be able to communicate like native speakers of the language. Whatever your reasons or motivations, teaching your children to speak English is not as difficult as it may seem at first. There are a few ground rules, tips and trick that you can used to have your kids speaking and reading (if they are old enough!) English in no time.

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Children learn some their most valuable lessons inside the home, and learning the English language is no different. You will find that as you incorporate the language in all that you do at home, the children will begin to learn and retain what you have taught them.

Make it Fun

Children have very short attention spans, so it’s important to keep them engaged. Be sure to make all of your lessons an enjoyable experience for them. For example, children love all kinds of games. A very good way for them to learn English vocabulary is by using flashcards. Flashcards can be used in all kind of fun ways, for example as a memory game or by matching the letter cards with the ABC song in the right spot. The possibilities are endless!

Use Your Daily Routine

Kids like structure, and it’s good for them to have the same routine every day, or as often as possible. While carrying out your routine tasks, build on their vocabulary by using the English words associated with the actions you are doing at any given time. So for example, if they are getting dressed or tying their shoelaces, talk about clothes. Similarly if you are preparing a meal or out grocery shopping, focus on the names of foods and the items used to prepare meals

Activities

Children love to sing and love all types of physical activity. Make use of children’s natural affinity to these activities by using songs and physical games for learning. For example, use the ABC song to teach the alphabet and other sing-a-longs to teach some concepts. In other cases you can use activities such as “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, to teach the kids all about the part of the body.

Stories

I can’t think of a child who doesn’t like stories, can you? I’ll bet not. Using stories are a great way to help children learn the language. Choose brightly colored books with kid friendly print. Also, you should read with the kids and not to them, which means that you should point to the words while reading, which allows them to the recognize written word.

These are just a few tips to get you started on teaching your kids English. Also be sure to use items that will help you as you teach the children, like when they learn the alphabet.