SONGS! GAMES! NURSERY RHYMES!

Use lots of PICTURES and little VIDEOS. Don't worry about trying to 'teach' - it won't work. You'll end up exhausted, impatient, and you'll feel a failure.

Break up any sitting activity with a MOVING around game. Get your child to FIND things of a certain COLOUR (use English colour words of course!). Try Simon Says (sit/stand/jump/smile/etc. - useful for learning verbs) Play MIMING games - guess the activity word.

And then back to some nursery rhymes and little songs. Listen and  repeat. Listen and speak. Listen and laugh.

Try to use ROUTINE situations to build words. "Do you want to wear your BLUE socks or your RED socks today?" Or, "Find your BLUE socks! Now find your GREEN shirt! Go! Go! Quick!" You can make a game of it.

Don't teach grammar. It's wonderful that YOUNG children work out the grammar rules for themselves. But don't expect your very young child to sound 'grammatically correct' - not yet. They'll forget things, and experiment with new ways, and get it wrong, and eventually get it right.

Here's a link to the British Council learning English website:

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/helping-your-child/how-start-teaching-kids-english-home

The British Council has a lot of songs and nursery rhymes for children. Use the simpler ones, and don't use the written words. Go by listening, repeating, singing, miming, and laughing. Add in drawing and colouring.

It usually works well if you say, "It's ENGLISH time!" and then everything you do and say is in English. It doesn't matter how basic. It doesn't matter if your child doesn't understand! Say it another way, or show your child what to do. If they still don't get it, don't worry. Start doing it and your child will usually join in. 

Focus on ONE learning objective. Try not to correct everything - it will be a nightmare! Relax!