How to Teach Spanish Young Learners Effectively

Spanish-speaking students bring enthusiasm and expressiveness to the classroom. Spanish kids bring twice the energy! 

Teaching English to Young Learners in Spain is equal parts fun and unpredictable. You might think it’s all games and nursery rhymes, but there are important linguistic hurdles and classroom management challenges to navigate, including knowing how to keep their attention.  

Read: 6 Differences Between Teaching Adults And Young Learners

So, what’s it really like in the classroom? What’s the best way to teach Spanish-speaking kids English?

We approached Lauren, an experienced teacher, to break down what works (and what doesn’t) when teaching Young Learners in Spain. 

A teacher’s take:

I’ve taught Young Learners in language academies in both the north and south of Spain for over six years, most recently in a private language academy in Oviedo. 

Read: Requirements And Hiring Process To Become An ALT In Spain

While I’ve taught teen and adult students, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to specialise somewhat in teaching Young Learners, and Very Young Learners, with the majority of my experience being with students aged 4-11. 

I know a lot of teachers don’t feel confident teaching Young Learners or feel more comfortable teaching older students who are likely to have a higher level of English, but I find teaching Young Learners incredibly rewarding. 

I love it that I’ve sometimes been my students’ first experience of English, and it’s been amazing watching them become more confident with the language. Plus, teaching kids is fun — you never know what they are going to come out with next!

As the saying goes, “out of the mouths of babes”!

Did you have any experience teaching Young Learners?

I spent about five years working part-time at a primary school holiday club while I was studying. Teaching was never my original plan, but those years at the primary school were invaluable. 

Running the holiday club meant planning activities in a low-pressure environment. It was for fun, so activities had to be engaging, but weren’t tied to a specific subject or learning objective. Observing how more experienced staff managed different children’s needs taught me a lot. 

Having said that, when I started teaching Young Learners, it came with a huge learning curve. 

There’s a massive difference between working in a team to give students a fun summer experience and suddenly being in a classroom by yourself with a load of new students staring at you expectantly.

Why Young Learners?

It was never really my intention to work with children, but once I’d finished university, I decided I wanted to live abroad. So I did a TEFL course and found myself moving to Singapore. 

My TEFL course, plus the years of experience at the primary school, helped me qualify for the necessary visa and made teaching Young Learners a natural choice. Initially, I was just going to spend a year or two teaching while I decided what I wanted to do, but that was over 12 years ago. It turns out that teaching was what I really wanted to do.

Proof that TEFL can be a gap year or a short-term opportunity, but it can also be your calling!

Since then, I’ve worked at a few different private language schools in several countries: Italy, Bulgaria, another stint in Singapore, and now Spain. I’ve nearly always had a timetable made up mostly of Young Learner groups. 

This is partly because a lot of language schools I’ve worked at have found it difficult to find teachers who actively enjoy teaching the little ones. So when they find out that I do, they immediately give me as many groups of Young Learners as possible. Because of this, it’s the area in which I’ve grown and the type of class I enjoy most as a teacher.

Did you take a TEFL course for Young Learners?

A good TEFL course will introduce you to teaching all age groups. You’ll learn about the differences between the different age groups when it comes to learning and teaching. Because teaching Young Learners is such a big part of TEFL, many course providers offer extra components on teaching YLs.

Besides our in-course content, The TEFL Academy offers a Top-Up Course: Teaching Young Learners.

I did a CELTA, which focuses on teaching adults, so I definitely didn’t feel fully prepared before my first class of Young Learners. I did have in-house training before I started teaching in Singapore and I’ve mostly learnt from other teachers there and in other places I’ve taught.

The best thing I did in my first few weeks was to use any free time in my schedule to observe more experienced teachers’ classes. 

It was incredibly useful for seeing how they approached different language points and classroom routines. They had a ready supply of activities, games and pointers to share, which helped me find my feet quicker than if I’d tried muddling through alone.

I was lucky in that I had incredibly supportive colleagues at the start of my teaching career who taught the same levels as me, and who were always happy to answer questions and make suggestions when I was unsure of myself. 

However, in the language academies I’ve worked at in Spain, it’s been rare to be able to observe other teachers, as most have similar hours and teach at the same time. Having said that, I’ve always worked in academies that have lesson observations throughout the year, which has been a useful source of feedback. 

Read more: What Is CPD And Why Is It Important?

I’ve also learnt a lot through trial and error. 

More than once,  I’ve finished a class feeling shell-shocked after what I thought was a perfectly planned lesson turned out to be an absolute disaster!

Don’t worry, Lauren – we’ve’ all been there!

How does age affect lesson planning?

Most recently, I’ve been teaching 3° Infantil (5-6 years old), 1° Primaria (6-7),  2° Primaria (7-8 years old), 3° Primaria (8-9 years old) and 5° Primaria (10-11 years old). 

For the infant groups, my main focus for lesson planning is establishing routines and building a solid language base. 

As they are younger, there isn’t much in the way of reading or writing, and I tend to teach through games, stories and songs. There’s lots of movement and short activities in each class to keep students engaged.

I take a similar approach with the other primary groups, but with more reading and writing activities as they get older (although the upper-primary groups are usually a bit too cool for songs). 

I really like the primary groups because they tend to have a good base if they started learning as infants, so you can explore topics in more detail and plan longer and more interesting projects. They also tend to be a lot more enthusiastic than teen groups. 

Over the years, we’ve made short films, created and illustrated our own stories, put on plays and created art exhibitions and music videos. 

Most language academies here have set coursebooks for students, which often include extra resources such as flashcards, interactive games, and printable activities. But the coursebooks are usually just a starting point for me. 

I have my routine activities . Then I’ll add in a quick review of language from the previous lesson, songs, some communicative tasks that fit with the language aims of that lesson and a game to finish. The workbook might only be 10-15 minutes of an hour-long class. 

For my Young Learner groups, I always have a loose plan, but I am always prepared to go off-script, especially with the infant and lower primary groups. If they’re interested in something, I’d rather extend that activity than change it just to keep to a lesson plan. 

This sounds hectic! How do you manage your energy levels?

I’ve been searching for an answer for years, and I know I’m not the only one!

The most common piece of advice seems to be to have a banana on your break. Not that helpful (especially if you don’t like bananas). I think there is no getting away from the fact that Young Learner classes DO require a lot of energy. 

On the plus side, in a lot of language academies in Spain, the Young Learner groups will be at the start of the day, with the ages of the groups going up as the day goes on. So the most energy-intensive classes should be at the start of the day when you’re freshest.

What surprised you about teaching Young Learners in Spain? 

One of the things that surprised me about teaching Young Learners in Spain is that the kids have such a healthy attitude towards learning. 

I grew up in the UK, where doing well at school was often seen as ‘uncool’ and speaking another language in class was a huge source of embarrassment for a lot of my peers. 

Here, the kids tend to be a lot more confident and willing to learn and take pride in the fact that they can ‘speak English’ even if it’s their first class and they can only say hello and a few other basic greetings. It’s refreshing to see and certainly makes life easier!

What activities work best with your learners? 

I find that one of the strategies that works best with Young Learners is to keep activities short and include a wide variety of activities. I also try to include as much language as possible in my daily routines. 

My go-to warm-up routine for young learners:

✔️ Daily calendar chat

✔️ Counting classroom items

✔️ Prepositions with a toy octopus

✔️ Clothing Q&A

✔️ Movement breaks

For the older primary students, I do something similar, but drop the more physical or toy-based tasks.

Read more: The Magic Of Daily Classroom Routines For Young Learners  

Aside from the daily routines and a buzzer quiz, I often use storytelling as a way to introduce language or as a way to finish a class calmly, as well as games, songs and short videos. 

I particularly love Genki English for songs. Each song introduces the key vocabulary first (in different accents, which I love!) and usually has a game with it. The language is all useful, and the kids love it. 

I try to limit screen time in class, so we’ll often do craft activities, guessing and memory games or other games that don’t involve any technology.

How do you manage classroom behaviour with Young Learners? 

The most important thing for me is having a solid routine and setting boundaries from the very first class.

I remember during both my TEFL training and in-house training thinking that surely it was unnecessary to establish the rules on the very first day. After all, you don’t want the children to hate you or think you’re boring before you’ve even started teaching them, right? It took me about six months to recover from that initial mistake.

Set out clear boundaries, explain the reasoning behind your rules if necessary and the consequences for misbehaviour, and be consistent in enforcing them. 

Once the children understand the expectations, your classes will run a lot more smoothly and will be far more fun as a result.

If you don’t speak Spanish or don’t want to speak Spanish in class, you can ask the receptionist (if there is one) or another colleague to explain the rules on the first day, so there is no confusion about whether or not they’ve understood. Kids are smart – they will definitely try to use that as an excuse!

I usually keep it quite simple: 

• be kind to your classmates,

• listen to the teacher, 

• only one person should be speaking at a time, etc. 

I use a star chart tied to effort and behaviour. A star or a smiley face means they’ve worked well, and a sad face means they’ve behaved poorly.

Luckily, poor behaviour isn’t much of an issue in Spain. 

I make sure that there is a lot of movement in classes. Young Learners shouldn’t be expected to sit still for long periods or work on one thing for an entire lesson. 

I allocate classroom space for different activities to help them move around, keep focused and stay engaged. If I see they are restless, a quick game of Simon Says helps get rid of some excess energy. 

Read: Wall Games In The EFL Classroom

What cultural factors are important to understand when teaching Young Learners in Spain? 

Generally, students have a good attitude towards learning English. The parents who send their students to language academies recognise that being able to speak English will afford them opportunities when they’re older. 

As a result, they tend to take a healthy interest in their child’s learning, but without being overbearing. 

Academies are generally very affordable, but they are private. So there will always be the odd parent who thinks that, because they are paying, you should be spending the whole class helping their child with their homework.

In general, parents’ expectations are reasonable. While many Spanish children will have several classes a week (English, swimming, dance, football), they will often go to the park after class to play and relax. 

School is important, but so is making time to enjoy meals, play and spend time with family and friends. 

In terms of holidays, there are fewer throughout the year than there are in the UK. For example, in the UK, there’s usually a week’s holiday halfway through each term, a couple of weeks for Christmas and Easter and around six weeks during summer. 

In Spain, there aren’t usually half-term breaks, and Easter tends to be around a week. Christmas is slightly longer as the Spanish celebrate Reyes (the day of the Three Kings) on January 6. Schools don’t open again until after that. 

There are a whopping three months during the summer (more or less) with most schools closing mid-June and re-opening in the first or second week of September. So the first term can seem quite long, and the second term too, depending on when Easter falls. But you do get a nice long break in the summer! 

There are also public holidays throughout the year and the occasional puente (bridge) where, if a public holiday falls on a Thursday or Tuesday, you might get an extra day off to make a ‘bridge’ to the weekend. 

However, a lot of language academies remain open on these days even if the schools are closed, so prepare yourself for the occasional class where only one or two students turn up!

What has been your biggest challenge?

At the beginning, the biggest challenge I faced was not setting clear boundaries from Day One. Then there were other issues, like certain activities flopping or students completing everything a lot quicker than anticipated, and having a blank as to what to do for the rest of the lesson.

Five minutes can feel like a lifetime with a bunch of excitable six-year-olds when you can’t think of anything to do. 

I started making a list of quick, no-prep activities I could use in situations like these and pinned it to my desk, and started adding optional extra activities to my lesson plans, which helped a lot. 

Over time, I got better at estimating the length of time something would take and had a lot more activities at my fingertips that I could call on if needed. 

Another challenge I faced was impostor syndrome. It took me a long time to feel like a ‘real’ teacher and not panic or feel like I wasn’t doing a good job if not everything went exactly according to plan. 

I think time, experience, and hearing about other colleagues’ disasters was the best cure for that! 

Also, I didn’t initially realise just how long it would take to implement routines. Sometimes I used to feel like I wasn’t teaching the kids anything. Then, there would be a day or a week when everything suddenly seemed to come together and the results were incredible. 

So don’t be too hard on yourself if things don’t always go to plan. 

And don’t give up, even if you sometimes feel like your efforts aren’t yielding results.

Any advice?

Don’t just follow the coursebook. 

Try to adapt to students’ interests. You can take the target language from the book and present it in a way that you think the students will find more engaging. 

And if you are required to use a coursebook in every class, don’t make it the only resource you use. Throw in some games or a song and make sure students practise using the language to communicate with each other.

Read: 9 Amazingly Effective Songs To Teach English In The English Classroom

Don’t stress if you don’t stay on plan or finish everything you’d hoped to. 

Sometimes things take longer than expected. It’s better to do something well than pay lip service to it just to ‘tick it off’. 

For the youngest learners, if they are absolute beginners, anything they do in English is useful in terms of language acquisition. 

Don’t underestimate the capabilities of Young Learners. 

They don’t need to understand every word you say. Unlike adults, most Young Learners aren’t that fussed about understanding every single word. If they understand the activity and are having fun, they are generally happy. 

Kids are capable of learning as much English as you teach them, so don’t be afraid to go above and beyond what’s in the coursebook.

Throw in a craft activity now and then if you can. 

Most students love them. They get something cool to take home and show their family, and it’s nice for them to do something different. Also, when they are focusing on completing a craft activity and not thinking about the language, it’s a great opportunity for them to practise conversational English.

If you don’t know any Spanish, try to learn some. 

I tend to avoid using Spanish in classes with Young Learners as I find they make more of an effort to speak in English when they think I don’t speak Spanish. 

(Though I’m not the sort of teacher who believes no Spanish should ever be spoken in class, if a child is upset or feeling ill, for example, I will absolutely speak Spanish to see how I can help.) 

But it is really helpful knowing what they’re saying. I can check they’ve understood something from their interactions with each other and call out anyone using inappropriate language.

I get that learning a language takes time and that not everyone speaks a lot of Spanish when they arrive — I certainly didn’t! 

So, another bonus to teaching Young Learners in Spain is that you will learn a LOT of vocabulary from them, as every time they see a flashcard or image of something, they often automatically say the word in Spanish. They’ll also keep you informed about any local events coming up.

That is amazing advice. As Lauren’s experience shows, the key to success lies in having clear routines, setting boundaries early, and staying flexible. The ability to adapt, connect, and keep things fun goes a long way.

If you’re thinking about teaching English in Spain, especially to Young Learners, go in prepared, but know that even your mistakes will become stepping stones. With the right approach, you’ll not only help your students grow, and you’ll get to grow right alongside them.