Teaching English to a 3 year old?

[teachersp]

Hi! I'm teaching ESL to a little three year old (almost four) at his house after he comes back from school. It's just one hour a week, but I think that my social phobia stops me from really making the "class" as fun as it can be. I really don't know what to do, he's really little so he doesn't know more than a few words in English, and I basically do a lot of "what color is this?" or play with cars or with clay and teach him new words, but I don't know what else to do because it gets boring and he gets distracted a lot. I guess because of my shyness it's hard for me to be really fun and extroverted with him, and it gets really awkward because his dad is always sitting right there next to us, so I can't just start singing with him, like I normally would if a father wasn't there. I think if his father wasn't there all the time, it would be so much easier for me to do a fun class, because I know that he's always listening (last time he asked me why I say green clay instead of clay green and I told him that in English adjectives go before nouns... so yeah, he definitely listens and it makes it really hard for me to open up). I don't know... any tips would be great! In his house he only has puzzles, books (in another language) and clay, so I'm thinking about bringing things from home such as really easy English books, but I don't know what else to bring.

Also... this is off topic but he starts crying miserably whenever I leave, and it really breaks my heart. What can I do about that?

 

[mikebird]

Wonder what kids are like. Thought 2 years is OK when speaking with parents?

I felt my 'Queen's English' was perfect by age 4. At that age, I may not be strong enough to scan supermarket items through at the checkout, but would be able to perform a Recruiter's job magnificently by then

I learned Latin then, but no interest in using any language other than English, but did technically learn French & German

 

[Remus]

I've got a kid the same age. They love nursery rhymes at that age, bring a few books like that and sing along, it's wonderful for teaching children the English language. Also play with them and talk about what you are doing as you play. They are also very open to learning numbers and the alphabet and simple reading. I have a letter jigsaw that my child loves and not only do we spell the words in the jigsaw, we make new words too.

Here's see and spell:

See and Spell

With see and spell I also sing little nursery rhymes with say the bus "The wheels on the bus go round and round" or the fish "one two three four five, once I caught a fish alive" for example.

My kid loves this nursery rhyme book:

http://books.ladybird.co.uk/nf/Book...9300090,00.html?/My_Favourite_Rhymes_to_Share

Kids that age also have short attention spans, get ready to move on to the next fun thing to do.

If the kid cries when you leave, you must be doing something right

 

[ImNotMyIllness]

Hi! I'm teaching ESL to a little three year old (almost four) at his house after he comes back from school. It's just one hour a week, but I think that my social phobia stops me from really making the "class" as fun as it can be. I really don't know what to do, he's really little so he doesn't know more than a few words in English, and I basically do a lot of "what color is this?" or play with cars or with clay and teach him new words, but I don't know what else to do because it gets boring and he gets distracted a lot. I guess because of my shyness it's hard for me to be really fun and extroverted with him, and it gets really awkward because his dad is always sitting right there next to us, so I can't just start singing with him, like I normally would if a father wasn't there. I think if his father wasn't there all the time, it would be so much easier for me to do a fun class, because I know that he's always listening (last time he asked me why I say green clay instead of clay green and I told him that in English adjectives go before nouns... so yeah, he definitely listens and it makes it really hard for me to open up). I don't know... any tips would be great! In his house he only has puzzles, books (in another language) and clay, so I'm thinking about bringing things from home such as really easy English books, but I don't know what else to bring.

Also... this is off topic but he starts crying miserably whenever I leave, and it really breaks my heart. What can I do about that?

Teaching children can be fun and rewarding but it's also very tough. Especially with the child's father being right there. That would also make me self conscious. He should wait in a nearby room or something. It just makes the whole process nerve racking. He's not helping.

 

[teachersp]

If the kid cries when you leave, you must be doing something right

Thank you so much for those words, they really motivated me a lot

Teaching children can be fun and rewarding but it's also very tough. Especially with the child's father being right there. That would also make me self conscious. He should wait in a nearby room or something. It just makes the whole process nerve racking. He's not helping.

Yes!! I'm glad I'm not the only one to feel this way. Probably it has a lot to do with my social phobia and other people would not mind if the father would be around, but it really makes me self conscious.

Thank you all for the wonderful ideas about games to play with the little one. I'll see how it goes next time!