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Unread Oct 26th, 2006, 02:58 pm
susan53 susan53 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 8th, 2006
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Default Re: teaching 8 year olds one to one

Hi - If I were you I would get a good book for kids of that age and level and use that as the basis of the course. You don't say how much experience you've had, but if you're newish to teaching or to teaching kids, that will take away the hardest part - deciding what and how much to teach and in what order. It should have lots of fun games, stories, songs and activities which you can then supplement with other games and so on which you'll find suggested on this site and others. Make sure it's got a good teacher's book, and use the suggestions that you find there to organise the lesson. The Teacher's Book will probably contain a set of flashcards, but if it doesn't you can download from here for suplementary activities.
Remember also that kids of that age can't necessarily sit still for long periods - use lots of action games, interspersed with "sitting-down" activities. And don't let activities go on too long - watch for "I've had enough" signs. But remember too that kids love repeating things. If you find a story that they like, they'll want to hear it again and again. The same if you find a game that they really enjoy. Keep these up your sleeve for if you see attention dropping, or as a reward for working well.
And finally don't expect miracles. Parents often imagine that if their child has an hour a week with a teacher, they'll be speaking fluently by the end of a few months. It doesn't happen like that. Be prepared to teach only small amounts of language in each lesson, and to have to recycle it a lot before it's assimilated.
Hope that's helpful.
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