# Teaching ESL to young kids

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 8, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109 "2015-04-08T11:43:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109/1 "2015-04-08T11:43:30Z")

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I’ve been asked to teach English to kindergarten and lower elementary kids. Previously, my experience had been with older students. I live in Taiwan and don’t speak Chinese.

There’s a lot of material online, but sorting through it is taking some time.

Has anyone had some experience with this? Have you found particular resources helpful?

Any advice would be great.

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**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109/2 "2015-04-08T12:26:19Z")

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My girlfriend tried to raise her kids to speak Spanish by speaking it exclusively in the home while they were little. But they watched english speaking cartoons and picked up not only on how to speak american english but also many american cultural mannerisms. That and interaction with there little friends in the neighborhood pushed the spanish aside. Now they understand spanish but rarely speak it.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109/3 "2015-04-08T15:15:21Z")

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This site is sort of a clearinghouse for such things, it seems: [YourDictionary: Definitions and Meanings From Over a Dozen Trusted Dictionary Sources](http://esl.yourdictionary.com/lesson-plans/esl-activities-kindergarten.html)

It had things on it like:

> **[TaiwanEnglish.com is for sale | HugeDomains](https://www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=taiwanenglish.com)**
>
> Get your very own domain easily. Fast and professional customer service.

[http://esl-storybooks.com/](http://esl-storybooks.com/) developed in Hong Kong, emphasis on storybooks  
[ESL-Kids - ESL Flashcards | Body Parts](http://www.esl-kids.com/flashcards/bodyparts.html) games, flashcards, songs

Not researched by me in depth, just found by googling terms like ESL kindergarten, lesson plan

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teaching-esl-to-young-kids/717109/4 "2015-04-08T15:57:20Z")

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A lot of what my nephews’ teachers did was the usual kindergarten exercises, but in English.

So for example each kid would have a bunch of colored shapes and instead of _levantaaaaaad el triáaaaaangulo amariiiiiiiillo_, the teacher would say “liiiiiift the yelllowwwww triaaaaangle” (the English teacher was one of those people who think children are slow in the ears). Often they were exercises the kids were already familiar with in Spanish, but not always.

They also taught them songs. I hope that if you do teach your kids “twinkle, twinkle, little star”, it won’t include pronouncing diamond as _dayamon_.