Teaching Children Another Language
For those who have experienced teaching children any language, you have realized that it is a complete different approach not only in terms of selecting content, but also in terms of comprehending how they grasp the information.
For some new teachers, this can be a little challenging because before jumping into the lessons, there are some principles we need to understand first.
When a child is learning another language, he doesn't relate it to anything else. The kid has no reference. And how could he?
He's discovering the world. That implies that he is learning from his surroundings - the things he sees and the sounds he hears. And he will talk when he feels he's ready.
The Process
When a child is learning his own mother tongue, he will make many mistakes which are going to be pointed out by his parents or tutors. The boy will make the necessary adjustments and learn from his own mistakes.
And when they are corrected, the cause behind the mistakes are not told... because it is not necessary. Moreover, it will just confuse him. He will learn in the act by assimilation and correlating situations for appropriate responses.
This is the same method that is used when another language is introduced to children. We don't explain to them the rules and patterns (grammar). We just point out the mistakes and show the correct way.
Creativity
Once I wrote in one post that the creativity in the human being is at its maximum potential at the early stage of our life. Children have a such huge imagination and their mind sort experiences, and give them special attributes that consequently relate to similar events or ambiences.
That's why songs and story telling are used. They provide liberty to their fresh minds to fly and expand experiences without limits.
No concepts or theories should be mentioned. This just kills creativity because it can bring boredom. Remember that children nowadays are different. They don't respond to stimulus as they used to. They are now more active in their behavior.
Languages Change
As long as they grow up, we can start introducing norms and rules regarding grammar and oral communication skills. But it is imperative not to rush it. We all know that structures are not appealing to students. There might be some exceptions. However, it is not something that pleases to everyone.
Once they begin dominating the language, we can then implement phrases and common idioms. And most importantly, we should keep the freedom. Languages are constantly changing. New words and phrases are introduced due to popular trends. They can even become verbs or nouns because of the massive usage.
The essential element is that we must always consider that all languages change through time. And when teaching, we should aim for practical and creative methods.
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I taught English to Chinese children for a few years and I found that they learnt best through doing role play and repetition. Memorisation is used a lot in Chinese education so this might differ for other cultures. I would get them interacting with each other in English, teaching them phrases useful for fun communication. The kids memories were remarkable compared with the adult students I had. Loved teaching kids very rewarding.
That's the key. Everything needs to be done with that approach. Anything that might look boring must be cut off. And you said, interaction among all students is essential. They practice in the target language while having fun.