Learn English in the UAE: Teaching English to Children and Developing Their Language Skills

Many studies and research have revealed that teaching children language and developing their language skills at an early age increases their ability to understand, focus and comprehend because bilingualism enhances children's mental activity and makes them highly capable of absorbing all information. We find that children who learn two languages ​​are distinguished from children who have one language, as new horizons of understanding are opened up for these children because learning a second language enables the child to understand more scientific topics, books and stories and be in a state of focus, alertness and healthy mental activity that enables him to remember things and benefit from them because his memory is continuous, which makes his mind in a state of constant stimulation. We find that teaching English to children and developing their language skills raises the level of their ability to store information.

The role of English language in developing children's comprehension skills

Teaching language to children and developing their language skills helps increase children’s comprehension in many ways, including:

• Improve cognitive development : Many studies have proven that learning English at an early age for children improves their cognitive development. By learning a new language, children feel as if they are facing thinking challenges and have to solve them in new and innovative ways. These challenges improve their problem-solving skills and increase their mental and intellectual activity.
• Memory and attention enhancement: Bilingual children tend to have better memory and are better able to focus and pay attention, because the brain is constantly trying to switch between languages, which leads to stronger cognitive control and memory abilities compared to a child with one language.
• Executive Functions: Teaching children language and developing their language skills helps them better plan tasks and organize priorities. It also develops their executive function skills because they are required to follow grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure.
• Multi-skilling: Teaching children language and developing their language skills forces them to have multiple skills because children must listen to and understand spoken language, write and read, which helps them organize and arrange their skills, which play a major and useful role in many other aspects of life.
• Increased brain flexibility: Teaching children language and developing their language skills helps increase the ability of children's brains to change and adapt to all linguistic rules and patterns, which improves cognitive flexibility and brain performance in children in general.

Tips for teaching English to children

Learning English in the Emirates has become very important. In order to be able to teach the language to children, develop their language skills, and enhance their practical language skills, we must follow some tips that help us do so. The most important of these tips are:

• Language interaction and play: Play helps teach language to children and develop their language skills, as arranging scientific games and viewing the words they want to memorize on pictures and colored cards contributes to encouraging them to learn.
• Continuous reading: You should give your child the opportunity to read short stories, for example , in English, that are appropriate for his age and meet his educational needs. You should also support and encourage him, even if he makes a mistake , as he will only learn by repetition, knowing the mistake and correcting it. You can buy books for children with cheerful drawings and colors to attract the child and encourage him to read.
• Speaking English: Speaking English with your child will help build their language skills, even if you just have a simple conversation.
• Listening to English : The child must get used to hearing English continuously, so that we can develop his language skills. Children can listen to television programs designed specifically to attract children.
• Using pictures and animations: In order to be able to teach English to children and develop their language skills in a distinctive way, we can use pictures and animations to help children learn new words and vocabulary.
• Drawing and colouring: Children’s love of drawing and colouring can be exploited to colour and draw English letters, learn their shapes and form simple words through manual activities.
• Teaching children at an early age: The earlier you start teaching children, the faster they will be able to master language skills. You can start from the age of 2 to 5 years.
• Continuous encouragement and motivation: When teaching language to children and developing their language skills, you must continue to motivate and encourage them for any goal they achieve, so that they want to continue learning English.
• Rewards and Prizes: Using a reward system when teaching language to children and developing their language skills greatly motivates children, even if the rewards are simple, such as some colorful stickers or simple games.
• Teaching basic words: In order to teach children the language and develop their language skills quickly, we must teach children basic words and simple sentences in the English language, such as nouns, verbs, and basic adjectives, so that they can express themselves in English in a correct way.
• Do not tire children: Be careful to choose appropriate times to teach language to children and develop their language skills and do not tire them with long hours. Rather, choosing short, continuous times is better than long hours in which the student feels bored and annoyed.

Frequently asked questions when teaching children English and their answers

Mothers always ask many questions about their attempts to teach language to children and develop their language skills. Here we have summarized these questions and will present you with a simplified answer to them:

1. How can I motivate my son to learn English?

Children can be motivated to learn English by making the child feel fun and entertained during education by diversifying learning sources from colorful stories, interactive books, educational games, and urging them to watch educational TV programs, in addition to reading illustrated and colorful stories, which increases their attention and increases their excitement in teaching the language to children and developing their language skills.

2. Are there any specific educational games recommended for teaching children English?

Yes, there are many educational games that are used when teaching language to children and developing their language skills, including active language communication games, crossword puzzles, Charades, Scrabble, and Taboo, in addition to video games and simple tests, which work to improve their language skills in an interesting and attractive way.

3. What are the best ways to engage a child while learning?

One of the best ways to teach language to children and develop their language skills is to provide fun, engaging and interactive educational materials, such as educational games, interactive videos and various activities, to motivate children to learn and love the language.

4. How can individual differences between children be taken into account when learning a language?

Trying to provide customized educational content that meets all children’s needs and takes into account all individual differences between them when teaching language and developing their language skills, providing opportunities for children that suit different learning styles, and encouraging critical and creative thinking in all children.

5. What are the best art activities to use when teaching language to children and developing their skills?

The best activities to use when teaching language to children and developing their skills are activities that combine arts and language, such as making crafts out of clay or something similar to write English letters and form words, using simple videos to teach grammar and new vocabulary.

6. How can I evaluate my child while learning English?

You can evaluate performance while teaching language to children and developing their skills by monitoring and observing their development periodically and documenting the observed grades and challenges that the child faces as well. You can use evaluation tools such as tests and observations continuously and record all observations and then compare them later with other results.

What are the strategies for learning English in the UAE?

There are many strategies that are used when teaching language to children and developing their language skills. These strategies include:

1- Multi-strategy:

It is a strategy that uses a variety of methods and tools in addition to some techniques to meet the multiple needs of students. These strategies also work to enhance children's understanding and motivate them to participate and interact in the educational process.

2- Cooperative learning:

Cooperative learning when teaching language to children and developing their skills helps encourage students to work together in small, shared groups so that they focus on achieving common goals as well as developing language and social skills.

3- Self-learning:

This strategy is used when teaching language to children and developing their skills to encourage them to take responsibility by teaching them and developing their own abilities in the English language by using available resources and interacting with all texts and educational means.

4- Use interactive games and activities:

It uses interactive activities and games when teaching language to children and developing their skills to motivate and encourage them and enhance all their linguistic and social skills.

5- Adapting to different teaching methods:

In this strategy, teaching methods are modified according to the students’ needs and their different linguistic and cultural levels.

6 - Use of technology:

Modern educational technologies such as the Internet, multimedia and educational applications are used when teaching language to children and developing their skills to enhance understanding, comprehension and interaction and encourage students to continue learning.

7- Focus on basic skills:

It focuses on developing the four basic skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing when teaching language to children and developing their skills, while providing many opportunities for practical application to improve these skills and practice them practically.

School Lessons.com for learning English in the Emirates

Madrasa.com is the first virtual platform to offer interactive private lessons online and through Zoom. The Madrasa platform offers distinctive private lessons to teach the English language . The individual lessons provided by Madrasa.com in the Emirates are a unique opportunity to improve students’ English language skills, and provide them with many benefits to improve their level. These lessons are suitable for all ages.

Benefits of learning English on the Madrasa.com platform in the Emirates

Private English lessons play an important role in improving students’ language skills and these lessons give noticeable results in developing their level and awareness, because these lessons have many benefits when teaching the language to children and developing their skills, and the most important of these benefits are:

• Individual attention to students :

Private lessons provided by the Madrasa.com platform for learning English in the Emirates help the teacher focus individually on the child, and allocate sufficient time for him alone. In individual lessons, the teacher can organize the time according to the time chosen by the student to give individual notes and guidance and explain the curriculum in detail.

• Know your strengths and weaknesses:

The teacher is able to identify the student’s strengths and weaknesses and develop an appropriate educational plan for the child to develop his level and meet his individual needs. This allows students to progress effectively and excel, in addition to noticing the speed of his progress in learning the English language .

• Enhancing language skills:

The private one-on-one lessons provided by the Madrasa.com platform for teaching English to children in the UAE help students to focus fully on developing their various language skills in English, such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing, by allocating time to apply many intensive exercises and activities in the section that the student needs to improve, and this helps all students to develop their language skills clearly and in a short time.

• Boosting student self-confidence:

Private English lessons in the UAE improve students’ self-confidence and build confidence in using the English language. This is due to the individual support, direct guidance and continuous follow-up from the teacher to the student. Students feel completely comfortable speaking and using the language in anything and expressing themselves, in addition to using conversations and language skills with great confidence without fear or shyness of making mistakes. This helps students overcome all barriers of confidence and communicate in the English language with ease and mastery in front of the teacher or in front of everyone.

• Flexibility in time:

The schedule for private lessons on the Madrasa.com platform is characterized by flexibility in time. The time of lessons can be organized and chosen to suit the students’ schedules individually and the appropriate time to focus more, whether these times are morning or evening, which helps students determine the appropriate times for them for private lessons according to their personal schedule that suits them.

• Take advantage of different resources:

While teaching language to children and developing their skills, the teacher can provide a variety of educational resources and electronic or other references that suit the needs of all students, such as books and dictionaries, in addition to approved websites and also important educational electronic applications, and educational materials that enhance the learning process and attract students. These resources are considered valuable sources for expanding vocabulary and improving various language skills among students.

Learning English at an early age is one of the most important things that children can benefit from for the rest of their lives, due to the many benefits that will accrue to them when they learn and master the English language. Therefore, we can say that teaching children English at an early age is the most important and greatest investment in their educational, social and economic future as well, because later it will help them benefit from many opportunities in life, deal with others, travel and find distinguished and high-paying job opportunities. So take the initiative to teach your children English and do not hesitate and start now.