I've decided to take notes and to reflect on my teaching experience.
If you have any ideas to share, please don't be suspicious. I'll definitely mention you when I publish the book on it :)) I was kidding, there are bags of books about teaching. Nevertheless...
First of all, mind (I speak to myself) that all young learners are mostly kinaesthetic, they NEED to move. So make use of.
Just a couple of examples.
I've been teaching my nephew, he's joined a new school this year (3rd grade). English there is quite good, but he's got problems because of the previous school. So we have to work very intensively.
One thing. He can't be very attentive for a long time, especially while reading. So I asked him to show me the most beautiful ruler and he eagerly did. Now he always holds the ruler when reading and moves it along the lines. It does help!
The other thing. It is too tiring to sit without moving, so we have breaks, but educational ones. I take one of the ball-shaped toys in the room and throw it saing words. My precious nephew has either to repeat or to translate or to act or something. Then we change roles and he is my teacher or trainer. He enjoys the activity and regularly suggests doing it!
What is surprising, he likes to listen to the cassetes and repeat words. Well, I used to hate it at school, it seems to me. But he repeats all the words with pleasure even without understanding.
I've come to the conclusion that we really ought to involve all the types of memory such as visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. There are so many visual aids, our eyes are loaded with information. So I think it is a good idea to improve other learning styles.
Although I guess it's not a new idea, I think it's useful to repeat it. I just try to make up and collect some very concrete, practical teaching tips.
To sum up,
1) a ruler for reading
2) a ball-toy
I've also noticed that Ignat speaks to this toy, trying to teach it what I teach him. And he's not a small boy, he's 9 and pretends to be an adult, so it's a resonable game worth trying.
A lesson should be fun both for the teacher and the student!
Any tips? You are welcome to leave comments!