The effective strategies for teaching English to children

In general, we need to comprehend the definition of learner. Leaner is a person who is

still learning something or someone who is learning about a particular subject or how to do

something. (Collins learner’s.). We know that, in the world, there are two kinds of

learners, the first is old learner and the second is young learner. young learner divided into

two types. First, is five to seven years old, and the second is eight to ten years old. This is

where the brain of the child was thriving, and will easily accept a variety of information.

Related to that case, teachers should know about the characteristics of the children.

therefore, they are be able to identify the effective strategy to teach the children, and what

they should do when they are teaching English in the class by using their effective

strategy.

There are several characteristics of children that teachers should know. Firstly,

children are very active and curious. Based on what has stated by Wendy A. Scott and

Lisbeth H. Ytreberg in a book Teaching English to Children :

5-7 years old:

They can talk about what they are doing

They can tell you about what they have done or heard

They can plan activities

They can argue for something and tell you why they think what they think

They can use logical reasoning

They can use their vivid imaginations

They can understand direct human interaction.

8-10 years old:

They can tell the different between fact and fiction

They ask questions all the time

They rely on the spoken word as well as the physical world to convey and understand

meaning.

They are able to make some decisions about their own learning

They are able to work with others and learn from others.

There are two strategies that can be effective for teaching English to Children. In my

opinion, the teacher should be active and knowledgeable about the characteristics of the

children. Because one of the characteristics of children in five to seven years old stated by

Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg in a book Teaching English to Children is they

can understand direct human interaction. So, the first strategy is the teacher should

understand what their students or children want. then in teaching learning situation the

teachers should give direct interaction to the children therefore there is no

misunderstanding between them. The second strategy is the teacher must have some

media, due to the media has a good way for teaching learning process specifically for

children.

What should the teachers do with their strategies? The teachers have to apply it in

teaching learning process and make it more interesting than what the children expect

because make it fun is one factor that really matters to children. And that goes for children

on five to seven years old as well as those in the classroom. Some educators believe that

children learn through play. these are some ways which can be implemented by the

teachers in making their teaching and learning activitiy more interesting.