Kid whose parents take an active interest in their child's education will probably be much more likely to become successful language learners. This is why parents should get involved in their kids learning process. This article provides some useful tips for both kids and their parents. However, before you start reading this, keep in mind that kids' learning process is not the same with that of adults. So do not except your kids to learn English the same way - and at the same rate - you do.
Useful English Study Tips:
• Help your child access interactive websites on the internet especially relevant to young learners. There are tons of free and useful English websites for kids.
• Encourage good study habits by scheduling regular homework time and offering help and encouragement when necessary,
• Listen to English cassettes - for example music with English lyrics or storytelling.
• Use CD-ROMs with educational games:
• Watch appropriate English DVDs/VCDs/television programs suitable to the age and level of student. Animated films on DVD with language options can be a very good choice. Use English when the child is already familiar with the story. This will help them focus on the language rather than the plot.
• Encourage children to read you any English stories you every day.
• Let your child teach you what they learned in class. Look at the pages in the book your child studied. Ask them to identify pictures and name objects.
• Put stickers around the house labeling objects students have recently learned. This helps to bring language alive and gives learners day-to-day exposure.
• Ask your child to copy new words ten times each. This improves handwriting and reinforces word recognition and good spelling.
• Help your child make a 'personal dictionary'. In a notebook, write a letter of the alphabet at the top of each page. Start with A and end with Z. Children can record new words learned at school on the appropriate page. They can draw pictures to illustrate the meaning, give the translation or use it in a sentence. This can be a great way to review.
• If parents can speak English encourage conversation when possible.
Be Realistic about What Your Child Can Do
• All students have active and passive knowledge. This means that students can understand and recognize more than they can say or write.
• Focus on what children know rather than what they have forgotten. Students often personalize new words. Lilly might remember "doll", "skipping rope" while Tom remembers words like "dinosaur" or "robot".
• When children acquire their mother tongue, they understand and speak before they are capable of reading and writing. This is also true when learning a foreign language.
• Foreign language learners often go through a 'silent phase' when beginning to learn a language. This is normal. They are listening and noticing language. When they are ready, they will speak.
• Learners need to encounter language many times over a period of time before they 'know' it. Don't expect your child to 'know' it all after the first lesson. The teacher will review words in the next lesson to help students remember.
• Studies show that learners who have regular exposure to another language before puberty are more likely to have better language skills (including pronunciation) by the time they are adults.
• Making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process.
Most important of all: Remember that kids are not sponges! Do not expect them to absorb all that they have been taught at school. Also, do not be too hard on your kid. Parents should make English learning as enjoyable as possible.
You can also sign your child up for an English course for a better result: Learn English http://www.englishfirst.co.id/englishfirst/englishstudy/beginner.aspx at EF English First.