Learning First Language at Home and at School

Hello everyone!!!

What's good?

I hope everything is good

Thanks for coming back on Tiar's blog.

Well,

Today's blog is going to talk about "Learning First Language at Home and at School". As we know, Learning first language is activities to teach a language that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term native language or mother tongue refers to the language of one's ethnic group rather than one's first language. Especially for the young learners. All of young learners are taught to master the English language. Many ways are used to learning English language both at home and school.

Learning at home

The most important thing to teach first language is that you are enthusiastic and that you give your children lots of encouragement to teach many words and praise. Your child will pick up on your enthusiasm for the language.

1. Using language in daily routine

Talk about clothes when your child is getting dressed, or when you are sorting laundry (‘Let’s put on your blue socks’, ‘It’s Dad’s T-shirt’, etc.).
Practice vocabulary for toys and furniture when you are helping your child to tidy their bedroom (‘Let’s put your teddy bear on the bed!’, ‘Where is the blue car?’).
Teach food vocabulary when you are cooking or going shopping. When you go to the supermarket, give your child a list of things to find (use pictures or words depending on their age). Revise the vocabulary when you put the shopping away at home.

2. Sing the songs

Songs are a really effective way to learn new words and improve clear sounds or pro-nouncation. Songs with actions are particularly good for very young children as they are able to join in even if they are not yet able to sing the song. The actions often demonstrate the meaning of the words in the song. There are many fun, animated songs on Learn First Language Kids which you can listen to with your children.

3. Story telling before children going to sleep

Younger children love books with bright colors and attractive illustrations. Look at the pictures together and say the words as you point to the pictures. Later you can ask your child to point to different things, e.g. ‘Where's the cat?’ After a while encourage them to say the words by asking ‘What's that?’ Listening to stories will get your child used to the sounds and rhythms. The animated stories on Learn English Kids are an excellent way for children to develop listening and reading skills. Older children can complete the accompanying downloadable activities to check understanding. And also, we can telling story before children is going to sleep.

Teaching at School

In teaching for young learners, you may often find a smile on your face. That is, until you run up against some of the struggles that are unique to teaching children, because they certainly do exist.

As long as you know these three essential strategies for teaching children, your students will succeed. Even if they can’t articulate what a first conditional is.

1. Make it fun

This is one factors that really need of young learners. And that goes for kids on the playground as well as those in the classroom. I’ll never forget what my nephew said after his first day of kindergarten: “We didn’t learn anything. We just played!” And though I’m sure his class contained some academics, they were hidden well beneath a thick layer of fun. Some educators believe that kids learn best through play. And what is true of English-speaking children, in this case, will also be true of your students. Here are some ways you can make learning more fun with your students:

Play Games

Games are a great way to make learning fun. Not only do games play on the competitive nature of most children, but games also give them a goal to accomplish. When you win a game, you have really done something, and you can feel good about your success.

Be Creative

Doing the same things in class every day is boring for your students, and you’re liable to fall asleep on the job, too. So be creative with your plans. Change things up on a regular basis. Rearrange your students’ seats so they get a different inspirational view from time to time. Give your students the test before you teach the material, and let them answer the questions as they learn. Invite guest speakers in whenever you get the chance. You can keep the same basic schedule every day, but vary the types of exercises you do. Rotate between doing exercises from the textbook, having students work on the computer on social media. Try a poem by Robert Frost rather than a simple reading passage. You can also have students come up with their own games, activities and exercises. Have your students write quiz question for each other, or give them some simple game supplies and let them make their own review game for the latest grammar point. You might be surprised at how creative students can be.

Include Art in Your Class

Have you ever tried taking a class outside? If not, you’d be surprised at what they can learn in the great outdoors. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Scavenger Hunt: Try sending your students on a scavenger hunt on your school grounds. You can tailor the items they are looking for to whatever unit you are in the process of teaching. If you want, you might have them look for items that begin with each letter of the alphabet, or items that are each color of the rainbow. You can have them look for certain shapes, too.

2. Treasure Hunt: You can send your students out with clues to solve (either based on grammar or content) and have each clue lead them to another. Hide your clues outside before class, geocache fashion and give students plenty of time to gather all of them before heading inside and discussing the clues and their solutions.

3. Make Signs: Copy the pages of a picture book and make them into signs. Put these signs up around your school property and have students read each page and answer a question before moving on to the next station. There are lots of ways you can bring books to the outdoors.

2. Make It Active

If there is one thing kids like more than having fun, it’s moving. In fact, Dr. Maria Montessori suggested that young children are not able to learn unless they are also able to move. In addition, involving the whole body in language learning is a useful teaching method. The more language learners move, the better and faster they understand what you are teaching and the more easily they can retain the information.

TPR (Total Physical Response) is a teaching method that works really well with children. In essence, you associate physical movements with language instruction. Students move as they learn. They follow instructions, copy your movements and get their whole bodies involved when they practice language concepts. Using hands-on material is also a great way to get your students moving as they learn first language. You can use simple items like flashcards, but you can also be more creative with what you give your students to handle.

Small World Play: Try collecting animal figures that show up in a book or story your class is reading, and let students retell the story using the figures. Try using this small role play when you do units on different subjects. Create a small scenario that includes play-sized items that represent those found in the real world.
Mystery Bags: Really target your students’ sense of touch by putting items in brown paper bags. Then have them reach into the bags without looking and describe what they are feeling.
Jenga's Discussion: Rather than giving students a list of discussion questions on paper, write each question on a Jenga's block. Then have students answer the question on the block they pulled for their turn.

3. Don’t Put Pressure on Your Students

One of the most important things to remember when you teach children is not to put pressure on them. Remember that children learn some aspects of foreign languages more easily than adults. So no matter what you do in class, they will already be on the road to fluency in Learning.

Their natural acquisition process will follow three simple steps. They will recognize words and grammar when you use them. They will be able to respond when you ask them questions about the words and grammar you use. And then they will be able to use those language structures themselves.

You can avoid putting pressure on students by:

Not correcting every error they make. Focus on what you have recently taught, and correct errors with those words and structures.
Modeling correct language use. When you hear a student say something wrong or use a word incorrectly, just use it correctly right afterwards. The natural language learning feedback system in the human brain will notice the difference, and your students will likely use the language correctly just from hearing it right.
Not giving everything a grade. Sometimes it’s enough to just go over correct answers with your students or have them discuss their answers together. You don’t have to collect every paper and mark it up with the mighty red pen.

Because language is abstract and children are concrete, they may not be able to articulate grammar and other technical aspects of language, and that’s okay. Just keep things fun, active pressure-free, and your students will be fluent in no time!

Okay guys,

Maybe that's all I can share with you. Hopefully, the information that I share can be useful for us. Don't forget to share information by writing your knowledge in the comments column about Learning First Language at Home and at School as you know. Thank you for your attention. See you on my next blog. Bah bye ...