A good book for teaching very young learners

So, I’ve taken a morning job. I’ll be teaching 2/3 year-olds for 3 hours every morning. I have a lot of experience teaching other ages and have had no significant problems producing interesting lessons where the kids have fun and learn something. I’m pretty sure I’ll do a pretty good job coming up with fun activities, songs and games for the kids to do while learning, but I’d like to be very well prepared for this class. I’m interested in doing some reading about how to handle kids of such a young age. I’m thinking about emotions, how to discipline them, setting the rhythm of the class, incentives etc. I have two weeks before I start. Can anyone suggest some on-line reading, or a good book that would give me a good introduction?

Thanks in advance.

Wow.

First off, realize any advice I give might not help. The more you learn, the more frustrated you might become of how toddler programs, preschools, and kindergartens are set up here.

That said, here goes my best shot at explaining what I would do.

For any age, classroom management comes down to how well the environment is structured. This is especially true of younger children who don’t have the ability to accept poorly designed classrooms like older ones can. (Be honest…most of our students spend all their classroom time in desks or at tables following the teacher).

So for a toddler program, the environment is key. Things to look at:
–what activities are on the shelf? Puzzles, art supplies, fine motor development, care of self activities…look for these things.

–how is the classroom actually set up? Is there some logic? An easy way to do this is put all the puzzles together. The books (look for board books to save them) should be in a confortable book area. The snack area should be well organized so the child knows how to get the snack.

–how safe is everything? Of course, this is question number 1, so sorry for typing it later. Are there choking hazards with any materials? Are the art supplies all non-toxic? Are the cleaning chemicals out of their reach and locked up? Are there wires exposed by light switches?

–Is there room to move that makes it hard to run? Strategically placing shelves means less of a huge, open space to completely run around in. It also helps organize the room into different areas. (Art area, reading area, puzzle area, snack area, etc.)

2 things about this age to really know:
–They are in their sensitive period for order.
–They are in their sensitive period for language.

Organize the room well, let them work, and use language with them on what they find an interest in. It will be the best outline for what to do with a class.

An rough schedule for a class?
Start off with a circle time. Start with the same song every time that is simple with a few simple movements. An easy one:
Hello! Hello! How are you?(Repeat 3x)
We’re so happy to see you.

If you sing that EVERY time, they will know the circle time is ready. From there, you can do other activities. Songs and dances. Reading books. Playing a simple game.

Let those children wander away once they lose interest. When they start to get tired of it, dismiss them to the room, one at a time, to choose an activity. Move around and work with the children who are engaged, but try to not break the concentration. That may take time and experience to know when to jump in. Take it as a learning curve for you.

All this advice is probably going to do you NO good. They will probably have a book with flash cards, no activities in the room, and want the kids to sit in chairs. That’s been my experience of shitty Taiwanese preschools at least. So good luck!

Oh yeah. Almost forgot websites.

I would start with NAEYC’s website. It is http;//www.naeyc.org
They may have a lot of resources.

i would also check out the forums on teachers.net
they have an ECE forum. You might find something there.

123child.com used to also be really good. I haven’t been on there in years, though.

Realize that most will be in just the listening stage of a foreign language. Many do not speak their own language well…so just accept that they will want to listen to yours.

Pick them up when they are sad (unless they are terrified of you, of course), wipe away their tears, play with them, be truly interested in them, and even stand between them and an out of control head teacher who has no business working with kids. Might get you fired (it has for me in the past), but you’ll be glad you did it.

This article has some good information:

British Council - Teaching English - Managing Very Young Learners
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/primary-tips/managing-very-young-learners