08/28/2024

Michelle Skowbo

A Mentor Interview with Ela Gapeyeva: Teaching Young Learners

Learn best practices of making an EFL classroom a joyful place in this mentor interview with Ela Gapeyeva, a TESOL member, CATESOL conference site co-chair, and experienced teacher of preschoolers in Asia, Europe, and the United States.

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Question: What age groups have you worked with?
Answer: I’ve mainly worked with children aged 3-5 years old. However, my experience also includes two years with toddlers, two years with children aged 8-9, as well as work with
teenagers and adults.
 
Question: Where have you taught English?
Answer: I have taught English in Shanghai, China; Minsk, Belarus; and San Francisco, USA.
 
Question: What is fun about teaching a foreign language to children? What is an activity that they especially enjoyed?
Answer: Teaching English to children who do not speak it as their first language is challenging for both the child and the teacher. However, it also offers many fun moments that
make the teaching experience unique. Over eight years of teaching, I’ve engaged with children of different age groups and learning abilities. What’s important to note is that no matter where a child comes from, they always have a curious and open mind.
Children love to learn, explore new concepts, observe, and test the world they live in. As a teacher, my duty is not just to present the material deductively but to ignite their curiosity and joy
in learning something new, especially a foreign language.
I’ve learned that remembering how it felt to be a child and how you used to absorb information helps in developing a teaching style, focusing on what activities may work best. Another
valuable insight is that when you, as an instructor, have fun in class and stay positive, respectful, and sincere with young learners, this attitude becomes contagious. Children unconsciously mirror the teacher’s behavior, which includes a cheerful mood set in class through interaction, communication, respect, and engaging activities.
Among the most effective, interactive, and engaging ways of teaching, I use methods that fuse music, storytelling, dramatic play, self-presentation, and technology. I’ve adapted these to
benefit the children and incorporated them into my daily class planning, creating my personal methods and style of teaching based on inquiry and project-based learning, as well as
Montessori methods.
Children loved completing projects on transportation, wind, or robots. We had weekly Show-and-Tell classes where children would bring their beloved toys, books, or clothes and
share the stories behind them. They enjoyed art-based classes with sensory materials and more. With my 3-4 year olds whose English is their second/third language, we would sing a lot,
learning even sophisticated terms like the names of the continents or counting by fives. The lyrics would stick in their minds, and the rhymes would make them laugh. Only in a joyful and
relaxed manner can a true love for learning and a new language develop.
 
Question: What is challenging about teaching a foreign language to children? What is a classroom management strategy that you liked to use?
Answer: Being around children for eight hours a day is not a simple task for anyone. Even parents can relate to this. Moreover, instructing these children, teaching them courtesy and
manners, and spending most of the day together implies certain responsibilities for teachers. A challenge is always there: how to engage those who don’t feel like doing anything? Should I
give more space and time to that child, or should I try to invite them, insisting they join the activity and give it a try? Being positive both internally and externally—having a smile and calm
expression throughout the day, even when I don’t feel good—is crucial.
Having endless patience and understanding towards the learning and personality differences of all the children is essential. Over the years, I’ve developed a few classroom management
strategies that have worked for me:

1. State the ground (classroom) rules from the first days of school.
2. Use a calm manner of speaking, with distinct phrases. Speak clearly.
3. Make your emotions vivid when describing an event or reading a story: change voices and show real excitement with your facial expression.
4. Chant or recite a short, self-made rhyming poem or any circle time song before gathering on the rug.
5. Use silence. Simple yet effective. Keep yourself silent and maintain eye contact.
6. Count backwards from 10 to 1, nice and calm, so as not to intimidate children.
7. Sit on a chair still with a book in your hands on the rug, in the place where you normally conduct your lessons.