Unique Content Article: Teaching Young Learners ESL Phonics

Teaching Young Learners ESL Phonics


by Steven Thomas


When you have young kids in your English as a second language class, you may treat this as a challenge since this is likely the earliest time they will become familiar with the language. This may even become more challenging for the teacher and the students if their first language uses a different writing system. To make it easier for your learners, you have to start teaching them ESL Phonics as part of their study plan.

The first thing that you need to do is to teach the English alphabet. One of the best ways to do this is through the ageless Alphabet Song that will help students remember each letter as they memorize the song. After the kids have become familiar with it, have them study the sound associated with each letter. You may prepare flashcards for teaching and testing their familiarity with each letter.

Increase your learners' vocabulary by introducing more words that begin with each letter. Stick with short words that are no more than two syllables. To make them remember faster, use flashcards with pictures of the items. Once you have taught more words, you can create a game that will test your students' understanding and retention of the words.

The earliest listening exercise that you can do with your young students is to have them listen to you as you read out or identify an item associated with a letter of the alphabet. Have them repeat the word after you. If necessary, repeat saying each word until all the students get it. This will help you identify the areas for improvement of your class. That way, you will know how to plan your future activities.

Continue with teaching your learners short English sentences. As much as possible, limit yourself to three to five words per sentence. Start with statements that introduce themselves, describe something, and ask questions. Encourage participation among your students. If possible, have them work in pairs to practice their skills. Give them templates that they can start working on.

Your learners can advance to learning paragraphs and nursery rhymes. These can be learned quickly since there are usually actions associated with each statement. You can also use pictures while teaching them. Make sure that your student understand each sentence and the overall them of the paragraph by asking them questions about the characters and what has happened.

To get acquainted with the language and culture, have your class listen to songs and watch movies with simple themes. The best ones are animated stories in which many of the characters speak in a neutral English accent. If you can get ones with subtitles, that would even be better. Those will enrich the learners vocabularies and make them more familiar with inflections. Check for comprehension after each activity.

Young learners may be difficult to teach since they might not have used English before. That is why it is important to give them a good impression on language learning to keep them interested. In between discussions, play games that are appropriate for their age. It is even better if you may introduce the lessons through fun activities.




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