Teaching a 3-year-old child English can be fun, and they really can learn a second language so young.
“I want to teach my 3-year-old son English but don’t know how to go about it or how long lessons should be. As I’m not a professional teacher, I don’t expect to have a bilingual child but, it would be a pity not to take advantage of the incredible capacity children have to learn new things at early ages. My three-year-old son is extremely excited about learning English and is always asking me, “Daddy, how do you say this in English?” Can you help?
Firstly, how long should the lessons be?
Suppose logistics are not a constraint, then little and often is the secret to success. You won’t be successful teaching a 3-year-old child English if lessons are too long. A suggestion is to teach for 25 minutes and then stop while the child is still having fun. It’s best to stop with the child wanting more than going on until they are fed up. That is a strategy so that your child keeps wanting to learn English with you long-term. If your child or pupil feels that learning English with his teacher, Mum or Dad is a special time, and then with luck, they’ll keep wanting more.
Another reason to keep lessons short and sweet is that young children need repetition to learn and remember. Little and often is more effective than one long chunk. That said, one can go up to 45 minutes with a 3-year-old if you include a break for a drink and keep the activities varied. More on that coming up!
What should I teach and how?
1. Use games and play together
2. Use songs and music
3. Use mime and make-believe
4. Use stories
The best way to experience how to teach a 3-year-old child is to receive my free emails.
There you’ll receive games, a story, and a song. Then, you’ll learn exactly how to do it, in a way that your child or pupil loves.
“My son loved the games, and we had a lot of fun together. Actually, the day after the first section day, he asked me to play with the flashcards again. Later, I caught him playing alone. By the end of the third session, he was pretty confident in identifying the seven animals in the listening drills and also naming the vocabulary.”
To learn this fun process, just try out this lesson plan and story. It’s a free sample from my method (which is an absolute bargain, even if I say so myself!)
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE STORY AND LESSON PLAN HERE
Story1_Hungry_A4_Story_Pictures
Story1_Hungry_Story_Text_Beginner
Story1_Hungry_Story_Text_Intermediate
There are also PowerPoints with audio by native speakers, bingo, flashcards, quizzes and “fun sheets” with the complete teaching kit.
When do I move on to a new topic?
The question now is, how do I know when it’s time to move on to a new topic?
Answer: Move on to a new topic after three or four sessions, but do not abandon the first topic. Then, keep revising in every lesson and introducing new vocabulary, short phrases, or sentences.
To keep revising fun, do something different with the topic each time. For example, if you are using my stories curriculum, see the post-story ideas. These include acting parts of the story, sound effects, mimes, a craft, or playing more vocabulary games. Furthermore, I spell it out for you step by step in my lesson plans for each story.
Every lesson has something new and some revision. However, you don’t want to stay on the same story or theme until it’s word perfect. On the contrary, move forward, but revise constantly.
Preschool teachers and parents, please get the bargain lesson plans and stories for three to five-year-old-children.
Are you teaching your child at home?
It would help if you had these video demonstration lessons and 1-2-1 games book.
Are you teaching a toddler?
This report is for you. How to teach toddlers English. In addition, this post is helpful: The perfect English lesson for toddlers and why it failed.
Leave your comments and ask your questions – I’m here to help!
All the best, Shelley Ann Vernon, Teaching English Games
Resources for teaching a 3-year-old child English
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Sale!
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Sale!Preschool
ESL Preschool Stories 1-10 Teaching Kit + PowerPoints
Original price was: €39.97.€29.33Current price is: €29.33. Add to cart -
Sale!Preschool
ESL Preschool Stories 11-20 Teaching Kit + PowerPoints
Original price was: €39.97.€29.33Current price is: €29.33. Add to cart -
Sale!Preschool
Special Days Stories Teaching Kit + PowerPoints
Original price was: €39.97.€29.33Current price is: €29.33. Add to cart
8 thoughts on “Teaching a 3-year-old child English”
Be sure to download and try your fabulous free story and lesson plan with your preschool group or child. I’m here to help if you need me, just write your question here in the comments.
Qould love to download it, What programme can I use to do that?
Hello there,
Thanks so much for your message and interest in the free story. It’s a regular PDF so you just need any PDF reader. If you type “adobe reader” into your search bar, you’ll find the free one on Adobe. Choose the programme for your computer (mac or pc).
Kind regards
Shelley from Teaching English Games
You’re the best !♡
Hello and thanks for your question. If you are teaching a 3 year old English at home this toddlers report will be very helpful:
https://www.teachingenglishgames.com/english-for-toddlers
And I also recommend that you check out this page on teaching a child one to one.
The video shows a six-year-old and a twelve-year-old, but use most of these games with a three-year-old as well, just much more gently and at a slower pace.
https://www.teachingenglishgames.com/esl-one-to-one
I want to have many games and stories and resources for three year d
Hello there, have you got the free samples from me? If not, please email and I’ll send them to you. Once you have tried those, you can buy the whole series of stories if you like – very good value, even for China. All the best, Shelley Ann Vernon (info@teachingenglishgames.com)