It's difficult to go more than 24 hours on this board without someone mentioning in a derogatory tone "white monkeys dancing" in YL classes.

These insults come from people who admit they have never taught that age group, have no experience of teaching ESL to young learners and don't want to teach young learners.

So, I wanted to explain the methodology behind what these posters denigrate and after, issue them a challenge.

Firstly, most countries introduce English as a second language to children between the ages of 4-6. The experience a child has during their first exposure to English is crucial, you must ensure they enjoy this experience or risk turning them off from language learning. A child who has a bad experience with ESL in their first exposures to it can have difficulty with second language learning for the rest of their lives.

When teaching young learners you must be a myriad of things; non-threatening, warm, caring and patient... But also knowledgeable, firm and quietly authoritative. On top of this you must also understand how best to unlock a new language for a child with only a limited grasp of their native tongue and the attention span of a goldfish swimming in caffeine.

There are many methods for language acquisition in YL classes. A popular method is vocab and structure drilling via flashcards and repetition. Whilst repetition is very important, flashcards and drilling are boring and not engaging for most students. It also makes the learning teacher focused and learning at this age is much more effective when student focused. For repetition and drills I like to create mini-flashcards which the students then test each other on in pairs. It practices structures and vocab and puts the learning directly in the hands of the student. Obviously there must be some teacher focused drilling first so the language can be obtained prior to practicing.

Another important aspect is TPR (total physical response). This is what I believe those who don't know better refer to as 'dancing'. TPR is a method developed by Dr. James Asher whereby language is not just spoken but given a corresponding physical action. This makes understanding actions though physicality much more accessible for young learners and allows them to link sound and action themselves.

Most importantly, learning must always be engaging for young students. If they are bored they are not motivated to learn. Teaching a child to read in a second language, especially when their ability to read in their native language is basic at best, is a very difficult thing. Teaching a child to identify individual phonemes is key, so they learn to sound out the written word in English. You must find a way of making this engaging for a child.

At this age, role plays are not always an option, although very short exchanges are beneficial. Due to a lack or reading ability and/or vocabulary limitations, role plays should be kept short and very targeted.

You must also teach writing skills, logical reasoning and communication skills. You cannot approach this in the same way you would with a teenager or an adult. Motivation, making the child engage with the language, is key.

Testing at this age is also important as giving a child goals and rewarding the achievement of those goals is affirming for the child. YL exams from Cambridge ESOL are on 3 levels; Starters, Movers and Flyers. These exams are between A1 and A2 on the CEFR and a teacher of YL should be aware of what is necessary to achieve these levels.

Now this is merely an overview of some aspects of YL teaching, there is much more that would take pages and pages of post. But hopefully I have given a little insight to YL teaching. If there are any specific questions on methodology for specific areas, I am happy to answer them.

Now, my challenge. We hear constantly the mocking of 'white monkeys dancing' from the likes of Turnoi and Silverboy... My question is thus: How would you suggest this age group is taught if not as described above? You denigrate the teachers of these ages, but never say how it should be done instead. Clearly YL teaching forms the brunt of ESL acquisition, so teaching this age group (6-10) is a very important field... So please, enlighten us, if you find YL teaching so ludicrous how would you suggest it should be taught?