How to Teach a Child English at Home?
If you have at least an average knowledge of English and would like to your child to study at home, a teacher might not be needed. We cannot recommend such a method of teaching as a tutor with experience is able to present material in right sequence so that lessons be effective. However, if you are going to teach the baby, then this is really the right decision: it will be more comfortable for them with you than with a cheerful, but still a stranger. Recommendations on how to start learning English with a child.
- Favorite business
It depends on you whether the child will love English or every activity will be perceived as hard labor. Therefore, do not impose anything on the child, find such exercises, which they will perform with pleasure. Use the game form of studying, not lessons from textbooks. If you cannot interest the child in learning the language, then try to wait until they grow up.
- Correct motivation
Adults constantly talk about motivation, but when it comes to teaching children, only the rule "it will be useful in the future, now they are too small to understand this" is taken into account. Would you do anything if you pointed to a foggy future? And the child is even more uninteresting to hear about some kind of "good education", "career heights" and "prestigious jobs". They want to watch cartoons and eat ice cream. So determine the goal of the studying appropriate to the age of the child. For example, watch interesting cartoons and play games in English, read the newest English-language fairy tales, not translated into your native tongue, etc.
- Short lessons
A small student is difficult to sit for 45-60 minutes doing English, so break up the occupation into small "portions" of 10-15 minutes. A variety of exercises related to movements also come to help, for example, you pronounce the word in English, and the child performs the specified action. In addition, change activities: 10 minutes study words, 10 minutes watch a cartoon, 5 minutes sing a song, etc.
- Visual images
![Glenn Doman's Cards]( "Glenn Doman's Cards")
Surely many people have heard about Glenn Doman's cards, and many have already used them. They are cardboard or plastic cards with painted and signed objects. Exactly the same cards can be used for studying English words. You can write English words on ready-made cards, and you can make a studying set by yourself. Find beautiful images of fruits, vegetables, animals, etc. on the Internet, print and sign. Children usually easily remember words, associating them with a picture. The child will like bright pictures and game form of learning.
- Useful games
How to teach a child English at home playfully? Today, even 2-year-olds can easily use a tablet or a laptop. They are happy to play simple games. This entertainment can be turned into a mini-lesson in English, for this, it is enough to go to any educational website and invite the child to play one of the proposed mini-games. It does not take much time and will allow to learn a couple of useful words.
- Teaching cartoons
Simple cartoons are the first listening exercises for your child. Try to offer the kid a simple teaching cartoon. On different websites, you can watch the series completely free. Heroes speak slowly and distinctly, use simple phrases that are sure to be useful for communication. With fascinating cartoons, it will not be boring to learn English for children.
- Short rhymes
Small poems in English will kill two birds with one stone: first, children will develop memory, and secondly, they will remember words from poems.
- Favorite songs
![Music]( "Music")
Probably, it is difficult to find a kid who does not like to sing. Texts of children's songs "work" in the same way as poems: a child has fun, develops memory and remembers helpful words. If your child is still small, you can simply include these songs for listening. In this case, children can listen to them without going into the words and meaning of the text. So the kid will be accustomed to the sound of foreign speech from childhood, and some psychologists believe that this way a kid can even unconsciously remember some words.
- Educational videos
Such videos are bright and interesting lessons for a baby. Today, you can find dozens of channels with exciting and informative videos on YouTube.
- Reading rules
If your child already reads well in the native tongue, then it is time to switch from passive listening in English to reading. To begin with, the child should be taught the basic rules of reading, then they will have fewer questions about how to read a particular word.
- Interesting exercises
Older children can already be asked to perform simple tasks, tests. It is important that exercises are not too complex and presented in the form of a game, then a child will not perceive them as another boring homework.
- Simple tales and stories
A fairy tale is something that any child is unlikely to refuse. It is the verbal foundation of the childhood of any person, the basis on which fantasy was woven into intricate patterns that developed into countless worlds with fantastic and ordinary inhabitants. Everyone perceives in their own way, however, in any case, this perception is firmly rooted in our memory. If you speak English at least on an average level, you can read simple books to the child by yourself. And if you want the child to listen to an exemplary English pronunciation, you can try to turn on an audiobook.
- Good tutorial
In order to make sure that the word "textbook" is not associated with a boring book, select the materials suitable for children’s age and interests. It is best to use authentic manuals, that is, textbooks of English-speaking authors entirely in English. They are always logical, easy to use, clearly created to interest children. You can safely trust them.
We hope that our article on how to teach a child English was useful to you and you have already decided at what age and where to teach children foreign languages. Choose those exercises and materials that are interesting for your baby, and go for it. We wish you exciting and effective lessons with children!
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