Hi guys! My name is Suzi and I'm a South African living in Poland!

And I've been Teaching English as a Second Language for the past 8 years.

And I've had a few people come up to me and ask me, uh, like how do you teach?

Or would you have any tips for other people who are interested in teaching children English.

For example. I have this wonderful friend who speaks English perfectly, she speaks French perfectly.

She's not a teacher, she studied something totally different but a few people have asked her if she would maybe like to teach their kids.

And she kind of panicked and called me and she asked, "What am I supposed to do?" "I've never taught kids, I don't hang around with kids." How do you teach someone who's not your age, who you think of as some small little alien?

So I'm gonna give you three tips that could help you feel a little bit more confident on your first meeting or lesson with a small human being who would like to learn English, or who's parents would like this human being to learn English.

So my first step is tada!

to sit on the floor So meeting an adult, just imagine, you're meeting this person who's like, so much taller than you and if you look at them and you have to kind of be in this position in order to see their face thats kind of um, kind of scary and intimidating and on top of this, this person is speaking to you, using these words that you have no idea what they mean. But when you sit on the floor you kind of make yourself a little bit more vulnerable, but you're also on the level of this child, which makes them feel a little more comfortable and it makes you more approachable.

Next tip: Be interested!

Being interested means reacting to what they're saying or to things that they're doing with interest so for example, asking about a teddy and asking if it's theirs and showing interest in their Teddy.

Showing interest in um, them making handstands and congratulating them on that showing interest in, for example pictures on their wall and asking, you know "Did you draw this? Is this yours? Wow this is really good!" So just being interested in them and their environment and showing that you want to be there, with this kid, already kind of opens up this wave of friendship.

Third thing is...

"You know English!" Which I think is pretty important as a confidence builder.

Because learning a language isn't actually that difficult. I think a lot of people blocking themselves and they think that no this is impossible I can't do it, I don't know, I don't understand what you're saying so I'm gonna listen to you and I think it's important to find certain things that the child understands and knows and congratulating them on it. Or I do this thing where I kind of trick them into knowing the language.

I start with a drawing. Drawing in itself is a very very cool way to interact with the child and teach English at the same time. So for example, I would say, OK so.

"I am drawing a head And now I'm drawing two eyes, a nose and a mouth." "Where are his eyes? Where can you see his eyes?" *Blink Blink* And the child usually points and I'm like "Well done! Yes! That's his eyes!" And then, kinda like, you know "You see? You know English!" So yeah, those were three of the tips that I think could be important as a start.

If you have any tips on what made your first lessons work or what helped you when you started teaching kids, let me know or if there's some other tips that you would like, you're welcome to let me know too!

and maybe I can help out.

Hey guys. So that was my first ever YouTube video and I just wanted to say thanks for watching!

And I wish you an amazing 2017!

Bye!