The problem

I had a new private student 1-2-1 last weekend, and I used your materials, but this 5-year-old pupil can’t memorize anything or learn the material. Actually, I know the problem is on my end because your materials are really great. So I just need some help implementing them since I’m a new teacher, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. The student is five-years-old.

Why this 5-year-old pupil can’t memorize

The chances are this teacher is trying to teach too much in one go and is not doing enough repetition. When I say ‘enough’ repetition, I mean however much this child needs, and it might be a lot! That is why it is so important to have a massive variety of games and activities to repeat words as much as is needed without the lesson being boring.

Help and solutions

First, start with three single vocabulary words and drill them through listening games. Work on those words until the student understands them and can respond correctly to them. Then, feed in a fourth new word and use more games to drill the four words. Go up to six new ones in a lesson if the pupil is doing well.

If the student is struggling, do not introduce any more new words, but if he is doing well, add a fourth word and continue the games to drill all four. Then, feed in up to two more new terms, teaching a maximum of six in one session. Any more than six new words in a lesson can result in the student not remembering any of them! Only move on to speaking games when the student has memorized what the words mean when he hears them. To make the lesson fun and effective, the student will need to hear these words many times, and games are a way to achieve that.

Ideas to help pupils memorize vocabulary

In my ready-made curricula of stories and lesson plans, teachers only need to follow the steps to succeed. In story one (I’m Hungry,) you teach three animals: ant, spider, and bird. Play as many games with these three words as you have to until most pupils recognize them. For example, name one of the animals and have students:

– jump on a picture,
– mime the animal,
– make the sound of the animal
– search for it hidden about the classroom
– run over to it, point to it

– Three students each mime one of the animals. Name one of the animals, and the rest of the group point to or touch the pupil miming the animal you named.
– Students walk around the classroom to music, stop the music, name an animal, and kids freeze in a mime.

Move on to sentences

Once pupils understand these three words start to use a sentence from the story, such as “Hello ant, how are you?” Don’t expect pupils to say the sentence at this point, but just understand it and respond to ANT (through mime, or touching an ant picture, drawing an ant).

Move on to speaking games where children start to name the animals themselves, always in the context of activities and games.

Great resources to help students learn

Email me for help if you need it! And be sure to try out my free games, tips, and stories to learn this fun teaching method. You can get them via the free sign-up box for your age group on my contact page. 

All the best,

Shelley Ann Vernon

Stories in paperback

Please visit Amazon to find my story books and games books in paperback and Kindle. Please click to visit my author page: Shelley Ann Vernon