The engine of the modern classroom
Two Ideas That Changed Everything
If you remember one theorist, remember Stephen Krashen. Two of his ideas quietly run every good young-learner classroom in the world.
1 · Comprehensible input (i + 1). We acquire language when we understand messages just one step beyond our level — not far beyond, not level with us, but a single rung up. Your job is to make meaning clear: with your hands, your face, pictures, objects, and the situation itself. Understanding comes first; speaking follows on its own.
2 · The affective filter. Fear, embarrassment and stress raise an invisible wall that blocks language from getting in. Calm, safe, playful children learn faster. Lower the wall and the input flows straight through.
For young learners, these two ideas are almost the whole game: flood them with understandable, joyful language, and keep them unafraid.