Chapter II how to teach languages to different age groups

PRESCHOOL LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Young children usually don’t have a driving motivation to learn a new language and may even still be getting to grips with their mother tongue. But their wider interest in learning is usually driven by their innate curiosity and imagination. Delivering preschool language classes can be challenging given students’ shorter attention spans – teaching the youngest language learners does require large amounts of patience as well as strong classroom management skills to hold their attention at all times! Teachers and their lessons also need a high level of energy to be really engaging and successful.
It’s vital to ensure that students are kept active, busy and entertained, so lessons need to be jam-packed with material that keeps them on task. Movement is vital and that applies to the teachers as well as the students. Bringing words, ideas and stories to life by acting them out helps younger learners feel more confident in the classroom and powerfully conveys key learning objectives.

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  Be clear and simple in your communication. Students will disengage if your instructions are too long and full of waffle
  
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  Have fun and make it fun for the children too
  
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  Total Physical Response (TPR) is your friend. Develop activities through which learners can produce the language through physical actions – stand up, sit down, stand by the window etc.
  
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  Use the whole classroom environment to your advantage – learning can take place indoors, outside, sitting down, standing up or running around!
  
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  Have prompts and gimmicks like puppets, beloved characters and classroom guests to keep lessons fresh
  
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  Make sure to include gamification and short activities to keep the lesson moving and to keep students engaged.
  
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  Have a Plan B, C and D so that you can move on if / when students lose focus
  
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  Encourage and reward students for their achievements and effort.