Teaching preschool English calls for a creative approach designed to hold attention. Between ages 2 and 4, children can grasp the concept of a letter by looking at it, tracing it and hearing it used in words. Short games that involve movement, sound and music make learning English fun for preschoolers. It is important to avoid pitting children against one another during these activities because they easily feel overwhelmed by the stress of competition.

Alphabet Recognition
Give each child a picture book and a pencil. Write the letter "A" on the chalkboard. Ask the children to look for this letter in the picture book and draw a circle around it with the pencil. When everyone has finished marking in their books, collect the books and cut out pictures of a few objects that begin with "A." Glue the pictures onto a piece of cardboard and ask the children say the letters with each object -- for example, "A for apple" or "A for ant."

Water Writing
Give each child a paintbrush and a container of water. Write the letter you want to teach several times in different parts of the chalkboard. Ask children to come to the board with their brushes and water containers. Ask each child to paint over the letter with the water to erase what you have written. Explain the direction of the brush movement to help children learn to form the letter.

Song and Music
Preschoolers like music, and songs are a good way to teach English. Teach the alphabet using the ABC song, emphasizing pronunciation. For example, draw attention to the fact that "l," "m," "n," "o" and "p" are different letters and explain the right way of saying them distinctly. Use rhymes and songs besides the basic ABC song. Websites such as Dream English and Super Simple Songs have songs to teach about colors, animals, verbs and nouns.

Telling Stories
Pick a simple storybook that has colorful illustrations. Find the key words in the story and explain the meaning of them to the children. Pointing to the pictures, tell the story using this vocabulary. Hold the children's attention: Use exaggerated gestures and expressions, make animal-like sounds where appropriate and get kids to repeat some sing-song chants that appear in the story. As they hear the words in context, preschoolers develop a better understanding of their meaning.