Effective Strategies to Teach English to Young Learners

Every teacher has different ways to teach English to her/his class. Before we teach students, we have to know who we teach and what are their characteristics in learning language. Therefore, we will provide learning design in our class. Here some considerations which you should know about your students

1. Children are often enthusiastic and lively as learners
2. The children are lose interest more quickly and are less able to keep themselves motivate don task they find difficult 
3. Children use their new language in conversation (talking to someone) without focusing on grammar 
4. Adults tend to be worry of using foreign language because they think that the language they use is correct or not based on grammar or structure they learn. 
5. Children often seem less embarrassed than adults at talking in a new language, and their lack of inhibition seems to help them to get a more native-like accent.

After we know students, we start to design teaching strategies. Wulandari, Ratminingsih, and Putu Ramendra (2020) found 5 strategies in teaching English for young learners

• Listen and Repeat

These strategies focuses on enriching young learners vocabulary. Young leaners will imitate the word which they listen and repeat the word. This activity is aimed to help students memorize the vocabularies easily.

• Listen and do 

The teachers will give instruction to students. The instruction contains of a few sentence and ask young learners to do what the teacher say.

• Question and Answer 

The teachers will ask a question and the students answer the question. Young learners can write in a book and whiteboard, and directly answer the questions. 

• In Pair

The teacher asks young learners to make groups in pair.  Afterwards, the teacher gives several tasks related to pair activity.  

• Cooperative Learning 

This strategy is group strategy. Young learners will try learn a new vocabulary in a group. They will try to learn it in a community and When you learn something together, you'll likely spend more time with each other, understand different perspectives and accommodate different work styles. It's an effective strategy for team building and collaboration

• Games 

Every young leaner like studying through games. They will enjoy, relax classroom, and play while studying. 

According to lestari, Asrori, and Sulistyawati (unkown year), They stated some strategies to teach English to young learners.

1. Icebreaking
2. Recalling Memory 
3. Brainstorming
4. Discussion 
5. Game
6. Listen and Read 
7. Listen and Match 
8. Draw and Write
9. Write Paragraph
10. Filling the blank
11. Vocabulary Writing 
12. Concluding Material
13. Police of English 
14. Reading Time
15. English Camp 
16. Assembly 

Based on my teaching experiences, I have some strategies to build young learners understanding the material taught.

1. Identifying Students' learning styles
2. Visible Thinking Routines (VTR)
3. Differentiated instructions 
4. Ice Breaking and games 

References 

Journal of Educational Research and Evaluation  Volume 4, Number 3, Tahun 2020, pp. 235-241;

Strategies Implemented in Teaching English for Young Learners in Primary School by Ni Luh Putu Titin Wulandari, Ni Made Ratminingsih, and D. P. Ramendra (2020)

Journal of The English Teaching Strategies for Young Learners in An International Primary School in Surakarta by Ria Puji Lestari, Muhammad Asrori, Hefy Sulistyawati