How to Learn English for Kids: Fun and Easy Methods to Build Language Skills

Introduction

As per the Worldwide Journals, there are 22 scheduled languages and over 1500 regional dialects in India. This makes India a very linguistically diverse country where there is a dire need for a common source of communication. English is a global language that functions as a mode of communication between people coming from different backgrounds. As per Wikipedia, it is officially one of the most widely spoken languages in the world with over 1.5 billion people using it as a source of communication.

It's also a very fun language to learn. Hence, making children learn English from early years can transform them into confident communicators and lets them tap on multiple opportunities at a time without having to worry about language barriers. However, teaching kids English doesn't have to be boring. In fact, by following some interesting tips and integrating fun activities into a child's routine, the learning of English can become easy and efficient for the child.

Interesting Activities for Kids to Learn English

Here is a list of some highly effective tips and activities for kids to learn English without facing many roadblocks and comprehension problems.

• Word Jumble Race

It's an activity that teaches kids teamwork while also making them learn new word orders, understand tenses, and work on their vocabulary. Divide participating kids into different teams. Now for each of the team, you will have to write at least 3 to 5 sentences. Cut up these sentences into small words and jumble them with each other. Give these cut words to each team and ask them to rearrange these words into logical sentences. This game can be played with a single participant or with multiple participants.

• Hangman Activity

Hangman is a classic kids’ favorite game that can turn a boring English lesson into something very exciting. Encourage the child to think of a word and then write down the number of letters that this word has. Ask them to draw the exact number of dashes as the letters in the word. Now you may ask the other kid playing to randomly guess an alphabet. If the alphabet comes in that word, then write it down on its exact placement. Continue until the child eventually guesses the word completely. The fewer the guesses, the better the vocabulary and knowledge of the child.

• The Mime Game

Miming is a very efficacious activity of teaching kids' verbs as well as adjectives. It's also an appropriate activity to conduct when you don't have multiple resources. You will need at least two individuals to play this activity, or you may participate yourself with your kid. To do this activity at home, you may make some role-play action chits in which you have to write certain actions. This may include walking on the ground, washing dishes, or drying clothes. Now encourage your kid to pick up one chit and act as per the action that they have got. The other kid will have to guess the exact action. Parents may include different types of adjectives and verbs for kids to learn.

• Hot Seat

To play this game at home, parents would need a chalkboard or a white paper to display the target word. Also, it is a multiplayer game, which requires at least two participants. Parents may place a chair and make the child sit on the seat. Now a word will be displayed behind the kid sitting on the chair so that they cannot see it. The other participant will look at the word and try to imitate it by enacting similar things. For example, for the word washing, the kid may imitate the hand actions of washing clothes. The actor kid will be given 60 seconds each to help the other child guess the word correctly.

• Showing Movies in English

One of the most practical ways of learning English is by exposing a child to a lot of content in English. Movies are a great way to grab kids’ attention for a longer amount of time. Parents may introduce age-friendly movies to kids with subtitles for easier understanding. For better comprehension, parents may also help the child understand what is being said in a particular scenario. Slowly, you may also expose them to English, podcasts, songs, and other forms of multimedia for them to understand English and learn new words.

• Speaking in English at Home

Kids spend a substantial amount of time at home. During this time, they indulge in conversations with different family members to convey certain things. To make a child converse very naturally and comfortably in English, parents may encourage the idea of speaking in English at home. The child needs to bring their theoretical knowledge to practical use. By making English a medium of discussion at home, kids are more likely to become inherently confident about their command of the language. Also, daily interactions will make them learn new words. Parents may select a particular time portion such as dinner time when the child will be expected to only talk in English.

Conclusion

Embracing English learning from an early age gives the child a great advantage in getting a good command of the language. It also helps a child achieve cognitive flexibility by being able to think in two different languages. One of the direct benefits of English is the enhanced ability to communicate in a non-native language. However, it may also help a child increase their global awareness and expand their cultural boundaries.

References

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349231539_English_Language_Learning_through_Games

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1274774.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jan-Herrington/publication/267828593_Authentic_activities_in_language_learning_Bringing_real_world_relevance_to_classroom_activities/links/54c1a5fb0cf2dd3cb958d54a/Authentic-activities-in-language-learning-Bringing-real-world-relevance-to-classroom-activities.pdf

https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf

https://www.ccjk.com/how-many-languages-are-spoken-in-india/

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysis-GJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2013/June/languages-in-india-and-their-mixed-use-a-sociolinguistic-study_June_2013_1598966092_79.pdf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-speaking_world