Factors of successful teaching process for kindergarten English teachers

English kindergarten teachers should have competence in English – including clear and accurate pronunciation. They should have the knowledge of second language learning processes and teaching methods. Kindergarten English teachers should have experience working with young children or have been trained in teaching English to young children. They must know how to give children the encouragement and praise necessary to motivate them. English teachers have to understand children’s development, needs, interests, and the children themselves. These qualifications are necessary for both Uzbek English teachers and foreign English teachers. A teacher needs to help strengthen students’ intrinsic motivation.

The list highlights that the most appreciated quality of a teacher is his ability to make the course interesting. The second, third and fourth qualifications are concerned with the teacher’s competence in English. Competence in English is crucial for English. As mentioned in chapter two, children have the ability to learn foreign pronunciation as well as native speakers. Children have a special facility for acquiring accurate pronunciation and intonation of foreign languages and are sensitive to sound. When the English teacher in kindergarten is a native speaker, the children may have a good chance of acquiring a very good accent. However, if the English teacher in kindergarten speaks poorly, the children may have incorrect pronunciation. Once children have incorrect pronunciation and use it repeatedly, it takes more time to correct them than to teach beginners. Therefore, accurate pronunciation of English teachers is required. Most people think that people who come from English speaking countries may have accurate pronunciation, but this is not always true. Incorrect pronunciation from teachers may have a negative influence on young beginners, because young children have a superior ability to imitate the teacher’s pronunciation. As mentioned above, if the teachers’ pronunciation is good, the young learner’s pronunciation will also be good. If the teachers’ pronunciation is inaccurate, the young learners will also imitate the inaccurate pronunciation. Kindergartens should be careful when they employ English teachers and take steps to ensure their pronunciation is accurate. Many parents prefer foreign English teachers to Uzbek English teachers. Some kindergartens employ foreign teachers just because they feel it will draw students. The demand for foreign English teachers is high. However, there are not enough qualified native English teachers in Uzbekistan. Some kindergartens employ foreign English teachers who are not qualified in teaching English to kindergarten children. In the open-ended question of my questionnaires, many kindergarten teachers mention this problem.

Teaching experience with young children is also important for kindergarten English teachers. Kindergarten English teachers should have teaching experience with young children or should be trained to teach English to young children. Because young children can only learn something when they listen, kindergarten English teachers should be trained in order to have the ability to communicate with young children in a way that keeps them quiet and listening to what the teachers say.

Many factors influence a child’s success in learning English. These are qualified English teachers, curriculum planning, teaching materials and teaching methods. Moreover, motivation and attitude of the parents are also factors for success in learning. Planning a foreign language course for kindergarten children should consider the following points: motivation, the qualifications of the teacher, size of the class, the length of the lesson, and the structure of the course, methodology, and the circumstances in which the children are learning. Some kindergartens employ native English teachers who do not have teaching experience and have not been trained in teaching English to young children. Kindergartens do not offer training. It is a concern that not all of the native speakers of English know how to teach English to young children well. They need to be trained to be qualified English teachers for young children. Therefore, kindergartens should pay attention to teachers’ qualifications when they employ new foreign English teachers. Moreover, there should be government guidelines concerning the qualifications and educational background of foreign English teachers. The situation regarding Uzbek English teachers is the same. Some are excellent, but some are not qualified. In order to increase the qualifications of Uzbek English teachers, Uzbekistan must encourage improvements in the quality of English teaching in local universities.

Motivation can be classified into two types: integrative and instrumental. Integrative motivation is indicated when learners wish to integrate themselves into the culture of the second language group. If the learners believe that acquiring, a second language is instrumental in furthering their educational or career goals, their motivation is referred to as instrumental. For kindergarten children in Uzbekistan, it seems that neither instrumental nor integrative motivation is a factor in enhancing their foreign language learning. The motivation for learning a foreign language for kindergarten children may be very different from that of older learners, because young children do not usually ask to learn a foreign language.

Class size is another of the important factors for a successful foreign language program, particularly for preschool children. The ideal size of the foreign language-teaching group should be ten children, at the most 12 children. The ideal number of students in an English class is between twelve and twenty. I think the optimal class size for young children is between eight and ten. If class size is too big, there will not be many opportunities for all students to practice individually. The English teacher cannot pay attention to all children and cannot correct each student’s pronunciation. Young children like to be treated as individuals by the teacher. If kindergartens want children to have positive learning results, the English classes should not be too big. Class size should not be too big, but it should not be too small, either. Classes that are too small or too big are not good for learning. “Too few children makes it difficult to play some games and there is less interpersonal communication.” Time is also an important factor, which may influence learning results. Foreign language instruction should be scheduled daily, and for no less than 30 minutes.” Their suggestion concerns curriculum in elementary schools, but I think it is also appropriate for kindergartens. The English course should be provided daily, otherwise children would forget what they have learned previously. If kindergartens want their children to progress in English, the English class should be more than 30 minutes a day. The best option would be two hours per day in addition to using English to teach other subjects.

There are many different foreign language-teaching methods. the grammartranslation approach, the direct method, the audio-lingual approach, the silent way, the whole language approach, the total physical response, communicative language learning, the natural approach, community language learning, suggestopedia. Every teaching method has its specific goal, for either listening, speaking, reading or writing. It is difficult to determine which one is the best. It depends on many factors, like the age and level of the students, class size, teaching time, teaching goals, and qualifications of the teachers. All teaching methods work but every method has its limitations. Therefore, in practice, many teachers use more than one teaching method. They choose the most suitable aspects from different teaching methods for their students and apply them flexibly.