English as Second Language (ESL) for KIDS

English as we all know is the universal language and is very important to learn. Non-English speaking countries are far wider than the English speaking ones. When I say non-English speaking, I mean that their mother tongue is other than English. These countries use English as well in their everyday lives. The importance of learning English is immeasurable that’s why it’s best to introduce to children as early as possible. If you are serious about it, it is much better if one of the parents speak to your child in English and the other one in their native language. In this case the child will learn both and you’ll be surprise that your child will respond even if you talk in either of the said languages.

Maybe some of the parents may not be that fluent in English, but you don’t have to be fluent to help your child learn this second language. Kids only need the basic and most of the parents already have the level of English needed to help their kids. You can start by just saying “Hello”, “How are you?”, “What’s your name?” and so on and so forth. Your goal is not to make your child speak English fluently in an instant. You just have to expose them, to let them hear different English words. These kids may not know their native tongue that well yet and so you should not expect them to know English better.

There are a lot of tools that can help you with this. You can use Flashcards, Educational CD/DVDs, books especially story books. And also there are a lot of websites that can help you to do it; here are some of the kids’ sites I know:

http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/pr...

http://www.surfnetkids.com/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids...

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/recipe...

http://www.factmonster.com/

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/teachers/

http://www.canteach.ca/

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/

http://www.highlightskids.com/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/homewo...

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/

http://www.freesciencefairproject.com/pr...

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articl...

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/pages/...

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/

http://www.scholastic.com/

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/index.htm...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/a-z/website...

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/

Not all of the sites are focused just on ESL but these will surely help in teaching your child. But if you’re sure enough that you can’t do it then there is lots of Pre-school that can do the work for you, although your guidance is still needed

I myself start ESL with my daughter when she was just a baby, maybe during the first few days of her life. The problem was I cannot do what I have suggested above, you see my husband is working in another country and so I have to do it on my own. I have to speak to her in English then translate it in Tagalog (my native tongue). Sometimes I’m thinking if I’m confusing her little brain, but I get amused when she uses both languages, as if she knows that it vary in a way but the meaning is still the same. It’s quite hard but it’s paying off.