TEACHING VERY YOUNG LEARNERS ONLINE: HOW TO KEEP CURIOUS MINDS CURIOUS IN A DIGITAL WORLD
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17501/24246700.2021.7109Keywords:
preschool, education, kindergarten, multisensory, onlineAbstract
Teaching very young learners is one the most challenging, yet, most rewarding things in the field of TEFL. Teaching preschoolers and kindergarten students focuses on teaching the language by creating experiences. However, how feasible can this be at the time of the pandemic when classrooms turned into virtual classrooms and EFL teachers of very young learners had to face a new set of challenges? This paper is about teaching English to very young learners (4-6 years old) online. The paper explores some of the key characteristics, needs and strengths of the very young learners and the challenges of online education with those age groups, and then goes on to examine the practical implications as these relate to our planning and teaching methodologies. Finally, it focuses on how teaching very young learners means exposing students to the target language through messy play, CLIL, Art, storytelling and activities that place the child in the centre of the learning procedure, giving them reasons to use the language and engaging them meaningfully through fun and creative activities, even when lesson takes place online, in a Digital World.
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