I need tips for teaching three 9-10 year-old children English.THX

I think you're right to give up on the prizes. Beyond that, I'm sure there are people here who can offer much better help than I.

Good luck with the project.

U can give them prizes AT RANDOM, when thay don 't expect it,
unrelated to academic achievement; I do.





David

U can simply EXPLAIN the value
of possessing this knowledge to them.





David

How about using positive reinforcement to build their confidence. Reinforce their learning with positive encouragment and if some are not learning as fast as the others, you recognise what they are doing good and help them where they are struggling.

Although I have never tried teaching another language, I have been a teacher for a long time. What I do know, is that the best way to motivate children to learn is to make the subject important and relevant to them and fun. Your students need to find a reason that learning another language can be fun. Perhaps they could each choose a topic of their interest, learn about it and present it to the others in English. Playing games or team strategy tasks where they have to work together and explain things to each other can also be fun. You cold set up a "treasure hunt" where you give all clues/directions in English and they have to work together to solve it and share the prize. I agree that you don't have to motivate with gifts all the time. A lot of verbal reinforcement will go a long way with them as well.

Roger that!

just got back from the class! Today, all good.

I think you are right, esp. for the boy. I will try that.

ya, the boy in my class once attended English training program, but later he didnt want to go there any more because he thinks the teacher shouldn't beat he on his head. He knew the word "zoo" and can surely write it down without check the note at that time, so i started with interesting little thing like animals and cute insects, and now he knows "Bee",and can proudly say it out loud, so everytime i strated with the word that the boy knew to get to a new point and ask him to present what he already knows. I hope by this way he will gradually catch up with the two girls.

THX , Iam always on the look hoping to find out what interests them, last week i presented a moive (Alice in Wonderland) to them and asked them to retell it later (in both English and Chinese) which proved it works.

"treasure hunt" you said is amazing I think,I will surely try that next time with my class.

Learning the lyrics of a song is fun too - especially when it is a song they like.
We used to do games - name a city, river, profession etc. etc. all in English
and alphabetically - you call out a letter and the kids start writing. Whoever finishes first, wins!

try using comic books, something they'd probably be interested in reading in Chinese, so they might make the attempt in English. I remember once spending an hour or so reading, as best I could, a Donald Duck comic in Danish when I was staying in a family's house in Copenhagen--and I was thirty at the time. The pictures help the words along, and the words aren't high-powered. Disney ones might be good if they still produce them.

Play games in English. That way you learn the numbers.
Have a picture book with lots of things from daily life. Always speak English to the children and ask questions "Is this red?" when you point at something green. That way they learn no and yes. Point at icecream and ask "Do you want an icecream? What kind of icecream.
Calamity Jane had a good idea. I have used a song with "I touch my hair, I touch my nose, my feet etc. You sing faster and faster till everything is a muddle.

That's a great idea.Songs and games, kids do love that. Thank you!

Comic books and interesting stories do help a lot, they always want to know more about a particular story and how it ends, kids are curious about everything,ya , I can use that.

Donald Duck comic is kind of old I think, but it's classical. I 'll try if i can find one . If only there is a book about Plants Vs Zombies.

THANK U ,Jack

Oh, god, don't tell me zombies are taking over China too! My local library's science fiction section doesn't have faster than light spaceships and interstellar empiers anymore, it's all damned zombies, werewolves, vampires and paranormal detectives noir. It's awful.

They may be a couple years too young yet, though maybe not. You might try the "Twilight" movies, which are tween (like 10-13 year olds) and up favorites here, particvularly with young girls, teen vampires vs. werewolves. DVDs of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series might be a possibility, tho again maybe in a couple years.

There was an interesting story on either msnbc or Comcast today about the first Chinese mainland supermodel, 24 years old, Liu Wen, or something like that, who came to the States a couple years ago speaking no English, and apparently taught herself, with the aid of a couple thousand fasion magazines, DVDs of the "Gossip Girl" TV series, and comparing Chinese and English editions of "Harry Potter". That last might be an idea for your kids.

I used to do a lot of games with them including the one "touch here,touch there" mentioned by you, prepared a lot of flash cards and other stuff.

I guess the problem I have right now is about me going too fast for them, instead of being funny, I told them to remember words and speak out phonetic symbols which is less fun, I should probably slow down and focus one point at a time.

and I 'll try "Always speak English to the children " ! thx,

Yeah, her name is Liu Wen, it was in the NY Times. Here's a link to the story, your girls might like to read it with your help.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/t-magazine/liu-wen-visits-china.html?_r=1

Looks like kids are all about zombies and scary stuff. I remember once my nephew keeps asking me if i have ever seen a Vampire before, ,and he said Vampire lives in Ireland, I dont know where he got that from.

But ,ya, they are taking over here too, at least where I live. Shops sealing many zombies related stuff,like cards and stuffed dolls.

ya I've heard of her,
and thats a long article. I will try breaking it down to them.