This website is dedicated to teaching english to Very Young Learners ‘VYLs’ (2-5 year olds). Its an eclectic mix of tools, tips, templates, activities, video training, tech for teachers, and other resources to help you improve your classes. (There’s a little ‘Starter’ content, because I see Starter as the bridge out of kindergarten English to primary level English, and I feel its useful to have an understanding of teaching this group of students, too. Some teachers describe Starter as one of the most difficult levels to teach.)
Having worked in business strategy, organisational development, and human potential, I’ve become a skilled researcher. I love to dig deep and wide to find unique resources and perspectives to add to my work. I expect you’ll find lots of new ideas on this website that you can trial in your classroom.
My brief backstory
Teaching VYLs for the first time was scary. Very scary! Teaching this age group was not a part of my TESOL (CELTA) training, and I felt way out of my depth.
While I had many questions, I found that there were few resources available for teaching English to Kindergarten students, and many of those that I could find, weren’t all that good.
After a few months of teaching, my perspective changed.
Like many, I began to think that teaching 2-5 year olds English was easy.
I was wrong.
I’d slipped into the (comfort) trap of essentially teaching the same style of lesson each week. It is possible to get away with teaching like that for months, or even years.
As I dug deeper into what was possible, I discovered that teaching VYLs is actually a highly skilled position that requires a lot of awareness, experience, and training in order to do really well.
Unfortunately, there are still few good resources or training paths available to learn these skills.
This website is my contribution to helping others teach Very Young Learners. It is a path that can be immensely rewarding for both you, and your students.
Also, I’ve decided to work towards opening my own junior English language school.
This website will document my journey, and the things that I’ve learned along the way. I like to think unconventionally, and I expect that some of the content you’ll find here will likely challenge some of your views.
An English school project for me is a very exciting one. I’m looking at literally every aspect of teaching from storytelling and songs, to crafts and classroom management. My approach is to uncover and explore what is considered world-class for each component of teaching kindergarten English. To that end, I’m searching for the leading thinkers and practitioners in these fields from across the globe. I’ll share some of what I find here with you on the website.
It’s an amazing time to be in education because there are many people in different pockets of the world committed to finding better ways of teaching. I’ve learned a lot from connecting with them, and they inspire me to be a better teacher.
Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoy the website, I’d love to hear from you.
