How can you help your child improve their English at home? Take a look at these 5 valuable tips from a qualified and experience English teacher.
1. Ask them three questions in English every day
To enable your child to communicate in English more naturally, start speaking to them in English at home! Practice asking them three questions every day, such as ‘How’s the weather today?’, ‘What would you like to eat?’, ‘How did you sleep?’. Obviously, the difficulty of the questions will depend on your child’s English level, but make sure that you ask them open-ended questions (questions that they can't simply reply to with 'yes' or 'no').
2. Play English learning games with them
There are so many fantastic, yet simple, games you can play with your child to get them to improve their English in a fun way. An example of some games to play with your child at home include ‘I-spy’, ‘Guess Who’ and ‘Would you rather?’ Simply research how to play these games and have fun - adults love them too!
3. Encourage them to listen to English songs
There are thousands of English songs out there that have been specifically created for English as a second language learners. Check out Dream English Kids, Super Simple Songs and The Kiboomers on YouTube. These channels have lots of fun and educational songs that can help your child.
4. Teach them a 'word of the day' every day
Choose an appropriate (but new) word in English and teach it to your child every morning. Then, set them a challenge, for example provide them with a reward if they are able to use the new word in a sentence at least four times throughout the day.
5. Read to your child in English / encourage them to read in English
If you’re not already reading to your child in English, then please start! Find some interesting books that you think your child will enjoy and start reading to them. Eventually, their vocabulary will improve and they will begin to recognise letters and letter sounds. If your child is older and already capable of reading in English, give them some interesting books that you know they will like and encourage them to read for at least 10 minutes every day. It’s amazing how much reading can help lanugage learners!