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It is a fact that children are very energetic and lighthearted. They act very differently than their counterparts, adults. Adults are mature and well-behaved. Teaching these diverse groups can be a challenge. Children tend to be like sponges and absorb everything they hear or see but what makes children so keen to learn and how are young learners so different from adult ones. To understand the differences between adult learners vs young learners we must first understand how we learn then we can compare the young mind over the older one. We must first look at how we learn. At infancy we are learning something new every second. As children we learn through our environment. Everything that happens around us is a learning opportunity. Watching facial expressions to learn emotion, watching our parents behaviour to understand relationships , or even looking at people on the street to understand human interaction, children are always watching. However, learning is a process, whether it be brief or long it doesn't happen overnight. Understanding how we learn can speed up the process so we can achieve our goals as efficiently as possible. It is evident that in the classroom we all learn at different rates, children learning in a different way than adults but why? Let's move on to some differences in young learners compared to adult ones. Moving on to young learners. Although young learners absorb information very quickly they also need to be given a variety of information to learn to combat their short attention span. These activities should be short and interesting. If the students lose interest they become bored and will act on their boredom by being disruptive. Children are very sensitive and should never be put on the spot for fear of embarrassment. If embarrassed, children become close minded and turn to bad behaviour. Children are not as motivated as adults are because they no doubt didn't choose to learn english and were probably compelled to learn english by their parents. Keeping things fun and engaging helps children stay focused. Looking at adults we can see many differences in learning compared to young learners. Adults are usually more focused and have a greater attention span. Activities should still be interesting but can be longer than the young learner activities. Adults are highly motivated because they usually are choosing to learn english or need to learn english for a job or event. Finally, the biggest difference between teaching adults and teaching young learners is what the students bring to the classroom. Young learners bring enthusiasm, curiosity and energy, while adults bring life experience. Young learners are still learning about life around them while adults already have opinions and ideas about things. Overall we can truthfully say that there are many differences in young learners and adult learners yet this shouldn't be a turnoff to teach either or. Understanding the differences between young learners and adult ones and learning to adjust your teaching style to different age groups can make teaching other age groups less daunting. With patience we can adapt our ways to any group of students, whether that be a small group , young group or an older group.
