EnglishClub TEFL Forums (archived)

Hi, I'm new to this forum,

I teach English to children aged 4-11 in a Primary School. I teach phonics (phase 2) to four Spanish speaking children aged 6-7 for one hour Tues-Fri.
A new child has been added to the group as he is unsure of his letter sounds. He is a native English speaker and immediately it made me realise that the way I've been teaching phonics has been very EAL friendly! Lots of visuals, Spanish translations, Spanish songs, pronunciation etc.
Could this be potentially confusing for the child to be learning English phonics in a small group with Spanish speakers? I'm worried the Spanish speaking children may also become self-conscious about speaking and developing their first language in front of a non Spanish speaking child. Has anyone else ever had the issue of teaching a native speaker alongside teaching non native speakers?
I am unsure whether to move him to a different phonics group or to keep him in my group as he could model grammatically correct English for the other children.

If there is a place available, I'd move him.

It can sometimes work to have a native speaker in the class, but it means a lot of work for the teacher.

The child will learn a lot more with others of the same age and skill.

You shouldn't keep him there to model language for the others. If you keep him in the class, you should prepare extra material for him.

Susan

Thanks for the help Susan!