Teach ESL to Kids

Teaching your students new vocabulary words is one of the most important things that you’re going to do as a teacher. Without the vocabulary to say the things that they want to say, your students won’t get very far in English.

Some students have a natural knack for remembering vocabulary words, while others struggle. You can do what you can as a teacher to help ensure that all your students succeed. Follow these simple suggestions to teach ESL vocabulary:

1. Group vocabulary words by topic. It’s best to choose one topic–foods, animals or verbs, for example–and focus on one group of them in a single lesson. If you try to teach disjointed vocabulary words, students will have a harder time remembering them.
2. Show flash cards while saying the word. The flash cards should have a picture that makes it easy to understand what the word means. For example, if you’re trying to teach clothing, the picture should be of only the item of clothing. If the picture has a girl wearing a dress, the child may think that the word “dress” means “girl”.
3. Say each word two times. Have students repeat the word after you.
4. Ask students to identify the picture. Once you’ve gone through telling the students the word, go through the deck again and ask students if they know what it is.
5. Play a game that uses the vocabulary words. Choose from our ESL games suggestions.
6. Repeat the process in other lessons. It can take several lessons before students fully understand the words. Give them time and don’t pressure them.

Tip
To work on pronunciation, say the word three times fast and ask kids to repeat it quickly like that. Because they don’t have time to overthink, pronunciation tends to improve.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

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