What we need to know when teaching English
to very young learners
Children at this age have specific characteristics that we need to take into account. Children are in a constant process of developing socially, emotionally, physically and linguistically as they try to understand the world around them; they have not matured psychologically yet and go through transitional phases. Here are some of their main characteristics:
- they get bored very quickly,
- they haven’t mastered their fine motor skills,
- they have a short attention and concentration span,
- they are particularly active and like to move all the time and around,
- they are still egocentric,
- they have a vivid imagination and a natural curiosity for everything,
- they can grasp the general meaning without explicit instruction,
- they like imitating and are not afraid to talk .