Basic principles of

teaching young learners

Theory, Planning and Application
Considerations for Teaching Young Learners:
In order to teach young learners effectively, it is important to know them in depth and be able to put ourselves
in their shoes.
Learning is dependent on the stage of a child’s physical, social, emotional and mental maturity. To find the
right approach for TYL English is important to explore the following: characteristics of YL, how children
CHARACTERISTICS
learn and how children learnOF lge.YOUNG LEARNERS:
Children are:
1. Energetic and physically active:
T need to consider how to harness the dynamic energy of YL and use it toward effective learning. T should
utilize children’s natural tendency to be physically active and not get frustrated with the fact that young
children cannot sit still for long periods of time. Incorporate Kinaesthetic activities. For example TPR( Total
Physical Response, connects language to movement. Simon Says is a popular game that uses TPR).
2. Spontaneous and not afraid to speak out or participate:
YL are willing to participate in activities and speak out in English without feeling embarrassed. They are
good imitators of language. T can use simple songs, rhymes, chants, and dialogs with kids because they are
ready to follow along. Activities like miming, mouthing the words, and doing their role using different
emotions, such as angrily, happily, fearfully, etc., are very effective for improving students’ oral proficiency
through repetition that is not boring and that gives young learners a chance to be expressive.
3. Curious and receptive to new ideas:
YL have a natural curiosity. world=new place for them, want to know more about it. T should prepare
activities that arouse sts’ curiosity. For example: Mystery Bag game.
4. Imaginative and enjoy make-believe:
YL love activities that encourage them to use their imagination. Use role plays and drama games that allows
them to play make-believe and pretend they are someone or something else. T can also use stories and plays
to create an imaginary world for sts’ while learning new language.
5. Easily distracted and have a short attention spans:
They can concentrate on longer activities if they are fun and interesting to them. Teachers should try to
engage children with fun activities that arouse their curiosity and imagination. Incorporate different kinds of
audio-visual aids. It is a good idea to plan lessons as a series of short activities.
6. Egocentric and relate to new ideas to themselves:
YL have difficulty perceiving things from another perspective. T need to provide opportunities for YL to
personalize what they are learning (connect new information and language to themselves).
7. Social and are learning to relate to others:
They are learning to relate to others as part of their socialization process to their culture. They love to play
games with each other and can cooperate to do activities. T should have a balance of activities that allow sts
to have various types of interaction, such as st-st in pairs, sts-sts in groups, t-st one-on-one or t-sts as a whole
class. Varying the kinds of interaction from activity to activity, including ones that encourage sts to work
alone, is important to keep the class engaging. It is also important for students to experience all types of social
interaction with each other and the T, because communicating in different contexts is like real life.

HOW CHILDREN LEARN:

sense of the world around them. Piaget emphasized that children are active learners and thinkers. Children
construct their knowledge from interacting with the physical environment in developmental stages.

According to Piaget, children learn through their own individual actions and exploration. Creating new opportunities
to learn by doing and to learn by interacting with their environment is extremely important in the YL classroom.