We know that learning English well cannot be separated from a good language environment, and this environment cannot be met by external tutoring institutions alone. Parents also need to use various "technical" means to create an English enlightenment environment for their children.
From the age of 5 to the stage of graduation from elementary school, the child enters a critical period of language learning for 8 years. At this stage, whether a child can learn English well depends mainly on what method the parents have adopted for their children’s English enlightenment.
If parents have advantages in English, they will naturally not have any major problems in their children's English enlightenment.
But the problem is that many parents are not confident in their English level and are afraid that their poor English will mislead their children. In this case, how should these parents enlighten their children in English?
It can be clearly stated that parents focus on guidance in English enlightenment, rather than how to teach their children English. As long as you master the correct guidance method and be able to make full use of various English education resources, even if parents' own English level is "bad", they can still cultivate a child with great English.
below share 10 suggestions to help parents create an "immersive" English context, let their children seize this golden period and make breakthroughs in English learning.
01 Let children grind their ears frequently
To cultivate children's hearing, we must let children grind their ears frequently. There are many high-quality English audio apps online that can become auxiliary "teaching" tools for our parents.
Parents can prepare some high-quality English audio for their children in advance, play it frequently for their children, and encourage them to hum along with the audio while listening. Children's long-term immersion in this language environment will help steadily improve their hearing.
02 Encourage children to read English graded reading materials and picture books every day
If you want to learn the native Chinese language well, you need a lot of reading. Learning English well also requires a lot of reading.
Parents can prepare English graded reading materials and picture books for their children, and place them next to their bedside or at the conspicuous place at home, and encourage their children to spend half an hour every day to immerse themselves in reading. After reading, parents can take the initiative to chat with their children about the stories in the book.
03 Interact with children frequently
One of the best ways to learn English efficiently is undoubtedly to learn and use English as your native language.
If parents have a certain degree of English dialogue skills, it would be great. You can sit together for a fixed time period every day and share your family with them to read and communicate English picture books or graded reading materials. The time does not take too long, 15 to 20 minutes.
If parents only know simple vocabulary in English, it doesn’t matter. They can give the “stage” to their children, with the children taking the lead role, and parents playing supporting roles, learning to use the simplest English words to encourage their children to speak English.
04 Encourage older children to actively expand the scope of English learning
When children are older, parents can encourage them to actively expand the scope of English learning, such as trying to use English to learn simple mathematics, science and other related knowledge.
05 Consciously train children's English thinking expression
Let's take an example. When a child walks into the door and sees the door, he can subconsciously say the word "door" in English. For example, his expression thinking is like when we speak Chinese native language, without the need for the "heart translation" process. He can subconsciously express it when he sees the real object or scene. Instead of seeing the "door", you have to take a turn, that is, the "heart translation" process: this is the door, and the "door" is translated into English as "door", so it can be called "door".
For example, we should let children learn to accumulate words and strive to establish direct connections between English words and real objects. For example, when a child sees a real banana or picture, he can immediately think of "banana", instead of thinking of the Chinese character "banana" first, and then the English word "banana".
and so on. As long as the child has already mastered the English vocabulary, he can subconsciously speak the people, things and things in front of him in any and anywhere.This can exercise children's English thinking ability.
06 Don’t use Chinese English teaching method to teach children
Many parents are always accustomed to using Chinese English teaching method to teach children, such as asking their children: "How do you say Apple in English?" "How do you say car in English?" The correct way is to abandon this Chinese English teaching method. This is not the correct way to enlighten the English. We must let children complete the process of English cognition in natural scenarios.
07 Do not rush to correct children’s wrong pronunciation, the focus is on guiding children to express fluently and boldly
In the initial stage of children’s English enlightenment, it is important to be able to pronounce accurately, but more importantly, children can express fluently and boldly in English.
Therefore, if the child has a wrong pronunciation, parents do not need to rush to correct the wrong pronunciation. The reason is very simple. As long as the child is asked to listen to standard audio repeatedly, he will naturally correct himself according to the correct pronunciation. This is just like when children first started learning their native Chinese language when they were young, they would also face the problem of wrong pronunciation. As long as we parents guide them well, the children will gradually complete the process of self-correction. It is a very gratifying thing for a child to speak English boldly.
08 Parents practice learning English to let their children see that English is useful in life
. This requires relatively high English requirements for parents. Parents with conditions can try it.
Parents should practice learning English and communicate with others in English whenever they have the opportunity. On the one hand, it can allow children to see their parents' efforts in learning English; on the other hand, it can also allow children to feel that English is useful in life. A two-pronged approach can maximize the desire and confidence of children to speak English.
09 Both parents and children should set the mindset of learning English
In the process of English enlightenment, learning mentality is more important than learning level.
If children have a good attitude towards English learning, they can experience the fun and sense of accomplishment of learning language, which will further become the driving force for children to learn English.
10 Parents learn
with their children. This is also the most important point - if parents themselves know how to speak English and are "outsiders" of English, it doesn't matter. Just put down your posture and learn English with your children.
Parents' own interest in English learning is the best infecting their children and allowing them to learn without any pressure. Learning efficiency and learning effect in this state are usually good.
