4 ways to help primary children with language development | Learn English with Cambridge

Hello, hello, everyone.

Welcome to a new video.

This time, I will be sharing with you four ways you

can use to help primary children with their language development.

Number one: songs.

Songs help children to learn pronunciation,

the rhythm of the language,

and to produce natural-sounding and connected speech.

Make sure songs are not too long, too fast

and in everyday English,

which means not too many new or difficult words.

Try to choose songs with rhyming words

and rhythms that repeat.

Even try to add some actions to them.

With older primary learners,

check the lyrics of the songs.

You can search unknown words

in the dictionary and encourage them to sing along with lyrics,

to eventually do it without them.

Number two: games.

Setting even just one minute of regular,

everyday English practice will bring confidence.

You can play games

where children have to remember vocabulary,

as in the game In My School Bag

I Packed, where you

take turns to add something and repeat all their choices.

In this game,

you can choose the category as animals or food

or any topic your child is involved in at the school.

But remember, games not always necessarily involve speaking,

but other kinds of activities.

Number three: role play.

It’s great for motivating

and building up confidence in children.

They love imaginary play.

For this kind of games or activities,

children must act out a role or character.

Let the children pick the topic.

The best results are through guided play,

so as a parent or teacher, you should support it.

Use real materials to make the experience more meaningful.

Number four: read aloud.

It is a regular way to practise pronunciation,

word stress and intonation.

You also learn new words

and how they combine to communicate ideas

and life lessons.

Let them choose the book.

Encourage your children to read aloud.

Read with them,

or even use digital resources for doing it, that’s podcasts,

audiobooks, videos.

Ask questions about the story.

You could ask how do they feel about it,

or even encourage them to write

or draw different endings for them.

That’s all for today, guys.

If you would like to find more practical activity examples

for the classroom,

please check the Cambridge paper, Developing Life

Skills Through Play.

I will leave you the link below in the description box.

Subscribe, and see you in the next video.