Teaching English to Children
2 Attention span
Children have a short attention span. It means that they have limited duration when dealing with learning activities. The duration can be lengthened
when the activity is interesting and fun to them. 3
Sensory input Children need to have five senses stimulated. In relation this, the teachers
need to design activities to achieve the optimum results of teaching and learning process.
4 Affective factors
Children are often innovative in language forms but still have a great many inhibitions. However, children are much more fragile than adults. Their egos are
still being shaped, and therefore the slightest nuances of communications can be negatively interpreted. The teachers need to help them to overcome such potential
barriers to learning. The teachers also should generate children confidents and self-esteems, and should make them ignore anything which can interrupt their
minds when learning language and doing activities in the language lesson. 5
Authentic, meaningful language Children are focused on immediate needs. It means that they have much
concern with something ‘here and now’. That is why teachers need to provide the children with language that is relatively tangible to the children. Teachers should
avoid presenting language without context in isolated forms. Based on the principles, there are some considerations for the teachers
before conducting the teaching and learning process. The first is the children
should be given familiar topics. Kindergarten children will easily learn something that is familiar with them. The second, it is important to give interesting and
various activities. The consideration is that kindergarten children are children that bored quickly because they have a short attention span.
Stern 1970: 57-58 cite in Brown 2000: 50-51 proposes second language teaching method or procedure on the basis of first language acquisition.
a In language teaching, we must practice again and again. Child repeats things over and over again. During the language learning stage he
practices all the time. This is what we must also do when we learn a foreign language.
b Language learning is mainly a matter of imitation. Teacher must be a mimic. Just like a small child, he imitates everything.
c First we practice separate sounds, then words, then sentences. That is the natural order and is therefore right for learning a foreign language.
Watch a small child’s speech development. d A small child listens and speaks and no one would dream of making him read
or write. Reading and writing are advances stages of language development. e Teacher does not have to translate.
f A small child simply uses language. He does not learn formal grammar. It is unnecessary to use grammatical conceptualization in teaching a foreign
language.
g Teacher should define the appropriate materials for children the understanding of children characteristics is also needed to obtain the language learning
purposes. Grammatical items are some language elements which should be
approached carefully and with extreme caution Scott and Ytreberg, 1990: 6. Teacher cannot directly bring the grammar rules into the class but introduce them
the children in certain times such as when student asks for an explanation and when correcting written work.
Materials consisting of contextual tasks and activities are needed because children seem to talk about what they already know and about information
surround them Aitchison 2003: 135. Further, teacher needs to plan activities which are requiring children to get them body moved, to provide interesting
media, and to give modeling action to student 1 the language learning Scott and Ytreberg, 1990: 5. Moreover, by dealing with the situation around them, children
practice and increase their abilities to solve problems by themselves Paul 2003: 172.
According to Brown 2000: 88-89 language lessons can at times be difficult for children; the teacher has to make them interesting lively, and fun. He notes
that the teacher can do the following advice. 1. Because children are focused on the immediate here and now, activities should
be designed to capture their immediate interest. 2. A lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive.
3. A teacher needs to be animated, lively, and enthusiastic about the subject matter. Consider the classroom a stage on which you are the lead actor, your
energy will be infections. While you may think that you are overdoing it, children need this exaggeration to keep spirits buoyed and minds alert.
4. A sense of humor will go a long way to keep children laughing and learning. Since children’s humor is quite different from adults, remember to put yourself
in their shoes. 5. Children have a lot natural curiosity. Make sure that you tap into that curiosity
whenever possible, and you will thereby help to maintain attention and focus.