THE YOUNG LEARNER

When teaching young learners we constantly have to keep in mind the fact that what we have in front of us is a mixed class with varied abilities, expectations, motivation level, knowledge and last but not least, different behavior styles.

The students enjoyed working in every activity, it was easily to teach each lesson.
They also were so adorable especially when they worked during the activities without disorder. Young learners were generally very enthusiastic about songs, especially if they could sing along, and active games. They were extremely active and amusing. There wasn't way people could enter the classroom without being noticed by them.

The English classes looked like fitness classes because we jumped, screamed, sang songs, and we couldn’t stop it! This was the only one way to keep them focused and involved into the lesson through games and exercises. 
As a student teacher, I had to teach them how to behave in a classroom by asking them to be quiet while they were talking and raise their hands if they had questions or wanted to answer a question. I wanted to create a safe, stress-free environment that everyone could enjoy learning. Most of the students were happy to learn English, but others didn't like the idea.

On the other hand, some children were clearly more temperamental than others. I tried to keep students focused in the lesson. Some students were hyperactive and distracted others. Sometimes some students were influenced by their classmates to play and they lost interest about the class. When they got naughty, they perfectly understood my gestures and tones of my voice.

Also, there were two boy who didn’t like to work in groups because they couldn’t make friends easily. Some students showed bad behavior, especially boys because some of them fight with their classmates, for example, one student became angry at another child and threw his toy across the room. For that reason, I helped them in their attitudes about participation in the activities and created a good environment classroom.

Characteristics of young learner

• They love playing, and learn best they are enjoying themselves.
• Young children are enthusiastic and positive about learning.
• They can talk about what they are doing: this means that they can convey a message through words.
• They can use logical reasoning: children at this age are very inquisitive. They ask a lot, and they compare things; for example, a five year old kid will ask you questions like why cows cannot fly if butterflies do, so they start asking you and comparing one thing to the other one. 
• Children have difficulty in knowing what fact is and what fiction is.
• Kids are often happy playing and working alone but in the company of others.
• They can use a wide range of intonation patterns in their mother tongue: they start using their mother tongue as much as they can; for example, a five year old kid starts talking about what he or she likes to eat. He or she starts making animal sounds, or how some animals make. They do this by using their mother tongue, which is Spanish, in our case. And as we learned through this chapter, kids can learn easily by forms or sounds.
• They understand situation more quickly than they understand the language used
• They enjoy an orderly classroom.
• Children need help to learn to be considerate of each other.
• They have a lot of energy, and they want to use it in physical activities such as running, climbing, and jumping.
• They acquire their own knowledge by hands, eyes and ears.
• Kids can identify short word sounds.
• The students need a variety of social experiences with large-group, small-group, and individual activities.
• Children are able to recognize and name a few letters in his or her own name and is learning how to recognize and name as many as 10 letters, especially those in his or her own name.
• They appreciate a clean classroom. 

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