I have always strongly talked about maintaining our mother tongue at home. Whether it is living in India or outside, being comfortable with their mother tongue gives a new dimension to their personality. It also help them in enjoying a special bond with their grand parents. We want to keep our mother tongue intact but we also want their English speaking skills to be at par. Today’s guest post will highlight six tips that will help children improve their English- speaking skills.
There’s no doubt about the fact that communication skill is an essential 21st-century skill. And, being
able to communicate in multiple languages with English being one of them is crucial as English is one
of the languages used most commonly across the world. As parents, you must ensure that your child
learns languages early on. Picking up on and mastering your native language and mother tongue,
must be given priority, but it is also often easier than learning second or third languages. So, it is
pertinent that as parents, you help your child with their English-speaking skills as well.
Related article: Explaining India to my American Indian Kids
Thankfully, spoken English for kids can be improved using many fun tips and tricks:
- Read and Sing Out Loud
- How About English Movies and Cartoon Shows?
- Set an English-speaking Hour Aside
- Ask Them to Converse in English with Friends
- Word Game Time!
- Don’t Be Obsessed With Grammar
Read and sing out loud
Reading their favorite stories out loud can help kids familiarize themselves with new words while singing English rhymes and poems out loud helps them memorize new words with repetitive patterns. You can sing exciting English songs along with your child to have fun. When children sing the same lyrics in front of their friends correctly, they gain confidence which further encourages them to learn English.
How about English movies and cartoon shows?
Kids love watching TV, so why not use that to their advantage? To improve English speaking for kids, you should encourage them to watch entertaining, age-appropriate English movies and cartoon shows. You can start by turning on the subtitles so that it is easier for your child to grasp new words and build their vocabulary slowly.
Set an English-Speaking hour aside
As kids spend most of their time with you at home, you can incorporate an English-speaking hour at home every day which strictly involves communicating in the English language only. The simple sentences will help them develop the necessary conversational abilities, thus improving their English-speaking skills significantly. Don’t forget to be on the lookout for opportunities to introduce your little one to new words.
Ask them to converse in English with friends
As kids grow up, they make new friends in school or the neighborhood. You can encourage your child to talk in English with their friends whether it’s in school, extra-curricular classes, or over the phone as they feel extremely comfortable talking to their friends. And that is because they are not under any pressure of being judged for how they speak. Eventually, they will get used to speaking in English with each other and hence, develop their English- speaking skills.
Word game time!
Want to make learning fun? Mix it up with some fun games! You can play different word games with them like scrabble, hangman, and I spy. This provides an interesting way of enhancing their knowledge of words and inspiring them to learn new words every day to beat you at the game.
Don’t be obsessed with Grammar
Correcting your child’s grammar sometimes is needed, but if you start doing it too frequently, they might give up on English-speaking because of the fear of making mistakes. It’s okay for kids to make multiple errors as they try to speaking a new language – that’s how they will learn! Instead of obsessing over their grammar, be patient and motivate them to speak and express themselves freely.
Children learn through repetition, so if you talk to them in English constantly, they are likely to grasp the words, sentences, and grammar rules seamlessly. Just keep up with it and soon you will watch your child’s English-speaking skills improve.
Author’s Bio:
Samidha Raj works as part of the content marketing team at PlanetSpark, a platform that provides online classes to K8 learners on “New Age Skills”; like, English Communication, Public Speaking, Grammar, Creative Writing, Debating, etc. She is passionate about empowering the youth by educating parents about the importance of 21st-century skills. In her free time, you can find her watching documentaries or animated movies and organizing game nights (board games are her thing)!
