How To Work With Kids Who Speak English As A Second Language
When you are teaching in any capacity and particularly in a classroom environment, it can prove to be tough for the kids who are speaking English as a second language. Therefore, you certainly need to be able to successfully up your game to provide them with a learning environment in which they can fully thrive and develop. With this in mind, here are a few ways that you can successfully work with kids who speak English as a second language.
Take on Further Qualifications
The qualifications that you have picked up may not have covered the teaching of kids who speak English as a second language. Therefore, it is certainly going to be worth looking into getting an esl license or other type of qualification that is successfully going to allow you to teach the kids that need a high level of support in this area. As well as giving you the skills that you need, it can also be yet another string to your bow.
Maximize Visual Learning
When it is not the case that kids are currently at a sufficiently high level of English learning, you can then look to maximize the visual learning that they are doing, as this is the type of universal language that will help to ensure that everyone is benefitting. As well as using labelled imagery, you can also look to use more videos. At the same time, you can also use English words alongside the images as a way of helping this aspect of the language to progress in the right direction.
Encourage More Group Work
In a lot of different classroom environments, you will tend to find that it is widely going to be the case that group work can be helpful, as kids have an innate desire to want to help one another. As a direct result of this, you may well find that this helps to facilitate friendships, which leads to better communication skills. This can help to ensure that the kids are forming the type of relationships that encourage language learning outside of the direct classroom environment as well.
Allow Them to Progress at Their Own Pace
While they may not feel highly comfortable speaking out right from the start, they are likely to eventually reach the point at which they are going to want to speak more and more. However, if you are the one that ends up pushing this too heavily, it can easily result in a situation in which you are putting them off rather than gently helping them along in the right direction.
Allow Them to Express Their Culture
It can also provide an excellent opportunity for the all the other kids in the class, as they can learn about an entirely new culture, so you should certainly make the most of this excellent opportunity that has come along.
All of these are the methods that can be highly helpful with kids learning English.
Gary is a TEFL certified English language instructor and teacher trainer. He has a strong academic background and a rich experience in teaching students of diverse cultures. He likes helping learners to overcome their English learning barriers. His strengths are in creating a positive learning environment, applying learners centered strategies, and having a passion for teaching. He teaches in a state school in Orlando.
