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For very young learners, children aged 3-6, being in a classroom might be a completely new experience. Most of them won’t know any English words at all and might have very little idea of what English is or why they are learning it. Some of them may not yet be completely fluent in their mother tongue. 

At the beginning of the school year, some of them may find it distressing to be separated from their parents and they also have to learn to get along with their new classmates. 

If we want to keep them comfortable and safe and provide a friendly and welcoming environment, we need to establish routines. 

7 ways you can build routines into your classes

Here are some areas where you can easily incorporate classroom management routines into your English language class.

1. Think about your target language

Our target language for each lesson may be one or two short phrases or a few new words. We should always keep the presentation and practice of this simple and clear. 

However, we can use English for all our greetings, praise, instructions and explanations. After a few days, the children will begin to expect it and they will gradually understand what you are saying. 

2. Coming into the class

Take time to greet each child by name when they enter the classroom and encourage them to learn and use each other’s names too. This will change how they perceive themselves and each other and encourage friendly communication. 

Notice the small things about each child. They might have a new T-shirt on or have done their hair specially. They may not tell you that they have made an effort to look nice for their lesson, but they will be pleased when you notice and will feel encouraged to continue. 

3. Circle time

Make circle time the start of every lesson. It gets the children sitting down together and this helps them to get to know each other and feel part of a comfortable group. 

It’s the time where you present the target language for the day. Use a puppet to help you do this. Make the puppet part of the routine by keeping it in a certain place and bringing it out from there every day. The children can call its name. 

The puppet can greet the children by name and the children can answer back. First, use picture cards or objects to present the language to the puppet. Then, the puppet can show that it understands or ask for repetition. 

Let the children call out responses as a group. As they build their confidence in English they will want to speak by themselves. 

Always accept approximations of words and phrases. Rather than correcting the children, continue to model the words and gradually the students will self-correct. Pass this tip on to parents too. 

4. Book time

Give students time to discover pages and images they like in the books they are using. Always leave time to help each child find the correct page and then help them to focus their attention on that page. 

In Circle time you have introduced the language and presented it with flashcards or objects. In Book time, children can look at these images – the content will be familiar and they will start to feel ownership of what they are learning. 

5. Songs, games and miming

Singing, playing games and miming are the main ways in which the students will start to freely use and show they understand the target language. 

In My Disney Stars and Friends each stage of every game is detailed, along with the language you and the students can use. Students might become so involved in the action of the game that they forget to speak in English! That’s okay – continue using the language and eventually they will start to use it too. 

When a game or a song involves physical activity, have drinks of water ready and let them rest and relax afterwards. Always have a ‘sitting down’ activity ready for them to move on to so that they do not become overexcited or tired.

6. Craft and stickers

For any craft work there are four stages: preparation, production, playing with the completed craft work and tidying up. If you're using My Disney Stars and Friends, there is a special Tidy Up song and all the craft projects are press-outs so there is no need for scissors. 

Children of 3 or 4 years old will need to learn how to unpeel and then re-stick a sticker. Allow time for this and encourage them to learn from each other once some of them have mastered this fine motor skill. 

7. Leaving the class

Time your lessons so that the students don’t have to leave in a rush. It takes them a while to collect up their things and find their bags and coats. 

If you want the parents to know something, make sure that the children know where they have put the note. One notebook for such messages is a simple way of doing this, and you can tell parents to check it after every lesson. 

Just as you greeted each child by name when they came in, say goodbye to them individually as they leave. 

Incorporating effective classroom management routines makes young learners feel more comfortable as they know what to expect from their language classes. Familiarity is welcome for children, so exploit these times for more language learning opportunities. 

Find more ideas on effective classroom management routines in Jeanne Perrett’s webinar, where she focuses on practical ideas and teaching tips for how we can organise and manage a class of young learners.

Last year, I contributed to a national research project with an article titled “My Students Don’t Speak English in Class: Why?”. The title originated from a concern expressed by a language teacher involved in the project, highlighting a common challenge faced by numerous language teachers. The difficulty of developing learners’ production and interaction skills is a well-known issue in language education.

Large and increasingly diverse classes, limited time, and learners’ reluctance to speak in class are significant hurdles. During pair and group work, students often revert to their first language (L1), they lack confidence in speaking activities and end up avoiding all interaction in English. These observations are consistent with recent Global Scale of English (GSE) research findings, which indicate that 52% of English learners leave formal education without confidence in their speaking skills.

Factors contributing to learners’ reluctance

Several factors contribute to students’ reluctance to speak English in class. Psychological barriers such as lack of motivation, shyness, low self-confidence, fear of making mistakes, anxiety and concerns about negative evaluation play a crucial role. Linguistic challenges, including limited vocabulary, poor pronunciation, and insufficient grammatical skills, further exacerbate the problem.

Task-related issues can also hinder speaking, especially when tasks are not well-matched to the learner’s proficiency level or focus more on accuracy than communication. Additionally, the classroom environment may not always be conducive to speaking, particularly for learners who need more time to formulate their thoughts before speaking.

Positive teacher impact

Fortunately, teachers can positively influence these intertwined factors. By creating a supportive classroom atmosphere and implementing well-designed tasks that prioritize communication over perfection, teachers can encourage reluctant students to participate more actively in speaking activities.

Leveraging technology: Mondly by Pearson

One effective tool that can help address these challenges is Mondly by Pearson. This learning companion is especially beneficial for learners who are hesitant to speak in class. Mondly by Pearson offers over 500 minutes of speaking practice, encouraging learners to use English in real-life situations and tasks that prioritize action and communication over accuracy. This approach allows for mistakes - they are part of the game - thus fostering a positive mindset, which is essential if we want to enhance our learners’ speaking skills.

AI-powered conversations

A standout feature of Mondly by Pearson is its AI-powered conversation capability, thanks to advanced speech recognition software. Learners can engage in interactive role plays and conversations on topics of their choice, at their own pace, both in class and outside school. This flexibility helps build self-confidence and allows students to experiment with various production and interaction strategies. The instant feedback provided by Luna, the incorporated AI friend, is highly motivating and can significantly enhance the learning experience.

Comprehensive skill development

Mondly by Pearson is designed not only for speaking but also to develop all four language skills—listening, reading, writing and speaking—and is aligned with the Global Scale of English. The vocabulary for each topic is selected from the GSE vocabulary database, ensuring that learners are exposed to level-appropriate words and phrases.

Integration into classroom teaching

To facilitate the integration of Mondly by Pearson into classroom teaching, three GSE mapping booklets have recently been published. These booklets cater to different proficiency levels:

• Beginner (GSE range: 10-42 / CEFR level: A1-A2+)
• Intermediate (GSE range: 43-58 / CEFR level: B1-B1+)
• Advanced (GSE range: 59-75 / CEFR level: B2-B2+)

These resources provide practical guidance on how to incorporate Mondly by Pearson into lesson plans effectively, ensuring that the tool complements classroom activities and enhances overall language learning.

Conclusion

Encouraging students to speak English in class is a multifaceted challenge, but it is not insurmountable. By understanding the various factors that contribute to learners’ reluctance and leveraging innovative tools like Mondly by Pearson, teachers can create a more engaging and supportive learning environment. This approach not only boosts students’ confidence in their speaking abilities but also fosters a more inclusive and interactive classroom atmosphere.

Embracing technology and aligning teaching practices with modern educational standards, such as the Global Scale of English, can lead to significant improvements in language proficiency and student engagement.

Imagine a class of English language students aged 8 – 9 taught by a dynamic teacher they love. The young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The vibe they bring with them to the class, plus the dynamic teacher and the creativity she develops in her lesson plans, is fantastic.

I have been observing trends in teaching EFL to young learners, and it is clear to me that school directors, syllabus generators, teachers, parents and learners are all satisfied with this image… “Hooray! Young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language. And the teacher is able to manage the class. Bravo!” But is it enough?

What causes the lack of focus?

It all begins with the coursebooks. If you take a coursebook for young learners and thumb through the ‘Scope and Sequence’ pages, you’ll see holistic definitions of language input in each unit. The school authorities then design a course based on the coursebook, and the snowball effect happens, whereby they design a course without specific details on what exactly to focus on.

It is the teacher’s turn now. The creative and dynamic teacher provides an excellent classroom experience through which young learners can learn English together. She also assigns a piece of homework: write an email to a friend and tell her about your last holiday.

When the teacher reviews the emails, she smiles as she finds many uses of the simple past tense—both in affirmative and negative forms. She then drafts an email thanking everyone and praising them generously. She includes a link to a PDF of other exercises to reinforce the grammar (the next day in class, they will review the completed handouts).

This hardworking teacher tries to blend her style with digital literacy and applies creativity along the way. Everything seems perfect in her class, and she regularly receives emails from parents thanking her. Nevertheless, some questions remain: What was the task? What was the learning outcome? Which learning objective should have been tracked?

Let’s reconsider the task – this time with our critic’s hat on – and analyze what has been taking place in this class. It is very nice that young learners sit together to learn English, and the teacher is able to manage the class successfully, but having fun and ease alone is not enough. We should aim for “fun, ease and outcomes”.*

*Assessing Young Learners of English: Global and Local Perspectives, Dr Marianne Nikolov, 2016.

Which important dynamics should be considered?

The assigned piece of homework said: write an email to a friend and tell her about your last holiday. However, what actually occurred was a shift from this task to the students’ best performance in producing simple past-tense sentences. There are other important dynamics that have migrated out of the teacher’s focus. Did the students begin their emails appropriately? Was the tone appropriate? Did they pay attention to organizing their thoughts into sentences and paragraphs? Was the punctuation correct? Did they end their emails in the right way?

If the coursebook had been equipped with clear and concrete learning objectives, the course directors would have employed them while designing study syllabuses, and the teacher would have used them when lesson planning. Consequently, the student’s formative and summative progress would have been evaluated against those detailed learning objectives rather than according to what some did better than the average.

How can learning objectives be applied to tasks?

With the Global Scale of English (GSE), publishers, course designers, teachers, and even parents can access a new world of English language teaching and testing. This global English language standard provides specific learning objectives for young learners that can be applied to tasks.

For example, for our task, the GSE suggests the following learning objectives:

• Can write short, simple personal emails/letters about familiar topics, given prompts or a model. (GSE 40/A2+)
• Can use appropriate standard greetings and closings in simple, informal personal messages (e.g., postcards or emails). (GSE: 37/A2+)

By applying language learning chunks – learning objectives, grammar and vocabulary – and identifying the can-do mission each one is supposed to accomplish, teaching and testing become more tangible, practical and measurable. Going back to my original scenario, it is excellent that young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language – provided that we know in detail which learning objectives to focus on, which skills to grow and what learning outcomes to expect.