Then this post is especially for you!
I'm a member of BELTfree, Karenne Sylvester's excellent gathering place for freelance ELT professionals. One of the (many) great things Karenne does in this motivating online community is give members a polite kick up the bottom from time to time and draw their attention to posts they are probably more qualified to comment on than some others.
Today, Karenne drew my and Barbara Sakamoto's attention to a post in BELTfree titled "Oh Lord find me a Young Learners Coursebook that isn't Useless!" (can't post a link to it directly here - if you're interested, best join BELTfree yourself!).
In it, the poster basically laments the fact that he has to teach children against his will (mainly because he needs the money for his mortgage, amongst other things), complains that the school asks him to do this when he's clearly not good at it and doesn't want to, and then moves on to have a bit of a wail that all available YL coursebooks are crap, full of crappy content and activities, and don't do enough to control his class and keep them occupied for a full hour. Could someone (anyone) point him to a simple, all-things-taken-care-of coursebook for kids that could make this miserable and grossly unfair assignment more tolerable?
Barbara, who is one of the authors of Let's Go, responded first and was pretty accommodating to the fellow. Barb's that sort of lady. She doesn't judge, doesn't make presumptions, and does her best to be helpful according to the genre of the request for information or help. Even when it's pretty clear that the person who wrote the post probably needs an almighty kick up the backside.
I don't have Barbara's redeeming qualities, it would seem.
Here is the response I wrote:
Entertaining post, and - like Barb - I can well remember the feeling. My first TEFL job was in Korea, and I was specifically told I would be teaching teenagers. I thought I could handle this, and like you, didn't feel comfortable or inclined at all to teach kids younger than about 12-13. Within hours of arriving in my new job, the awful news that most of my students were aged between 8-12 was only surpassed by another announcement a few weeks later: the school was opening kindergarten classes, was flagrantly changing the terms of my contract, and I would have additional classes of kids aged 3-5 to deal with.
The horror! I wanted (and perhaps tried, not sure - started drinking more mid-week around that time) to run for the hills. I used to think back to that fateful decision to go and teach English in Korea, and every time from out of nowhere I got a vision of some historic US President saying to his wife: "Stuff kicking around the house - I'm bored, darling... Let's go out and see a show for a change!"
In the end I decided to have a crack at it, because deep down I really do like kids. It took 6 months at least to start getting a grip on these YL and VYL classes, and I feel sorry for those parents who were forking out loads of money to have someone as struggling and unqualified as me responsible for their bairns' initial English education.
About two years later, I was something of a specialist with YLs (in that context), and enjoyed teaching them so much that I stuck with it for another 7-8 years!
Right, so in claiming we have something in common, let's move on to the issues you raise about coursebooks for YLs.
First of all, Barb's series - Let's Go - would have to be the absolute best I've ever used with those age groups. It's one of the only major YL series to last the distance, into its 3rd edition now and boasting a track record of 20 highly successful years on the international market. Why? Well, Barb has done her best to pitch some of the series' attributes to you according to the sentiments you expressed in your original post, but to be totally honest, the books were made by seasoned YL professionals who know the "language" of children. Part of that language is chants and songs, yes, something I've never been particularly keen on myself, but kids generally are. Remember we are entering into their world, not dragging ours to them (and that's one of the beauties, because their world has much less innane complexity or ugliness). Let's Go has great little dialogues, very clear language goals, easy to apply interactive materials and stories, just to get started.
But let's go beyond that. I daresay you won't find Let's Go any better than anything else you've used until you can come to terms with a few things:
1. Sorry - the story about not being (and not wanting to be) a YL teacher just doesn't wash with me. If you don't want to teach kids, change schools/jobs. Don't blame it on coursebooks or (worse) the bairns themselves. Schools continue to put guys like you in front of kids classes because you'll continue to accept the role, happier to complain about it than actually do something positive about it (developing your YL teaching skills or else refusing and getting another job). If you think teaching kids is "just a job", you definitely entered the wrong profession. It's a role and a responsibility as well. If that sounds self-righteous or "do gooder" to you, then probably even more reason for you to change jobs.
2. Coursebooks for little kids can only ever be a guiding framework. Kids need to get out of their chairs, do things, find out things, explore and create. If you expect the coursebook to do your work for you and maintain not only the language goals of the course but also keep the kids occupied, motivated and entertained, then you deserve whatever dismal failures you get! You're a teacher - no matter what the age group concerned - and if you think it's all about the right coursebook, then you're probably better described as an instructor.
3. Focussing kids on coursebook pages is only courting disaster. They need other supplementary materials and activities - especially games. Games, games and more games. It's how kids learn, and (after ripping you a new you-know-what earlier on, I want to give you some encouragement!) it's what makes teaching them a whole lot of fun for teachers, too.
4. Observe some good YL teachers. Maybe not at your school - you may need to go to another school or context. There's always somewhere. Watch how the classes work and how the teacher manages it. This is really important not just in terms of finding out what techniques and activities actually work with kids, but also in showing you what a successful YL language class looks like. You'll see a lot of halos and rosy cheeks rather than diabolical leering faces and forked tails poking out the bottom of shorts and skirts. You'll be awed by the progress kids can make and how genuinely fun and affectionate they can be. Once you've seen this sort of class and these sorts of kids, you'll realise it's possible to do and worth striving for.
5. See this as a new challenge for you - not just something to "get through" and tolerate. I'll tell you this much - teachers who become good at teaching kids usually become great teachers for teens and adults, even business people as well. The reverse is not often true, or not as automatic. I've met some "lofty" teachers of adults who pour scorn on YL courses and YL teachers, when I know darned well it's because they wouldn't last 2 minutes in an even moderately rambunctious YL classroom. Teaching English in general is a skill. Teaching English to kids is an art. See this as a chance to enhance all of your other teaching skills (for other age groups) but also a chance to become an artist!
6. Got kids of your own? I get the impression you don't. Well, learning how to teach a foreign language to kids gives you some of the best darned parenting skills you can imagine. If you're going to have kids of your own one day, you're investing in your own future happiness. If you're not going to have your own kids later in life, you've definitely improved your prospects of getting along better with nieces and nephews at Christmas time.
Sorry, not all of those suggestions go straight to the heart of your initial enquiry about finding a good YL coursebook. That's because YL teaching is as much about a state of mind and openness of heart as it is anything else (including materials to use in the class).
I've got a pretty extensive resource site for teachers of kids: www.englishraven.com. Send me an email and I will set you up with a free membership. Why? I can see from your initial post that you're probably actually a nice guy and you definitely do have a sense of humour. That makes you a potentially great teacher of kids, and I'm happy to help you out.
Five years later, when you prefer teaching kids to adults and business people, hopefully you'll remember people like Barb and I, and offer to buy us a beer when we're in your neck of the woods.
All the best,
~ Jason Renshaw
Well, perhaps I was a bit too hard on the guy. Then again, perhaps I wasn't. No doubt someone will post a comment here and let me know! I have to admit, if there's one thing guaranteed to get my ire up and make me engage in ranting blog posts like this one, it's teachers who agree to teach kids and then complain about it, blaming everything and anything beyond that all important circle that is themselves.
There are, on the other hand, people out there who are perhaps teaching kids somewhat against their will (I was, when I started out), who nonetheless want to come to grips with their predicament and make the best of it. I hope some of the tips in the post above turn on some lights for you!
:-)
