Teach kid english

How to Teach a Child to Speak English at Home: Ideas from Experienced Tutors

Teach your child to speak English, and you’ll open up a world of opportunities for their future. It’s well-documented that English speakers often earn more, have access to the world’s top universities and enjoy greater opportunities for travel. Who wouldn’t want that for their child?    

If you’re determined to help your child learn English, you’re probably considering getting some expert guidance, whether that’s through an online English course, or finding a tutor who specializes in teaching kids.

But as a parent, you’re probably also wondering “What can I do at home to support my child’s English education myself?” We asked Preply English tutors who specialize in teaching kids that very question, and this is what they said. 

1. Sing songs with them   

A number of tutors mentioned that music is a great way to capture a child’s attention, and help them remember new words without stress.  

Nyuyki “For me, the best way is through singing and watching interactive videos. This has been tested and so far came out positive. Most children love songs and can easily retain things through music!” 

2. Use English in daily life

If you are comfortable speaking English yourself, use it in daily life alongside your mother tongue. Early exposure to more than one language at home has dozens of perks for your child. To name just one, studies show it’ll make pronunciation easier for them in the long term.

Interactive classes for kids

Learning with a tutor is more fun. Give your kids English lessons they’ll love!

Meet Preply tutors

Magdalini “Make the learning process as natural as possible. Don’t treat English as a foreign language but include it in daily activities, games and songs as you do with the child’s first language. While coloring, name the colors in English, while dancing, repeat the names of the moves in English, and so on.”

3. Set a regular learning routine  

It’s well-known that kids love routine: it inspires a sense of security and helps them to develop self-discipline. It’s also really helpful for learning a second language! 

Mirela Z.“If you are teaching your children English at home, I would advise you to have a routine for your children! Set up a schedule that is consistent every week; schedule days and times in which your children will be studying English. Have them choose the topics or themes to study, to keep them interested. Give them fun projects to do; like drawing the solar system, the USA map, holiday pictures, etc., and record them doing a presentation about the project. They will feel important!” 

4. Play with your child in English 

Several of our tutors suggested you should encourage your child to use English whilst playing. After all, studying a language won’t feel like studying if they’re having fun! 

Rajesh “To help your child get ahead with English learning, get them to play in the language. At home, try playing dress-up games, hide-and-seek, Simon Says, charades and other popular games, whilst speaking in English. In other words, get them to learn the language in the same way they learned their first one!” 

5. Ask them to act out something they see on TV 

On the subject of play, one idea for a creative game is to have your child role-play an English-language commercial that you find on YouTube or the TV. 

Miriela “Have them watch a commercial, and ask them to repeat it, as if they were acting in the commercial. This will help with their communication skills, and if they are shy, it will help them overcome their fear of making a mistake.”

6. Read comics together 

If your child is slightly older, English-language comic books can be a great step towards reading English independently. Not sure where to start? Marvel comics are a classic starting point for those learning US English, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid is great for teaching contemporary British English. 

Jamie “I think comic strips are a great way to motivate a child to learn English, depending on their age and ability. If they read a comic featuring their favorite superhero, for example, they will feel excited to learn. Also, the pictures really help them to understand the language as they provide great context.”

7. Praise them! 

Children thrive on encouragement and their parents’ encouragement above all! If your kid is trying their best to learn English, let them know that their effort makes you proud.    

Leonah “Praise your child to create a sense of success, and encourage them especially when they keep going with difficult tasks. Create a reward system for when they work hard! It doesn’t have to cost anything – extra free time, more visits to friends or activities of their choice. Don’t criticize them too often or correct every mistake, it’s okay and very normal to make mistakes when learning a language. In short, PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE!!” 

8. Ask them open-ended questions in English

If your child is younger than ten, they’re probably always asking you “Why?” Now, it’s your turn to do this to them! 

Nickoi “My strategy in the classroom is to ask open-ended questions that allow my students to speak and express themselves as much as possible. Parents can do the same, engage their children in conversation which allows them to use the language as much as possible.”

9. Have a tea party in English 

If your children are very young, a teddy bears’ tea party in English is a very cute idea that they’ll enjoy!  

Clare “The best way for parents to help young children learn English at home is to incorporate learning with play. With very young children, why not try to have a tea party in English? The child can invite their soft toys and the parent can come along, perhaps with younger siblings who won’t mind what language is being spoken, as long as they get to join in with pretend tea and cake!” 

10.

Creative writing in English is a fun activity for little people with big imaginations. 

Clare “With older children, try writing a story together. As a tutor, I like to create stories with my young students about a toy they have brought to the lesson. The child is then involved in directing their learning from the start. Once the story is built up, we take turns reading it aloud. When the child reads the story back, they recognise the vocabulary, as these are the words they have just spoken. Other keywords can also be added to make the story flow or to introduce new vocabulary. I use the story later on as a base for exercises or homework.”

11. Use puppets

Two of our tutors mentioned that puppets are a fun way to help younger children overcome their fear of speaking in English. 

Sally “I love playing games with my students using my puppet, Ziggy. Sometimes he hides part of a flashcard, other times he acts out actions for them to guess. When I ask a question and can see the student is unsure of how to answer, I ask Ziggy so they can hear his answer. It gives them the confidence to try the next one! We can correct Ziggy’s mistakes too —  it stops them from being afraid of making mistakes which is so important and we can laugh together.” 

Catherine Anne B “I am currently teaching English to Arabic children and I use puppets as my main tool in teaching English. I found the children loved the puppets and even put on puppet shows, demonstrating what they had learned.” 

12. Talk to your child’s tutor

If your child has an online English tutor, it can be tempting to leave them alone during lesson time. Especially if your child is a little shy and you don’t want to distract them! 

However, several tutors mentioned that children make much faster progress when parents check in with their tutors. It can help them stay up-to-date with what their child is learning, and practice it between lessons.  

Yolandi “My young online students who show the fastest improvement are the ones whose parents are actively involved in their learning and development. The parents who ask me to make videos of their children’s classes, to re-watch together afterward show rapid improvement. Children and teenagers who get little to no support from their parents during their language course show slower improvement.” 

She was keen to stress that there is a lot that parents can do to help their children learn, even if they’re not fluent in English themselves.

“Parents who don’t speak English, but want to support their children/teenagers in their English studies, can attend my classes together with their children (at no extra charge) so they can learn too. This will empower them to help their children with homework, or to complete worksheets at home, since they have also followed the lessons, and learned the same things that their child did. ” 

She went on to deliver one final message which all parents will agree on.

“Love, showing interest, and giving support in the process of learning, are three of the most important contributions that parents could ever make towards their children’s development.” 

The golden rule from our tutors? Make it fun! 

We spoke to more than 30 tutors, and at least half of them pointed out that the most important advice for teaching a child English is to make it a process they enjoy. Don’t push them too hard to work on grammar exercises, and focus on playful activities and speaking skills. After all, they are still young enough to learn a language simply by being around it often, and it’s important to let kids be kids. 

Give your child happy memories of learning English, and they’ll grow up with positive feelings towards the language. This will make them more likely to stick with it, and develop their skills to fluency! It’ll also be a much nicer experience for you and them.  

Jackie “My biggest piece of advice is to make English fun! A child’s creativity and excitement will help him or her succeed. Practice spelling using games. Read interesting stories. Make a yummy recipe together in English! It isn’t just about the results; it’s also about the journey along the way. The more hands-on and interactive the learning becomes, the more the child will retain the information down the line.” 

Hopefully, these tips gave you some inspiration for creative ways to teach your child english at home. If you’d like some more guidance, a few English lessons with an online tutor who specializes in teaching kids can be a source of inspiration for bringing English into your home. Private tutoring doesn’t have to be expensive either, with prices starting from just $5 per hour (and half-hour lessons available for little people with short attention spans!). 

If you’re reading this, you’re planning to do a very responsible thing for your child’s future. Being able to speak English is a remarkable gift, and will set them up for success later in life. It’s also much easier to learn a new language as a child than as an adult! If you start them young, by the time they need their language skills, they will have a high level of fluency, and speaking English will feel effortless. 

How to Teach English to Children: 3 Powerful Strategies for Impressive Results

By susanverner Last updated: February 10, 2021

Do you often hear precious little laughs and dramatic sobs in the same day?

Is your classroom is filled with color and creativity?

Have you ever felt like you’re becoming your mother (“Stop making that face or it will freeze that way!”)?

If you answered yes to any of these, you might just be an elementary teacher!

And if you teach elementary ESL, you may often find a smile on your face.

That is, until you run up against some of the struggles that are unique to teaching children—because they certainly do exist.

Language by nature is very abstract and intangible. Children, on the other hand, are very literal and concrete.

This makes it challenging to explain grammar or syntax rules to children. (How do you explain the conditional tense to a five-year-old?!)

But rest easy. As long as you know these three essential strategies for teaching English to children, your students will succeed. Even if they can’t articulate what a first conditional is.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

1. Make It Fun

Fun, fun, fun! This is one factor that really matters to kids. And that goes for kids on the playground as well as those in the classroom. I’ll never forget what my nephew said after his first day of kindergarten: “We didn’t learn anything. We just played!” And though I’m sure his class contained some academics, they were hidden well beneath a thick layer of fun.

That’s right. It’s entirely possible to teach a fun and educational class. One of the top ways to achieve this is with native content from FluentU.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language lessons.

Some educators believe that kids learn best through play. And what is true of English-speaking children, in this case, will also be true of your English-learning students. Here are some ways you can make learning more fun with your students:

Play Games

Games are a great way to make learning fun. Not only do games play on the competitive nature of most children, but games also give them a goal to accomplish. When you win a game, you have really done something, and you can feel good about your success.

There are so many games that can be used in an ESL classroom, we’ll only be able to scratch the surface today. But here are a few games that require little to no preparation, and are super fun for young students.

• Simon Says: The classic Simon Says is great for practicing listening skills. You can use it to review body parts (“Simon says touch your head“) or prepositions (“Simon says put your foot on your chair”).

• Mother May I: Take your movement games a step further and play Mother May I. Your students can use all sorts of adjectives to describe the types of steps they would like to take as they race to the other side of the playing area.

• Memory: Memory is great for learning vocabulary. Try putting a vocabulary word on one card and a picture showing the word on another. Or put synonyms or antonyms on two different cards. Lay all the cards on the table and have students try to remember where the matches are.

Be Creative

Doing the same things in class every day is boring for your students, and you’re liable to fall asleep on the job, too. So be creative with your plans.

Change things up on a regular basis. Rearrange your students’ seats so they get a different inspirational view from time to time. Give your students the test before you teach the material, and let them answer the questions as they learn. Invite guest speakers in whenever you get the chance.

You can keep the same basic schedule every day, but vary the types of exercises you do. Rotate between doing exercises from the textbook, having students work on the computer on social media or ESL learning websites, and giving them real-life materials to work with rather than ESL materials.

Try a poem by Robert Frost rather than a simple reading passage. You can also have students come up with their own games, activities and exercises. Have your students write quiz question for each other, or give them some simple game supplies and let them make thier own review game for the latest grammar point. You might be surprised at how creative students can be.

Include Art in Your Class

Kids love to make colorful and exciting things in the classroom. Pablo Picasso observed that “every child is an artist.” Take advantage of that inborn quality and use art to teach your young students the English language. Of course you can talk about obvious things like colors and shapes when you use art, but creative projects have so much more potential.

• Cultural Traditions: Invite your students to make an art project based on different cultural traditions. Then talk about that culture as well as their own—either as you make the project or once it is finished. Since kids are more concrete than adults, so having a piece of art in front of them will help them make connections to culture, which is a super abstract topic for kids.

• Collages: Art projects are also a great way to talk about prepositions of location. Collages are easy, and you can make one with just about anything. As your students work, give them instructions on where to place different items using prepositions, or let them tell you what they are doing and where items in their collage are in relation to each other. Don’t forget to give each person a chance to talk about their completed artwork after any art activity.

• Cooking: Don’t forget about the art of cooking. When you make any food in class, whether it is traditional or international, you have a chance to talk about all five senses. There is a saying that we first eat with our eyes, then our noses, then our mouths. Talk about all five senses when you cook with your students, and be sure to include the process of cooking. As you instruct your students, you cover grammar topics like imperative statements, transitions between steps, and cause and effect relationships.

Take Your Class Outside

Have you ever tried taking a class outside? If not, you’d be surprised at what they can learn in the great outdoors. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Scavenger Hunt: Try sending your students on a scavenger hunt on your school grounds. You can tailor the items they are looking for to whatever unit you are in the process of teaching. If you want, you might have them look for items that begin with each letter of the alphabet, or items that are each color of the rainbow. You can have them look for certain shapes, too.

• Treasure Hunt: You can send your students out with clues to solve (either based on grammar or content) and have each clue lead them to another. Hide your clues outside before class, geocache fashion and give students plenty of time to gather all of them before heading inside and discussing the clues and their solutions.

• Make Signs: Copy the pages of a picture book and make them into signs. Put these signs up around your school property and have students read each page and answer a question before moving on to the next station. There are lots of ways you can bring books to the outdoors.

2. Make It Active

If there is one thing kids like more than having fun, it’s moving. In fact, Dr. Maria Montessori suggested that young children are not able to learn unless they are also able to move. In addition, involving the whole body in language learning is a useful teaching method. The more language learners move, the better and faster they understand what you are teaching and the more easily they can retain the information.

TPR (Total Physical Response) is a teaching method that works really well with children. In essence, you associate physical movements with language instruction. Students move as they learn. They follow instructions, copy your movements and get their whole bodies involved when they practice language concepts. This is one of the most effective ways to teach ESL to children.

Using hands-on material is also a great way to get your students moving as they learn English. You can use simple items like flashcards, but you can also be more creative with what you give your students to handle.

• Small World Play: Try collecting animal figures that show up in a book or story your class is reading, and let students retell the story using the figures. Try using this small world play when you do units on different subjects. Create a small scenario that includes play-sized items that represent those found in the real world.

• Mystery Bags: Really target your students’ sense of touch by putting items in brown paper bags. Then have them reach into the bags without looking and describe what they are feeling.

• Jenga Discussion: Rather than giving students a list of discussion questions on paper, write each question on a Jenga block. Then have students answer the question on the block they pulled for their turn.

3. Don’t Put Pressure on Your Students

One of the most important things to remember when you teach children is not to put pressure on them. Remember that children learn some aspects of foreign languages more easily than adults. So no matter what you do in class, they will already be on the road to fluency in English.

Their natural acquisition process will follow three simple steps. They will recognize words and grammar when you use them. They will be able to respond when you ask them questions about the words and grammar you use. And then they will be able to use those language structures themselves.

You can avoid putting pressure on students by:

• Not correcting every error they make. Focus on what you have recently taught, and correct errors with those words and structures. But if you haven’t covered a grammar point yet, let it go. Your students don’t have to have all of English perfect right away.

• Modeling correct language use. When you hear a student say something wrong or use a word incorrectly, just use it correctly right afterwards. The natural language learning feedback system in the human brain will notice the difference, and your students will likely use the language correctly just from hearing it right.

• Not giving everything a grade. Sometimes it’s enough to just go over correct answers with your students or have them discuss their answers together. You don’t have to collect every paper and mark it up with the mighty red pen.

Because language is abstract and children are concrete, they may not be able to articulate grammar and other technical aspects of language, and that’s okay. Just keep things fun, active pressure-free, and your students will be fluent in no time!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

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Teaching a child English from scratch 👨‍🏫 English for kids

English for 3-4 years old

Disputes about early learning are as old as the world - there is no consensus on this matter. But the generally accepted "starting" age can be considered 3 years. As for the first acquaintance with foreign languages, the period from 3 to 7 years is considered the best time for this.

This is due to the fact that it is at this age that the child develops logical forms of thinking and voluntary attention. The formation of the latter leads to the fact that the child begins to resort to already mastered methods of memorizing information: he repeats what he heard, tries to comprehend what is remembered in the right sequence.

In the same period, speech and phonemic hearing develop intensively, vocabulary expands and the morphological system of the language spoken by everyone around is fixed in the mind.

Some parents refuse preschool education of their child in order not to “deprive him of his childhood”, because education is associated with coercion, routine, punishment for mistakes. Thick textbooks with yellowed pages and teachers who have never been in English-speaking countries are a wall between us and free English. It is up to our children to overcome or even break this wall, young millennials today are tomorrow's bilinguals.

Gradually, the fear of early learning recedes, because it seems no longer necessary to explain that a little person can be taught anything just by playing with him.

At this early stage, it is not necessary to enroll a child in special courses. You yourself will be able to perfectly cope with the first stage of mastering English. In addition, classes with a parent eliminate the stress factor in the form of an unfamiliar place, a teacher and other children. Here's how to do it.

By the way, classes English for children 7 years old online takes place in a comfortable environment: students can study even at home, even at their grandmother's, even in the country. In individual lessons, no one will distract the child from acquiring new knowledge, and textbooks and notebooks are not needed - only the Internet.

English proficiency test

This English proficiency test was compiled by the Skysmart online school tutors. They prepared fun and relevant tasks on modern topics to make the test both useful and interesting

How a parent can practice English with a child

Surround your child with English. Integrate English speech, individual words into everyday life. When preparing dinner, name the ingredients. On a walk, describe the objects you encounter in English. When asking your child to do something, use basic English verbs (look, take, sit).

You will be very surprised when you realize that your child does not need translation - the meaning of any word becomes clear from the context. Of course, for this you need to have basic knowledge. If you do not know English at all, then this will be an excellent reason for you to make sure that not only a child, but an adult can learn anything through the game.

Get large jingle dice with English letters and flash cards with words. Children adore such cards, bright pictures contribute to quick memorization.

Do not start with the alphabet. Many are accustomed to the fact that learning any language begins with the alphabet. Parents can now exhale - this routine and really stressful part can be skipped. Why not learn the alphabet?

Reading in any language starts with sounds and then syllables. It makes sense to teach whole words with the child so that he easily and naturally gets acquainted with the variations of sounds. The alphabetically learned "h" does not correlate with the pronunciation of the word "hippo". It is unlikely that you will be able to explain to a three-year-old kid why “hippo” and not “eychipo”.

Therefore, memorizing the letters of the alphabet separates the child from his first success in learning English, and the parents from the motivation and fuse to continue learning. In addition, you can save a lot of money by ignoring the purchase of "speaking alphabets" and other useless and loud toys.

You can connect online games to the educational process from the age of four. But it is better at this age to focus on cartoons and songs. Here are some sites where you can find educational games for the little ones.

Online learning games are not the only way to help your child learn English. When they are tired or, on the contrary, carried away the child too much, songs come to the rescue in their most diverse variations.

Why is it necessary to sing with a child, and how can this help him learn English?

Singing songs and chants (short rhythmic chants) is an essential learning tool for a more or less progressive teacher.

New words and grammatical structures are learned much easier if they are accompanied by rhythmic music. The phenomenon of "learning" children's songs does not require special confirmation - is there anyone who does not remember the Russian Christmas tree born in the forest, or the overseas farmer MacDonald ia - ia - oh?

If suddenly you don't like or don't want to sing yourself - save links to resources where you can find a variety of songs and chants in English.

If you have already played and sung enough, you can start watching cartoons. For us adults, learning English through TV shows is exciting. Why not try the same thing with a child, but instead of serials, include cartoons. The effect is one to one and even better.

Finding the right cartoon that can captivate a child is not an easy task.

It's great if it will be a whole animated series with regular characters. A familiar character on the screen will help the baby focus more on his speech, and not on his appearance.

In order to achieve the desired educational effect from watching, record the knowledge gained after each watched series. It is advisable to limit the number of episodes viewed in a row.

For a 3-4 year old child, 15-20 minutes is ideal timing. After each series, ask the child about what they watched, ask them to repeat familiar and new words they heard. If there are blocks, ask the child to collect these words.

Operate not on the principle of quantity, but on the principle of quality. It is important that the child not only learn the words, but also actively use them in speech.

Let's summarize and repeat what needs to be done so that the child has fun and enjoys learning English.

How to study English with a 3-4 year old child

1. Play more with the baby, offering him a variety of types of games: from quiet, where perseverance and attention are required, to fast ones, where speed and reaction are needed.

2. Invite your child to join online education. Choose some exciting games from our selection and turn learning English into a real adventure.

3. Sing songs: the more the better. There are so many songs in our collections that any child will find something that he likes.

4. Watch cartoons with your child. Pick up a few animated series in English that he will like and spend 15-20 minutes every day watching and the same amount to fix everything.

5. Surround your child with English: insert the words he has learned into everyday speech. Ask the child to do something: bring a book, drink milk, walk the dog - all in English.

6. Maintain a balance between study and free time. Do not turn the child's acquaintance with the language into a routine - let the child form only positive associations with the subject. The school will get better anyway.

7. Do not compare your child's progress with other children's. It is better to praise and reward for small victories - the more motivation, the greater the progress in learning.

English for 5-7 year olds

Teaching English to a 5-7 year old child is not very different from teaching a younger child. The basic rules and techniques remain the same. The base is the game. Only in this way can a child at this age really effectively learn the material.

After four years, parents may start thinking about courses, language schools and tutors. During this period of development, the child experiences a great craving for communication with peers.

While a three-year-old child may perceive such a situation as hostile, a six-year-old child, on the contrary, should have enough social interaction. In addition, courses and various language circles will help the child overcome the fear of speaking in a non-native language.

We all know firsthand what a “language barrier” is. The sooner a child gets used to communicating in English, the more likely it is that, growing up, he will only become more confident, getting into one or another language situation.

As a rule, if the study started from the age of three, then by the age of 5-7 the child can already quite coherently express himself in simple sentences in English, understand simple speech and more or less correctly build grammatical constructions.

Such progress should not be a reason to take a break or rest before starting school. You must be prepared that you will have to learn a second language, if not all your life, then most of it. Because the human brain has an unpleasant habit of forgetting all the most necessary things very, very quickly if we don’t use it in any way.

Continue to play with your child and integrate new words into everyday situations. You can play in different ways. Now many parents are leaning towards online education. There can be many reasons: lack of time, lack of confidence in one's own teaching talents, or simply a desire to dilute live classes with online learning games.

The myths around online education have been dispelled and refuted a long time ago. We know that as a means of development, online games are in no way inferior to communication between a child and a teacher.

With the help of online resources, the child will easily learn to read and count in English, develop intelligence and logical thinking. The gameplay in educational games is designed in such a way that in addition to the main skill (reading or counting), the child acquires secondary knowledge about the world around him.

At the same time, the issue of using gadgets to teach the youngest causes a lot of controversy. To strike a healthy balance between live learning and online education, keep gadget use under strict control. Limit the time your child spends in front of a screen. Do not forget to involve him in live outdoor games.

Also, don't forget to turn off in-app payments if your child is learning from a smartphone or tablet - this will help you avoid unplanned in-game purchases.

Of course, there are never too many games, but it is better to continue to alternate between online and live mobile lessons. You can also connect fine motor skills: ask the child to draw a number, letter or object. In the future, this will help him begin to write and memorize words.

It is assumed that at this age it is already possible to start reading books. Choose thin books with large print and colorful pictures. In this case, the more pictures, the better. Read aloud, ask to repeat and retell. Reading is a process that forms new neural connections in the brain. It is unlikely that something more useful in learning a language has been invented so far than reading.

The older the student, the longer and more complex the cartoons they watch should become. From 15-20 minutes you can move on to 30. Choose such cartoons where the phrases of the characters become more complicated. The storyline should also become a little more complicated.

Learning without tears (free guide for parents)

Ekaterina Murashova's step-by-step guide on how to stop doing homework for your child and build a healthy relationship with your studies.

English for Juniors

Usually a second language is taught at school from the second grade. But if you start studying earlier, by this time you can achieve good success: you can easily count to 20 and discuss the simplest topics.

If, at the age of eight, a child starts learning a second language from scratch, then it is worth adhering to all the same principles: games, songs, repetition.

It is usually much more difficult to get a student interested in a subject - they have many other interests. At this stage, it is important to carefully integrate additional activities into the child's daily routine.

It is necessary to act as delicately as possible so as not to frighten off the student. Most likely, it will not be easy to explain to a second-grader why it is not enough for him to learn English at school and why he needs to study extra. So just keep playing.

At this age, it is worth paying more attention to reading, teaching the child to work with text. Gradually, the book should become thicker, and there should be more text in it.

If you decide to work with your child on your own, without a tutor, be prepared to figure out intensive reading on your own.

Intensive reading implies a detailed analysis of the text. So the child learns to clarify for himself incomprehensible places in the text, gets acquainted with grammatical constructions, learns to ask the right questions based on the content.

Foreign language text for intensive reading should be short and interesting. The longer the text, the less likely the child is to understand it to the end. Choose texts of this type:

• I am nine years old. I love all holidays. Birthday is my favorite holiday. My birthday is on the fifth of November. I usually have a party on this day. I invite my friends. We have much fun during the party. We eat cakes, sweets and ice cream. We play games. I get a lot of presents on this day.

Find texts in English. language to practice reading skills. For example, on the website of the British Council. Here we have collected a lot of interesting texts, distributed by difficulty levels. Each text is accompanied by pictures and exercises to consolidate reading comprehension. The child should be interested in working with texts of this format.

However, to develop reading skills, it is recommended to read on paper. For a long time, all possible experiments have been carried out that have proved the high efficiency of such reading. If there is no book with texts, then you can print texts from the Internet.

You can also use audio books to learn a foreign language. After reading the text, and then listening to it, the child will soon learn new vocabulary and will not get confused in the pronunciation of new words.

How to learn English with a child: advice for parents

It may seem that helping a child learn a foreign language is very difficult, but it is not. To make it bring only pleasure, follow some simple recommendations, and everything will definitely work out.

• Don't take language learning too seriously. Do not forget for a moment that this is just an exciting game in which there are no losers and winners.
• Your task is to captivate the child. He will do the rest himself.
• Use as many playing techniques as possible. Do not try to evaluate the material from the point of view of an adult. The more varied the games, the faster and more fun the child will learn. The same actions, albeit in the form of a game, will still one day turn into a routine and get bored.
• So support diversity. Connect surrounding objects, relatives, pets to educational games.
• Don't neglect online education. You can protect your child from gadgets for as long as you like, or you can learn how to benefit from them. The benefits of interactive online games have long been confirmed, so you should not be afraid of them anymore. Choose games with your child, track the process.
• Online learning does not mean that the parent is not involved in the process. You should record the results, ask the child test questions and ensure that the learned words are used in speech.
• Track your child's progress. Buy or make your own large board that you can write on with colored markers. Children are arranged in such a way that in the “achievement-prize” combination, any information is absorbed better. However, it's not just children.
• To constantly feed the child's interest, start a prize fund. It doesn't have to be toys or candy. The prize can be stars cut out of paper. The joy of getting such a star is no less than the joy of candy, you'll see.
• Show your child cartoons in English. Let such viewing become a family tradition - support the baby in his occupation. Until the age of seven, children copy the behavior of their parents, so show your child an interest in English in every possible way.
• Play the game "I see" in English. The rules are simple. Anywhere: at home, in a cafe, on a walk, say I see ... and name the objects around - house, car, dog. When you realize that the level of the child's English has grown up, you can add adjectives to the game: big house, red car, black dog. This is a very simple and incredibly effective game.
• If a word is unknown, a suitable flash card should immediately be at hand. A set of such cards can be bought at a bookstore or ordered online. Choose cards with colorful pictures and carry them with you, showing your child at every opportunity.
• Work on your pronunciation right away. Usually this point is missed, because there is an opinion that it is important to know grammar, and only pronunciation is a delight. It is better to take care of the correct pronunciation and correct intonations in advance, so that later your child, who has already grown up, does not have to painfully get rid of the “Russian English” accent for a long time. Moreover, the younger the child, the easier it is for him to remember and reproduce the intonations he hears.
• Songs will help with pronunciation. Sing with the child for so long until you are finally convinced that the work of songs is done. If for some reason singing does not give you pleasure, let your child choose songs to their liking on the YouTube channels that are in the selection above.
• To prevent all these points from getting mixed up in an uncontrollable mess, make a study plan. It is not necessary to make a strict schedule, where the day of the child is scheduled by the minute. A plan is needed to keep a balance in a child's life: play, learning, sleep and free time - everything should be comfortable for the child during the day. This rough schedule will also be useful for tracking your child's progress.
• Spend no more than 60 minutes a day with English at first. This time includes watching cartoons, online games and reading. Moreover, all three aspects should not go one after another. It is better if there is a pause of half an hour or an hour while reading and watching a cartoon.
• Be consistent. Only regular practice will bear fruit. In the end, you can stop treating the study of English as a study. Then the process will go much faster and more fun.

In matters of teaching a child, there are many pitfalls, subtleties and tricks. Most often, behind the simple reluctance to sit down to English, there are many reasons that are far from the subject itself.

A child's education is always a parent's education. To make the process efficient and overcome all sorts of difficulties in interacting with a child who does not want to learn English, we offer a selection of books for parents.

These books are written in a simple and understandable way, it will be not only useful to read them, but also interesting.

how to study and learn English on your own with a child at home

At what age to start

According to UNICEF, 80% of the brain is formed before the age of three. Among other things, the skills of recognizing and reproducing sounds are laid, the speech apparatus adjusts to the phonetics of the language, and the neural connections of the brain begin to actively form. Scientists even single out the concept of a “critical period”, after which it becomes more difficult to master a foreign language.

Before the age of seven, it is easiest to master a foreign language at a high level. After that, learning abilities decrease due to changes in the child's brain. In addition, it becomes more difficult for the muscles of the articulatory apparatus to rebuild and begin to reproduce unusual sounds and intonations.

‍ During this period, the brain of children is open to the perception of new information. Children "absorb" the language unconsciously, without making separate efforts for this - that is why it is good to connect a foreign language.
Irina Ganina

To teach the child the English language at home, you can introduce a child to two languages ​​immediately from birth. It stimulates brain development. Contrary to popular myths, this does not lead to a mixture of languages ​​- the child's brain is able to automatically sort languages ​​into different "boxes".

But don't give your kids an intense workout. You can introduce English to a preschooler unobtrusively - then we will tell you how.

Foxford Online Elementary School starts teaching English from the second grade. First, the classes are held in the format of a video course - the guys listen to the material that is presented in a playful manner, and then consolidate it with the help of interactive exercises on the platform and colorful printouts.

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The tips in this article are aimed at toddlers, but are suitable for all ages learning English from scratch. It doesn’t matter how old a child is – learning a foreign language is always useful to start with games, children’s fairy tales and cartoons. It is better to do this under the supervision of professionals, but it is really possible to lay the foundations yourself.

Why Parents Shouldn't Talk to Their Child in English

If you are not bilingual and have a good command of English, it is not recommended to speak to your child on your own. This is fraught with several dangers:

❌ the child will learn grammatical errors that you can make;
❌ the child will learn the Russian accent, which is most likely present in your speech;
❌ the child will learn Russian-speaking intonations that are not characteristic of the English language.

If you are not sure about your level of English proficiency, use other ways to listen to authentic speech:

✅ children's cartoons in English,
✅ children's songs in English,
✅ audio fairy tales read by English speakers, and other ways.

In this way, the baby will hear authentic correct speech and learn the language in the same way as children born in an English-speaking environment do - in a natural way.

It's great to start learning English with your child if you don't speak English well enough. This is one way to motivate a child to learn a language. The personal example of a loved one is very inspiring for kids!

Tip 1. Watch cartoons

Learning a foreign language should be as close as possible to mastering your native language. In order to learn their native language, the child for the first 5-6 years simply absorbs what is happening around and interacts verbally.

Therefore, all that is needed at first is to immerse the child in English speech. Listening with video should become the basis of the educational process. Cartoons are ideal - they have both audio and video tracks. They are easy to find in the public domain - for example, on YouTube.

‍ After watching cartoons, children often involuntarily begin to repeat phrases from there. The necessary clichés and expressions themselves settle in the head. Sometimes the child does not even know the translation, but he understands perfectly well what the statement means, because he saw it in the cartoon.
Irina Ganina

Here are several sites and YouTube channels with English-speaking cartoons for an interesting study of English.

• Multimedia-English,
• BookBox,
• LearnEnglish Kids - British Council,
• Cartoons On,
• KidsTV123,
• Kids TV - Nursery Rhymes And Children’s Songs and others.

Tip 2. Learn the phonics

At Foxford Online Home School, English reading skills are practiced using phonics, a modern technique that focuses on sounds rather than letters of the alphabet and does not use transcriptions. British schoolchildren learn to read from it.

Lessons go like this: a rule is attached to a graphic image, how a letter is read in a word, and not in the alphabet. This is useful from a practical point of view: for example, the letter C in the alphabet is read as "si", but in words it often corresponds to the sound "k". Seeing the unfamiliar word "cat", the child will be able to read it independently.
Victoria Belavina, Chief English Methodist
in elementary school

For example, when explaining how the letter S is read, say the word snake and show with your hand how the snake winds. The child must repeat the sound, word and movement.

Tip 3: Get a good textbook

Oxford Phonics World is suitable for studying the phonics system. But it is worth using others so as not to concentrate only on reading. It's great if the manual is accompanied by audio materials. As a rule, audio is attached on a CD or as a link to the desired site on the Internet.

For general learning, try Pearson Education's Excellent Starter, the first level of an English language course for elementary school children. Children learn the language by doing creative tasks, playing games and singing songs from audio materials.
Viktoria Belavina, Chief Methodist in English
in elementary school

The main thing is not to put your child down for tedious exercises. The textbook should be colorful and attractive.

Tip 4. Sing songs

Songs are easy to remember and move along to - what you need in learning English. The lyrics of the song can be printed, colored and painted for visualization and orientation in the lines. And when the child already knows the words by heart - just dance and sing!

Tip 5. Try shadowing

Shadowing (from English shadowing ) is a technique of repeating after the speaker. What you need:

• turn on a familiar audio fairy tale in the child’s headphones,
• put the familiar text of the fairy tale in front of the child,
• turn on the voice recorder.
  

The task of the child is to repeat the story after the announcer, trying to keep up. It is important to completely imitate the sound - all intonations and emotions. This is to improve your pronunciation.

In order for the task not to be boring, the child needs to merge into the role of a “storyteller” as much as possible. Find an emotional speaker that is fun to follow. In parallel with the repetition, you can and should “monkey” - use facial expressions and movements.

Ideally, you should spend about 10-15 minutes a day shadowing fairy tales. Listen to your voice recorder to track your progress. Each time, the child will get better and better, and relatives will soon be surprised at the pronunciation.

Tip 6. Put on theater skits

Theater in English is a great opportunity to practice speaking. You will create a playful foreign language environment in which the child easily memorizes words, unleashes creativity and develops expressive pronunciation.

It's great if you manage to attract friends and relatives. Choose a simple scene from your favorite work and put it in the circle of relatives. Scenarios for performances for toddlers at the entry level are available on the Internet.

Tip 7. Make crafts

The effect of learning a language is cooler if the child interacts with the outside world using English in practice. For second-graders and third-graders, the Foxford home online school hosts crafting webinars in English. The guys do crafts or draw using English.

Combine business with pleasure — take your child to an English-language crafting workshop for kids or watch tutorials on Youtube. If you make things with your own hands and pronounce actions in English, mastering the language is much more effective.

Tip 8. Exercise regularly

You will notice the result of training if the classes are systematic. Develop a plan - for example, start playing language learning for 45 minutes twice a week and see if your child likes it.

‍ We will never master a foreign language "perfectly" - after all, no one knows even their native language perfectly. But you can strive for it!
Irina Ganina

At Foxford Primary Online School, parents build an individual class schedule together with a methodologist. It is important to prescribe the intensity of the lessons in it: 1-2 times a week or more often. The number of classes depends on the level of knowledge, the student's workload and the deadlines set by the parent.

Resume

You can start teaching your child English from birth - up to 3-7 years, the highest probability is to master the language at a steep level. The basis of language learning should be listening and video sequence. The task of the child is to listen to authentic speech as much as possible, imitate it, imitate and repeat.

To teach your child English from scratch, do not put your child on boring textbooks, grammar rules and letters to imaginary friends.

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