1) In an environment where English is the mother tongue, if a child speaks Chinese at home, the teacher requires him to speak English at home because his English is not good.
In fact, in general, this is not necessary, especially if the parents’ English is not native-level, and poor English pronunciation and grammar may also set a bad example for their children’s English.
Children themselves will learn English very effectively because they have English-speaking classmates and teachers, but the length of time each child needs is different. Parents can create more opportunities for their children to listen to and listen to English after class, such as participating in English extracurricular activities. Even watching cartoon videos, etc. instead of communicating with children in their own substandard English.
If some children really have difficulties, usually only one parent needs to communicate with the child in English, and the other parent can still communicate with the child in Chinese. This compromise method also allows the child to always be able to communicate with his parents in a language that he can express freely, which is very important for the child's physical and mental development.
(2) The most "unsatisfactory" way to teach children to learn the target language, such as English, is to keep"Explain" in their native Chinese (or conversely, if the target language is Chinese, they constantly explain in English)
Children have innate talents, especially listening and speaking. As long as they are provided with "enough" opportunities to "listen and speak", they will naturally learn to listen and speak. Even if each child learns it faster or slower, they will eventually learn it. Learned. Constantly explaining in another language not only hinders their learning of the target language, but sometimes over-explains, overexplains, and even leads to misunderstandings.
(3) Avoid sitting and listening for long periods of time in language teaching
The characteristic of children is that their attention span is generally twice that of their age. In other words, a 2-year-old child's concentration time is about 4 minutes. Therefore, teach children, especially if they are learning a new language, not to expect them to "sit" for too long. The most ideal thing is that static and dynamic activities intersect with each other to easily attract their attention, which is the so-called driving in silence and stillness in movement. There is a method called "TPR" (total physical movement), which means don't let the children sit there blindly, as they will soon lose their attention and your teaching effect will deteriorate.
(4) “Age-appropriate” activities
Whether it is oral activities or written activities, the cognitive development level of children must be considered. If it exceeds their abilities, it will bring "frustration" to them, which we need to avoid. Not only should the activity itself be age-appropriate, but it should also be closely related to their interests or real life, so the effect will be better.
This kind of reminder is because adults often unconsciously have "high expectations" and give children very "difficult" tasks without realizing it. When adults find that children are not emotionally engaged in activities or have difficulty performing activities, they should adjust the activity or stop it.
(5) Please do not deprive your children of play time because of language learning, making them disgusted, and the gain outweighs the loss.
Bilingual children do need to spend more time on language learning than monolingual children, but please try not to deprive your children of play time. It is necessary to understand that "play or game itself is also one of the important channels for children to learn." In the process of playing, children will learn a lot of knowledge. This knowledge may not be “taught” by parents/teachers to their children in words. Although children cannot express what they have learned in words or words, it does not mean that they There is a reason why so many experts advocate learning through games without learning.
This is why there is a school of education now that does not support children sitting in the classroom to learn, but encourages children to freely choose to participate in various indoor or outdoor activities. They believe that teachers and educators only provide a safe environment and necessary materials, and they are only guides. Facilitator, there is no need to forcefully instill knowledge into children.
