Catering for different learner styles. Teaching methods and activities suitable for different learning styles.

Advantages and disadvantages of learning a foreign language at an early age.

There are some advantages of this approach. It's much better start learning foreign language at an early age because the child's mind just start forming and they just start learning grammar of their own language. They can draw the line between their language and the foreign language; understand the main differences and similarities. Also children in that age are quite curious. Children are so talkative at this age: they like to talk a lot. When a child hears new word, it wants to tell it in different ways with different intonations. That is way how children learn new words. Curiosity helps them enormously.

In spite of advantages there are some deficiencies of this approach too. The first one is the children may slip up and get confused with understanding many important grammatical rules. So, they might/would begin scaring of learning a foreign language.

Catering for different learner styles. Teaching methods and activities suitable for different learning styles.

Learning styles can be broadly classified into three categories:

· Auditory: This is the basic learning style where students learn by hearing. They prefer to listen to lectures, speeches and audio clips as they can easily memorise what they hear without taking notes. Even reading aloud to themselves helps cement in the data. Favouring constant dialogue, they are enthusiastic about group discussions, question-and-answer sessions and ask lots of questions for clarification. Such people are bound to be talkative too as they simply enjoy speaking out loud.

· Visual: This is a spontaneous learner inclined towards seeing – be they notes, pictures, graphs, charts, diagrams, illustrations, transparencies, video clips or demonstrations. In other words, they need to see things written down to be able to remember it and are prone to colour code or highlight notes. Such people tend to imagine and conceptualise new information and therefore prefer to study in solitude.

· Tactile: This is the most common kind of learner who prefers to touch, feel and do things while learning. Hands-on, physical experiences help them to process information like – writing, drawing, and role-playing, doing projects or participating in group presentations. They tend to repeatedly practice for mastering any new task, concept or skill. Preferring to move around, they are also bound to get bored, fidgety and disengaged in the absence of a physical element in the instruction.

Apart from these, other styles surface like mathematical, analytical, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal preferences.

While common teaching methodologies already favour the auditory learner, further support them by providing ample time for discussions, queries and other verbal activities. Encourage them to ask questions and read out aloud if needed. Supplement the lectures with some visual clues and aids like charts, graphs, maps, handouts, images, PowerPoint presentations or videos wherever possible. A simple thing like writing down instructions will also be very helpful for the visual learner.

It is equally imperative to engage the kinaesthetic learners by letting students experience what they learn with hands-on material (clay models, dioramas and computers) and give opportunities to touch, create, build or even role-play. Also, allow periodic breaks for stretching, moving around, practicing or discussing what they have learned.