When a child says they hate English, that's not a fact about the language. It's a report on how something made them feel. Primary age children don't hate things out of nowhere. There is always a source, and the first job for a parent isn't to find a tutor. It's to find that source.
The three most common root causes
- Public embarrassment. They read something wrong and got laughed at, or got called on and had no answer, and now English is filed under humiliation. You can spot this one when they'll happily do written exercises but flatly refuse to say anything out loud.
- Work pitched above their level. They are being taught past a gap in their own foundations, asked to read sentences when they still can't blend sounds, and they conclude they must be stupid. You can spot this one when they say they can't do it before they've even tried.
- English has turned into a punishment. Get something wrong and you get extra exercises, or tutoring lands in the middle of playtime. You can spot this one when every study session opens with heavy negotiation.
The 30 day recovery plan: take the stakes down to zero
For the first two weeks, no testing of any kind. Bring English back in forms where losing isn't possible: songs they choose themselves, a cartoon in English they already love, a picture matching game one level below where they are. The only goal is to stop their brain pairing English with feeling bad.
In week three, add work so easy that success is guaranteed, such as a worksheet a little below their school year. The feeling of being able to do it has to come before any challenge. Week four is when you edge back towards their real level, a little at a time, alongside one permanent house rule: at home you're allowed to read it wrong, and nobody laughs.