5 essentials every child needs when you're teaching English

Jeanne Perrett
Two parents sat with their two children, writing in a workbook togeher

The educational choices available to children are evolving rapidly with apps, online courses, digital games, recordings and videos becoming easily accessible. However, amidst this technological advancement, human evolution has not suddenly accelerated, and the primary aim for teachers remains unchanged - helping children make sense of the world and leaving their mark on it.

Here are five essential ways we can achieve that for every child, regardless of their circumstances, whether it's teaching English or fostering everyday learning and education.

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5 essentials every child needs when you're teaching English
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1. Attention

Paying attention to what we're doing is something that we have to re-learn. Very young childrenÌýpay great attention to the smallest of things. Washing their hands takes forever as they want toÌýfocus on the soap, doing up shoelaces can become a half-hour activity, or an interesting pebble on theÌýroad can make a quick trip to the shops a very long one.

So, what happens is that we then startÌýteaching children to hurry up. ‘Hurry up, come on, quickly, now - put on your coat NOW!’ are part ofÌýevery parent’s repertoire. And we have to do it because we know what the children don’t - that the bus won’t wait for us, that school starts at a certain time and that people will be kept waiting if we don’tÌýhurry up.

Therefore paying attention has to be re-learnt and we need to lead the way. We have to pay attention toÌýthe children, what they are saying and doing, and then we have to resist the temptation to do tooÌýmany things at once. And, most importantly, we have to give our children enough time to letÌýthings sink in.

2. Skills

We have so many ways of describing skills now; soft, hard, thinking, critical, communication - the listÌýgoes on. In some ways, these descriptors are useful as they make us more aware of the particularÌýskills of a child, but there is still often a gap between knowing how a child is skilled and how that canÌýbe useful to the child.

Let’s take a classic example; one of the main qualities people often think of asÌýconnected to nursing is a skill for caring, showing compassion and being a good communicator.ÌýYes, that is important, but the main skill needed to be a nurse is dealing competently, practicallyÌýand non-judgmentally with bodily fluids. So, yes, we absolutely need to make sure that we areÌýeducating our children to become skillful in various ways but we also need to think about how thoseÌýskills are transferable.

3. Knowledge

One of the most significant changes of the past 40 years is how we can access information. Gone are theÌýdays of one version of an encyclopedia or whatever your teacher knew; now we have online data,Ìýcrowdsourced reports, scores of different formats - everything is a click and a swipe away.

So how canÌýwe help with this? First, we have to get children interested enough in a topic to want to find thingsÌýout for themselves. Then we must guide them through what is true and what might not be. AndÌýthen our main job is showing them that they can add to the tree of knowledge. It’s constantly growing,Ìýand they can lengthen the branches, help fruit grow, and even dig up the roots and plant the treeÌýelsewhere.

4. Imagination

Thinking creatively, thinking ‘out of the box’ and seeing new possibilities can and must beÌýnurtured in our children. We can use our imagination in traditionally creative ways such as writing, artwork, music and drama, but perhaps even more importantly we can use it in ‘unseen’ ways. WeÌýcan unlearn banal responses and consider what we really think; in other words we can ‘think forÌýourselves’. Again this skill is needed more than ever when surrounded by seeminglyÌýwise thoughts in social media memes. The nature of memes is that they look definite, as if they areÌýtrue. They might be and they might not. We can decide when we use our critical and creativeÌýthinking skills.

We can use imagination to find solutions to problems and we can use it to make our own everyday realitiesÌýmore exciting and life-enhancing. Whatever we do, if we have a positive image of ourselves doingÌýit, the task becomes more meaningful and rewarding. And in a practical sense in the classroom, weÌýcan bring language learning to life. Imagining and play acting the situations where the language we areÌýlearning might be called for; in a restaurant, at an airport or meeting new friends. It can be a great method to teach English to kids, keeping them engaged and actively involved.Ìý

5. Support

Support comes in many forms. First concrete support, such as providing a desk and materials for children toÌýdo their homework. This is something that teachers need to be aware of; do the children have thatÌýat home? It’s not a question of finance - not everyone can afford a separate room and the space for aÌýdesk - but it is a question of realizing that a dedicated, quiet space is needed. For example a clearedÌýkitchen table at certain times of the day. It’s worth bearing this in mind if parents say theirÌýchildren never focus on homework. Look at the practicalities before any attitude issues.

The most important form of support we can give is ‘being there’ for our children. Knowing thatÌýsomeone wants you to do well, is there for you through your mistakes and successes, andÌýempathizes with both. Someone who ‘has your back’ when you need help and is glad for you whenÌýyou do well; that gives our children a powerful sense of security. And we can flourish when we feelÌýsecure.

By implementing these above points, we can equip children with the tools they need to understand the world, pursue their passions and make a positive impact on their lives and others.Ìý

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