The difficulties of teaching children English (ESL)
The difficulties of teaching children English (ESL)
I was teaching my first-year adult drama students last night and in one exercise they were given 3-minutes to make someone laugh. Not an easy task.😱
Some participants even found the exercise impossibly difficult. I noticed those who had most success and had everyone in fits of giggles were the ones who tried varying their strategies and avoided sticking to doing the same thing. If they saw something not working, they didn’t waste time repeating the identical gesture again and again, they quickly moved on and tried a different tactic.
I think teaching young language learners is similar. Sometimes it can feel impossibly difficult and frustrating especially when children don’t respond how we imagined.🤨
In the past I have discarded lesson plans convinced they were too complicated for children but later found out that by approaching the same topic alternating theatre-based techniques I could get the message across quickly and simply.
Varying our teaching strategies keeps us on our toes, thinking creatively and constantly searching alternative solutions and when we see positive results, we ultimately get more enjoyment and satisfaction from our work.
Let’s shake things up a bit 🙃
Be theatrical!
Miranda xx
