How To Approach Teaching Beginner Kids English

The Visual Learning Style

As is appropriate for young learners, the Pre A1 Starters Reading and Writing areas are supported with pictures. It is therefore useful to make ample use of pictures when preparing learners for the test. Give learners practice in matching words for lexical items that match pictures. It is also helpful to practice matching sentences that match pictures. One strategy could be reading texts which describe scenes and then drawing the picture based on the information in the text.

To prepare for the A1 Starters reading and writing assessment, you should make sure to use pictures frequently and to give children practice connecting words with pictures. For example, ask them to read a text about an image and then assign a drawing to that text.

It is helpful to do exercises contrasting words and using prepositions, such as “in” or “on,” and the Present Continuous Tense and more. For example, try to get students to highlight words that confuse them. Some mistakes are based on false friends from a students first language.

Preparing For A Test

In order to prepare for longer stories, make sure there are opportunities to read and enjoy stories at their level. Test writers follow the Pre-A1 starters word and sentence lists when preparing content. It is important that children learn the vocabulary, grammar and structures taught in Pre-A1 starters syllabus.

In this way, all words they see in the test will be familiar to them. For difficult or less common words, create opportunities in the classroom so candidates become very familiar with these words.

Vocabulary is reviewed and strengthened by using games and puzzles that children will enjoy.

Right Spelling is Key

Children often lose marks because they can’t access their handwriting clearly enough. Remind candidates to make sure their handwriting is legible if the person examining it isn’t familiar with it. It is often better to start writing in cursive, but if children write words one letter at a time and then move on to another word, they may not be able to distinguish between the two letters. The candidate should only write what’s necessary when taking the test.

Put emphasis on spelling in children so that they are empowered to spell properly. For example, children should know the letter pattern like “ea” which is most commonly found in English words. It is important to give a time limit for both classroom tasks and exams so that students are able to focus on the task at hand and not be distracted by other things.

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