IH Madrid - Best Practice for Very Young Learners

BEST PRACTICE WITH VERY YOUNG LEARNERS

Following a competition, here are some of our top tips for success with VYL. Many thanks to the contributors: Maria Alonso Alex Bishop Riccardo Chiappini Cynthia Defechereux Faye Hobson Andrea Littlewood Sisi Rabenstein Voytec Suchoki

When teaching infants, you will use crayons – A LOT. And you need to make sure that each child has a bag of crayons with ALL of the colours you will need. There is nothing worse than hearing the distressed cry of ‘Teacher – no tengo red crayon’ in the middle of your colour dictation exercise.

And no matter how many times you sort out the crayons before class, you can bet your life that by the end of class some of those bags will contain three green crayons and no orange or yellow ones. It’s exasperating but also inevitable.

Solution? Make crayon sorting into a game. When the kids have finished table time activities, have them sit in a circle and empty all of the crayons into the middle. Give each child an empty bag and do some TPR. “Three, two, one – take a RED crayon”. “Put it in the bag”.

“Three, two, one – take a PINK crayon" and so on until all of the crayons are neatly organised into their corresponding bags. The kids think it’s great fun and they have saved you a job! It’s a win-win.

How easy it all becomes once you realise that the "worst" student/s in your YL group is/are a (actually THE) chance for you to become a better teacher, a better person to really understand your students' needs.

Classrooms are full of surprises. A fly will find its way into your room, a plane will fly over the school, it will start to rain, it might snow. There might be a birthday party they are all excited about or they may have come back from a school trip and are exhausted.

It’s absolutely normal to have to modify your plan. Go with the flow if you can with a rain chant, an insect poem, a question about their trip or the party.

Very young learners respond well to routines, classroom rules and a reward system. They benefit from being familiar with the situation and it gives them security. Also, always promote positive reinforcement and you will see it works well!

ROUTINE

Children need to know what is expected of them and they feel most secure when things are quite predictable.

It’s when there isn’t a fixed routine and what might happen is unknown that children can get agitated.

Once I learnt the importance of this, my classes with infants became so much easier to manage. It takes time to establish routines but once you have them in place things go much more smoothly. Using songs or chants during transitions such as moving from circle time to table time or for opening or closing their books and tidying up can also help to prevent kids getting distracted and they help to signal the change in stage.

REWARD

When I first started teaching children, I really didn’t understand the concept of the star chart and I definitely didn’t use positive reinforcement enough. Now, I give points and stars out like nobody’s business! With my infant kids, the stars go directly on their hands – an instant reward for answering questions, for working well at table time and for being an example of positive behaviour when other children are distracted. Small children are quick to catch on when another child is rewarded and try to mirror their behaviour.

It’s amazing how motivated little ones are by stars and certificates, but they are also just as happy with a high-five or a well done! Kids want to be noticed – so make sure you notice them when they are doing things well.

RESPONSIBILITY

I have also learnt over time that children like having responsibility – it makes them feel more grown-up and in control. Allocate helpers to hand out crayons or glue – you can even give them a badge to wear. At table time with infants, a lot of colouring goes on so Instead of just running the colour dictation yourself, you can nominate a child to choose the next colour and tell the rest of the class what to colour in. My kids love this and are always sitting ready with a crayon in their hand hoping that they will be next to choose.

Something I wish I had known when it came to organizing pairs/groups/teams, was that you can lie when you say things are ‘random’. I started planning who I was going to match together and then orchestrating it with lollipop sticks, cards etc. As long as children think it is random, and thus fair, you can really improve your group dynamics, pair together strong and weak, strong and strong, whatever you like.

I wish someone had told me it would take till at least November for routines to become established. Things can seem chaotic, but just persevere – before long the kids will be reminding you if you forget to do something.

Young children don’t mind clearing up if you can make it a fun part of the class with a song or chant. Don’t stress about getting cleared up and out on time: make it part of your lesson.

Something I wish I'd known is structure, structure, structure.

It's a winner all round. The children need a familiar structure to know what is expected of them (a lot of behaviour issues stem from them not knowing this). It reduces your planning time as you have the broad stages of the class set already (start routine, language recycling games/activities, language presentation in a circle and practice at the tables, then the finish routine. Each class you just slot in new language or practice into the relevant stage.

It can be all too easy to keep a mental note of those moments in the class that make us feel angry, exhausted or frustrated. For every negative thought, balance it out with a positive one. So, “Alvaro just wouldn’t stay still” can be followed by “Maria made me smile when she remembered a line of a song”. I know this might sound like a passage from a self help manual but it’s too easy to be dragged down by those difficult moments. Share your thoughts. YLs teachers are well known for listening, helping, sharing and giving good advice.

I wish I had known and understood this secret when I started teaching very young learners.

This is magic, this is gold. It is something we all desire even as adults but with children it makes a world of difference. Can you guess what it might be?

When I was teaching in Japan my assistant and I were in charge of about 12 children between the ages of two and four, in an English-immersion preschool class. The class lasted 4 hours, with snack and lunch breaks in which we had to be with the children the whole time.

There were many routines in place, but we were having lots of trouble having the kids respond. We were also having discipline issues and sometimes the kids were being mean to each other.

Then we started doing something that we had really not done enough of, and it completely turned the tide of the class. It affected everyone.

One thing.

Praise.

Know this: children want to please you. They want to know that they are doing well.

Showing them that you are happy with them, that they are doing well has such immense motivational power that it cannot be absent from the classroom, and should be used regularly, and in a genuine way.

This 6-letter word will make a huge difference for your class, but also for the child whose confidence and self-worth will grow as a result.

My activity is using a puppet such as Tiger, but it could be one (or more) you bring. It's surprisingly effective to talk to the kids through the puppet and with a bit of practice yourself to animate the puppet and show mood/emotion, it can be a powerful tool in the classroom.

I wish I had known more about the importance of establishing classroom routines.

When children know exactly what the teacher wants them to do, the majority will happily comply. Kids who have structure are more confident and willing to work harder.

Routines reduce stress, help with classroom management, facilitate learning and teaching and, most importantly, they save valuable classroom time.

I always spend the first few weeks making students learn and practise the routines. They need to know how to enter and exit the classroom, where to put their school bags and coats, how to ask for things, how to access materials, tidy up, gather their belongings and so on.

For example, to enter the classroom, children line up at the door and must answer a question to get in. This gives me the chance to connect with my kids at an individual level and sets the tone for the rest of the class. Beginning the class with a song or chant helps channel energies and strengthens the sense of belonging to the group, Experience has also taught me that setting up the classroom beforehand by, for example, changing the seating arrangement is crucial. It contributes to personalising the learning environment in such a way that I feel I 'own' the space, which makes me more comfortable and in control.

Sometimes the simplest idea is the best. I've been working on extra counting activities with yoghurt pots. I've covered each with a sticky white label and have written the number (and corresponding dots) They help me build a tower as they put the pots in order. They are easy to stack.

Find out the name of the teacher whose room you use and be ready to say "Hola Rosa. Gracias Rosa!"

It's really worth getting on well with the teacher whose off site classroom you use. Keep smiling and saying hello.

The very little ones love being mini teachers. You can choose a child to help you at various points in the lesson. eg to be the special singer with a welcome song the whole class sings. This means they sit or stand next to you with a plastic microphone and sing into it as you and teh rest of the class sing. I found a few bargain microphones in Dealz. Very handy!

Children are curious. They may grasp, grab, shake, rattle or break an object in front of them to see what happens. Keep your material out of reach to avoid temptations for them to start touching your material when your back is turned.

Try learning from their curiosity. Make the most of hiding objects in a “curiosity bag” bag and slowly revealing them. Allow children to touch your bag and guess what’s inside. Make it a special moment. They have to earn it by looking and listening. A simple chant can help: What’s in my bag today. What’s in my bag today? Is it big? Is it small? What’s in my bag today”

The best practical idea ever given to me. It’s easy to misplace that vital piece of material you spent ages preparing. Get them to close their eyes and chant “Close your eyes. I’ve got a surprise”. Find what you were looking for and show it to them. That‘s the surprise!

Count to three (or four or five) if you feel like exploding when things don’t go as planned. Imagine someone is taking a photo of you and think how scary and out of control you might look! It really is worth keeping calm. We’re the positive role model for these little ones!

Remember that the little ones are all dealing with learning curves, just as we are.

So many things are new to them and they get frustrated and tired too.

Follow the good advice we are given. “Catch them being good” and “Keep it short and simple”.