Teaching 2- and 3-Year Olds

We often get questions from teachers and parents looking for advice on teaching 2- and 3-year olds, so we'd like to share some ideas on planning a class for these very young learners. It's important to understand that children from 2-3 years old have very limited vocabularies in their first languages, and from the age of 2 are generally just beginnings to string together utterances of more than one word. As such, your main focus with such young learners is not on language production, but language comprehension. You'll want to engage the children in interesting, comprehensible activities while providing them with lots and lots of English input. Don't pressure the children to speak...they will when they are ready.

Here is a suggested lesson plan for working with this age group.

Name-Spelling Game

Using letter flash cards, teach your preschool child to spell his name.

 

Materials

 

·       Index cards

·       Pen or marker

·       Directions

 

Print each letter in your child's name on an index card.

Lay them out to spell your child's name.

Mix them up and have her try to put them back in the proper order.

 

Knock Knock!

 

Have the student’s line up and knock on the classroom door before coming in to join the lesson. This is a small signal to the children that they are transitioning to a new setting with new activities. Signaling transitions really helps young children stay calm while preparing them for something fun and new.

 

If they are speaking, ask a simple question like, "What's your name?" To make sure they understand the question, you can point to yourself first and say "My name is ______. " Next point to the student and ask, "What's your name?" Use gestures whenever possible to help make the language understandable.

 

If the student is not speaking much yet, is relatively new to the school, or is just not in a great mood (maybe they just woke up from a nap), a friendly "hello" and "come in" works just fine. Have music playing in the background to create a warm atmosphere in the classroom.

 

 

 

References

Read more on FamilyEducation: http://fun.familyeducation.com/spelling/activity/36706.html#ixzz2HJvCYfIb