As a parent, you have to accept that most children, especially the younger ones, are likely to have shorter attention spans. While many of them tend to have distractions during learning, others experience more serious concentration problems. The latter group of children is more prone to having problems inside and outside the classroom.
ADHD is the first factor that comes to mind when a child experiences attention issues, but other likelihoods should not be ignored. Many of the underlying factors might not always be clear; however, you must never overlook them because a misdiagnosis can cause more trouble
Reasons Why Children are Easily Distracted While Learning
Whether you’re a parent or a language teacher, you must not assume that all young learners having shorter attention span have the same concentration issue. Many reasons can cause concentration problems in different children. Let’s take a look at some of those reasons:
- Anxiety – A kid having concentration problems may be suffering from serious anxiety. While there are different types of anxiety, all of them tend to jam the brain, making learning difficult for the child.
- OCD – Obsessive-compulsive disorder creates dominating thoughts, making the child feel as if they must do some compulsive things to keep unpleasant or undesirable things from happening. These thoughts and feelings can distract their concentration away from learning.
- Lack of Understanding – An individual who doesn’t properly understand a specific subject is likely to steer clear of anything associated with it. For example, kids who don’t understand maths tend to avoid practicing the subject because they don’t find it interesting.
- Poor Routine – Your child’s poor routine might be the cause of their shorter attention span. If your kid plays games on your mobile phone all night, or if they have sleep cycle problems, they’re more likely to have problems focusing on learning inside and outside the classroom.
- Other factors – Stress, trauma, unhealthy diet, lack of motivation, and absence of practice are other factors that might be causing attention problems in young language learners.
Learning and Concentration
Young learners have very receptive brains. They’re always on the lookout for experimenting with and learning new things. However, problems with their attention span can cause them to learn things slowly or avoid learning specific things altogether.
Remember that learning and concentration go hand in hand. The factors explained above can distract your kid, creating concentration problems, and affecting your kid’s performance in school. The same holds true when it comes to learning languages and other life lessons, causing bigger life problems for them as they grow up.
Best Ways to Improve Your Child’s Attention Span
It is imperative for parents and teachers to diagnose the underlying conditions causing concentration and learning problems in kids. Once identified, you can use the following techniques to help the child become more attentive.
- Make Learning Fun – You might assume that English learning lessons are challenging for your children, but remember that your kids are oblivious to this reality. It is a good idea to get your kids to learn life lessons, English grammar, and anything through fun activities and games. Children tend to pay more attention to interesting things.
- Motivate and Encourage Your Kids – You can inspire your children to focus and concentrate when learning a language or other life skills. By doing so, you’re providing them guidance and structure. One way of motivating your kids is through goal setting and recognition of the efforts they made to achieve the goal.
- Keep Things Short – Since children have shorter focus spans, it is vital to keep the English learning activities short and sweet. To avoid boredom, be sure to keep the ESL games and activities short, interactive, and interesting.
- Remove Distractions – During the language lessons, there shall be a minimum or no distraction. It is good to turn off the TV, PlayStation, and any other source of interruption.
- Use Songs and Stories – Kids love songs and stories. They pay more attention to rhythms and tones, and you can use this to help them learn a new language. Think about using songs and stories to increase their awareness of language structures.
- Use the Galaxy Kids App to Help Your Kids Learn English – If you’re looking for more fun, modern, and interactive English lessons for children, consider using the Galaxy Kids app. The cute little AI Chat Buddies will converse with your kids, making the English listening and speaking lessons more fun and interesting. The interactive lessons and language learning buddy will keep your child engaged, thanks to the tool’s English chat conversation feature. Moreover, the short animations will not only teach your kids English but also many vital life lessons.
Conclusion
Attention span and focus are the keys to gaining essential life skills for kids. Your kids deserve the best when it comes to learning. And the best you can do for your kids now is to improve their concentration and learning ability with the tips given in this article.
