Establish a routine for your English time at home. It is better to have short, frequent sessions than long, infrequent ones. Fifteen minutes is enough for very young children. You can gradually make sessions longer as your child gets older and their concentration span increases. Keep the activities short and varied in order to hold your child’s attention.

Try to do certain activities at the same time every day. Children feel more comfortable and confident when they know what to expect. For example, you could play an English game every day after school, or read an English story with your children before bedtime. If you have space at home, you can create an English corner where you keep anything connected to English, for example books, games, DVDs or things that your children have made. Repetition is essential – children often need to hear words and phrases many times before they feel ready to produce them themselves.

Children learn naturally when they are having fun. Flashcards are a great way to teach and revise vocabulary and there are many different games which you can play with flashcards, such as Memory , Kim’s game, Snap or Happy Families.

You can find free downloadable on a wide range of topics on our website.

There are many other types of games you can play with your children to help them practise English:

Action games – for example: Simon says, Charades, What’s the time Mr Wolf

Board games – Snakes and ladders, other traditional games

Word games – e.g. I spy, Hangman

Online games – you could finish your English time with an online game.

Songs are a really effective way to learn new words and improve pronunciation. Songs with actions are particularly good for very young children as they are able to join in even if they are not yet able to sing the song. The actions often demonstrate the meaning of the words in the song. There are many fun, animated songs which you can listen to with your children.

numbers (1–10; 10–20; 20–100)

colours

adjectives (e.g. big, small, tall, happy, sad, tired)

the body

toys

clothes

animals (e.g. pets, farm animals, wild animals)

food

It is also important for your child to get used to ‘English time’ language, so use the same phrases with your child each time, e.g. ‘It’s English time! Let’s sit down. Which song shall we start with today?’ Children will soon pick up phrases such as please; thank you; Can I have …?; Where is …?; Point to …; What colour is it?; It’s …; I like …; I don’t like …

Whatever your approach, the most important thing is to relax, have fun and make learning English an enjoyable experience for both you and your child.