Design Games to Teach Grammar to Young Learners

Games are the most engrossing and interesting activity of language learning for young learners. Games do not put any form of stress, so children participate with ease without any anxiety and it is motivating as well. Since most of these activities are known to them they grow a level of familiarly they link back to these tasks.
The games mean the world to children and are generally all inclusive in nature. Playing games is always fun for children and the best learning method for young learners is to learn with games. Like the guessing game which can be played numerous times which the students would participate happily without getting bored with its repetitive nature. Games are simple structured activities involving little language terms that are effective for students. They will get involved and thus will build a strong association with grammar.

When a child is beginning to learn a foreign language games play a valuable role in it because while learning a new language the child requires a certain amount of time to adjust and adapt the language. Sometimes children take some time in producing language and will gladly experiment and at other times children remain shy and they need more attention and time. This phase is called the ‘silent’ time period when they develop a liking and gradually learn to produce language without any external pressure. The games are also important in terms of generating social skills through activities wherein they share and mingle with their peers. Thus games teach young learners the art of coexistence and collaboration.
Games are generally designed to enhance any part of the lesson and can also be used to practise, revise and assess any language. Those are used to develop the listening, speaking and reading and even writing skills of kids and the responsibility lies with the teacher wherein the focus has to be given. Choosing the right grammatical exercise for the children to practise and deciding on the specific games is your task as a teacher. Making it enjoyable pass times through various activities should be your goal. Thus games are clearly those learning activities which not just enhance student’s language development but leads to overall personality development of the kids.

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There are wide varieties of games which can be used for young language learners. Let us bring our focus on a few of them:

First, the flashcard games which are played with a set of flashcards prepared by you and your students in the classroom or can be bought from a bookstore. Games include - listen and find, disappearing picture or words, running games, swat, pass the card etc.

Second, there can be ball games played with soft ball without worrying about breaking window glass or hurting students. Like - say a different colour/animal etc.

Third, action games can also be experimented which involve movement inside classroom. This can be exciting but must be carefully chosen when to make use of them. Like - Robots, In/out – hot/cold, step on the card, hit the card.
Thus games play a special role in any language learning for young learners. It has become more demanding for teachers and learners like any other innovative process helping towards development. Games particularly provide enjoyment and relaxation and also encourage students to learn grammar in a most creative way. This has thus become a natural part of young learner’s lives. It can be concluded that designing games for teaching grammar to young learners has several advantages when those are properly implemented in the classroom. Games help students focus on learning and using language properly.

Pre-primary Education is Key for Future Learning

Pre-primary education builds the base for future learning and therefore, the teaching methods employed help young children to take the first step towards the formal education. Explained below few reasons why the children should be provided pre primary education-

•  Preparing the children for future school and higher education as this builds the base for the future education.
•  It helps the child to express his/her innate skills and that develops his/her personality. Thus it leaves a positive impact on the child overall growth.
• They get the exposure of their creative side with the participation in various activities and thus it leaves an impact on the personality in the most natural way.
• The child learns to interact with peers and adjust to the real life situations in a classroom. Thus he/she finds a life outside the closed door of his/her home. This is the first step in gaining independence for the kids.
•  Pre Primary education targeting all kids from age group of 3 to 5 before they start their primary level education. This stage of learning is to introduce them to the school-type learning environment. This only covers three vital years of a child’s life. With the completion of this stage the kids continue with the education to the next level called the primary education.

Research has been conducted which revealed that pre primary education is absolutely necessary to develop a strong base for the primary level of education. They become more confident and independent which help in their overall growth and development.
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Since this is the first exposure to the outside world being separated from the comfort zone of their home. So the school ambience must be comfortable where the kids would feel at home, a place with adequate materials to keep them engaged and they feel the warm and secured just as they feel with their parents. Herein for the first time he/she learns about their names along with the names of things and friends. The kids learn to interact with their teacher and also among themselves and the teacher. The skills and knowledge developed during this phase have huge impact on the child aptitude and attitude later in his/her life.
Children learn a great deal in preschool. The importance is given on the cognitive development of the child as learning is mostly through practice and interaction in a big group. Social interaction is the prime motive of a preschool classroom. They slowly but steadily learn to mix and mingle with the children of their own age under supervision of a teacher. Drawing with the help of colours, playing with mud, writing on the board help in motor development of the children and thus the children are prepared for the formal schools. All these activities are performed under the direction of a teacher who is qualified and trained in handling young learners’ with efficiency.
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Pre primary teacher are trained in early childhood education and instruct using different methods like storytelling, playing and art. Working with kids is most challenging and tolerance and sympathy are the most essential qualities needed to work with kids and their parents. Creating a friendly atmosphere is absolutely necessary to generate interest among kids to attain goals and all these qualities can be obtained through a proper training in an institute. A working knowledge through observed teaching practice during training session is of absolute necessity but along with this you must have the passion for teaching, love for kids and the rest you can gain over time. Over years pre primary education has been given utmost importance in our country. Ample number of institutes has mushroomed over the years and all you need to do is choose that suits you well both in terms of curriculum and fee. The certification must have global acceptance for a brighter future in teaching.

How to Teach Kids to Write

A kid begins her/ his journey of writing as he/ she learns to write with the colourful scribbles. Indeed, it is a treat for the eyes of the preschool teachers as well to look at the joy that comes over a child's face when he/ she is offered a pencil and a blank piece of paper. As soon as a kid can grasp a pencil and wave his hands over a blank piece of paper he has the ability to make marks. One of the most valuable things a teacher can provide the child is a supportive, stimulating and happy environment.

There is a right way to teach the child to write and make the jump to writing their names and the letters. A lot of writing depends on fine motor development of a kid. For most children, the first word they learn to write is her name. Writing is one of the developmental milestones which vary greatly from child to child.

A teacher always needs to encourage a kid’s writing by keeping paper, pencils, crayons, and chalk within an easy reach. The teacher should know many ways to pique interest like he/ she can pour sand onto a tray and show the kid how to trace letters with a finger. It is exciting to see when a child's scribbles begin to look more like real letters. A teacher need to first start with the kids drawing lines and then connecting the lines to form letters like E, X, Y, F. Letters like M, N may be found difficult for the kids to write at the very beginning. Some kids catch onto learning letters very quickly and others need more repetition and time learning letters. The teacher needs to give the kids more time to understand the letters formation. Sandpaper letters are an integral part of the Montessori approach to learning how to read and write. These letters provide a visual way to help children learn the alphabet shape. Creating an alphabet book is a fun way to capture all the first writing attempts of the child. A teacher may find that after a few months the child suddenly recognizes every letter. One way to keep the alphabet writing enjoyable is to include games and crafts. The kids need a variety of activities to stimulate their interest and to reach them the way that they learn best. When the kid is ready to begin writing her/ his name the teacher can write the letters in large letters on a big sheet of paper. Later on the teacher can add the traditional written form with the first letter capitalized and the rest lowercase when you teach her to write her name and can use multisensory practice tracing over the letters. Montessori teacher training provides with a big set of ideas for the kids which the aspirants learn and implement in the classrooms which he/ she can pick knowing what works best for your kids.