Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) can sometimes be challenging, and even more so when teaching children. While adults may immediately understand what they have to gain by acquiring a second language, children will often need you to motivate them by making learning English a fun and rewarding experience. Using games, songs, and fun reading activities can help young learners develop the four basic communication skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing.INSTRUCTION
1. Plan your lesson carefully. While lesson planning is essential when teaching all age groups, it is absolutely crucial when teaching children. Poor lesson planning may force you to drag out activities, which in turn will cause children to become bored and restless. Children tend to have a shorter attention span than adults, therefore try to plan several short activities rather than a couple of long ones.
2. Start your lesson with a warm-up activity, such as a quick and fun game. Games like "hangman" or "I spy" can allow your students to review the vocabulary you have taught them during the previous lesson.
3. Introduce new vocabulary using flash cards or realia. Flash cards are simply pictures of the object or concept you want to teach, while realia is a real physical object. For example, when teaching the word "banana," use either a picture of a banana or a real banana so that your students can easily grasp the meaning of the word.
4.Put the new vocabulary or grammar into practice. You can do this using either worksheets or a speaking exercise. For example, if you have been teaching the names of various fruits, you could either give your students a fruit-related worksheet such as a crossword or a word search, or you could organize a role-play activity where students have to buy fruits at the local grocery store.
5. Ask your students to either read a text from an age-appropriate book or listen to a recording. Since listening and reading exercises tend to require a lot of concentration, it is usually better to perform one or the other during every lesson, but not both. Then ask your students questions to check their understanding of the text or the recording. At this point, you can also get your students to practice their writing skills by asking them to write a short paragraph on the story they have just heard or read.
6. Finish the lesson by playing another quick game or fun activity to review the notions you have just taught them. Physical activities such as singing or "Simon says" work best with younger children, while older children usually prefer quizzes or board games.
source :http://www.ehow.com/how_8146923_teach-colors-young-learners.html
