How to teach your child English on your own. How to help a child learn English How to learn English independently with a child

How can a parent help their child learn English, even if the parent himself does not know the language?

Knowledge of the English language in our time opens doors to the best universities in the country, makes it possible to feel more free when traveling abroad, and allows specialists to qualify for a higher salary level. For children, the best motivation for learning English is to enjoy the lessons. In addition, a child or teenager who knows English can get more out of their favorite computer games, understand instructions for modern technology, and find almost any information on the Internet.

Many parents really want to help their children learn English, but often don’t know how. This article is an attempt to answer the questions that most often concern parents.

When should you start learning English?
Most English language teachers believe that language learning should begin in primary school - from the first, second, third grades. The fact is that at this age children are already able to absorb a fairly large amount of new knowledge. In addition, children of this age are more receptive to languages, copy adults easily and with pleasure, and are not afraid of making a mistake.

What to do if a child does not want to study English?
First of all, you need to talk kindly with the child and find out what exactly caused his reluctance. There are two main reasons: 1) the child is not interested in studying English and 2) it is difficult for him to study English.
If a child has no interest in the English language, try to interest him with the help of educational cartoons, computer programs, and special children's websites about learning English.
If your child has difficulty learning English, be sure to consult with your English teacher. It is the teacher who can tell you how best to learn new words, do homework, and explain grammatical subtleties. A good specialist can do a lot to solve your problems.

How to learn words with a child?
Here are some tips.

Cards - simple and effective. Buy a block of multi-colored identical leaves (or cut small cards from old unused notebooks). On one side you write the English word (possibly with transcription), on the other side - a translation, or better yet, a drawing. Make cards with your children. You can store cards in special envelopes; it is better to sign the envelopes by topic, for example, “Colors”, “Numbers”, “Emotions (adjectives)”, “Animals” and so on. Take these envelopes with you on transport, in line, and play cards with your child whenever you have free time that is wasted. You can’t even imagine what kind of vocabulary you can acquire in one year of traveling on a bus, for example, to a music school!

Another way to learn words is to label things in the child’s room, i.e. stick stickers that do not leave marks and stay on surfaces for quite a long time. You can sign a table and a lamp, a wall and a bed, a ball and a piano - the idea is clear.

How to teach a child to pronounce words correctly?
First of all, it must be noted that establishing correct pronunciation is a long process that requires a lot of exercises to develop the child’s hearing, the ability to distinguish between the sounds of their own and their native language, and the ability to pronounce these sounds correctly. If you yourself do not know English, then the best way to help your child master English pronunciation is to listen with him and try to repeat the words on educational CDs with songs and rhymes that were read by native speakers, i.e. people from Great Britain, America, Australia.

If you know English, then in principle you need to do the same with your child - listen to audio, try to repeat. Also, parents who know the language well enough can play a fun pronunciation game with their children. The game consists of taking a sentence or rhyme in Russian and replacing one “Russian” sound in it with an “English” one.

It is very important not to discourage children from learning English, the principle “do no harm!” true in relation to pedagogy. Be patient, select interesting educational material taking into account the individual characteristics of your child - and, lo and behold, in a few years your child will win first place at the city Olympiad!

On the topic: methodological developments, presentations and notes

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Today, many parents strive to provide their children with conditions for early learning of foreign languages. Traditional English has been supplemented by more exotic languages, such as Chinese. Many people are studying it now; Chinese language courses in Yekaterinburg will help you not only learn it from scratch, but also improve your language proficiency if you already have some kind of knowledge base.

As for children, not all parents manage to start education from an early age. At what age can children be taught English? How to help your child learn a language faster?

How to help your child learn English without knowing it

You can often hear the phrase in everyday life: “He speaks foreign languages ​​perfectly.” The “Common European Framework for Assessment of Foreign Languages” does not use this concept. There are six levels of language knowledge: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2 (in ascending order).

Most of the materials for learning English by children aged 6-11 years are at level A1-A2. If an adult studied a foreign language at school, college, or university, then the vocabulary and grammar of a children's textbook will be clear to him. Moreover, the parent will be able to explain the material to the child.

It won’t be long before you have to turn to the vocabulary and grammar of levels B2 and C1. At the time of passing the final exams, it would be nice for the child to have level B2. Enough time to improve your English with a native speaker via Skype, for example. After all, you need to go one step ahead of your child.

Other problems may be more difficult to deal with.

Correct pronunciation

The child copies the pronunciation of the teacher and parents. A good teacher should not have problems with pronunciation. If you help your child at home, then you will have to work on this aspect.

Listen to audio materials, watch videos, copy the speakers' speech. You need to try to eliminate errors in your speech before the child adopts them. Remember the transcription. Pay attention to the pronunciation of the words that you will learn with your child.

Learn a few expressions of greeting, farewell, approval and try to use them in your speech. Just to the spot!

Listening

For many graduates of the nineties, this is a huge problem. It can be explained by the imperfection of tape recorders and the lack of high-quality educational materials. Nowadays, when there are so many English-language films, cartoons, educational videos, lectures, only the lazy cannot cope with listening. Catch up in between. In addition, you can “infect” your child with your interest.

Watch English cartoons with your child, play computer educational games, discuss what you see and hear.

Tutorials

What should you pay attention to?

1. Even the most accessible and interesting adult textbooks are not suitable for children. The rules are the same, but the situations for discussion do not correspond to age. That's why we buy teaching aids designed for children. Markings - Primary, A1, A2, B1, Starter or Elementary.
2. When choosing, you should prefer the British version of English. Most likely, the Russian examiner will subsequently regard the peculiarities of American English as an error. Signal to buy - British English.
3. It is not recommended to use textbooks by Russian authors. There are no errors in British textbooks, there are practically no typos, the language is presented in its modern state. These textbooks are built on the basis of effective methods, have been piloted, and are released in series (having completed a textbook of one level, you can move on to the next; they are interconnected, there will be no confusion).
4. The textbook is the basis. But you shouldn’t focus only on it. Beyond the printed pages is a living and vibrant language. Watch video materials with your child and write short stories in basic English. Find instructions for a craft and follow it with your child.

Useful video courses:

• Muzzy in Gondoland and Muzzy comes back (cartoon characters fight, fall in love, plot and defeat villains; each episode is an interactive exercise for memorizing new words, speech cliches, and pronunciation).
• Wizadora (video course to reinforce the material covered; the main character is a sorceress who often makes mistakes in her “tricks”).
• Oxford English Video (four educational discs with fairy tales, songs and applications with tasks).

You need to learn English with your child through games, cards with pictures, poems, and songs. Reading a textbook and solving grammar problems is not enough. Learning should be fun. Only then will there be a result.

Here in Russia they like to say: “He (she) speaks the language perfectly.” There is no such concept in the “Common European Framework for Assessment of Foreign Languages” - language proficiency is determined by six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, with A1 being the lowest and C2 the highest).

These levels roughly correspond to the names of adult textbooks (Starter, Elementary A1, Pre-Intermediate - A2, Intermediate - B1, and so on).

The vast majority of materials for ages 6-11 (marked Primary) are at level A1-A2. That is, if you spent 5-10 years struggling with English at school, college, or in courses, then the lexical and grammatical material in a children’s textbook will be within your grasp (moreover, you will be able to explain it to your child). Vocabulary and grammar at the Upper-Intermediate and Advanced levels will not be actively used any time soon (let's just say: by the time of the final exam in a foreign language, it would be nice for a teenager to have an Upper-Intermediate level).

You have time to improve your own English - “go one step ahead of the child.”

With other skills the situation may be more complicated.

Pronunciation

Children will copy your pronunciation. If it is imperfect, it is necessary to actively use audio and video materials and strive to copy the speech of the announcers yourself.

It is worth understanding the “Runglish” errors in your own speech and eliminating them before the child has time to adopt them.

Runglish speakers do not distinguish between open/closed and short/long vowel sounds. For example, they pronounce /i/ (heat) and /ɪ/ (hit), /ɔ/ (port) and /ɒ/ (pot), /ɑ/ (heart) and /ʌ/ (hut), etc. in the same way. d.

In Runglish, the sound /æ/ (bad) sounds like /ɛ/ (bed).

At the end of a word, voiced consonants are pronounced as voiceless, so it is impossible to distinguish the word dog from dock, hard from heart, etc.

The absence of sounds /ð/ and /θ/ in Russian leads to the fact that, for example, the word thing can be pronounced as sing, and then pronounced as zen.

Remember the transcription icons and pay attention to the transcription of those words that you will learn with your child. Please note: the transcription symbols in British dictionaries and textbooks differ from those we are used to seeing in Russian textbooks (not by much, don’t be alarmed). Teaching a child to read (much less write down) transcription at this level is inappropriate. It saddens me to learn from parents that in the first or second grade, having barely mastered the first English words, children began to study transcription. Parents should know this! And the child can use a talking dictionary (Lingvo, for example).

Copy the pronunciation of phrases that you encounter in audio and video courses.

Learn a few expressions of approval in English and try to use them. Well done! Good job! You're good at it! Excellent! (praise often, but honestly). Listen to the intonation with which native speakers pronounce these phrases.

Listening

It often turns out that skills are not equally developed. Some students speak well, read well, do grammar exercises flawlessly - and can barely distinguish speech by ear. Which is not surprising if you remember what kind of tape recorders were in classrooms in the 90s and what they listened to on them. But these days, when English-language DVD films, youtube.com (where you can find lectures for adults in English on any topic, including grammar, vocabulary and phonetics), and radio stations broadcast on the Internet are at hand, a parent can improve your knowledge in between.

One of the goals of learning a language at this age is to create positive motivation. Lead by example. Show that you are interested in English. Let your child see that you read English articles, watch films (or educational videos for adults). Tell them that you too will learn new words and expressions. Remember interesting situations from your life related to a foreign language...

Everyday speech and classroom language

Sometimes this aspect is “forgotten” at school and university. It is easier for graduates to describe the history of England or talk about the economic situation than to remember phrases like “Nice to meet you,” “Where are you from,” and “Could you pass the salt?”

There are two options to resolve the problem:
Work through speech cliches as they appear in the children's textbook
Prepare for each lesson certain speech cliches (related to situations), and try to use them more often.

Ideally, you should strive not to switch to Russian again during class.

Tutorials

An adult textbook (even for beginners from scratch), even if very interesting, is also not worth studying with a child. The grammar and vocabulary will be the same, but the topics for discussion, skits, and projects will be completely different (age-appropriate).

Of all the diversity of the English language, the British or American version is usually chosen for study, and less often - Mid-Atlantic English (American, close to British). I recommend studying BRITISH English:
This is the option you most likely studied yourself.
Features of American English can easily be mistaken by a Russian examiner

You can use some American materials, but try to avoid confusion. Understand the question yourself (read about the differences between British and American spelling, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary) - at least so as not to consider the American version a mistake.

So, the textbook you need is from British English Primary. This tutorial:
British
It is a training course, and not a manual for the development of individual skills (that is, it is not a book for home reading or a grammar, but basic material for classes, combining work on speaking, reading and listening, and ideally also and sections like learning to learn)
Written no more than 10-15 years ago
Intended for children of the appropriate age (sometimes it happens that a nine-year-old student can study using a teenage textbook, but not an adult textbook or a textbook for preschoolers).

I do not recommend taking textbooks by Russian authors as the main course. British textbooks are based on effective methods; they have no errors, very few typos (Russian publishing houses even manage to publish a poster with the English alphabet with errors), they reflect the current state of the language; they were piloted (i.e., groups studied using a trial version of the textbook, and after that the author took into account comments and suggestions); they are part of a large set of well-written textbooks (that is, once you finish a textbook, you can easily move on to the next level textbook in the same series). It should be noted that some British manuals have recently been Russified - that is, Russian authors have written their own explanations and additions to popular British manuals. If you are studying according to the corresponding British manual, such a book will be very useful.

Use the textbook, but do not try to complete all the tasks as the author suggests; The teacher's book usually contains alternative solutions.

Select educational materials that match your child's level of preparation. Study guides are usually marked as A1, A2, B1 or Starter, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate.

Additional materials

It would be boring to study exclusively from a textbook, even the most interesting one. The textbook is a framework that allows you not to miss important topics, work within the existing level, and move to the next level. And beyond the boundaries of the textbook there is the language itself, alive, interesting, bright. Tell us about the culture and history of England and the USA (in Russian, if possible) - and immediately select some material in VERY SIMPLE ENGLISH to illustrate this. Use video materials - spoken speech is perceived completely differently when it is accompanied by video.

Video courses

The video courses Muzzy in Gondoland and Muzzy comes back are great for this age. This program was created twenty years ago, so you may have already seen a cartoon about a green alien who eats watches, Bob the gardener who is in love with a princess, and an insidious long-nosed villain named Corvax. Highly recommend. The course can be found online. At the same time, we must remember that watching a cartoon, even if it is brilliant from a methodological point of view, is only a passive acquaintance with the material. After each part, use its material in games and exercises; sing songs that appeared in the cartoon (for example, you came across the question Where are you from? - ask it to everyone you can: Winnie the Pooh, Barack Obama, the hero of a Japanese cartoon... and let them answer!). The course includes interactive exercises, but it will be equally interesting to role-play the story.

You can watch some video courses to reinforce what you have learned. For example, Wizadora! - video course just for this age; this is the story of a witch who doesn’t always succeed in conjuring what she planned (available on torrents.ru)/

There are 4 interesting discs from the Oxford English Video series (listed from simple to complex): Three Billy-Goats; Goldilocks and the Three Bears; The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse; Aladdin. Of these fairy tales, “The Three Bears” and “Aladdin” are well known to Russian children. Each story has four songs that you can learn. The age range of 5-9 years is very arbitrary. Not all nine-year-olds will be enthusiastic about learning from the story; some eleven-year-olds may find it interesting. But the tasks in the application are quite complex.

You don't have to learn English while sitting still! Many well-known games (for example, the edible-inedible ball game) can be used to review English words (and also to exercise and relieve stress). There is an exercise based on the rhyme Humpty Dumpty: sit on the floor, pressing your knees to your chest and clasping them with your arms. When you reach the words “Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,” roll onto your back. Continuing to recite the poem and still holding your knees with your hands, try again moving to a sitting position. The one who succeeds first wins.

You can repeat vocabulary using cards with pictures. At first you just name the pictures, then, when the words are already familiar, you play What’s missing? , or, for example, you put a card (without showing it) in an envelope with a small hole, and from a small fragment of the image the child tries to guess what is shown on the card. There are a huge variety of games with cards.

Nursery Rhymes - nursery rhymes, sometimes very old ones. Therefore, they may contain, for example, outdated grammatical forms. But this is not a reason to refuse them. Many of these poems are usually sung to a specific tune, and sometimes the poems are accompanied by gestures or games. It's worth watching how the American TV presenter shows them
Cullen

The wheels on the bus
Old McDonald had a farm
Miss Polly had a dolly
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
If you"re happy and you know it

Adapted books

This is where there are cases when compliance with level and age does not play such an important role, and you can take a book that is a little more complex than a “framework” textbook. Select reading materials related to your child’s hobbies and life. When working with books for reading, I do not recommend getting carried away with translation - there are many other ways to check your understanding of the text (which also help to consolidate new vocabulary).

One of the many “picture dictionaries” (sometimes accompanied by books of exercises) will come in handy. It’s a good idea to start mastering electronic dictionaries at this stage.

Methodology

Try to look at the language not as a set of rules that need to be mastered and then find application for them, but as a set of situations, to each of which certain structures and vocabulary are “attached”. Let’s say, not “explain the Present Simple, do exercises on it and try to use it in speech,” but try to imagine what grammatical structures will be needed for the story “Our Family,” analyze an example of such a story, and then give the child the opportunity to compose based on speech patterns your own story (in this case, the term Present Simple itself will be in the background).

It is important that classes do not turn into exclusively reading and solving grammar “problems.” A lesson in a textbook can be devoted to reading, listening, even writing - but in every lesson the student must speak. Naturally, in the language you are learning - so don’t forget about the classroom language.

Those who have a classroom at home are very lucky: there are many more objects and actions with them that can be discussed in English (remember what you can DO in a school classroom: open a book, go to the blackboard, take chalk, wipe the blackboard... in in general, not so much). At the initial stage there may be a silent period - only you speak, and the child shows a picture or performs an action that you named in English. The names of food products can be learned using edible material.

Put down your textbook!

The sounded word must appear before the written word. Depending on how much earlier, they talk about the oral basis of learning, oral advance or oral presentation of educational material. In British textbooks for this age, level 1 often does not contain ANY text to read - only speech and songs on a disk, and in the book - illustrations for sound stories, exercises in pictures, coloring books (this is how colors are taught), paper figures with which you can play skits. This is the “oral basis of learning.” At the next stage, the text appears, but new words are still spoken first, and only then appear in written form. This partially solves the problem of reading rules: the child already pronounces the word correctly, all that remains is to correlate the pronunciation with the spelling.

We are used to imagining a foreign language textbook as a book with texts, and the progress when working with such a book is quite obvious: first we read simple short texts, then long and complex ones. And with an oral basis of learning, the language becomes elusive, and it is more difficult for us to assess what path has already been taken. Look at the tutorial in terms of functions (eg: Introduction, Greeting and Farewell). What has the child learned to talk about?

Don't turn classes into exams. “Come on, how would it be in English...” - ask family and friends not to contact your child with such questions. If they are able to carry on a conversation in English or tell a fairy tale, that’s great, but there’s no need to give your child a translation exam (this is neither learning something new nor practicing something familiar - these are words and phrases taken out of context). How vocabulary is mastered is checked using tests inside the textbook itself; in addition, words from each topic “pop up” in the next one (this happens in a good textbook).

There is such a concept - exposure, which can be translated by the word “impact”. In order to master a language, you need to hear many, many examples of the language, and these examples must be varied, and in level - a little more complex than what we have already mastered. Ideally, I will say this again, in an English lesson you should only speak English (this will not happen right away).

Attitude towards mistakes

Don't try to fix all the mistakes. Errors are often divided into two types - errors and slips. Errors occur when a person simply does not know the correct option. Sometimes you don’t even have to talk about such a mistake (it’s impossible to master all the rules at once). Slips - errors where the student already knows the rule. It’s worth making sure he can fix them himself. For a child to learn to speak English, he needs to speak often and a lot. If you dwell on every mistake, your speech will turn into a collection of correctly pronounced words with long pauses between them.

Already at this stage, you can gradually master learning strategies (for example, how to learn words, how to use a dictionary).

When assessing the results of classes, pay attention not only to how many words have been mastered and what grammatical phrases the child has learned. There are achievements that are less “tangible”, but no less important (for example, independence in working with a topic, the ability to evaluate oneself, a creative approach to memorizing words). Together with your child, learn to come up with vivid examples for memorizing words.

Interdisciplinary connections

Language is well acquired when it turns from a goal into a means (to achieve another goal). Try printing out a description of an interesting craft and making it.

Try to find a very simple text on a topic that is interesting to the child (difficult, but doable; you can even use text from an adult textbook at Starter or Elementary levels).

We, adults, learn English for a long time and painfully. We are looking for a suitable method, trying to wrap our heads around the rules of a different linguistic system, “re-educating” our articulatory apparatus for other sounds.

It is much easier for a child to learn English from scratch: children literally absorb it! Those grammatical structures that we diligently learn are instantly “absorbed”. Without analysis, which we are not yet capable of, but just like that.

The child can speak both two and three languages. The main thing is to constantly work with him. Therefore, dear adults (present and future parents), we are preparing to raise English-speaking children! And we will help you with this.

So, on the agenda (table of contents of the article):

How to start learning English with your child on your own: the “immersion” technique

Recently, our entire country was conquered by a baby named Bella Devyatkina. This girl, at only 4 years old, speaks 7 (in addition to her native) languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Arabic.

In fact, a child can master more languages, because, as Masaru Ibuka wrote in the acclaimed book “After Three It’s Too Late”:

“...a child’s brain can accommodate an unlimited amount of information...”

So, if in a family the mother is Russian, the father is English-speaking, and the nanny, say, is German, then the child will speak all three languages ​​without any difficulties. And there will be no “mixing” of languages ​​(as many skeptics say). Just the mother will be with the baby for "The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree", and dad for ABC songs. 🙂

But Bella's parents are Russian! How then is this possible? It turns out that she Since childhood, her mother spoke only English to her(that is, the conditions for bilingualism were created artificially). After her parents noticed her interest in languages, they hired native-speaking tutors for her - and so the child turned out to be a polyglot.

And this example is far from alone. Masaru Ibuka in his work also talks about such bilingual children (by the way, read this book - it is amazing).

If you speak English perfectly and you feel confident enough to speak only it, then no theory and articles like “where to start learning English with a child from scratch” will not need. Just speak to your baby in English. That's all.

Note: in this case, you will not be able to speak Russian with your preschooler. Other family members speak Russian to him, but you ONLY speak English.

But What should parents do who are not so confident in their English? Indeed, in this case, training using the “immersion in a language environment” method will be impossible (unless you hire a native speaker as a nanny). We will answer this question in the article.

At what age should you start learning English with your child?

A whole discussion has arisen between teachers regarding this issue: when is the best time to start, is it worth learning English with kids or not? Our answer is yes, it is worth it. But the main thing is to wait until the child completes the process of forming his native language. That is, he will have clear sound pronunciation and properly developed coherent speech. Since each child develops differently, it is impossible to give any exact time frame. But minimum ≈ from 2.5 years(Not earlier).

How to learn English with a child on your own - where to start?

The best thing send your child to a special language nursery, if possible. Then you won’t have to take on such serious responsibility, and besides, the child will have that same “separation of languages” in his mind (Russian at home, English in the nursery). And you yourself can support your child’s interest and progress with games, cartoons, songs, etc.

If you still want to learn English with your child on your own, then you can motivate him with an “English doll”. Buy a doll (you can use a glove doll) and introduce her to the baby, saying that she doesn’t understand anything in Russian. In order to communicate with the “English woman,” he will have to learn a new, but very interesting language. Well, then you play with this doll, watch cartoons, learn songs and poems... all this will be discussed below.

For example, characters from Sesame Street are perfect as a doll.

What language skills can be developed in preschoolers?

Of course, no grammar, spelling, etc. A child of preschool age can:

• perceive speech by ear,
• speak for yourself
• read (together with the parent, and then study/look at the book on his own if it interests him).

That is the child will master all the same skills English as well as Russian at this age.

By the way, you don’t have to worry too much about “speaking” and correct pronunciation of English sounds. It is we, adults, who are rebuilding our articulatory apparatus after the Russian sounds that are familiar to us. A The child will learn the correct pronunciation much sooner.

To develop this skill It's best to sing songs and learn Nursery Rhymes behind an English-speaking announcer: children's “monkeyism” and unique children's hearing will do their job. If there are still any shortcomings, then simply correct the baby, but without any complicated explanations.

We invite you to figure out English sounds yourself. Read the articles:

How to teach English with children from the very beginning: 5 concrete ways

1. Watch cartoons in English with your child. Do you think he won't understand? You are wrong :) Children at this age have incredible linguistic intuition. They may not understand the words, but the emotions in the voices of the characters and on their painted “faces” will help them, the music will help them, etc. You will be surprised, but after watching a cartoon, he may begin to repeat words from it and hum songs.

Also use special Russian-language cartoons to learn the language.

2. “Learn” English words and phrases with him(the first word is in quotation marks for a reason). These are not lessons or training sessions. This is your daily communication with your child, during which you speak English vocabulary to him.

- Mom, look - a car!
- Yes, it really is a machine. Do you know how it would be in English? Car! This is a car.

Main rules:

• Words need to be used in the context of the situation: during lunch we talk about food, while walking around the zoo we talk about animals, etc.
• Accordingly, we master only those words that are related to the child’s current life: family, colors, clothes, animals, fruits, etc.
• Any word must immediately be visually reinforced: for the word “dog” – this is a toy, a picture/photo or a shaggy and barking dog next to you :)

This visual image will help you learn new words with ease.

Another: so that your child immediately “masters” English grammar (again in quotes), tell him whole phrases. After all, if you tell him individual words, he will repeat the words, and if you tell him whole sentences, he will begin to use sentences.

- Dog!
– This is a dog!

Also, to learn new words, you can use various games, handouts (coloring books, assignments, etc.), while working with which the child will have great pleasure!

3. Learn children's songs and rhymes with him. You can find them on the sites below (or search in Yandex and Google). It is best to present the poem itself to the child in the form of a small “dramatization”, because many poems have a certain plot behind them and are easily acted out (live or on dolls).

The kid may ask you to translate the verse into Russian - you translate it, and then again act out the “performance” in front of him. The main rule: DO NOT ask your child to repeat after you. Yours the task is to interest him in this incomprehensible language. Many children can at first just listen and listen and listen, and then suddenly start “scaling” these poems by heart :)

For example, the song “Old Macdonald had a farm” has been played out in many different cartoons. Lyrics available .

Stages of working on a poem:

• First, you yourself study the content of a poem or song, practice your pronunciation (sounds in words, intonation, rhythm).
• Then you practice reading it expressively and think of a visual support for the child: a performance with toys, some kind of dance... in general, turn on your imagination!
• Now you can present your work to your child’s judgment. After this, discuss the performance with your child: what he understood, what moment he liked the most.
• Then invite your child to “join” your production and prepare a joint performance for other family members. But for this, the child will have to learn this rhyme (this will create motivation).
• You can also find (or invent) a finger or sign game based on this rhyme. Then you can periodically invite your child to play it in any suitable situations (of course, if he wants to).

4. Read books in English with your child. You can start when he already knows individual words. Simple stories will be quite understandable to children, and pictures will explain the incomprehensible.

If a book really interests him, he will take it on his own and look at it, study it (this will create motivation to learn to read). In addition, the child will “photograph” words with his eyes and remember their appearance. It turns out, your task is to interest him in reading.

Systematic learning to read begins only at 4-5 years old according to the principle from simple to complex:

An amazing website will help you teach your child to readwww.starfall.com . For example, go to this section and learn with your child to read words with the short sound / a / (æ). Each sound is pronounced in a cheerful child's voice and is accompanied by explanatory animation. Just a find!

Where can you find books to read in English:

And remember that still An e-book can't compare to a real one., which you can touch and then leaf through with enthusiasm. So be sure to buy some colorful English books for your library!

5. Play fun games with your baby! And he won’t even notice that during this game you are teaching him something. When the child is very young, organize joint games. For a grown-up “student,” you can offer online games for learning English. Below you will find a list of both.

Learning English words for children - games

The classic way to learn new vocabulary is vocabulary cards(that is, word + translation + picture). By the way, there is a whole one on our blog.

Examples of vocabulary cards from Lingualeo. The full list is available.

But it will be even better if you create them together with your baby. Together you will select pictures, glue them to pieces of paper or cardboard, etc. Then, already during preparation for the “English language games”, the child will learn something. What to do next with the cards? Here are some options:

1. Cards can be used to play pantomime. First, you tell the baby an English word (and show it on the card), and the child must represent this word with gestures. Then you can play “reverse” pantomime - the child (or you) depicts the animal, action, object that he pulled out, and the rest of the participants guess.

2. Game “Show me”. Place several cards in front of the child, and then call out one word from this list - the child must touch the desired card.

3. “Yes-No game.” You show the cards and say the words correctly or incorrectly (when showing a hippopotamus, say “tiger”). The child answers “Yes” or “No”.

– Is it a tiger? – No!!!

4. Game “What’s missing”. Lay out a row of cards (4-5 pieces). Look at them with your baby and say the words. The child closes his eyes, and you remove one word. Tell me what's missing?

5. Game “Jump to...”. You lay out the cards on the floor in a vertical row and give the child the task of jumping to a certain word (great if the baby is bored).

These are just a few mechanics using cards. By turning on your imagination, you can come up with even more variations of games. And we will move on. What other games can I use?

5. Game “Is it. ...?”. You gradually draw an object, and the child tries to guess it. For example, draw half a circle, and the child guesses:

– Is it a ball? Is it the Sun?
– No, (continue drawing)
– Is it an apple?
– Yes!🙂

6. Another version of the game “Is it. ...?” - a card with a hole. Cut a hole in a piece of fabric (or a sheet of paper) and place it on a vocabulary card. Move the hole around the picture, and the child guesses what is hidden there.

7. Magic bag. You put different objects in a bag, and the baby takes them out and names them. An even more interesting option: he puts his hand into the bag and guesses the contents by touch.

8. Game “Touch your…nose, leg, hand…” (generally parts of the body).

“Touch your mouth,” you say, and the baby touches his mouth.

9. Games will help children learn English colors easily. For example, you give him objects of different colors and ask him to find and select things of a certain color from them (by the way, the same task can concern words starting with a certain letter, etc.).

10. Another example of playing with colors– “Find something.... in the room.”

“Find something red in the room!” - and the child looks for something of the specified color.

11. How to learn verbs. Perform some action with your baby and talk through what exactly you are doing:

- “Fly! We are flying,” and pretend that you are flying.
– “Let's sing! We are singing!” – and hold an imaginary microphone in your hands.
– “Jump! Jump!” - and you happily jump around the room.

Don't forget about role-playing games. For example, play “shop”. The child’s task is to buy groceries from an English-speaking saleswoman (that’s you). Before this, you remember words and phrases that will be useful to him in the store, and after that the child acts out this situation. This game can be played under any imaginary conditions.

And definitely act out plays, fairy tales etc. For example, invite your child to make a video or film! The girls will definitely be delighted. 🙂

Useful sites. Learning English from scratch for children: games, alphabet, videos, printable materials

When your child is older, you can invite him to play online games. Particularly when you need some free time to do things around the house.

1. Online games for children: learn the English alphabet and words

www.vocabulary.co.il

This site was already mentioned above when talking about the game “Hangman”. It has a huge number of online word games. For example, Whack a mole helps you repeat the alphabet in a fun way: you need to hit the letters with a hammer and collect the correct sequence of the alphabet.

We aim and hit the desired letter with a hammer

Or the game Word paths, where children must assemble words from available letters with a certain vowel sound. As you can see, the games are designed for different ages, which means the site will help your children for many years.

www.eslgamesplus.com

Another great site with online games for kids. For example, this game, where hidden behind the emoticons:

1. verb,
2. picture for this verb.

The task is to combine. With each attempt, the words are spoken out. Playing is a pleasure.

A game Pirate Waters Board Game also deserves special attention. First, choose a topic that the child already knows (for example, body parts). Then you throw the dice (to do this you need to click on the image of the cube) and walk along the board. You are asked a question, and you choose an answer. If it is given correctly, you roll the dice again.

If you encounter a pirate, start over. In this case the child will repeat the correct construction several times while the game is running. The only drawback is that there is no voiceover of the correct answer (which would develop auditory skills). Therefore, advice: for the first time, play with your child in order to:

1. help him understand the conditions of the game (then you won’t be able to drag him away by the ears),
2. teach him to pronounce the correct answer on his own every time (so that the constructions are stored in memory).

www.mes-english.com

This site also has printables (+ opportunity to make your own worksheets), and videos and games. Let's focus on games. For example, there is a great online vocabulary game. First, go to the Vocabulary column and listen and memorize the words. Then we go to the Question and answer section and listen to the question and answer:

– What’s this?
– It’s a Lion!

And then to the Question only column, where you and your baby need to answer.

supersimplelearning.com

This site also has cartoons, songs and games. For example, interactive alphabet games, which are suitable for beginners. Select a set of letters and a level (first Level 1).

Next, click on a letter (for example, “a”) and listen to the pronunciation of this letter (or rather, the sound, of course, but kids don’t need to know such difficulties) and the word starting with it. All this action is accompanied by a funny picture.


The voice acting and animation of the game are simply excellent!

At the next level you are asked to choose a letter based on the word you hear. At the third level - only by sound.

learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org

Another super useful site (it’s not surprising - it’s the British Council). For example, word games, where you need to match a word and a picture. Or Trolley Dash game, where you need to quickly buy all the products on your shopping list (tested: very exciting!)

www.englishexercises.org

A large number of tasks (online and for downloading). For example, you need watch the video and fill in the blanks in the right words (for older children).

I recently discovered an absolutely wonderful technique that helps me memorize English words and phrases faster. I discovered it thanks to my Max, who is now actively studying English. More precisely, thanks to his teacher - Lilya, Thank you! 🙂

The technique is extremely simple: while practicing, repeating words and phrases, you need to move. For example, we want to learn the word “white”. You can repeat it ten times - maybe you’ll remember it. Or you can spell this word. We say the letter, jump up and clap our hands. Over your head. As a result, not only the word, but also its spelling is remembered faster.

Perhaps it looks funny and stupid. But the results are worth it! And for children, learning words and jumping is much more interesting than monotonously memorizing them.

The first time I saw Max jumping, I was very surprised. And, being a curious person, I looked into collections of scientific publications. As it turned out, Lilya, Max’s teacher, was not engaged in amateur activities, but used serious scientific data.

For example, James Asher, a professor at San Jose State University, created an entire direction in the field of foreign language learning called “Total Physical Response.” He proceeded from 3 assumptions, which were later confirmed during numerous experiments:

• When starting to learn a language, you should start not with rules and logical structures, but with simply listening to foreign speech.
• Learning a language must necessarily include physical activity.
• Learning a new language doesn't have to be stressful.

The idea is very simple. If you observe young children, you will see that long before the first words are uttered, they begin to listen to human speech. The child physically reacts to the words of the parents, and they correct or encourage him through speech.

— Bring mom a ball, please. No, baby, not a doll, but a ball. The round one that rolls. My clever. Brought a ball. Thank you!

That is, speech, the meanings of words, in a certain sense are internalized by the child through a physical reaction, physical activity.

It turned out that these observations can be successfully applied to learning a foreign language. Both children and adults.

The most interesting thing is that Almost any physical activity helps you remember new words better. In one study, students performed a variety of movements during foreign language classes - clapping, jumping and walking. Compared to their “sedentary” comrades, they managed to remember much more new material – both vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, after a year, they retained 80% of what they studied in their memory, while the second group of students had almost forgotten everything.

The summary is very simple. When learning a foreign language - move! Walk, run, and don’t just sit at the table, listen to another English or some other dialogue.

Try to imagine yourself as an actor who physically reacts, imitates everything he hears. Implement the actions in question physically - move your legs, imitating walking, move your lips, wave your arms. And do the same with your child. Let the lesson be fun, interesting and useful. Without stress. – Remember the third rule of James Asher?