Tips for training English conversation with children

Many language schools teach children, but how many really know how to train English conversation with children?

In the last post, I mentioned the importance of being bilingual. Read and imagine the future you want for your child by understanding that the possibilities for those who speak more than one language are endless!

Teaching children is phenomenal. Having the opportunity to participate in someone’s language development at its most important, and open to content, is simply magical!

But the big question is: how to create interest in a child to learn a new language?

Is the answer in a children’s English course? Yes, but much more is needed to ensure healthy, fun and successful learning and part of it happens at home.

Training English conversation with children is a brilliant idea!

The children’s world is more colorful, more playful, bigger than ours, and much more challenging. But at the same time, little ones see opportunities where we are unable to perceive.

Curious, right? The process of acquiring English for a Portuguese-speaking child can happen as fast or even faster than learning the first language.

Some people still say that it is not a good idea to teach a new language to a child who is in the process of literacy, but the truth is that both can complement each other and make teaching much easier for both those who are teaching Portuguese as for those who teach English classes.

Training English conversation with children sharpens the desire to learn in a way that Portuguese cannot, perhaps because it is the mother tongue, is much more necessary than playful. Over time, your child will discover new opportunities to use what he has learned to get what he wants and this encourages him to go further and further.

1 – It’s time to play! Why play in Portuguese when you can play in English?

Training conversation with a child does not necessarily require them to know verbal forms, adjectives, nouns or even what these difficult words mean. It’s a phase where the little one associates sounds with names and images, so it’s worth taking advantage of.

For example, the classic joke “Master Sent” can be replaced by Simon Says.

The beginning will be hard, but quite fun. The child will need to understand that you are the master (Simon) and that every time you give an order, he or she must execute it.

So at this point, it is worth giving tips and always reminding the child what the English word means.

An example:

Sit is sit down and Get up is stand up.

We use the context of the play and we would do the movements of sitting and standing next to the expressions “sit down” and “stand up” and the child will gradually understand the meaning of these expressions, from the action they are witnessing and performing.

Games such as Simon Says, Hide n ‘Seek (hide and seek), Tag (the catch) can easily be taken to English and provide playful moments of learning. This, when used in parallel with a children’s English course, will yield brilliant results.

Video games can also encourage your child to learn to speak a few words, but if you don’t teach what each word means, little ones will just repeat what they hear, without understanding the context or why they are saying it. Therefore, in the case of games, attention is redoubled.

2 – Training English conversation with children requires study and patience.

It is not enough for the child to learn to speak English at school alone. It’s as if you took your license but didn’t have a car to drive, like you went to the gym, but you continued on an extremely greasy diet that was harmful to your health.

The child needs support, an immersive environment where someone can talk to her and help her use what she has learned, especially at the younger ages. Over time, the child grows up and creates situations in which he can use the new language.

In other words, the ideal is that parents and children are immersed in foreign culture and can even learn together and discover how wonderful the bilingual world is!

The child will speak wrong words and is worth correcting, but don’t do it right away! Wait for the little one to finish the sentence and then repeat it correctly without emphasizing the specific mistake made.

BONUS – Enjoy Relationships and Create Simulations

Promote integration between your child and classmates. Children who learn together get further! Toddlers will always build rapport with a peer, and this can be very helpful if children can meet, play, and practice what they have learned in school.

At Tots & Teens this practice is a reality. Due to the varied nationalities of the students, it becomes very natural to express themselves in a common language, in this case English, to be understood and to facilitate communication and interaction among all.

Also, this is a great opportunity to use the prank tip Simon Says, Hide n ‘Seek and Tag.

A very common activity in international schools that we also practice at Tots & Teens is to simulate situations where children have important professions such as a policeman, a doctor, a driver, etc. Use your imagination and encourage dialogue and exploration of possibilities!

You now have valuable tips for training English conversation with children. Participate in your child’s learning process and always encourage him!

We are Tots & Teens, a school that cares about your child’s overall education from 3 to 16 years old.

Through the dynamics of our classes, We created an environment where it is spontaneous to talk and interact in English and this takes away the inhibition of students, who often do not want to expose themselves in another language. As we have several nationalities, everyone’s common language is English, unlike a language school with students who spend little time in class and live in a Portuguese-speaking room. In this case, it is sometimes difficult to “change the key” of the brain to communicate only in the foreign language.

Contact us and start preparing your child for the future now.