I was typing of my latest posts, devoted to Katsushika Hokusai and it must have been a real inspiration blast, not only for my kids and not only for me as a teacher but also as a trainer or a blog author because it was exactly when I got an idea for this particular post.
I thought it might be a good idea to share how I make decisions about the artist, the materials, the language and the resources, with the hope that it might be useful for those of my readers and colleagues who are only taking their first steps in the area of Art (or teaching English through Art). This way this particular post will be a kind of a directory for anyone who might need one.
First of all, here are the starter kit posts that I have already posted here:
What you need is a simple task with very basic resources and, if possible, a tiny wow effect.Here are the topics that I like to use:
Claude Monet and the lillies garden, because of the little magic that the painting with watercolours over crayons without destroying the drawing does. Funnily enough, this lesson has never been described and added here, on the blog, although this is my first favourite lesson. For now you can read about it here but I promise to add it as soon as September comes and we do it again.
Hokusai and the wave, because the students draw something easy (a wave) three times and three different but simple techniques are used, too
Upgraded Picasso (if the template is used, in the offline classes) and it salty water with watercolour does its magic, too
Andy Warhol and Mickey Mouse or learning about the associations we have with different colours and emotions. It is based on a template and basically involves colouring but that is why it is an achievable task for everyone, the younger and the older students.
Joan Miro and the elephant collage (with a template) because it is a great opportunity to connect literature (Elmer! by David McKee) and the technique itself is very easy and achievable both for younger and older children
Step by step aka learning to listen
Getting the group to listen and to follow the teacher’s instructions, staying on the ball, pausing when necessary, waiting and managing your time, skills and materials is absolutely crucial for Art classes (although not only) and, of course, with a new group, this is also something that cannot be taken for granted and something that will have to be introduced, practised and worked on. Here are some activities that might be helpful with a new group:
Turner and the sky, the sea and the sun: this lesson has three main stages: talking about the paintings, mixing the colours to obtain 10 shades of blue and, finally, painting a landscape and because all three are relatively easy and achievable and require different types of materials, the teacher can give them out step-by-step and this way control the flow of the lesson.
Bubble painting because the art is abstract and everyone can accomplish it and it definitely has the wow factor and we had a very specific list of step-by-step instructions for us and it was a perfect example for the process painting.
Hokusai and the waves, mentioned above is also an activity that helps the children focus on the particular stages of the lesson
Salt dough because it is one more activity with obvious and easy to manage stages: looking at examples, creating, painting, decorating and cleaning up.
A heart and one hundred different watercolour techniques is easy and manageable because the number of the techniques can be adapted to the age of the students and the length of the lesson. The whole lesson is built around the teacher demonstrating a technique and the children trying it out themselves.
Bringing up little artists
Teaching Art is also about showing children the new opportunities and the new ways of doing things. Here are five beginner lessons that would help achieve that:
Salt dough is easy to make and easy to work with and it opens up the door to a brand new world of 3-D creations.
Tiny pictures was one of the real eye-openers of the previous academic year, for me and for the children.
White on black is another easy flip and doing something different. The resources might not be those that are always lying around (black paper and white marker) but they are not very hard to find.
Yayoi Kusama and the pumpkin because even though the first pumpkin is created exactly like the teacher’s, anything can be sitting inside and after the initial T-focused part, the kids can go on recreating the pumpkin and filling it with whatever they want. ‘You are the artist. You make a decision!’
Eric Bulatov and a word that is also a picture, one of my favourite lessons in the previous academic year and the one that I taught to a beginner artists group and that was effective aka it is appropriate.
The academic year has started and this September I have found myself with a new group of children, in a new school and, in general, in a completely new environment. It is a bit of a whirlwind and how else? Greenday’s song with the most amazing title and line ‘Wake me up when September ends’ was not written for teachers but it surely feels like it was. However, primary school kids, a new academic year and a new course means only one thing: working on the new class routine. This still stands true.
All of it might a blessing in disguise. A teeny tiny bit uncomfortable because I am literally out of my comfort zone (and my classroom) but how beneficial! Instead of bringing the kids into my world and my kingdom (aka my classroom), I get to take what I know and believe in and to organise a new world and a new kingdom (and a classroom!) accordingly. These new circumstances are an interesting opportunity for me to reconsider what the class routine means for me, what are its main elements and how they can be translated into a new environment.
I decided to keep a diary of the first month to see what is going on and this way create a mini-series on the blog.
Starting the lesson
Where I teach at the moment, the kids have their classroom and they can go in and out of the classroom, outside of the lesson time, whenever they want. For that reason, we cannot do the line-up outside that I like so much. What is more, the school does not have any bells or any signal system as there are primary and pre-primary classes, with a slightly different timetable and that means that anything ringing for one would be a distraction for the other. However, that also means that we have no official start of the lesson.
For that reason, as soon as it is time to start the lesson:
I put the hands up and we count down from 10 to 0, while I am counting on my fingers to give the kids a few seconds to calm down
We exchange hellos (‘Hello everyone!’, ‘Hello, Miss Anka’)
We do the roll call (‘Let’s check who’s in today!’ ‘Sasha?’ ‘Here’) – this is not only for me to mark everything in the register and to learn and to practise the names of all my kids (after two days, I already remember all of them, phew). This is also for me to check who is sitting where (as this can change) and we connect it with ‘checking’ that everyone’s names are on the board which is especially important for the kids who do not yet recognise their name in English.
How do you feel today
This was something that I knew I wanted to be a part of our routine from the very beginning and for many reasons, too. It is always a good idea to gauge the mood of the audience, regardless of the age or level and I like to know how my students are feeling on the day but it seems to be especially important for the younger kids in the beginning of the course and super super important for the year 1 students who are getting used to the routine and who are also getting used to being away from mum. All these emotions can help with dealing with different behaviour issues and they will be necessary to help the kids develop empathy towards their classmates. Plus, a lot of useful language that we will need to tell stories.
Anyway, we started the week with the six basic ones (happy, sad, angry, scared, sleepy, OK) but more adjectives and phases followed and by the end of the week we also had ‘hungry’, ‘tired’, ‘thirsty’, ‘not so good’, ‘energetic’ and, suggested and created by one of the kids, ‘I miss my mummy’ (in the photo above). Which, by the way, is an absolute treasure – my student not only noticed the need for this flashcard / emotion, he decided to share it and to produce the card following the conventions of the genre (aka all the cards I produced), including the colour, the size, the style and the choice of the symbols. He also insisted on my writing the English version of it and on displaying it on the board. And you know what? He read the audience exceedingly well! This is now one of the most popular way of answering the question…
I have them all on very simple foam flashcards and they are displayed on the board in the beginning of the first lesson. We go over all of them, ‘reading’ them and using the accompanying gestures i.e. even if the flashcard has only ‘happy’ written on it, we say ‘I am happy’ and I demonstrate the gesture for that.
Afterwards, I ask all the kids, in turns, ‘How do you feel today?’ and the kids answer. This stage is followed up by a song, which we sing together and which creates a nice balance, an individual task / production followed up by a group, choral activity. At this point we are using ‘Hello Song‘ from Super Simple Song.
We also write on the board the following: the day, the date, the weather, the subject and the time slot.
Songs
We have only started the course so there aren’t many songs that we know or that we have managed to choose as our favourites. However, I try to include songs as punctuation marks because we have a long day and although the kids get their snack and movement breaks, they still need some stirrer in the middle of the lesson. So far we have included the following: A is for Apple (English), I can count to 20 (Maths) and Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar (as our final game in the Maths lesson, which, at this point, is the end of the English day. This will have to change in the following week).
Rules and Classroom Language
Speaking of rules, I think I have broken a few myself. I HAVE NOT introduced any rules in the first week. The teacher and the trainer in me are appalled at such a negligence. Or, rather, they should have been but they are not. Oups, sorry not sorry.
As I said, I am in a new environment and I decided to act on my intuition and now, after the first week is over, I am actually having a blast trying to analyse what I did and what I did not and why.
I introduced a few basic gestures – expressions in the first lesson and we have been revising these since but I have chosen only the few basic ones that help us navigate around the lesson and the classroom and these are: Yes, No, Stand up, Sit down, Stop, Quiet, Wait. A very, very basic set indeed, to help us survive but not to overload the children.
As regards the actual rules, things to do and things not to do, I took things easy because I wanted to see the kids first, to observe them and to analyse them in order to figure out what are those 5 basic rules that we need first. Again, to help us survive but not to overload the children. Now I know and we are going to be introducing them in the upcoming week, together with more advanced classroom language.
Rewards chart
Our rewards chart was another area that I started to introduce rather cautiously, almost hoping that I can get away with not using it at all. Alas, after two days it turned out that we will need it after all, as one of the tools to help the kids regulate their own behaviour. I am planning to use it temporarily only. I have already written about this kind of an approach and about all of the advantages and disadvantages of rewards charts in general. If you are interested, please follow the link here.
So far I have been using the names on the board, however, because of many different reasons, from tomorrow, we are starting with the hand-held chart.
Time
This is a brand new element that I did not use to think of much before or to include in the routine framework. Until this summer and until this academic year. Here are the two tools / tricks that we have used this week with my kids.
Lesson plan, or, a list of activities we are planning to cover in class. You can read more about it here. The points keep disappearing as we complete the activities. This helps the kids see the passing of the lesson and to manage their time and behaviour in time. Naturally, all the elements such as ‘songs’ or ‘games’ create something to look forward to in the later stages of the lesson
A clock on the wall: we started the week without a clock and I lasted two days, upset, confused and angry. This is how I realised that Anka, the teacher adores a clock on the wall, to start and to finish the lesson on time and to understand how and if the pace of the lesson needs to be adapted. On day three the clocks were already on the wall and we used them for the benefit of the kids. One of the things that we put on the wall is the names of the subject (English, Maths, ect) and the time slot of the lesson, for example 9:00 – 9:45. Afterwards, I say: the lesson finishes when the big hand gets to number 9 on the clock, while pointing to the hand and the numbers on the clock. I have noticed that children started to respond to that. We will continue.
Story
I have also decided that our last lesson of the week (Thursday) will be a story lesson, in order to finish the week on a high note, to do something lighter and to be able to take advantage of everything that a storybook can offer. This past week my story of choice was ‘Too Loud’ a story by Kay Widdowson about a cat mum who walks through the garden asking everyone, bees, frogs, dogsg and ducks, to keep quiet and only in the end do we find out that it is because her kittens are sleeping and she doesn’t want them to wake up.
We used the story to practise reading the names of animals, CVC words and not and to read and the kids were involved through the phrase ‘Stop. You are too loud’. This phrase is an adaptation of the line that features in the story, although I adapted it a little bit. I decided to use only ‘too loud’ instead of ‘too loud’ and ‘too noisy’ and I have developed it into a full sentence that we can use in the classroom on daily basis.
Socialising
Turning a group (or a class) into a community is a long-term project that will take us a large part of the academic year. I have already written a bit about it here. We have already started to work on it and in the first week:
we have done a lot of activities whole class, to give us all a sense of one organism
I have tried to use the kids’ names whenever possible and to keep them on display all the time, to give us all a chance to learn them. We have also done a few rounds of ‘Can you read that name?’
we have tried to play a boardgame, for me to see to what extent the kids are ready to take turns, to obey the rules, to work in small pairs
I have been observing how different kids work and interact with different partners although they hasn’t been a lot of mingling yet because I did not want to introduce anything mess-inducive before the kids are ready.
we have worked a lot with markers because it is fun and markers are an easier writing tool but it also helped with the simple team work as the groups of two or three students were given a box of markers to share and to take care of
I have started to involve the children into taking control of the classroom and the lesson i.e. inviting them to be the teacher, assigning a student to give out and to collect resources.
Don’t forget to check out the next episode in the series, at the end of the week! There is more to come! Here you can find the story of week 2, week 3 and week 4. You can also check up on us after four months in the classroom. Here is the newest addition to the series.
This is part II of the series, devoted to lessons with Young Learners aka Kids aka younger primary classes aka children aged 7 – 9 years old.
First part of the series, DIY observations with pre-schoolers, can be found here.
A few tips from the trainer
Choose the focus for the observation: classroom management, behaviour, staging, storytellings, songs, chants, literacy, working with big groups, students’ production, spontaneous production, interaction patterns, routine, variety, gestures, classroom management, timing and many many more.
Think of yourself as an observer, look for the strong points and the areas to improve. There is always something!
Be a kind observer! Remember that no matter what you are watching, the teacher WAS on tenterhooks because the lesson was filmed and that the whole filming adventure might have affected the teacher’s and the kids’ behaviour.
But don’t forget about your standards. I would not want to imply that all of these are great lessons that would get Above Standard if the lesson was assessed. They are not. In some cases, I have highlighted some of the strong points that got me especially interested. Everything else is up to you.
More than anything else, please remember that whatever was filmed, it is only a part of a lesson and we have no chance of finding out what happened before and after.
Think about your particular context (your institution, your group, your classroom, your country and your culture), would this activity and this approach work? Why? Why not? Can it be adapted?
If possible, watch the video again, after some time has passed or after you have had a chance to use some of the activities or approaches in practice. Are your impressions the same?
If possible, watch it with some other teachers, too! It is fun to find out what others think about it and sometimes we learn more from people that we disagree with!
I have tried to include a variety of contexts and countries of origin and I am hoping to be adding to this list when I find some more videos.
The videos
A lesson from a Polish primary school in Gosciejow, year I, 24 minutes, about 20 kids. It looks like a typical lesson for year 1 beginners. It includes hello, revision, some movement, new vocabulary presentation and practice, and a focused task. The teacher provided a lot of exposure and controlled practice of the target language in this lesson.
A lesson from a Polish school in Dabrowka, year II (recorded in September at the start of the academic year), 34 minutes. It looks like a typical lesson with that group, with their own routine. About 20 kids. It seems to be an open lesson, there are some parents in the classroom. There is some evidence of the class routine (hello, table time, movement, storytelling).
A lesson from a Polish school in Tarnowo, year III (presumably), 34 minutes, about 20 kids. It is a revision lesson, with some favourite activities that the kids are already familiar with which can be used with different sets of vocabulary.
A year 1 lesson from Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15 kids, 27 minutes. The lesson includes the following stages: Hello song, new vocabulary introduction and practice, reading and writing, , a video story, coursebook work, evaluation, feedback and the theatre based on the story, the final song. The video finishes with the commentary from the teacher, very interesting but in Russian only. According to the teacher, the main aim was to reinforce the new vocabulary, skills development and teaching values (work and play).
A year 1 lesson from Nanjing, China, 36 minutes, over 20 kids. It is great to see how the teacher is using the gestures to praise, to instruct, to model, to teach vocabulary and grammar. He is also trying to introduce the vocabulary and immediately do something with it, although I am not quite sure if it is the kids’ very first lesson. The teacher is using some Chinese, alongside gestures and the presentation to clarify the concepts and ideas and the class rules. The lesson includes the following stages: hello, rules, warm up, alphabet, song, new vocabulary and structure, practice, goodbye. The video includes some subtitles to help clarify what is going on in class.
A year 1 lesson from Kaluga, Russia, 38 minutes, about 10 students. The stages of the lesson: hello, introducing the lesson topic, pronunciation practice, hello role play (pairwork!),r revision, song, new vocabulary presentation and practice (vocabulary and vocabulary used with structures), a video, practice, song, literacy, literacy craft, writing, stickers and goodbye. It is great to see that the teacher always prepares the kids for the activity (ie the kids revise and drill the numbers before the song). I also found it interesting to see how much L1 is used by the teacher and what the purpose of it is, for example a short poem / riddle to help the kids remember the words in English. The teacher also explained a lot in Russian, presumably to help the kids feel more comfortable with the activities ie the pronunciation practice.
A year 2 from Moscow, Russia, 41 minutes, 5 students. It is some kind of an open lesson. The stages of the lesson in the video: the lesson plan, tongue twisters, reading (cartoon), vocabulary revision, movement, literacy, riddles, homework. It is good to see that the teacher encourages using the vocabulary and structures and that they try different interaction patterns (whole class, individual, whole class vs one student).
A year 1 lesson from Vietnam, only 20 minutes, about 20 kids in the room. It is a shortened version of the lesson (colour and fruit), but we can still observe the main stages: hello, hello song, new vocabulary introduction, practice and literacy, song, new vocabulary part 2, practice games, song. The group is quite big but the kids are using boards + chalk and they put up for the teacher to see their answers. It is also good to see that the teacher is using the new words individually and in sentences and that the abstract topic such as colours has been combined with something more real as fruit.
Context: it is a new place, a new group of kids. In lieu of an induction, one line only and it goes: ‘You will be in room 5, miss Anka. Don’t forget to fill in the electronic register after the lesson.’
Lesson aims
It is all very simple: this particular lesson happens to give the kids a chance to meet the teacher and to give the teacher an opportunity to see the kids in their natural habitat. Since there will be quite a few new things for the children to deal with such as the class, the teacher, the first lesson in a foreign language, the coursebook, the classroom, the songs, games and the content, it might be best to keep the expectations on a reasonable level. It is a lot more important to focus on the child, on the student and on the routine, rather than on some ambitious linguistic aims. After all, there is going to be a whole year for the latter.
Before the lesson
In a perfect world, it would be possible for the teacher to see the classroom before the lesson, to take stock of the environment and all it can offer and to plan building the routine around the actual classroom. Is there any area without too many pieces of furniture which can be used for the movement games or for the start or the ending of the lesson? Is it possible to move the furniture to create a circle or are the desks to heavy for that and you will have to sit in rows as they do in their regular classes?
In a perfect world, it would also be possible to get the register of all the kids to figure out how many we are to expect and, last but not least, to talk to their class teacher to get to know them a bit before the lesson or, in a super-perfect-ideal-over-the-rainbow world to find out what they did in the previous academic year (if we are talking about year II and year III kids).
Alas. More often than not this is not going to be possible so I will base this lesson on the worst-case scenario: there is no chance to see the classroom, there is nobody who knows anything about the kids or the English they might or might not have had.
This is the worst-case scenario but it is not the end of the world, surely.
The overall structure of all these lessons will be the same but I will include some ideas for the year 1 and year 2/3 kids which might have had some English.
Entering the room
If the lesson takes place in a new classroom which you are entering together, line the kids up in front of the room. If they are entering with you or if they are already in the room, come in, say hello and do the roll call. It will help you remember their names and associate them with the place where they are sitting. It might be a good idea to write them all up on the board, in the order in which the kids are sitting. However, if there are more than eight or ten, this will take forever and will be counterproductive.
The official start of the lesson
It is great if this part of the lesson is marked in a special way.
You can:
ask the kids to close their eyes (please demo), count from 10 to 1 (or from 5 to 1) and say ‘Open your eyes’ and say and wave Hello to everyone.
ask the kids to stand up and do a bit of gymnastics (stand up, shake your arms, clap your hands, march (on the spot), dance, touch your hand, tummy, back, shake your friends’ hand, say hello), with the teacher demonstrating and participating, too.
clap once and ask the kids to clap once, clap twice and ask the kids to clap twice, clap three times and ask the kids to clap three time, say: Hello, kids say: Hello.
Whisper: Hello, have the kids repeat, then have them repeat: Hello Anka. Repeat a few times and then officially reply: hello everyone. Repeat with all the kids in the room:
Hello Piotrek (point at Piotrek) Hello everyone (says Piotrek)
Even if you don’t know or can’t remember the kids’ names, the students will help you. These types of activities are great because they mark the start of the real lesson and of communicating in English, they involve everyone in an easy way (clapping, touching, saying Hello) and there are a bit out of the ordinary hence fun.
Hello song
I would say it is a definite must, even in the very first lesson. First and foremost, it is something that the whole class can participate in, even if they don’t speak too much English because there will be gestures, rhythm and music involved. Second of all, it is great to start building the routine from the very first lesson and a routine or the lesson framework for primary school children must involve a song.
If possible, take your students to a safe corner (at the back or in the front of the room), go there yourself and call your students, one by one, to join you. Use their names. As soon as they get there, use one of the punctuation marks to signal the start of a new activity. It can be clapping, counting from 10 to 1 or just asking the kids (‘Are you ready?’ ‘Yes, we are’). This will help the kids navigate around the lesson and to get ready and to focus for whatever is to come next and it is especially useful in the beginng of the course. As the course progresses, it can be used less and less frequently because the kids develop the habit of tuning in.
Show the gestures for the song and go through a few dry runs, with you modelling and the kids repeating, in the correct order and in a random order. One of my greatest hits is Hello Song from Super Simple Songs. It is fast and cheerful and it includes 6 different, easy to mime emotions (if you need ideas for the gestures, have a look at the song video). There is an easier song, also by Super Simple Songs, Hello Hello, Can you clap your hands? This one includes some few verbs that will get the kids moving (clap, stomp, turn around).
After the presentation and the mini-rehersal, we listen to the song and try to take part as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if all your kids are not one amazingly coordinated choir. After all, it is the first time they hear the song. Things will get better in lesson 2, 3 and 15.
Both songs are accompanied by videos, of course, but I tend to skip those in the first few lessons, focusing instead on audio only, not to overload the kids as there are too many things in the first lesson anyway. Afterwards, we clap to thank each other and we sit down. Again, the teacher calls our students, one by one (or in twos in really big groups) to invite them to sit. This might take some time if the group is really big but it is the time well-invested (building the routine!) and it helps to avoid the chaos and the noise. As soon as the kids get back to their seats, use your punctuation mark again.
If there is no space that can be used as the dancefloor, these can be done while sitting or standing by the table, although then I would use the first song, the emotions can be easily demonstrated with everyone sitting at their tables.
New material: Class I
These kids will be brand new, straight out of the box, with no English whatsoever, although, of course, you might get a few that attended some classes in pre-school. For that reason, revision as the next stage of the lesson will not really work as there is nothing to revise.
In such a case there are a few options to go for
start introducing the colours because, more likely than not, this is going to be the first topic / unit in the coursebook. Another advantage is that even without any specific realia the kids will have plenty of colours on them and there will be plenty in the classroom and these can be used in a variety of games. There is no need to prepare any special flashcards either and a set of markers, coloured pencils, blocks or even pieces of coloured paper can be used instead.
rather than colours, go for pets of jungle animals for the first lesson. It will be necessary to prepare the cards here (or any kind of visuals) but the obvious advantage is the fact that animals are likeable, fun and at least some of the names will be familiar to kids and/or recognisable (cat, giraffe, zebra, lion) and the animals create lots of opportunities for a variety of resources: animals produce sounds (and can be used in a guessing game), animals move in a certain way (and can be mimed), animals have specific shapes and colours (and can be recognized in game ‘through the keyhole’).
Another good topic for the first lesson is school objects. The objects themselves are not as cute and fun as the jungle animals but these are definitely the things that we are going to be using in every lesson and that makes them worth investing in. Not to mention that they are already in the classroom and that each student will have a set and they can be used in a simple call out activity ‘show me your pencil’ etc. They can be also used for miming (with a bit of imagination) and for some guessing games, too. Most of them are small enough to be put in a Magic Bag and used for guessing. And through the keyhole can be used, too, with realia or with flashcards.
Regardless of which topic is chosen, one of more of the following activities can be used:
Introduction and drilling using a variety of voices (saying it with emotions, different volumes of pitch, pace etc)
Creating simple chants by organizing the cards on the floor / board and saying them in a rhythmical way ie
‘Yellow, yellow, blue. Yellow, yellow, blue. Red and green, red and green. Yellow, yellow, blue.’
‘Pencil, book and ruler. Pencil, book and ruler. School, pen, schoolbag, pen. Pencil, book and ruler.’
The cards can be put up around the room and with the teacher (or the kids) calling out single words, the group have to listen and to point at the tiger, zebra, lion and monkey.
Riddles: the simplest version of it is the teacher miming the words for the kids to guess or playing the audio for the kids to guess or drawing a part of the picture on the board for the kids to guess.
What’s my secret word? Kids, chorally in the first lesson, guess which word the teacher is holding. After a few rounds the kids can take over.
In the same way, a simple memory game can be played, too, either with the realia (ie markers or books of different colours) or with the flashcards displayed on the board or on the floor. Kids close their eyes, the teacher removes or covers one of the items, kids open their eyes and guess. It might happen that at least some of them will be answering in their L1 at this point and it is ok. Please praise them and provide the word in the target language.
Bearing in mind that this will be the kids’ first language lesson ever, five new words seems like a very good number for the first lesson.
New material: Class II and III
Essentially, all the activities mentioned above can be simply used with the older kids, too. Any of the topics will be a revision for kids and if the youngest of them can deal with that, so can the older ones. It might also be an interesting activity for the teacher to evaluate the abilities and skills of the kids against each other as, most likely, the year III kids will be able to participate more freely and in a bigger number of games mentioned above and with a bigger number of key words.
If the teacher is more adventurous it would be a good idea to involve the kids in an activity that will help them show off as regards the vocabulary (or structures) they have learnt so far and those that they remember. This can be done in the form of the alphabet game.
There are practically no resources necessary, apart from the alphabet, as a poster and small cards any picture scene, either a paper poster or one of the beautiful illustrations in the YLE Starters Picture Wordlist which can be displayed on the electronic whiteboard or printed and displayed on the noticeboard.
The teacher demonstrates by choosing one of the letters of the alphabet and calls out all the words in the picture begining with that letter. The kids join in, too.
The game can be played in teams, with the class divided into smaller groups, with each team working on one of the letters. It would be good to avoid scoring the kids as some of the letters are more friendly or generative and it would simply be unfair. It is also not necessary to introduce a lot of competition in the very first lesson. The teams can be awarded a point for completing the task, regardless of how many words they produce or remember. It might be also a good idea to remove all the unfriendly and rare letters from the set (ie x, v, w, y).
One more advantage of this game, especially for the first lesson, is that it can be played for as many rounds as there is time for. It can be stopped at any time.
Music and movement
Depending on the classroom, this stage of the lesson can be done in the back of the room or at the desks. Again, the kids are called out, and they join the teacher, one by one. Again, the punctuation mark is used to mark the start of a new stage.
It can take a form of a gym break (see above) or it can be another song. One of my favourites for the first lessons is ‘Head and shoulders’ or ‘Open Shut Them’, both for the same reason: they involve lots and lots of movement and are easy to mime and all the kids can be involved in taking part. As in the case of the first song, gestures go first, then the music and the song itself, also without any video.
Table time
Ideally, this element would be included in the lesson, too. In my primary groups I like to give them a chance to produce something, with class I or II to check whether they can write their names and in case of class I – how well they hold the pencil.
At the same time, it has to be something simple and perhaps the simple handprints aka autumnleaves might be a good choice here. This kind of an activity will only involve minimal resources (paper, pencils, crayons or coloured pencils), it does not take a long time and it can be made more or less complex ie only the handprint, the stem and the veins or the leaf, the veins and the colouring, the name written by the teacher, for class I students or the kids decorating their leaves in the way they choose and writing their own name. The leaves in class I can simply be displayed on the noticeboard at the end of the lesson, the older kids from class II and III can also be encouraged to describe their leaves and to compare (ie Sasha: My leaf is green) with the other kids raising hands if theirs are, too. The older kids’ leaves end up on the noticeboard (or the door or the wall), too.
There is one great activity perfect for this age and level that we used to on every first day of the summer camp: a folder, homemade and highly personalised. In class, the kids would get an A3 piece of paper and they would decorate it following teacher’s instructions (first write your name in big letters, draw your favourite fruit, draw your favourite drink, draw your favourite sport etc). After the lesson, the teacher would add another piece of A3 and staple each of these into an envelope. We used to keep those in class, on the shelf or on the window-sill and everything we produced during the sessions would be nicely collected in these folders at the end of each day. This activity takes a bit more time and might not be appropriate for all the context but it can also be used in its basic form: a personalised name poster.
At the end of the stage, the kids help up with cleaning up by putting away their pencils, crayons and handing the posters to the teacher. The teacher uses the punctuation mark again.
Goodbye
Since the kids will be still at their tables, it might be best to say goodbye just there. The teacher says ‘Thank you everyone’ and to all the kids individually. If the group is very big, it might be a good idea to do it super fast and in twos (Thank you, Masha and Sasha) but it is a nice touch and going over all the kids’ names, once more, really helps to remember them better)
I personally like to include a goodbye song also with primary, at least in the beginning of a new course to help create a framework for the lesson, for example Bye, bye, goodbye or See you later, alligator but later on, with the limited lesson time, we replace it the final game.
As regards homework, it might be a good idea to skip it during the first lesson. This element of the everyday routine can also be added later.
Instead of a coda
The list of the activities and the format of the lesson will depend on its length. If the lesson lasts 60 minutes, the teacher can use two, three or even four flashcards games and extend the leaf making. If the lesson is only 40 minutes’ long, it is better to focus on fewer activities, without rushing the kids. It might be a good idea to skip ‘the paper’ altogether, with no coursebook but also with no handouts or crafts, focusing on building the routine and interacting with kids in the target language. In that case, the leaf or the poster activity would be done in the lesson 2 of the course.
The same applies to stories, videos or online games. They are great resources and can be introduced later on in the course. The first lesson will be made of many new things anyway and it is better not to overload the children and to save some surprises for later.
As for the rules and the rewards’ charts, these are of course very important with a group of primary school kids but this also can wait until a bit later than the very first lesson. The lesson plan might be introduced from the lesson 2 as well.
There is one more element of the first class with primary that has not been included here but only because it is a very important one, it deserves its own post and this element are the parents. Regardless of whether we like it or not, the parents of our younger students will be in the classroom with us and it would be necessary to acknowledge their presence. A face-to-face meeting would be ideal but a note or a message in the electronic register or in the Whatsapp group will do to get you started. The parents might be coming from different background and have a different previous English learning experience, as students or as parents. That is why it is absolutely necessary to let them know how you are going to work with your students and their kids. More of that soon!
Here you can find some tried and tested activities for primary school kids (although perhaps not necessarily all of them for the very first lesson!)
If you are also about to start teaching your pre-primary, you will find some ideas here.
This is the second part of the Craft ABC series. You can find the first part here.
The main activity and the target language practice
This is a craft activity that features in the lesson to provide opportunities for the target langauge practice. As an example I have decided to choose our beloved jellyfish that is the first craft activity that I do with my first-year students, in one of the first weeks of the course. This is the time when we learn and practise colours with flashcards, colourful blocks and realia in general, with simple stories, videos, wordwall games and songs. A craft activity is yet another way of ‘recycling’ the target vocabulary and of giving the students an opportunity to be exposed to it and to use it.
The jellyfish is a super simple craft and even the youngest kids can draw the eyes and the smile on the head (which can be a semi-circle cut out by the teacher or a half of a paper plate) and then to attach the tentacles to the back of it. Kids are really motivated to make their own jellyfish and to drill and call out the colours and to ask for the following one, in a very simple way (‘Blue, please’). As a result, lots and lots of language is produced and everyone leaves the classroom with a creature they made herself. What’s most important, the jellyfish looks good even with the most crooked smile and the most inexpertly glued tentacles. And even if there are only three or four colours used, with the youngest kids.
The follow-up of a story or a song
Craft in this case is an opportunity to reinforce the ideas, concepts, vocabulary and structures introduced in a song or in a story. Or, to put it differently, a story or a song is not introduced only as a starter or a side dish but it becomes the topic for the entire lesson.
The three examples in the photos come from the lessons taught based on the Playway to English 1 by Cambridge University Press. The first one is a flower we made together while retelling the story from unit 7 (The Little Seed which you can also find here) and although we were not able to use all the original story lines, the kids could use the basic ones such as It’s sunny, It’s raining. The little seed is sleeping (at the beginning), The flower is growing (while making the stem) and so on.
The second example is everyone’s favourite Very Hungry Caterpillar which is a storybook we use in year, to accompany either unit 7 (Weather / Spring) or unit 9 (Food). You can find more information on this version of the caterpillar here.
Last, but definitely not least, is a simple craft that was a follow-up of the amazing Super Simple Song called ‘Are you hungry?‘ and it can be used either with the topic of fruit (Playway to English 1, unit 3) as it goes nicely with the theme of the song of monsters sharing fruit with their hungry friends or, in a wider context, with food in general (Playway to English, unit 9). The craft activity becomes the more palpable and 2-D version of a song and it can be used in a mini-role play, sung or spoken, depending on what the kids are ready for.
Props preparation
This type of a craft activity does not have a lot of potential as regards maximising production although the kids are quite likely to use some functional language, the staples of craft (Are you ready? Let’s sit down, Blue, please etc). This type of a craft activity is also quite short, compared with the ones mentioned so far but that is exactly the point. The craft activity is only a prelude. Everything important is to happen later with the finished product used as a tool.
The best example here will be our magic wand. It is simple and easy to make and can be used as a part of a shapes lesson (though, really, there is only one shape involved). The abracadabra TPR activity (Abracadabra, 123, you are…) is a game we play from the very beginning of the course. When the kids are ready to take over, we make a wand for each other and use it in a game and at this point, the kids get to lead the game for real, waving their own, freshly-produced wands and we all mime whatever there is to mime. The langauge is produced and lots of it (Abracadabra, 123, you are…swimming, dancing, flying…OR you are a cat, a happy cat, a hungry dinosaur…) but it is not directly related to the making of the wand.
A part of a Science, Maths or Art lesson
Craft can be also a part of a CLIL lesson or a Maths, Science or Art lesson, depending on whether we are dealing with the EFL or the ESL or bilingual programmes. In this case, the craft activity will create an opportunity for the students to put into practice or to reinforce the real knowledge or skills they have acquired in class, making it more practical, kinesthetic and hands-on.
Below, three examples of such craft activities.
The first one is a Maths lesson in which we were learning about and practising measuring. Apart from working with the rulers and measuring tapes and checking how long our cars, teddy bears, desks, noses and fingers were, the kids also got a simple handout with a section of a certain length and it was their task to measure the strips of paper with rulers, cut of the appropriate piece and glue it underneath.
The second one is one of the lessons devoted to animal habitats which we studied in our Science class. Apart from categorising animals and talking about the habitat, we also did a craft activity in which we created the habitat (here the polar region made of a sheet of blue paper, waves drawn, ice made of cotton pats and the animals glued on). After a series of lessons we had a set of habitats.
The third piece here is one of the activities we made as part of the Kids in the Avangard. In this lesson Paul Klee was our artist of the day and we created our own version of his Cat and Bird.
The non-linguistic aims
Sometimes craft activities have a non-linguistic main aims. Because of their obvious relevance to kids’ lives and the excitement that they generate, they can be used to help kids develop as humans and this can be the reason for their inclusion in a language lesson.
The first activity here is one of my favourite craft activities ever. It can be used in many different thematic lessons but its main advantage is that because, due to its design, it requires a detailed micro-staging and, on the one hand, it can help kids work on their ability to focus and to follow teacher’s instructions in order to be able to turn their circles into cats, dogs, frogs and bees. On the other hand (and it has worked absolutely every single time), it brings an immense sense of achievement and confidence in kids’ own skills since a random circle can become so many things.
The other activity presented here is an example of a festive craft that finds its place in the classroom as part of the seasonal celebrations. Despite the fact that sometimes this vocabulary will be used in class only in a year, when the holiday comes up again, it connects the lesson to the celebrations at home and in kindergarten and it is the easiest way of bringing these festivities into the EFL classroom.
The final activity, our solar system was a wonderful activity that we all enjoyed and one that helped us produce lots and lots of language. However, believe it or not, that was not the reason why we did it. This was our first real whole class project because the kids got an opportunity to work on something together, sharing resources and sharing the space and we produced one huge poster that nobody would be taking home in the end.
During our teacher training courses, I try to invite teachers to my classroom, for an observation. However, even in the online / offline / hybrid era it is not always possible. For that reason, to balance the theoretical and the practical we watch a lot of videoed lessons. Over the years, the teacher training department at my school has managed to compile a whole library of those, for different age groups and levels and now we have a lovely resource to use in our training sessions and workshops. I do recommend setting up this kind of a library at your school!
However, while making these videos, we received the parents’ permission for the internal use. The videos are not on youtube and we cannot make them public. For that reason I can never share any of them with my trainees or readers. Instead, I decided to put together a list of those youtube clips that we often use in our sessions hoping that you find them useful, too.
A few tips from a trainer
Choose a focus for the observation: classroom management, behaviour, staging, storytellings, songs, chants, literacy…
Think of yourself as an observer, look for the strong points and the areas to improve. There is always something!
Be a kind observer! Remember that no matter what you are watching, the teacher WAS on tenterhooks because the lesson was filmed and that the whole filming adventure might have affected the teacher’s and the kids’ behaviour.
More than anything else, please remember that whatever was filmed, it is only a part of a lesson and we have no chance of finding out what happened before and after.
Think about your particular context (your institution, your group, your classroom, your country and your culture), would this activity and this approach work? Why? Why not? Can it be adapted?
If possible, watch the video again, after some time has passed or after you have had a chance to use some of the activities or approaches in practice. Are your impressions the same?
If possible, watch it with some other teachers, too! It is fun to find out what others think about it and sometimes we learn more from people that we disagree with!
I have tried to include a variety of contexts and countries of origin.
Now the videos
Wow English with Steve (from Steve and Maggie), with a big group in a kindergarten in Prague. I am guessing it is the first lesson and the first meeting with the kids.
English clothing song for kids from the Magic Crayons, as an example of a simple and genious (and presumably home-made) clothing song
ESL Story for Kids ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ from Scott Reeve, because this very (very) short clips wonderfully shows what can be done with a storybook used in the EFL/ESL context
Teaching ESL in China from Teacher Jeus ESL, a big group of 5-6 y.o. and 25 minutes of a lesson
The first lesson with 3 y.o. from a kindergarten in Poland from Piotr Wilk, this one is an interesting example because of the ratio of L1 and L2 (TL in English, all the explanations and ‘Why’s’ in Polish)
A lesson with 5 – 6 y.o. from a kindergarten in Poland with an introduction in Polish, but the rest of the lesson is in English, the actual lesson 4’30 – 30’14. Apart from that, the video includes the introduction (in Polish, no subtitles unfortunately) aka the lesson overview and the follow-up, with a discussion on the changes that were introduced in the lesson which is supposed to serve only as a starting point.
A lesson with 4-5 y.o. from Alena Fedan (Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine), some L1 but lots and lots of production in L2)
Class routine with pre-school from Baranain, Navarra, 8 minutes, but a lovely start of the lesson and some literacy activities
A lesson of English with pre-school with Graziela Leonardo (Pirai, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil), 8 min, the start of the lesson and the introduction of a new set of vocabulary and a simple whole class project
Seven. This is how many storybooks I own at this point in my life. To be honest, seven is a huge downgrade from these three shelves that I used to have a few months ago: one full shelf at the office, one full shelf at home and one, half-full shelf in the school…
I sigh and I try not to think about the absence of these shelves and, instead, I am thinking of my books circulating in the world, stuck all over the other, guest shelves, my storybooks out of reach but bringing joy to someone, somewhere. On a really good day, I can almost see myself as a fairy who sprinkles not golddust but beautiful pieces of literature.
The thing is, one cannot stay too far away from storybooks. Whether you want it or not, they start piling up, slowly, cautiously but still. Starting from scratch but I already have seven new books. Although ‘new’ should be taken with a pinch of salt here. I do recycle a lot, when possibly, and pick the gems to my collection in all the friendly charity shops. And some of them in my favourite book shop.
How do I choose the storybooks?
Oh, look, my unit 1 vocabulary! I buy the books to teach the lexis
In a perfect world there would be a library in which I would have a storybook for every unit (or for every set of vocabulary) that I am planning to teach. From colours, numbers, pets, transport, shapes to Christmas, Halloween and insects. This is probably never going to happen due to that inability to stick to a shelf for longer (see: Introduction) but it is good to daydream at least.
But I am trying!
When I choose storybooks, I like to look through the illustrations to see to what extent I will be able to use them with a specific topic. Sometimes I read the text, too, but I have also learnt to completely disregard it. The story can always be retold or adapted, graded to the needs of the people in the classroom and the lexis that they are working on at the moment.
That is why I bought Nick Sharratt and Sally Syme’s Something Beginning With Blue (yes, to teach colours!) and Debbie Harter’s Walking Through the Jungle, which has an amazing set of animals, habitats and verbs and which I will be also able to use alongside Walking in the Jungleby Super Simple Songs.
Grrrr! I buy the books to introduce and practise the structure
Because there is more than words, there is also the structure and sometimes I choose the books with the grammar that I will be able to introduce or to practise using a particular story. Oftentimes, the illustrations play the main role here (because, again, the story can be retold and adapted) although the story itself can help, too!
This is how Copy Cat by Mark Birchall landed in the bag and on the shelf. The adventures of the two friends, a cat and a dog, have a lot of verbs which means that I will be able to use it to practise Present Continuous or the Past Simple. I was also thinking of some functional language because the cat and the dog already talk a lot but they can talk even more in the future.
Say it again! I buy the books with repetitive language
Having read those two paragraphs, you might think that I buy the books not to read them but to look at the illustrations. It is not quite true. I use the text, too, but bearing in mind that my students are EFL kids, beginners, with somewhat limited exposure to the target language, I have to be selective as regards the text. At the same time, there are many amazing storybooks which can be used with a beginner child learner and that is because the language is repetitive and, even if it is above the child’s level and even if it has to be introduced, it is a good time investement because it appears throughout the entire story. Some good examples of that could be ‘I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet’ in Dear Zoo (another favourite) or ‘What do you see?’ in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?.
The story mentioned above, ‘Walking Through the Jungle’ took a similar approach. The entire story is told through the following exchange: ‘Walking through the jungle, what do you see?’ ‘I think I see a lion chasing after me‘.
I know this story! I buy the books with traditional stories
It is great to see that traditional stories are making a comeback into the EFL VYL world. They are not the easiest material to work with, especially with the younger students, because the language is usually complex albeit beautiful, but they have one great advantage – the chances are that kids will be already familiar with them, the characters and the plot, because they are quite likely to have heard them before. At the very least, these are the stories that we can start with while taking the first steps in the traditional stories for pre-schoolers or primary.
That is why I picked up Alexei Tolstoy’s and Niamh Sharkey’s The Gigantic Turnip at the bookshop. I am hoping we are going to have a lot of fun with it, especially that the illustrations are beautiful and there is some repetition in the way the story is told.
Hello again! I buy the books I used to have
The list of the storybooks that are important and close to my heart is long, very long, indeed. The list includes Elmer, Barry, the Caterpillar, Gruffalo and many others, all of the books that I love, that I have been using in class for ages and that I could just take out of my bag and have a lesson with, without any real preparation. The trialled and tested. The best friends forever. The personal top ten, twenty, thirty.
However, when I start recreating the shelf, I do not start from this list, although, perhaps that would be a good idea. Making a fresh start brings with it an opportunity to find new treasures and that is what I like to do, I am on the look-out, I keep my eyes open and when I bump into a title that I know and love, I just get it.
Only when I get to the point of ‘Oh, how I miss Elmer!’, do I go online and just order all of these staples.
This time, my oldie but good is an Oliver Jeffers’ book, Lost and Found which I love for his illustrations and stories.
Guilty pleasures. I buy the books beacause they are just beautiful.
To be perfectly honest, I have to be double reasonable when it comes to this particular category because it is very easy to lose control and to end up with piles and piles of beautiful artifacts that I cannot really use in class. Self-restraint, moderation and temperance are not my favourite words but I have to make an effort, from time to time.
Once in a blue moon, however, comes the day when I am allowed to forage the shelves and the boxes and pick out publications which are (mainly) appealing visually. They are those that are to be used in my art lessons to develop taste, visual intelligence and symbolic representation in children.
This time, the two books that I picked for that very reason were Lauren Child’s Beware of the Storybook Wolves (for the trademark produced-by-a-child-like illustrations) and Kazuno Kohara’s Jack Frost (for the monochrome in black and in blue which will be a starting point for a lesson on the importance of colour). Or Lost and Found…
Most importantly…
It does not really matter why you buy the books as long as you buy them!
The stories that I could tell you of the books that were no one’s favourite and on no one’s wishlist but they came with other treasures or there was a really good price on them or they simply got donated and thus they made it to the shelf…True, they had to wait for their turn, for the inspiration to come, for this special lesson. Every dog has its day. Every storybook has its audience and its lesson.
Go, get the books! Bring them to the classroom!
Happy teaching!
P.S. The only problem now is that it is the middle of July and I already have a head full of new ideas and still – a good few weeks of waiting before I can put them into practice…
Disclaimers: I have chosen to use Discover with Dex by Macmillan in this exercise here due to a few reasons: I have had a chance to work with it, it is one of the recently published coursebooks and there are some sample pages available online on the CUP website and so I am not at risk of any copyright infrigements here. This is not in any way a criticism of the activities and instructions included in the original material. I just wanted to recreate what I would normally do in this lesson. For that reason, I have decided to do one more thing that I never do and that is plan the entire lesson without consulting the teachers’ book or checking what is there (I really struggle with reading all types of manuals). I left it until after I was done with the whole post. See the last paragraph. It was my conscious decision not to supplement the coursebook activities with any songs, stories or videos or even electronic games such as wordwall, although, of course, I do that in my lessons. I wanted to keep the most basic version of the lesson.
Details: Discover with Dex, Macmillan, level 1, unit 1, page 7.
The original activities can be found in the sample on page 8 as well as in the TB, on the same website, page 11.
Ready?Steady?Go!
Pre-book
Introduction and revision of the vocabulary: simple flashcard games, realia (ie putting post-it notes with numbers on the realia, T: calls out the numbers, Kids: name the item), or realia and flashcards (ie matching the relevant flashcard with the item in the classroom by putting the flashcard on the relevant object) Why? Because students need enough exposure to the target language and enough practice, controlled or freer, so that they are ready to complete the task in the coursebook.
Movement games: using gestures at least for some of the objects (chair – sitting down, table – putting arms on the table, sticker – peeling off and sticking, book – opening the book and reading, pencil – a gesture for writing something carefully, crayon – a gesture for colouring in), puzzle, Puzzle Run – copy the flashcards and cut them up into the jigsaw puzzles (ie two pieces, perhaps three if the kids are older), keep one piece of each in the classroom, leave the rest out and place them around the classroom or the hallway, depending on the location. Pick out one piece, say ‘What is it? It’s a….’ and elicit the rest from the kids (‘a pencil’), ask one of the kids to look around the classroom and look for the missing piece of the puzzle. When they bring it, put the pieces together, elicit the question and the answer, drill. The question and answer can be easily turned into a chant, by adding rhythmical clapping. The roles can be nicely divided, too, with the teacher asking the question and the children replying or the other way round. For instance, if that is the first lesson with this structure, the kids can only repeat the question, it will be the same line over and over again. Why? Becuase the kids have been sitting for quite some time and they will need a stirrer to get rid of the energy that has accumulated so far and to prepare them for a serious settler aka the focused task.
While-book
Funky envelope: this is one of my favourite tools everand it seems perfect for this activity. It will keep the kids curious, it will create an opportunity to practise the target language and it will create a link between the flascard games and the activity in the coursebook. The teacher continues using the same structure, What is it? It’s a… Why? Because this kind of an activity will prepare the students for the format of the task they are going to be asked to complete as part of the focused task.
Open the book (teacher only): the teacher opens the coursebook (or displays it on the screen / the interactive whiteboard) and calls out the names of the objects in the top row, using the key structure again. Why? Because this way the chances are that the students will remain focused on the task and on the instructions. There is only one thing to look at (the book that the teacher is holding or demonstrating), no other books, no other pages in the students’ books etc.
Model: still with only the teacher’s book open, the teacher completes the first part of the activity. The teacher points at the first circle and asks ‘What is it?’, students answer ‘It’s a chair’. The teacher says: ‘Let’s take a red pencil’ and colours the chair in the circle and draws the line. The teacher repeats the question – answer again, pointing at the pictures ‘What is it?’ ‘It’s a chair’. Why? Because the kids need to see how to complete the task, step by step. Verbal instructions only are not going to be as effective and through looking at the task is completed, the children will understand better what they are to do in the following stage.
Open the books (students): the kids open their books. The teacher asks again, give out the red pencils / crayons to all the students, monitors. When the kids are ready, the teacher collects all the pencils and they all repeat the exchange again: point to the circle – What’s this? – It’s table – trace the line – point to the picture of the table. Why? This is for everyone the controlled practice task, repeating the teacher’s actions in their own coursebooks.
What’s this? It’s a crayon: repeat the procedure with the crayon and a new colour. The teacher gives out and collects the pencils or crayons after each round and elicits the question – answer. It might be a good idea to let the kids choose the colour of the pencil / crayon for each round. Why? By adding the element of the different colours and by pencils being given out and collected by the teacher in each round, the teacher ensures that the task is paced properly, that all the students complete the task and that everyone stays on the ball throughout that stage of the lesson.
Done! the teacher draws a star or a smile to signal that the task has been completed successfully. The kids close their books. Why? Because it helps the kids to understand that the task has been finished.
Post-book
Riddles: it will be a bit of a stretch from the original context but the structure can be used to play riddles, too. The teacher chooses a flashcard, keeps it hidden and asks ‘What is it?’, the kids make their sentences trying to guess the card. It might be necessary for the teacher to model first and provide the first few incorrect guesses to give the children an idea, for example ‘It’s a pencil’ – ‘No’, ‘It’s a sticker’ – ‘No’, ‘It’s a table’ – ‘Yes!’. Naturally, after a few rounds led by the teacher, the kids take turns to lead the game. Why? At this point, with a lot of exposure and practice, the kids should be able to take part in a game when they have to produce the langauge freely.
Pelmanism: in order to play this game, the teacher needs to prepare a set of flashcards, set A: the regular flashcards, with the objects fully seen and set B: either stencils of the objects or parts of the objects (like in the coursebook), matching or, the simplest set and the easiest to prepare: two sets of the regular flashcards printed in two different colours. Actually, with pre-school or primary students, I always use colour-coded sets as it makes it easier to set the game and to handle the materials. The students play together, led by the teacher. The kids take turns to uncover the cards and to find a match. Every single time they ask the question and answer it (What’s this? It’s a pencil). If they have a pair, they put it away. Why? This is another game that creates an appropriate setting for the use of the key question and answer. If the game is played together, without counting points, it is appropriate also for the youngest students.
Happy birthday to you: it is a silly game that we sometimes play as part of the new vocabulary practice and here it would be yet another way of providing another opportunity to practice the key structure within the appropriate context. The kids have to sit in a circle and you need to have a set of flashcards. First, to model the activity, the teacher chooses one card, keeps it secret, face down and gives it to the student on the left. This student passes it to their friend and so on until the card makes it back to the teacher. Then, the teacher takes another card and yet another one and the cards start circulating, all of them face down. The teacher start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and at one point, the teacher stops abruptly. The teacher then asks ‘What’s this?’ and all the kids turn their cards over and tell everyone what they’ve got ‘It’s a sticker’, ‘It’s a pencil’ etc. Then, they play another round. If there are enough flashcards for all the kids, then, naturally, all the students will describe their flashcard. If, however, there are fewer, then the activity is easier to manage and the kids who end up without a flashcard, they can say ‘Oups’ and it is fun, too as the teacher is the one to manage the song and to make sure that different children get a chance to say ‘Oups’ during the game. Why? There are opportunities for the natural use of the key structure as it is a mystery and the game can be stopped at any moment which will be quite a useful feature at the end of the lesson, when the kids are naturally more tired and less likely to remain focused for a longer period of time.
Question to ask yourself while planning:
What is the aim of the lesson? Even if it is not a formally assessed lesson, it is a good idea to formulate it for yourself, even if only verbally. Why are you and the kids entering the classroom on the day? What would you like them to achieve as regards the language, the social skills, the motor skills or any other area?
How does the coursebook material help you meet these aims? What would you have to add or to adapt?
How much language are the students going to produce? Are there any ways of maximising production?
Will your students (those who are in your group, your student Misha, Peter, Tommy and Andy) be able to complete these tasks? Will they like them? Apart from the fact that you are the teacher (the one asking them to do things) and they are the students (they listen and follow), is there anything in the task and the materials that will get them involved?
How are you going to prepare the students for the task? What activities will you prepare to introduce and to revise the vocabulary and the structure? Is there anything that you can do to prepare them for the format of the task, too?
And now I am actually going to read the teacher’s book…
There is a different TL (Can you see? Yes, I can) which could be used very naturally in the classroom. At the same time, this is not the TL that is introduced and practised in the unit (Have you got? Yes, I have. No, I haven’t). We might argue which structure would be more useful for the students (Can you see? or ‘What is it?’) and both have got their benefits and it is up to the teacher whether to follow the book and what to supplement it with.
The teacher’s book suggest a slightly different procedure and there is a nice variety of structures introduced and practised (Can you see? What is it? What’s missing? Is it a…? Where is the other chair?). It is great to see a lot of natural language used during the lesson but since all of my students are EFL learners with a limited exposure of one or two real hours per week, I would want to focus the language practise and production and work on one structure at a time. Although, of course, the teacher would be creating a proper language environment, without limiting their own production to this one specific structure only.
I am afraid I would not use the original task with colouring the magnified objects to match the real objects. The chair and the crayon are easy but the book and the pencil would involve more than one colour and would take a bit longer than I would like to spend on that activity.
The same goes for the personalisation task. Most of my students are too young to draw such complicated pictures so I would be skipping that one, too. With the older children, I might use it for homework perhaps.
There is a great set of the digital resources to accompany the coursebook as well as the wall hanging to go with the flashcards and these could be a lovely addition to the lesson.
Happy teaching!
P.S. Don’t forget to check out the wonderful directory of all the useful things in the VYL world created by Sandy Millin. You can find it here.
This post is a result of a combination of factors: only a short while ago we started a new IH VYL course, I was talking to a NQT teacher and, last but not least, I have been stuck in quarantine, with a lot of time on my hands, all of a sudden. Writing calms me down and so I am writing.
If you are a novice VYL teacher, don’t forget to check out the first VYL lesson survival kit here. It might help, too! And there is this other one, about landing on Mars and having to teach there.
Now, in a rather random order…
Keep it simple
It is a good idea to stay focused and that means that ‘less is better’ or, in this case, ‘fewer is better’. There is no need for fancy activities, for some intricate craft, amazing toys, multi-item anything or a very complex game. There is no need for the coursebook, either. Everything will be new for you so there is no need to clutter your brain (or your table) and many (or all) things might be new for your students, too, depending on whether they are starting the course or whether you are taking over. In any case, simple resources will make it more maneagable for everyone.
Keep it varied
Simple does not mean monotnounous, though. The younger the children, the shorter their attention span and it is absolutely necessary to be ready to change the activities frequently, ideally when they are still enjoying them (rather than wait until the interest fizzles out and you will have to get them back on track). Luckily, there are quite a few things that can be done only with a set of flashcards, varying the activities slightly without changing the main resource. Although, of course, each lesson with pre-schoolers will need more than just one. If you are teaching colours, for example, you can do it through: flashcards, a song, a video, a wordwall game, realia (kids will be wearing colours on them and there are other colourful things in the room, such as crayons) and a story. This way you will keep things ‘the same but different’.
Keep it coherent
Make sure that you do not overwhelm the kids (and yourself!) by trying to go over too many topics in one lesson. If it is ‘colours’, it is ‘colours’ from the beginning until the end of the lesson. If it is ‘toys’, it is ‘toys’. It is only the first lesson, there will be lessons number 2, 3, 4 and 100.
Keepit interesting
This one will be a question only and a question with more than one correct answer. It has become a kind of a tradition that the first lessons in level 1 for pre-schoolers focus on the introduction of colours. The idea behind that is, I presume, the fact that colours are around us, they are a concept that the kids are already familiar with and that the words themselves are short and easy to learn. But here is a question, is it really the most interesting, child-friendly, fun, engaging, joyful topic that there is? Is it the best invitation to a new story and to a new world that learning English? Toys are colourful, too, they are toys and all the kids are more than familiar with them. Plus you can use the realia from the very first lesson. Pets are cuddly and sweet and all the kids have their favourite ones, even if sometimes less traditional ones, such as a hippo or a frog. The realia can also be found without much trouble and most pets make noises and that is another way of introducing variety in class. Both, toys and pets can be mimed and used in different ‘Guess what’ games in which the kids guess the word by looking at a small cut out of it (aka ‘through the keyhole’ or ‘the funky envelope’). The range of activities gets wider in a blink and the chances that children get interested and stay involved are much higher.
Keep it teacher-centred…
and do not feel guilty about it. Student-centred lessons are the ultimate aim and the dream but in the beginning of the course, it is the teacher and the adult who has to take the full responsibility and the full control of all the activities in the lesson. This is true for both the novice and the experienced VYL teachers as well because they all have to deal with little children who are in a new set-up, in a new situation. Be it either the first ever lesson of English, the first lesson ever in a new group with some new classmates or the first lesson with a new teacher.
Keep itorganised
Keep what organised? Everything! Absolutely everything. All the materials in the folders (or with paperclips, in boxes, files) in which they are going to be used. All of the resources in a box or in a basket, in order to be able to carry them around, if needs be. All of the things out of the kids’ reach, on the top of the board, on the top shelves, in the cupboards. All the pencils or crayons, by the colour, in separate plastic cups or boxes (but cups are cheap and easily available) and not on the table. The teacher is supposed to give them out only when they are needed.
What I found really useful in the beginning of my VYL career and something that I still do, for every lesson is a lesson plan on the wall. It is simple, big and colourful, with only the main stages and activities, in a place where I can see it and to refer to it from every corner of the classroom. You can see an example of it here.
Keepcalm
Even if you don’t feel very confident. Even if you are worried that you might not manage. Even if you are a tiny bit scared of being left alone with a bunch of kids. Even if the parents are looking at you inquisitively or if they are asking questions. Even if you have forgotten something at home or in the teacher’s room.
Smile, no matter what! Don’t lose your head! You are going to be great. Or almost great!
Well, well, well, this is officially my post #100 on the blog and I am in the mood for celebrating. That might take the form of sharing some random numbers (8,280 visits and 5,563 visitors over a year and a half (and mind you, I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER if it is ‘impressive’, ‘not so good at all’ or just ‘why even bring it up?!’) and pondering over the fact that these have been my 5 most popular posts:
Which means that there is some interest in teaching pre-schoolers, using visuals in class and that Pasha, the invisible student, has become a bit more real, overall.
Apart from that, however, I would also like to take this opportunity to share with you my top 10 wordwall activities that I use with my primary and pre-primary students.
Disclaimer: Wordwall is amazing, no doubt about that, but it is still only a resource, a material. Its main aim is to provide opportunities for the students to produce the language. For that reason, in all of the games (for the lack of a better word) described below there will be always a differentiation between the material (the actual tool created with wordwall formats) and the activity (how we use it in class).
Activity: Kids take turns to ask everyone the key question using the cue on the card. All the students in the group answer. The same pattern can be used with any question ie Do you like…? Can you…? Have you got…?
Works well with: primary (they can attempt working in pairs and taking turns to ask a question to their partner only) and pre-primary, individual and groups
Activity: Kids play in teams, ask for the box to be open, produce a sentence (or sentences about the picture), win the number of points. The game about seasons is a very simple one, for preschoolers, the one such as this one here, about animals, can generate a lot more language, also with preschoolers and, of course, a lot more with primary.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary (with pre-primary we play T vs the whole class), groups and individial (we play T vs the student).
Activity: Kids play in teams, team A asks the question ‘What’s this?’, team B tries to answer. Afterwards the teacher flips the card to check. Depending on the vocabulary kids then say whether they like it or not or try to describe, too.
Works well with: pre-primary, individual and groups, it might be a bit under-challenging for the primary students
Which one is correct? Spelling
Materials: Flashcards, double-sided, with visuals and correct and incorrect spelling of the word Places in the city or a quiz with a similar idea, for example this oneSuperminds 5, Read andchoose
Activities: Kids read both versions and choose the correct one. With the flashcards the teacher is flipping the cards back and forth, I use it mostly with my 1-1s. With groups the quiz version works better and it can turn into a proper quiz, with the kids writing the answers down.
Activities: Kids work in pairs, one student in each pair has to sit with their back to the TV/ interactive whiteboard, the other is looking at the board. T keeps dealing the cards. The student looking at the screen has to describe the word for their partner to guess. After a certain number of rounds they change. The cards usually have the words on them, too, so it works well with mixed ability groups.
Works well with: primary and teens. I have only tried it with groups.
Activity: We use the cards or the matching activity to sing the song, slowly, with pauses, to practise and to revise before the actual video / track. The set such as the one for the ‘As quiet as a mouse’ can be used to start creating own versions of the song as kids have only the animals and they can (if they are ready) to come up with their own adjectives.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual and groups.
Story / video comprehension check
Materials: Match to accompany Peppa Pig ‘Fruit Day’ or a quiz to accompany Peppa Pig ‘George is ill’
Activities: We normally learn the vocabulary, get ready for watching the video and then watch it. The games described here are used to check comprehension. The quiz is read by the teacher and the kids answer ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and correct the incorrect sentences (unless I use the same story with primary who can read it themselves). The matching activity is always accompanied by a structure. It can be a simple ‘Apples are for George’ or a more comples ‘George would like apples’.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual or groups.
Activities: The game itself is usually set for homework. We check it together, whole class. Afterwards the kids are divided into pairs and they test each other, for example Student A says: I am going to the supermarket’, student B has to recreate the second half of the sentence. To help the kids a bit, I put up some key words (ie places and main verbs) on the board. The kids change after a few rounds.
Activities: Kids work in pairs and the kids interview each other, reading the questions or prompts of the computer / TV / interactive whiteboard. Afterwards they swap.
Works well with: primary and teens, individual and groups
Activities: Kids look at the cards and listen to the teacher describing the pictures. If the sentence is correct, they say ‘Yes’, if there is a mistake, they reply with ‘No!’ and correct the mistake. Later on, there is a lot of potential for the kids to take turns to lead the game. The older students can work in pairs, too, while looking at the screen / the interactive whiteboard / the TV.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual and groups.
If you are looking for inspiration or ready activity, you can find my profile (Azapart) there. I share all of my activities so there is plenty to choose from, especially if you work with Playway to English and Superminds.
Here you will also find Part 2 of this post and even more ideas for using Wordwall games in your YL classes.
Happy teaching!
P.S. A request!
It is very simple.
I would like to know a tiny little bit more about my readers. There are so many of you, popping in here, again and again, and the numbers of visitors and visits are going up and make my heart sweel with joy. But I realised I don’t know anything about my readers and I would love to know, a tiny little bit more.
