Sharing Good Practice
TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
IN KINDERGARTEN: AN ANECDOTAL VIEW
BY SABAHAT NASSAR
turn in stating answers
• Timed pair share- when two
students share knowledge about a
topic for a given time limit
• Round Robin- when students,
in groups of 4, take turn stating
answers
• Rally Coach- is when two students
work together-one student solves a
problem while the other coaches
5. Using visuals
T
eaching English as a second
language can be a challenge,
as many children who first
come to school are like
foreigners in a foreign land. There are
a number of practices which can be
applied in classrooms to begin the
process of understanding English and
eventually speaking English in the
correct grammatical way.
1. Modelling
One can model how to speak English
by properly articulating and looking at
the child directly. Modelling is when
a child speaks by missing pronouns,
monosyllables, and has incorrect
descriptions. The teacher can recast
sentences, use parallel talk and self-
talk to demonstrate the correct way a
language should be spoken.
2. Repetition
Repetition is a good way for ESL
learners. Repeating words or phrases
at the same time, possibly everyday,
helps with retaining the words and
is instrumental in helping children
improve their vocabulary.
where students play situations which
occur in real life; or it can be direct/
indirect experience role play where
students play parts which they
personally experience for example
doctors or firefighters; role play can
also be imaginative or fantasy role,
where students act like characters
from story books. Role play lets the
children speak freely and therefore
giving them confidence to talk.
4. Co-operative learning
structures
Cooperative structures in classes
greatly improve language in young
children, even though co-operation
and collaboration are very difficult
concepts for them. As children
continue to practice pairing up or
sharing resources with other students,
the practice helps build relationships,
gradually leading to language
acquisition. Some useful cooperative
structures are:
• Rally Robin- when two students take
3. Role play
Role play helps children develop
language naturally and realistically.
Role play can be real life role play,
28 |
Jan - Feb 2018
|
|
Class Time
ESL learners require visual a