Suitable for older children (in secondary school) and teenagers
You may find it rewarding to help and encourage your child to keep a diary in English. This could be something private, or they could write a blog, and either make it public or make it only available to people they choose. You could use this procedure:
- In the afternoon or evening, ask your child to tell you about something that they would like to put in their English diary for that day.
- As they tell you about it, note down some words, phrases and sentences that they will need when they write their diary entry in English.
- Tell them, or help them to find, these English words, phrases and sentences.
- Leave them to write their diary entry alone, but be available if they need help.
When learners can connect the language they are learning with their own lives, it can have a very positive effect on their motivation.
An English 'diary' for younger learners
Suitable for younger children (in primary school)
If your child is too young to write their own diary, they may still love to talk about themselves and tell you their ‘news’.
- Get your child to tell you about their day, for example, 'At school today I ate something new and we played a game'. This can be in English or in your own language.
- Repeat what they told you in English and write it down.
- Let them draw a picture to show what they did.
- Ask your child to ‘read’ your sentence back to you in English. Depending on their reading ability, they may well do this from memory using their picture to help. As they ‘read’, you point at the English words.
- You could then say some of the words or phrases from the short text you have just written, and ask them to point at them or colour them in.
By doing this your child will learn to read the words in English, gain confidence and slowly recognise patterns in the text.
Collect these texts on a wall in their bedroom or make up a mini-book to read later on.
Watch a young learner doing this activity here.