Effective English Teaching Strategies for Young Learners

Posted on Feb 8, 2025 in Early Childhood Education

Fairy Tales

Fairy tales are a kind of folktale or fable. In these stories, we meet witches and queens, giants and elves, princes, dragons, talking animals, ogres, princesses, and sometimes even fairies.

Marvelous and magical things happen to characters in fairy tales: a boy may become a bird, a princess may sleep for a hundred years, a seal may become a girl. Objects, too, can be enchanted—mirrors talk, pumpkins become carriages, and a lamp may be home to a genie.

Elements of Fairy Tales

Fairy tales often start and end with special expressions like “once upon a time,” “a long, long time ago,” and “and they lived happily ever after.” When you read or listen to those words, you know that the story may be a fairy tale.

Setting: This is where the story takes place. Little Red Riding Hood is set in the forest, and part of Cinderella is set in the castle of the prince.
Good characters: Cinderella, the fairy godmother.
Bad characters: Cinderella’s mean stepsisters, the evil witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Very often, one of the characters belongs to royalty, which means that the person is a king, a queen, a prince, or princess (e.g., The Princess and the Pea). Characters may also be animals, like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, or the bears in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Magic is one of the main elements of fairy tales. In Cinderella, there is a fairy godmother who helps Cinderella go to the ball in a fancy dress and carriage.

A problem that must be solved. For example, in The Princess and the Pea, the prince wants to find a real princess to marry. His mother, the queen, helps him find a real princess by putting a pea in the bed to find out if the princess can feel it.

Teaching Fairy Tales

Fairy tales provide many possibilities for teaching topics in English. Each fairy tale has its own setting and is split into several scenes. In each scene, there are sets of vocabulary that you can use. They also allow children to identify with the characters and situations they read about.

Aims

For the learners to hear in English what are probably familiar stories in their own language.
Starting point: Common knowledge and cultural background.
To allow the children to learn English in an imaginative context.
To introduce various vocabulary sets such as family, food, clothes, parts of the body, etc.
To help older school children notice language areas such as past simple, comparatives, etc.
To introduce story structure: beginning, middle, and ending.

Learning Outcomes

Children develop comprehension skills through listening.
They learn the narrative structure of a story.
They learn how to identify plot, characters, and setting.
They learn how to solve problems.

Teaching story structure: Children explore the concepts of beginning, middle, and ending by reading fairy tales. As they retell the stories, children are encouraged to make use of sequencing words (first, so, then, next, after that, finally).

Materials: Fairy tale storybooks, worksheets for post-reading activities, flashcards, felt or magnetic fairy tale characters, puppets, costumes, etc.

Activities:

Pre-reading activities: drawing, painting.
Reading a tale
Storytelling
Dramatization
Storyboards
Role play
Songs, videos, etc.

Five Hot Tips When Using a Fairy Tale in Class

Create a mystical atmosphere with your body language, voice, and lighting if possible.
Don’t overdo the scary characters with the very young learners.
Involve the children as much as possible. Get them guessing the next episode throughout the story.
You don’t need to systematically pre-teach vocabulary. Arouse their interest with the picture on the front cover.
Don’t use it just as a time filler. The children will get much more out of it if done over a series of lessons or if it ties in with a larger topic.

Examples

Cinderella:

Vocabulary groups include:
Family (sisters, stepmother, father, godmother)
Clothes (glass slippers, dress)
Adjectives (big, small, ugly, beautiful)
Telling the time (midnight, early, late)
Sample repetitive text.
Possible language areas: Past simple (tried on, waved, turned)

Snow White:

Vocabulary groups include:
Adjectives (shy, happy, grumpy, mean)
Landscapes (forest, lakes)
Buildings (houses, castles, towers), houses/furniture (beds, kitchens, housework)
Sample repetitive text
Possible language areas: Comparatives and superlatives– “You’re pretty, but Snow White is prettier. She’s the prettiest of them all.”

Little Red Riding Hood:

Vocabulary groups include:
Animals (in the forest, wolf)
Food (apples, cakes)
Landscape (trees, lakes, forest)
Senses (hear, see, touch)
Parts of the body (ears, eyes, nose, hands, teeth)
Sample repetitive text.
Possible language areas: “What have you got in your basket?” “I’ve got two apples.”

Post-Reading Activities

Draw a picture of your favorite character.
Act out a scene from the story.
Re-write/tell the end of the story.
Make up a group or class fairy tale. Use different characters from several fairy tales.
Point to flashcards of scenes from the story to identify characters or events.
Gradually uncover a flashcard from the story. The children have to say what they see.

Storytelling

Reading a story to very young learners: When you tell a story to children you can help them understand by:

Using a book with pictures
Showing them real things that are talked about in the story
Miming what happens in the story to help children understand
Meaning 101 – make the sounds for things in the story, for example, animals, trains
Repeating key words and phrases
Asking and answering questions about the story.

Talking about what is happening: In children’s stories there is often repetition of the same situation. Children enjoy repeating the same kind of language that was used in other parts of the story. The teacher uses a checking question to make sure the children understand what is happening. The children repeat things the teacher has said. The teacher reminds children of the language they already know. The teacher recasts in English what the children comment on either in English or in their mother tongue. The teacher repeats the chunks of language she wants the children to become familiar with.

Nursery Rhymes

What is a Nursery Rhyme?

They are short poems with simple vocabulary (for native speakers) and rhymed lines.

A Few Popular Nursery Rhymes

Twinkle, twinkle little star
ABC (alphabet rhyme)
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Humpty Dumpty
Three Blind Mice
The Incy Wincy Spider (UK) / The Itsy Bitsy Spider (US)
The Wheels on the Bus

Aims of Teaching Nursery Rhymes

To improve pronunciation (The Wheels on the Bus)
To exercise memory (Five Little Monkeys)
To practice vocabulary (Hickory Dickory Dock)
To have fun with words (Baa Baa Black Sheep)
To get the children involved and develop fine motor skills (Incy Wincy Spider, Where Is Thumbkin)

The teacher should encourage:

Active participation: repetition
The creation of a good atmosphere
Reasoning
Showing emotions

Active participation:

Communication between the teller and the listeners
Motivate a response in the students. Be dynamic. Ask questions.

Repetition-Sequencing:

Repeat after the teacher.
Say with the teacher.
Say without the teacher.

Reasoning:

Prediction (what happens next).
Offering solutions.
Give or be given advice

Task:

Drawing a picture.
Coloring the illustration of the rhyme.
Singing the rhyme.
Dancing, making gestures and doing the fingerplays.
ROLEPLAY PRACTICE.

Analysis of Written Materials

Context

Publishing houses sometimes visit teachers and give them free samples of their textbooks. Although that is definitely a good thing, you might have to spend some time choosing the best textbook out of multiple options. Textbooks are not magical tools. How well they work depends on the teacher’s ability to get the most out of them. However, choosing the right textbook makes a difference. Books can be analyzed critically, establishing their pros and cons. We are now going to examine 9 criteria (adapted from Varela Méndez 2003) we can use for that purpose.

Physical Format

The layout of the book is very important. The size should be practical and attractive, but above all, the book should be easy to handle. It is better to use large and thin books since children typically do not like thick books (i.e., with many pages). The cover should be attractive, appropriate for the age group, and the title, authors, language level, and school year should be displayed clearly. The number of units and pages per unit are also important to properly organize the subject. A balanced number of units would be between 12 and 15. Drawings must be clear and attractive. Type and size of the font. Number of words per page. Pictures should be clear and give context to the content or activities.

Components of the Method

A language textbook should come with supplementary materials to make the teacher’s job easier. A good English course should provide you with the following materials:

Student’s book.
Student’s workbook or activity book.
Teacher’s book with exercise key, teaching tips, cultural contents, extra exercises, scripts, evaluation sheets, exams, etc.
A DVD/online video resources to contextualize the contents of the book and provide cultural information.
Audio CDs for both teachers and students.
Flashcards to help introduce new vocabulary.
Wallcharts to review vocabulary every month or term.
Teacher’s resource pack with cut-outs, photocopiable activities, extra songs, etc.

Author(s)

Sometimes Spanish teachers seem to think that having English names on the cover means the textbook is going to be better. However, ideally, textbooks should be designed by a three-person team:

An experienced Spanish teacher.
An English-language native teacher.
An academic specialized in teaching.

This collaboration results in a more comprehensive approach that takes into account the linguistic and teaching expertise of both teachers in English and Spanish and the academic’s expertise in didactics.

Adequacy to the Requirements of the Ministry of Education

Many publishing houses produce English books for the global market which are not specific to any country. At a national level, when planning and writing a book, authors should consider the official curriculum for each school year.

Underlying Teaching Methodology

Whether explicit or not, every book is written following a specific methodology. We can find out what the underlying methodology is by examining the types of activities and exercises and the way in which contents are introduced and grammar is explained. You can also analyze whether activities and exercises are meant to be done individually, in pairs, small groups, or large groups. For each unit, you should consider the order in which activities appear and which skills are practiced first. The teaching sequence should follow the order in which we learn our mother tongue: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The activities should be varied to cater to the different learning styles of your students. You should also analyze the way the content is introduced to the student. Examine the cross-curricular topics included in each unit and how the English contents are related to other school subjects. Culture-specific items may be introduced.

Price

Price is a key factor in whether we prescribe a book or not. Some publishing houses sell their textbooks at a much higher price than their competition. However, their sales representatives usually give teachers samples of materials and free textbooks, who then feel obligated to prescribe them. Do not fall into this trap. Choose the book you consider the best within a reasonable price range.

Audiovisual Aids

Many English methods come with flashcards, wall charts, cards, etc., so teachers have many visual resources to supplement their lessons. However, not all flashcards or posters are the same. Some are useful and appealing and others are not.

Evaluation of CD/DVD-ROMs

In general, CD-ROMs are evaluated in the same way as any other teaching/learning material. We should take into account:

Pedagogical factors.
Technical criteria.
Functional criteria.

The most important pedagogical factors are:

Adequacy of content and exercises to the students’ level.
Adequacy of the methodology employed.
Variety, difficulty level, degree of participation of students and teachers, etc.

The technical criteria cover:

The general functionality of the program.
The integration of the different materials to achieve the learning objectives.

The functional criteria refer to:

The design of the program, whether it offers options that are key in language learning and teaching (e.g., recording and help functions, etc.).

Using Music in the Classroom

Benefits of Using Music

Improves concentration
Improves memory
Brings a sense of community to a group
Motivates learning
Relaxes people who are overwhelmed or stressed out
Makes learning fun
Helps people absorb material

How to Use Music in the Classroom

Music in the background while working
Music as an activity
Lessons based on song lyrics

Background Music

Introduce a theme or a topic
Change the mood (liven things up or calm things down)
Review materials (background music improves memory)

Activities Using Music

Break the ice in a class where students are having difficulty communicating
Teach songs and rhymes about difficult grammar and spelling rules that need to be memorized (“i before e”, irregular verbs, phrasal verbs)
Teach listening for details and gist

Lessons Based on Song Lyrics

Introduce a new theme or topic
Teach and build vocabulary and idioms
Teach pronunciation and intonation
Teach reading comprehension

Designing a Lesson Based on a Song

Songs have at least one or several sets of vocabulary that can be used in the classroom
They can also be used to teach various language areas and expressions

Using Music Effectively – A Few Useful Tips

It is a good idea to introduce an instrumental version first. If students become familiar with the sound of the music first, they will be more likely to understand the words.
Make a vocabulary list ahead of time.
Expose students to a song many days in a row.
Choose interactive songs whenever possible.
Have soft or upbeat music playing before class to encourage a positive atmosphere.

Phonics

What is Phonics?

Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing of the English language by developing learners’ phonemic awareness— the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes —in order to teach the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them.

Jolly Phonics

It is a multisensory method for teaching literacy to children that speak English natively (both U.K. and U.S.). The sounds are taught in 7 groups, divided according to ability to form words. Consequently, the first group (s, a, t, i, p, n) was chosen because these letters make more simple three-letter words than any other six-letter combination. Individual sounds are combined to produce words using blending. Each sound has a corresponding action, song and story. The actions help children remember the letter(s) they represent. Children should learn each letter by its sound, not by its name.

Yo Yo Phonics

Method for children who are non-native speakers of English. It is named after Yo-yo, which is the name of the mascot snail that appears in the stories. Like Jolly Phonics, the method is based on Synthetic Phonics, where children establish a relationship between a letter and its sound. The ideal age range to start using the method is from 3 years old onwards. The sounds of English are grouped according to their frequency of use and potential to form words. The sounds are associated with an action that helps children remember them better, since they internalize and contextualize it inside the story where they first learned it.

Sequence

Routine song
Present the story
Listen to the story
Take a picture with sticker of Yo-yo the snail in the storybook
Sing and dramatize the story song with the help of popups
Check if the story has been understood with the help of stickers
Reinforce the new vocabulary with the help of flashcards
Identify the vocabulary that contains the new sound
Use memory and imagination

Differences Between Jolly Phonics and Yo-Yo Phonics

Jolly: Method designed for children who are native speakers of English.
Yo-Yo: method designed for children who are non-native speakers of English.
Jolly: 7 sound groups according to potential to form words.
Yo-Yo: also includes similar sound groups and according to the same criterion but including one more sound in each group.
Jolly: the stories do not necessarily include any continuity element.
Yo-Yo: all the stories include the snail Yo-yo, which gives continuity and uniformity, something which children need.
Jolly: the stories sometimes are not so familiar to children.
Yo-Yo: the stories include familiar actions and events to the children.
Jolly: the stories include old gender roles and are sometimes a bit sexist.
Yo-Yo: the stories are current and all the characters participate in everything, independently of their gender.
Jolly: the songs and actions are similar to the stories in that they are not very contemporary and familiar to children.
Yo-Yo: the songs are more contemporary and refer more to the children’s world.
Jolly: limited vocabulary and not very communicative.
Yo-Yo: familiar vocabulary in the children’s environment.

A Few Final Tips to Teach Pronunciation

Introduce the alphabet as early as possible
Sing rhyming songs (nursery rhymes)
Read rhyming books aloud
Teach the letters of the alphabet (use songs or wordsheets for each letter)
Teach the sounds of the letters
Play sound games
Use flashcards
Make use of technology if available
Practice, practice, practice

Using Videos in the Classroom

Videos help children to…:

Retain more information
Understand concepts more rapidly
Become more enthusiastic with their learning
Make new connections between topics in the curriculum
Discover links between these topics and the real world they inhabit

When young learners watch videos…:

Teachers can use images to…:

Engage students in problem solving and investigate activities
Reach children with a variety of learning styles
Begin to dismantle social stereotypes
Provide a common experience for students to discuss

Choosing videos to use in class:

They should be interesting, even to young native speakers
They should tell a complete story children can follow
They should not be too long, but only as long as you aims require
They should be appropriate for their age, both in language level and content. If the language is too complex, the learners might lose motivation; too easy and they could get bored.
It is better to use videos with clear picture and sound. With younger children, use videos with clear outlines and colors.

How to use videos:

Preview the video
Provide a reason for viewing
Pick the clips that match your objectives
Look for the segments that best tell the story
Conduct pre- and post-viewing activities
Use the mouse/remote to control the viewing

Characters:

Most stories have main characters, who can be: the hero (protagonist), the villain (antagonist) or somewhere in between. The characters in children’s stories are likely to be familiar to them.

Types of characters:

Child or Teenage Protagonists/Others (i.e. younger characters)
Adult Protagonists/Other (i.e. parents and other adults)
Animal Protagonists/Others
Supernatural or Fantasy Protagonists/ Others

Contents:

The stories videos present often communicate a message/lesson through:

the thoughts, feelings, or actions of the characters
what the characters learn about themselves in the story
the events that occur
how stories develop or resolve

Some general themes that might arise in children’s stories are: courage, friendship, belonging/identity, family, love and kindness, loss/grief, growing up, learning to share, learning to cope with feelings, sustainability or the importance of culture among others.

Plot:

Plot is the series of events that make up a story. Plots usually have six main parts that take place in the same order:

Beginning or exposition: where the setting and the characters are introduced.
Conflict and rising action: in which a series of events escalates and sets the rest of the story in motion.
Climax: the most exciting part, the moment of peak tension in a story, what everything else builds up to.
Falling action: the bridge between the climax and the resolution in which subplots and mini-conflicts are resolved.
Resolution: the wrapping up of the whole story.

Narratives:

Some broad types of stories according to these elements that children can listen to and tell themselves are:

Cultural/traditional stories (including Dreamtime or other Indigenous stories).
Fables and fairy tales (including folktales, and modern versions).
Myths and legends.
Other fictional stories.
Biographies and autobiographies.
Adaptations from literature, plays, History, etc.

Aims:

The main aim of Early Childhood Education is to contribute to the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of the students in close cooperation with their families. In the two cycles of this stage, attention must be paid progressively to the following aims:

Affective development
Movement and body control habits
Manifestations of communication and language
Elementary patterns of coexistence and social relations
Discovery of the physical and social characteristics of the environment
To develop a positive and balanced image of themselves and to acquire personal autonomy.

The general objectives of this educational stage are the following:

To know one’s own body and that of others, their possibilities of action and to learn to respect differences
To observe and explore the family, natural and social environment
To progressively acquire autonomy in their usual activities
To develop their affective capacities
To relate to others and progressively acquire elementary guidelines for coexistence and social relations, as well as exercise in the peaceful resolution of conflicts
To develop communication skills in different languages and forms of expression
To be initiated in logical-mathematical skills, in reading and writing, and in movement, gesture and rhythm

*The autonomous communities, in the exercise of their competences in educational matters, complete these general objectives.