What are some reasonable goals for my 4 year old students learning English as a Second Language?

Question

I'm about to begin teaching at an International preschool. Many of my students speak very little to no English and I am trying to develop a curriculum with some goals in mind. What do you think they will be able to do at this age?

Answer 1

Remember that listening is the foundational skill they need to learn. A good way to approach your curriculum is through using something called "Total Physical Response", or TPR. A good bookstore can help you find info. on it.

Things they can learn are their colors--including light and dark shades.

Shapes.

You can work with numbers and letters.

Lotto is a good game for little ones (they turn over cards to match, and if they are pictures, they have to say the name of the pair before they can win it).

Have them doing things--you can teach verbs and teach them in command form. Walk. Stop. Run. Hop. Skip.

Make it fun, and change activities often, like every five minutes or so--keep watching them and adjust as you go.

Only speak to them in English, but keep it very simple. For insttance, cup your hand behind your ear and say "listen".
Simple motions, always the same for each command.

Don't force them to speak too much, activities where you are using English to get them to do things (take out your pencils)
(put them away), they'll start talking when they are ready, but
they'll be able to understand and follow directions really fast.

but simple songs can help them learn, and jazz chants (which you can also look up).

Limit your vocabulary and if you give a bit of language one way don't change even a word. They have to hear it the same over and over again to get started.

Answer 2

Well when I was that age I didn't know much english either, I am from cuba. What I started with was simple words like hi, mom, dad, cat, etc. just saying the words, then I worked on my spelling of them, now I know english very well and I know how to pronounce and spell it. It really works trust me, and make sure you don't move to fast many teachers make the mistake of moving to fast and children sometimes give up or don't catch on and continues saying the words wrong and the smaller the class the better because you'll be able to give the kids a little more personal attention.

Answer 3

4 year olds will be able to communicate with short 3 to 5 word sentences in a very short period of time. Start simple, with single nouns and verbs, and increase to short sentences that incorporate those nouns and verbs. Always use the real object to teach the noun, and motions that the kids can imitate to teach the verbs, and keep it fun. For example, if you are teaching the names of a couple of different fruits, show them apple, orange, and banana. Let them hold each piece of fruit and have them repeat the names of the fruits. Then model a short sentence like, "I eat apples," and eat a piece. Let the kids do the same. If you are teaching verbs, show everyone how to clap, jump, spin, etc., and make a game with it. "I can jump. John can jump. Linda can jump. I can clap. Claudia can clap. Jose can clap." Start with a limited vocabulary, and add to it. Assuming you are working with the kids on a regular basis, the majority of the kids will be able to speak and comprehend 3 to 5 word sentences within several weeks.

Answer 4

Oh, kids are fun to work with. You need to do very basic things and make them fun. Children have an attention span of about 5 minutes (college students have an attention span of 7!).

You may want to start with names. You say your name and point to yourself. Then do it again. They will get the idea. Then you go around the room and see what their names are.

Next, greetings. Hello. You can wave, saying hello. Repeat. Role play with another English speaker to say hello back. Then have the children do it.

Very basic. You can then take a moment at the beginning of every class to repeat what was learned in the previous classes to remind them. Children catch on faster than adults, I know, I taught adults English.

You can do fun things with props, it helps so they can visualize and it's very fun. Bring in veggies, fruit, etc. Bring in stuffed animals, live ones if you can. Be creative, but remember to make it fun. Good Luck! Happy Teaching.

Answer 5

I work at a preschool where some students knew little or no English, with that said maybe you could have them identify colors and simple objects in English. For example with one student I had pictures of objects say a ball then they will say the word in their language and i would say it with them, then I would say it in English and the child would repeat it. I was lucky most of them spoke spoke Spanish so it was easier to do this type of activity with them.

Answer 6

I work in a preschool with children who speak little English. Our approach is to make sure they always use English (as in not letting them speak to each other in their language). We have them repeat EVERYTHING. When you are coloring, say "James sit in the CHAIR". Have time Say CHAIR. Hand him a CRAYON, and repeat it. Everything is repetitious. They pick it up quickly. If possible, it is great if the parents are speaking English or trying to at home.

Answer 7

I think any language should be natural like mother language, so you teach them as everyday speaking like English life...but focus on fun feeling with English first. Because impression of English is root of future learning for them...

Answer 8

ABC's and very simply words no more than four or five letters. Also learning their name is reasonable.

Just like teaching English speaking children at that age.

They're little sponges and learn very quickly at that age.

Answer 9

Let them firstlearn the phonetic sounds, then startteaching them three letter words which are rhyming, like cat, rat, pen, men, bib, nib etc, then let them learn the usage of it. You can teach them to write their name correctly, and to answer simple questions like What is your father, What is he, or Where is your house etc. You can teach them to learn 5 names of simple vegetables, 5 birds, , 5 animals, 5 fruits etc. You can also tell them small stories in simple english.

Answer 10

These people come to our country, steal our jobs, and then refuse to adopt Western culture and learn English. Arrrrgggghhhhhh!