There is a special group among language learners—kids. They are different from adults who have different motivations to learn (such as for business, travel, etc.); kids don’t have any such motivations. There is only one thing which can drive them to learn a new language—interest. Therefore, as a vipkid teacher, we need to learn different teaching ways to make the process fun enough for them. Here are some tips that I can share with you.

Make them laugh

• Be a good actor. As a vipkid teacher for kids, we must be skilled actors. For example, we can run away all of a sudden and pretend to be scared when you teach the word ‘tiger’. It can really get the kids excited and impressed by the word. They can even scream and say ‘tiger’ with you. Another example: we high-five kids after activities. We may pretend that they really hurt us and give them a suffering face. That can make them feel entertained, which will help them remember the lessons better.
• You can teach creatively. For example, when you teach body parts, you may teach them by drawing a face. If you draw a face of one nose, one mouth, two eyes and two ears, it will just be a normal face. But if you draw three eyes, four ears and five legs, it can really make the kids laugh, and will make it more memorable for them.

Be creative.

Kids like new things. We need to design different activities for each class, such as art projects (clay-shaping; paper-cutting), games (costume play, various fun play) and coloring pages. We can use these activities especially when we teach something abstract. For example, when we teach the words ‘wings’ and “flying”, we may do an art project with the kids. Let them do real wings using feathers, and teach them how birds use the wings to fly. That way, the kids will get the concept of wings and flying.

Make the kids move during class

Never make the kids sit still for over 20 minutes. We can make them dance, play games or follow our TPR (Total Physical Response) to jump or run around. Making them move around is not only to make them excited, but also to make them stay focused on the teaching objectives. If they sit still for too long, they may feel sleepy, bored, or get distracted.

Create the scenes for the words

When we need to teach some specific words, we may create scenes for these words to be understood. For example, when we teach ’police officer’, we may do role playing, and use props such as a policeman hat and plastic handcuffs. The kids can play as police officers and criminals. Believe me, the kids will love it!

Make lesson plans in advance

Some experienced teachers may think that it’s not important or necessary to make lesson plans. They rely on their sudden inspirations during class. For me, I think lesson plans are still necessary even if we are experienced teachers. From years of teaching, we may know lots of games and skills. But we still need lesson plans for good time management.

Discipline them:

• Demonstrate the rules. For kids aged between 3-4, they may talk or run in class because they’ve never been to kindergarten or don’t know how to follow rules. So it’s crucial to demonstrate the rules in class right at the beginning of the course. We can’t judge the kids if we haven’t shown them what’s right and what’s wrong.

Here are some common class rules:

Eyes on teacher “看老师”（Kàn lǎoshī）;

Listen to the teacher “听老师说”（Tīng lǎoshī shuō）;

Raise your hand before you talk “举手再说话”（Jǔ shǒu zài shuōhuà）;

No running “不要跑”（Bùyào pǎo）;

No screaming “不要叫”（Bùyào jiào）；

Line up “排队”（Páiduì）.

• Using reward and punishment systems. We may use stickers (like stars or cartoon characters) or tokens. If they keep talking or running in class, they may lose stars. They can get stickers if they behave in the opposite way. This system makes them realize that their behaviors can bring some good or bad results. They will thus pay attention to their behavior in class.

Different groups, different ways

• For the super active group, it’s important to make them sit down. But how to do it? The solution is to burn up their energy. For example, we can make them do a lot of warm-up activities: standing up, sitting down, turning around, jumping. They will then sit down when they get tired.
• For the silent group, we need to get them excited. Some kids don’t want to get involved, and they speak too softly in class, because they are shy and not used to the environment or the teachers. We need to encourage them even if they only move their lips or make bad pronunciations.

Make the kids take the lead role, make them think

Different from the traditional teaching methods, we should make the kids take the lead role, especially for groups who are older than 6. We may demonstrate the activities for a short time at first, but after that, we should get the kids involved and let them give it a try. For example, if we teach the word ‘ladybug’, we may let the kids draw. And in the process of drawing, the kids need to think about the details of the object–the shapes (it has two wings) and its colors (it’s red and black).

The Chinese expressions you need to know

As an English/ vipkid teacher for Chinese kids, you may need to know these Chinese expressions right from the beginning:

坐下。(zuò xià)       Sit down.

安静。(ān jìng)     Be quiet.

你渴了吗？要喝水吗？ (nǐ kě le ma？yào hē shuǐ ma？)

Are you thirsty? Do you want water?

你要什么？ (nǐ    yào   shén me ？) What do you need?

你喜欢吃什么？(nǐ xǐhuān chī sh me？)  What do you like to eat?

你要上厕所吗？ (nǐ yào shàng cèsuǒ ma？)

Do you want to go to the bathroom?

不可以这样。(bù kěyǐ zhèyàng . ) You cannot do this.

你真棒！（Nǐ zhēn bàng!）You are doing great!

跟我读！（Gēn wǒ dú!）Read after me!

看这里。（Kàn zhèlǐ.）Look here.

A teacher’s greatest happiness is to see their students learn as they grow up. I wish that you will get this feeling of satisfaction in the process of teaching. Good luck!

The post VIPkid Teacher: Tips & Must-have Expressions for teaching English to Chinese kids appeared first on .

Here is a typical example: Once, I was responsible for giving Chinese classes to two groups. One group was composed of beginners in Chinese. They were from Korea, Japan, South Africa and Kyrgyzstan. They had never learned Chinese before, most of them felt that Chinese was too difficult to learn, and some of them even refused to even say a word. The other group was composed of advanced students who had been learning Chinese for at least 3 years. They were quite confident in their Chinese. They tried to talk to me in Chinese not only in class but also during break time.

The totally different reactions from these two groups shocked me and made me think. What’s the difference between the beginner and the advanced learners? As a beginner, how can you break the ice and make learning go more smoothly? As an advanced student, how can you further improve?

For Beginners

As far as we know, Chinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan languages. There are five tones (including the light tone), and many characters, which do not exist in Latin Languages and Indo-European languages. Therefore, as a beginner, it’s quite normal if you have to relearn how to pronounce Chinese pinyin or if you are afraid to learn so many characters. Chinese is just like an unknown and brand new world for you to explore.

First, the most important thing for you is to have faith that learning Chinese is easy and interesting. For example, you will learn the five tones in the first stage. Some students may find it hard to distinguish them. The best approach is to think of the tones as five musical notes. They go up and down, and speaking Chinese is just like singing with high and low pitches.

Second, you need to develop the habit of previewing and reviewing. Before class, you should know what you are going to learn and predict what part will be the hardest one, so that you can put your full concentration on this part. After class, you must then go over all that you have learned so that you will be sure to keep them in mind.

Third, you should be interactive while learning. You are not just a passive audience, but are instead taking leading roles in class. So be active, be energetic, and be involved.

Fourth, try to use Chinese as much as you can, not just in class, but also in your daily life. Language is a tool for communication. It can motivate you when you are socializing. Do not worry about making mistakes. Making mistakes and correcting them is a natural process. It’s actually good for you.

Of course, as a teacher, we should do what we can to help our students. We may use a bit of English in the first stage to make the classes understandable. It’s also a transitional period for a student to adapt to the Chinese language environment. More than that, a good lesson plan is quite necessary. As a new learner, you can discuss with your teacher to make sure that every step is sequential and reasonable for you to understand the lessons better.

For Advanced Students

As advanced students in Chinese, what should you do to make learning better? Generally speaking, the students in this level are good at sentence construction and grammar. Thus, your focus should be on language skills and learning more about Chinese culture.

Once, a Korean student of mine told me that he felt very happy and lucky to stay in China. Why? Because it’s free to watch most of the Chinese television dramas and movies, while in Korea, they have to pay for it. This is a difference in the two cultures that my Korean student could appreciate and take advantage of. By watching these dramas and movies, he could significantly improve his Mandarin.

Other tips:

First, you should take advantage of various resources that are available. This is the internet era, with pictures and videos available online. Watching Chinese videos is beneficial to your listening and speaking skills.

Second, you can also read Chinese newspapers and novels. We all know that if you want to pass HSK-5, you need to know 2500 common words. That’s enough for daily talk. But the topics you can converse about may still be quite restricted. Reading newspapers and novels will increase your vocabulary significantly.

Third, try to write essays in Chinese using characters instead of pinyin. You can write these essays in a personal diary. Writing is a good way to get your ideas down clearly.

Last but not least, read proper books. Ask your Chinese teacher to recommend some. Learning a language is not only limited to words or sentences. Getting to know the culture by reading is vital as well. Knowing the culture means knowing the people better, so that you can get along with Chinese people and improve your social intercourse.

The bottom line is, no matter whether you’re a beginner or advanced student, there’s always something new to learn about Chinese, and there are methods that will help you learn them fast and well. You should not only study hard hard, you should also study smart! Get to know more about your situation and make yourself a proper study plan with your teacher. This will help you improve your Chinese language skills faster and more efficiently.

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