Teaching languages to young learners

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NICK LUCA DARLISON
Teaching languages
to young learners
Learning Words and Grammar

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Vocabulary
1- Overview and importance of Vocabulary development
2- Teaching activities and strategies
3- practical applications
4- effective assessment

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Why is vocabulary so important?
Teaching and developing vocabulary is absolutely essential with young learners. Vocabulary is how we build
comprehension and the ability to communicate in any language.
Under then correct conditions a young learner can be expected to learn around 500 words per year, with regular and high
quality lessons focused on vocabulary so it is our responsibility to maximise this in order for our students to reach comfort
and fluency in English.
Vocabulary is also the gateway to grammar, by teaching word chunks and associations we are already introducing
grammar to our students at a young age that they will further develop as they get older.

4.

Vocabulary size
To understand an unsimplified text in any language requires a vocabulary of around
8,000 words.
• A native speaker adult- 20,000 words
• A native speaker, aged 5- 5,000 words
• A Young learner of English after five years of English lessons- 2,000 words
• Shakespeare- 37,000

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You can test your vocabulary size
my.vocabularysize.com/select/test
“Test vocabulary size”

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The importance of reading
Young learners are like little sponges with information and reading
helps discover new vocabulary in context and strengthen
connections between words i.e. grammatical patterns.

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(Story fun 3 for
movers)

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Story fun…..

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Interesting, colourful and lively pictures
Level appropriate
Strictly relevant to Cambridge curriculum
Follow up and consolidation activities
All of the above lead to an optimised
reading experience

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Vocabulary teaching techniques
1- Mind maps
2-Word searches
3- Vocabulary picture games
4- Open ended exercises

12.

Learning vocabulary is a process
It is important to constantly be developing young
learner’s vocabulary.
Even with adult native speakers, the meaning of
words becoming deeper and more complex over
time. Rather than the basic association when we
first learn them as children.
Take the example of the verb “to grow”.

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1- Mind maps
A mind map is a great and simple way to expand a young
learner’s vocabulary and create connections between the theme
of the mind map and existing vocabulary in L1 and L2.

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ANIMALS
KANGAROO
AUSTRALIA
POUCH
JUMP
JOEY

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2- Word searches
This basic and fun technique can really help expand a young learners
vocabulary and also train spelling of words related to the lesson theme.
Word searches give exposure to the vocabulary in a fun and interesting
way and also focuses on the spelling and structure of the words.

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Creating word searches
1- Complete a word search related to the lesson theme
2- Give the students a 10x10 grid
3- ask them to create a word search with words they learned
during this topic
4- have the class complete their classmate’s word searches

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3- vocabulary from pictures
A simple way to teach vocabulary is to show a picture related to the
lesson theme and allow students to elicit as many words they know
from the picture.
Colourful, busy and interesting pictures help create a connection
between the meaning and vocabulary.

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Variant one• Allow students to observe the picture and write
as many words as they know
• Share their lists in small groups and add help
with any translations
• Pool their ideas as a class
• Teach the unknown words to the students if any
remain

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Variant two• Create an A3 list of words and stick it on the wall next to the picture
• Students can take it in turn to match the words with the objects in the picture
• The teacher will then be able to identify and teach the more difficult vocabulary
MONKEY
TIGER
HIPPO
RIVER
MUD
LEAF
GIRAFFE TREE
SNAKE

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Useful resource
• Cambridge English “word lists”
• These pictures can make a great
warmer for lessons by creating a
competition format between
students

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4- open ended exercises
In textbooks exercises are normally “closed-ended”, meaning that
they have one correct answer.
Using open ended activities allows the students to be creative and
review vocabulary, rather than becoming frustrated that they didn’t
find the exact correct answer the book required.

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Extra points on vocabulary learning

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Important aspects to note
• Word stress
• Spelling
• Synonyms

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Sometimes teach out of context
In general vocabulary should be taught in context
of the theme but don’t allow this to restrict the
scope of vocabulary that you learn in class.
If the students are interested in a topic, it is a
great idea to enrich their vocabulary around this
area.

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Review often
On average, to retain the knowledge of a word a student should
review the item between ten and sixteen times!
Therefore, even though we don’t have time to review every word
we learn sixteen times, review is still of paramount importance.

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Don’t forget multi-words items
Roughly 10 percent of required vocabulary is made up of “multi
word items”.
For example- “of course”, “out loud”, “by the way”, “come round”

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Collocations
• Teach a word and also teach around the word.
1. Prepositions- Sit on the chair…….Be angry with your friend
2. Word pairs- Tall + person ……. High +
mountain/building….Blue+ sky.

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Vocabulary assessment
Assessment is how we effectively understand if our students are
retaining the vocabulary that we are teaching them or not
therefore it is an absolutely essential part of the vocabulary
learning/teaching process.

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How to effectively assess young learners?
• Make it fun and simple, don’t scare the students
• Keep it brief
• Make sure the test is similar to familiar materials
• Test students by not “testing” them

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Grammar
1- What is “grammar” to us and to young learners?
2- Teaching activities and strategies
3- practical application

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What is grammar for young learners?

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Tips for teaching grammar to young
learners

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Avoid grammatical terms
With young learners grammatical terms such as “comparative”,
“superlative” and “present perfect” are best to be avoided. These
terms can easily create confusion in a class of young learners.
Rather than saying “We use the definite article when….” It is
much better to say “We use THE when….”

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Short but sweet explanations
The first time a grammar concept is introduced, keep the explanation short. Focus on
the “how” rather than the “why”. Young learners should be given the tools to start
manipulating grammatical structures in a way that they feel comfortable.
For example- for young learners, the difference between “will” and “going to” can be
explained as “both forms are used to talk about the future”. The detailed
explanation of the difference can wait for later.

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Learning structures by heart
Learning examples of grammar structures by heart is a great way
for a student to start applying them correctly. If students have a few
samples of correct grammar structures memorised then they are
more likely to create sentences of their own.
And memorising structures needn’t be boring either, techniques
such as chants and songs are a great way to memorise structures.

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Grammar teaching techniques
1- learning chunks of vocabulary by songs and chants
2- repeat presentations
3- sentence scrambling
4- the sentence machine

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1- learning chunks of vocabulary by drills
and chants
Grammar learning can be taught outwards by learning and drilling
“chunks” of vocabulary.
With bigger classes it is more effective to use songs or chants
than for the student to elicit responses from each student.

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By singing this song, children will drill the
sentences “present continuous+
noun” to talk about activities we are
doing at the time of speaking without
learning any grammar terms, they will
simply be able to read and then
manipulate these sentences with
assistance from the teachers corrections.

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2- repeat presentations
By repeating the same presentation throughout the term, the
teacher has the opportunity to assess and correct errors
commonly made by specific students.
This activity will lead to increased fluency and automaticity and
allow the students to feel any progress they made too!

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For exampleIn fun for flyers, unit 4 is related to “family and friends”, the student
could be asked to make a presentation about their family.
The students would then subsequently present about this topic every
few weeks (from scratch, i.e. without any previous notes) and by the
end of the term, the teacher could assess and correct many common
mistakes made by students.
Because this is somewhat of a “public performance” the students will be keen
to ensure that all structures are as accurate as possible and error corrections
will likely be more welcomely and attentively received.

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3- sentence scrambling
This activity provides a hands on experimentation with word order
in sentences and helps young learners become familiar with
patterns and can bridge the gap between “game” and grammar for
young learners.

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This technique is illustrated in many
textbooks for young learners, it can
be seen in this activity from “Super
Grammar- 1” for formulating
questions with “where”.

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4- The sentence machine

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1- design your machine, making it as interesting as possible for
students
2- demonstrate example sentences using the machine
3- ask the students in pairs to create as many sentences as
possible

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Making grammar tasks into a game

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Kahoot

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Bamboozle

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In conclusion
• Keep grammar light and accessible for young learners
• Expanding outwards from vocabulary is often the best way for
young learners to pick up grammar structures
• Have fun, grammar doesn’t have to be boring

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Thank you :)