Teaching Strategies for Young Children

Learning to speak and write are two of the most important skills to learn in pre-school. These skills are fundamental to learning other subjects and keeping up with the rest of the learning. As a parent, there are many things you can do to encourage young children to improve their speaking and writing skills. Here are some teaching strategies that can be useful. 

Labelling Symbols

Language acquisition is exactly how it is described; it is acquired, which means that visual stimuli and other stimuli come first. For that reason, it is helpful to pair words with pictures at first to encourage young children to associate the same sound of the word with the physical object.

One good way to strengthen word and image association is to collect common logos and symbols from around the home and your community. For example, picture of street signs, favourite food, store names. Children can then match the words to the symbols for practice.

Sound and Object Matching

One of the best ways to encourage language acquisition in children is to take a hands-on approach; children learn better when it is immersive compared to conventional methods, so make the learning fun and interactive. For example associate learning with sound, music, and real life objects. 

You can do a simple activity by simply cutting out some letters in different sizes. Then have either pictures of objects or concrete objects that start with that letter. Then give the children an opportunity to match by calling out the objects, matching it with the letters, and repeating the sounds of the letter  associating it with the object. 

Activity Switching

Children have short attention spans which is why it is important to switch activities and not make the lessons too long. Long lessons can not only create boredom but also behavioural problems. Having interactive, engaging lessons will not only keep the children active, but also help with their development. 

If you are teaching language acquisition to young children, start with a short sedentary activity to orientate them with the lesson such as saying out the alphabets or naming the animals. Then follow it up by playing language games like matching cards or making movements in the shape of the letters.

Practice Writing

Writing is one of the oldest human technologies. Writing brings a lot of excitement for children so create opportunities for them to do this. For example, they can learn how to write their names or the names of things they enjoy such as objects they like to play with. When it comes to writing letters children have to learn the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. Here are ways to practice uppercase letters and lowercase letters.

Immersive Experiences

Like adults, children learn in different ways so it is important to use different strategies when teaching. Children and adults learn best in an immersive and interactive environments. Going on educational excursions are a good way to learn. For example, it would be fun for children to go for walks to the park or around the community and do a task such as a look for things that start with a letter sound they have been practicing or a scavenger hunt to look for objects that they can match with the letters they have been practicing.

Encourage Observation

One of the first ways humans start to learn is through observation and it is still the primary mode of gathering information. It is important to encourage young children to learn by observing, as it will help them develop their cognitive skills. 

A fun activity that can be done with young children to teach language while encouraging them to observe is to go on a scavenger hunt around the home or in the garden and collect interesting objects. Then they can practice labelling the objects that they collect. 

Establish Rules

Although children don't like rules, they sometimes need them, especially when it comes to learning. If children don't learn to understand the framework of their learning time, they will not be able to concentrate on the lessons, which will impede in their language acquisition.

Create the right conditions for learning from the start by asking the children to follow simple instructions when they are learning. For example, using indoor or outdoor voices when speaking in different environments. Sitting down during some parts of the lessons such as when writing or reading compared to when doing activities. 

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