Teaching Young Learners

Most teachers working in private language schools find themselves teaching young learners (which can involve any age from 3 to 17) and so we thought it would be interesting to find out a little more.

Abi Watson did her CELTA course in Barcelona at IH in 1999, did the Young Learners extension course a year later and has been teaching young learners ever since. "I prefer them to adults, " Abi says. "Actually, I'd rather just do young learners," she says (which is not usually possible, for timetabling reasons, as most are doing English as an after-school activity).

Abi's preference is in fact for the very young. "When they're that age, they'll do anything," she says. Class involves quite a lot in the way of songs and games, as well as colouring, cutting and sticking activities (making masks and posters and so on).

It obviously also involves learning some English. "It's surprising how much they can pick up even when they're very small," Abi says. Her colleague, Liz Wootton, sounded a bit doubtful about whether they retain it all - and both agreed that young learners classes involve a lot of constant recycling.

Liz, who did her CELTA a year ago, also at IH Barcelona, says she was "a bit overwhelmed at first" by the experience of teaching young learners. "You need to be especially dynamic when you're teaching kids, keeping things moving and being very on the ball. It's quite hard to teach them after they've just been at school all day - to keep them interested and actually learning something."

On the other hand, Abi says, they're used to being at school, and so things like homework they just accept and get on with, and it can be a lot harder to get adults to do that.

Striking a balance

And what about discipline, had they ever found that a problem? Liz confesses that "occasionally I've been a bit too soft". Harpreet Kaur, who did her CELTA at IH Barcelona in 2002, says that it's a question of striking a "fine balance between being too strict and too soft".

What everyone seems to agree (they all use the same word) is that young learners can be "challenging". Liz finds that teenagers who are still at an elementary level can be particularly tough: "You're teaching them something that they've already done at school and they've not done very well at, and so motivating them can be hard."

Harpreet has found that it's the boys rather than the girls that are the challenge. "They tend to show off a lot more and, if you let them, they like to see who can push the teacher the furthest."

Abi says that she's perhaps been lucky with her groups but that she's never really had any problems with teenagers. "It's important to be aware of what they're interested in and use that to your advantage," she says - and when it comes to motivation, that may well be the secret. "It's a balance between being a teacher figure and being able to relate to them," she says.

Qualifications

What about qualifications? Abi, Liz and Harpreet all did the CELTA course, which is really geared towards adult learners, and all had begun teaching young learners without specific training. Abi then did the Young Learners extension course, and Liz and Harpreet will be doing it this September.

Harpreet feels that she already has the ideas and the principles of the thing but hopes that the course will give her more ideas and resources, as well as looking in greater depth at the methodology and theory behind it all. With 18 months' experience behind her, she feels it will be instructive to have someone say "You're doing this right, but you need to work on that."

And do you have any choice about teaching young learners? Liz says "it's a growing market and if you want to go into English teaching you really have to be prepared to teach young learners". For Harpreet, choosing not to do young learners would mean a cut in hours - and in salary - and would mean doing more private work, or business classes.

So it's "challenging", and also "enjoyable" - that was the other word all three, Abi, Liz and Harpreet, had used. Are there any others to define the experience or what it takes? "Unpredictable," Liz suggests. "You have days with them when they're just great and you think 'I've cracked it!' and then the next day they're doing anything but what you want them to be doing - looking out of the window, fiddling with their mobile phones..."

"Patience!" says Abi.

More about teaching young learners

For an excellent introduction to the theory, as well as lots of practical ideas, see Lynne Cameron's Teaching Languages to Young Learners, CUP. ISBN 0-521-77434-9.

Resource books for teaching young learners

OUP have an excellent series of resource books for anyone teaching.

There is Young Learners (ISBN 0-19-437195-6) and
Drama with Children (ISBN 0-19-437220-0) both by Sarah Phillips; and Projects with Young Learners (ISBN 0-19-437221-9), by Burwood, Dunford and Phillips. All have lots of photocopiable activities, and lesson plans, in them, apart from anything else.

There is also The Internet and Young Learners (ISBN 0-19-442182-1), by Gordon Lewis.

There is also an accompanying website for OUP resource books (registration required).