#eflteacher

For the love of…the adjective

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Our basic set of adjectives

Once upon a time…

This is how I daydream it: my primary kids go on to take their Starters (this is an old daydream, this year they will be taking Flyers), they are describing the pictures or telling the story. The examiner asks ‘How is this boy?’ and my kids answer ‘He is confused.’ and the examiner cannot believe her/his ears but she/he is, actually, impressed.

‘Confused’ is one of the many adjectives that my primary kids have learnt thanks to the sheep game that we’ve been playing for a few years now. We started with the normal adjectives, happy, sad, angry, sleepy but the kids noticed that I’ve been hiding some cards and they got curious. And because they were curious, they started to ask questions. Since the cards were wonderfully happy and funny, and since, together with some clarification from me, they did illustrated the concept very well (after all, they were created for children), we started using the ‘confused’ card (and with them ‘chatty’, ‘in love’, ‘crazy’).

That, in hindsight, was an excellent idea because this turned out to be a very useful words because I happen to be confused and my kids happen to be confused, too. Not to mention all the characters from all the stories. ‘Confused’ might be from the B1/B2 shelf, but, we found it very very useful, at the age of seven, in something that was the pre-A1 level.

‘OK’, ‘ill’, ‘in love’, ‘creative’

The coursebook and the curriculum

A disclaimer first: my comments in this section are based only on a very un-thorough looking through the coursebooks for pre-schoolers, only a quick glance at the contents page and the units. I acknowledge that fact that I might have missed something and that a proper research might be necessary and, for that reason, I will refrain from quoting any titles here. However, having flipped through five recently published coursebooks for pre-primary learners, I did not find much as regards adjectives, apart from colours (all), some of the weather words (depending on the title) and some random happy, sad and hungry (also depending on the title). With one honourable exception that introduces quite a few emotions as well as some other opposites, either through stories or through CLIL projects. Overall, however – not good at all.

I also had a look at the primary books and here the situation is admittedly better because all of the modern publications tend to align their content with the YLE Cambridge wordlist and that, in turn, means about 50 adjectives on the pre-A1 level, including colours and possessive adjectives.

As it happens, my school is now getting ready for the YLE mock exams and I am putting together a set of materials for our teachers and kids and that made me look at the said wordlist with a great more deal of scrutiny. Starters kids (pre-A1) are supposed to know about 50 adjectives, Movers kids (A1) – additional 50 adjectives and Flyers kids (A2) – 70 more adjectives on top of that. I am aware of the fact that these lists were not created on a whim, quite the contrary – they are a result of a large-scale research and the effort of a huge team of people. But there are all these questions there, too. Why do the pre-A1 kids need to know the adjectives such as ‘double’ or ‘correct’ and ‘right’ (as correct) and ‘its’ (also an adjective) and some other ones, although not adjectives (‘coconut’, ‘pineapple’, ‘flat’ and ‘apartment’ or ‘lime’)? Why would these be more important, useful and appropriate for primary school children than ‘hot’, ‘cold’, ‘easy’, ‘difficult’ or ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’, which are only introduced at the A1 level?

I do not have the answers but I have been introducing them (or some of them) much earlier than that. And effectively so. If you are interested why and how, please continue reading.

‘crazy’

Emotions and feelings

‘Sasha, how do feel today?‘ is one of the questions that we ask in every lesson. Why? Well, I guess, first and foremost it is for socialising. This is the question that we ask when we meet someone, just to make a conversation, at least with adults.

Since our students are children, however, there is a lot more to that. Children are growing, developing their social skills and learning about a variety of emotions available and, even more importantly, learning how to deal with these emotions and learning how to recognise these emotions in others. That is why giving them tools to do that, in their L1 and, naturally, in their L2, is absolutely crucial.

Ideally, all the Sashas in the world would walk into the classroom being happy, totally over the moon, brimming with joy and ready to conquer the world with us in the next 45 minutes. But it is not possible for every Sasha to be happy every day and, as a teacher, I want to know how they really are and during the hello circle I am, literally, all ears because if Sasha is sad or sleepy or hungry, or, sometimes, angry, I would like to know that. Not only to show empathy but also to look at the lesson and what I have prepared for today from the group’s and the individuals’ point of view. Maybe a bunch of sleepy children will not be able to deal very well with the story? Maybe it will be necessary to keep an eye on Sasha and accept that today she might not be able to focus as well as usually because she is feeling a bit under the weather. Maybe it is a good idea to start with this silly game of ours (although I did promise myself to ‘never ever’) because it might distract and cheer up this little human who walks in and announces ‘I am very, very, very angry.’

Having this range of emotions vocabulary is also very handy when it comes to behaviour management, even if in the simplest of terms.

Situation type #1: an unpleasant situation: someone draws on someone else’s paper, someone takes someone else’s toy /book / marker without asking, someone jumps the queue, no casualties, only a lot of unhappiness in the room and one person is on the verge of tears. ‘Look. Sasha is very sad now‘. Naturally, it might not be the case of ‘one size only’, one solution for all occasions but it is a good start.

Situation type #2: a 5 y.o. confrontation: both parties did have a disagreement, both parties are not very happy and, definitely, way too upset to just get over it and get involved in the lesson activities. ‘Sasha, are you angry?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘It’s ok.’ Again, some cases are more complex than that, but in many situations the very fact of calling the spade a spade and showing that it is natural to feel angry (and, by default, giving the human some time out to accept and recover) is the best solution. It applies also to all the negative emtions, as long as no comes to any harm.

To be perfectly honest, sometimes (only sometimes!) it feels like this brief and contained reaction, limited by the fact that extreme language grading is necessary, is the best solution. Anything to avoid a long lecture from the adult on ‘The negative impact and the long-term consequences of….’ that children sometimes receive from their teachers, baby-sitters, nannies, parents, grandparents…

‘ill’

Riddles

This is, by far, one of our favourite games: making riddles. The game is introduced in its simplest from, with a set of flashcards and with the students guessing the secret word which the teacher or one of the children keep close to their chest. That’s just the beginning, however, once the kids are comfortable and familiar with the format, a set of simple adjectives are added, first the colours (based on the visuals in the flashcards) and big / small. Then, depending on the topic, we introduce and play with the relevant adjectives, for example fast / slow / big / small / loud / quiet while talking about transport, big / small / friendly / dangerous while talking about animals, hot and cold while talking about food and big / small / soft / hard / light / heavy while talking about the everyday objects and so on.

The kids can either use the adjectives of their choice and affirmative sentences (It’s big, it is yellow) or they can react to teacher’s or kids’ questions (Is it big or small?).

A variation of this activity is also I spy with my little eye adopted (and limited) to the set of vocabulary that the students are familiar with, played with a set of flashcards or a poster.

Expressing opinion…

…or, rather, justifying your opinion, something that can become a part of pretty much every unit and every set of words. Not only does it create an opportunity to personalise the vocabulary by dividing it into the things we like and the things we don’t like but also to give more detail and to build a small discourse (I like it. It is beautiful) or even first complex sentences (I like it because it is beautiful).

Naturally, that will require a different set of adjectives but beautiful, ugly, easy difficult, interesting and boring to be the concepts that preschool children understand, even though the flashards and visuals will be based on some symbols.

Storytelling

Our storytelling has reached some new amazing levels since we started working extensively on adjectives, both with primary and pre-primary students. You can read more about in an earlier post on the Storytelling Campaign here and here.

‘confused’

In my classroom

In this academic year, I am working with three pre-school groups, level 1, level 2 and level 3 and I am happy to say that even my youngest level 1 students are familiar with the set of 12 different adjectives that you can see in the first photograph plus a few more that we have learnt through songs. Level 2 group have got the basic set, quantifiers ‘very’ and ‘a little’ and a few more adjectives lined up. Level 3 group have got a nice set to describe food, transport and animals (including ‘scary‘) and they have already started working on extanding that range.

The photographs that were chosen to illustrate this post all come from the set that I have created for my pre-school group.

I have decided to use paper plates because they are durable, easy to stock and they have a shape of a circle aka they are a face. In the classroom, we put them in neat rows on the carpet, in the middle of the circle, to support production. My younger students like to pick up those that are relevant and hide behind them, showing how they really feel. This makes this part of the lesson a bit more kinesthetic.

I have drawn all of them myself but before making the decision on how to represent each adjective, I like to look at different emoticons to get inspired and to find something that meets two criteria a) I can draw it and b) my students will be able to associate it with a specific concept.

In some cases, the symbol was pretty easy for students to decode (for example: an owl = clever), in some others, I had to follow up with a brief clarification (for example: lightbulbs = ideas = creative). After the first lesson, I decided to upgrade the ill flashcard by adding a real tissue for the poor sneezing person.

There is another thing that I am considering at the moment. With my preschool students we start with the adjectives that help us describe how we feel and it must have been out of sheer linguistic greed that I decided to add those adjectives that describe personal characteristics rather than emotions such as ‘strong’, ‘beautiful’ or ‘clever’. Although, to be honest, we adults know very well that there are days when we feel particularly beautiful or not and the kids responded well to it. At the moment, I am considering different ways of organising all the adjectives that we already know and building up on that, in each category.

Basically, the best is yet to come.

Where to find the adjectives?

Happy teaching!

Crumbs #23 OR 5 ways of using video in class

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These are not all the activities that you can do with a video, these might not be the best activities for your groups. These are just some approaches that we like. Maybe you will find them useful.

Prediction

Procedure: The teacher introduces the topic of the video and gives the students a set of key words that appear in the video. The students discuss why these words might appear in the video and why they might be important. After a whole class feedback, the class watch the video to check whether they predictions were correct. As a follow-up, the students discuss the most (or the least) surprising / unusual / weird facts they have found out about.

Example: We used this video to accompany a reading on extreme adventures and survival in which making a snow cave helped the people survive. We watched a real tutorial on making a snow cave and the key words we started with were: a candle, the letter T, the stick, a saw, the flat ceiling.

Back to the board

Procedure: The teacher divides the group into pairs, one student in each pair sits facing the TV, the other one sits with their back to the screen. the teacher plays the video, students work in pairs and they retell each other what is happening on the screen. Depending on the video, the students can watch the video with the sound on or with the sound muted. After a while, the students change seats and continue watching. Finally, they talk together and answer some questions related to the video. Usually it is a mix of questions, some of which check comprehension and some which help the students see the big picture or express opinion.

Example: We did this kind of an activity while discussing sports and unusual sports. The students watched the muted video on extreme extreme ironing, in two halves, about 60 seconds each and afterwards answered the following questions: What do you think is the name of this sport? How do you think Phil Shaw came up with the idea? What can be easy and difficult about this sport? Would you like to try? Which was the strangest place in which this sport was done? In the end, we watched it together, with the sound on and we compared ideas.

Pause and talk

Procedure: This is a great activity for the videos that consist of short blocks or include a set of examples of a certain item. The teacher writes the key question on the board, usually only one, and plays the video. The students watch a short clip. The teacher pauses the video and students discuss what they have just seen by answering the question. The biggest advantage of this approach is that the teacher is in charge as regards the duration, the activity can be stopped after only three items or the video can be played until the very end. As a follow-up, the students choose their favourite / their least favourite item and justify their choices. As in all of the other activities, there is also an option of the students changing partners and sharing their ideas with someone else in the group.

Example: While discussing food, we watched the video about school lunches around the world, we watched it bit by bit (after each item) and the students had to answer the following question ‘Would you like to try it? Why?’. Actually, this particular lesson included the video because we followed up with a video on American kids trying Russian food and we paused right after the food was introduced and we try to predict if the kids are going to like it or not.

Read my lips

Procedure: It is used with the video with a very clear narrative that can be interpreted without the audio version as the students watch it muted. The teacher can start with the title of the film and ask the students to predict what they think it is about. Afterwards, the students watch the film and try to figure out what is happening, who the characters are, how they are feeling. The teacher can ask them to take notes while they are watching. Afterwards, students compare their notes in pairs or in groups of three. The teacher can also ask them about the main events or to try to connect the clip to the title of the film. Afterwards, the students watch the video again and as a group discuss their guesses. The teacher clarifies the main points, without going into too many details. The final activity is predicting what happens next.

Example: One of my top ten for this kind of an approach is a video like this excerpt from Big Fish, or actually a set of clips from the same film, for example this one here or this one here. In this one case, we did not really talk about the title of the film. After watching the film, the students were discussing what they saw but I also asked them to think about the following questions: Who was the big man? Why did he look scruffy? Why did the boy throw a stone at him? Why did the boy reach out a hand and closed the eyes? Why did they shake hands in the end?

After we finished watching and discussing, we also looked at the quote from the clip ‘You are a big man. You should be in a big city.’ and we talked about what it might mean and whether it is true.

Categorise

Procedure: The students are given a list of all the items that are shown in the video ie some extreme sports, some unusual holiday destinations, exotic animals etc. The students watch the video and they take notes about all the items, ie putting (+) and (-) next to those that they like or grading them from 1 – 5, depending on how interesting they are. After watching the video, they make their own list, organising all the items from the most to the least interesting one or dividing them into categories (like – don’t like, useful – not useful, interesting – boring) and so on. They work in pairs or small teams and compare and explain their decisions.

Example: This video was used in a lesson on technology as it presents the list of 10 Coolest Gadges. Some of the gadgets in the video have unusual names so we started with looking at these, trying to figure out what these might be. We actually divided the video into two and we discussed the first five gadgets and then, after the second half, the other five and then all ten, to round up. The students were choosing the most interesting gadgets that they might want to buy and those that they would not really even consider. In the end, we choose the most and the least popular gadget as a group.

None of the videos I use as examples were graded or created with the EFL /ESL learners so they can be considered authentic materials. I found all of them on youtube while looking for videos that would match the topic we were working on. I did not introduce any vocabulary, focusing rather on listening (or watching) for gist and general understanding, rather than on any specific details. Unless, of course, the students had any questions.

If you want to find out more about using authentic materials, have a look at some of the many resources online such as these post here: how to choose and adapt them, here from the Britsh Council, and here.

I have also found out a few posts on using video in class. If you are interested, you can find them here and here and this one here, although it has a wider scope and does not really focus on videos in the EFL/ESL classroom.

Happy teaching!

EFL metaphors #2: Teachers about their first lessons with VYL

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1970 Brazil

This is definitely not the first post here on working with pre-schoolers and certainly not the first one written for the preschool teachers. If you are interested, you can find all of them here, and if you are looking for something written specifically for the novice preschool teachers, you can start reading about behaviour management, singing in the classroom, rewards charts, homework for pre-schoolers and lesson planning.

There is also this one here, The first VYL lesson survival kit, which for a very long time already has been one of the most popular and most frequently accessed pieces I have committed and published on this blog. A coincidence? I don’t think so.

I would like to think that the world is changing for the better and that the novice VYL teachers around the world are getting the help and support they need, either from their managers, from the methodology and resource books, or from the fellow teachers on the social media and blogs. But, even if they do, entering the room with a bunch of little children, whom you don’t know (yet), who do not speak English (yet) and who may not have any idea as regards why we have gathered here (yet!!!), well, this is not you typical ‘dream come true‘. And yes, with time, as you get more experience, you learn better how to prepare, what to expect and how to be, but there is no doubt that starting the course with all the other age groups is easier. No doubt whatsoever.

It is no coincidence, either, that my MA dissertation at the University of Leicester was devoted to teacher education for the first-year pre-primary teachers of English and that I decided to give it the following title ‘Left to their own devices?‘…

The time will come when I finally publish the results of my research in a real article (keep your fingers crossed!). Today, in the series of the EFL Metaphors, I would like to share a tiny little bit of it.

1931, Argentina

It started with…

Well, it started with an article which I talked about in the first entry in the series. The basis for my dissertation was a survey filled in by about fifty of my colleagues who had a chance to teach EFL pre-schoolers in Russia. It was a joy and a relief to find out that most of them evaluated their experience as ‘overall positive’, although, as one of them said ‘Literally, nothing was easy and everything was new’.

This inspired me to ask the participants of the study to try to describe their first year of teaching in one line (although, to be fair, I did not quite specify at the time that I wanted to get a metaphor). Here are some of them, accompanied by clipart library images selected by me.

1950 Switzerland

What was your first year in the VYL world like?

‘A ring of roses, a pocket full of posies, a-tishoo, a-tishoo. We all fall down (in a good way!)’ (Keely)

‘Positively challenging in terms of experience gained and stress dealt with.’ (Rory)

‘Pretty tough. I had to learn everything quickly and often had no time to properly reflect on my lessons. But the experience I got is valuable and helped me a lot afterwards.’ (Victoria)

‘It was like a roller-coaster. Sometimes you are enthusiatic and excited, sometimes frustrated and stressed’ (teacher 3)

‘Challenging, full of errors on my side, but at the same time joyful and full of great memories.’ (Vita)

‘Challenging but absolutely rewarding’ (Irina)

‘It was a beautiful mess’ (Cristina)

Just a few words

Apart from the fact that now, as ‘a researcher’ I am collecting these gems, I also like to use them in my teacher training sessions and workshops. They help to encourage participants to reflect on why the first lessons with the little people might be more challenging than those with any other group . They are also a great starting point in discussions between the less and the more experience VYL teachers or in discussions between the VYL teachers and the non-VYL teachers.

My dream would be to use metaphors at the beginning and at the end of a training process, in one specific area of teaching, to compare how we change our beliefs and attitudes. It is not my original idea, I got it from the same article that inspired the whole series. Maybe next time we are running the IH VYL course…

Instead of a coda

When I started to write this post, I realised that I do not have a metaphor for these first days, weeks and months as a VYL teacher. Nobody asked me then and, somehow, I forgot to ask myself when I was carrying out the research. Does it even matter what it felt like, this something that took place fifteen years ago? Probably not, but for the sake of this post and for fun, I made a promise that I would have figured it out, while writing. I did. Here we go:

‘It’s like a whitewater rafting, while you are trying hard to keep on smiling.‘

Happy Teaching!

P.S. Big, big thanks to all the teachers who agreed to take part in my MA survey! Those that I could quote in this post and all the others!

P.P.S. Please remember, even if your first lesson is not what you would like it to be, the second will be much better!

P.P.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.

1950s, Brazil

Dear Mr Bruner aka Exercises in scaffolding

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Dear Mr Bruner,

I am happy to inform you that, inspired by your article, I have decided to follow your example and to start experimenting in the area of scaffolding…

Oh, how I wish I could write a letter of that kind. Since I first read the article by Bruner, Woods and Ross on the original research and how the term ‘scaffolding’ started to mean what it does to us, teachers and educators, it has become a kind of a life mission to spread the word about it among my teachers and trainees, conference attendees and, of course, the readers of my blog. This is also the area that I choose to invesitage in my first classroom research project as part of my MA programme.

Of course, the most important things keep happening in the classroom, in the everyday when you observe and adapt your instructions, gestures, voice and actions to better suit the young or very young learners as regards demonstration, marking critical features, reduction in degrees of freedom, recruitment, direction maintenance and frustration control (the six orignal features outlined in the article).

This time, the starting point was the lazy teacher…

I started to plan the final lesson with my three pre-school groups that also happened to be our Christmas lesson. And it was out of this tiredness and the madness of the end of the year that made me wake up one day and decide: ‘I am going to repeat the lesson!’

Three lessons in a row, three different levels, three different age groups and the same lesson plan. Well, to a point, of course. We would all study the same vocabulary set and sing the same songs, but the activities would vary, depending on what the children are capable of.

Topic, vocabulary and structure

There were eight words in the set (Santa, a reindeer, a stocking, a Christmas tree, a present, a start, a snowflake, a snowman) and I wanted to combine them with the question that we all had been practising before: ‘What is it?’ ‘It’s a…’.

The level 1 kids (and the youngest group) have got as far recognising the words and pointing at the right flashcards and participating in the ‘What’s missing?’ game although most of the time they would guess the missing word in Russian and they actively produced only some of them in English, such as ‘a star’, ‘a snowman’ and Santa. We also watched the ‘Guess the word video‘ and it was a chance for us to drill the vocabulary in a different way. We also introduced ‘What do you want for Christmas‘ and it was a nice opportunity for us to revise toys which we covered in the previous unit. But only that. In the end of the lesson we also had time for storytelling and we used Rod Campbell ‘My presents’, again as a way of revising the key vocabulary.

With the level 2 kids, we did pretty much the same but the kids were able to remember and to reproduce all eight words really quickly. We played the same game (What’s missing) but they were all actively involved and producing. We watched the video and guessed the words, pretty much just the way the younger group did, although it was interesting that I did not need to encourage them to repeat the words and, as soon as the full picture and the correct answer was revealed, the kids said the word without any cues from me. It seems that due to their age and to the fact that they have been in class for longer, they are much better used to that kind of reaction to the content. We seem to have developed that habit already.

As for the song, we even managed to personalise the song and talk about whether each of the presents featuring in the song are a good idea (or not? ‘Not’, according to some students:-) and we sang a verse for each of the kids:

‘What do you want for Christmas, Christmas, Christmas? What do you want for Christmas? Santa is on his way…’

‘I want a…’

I did not use the storybook with the older children. I had planned it only for the little ones. For the older ones, we had a back-up of an episode of Christmas Peppa, but, in the end, there was no time for that.

The oldest group, level 3 kids, need only a quick revision of all the words and then we could play a variety of games. We did not even play ‘What’s missing?’ as they are too ‘adult’ and this particular game is not challeging for them anymore. Instead, we played a team game, ‘Tell me about it’, in which the players choose a box, open it and say something about the picture hidden in the box. And they collect the points.

We did use the video mentioned above but in this lesson it was not just a simple guessing game, we also managed to talk about whether each round is going to be easy or difficult and then to comment on what it really was. And, of course, the song was also personalised and followed-up by a proper chat. There was also another song, ‘Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?‘, in its life acquatic version (nothing to do with Christmas, but the kids were curious and this is the game we are playing right now). This group are already quite good at personalising songs (aka ‘The original version is good but let’s see what we can do with it and how can we make it better?’) so it was the kids to suggest that we start singing it when we pick up our surprise at the end of the lesson from the reception. If I rememeber correctly, the final version of it (as shaped up by the kids) went along the lines of: ‘Who took the surprise from the surprise jar?‘

I was teaching, having fun and keeping my eyes and ears open and trying to remember what was happening. It was already very interesting but I was really waiting for the most important part, the cherry on the cake.

The cherry on the cake

Surprisingly enough, this time round, it did take a long while to choose the craft activity but finally I settled on the snowman. I found something that I liked among the 25 Easy Snowman Crafts For Kids on countryliving.com. I planned the lesson, spent an hour cutting out the circles, the noses, the hats, the arms and the Christmas trees and orgnising the room. And then we took off.

It so does happen that although my children are divided into groups by the level and by the age, there are exceptions and special cases in all three groups.

The actitivity, the materials, the staging and the instructions were exactly the same in all three groups but the outcomes (visible in the photographs below) and the scaffolding necessary (not visible in the photographs:-) heavily depended on the age of the students.

The youngest students produced these beauties:

This was interesting, especially because this lesson came first and after a very short moment, I realised that, while preparing and planning, I gauged myself for a slightly older audience and I had to adapt on the go, especially for the almost 3 y.o. girl for whom it was the trial lesson and the first 45 minutes in our classroom.

It turned out pretty quickly that it is quite a challenge to glue the ribbon, to turn the circle over and to tie it and that the orange ‘carrot’ nose is actually very small. But we managed, with the pace really, really slow and the teacher keeping an eye and demonstrating everything twice. Plus, yes, the teacher had no other choice but to help with the ribbon.

The age of the students shows most obviously in the way that all the small parts were glued and how the eyes, the smile and the buttons were drawn, with a different level of accuracy and precision. Almost where they should be:-)

And it was because it took longer to produce the snowman that I decided to skip the little sticky arms. They were too thin, too fiddly and too risky. And the snowmen still look pretty without them.

The snowman created by the 5 y.o. hands looks like that

First of all, the five-year-old snowmen did not take as much time to produce and the little fingers were much more agile and ready. As a result, the teacher did not need to help with the ribbons, the noses were handles with much more efficiency and we did have time to add the arms.

It is interesting to see that at this age, the students did observe the teacher (the mentor / the expert) to do exactly what she was doing but they were observing to figure out what had to be done and to interpret it in their own way. Some snowmen were happy but not all. Some had the scarf tied on the neck aka above the arms and the others had it more where their snowman-y waist would be. Some had the buttons and some did not. Some snowman mouths were a string of dots, some were drawn with a line. Some of the Christmas trees were glued on the snowman’s chest (like in the teacher’s model) but then again, some were holding them in their hands (although this obviously involves even a higher level of precision).

The 6 y.o. snowmen look like that:

The older snowmen are even ‘neater’ (in inverted commas here because I adore all of these snowmen, even the ones that look as if they were created by Pablo Picasso) and the evidence of precision and accuracy as well as even a more detailed and a more personalised version, which were the students’ own additions as they were not modelled by the teacher such as the eyebrows, the hat decorations (not featured in the photos) or a bigger number of buttons.

And the oldest of them all, the almost 7 y.o.

This snowman was made by our oldest student, a girl who is actually in school but who is finishing the level with us. As regards the level of English, the development of the literacy skills, she is like the other students in the group, but her motor skills are more developed and for that reason she usually is the fast-finisher. That is not an issue and while she is waiting for the group to finish, she usually continues working on her craft or handout, adding details and decorations.

This time round, she decided that her snowman is going to be a snowgirl, with her and a bow, which was her own original idea.

Reflections of a small scale Jerome Bruner…

This was an absolutely fascinating experience and I would really recommend it to teachers who work with different levels within the same age group, especially within primary and pre-primary where scaffolding seems to be one of the most important factors deciding about the task completion and success.

  • It can be a great source of information, about the students’ skills and abilities…
  • …as well as an opportunity to trial something new, be it a song, a video, a game or a craft activity and to learn more about this type of a task.
  • It is a chance for the teacher to practise and to develp their scaffolding brain…
  • …and a great opportunity for a freer practice in the area of differentiated learning, not only within the group of learners (something that happens in every class) but on the level of different age groups and levels

Like in the original experiment, the design or the choice of the task and the material is crucial but the holiday lessons, not really closely connected to the coursebook curriculum, seem to be a perfect way out.

What else? Not much? Some curiosity on the part of the teacher, some willingness to experiment and some flexibility in order to be able to adapt on the go. Plus, the eyes wide open to notice all the little changes and proceedings.

These two, in the photo below, are my own interpretation of the original craft and a more complex version of it, here in the form of a card, made by an adult (myself). Perhaps this is what I am going to make with my oldest primary group in our Christmas lesson. If we do, I will let you know how it goes. That would be, indeed, a nice follow-up and an extension of our experiments. We’ll see. In the meantime:

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Happy teaching!

The diary of a desperate teacher: young kids and ‘advanced’ grammar: 5 activities

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The background: a group of 7-8-9-year-olds, who have been learning English for a number of years (some of them even for 5+ years), in the EFL context, currently in the A2 level and supposed to deal with the grammar structures that are quite advanced for their age and the current level of cognitive development. Plus an experienced teacher, ready for a challenge.

The challenge: practice activities that do focus on the target language but in the context appropriate for YL (sadly, quite a few of those that we have in our coursebook are just junior or even adult practice activities with kiddies characters’ names, we use them but there is very little joy, our last resort).

How to use this post: read the description of the types of activities and then look at the handouts we did use in class, with my A2 kids while in the unit on the zero conditional.

Type #1: Something is wrong here

This is usually the first practice activity with a new structure as this type of an exercise does not require any real knowledge of the grammar structure. Its main aim is the extended exposure to the structure that is our target language. The students are to read the sentences and find the problems and sort them out. These are usually the logical inconsistencies and they can be corrected in many different ways. It is an open ended activity. According to my kids, some of the sentences contain no issues as, apparently, ‘If you run in the hallway, the teacher runs with you’ is exactly what happens in their school. LOL.

This activity can be follwed up with a quick memory game in which the kids word in pairs and try to recreate the original sentences with only some hints from their partner. For example, student A calls out ‘ice-cream, the sun’ and student B tries to produce the full sentence.

Type #2: Find a mistake

This type of an activity is a good idea because it helps the kids develop the linguistic awareness in the very limited area of the chosen and practised grammar structure. We have found those very useful since the kids are slowly becoming aware of the structure and they are slowly being introduced to looking at grammar in a more adult way.

The handout is basically a set of sentences, with some grammar mistakes. In the sample sentences you can see in my handouts, these can be: missing words, additional words, incorrect froms.

The instructions are super simple, the kids work together or individually (depending on how independent your kids are) and underline and correct the mistakes. In this and in the previous activity, my students adore taking colourful markers and play the teacher here, treating these as my tests which they correct and give back to me. With marks that are not necessarily the best one.

Type #3 Your ideas!

This kind of an activity gives the kids even a greater opportunity to produce personalised sentences and to express themselves. It is entirely open-ended especially that the kids also have a chance to choose the sentences which they want to complete. In the handout available, there are ten sentences in total and the students were asked to complete five they like most.

The kids complete the sentences in any way that is true for them. In the follow-up stage, they work in pairs, read their sentences to their partner and explain why. The most important part of is the written sentence with a strong focus on the TL but this is only the springboard to a lot more productive task. If there is time, the students can change partners and to produce a lot more language. Another opportunity is to keep the handouts and ask the kids to complete the remaining five sentences in the following lesson and to repeat the pairwork, with the same or with different partners.

Type #4 Caption this!

This is a slightly more productive task, but still a very open-ended one. The kids are required to create their own captions to the images provided and, of course, the selection of the images and the language used has to be relevant to the topic of the lesson.

It can be set up in (at least) two ways: either at the desks with the students working together and writing the captions which we compare in the feedback session or with the images displayed on separate pieces of A4, with one image per page, which are circulated in the classroom and with the new ideas being added by the students as we go along.

If there are appropriate conditions in the school, the kids can also be invited to walk around the school, look at the visuals and add their ideas to the visuals that they like most. This offers more freedom as it is not a given that they will write something under all of the visuals (unlike in the activity when the cards are circulated when we are sitting) but this set-up requires proper stations (aka any horizontal working space which allows for comfortable writing) as the young kids might struggle with writing on the posters displayed on the walls.

The visuals can be very specific or, like in our handout, they can simply help to narrow down the topic.

Type # 5 Role-play starters

First of all, kids prepare the conversation starters. They can work in pairs or individually and they write one sentence for a specific situation (see the handouts). Ideally this is done in the end of a lesson. The teacher monitors, encourages and suggests. The kids are put in pairs, they read the sentences to each other and choose the funniest ones or the most interesting ones. The teacher collects the handouts.

For the following lesson, the teacher cuts up the sentences and divides them into sets. It does not quite matter if a set has more than one situation of the same type. The idea is that the kids will work with a set of random sentences.

Kids work in pairs. Student A takes out a sentence and reads out the situation. Then they start the role-play in which the sentence should be included. Student B reacts, as appropriate. Then they swap and student B takes out one of the cards and starts a conversation.

And this is, more or less, how we roll, me, basically, throwing things at the walls and see if it sticks. So far it has. Then, onto the next one. Although, of course, we will have to wait and see about the long-term results.

Bonus tasks. A grammar-focused project: How we became scientists

These particular activites are very specific to the particular topic or the target langauge here and they will not be easily transfered into other contexts and topics. However, they were very effective and they did help us practise the target language and for that reason I am including them here.

We have already practised a lot and this handout was set a homework task. I was very open-minded (or almost very reckless) about the mode of completing this tasks. The kids were asked to complete the handout but, because they asked, I also allowed them to complete the questions with mistakes (which we would correct later), in Russian or just to think about these situations. The only thing I had to highlight was for them not to do these experiments at home.

I had to choose the experiements following a few criteria (something we can do in class, something that does not involve any fire or potentially dangerous materials if the kids decided to do them again at home, something that will not involve any langauge or structures that are too advanced for us) and to prepare the materials and the classroom set-up, too, with all the desks in a semi-circle and a table in the middle.

In the following lesson, we went step by step, using the following framework

  • the hypothesis and the ideas from kids, introducing some of the key vocabulary, mostly verbs
  • doing the experiments, highlighting the results, producing the key structure
  • asking additional questions and follow-up questions, letting the kids play, when appropriate ie with spinning the eggs or mixing the water etc.

Some of the experiments have been completed in the same lesson (skittles) and some of them will be completed and finalised in the following lesson (we have used the lemon juice to write and in the following lesson we will see if these letters show after we have ironed them).

Despite the fact that the experiments meant a lot of work for me, I am very happy with the outcomes because we did manage to create an almost perfect context for the target language and the students really did produce a lot of language. I might not do it in every unit but it was definitely worth it.

Happy teaching!

Crumbs #22 The Big Story Competition

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When you suddenly notice how the everyday is beautiful. The metro station Universitet

Ingredients

  • A group of teenagers or pre-teens
  • Paper and pen
  • The theme of the story. We are preparing for the Cambridge exams and so we used pictures and the exam format of the story writing in KET (three pictures) and the exam format of the story writing in PET (the opening or the final sentence).

Procedures

  • We start with some warming-up activities and they depend mostly on the coursebook and the curriculum but they all they have one thing in common – they help the kids get ready and get in the mode for the proper writing task.
  • Some of the potential exercises include: talking about the story, generating vocabulary to support the weaker students or less creative students, see the post here (especially Sstep 2: Two crazy words) or the following two
  • One-line stories
  • Make it better: students start with a set of simple sentences and work in pairs or individually, trying to develop it in a few rounds. The students can either work on the same handout using a set of colourful pens (a different colour for each round) or a few copies of the same handout. It can be followed up with a reading session and choosing the most interesting sentences of all but it is not quite necessary to include one more competitive element. The number of rounds can be limited or extended, depending on the age and level of the students.
  • We include ‘The Thinking Time‘ to give the students a chance to imagine their story and make the necessary decisions. These are the questions which they might be asked to consider:
  • Everyone can choose their own pen name, too.
  • I make it more formal by announing that we are going to choose the best story and that I am going to ask my colleagues to help me.
  • The students start writing, the teacher monitors and I help out with vocabulary when necessary.
  • There is not one time slot or the number of words required. We are practising in the exam format but without too many limitations at this point.
  • Afterwards, we type the stories up and share them with our BKC teachers who vote for the one they like best. I don’t correct any mistakes at this point.
  • I prepare diplomas of participation for all the students and one more for the winner and there is a reward (food as this is the one hobby that we all share, me and the students). We have a ceremony that involves a speech from the teacher, applause for everyone and for the winner and eating because they all share the reward. Our winner is the master of ceremonies of the day.
  • The final stage is the error correction. In the original handwritten copies I underline a few mistakes that the kids correct later on. So far, these have been mostly in the area of spelling, tenses or the general style.

Why we like

  • The students get really involved in the writing process and looking at how they write away, it is really difficult to believe that teenagers don’t like writing, that they are not motivated or that they are not creative at all.
  • If carefully scaffolded, it is an activity that all the students can complete and it is very mixed-ability-groups-friendly. Since there is not word limit, everyone writes as much as they can and want. The last time we did it, using the PET format with 100 words as the limit, I received entries of about 70 words but also entries of 400 words.
  • It is an amazing opportunity for the students to express themselves. They can choose the storyline, the genre and the style. This year they produced a horror story, a love story, a post-modernist short story and a diary entry, among others. We have been working together for at least two years (and for about six with some of them) and yet, I was still surprised that they can write like that. Because they can and they are amazing kids although this is not some kind of a writing-obsessed and literature-obsessed group (unlike their teacher) but a bunch of typical teenagers: always tired, always under-slept, who’d always choose ‘no homework’ over ‘homework, please’ and ‘no test’ over ‘test, please’ and so on. And yet.
  • This time round I have decided to include the most beautiful comment that each story got from the readers and, in a way, it started to resemble the categories that we have at different film festivals, although, to be fair, they can be quite random as they are generated by the readers, such as ‘your dreams will come true award’, ‘I can’t believe a child has written it’ or ‘A kind heart’. And my students really liked it and were touched by that.

P.S. I would love to share these stories here but some of my students keep them secret even from their parents. Their stories and their copyrights. So be it.

Happy teaching!

Wordwall: Top 10 Favourite Activities

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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:

a) Colourful semantics in EFL?

b) The Invisible Student and why you might want to have one

c) The first VYL lesson Survival Kit

d) A to Z of homework for very young learners

e) All you need is a picture

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).

Here we go (in no particular order):

  • Are you scared of?

Materials: Random cards, for example ‘Are you scared of…?‘

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

  • Tell me about

Materials: Open the box, for example Tell me about this picture (seasons #2)

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).

  • What’s this? Stencils

Materials: Flashcards, double-sided, for example Secret animals. What’s this?

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 one Superminds 5, Read and choose

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.

Works well with: primary, individual and groups

  • Advanced riddles aka Turn your back

Materials: Random cards, for example Transport Revision.

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.

  • Song support

Materials: Match, for example Pete the Cat, Rocking in my school shoes or As quiet as a mouse

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.

  • Memory Game

Materials: Match, for example I am going to the supermarket. I am going to buy bread or any other matching activity consisting of two components.

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.

Works well with: primary, individual or groups

  • Just questions

Materials: Flashcards or random cards, with full questions or prompts.

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

  • Yes / No

Materials: Radom cards or flashcards for example ‘She’s / He’s wearing’

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.

Hence the survey.

Crumbs #21 ‘Write 5 words’ aka a vocabulary game for lazy teachers

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Here is a pumpkin flower: simple and unexpectedly beautiful, just like this game.

Ingredients

  • A piece of paper and something to write with
  • For younger students – somewhere to keep the paper safe and secret i.e. inside a coursebook
  • Imagination
  • The whiteboard to put the target language on

Procedures

  • Kids work individually, keeping their cards secret from their friends but if the game is played for the first time, they can work in pairs, this will be their natural support and the source of creativity because two heads are better than one.
  • Teacher ask the students to write numbers from 1 to 5, in a column. When they are ready, teacher asks the kids to write 5 words, one at number 1, one at number 2, etc. Teacher monitors and prepares her/his own set to use in modelling. It might be also a good idea to write a few examples on the board although these are just for modelling and they will not be used in the real game. The target structures should also be displayed on the board.
  • Teacher demonstrates how to play the game – she / he describes the first word on her / his list for the whole class to guess. It might be necessary to play a few rounds with the whole class, with the teacher leading the game or with one of the strongest students leading the game.
  • The game can be played until all the words are described and guess OR for as long as there is time.
  • Important: It is absolutely necessary to carefully combine the vocabulary and the target structure to make sure that the set is used naturally and that it matches the context, too. Some of the examples of the activities we used below
  • Places in the city (ie bank, post office, school) + I can see…I can hear…I can smell…Where am I?
  • Professions + I am going to work, I am going to do…Who am I?
  • Animals + It is big / small, It can run / fly / swim, It has got…
  • Body parts + I need it / them when I write, swim, play
  • Objects + passive voice ie It is made of…, It is used for…
  • Personal characteristics + Present Simple, 3rd singular, This person always does something, This person never does something

Why we like it

  • The biggest advantage of the game is that it can be adapted to almost any set of vocabulary and any structure.
  • It can be used with the lower-level and the higher-level groups, with the younger and the older students.
  • The game requires no preparation for the teacher and it is SS-generated which means that it is personalised and motivating for the kids to play.
  • It is a perfect controlled practice activity as the kids are using the target langauge and the target vocabulary.
  • It is a guessing game and because of that it is both achievable and challenging.
  • With the younger kids we play the game of 5, with the older ones we usually prepare 10 words.

Happy teaching!

Crumbs #20 Тетрадка Love*)

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Or about my favourite resource in this academic year, hands down.

Ingredients

  • A notebook for each student and a box to keep all the class notebooks. These notebooks don’t travel home, they live in the classroom.
  • Some writing materials: pencils, markers, crayons.

Why we love it

  • For all of the students in all the groups where I introduced notebooks (and that’s everybody, pre-primary, primary, juniors and teens, apart from my pre-primary level 1 and 2, who are still only 3 and 4 years old, they are going to get theirs a bit later in the year), this has become a surprisingly wonderful way to express their personality and to become even more present in the classroom. When I gave these out, many of my students of all ages were inquiring what they should write on the front page or on the cover page. I suppose it is because there might be some specific regulations at their schools regarding what needs to be and what can be written there. When I just shrugged my arms and said ‘I have no idea. It is your notebook. Write what you want‘, many of them looked at me in disbelief and then started to write some elaborate names in Russian or some made-up names and nicknames or just their names, in a variety of fonts and styles.
  • Equally, the format of the note-taking is highly personalised, too. There are certain activities that we use these notes for (see below) and sometimes they involve a structure or a format which is the same to everyone but, at the same time, the kids are in charge as regards the choice of the writing materials, colours or the ratio between text and the drawings.
  • It is the students’ personal space in the classroom, too. We share what we have written but I hardly ever look into those notes, unless they ask me to or unless they need help with some vocabulary or structures. Since this is a new project and since I am just developing it and discovering its potential and its potholes, I have just realised that I will have to include some kind of delayed error correction in the process, for instance by reading the entries and contributions to fish out some of the spelling or grammar mistakes.
  • It give the students an opportunity to write and to read more.
  • It is an opportunity to keep all the notes and all the ideas in one place and to go back to them, to review, to remember, to reminisce or to recycle.
  • Notebooks for the high level students (C1) are our way of breaking into the least favourite skills ie writing. After we have finished a receptive skill task such as exam reading and exam listening, we follow it up with a 50-word (plus) summary in the notebooks, steering away from any specific genre or format, just simple note-taking that now compliment our regular ‘What do you think?’ speaking sessions. We go back to these notes in the following lessons, to check whether our views have changed in any way, whether they have developed but also, very importantly, to edit and to improve, when possible.
  • Notebooks for juniors (B1) have been used in a variety of ways related to the vocabulary we study. First of all, they are the opportunity for the students to reflect on the vocabulary they have learnt. At the end of the unit, we look at all the phrases, structures and words and categorise them. The categorise we use change all the time and have included the following: easy words and difficult words, useful words and not-so-useful words, interesting words and not-so-interesting words and I am hoping to add more to this list. In the future I would also like the kids to use their own categories in the future. This kind of an activity also involves a discussion and sharing the rationale for our choices (and that is my favourite part of the whole activity). We use the notebooks also to work on the additional vocabulary, not included in the coursebook but still worth knowing. Sometimes we create the lists ourselves (ie while describing the objects, we also revised a list of materials) or we work on the lists that I prepare (ie a few weather idioms that we discussed while going through the topic of ‘extreme weather’). Last but not least, this is also where we take note of the emergent language, in the section at the end of the notebook called ‘Our special words’. I keep track of these on the whiteboard (the left margin) but I encourage the students to take a note of these (or some of these) in their notebooks.
  • Notebooks for primary (A2) are probably the most multi-functional among all the age groups. First of all, we use them to complete our portfolio tasks that are included in our coursebooks, one task for every two units. For these, each student gets a pre-prepared template, a notebook-page size, which they glue in and then use for whichever task we have such as the personal file (used in an interview) or the list of the adjectives to describe animals (used later in Our Big Animal Quiz) and so on. We use it also to personalise the vocabulary that we learn, for example after we have learnt the jungle vocabulary, the kids were asked to arrange all the new words in the order of their own preference, number 1 being their favourite word, number 9 being their least favourite. As with the older students, we later talked about the reasons for our arrangements. Last but not least, we use the notebooks to prepare for any student-generated games that we play. They are especially useful in all the guessing games and are much better than any small cars because the notebooks are not transparent and, because of their format, they help the kids to keep their secret words really secret. You can find out more about this game here.
  • Notebooks for pre-primary (pre-A1) is a serious step towards developing reading and writing skills. Now, I am not sure whether it is going to fit all the pre-primary classes (because some children are not ready and some programme do not even include any literacy elements) but this is what works for us. My students are 5 and 6 at this point and we have been doing a lot of literacy activities for about a year now. We started relatively early simply because the kids showed interest in the written word and I realised they were ready. We went slowly but with great results and I can safely say that now it is their favourite part of the lesson. Last year we did a lot of writing on the laminated erasable pages, with whiteboard markers, this year we moved on to notebooks. We use the notebooks to copy the words that we learn, in two or three batches, with only four or five words per lesson, not to overwhelm the kids. Kids usually choose to add little drawings to these so our notebooks are slowly becoming picture dictionaries. Our notebooks are also used in pairwork, for example in a survey on the food we like and we don’t like in which the students used a pre-prepared chart (printed, cut out and glued in by the teacher) to interview their partners and to ‘take notes’ in the form of pluses and minues. I found out that the notebooks really help to set-up and to run a pair-work activity. The notebooks are also going to help us to maintain continuity with the longer-term projects such as the reading of a phonics story such as ‘A fat cat on the mat’ by Usborne and all the related activities. They will be completed over a series of lessons but thanks to the notebooks we will be able to get back to them and to revise in a more SS-centred way. Or so I am hoping.
  • There is no other way of putting it is: it is a proper Notebook Love (or Тетрадка Love) and it is almost ridiculous that such a tiny and irrelevant thing, at RUB 40 a piece (about 50 cents) could have such an impact on our lessons with its potential for creativity, reflection, personalisation…And, mind you, it’s been only two months. Something tells me, the best is yet to come.

Happy teaching!

P.S. Of course I have forgotten to take proper photos in the classroom, of all the cool things in our notebooks. I will try to make up for it, at one point. For now, just some cool notebooks that are kicking about the house.

I did not ask them to write my name here. I feel honoured they decided to include me here))

*) Тетрадка – a dimunitive of the word тетрадь (notebook)

A group = a community. Extra work or a worthwhile time investment?

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‘Like a box of markers…’

If you don’t have a lot of time, I will give you the answer straight away: the latter.

If you are a teacher who thinks that on entering the classroom, you are going to focus only on teaching a foreign language, then I have to warn you – if you proceed, you might put yourself in danger of getting inspired or getting terribly annoyed because I will do my best to convince you that a teacher of English is also a community leader, and not only in case of the Young Learners groups.

The tiger

Where this post started: Story #1

My pre-school museum group, a lesson on Henri Rousseau and tigers coming out of the shadows, the main craft activity: an orange finger paint handprint and a black marker to help make this handprint look like a tiger. Plus the jungle, the way the kids see it.

When I demonstrate, the kids are curious and, at the same time, disbelieving that I would do just that: splash the orange blob, smear it on the page, dip my hand it in and then press it onto a pristine A4 piece of paper. With a smile.

As soon as they confirm that I want them to do exactly THAT, a little voice on my left says ‘I am not gonna do that‘ (‘Я не буду‘) but, simultaneously, there is a little hand, in front of me, reaching out, to get to be the first one to get dirty. We go one by one, ‘In the paint. Up. Press. Up. Clean’ and all the girls, cautiously get involved. The Я-не-буду is the last one to go but when it is finally her turn and when she has to make a decision (because participation is optional and I have already decided that if the finger paints are a no-go, there are crayons as the plan B), she is still thinking but she is also pulling up her sleve and reaching out.

Why? Because by now, she has seen it happen five times (one teacher and four friends, because at this point, they are already friends, although it is only the sixth lesson together) and this gave her the courage she needed and the courage she could not find in herself. ‘In the paint. Up. Press. Up. Clean!’

Kind of Halloween

Where this post started: Story #2

My primary kids, a week when we have a trial student in two lessons. The new student is a perfect example of a square peg in a round hole – younger, quieter, not confirmed level of English yet (sigh) and, of course, not familiar with the kids, the teacher or the routine. Or our silly jokes. He stands out, this boy. I support him, of course, and lead him through the lesson but I also am totally engrossed in observing the group. Because, oh my god, it is a show.

Or maybe it is not a show at all. Or the most boring kind of a show. Because nothing happens, the group just accepts him. If you watch closely enough, you can spot an eyebrow raised, here and there (he really does stand out), but other than that – nothing.

My group, they are just regular kids. I mean, they are amazing, every single one of them but not your typical ‘little angels’. These are creative, very loud, with their own opinions and ideas (which they absolutely MUST share) and, as it turns out, they are also very open-minded. Each of them individually and as a group.

Open-minded to decide, without any negotiations or prompts from the teacher, that this new student (even though he is as if from another story) is there for a reason (although they don’t know it) and since he is, he will be included and taken for ‘one of us’ as much as it is possible. I am proud of them.

Post-test feedback

Where this post started: Story #3

My teens and just a regular lesson but because the other two stories happened in the same week, I am observing these ones, too, with more attention to the group vibe. They are great, too! In a teen way.

Simultaneously, they support each other and they mock each other. They applaud when someone does something special or when someone does ‘something special’, genuine praise and gentle mockery. It is a lovely moment, every single time. They do not forget to roll their eyes every time I ask them to move around and to regroup and sit with someone who is not their bestie but they do it, and they do work together, in any random set-up. They pick up different phrases from each other so now everyone says ‘Вкусняшка‘ (‘Yummy’) in the most sarcastic of ways when I announce a test or a serious task for homework. And they, too, feel comfortable enough to share ideas and stories about a good day at school or about a bad day at school.

A new approach to the final activity: ‘Let’s create’

How to build a group? Or about the effective EFL group leadership.

  • Whether it is a brand new group or ‘an old group’ but with a few new members, make sure you create opportunities for them to mingle and work in different combinations, pairs, teams, mini-groups. This will not only create an opportunity for you to observe how they work with different partners (also good: you can find the optimal set-up) but they will be given a chance to work together and make friends or, at least, break the ice and find out that the other person is cool / normal and / or ‘someone like you’ in one way or another.
  • Think of the class rules. The older students can be involved in creating the class contract, the younger ones get their first set from the teacher since usually their level is too low (unless you want to do it in their L1, which can also be an option). In my classroom (or classrooms), we have had the same set of rules for a few years now, those introduced when the kids were still in the first year of pimary or even in pre-primary: ‘I listen to the teacher’, ‘I sit nicely’, ‘I raise my hand’, ‘Russian is beautiful but I speak English here’, all accompanied by visuals and gestures. Last year, when I primary grew up and became way too talkative, we had to add one more ‘When I speak, people listen. When people speak, I listen’. Again, it is a rule applicable in all the age groups. We only needed to specify that ‘people’ applies to the teacher and the kids (yes, it was all on the first poster, a list of the names of those who match the definition of ‘people’ here:-)
  • Play games. Again, these are great for many different linguistic reasons (language practice, introduction, revision etc) but it is also one of the elements that helps the group gel. First of all, on a large scale, because these games will be a part of our pool of games and they will contribute to creating the traditions of our community (see below). Second of all, because they will give the teams a common goal for a part of a lesson and the battle to win it will be another unifying element
  • Make sure you include something to balance the competitive element. A huge part of the games that we play in class promote competition. While this is good, because it motivates the students to participate and, it helps them learn to win and to lose, it is also good to remember that the kids will need an opportunity to be involved in activities that promote cooperation and collaboration. We don’t always need to split into winners and losers (especially not when pre-schoolers are involved). Some games can be played over a series of lessons, in the same teams, accumulating the points over the entire month. Plus, even if the game is competitive and we have a winner (or winners) and non-winners, the easiest thing to do is to encourage the kids to shake hands and congratulate each other. ‘Good game!’
  • Celebrate. Sure, we are going to have a Halloween Lesson or a Christmas Lesson because these are the part of the culture that we expose our students, too, but again, they will go towards the things we do together. We have the tradition of ‘the food for the brain’ aka something sweet on the test day, ‘the pizza day’ at the end of the academic year and random ‘eating together’ with my youngest students, on random days when fancy takes us, celebrating nothing special. So that takes us to the other point, closely connected with celebrations and that is Food. (Caution: there are a few ground rules here, though: parents pre-approved food, paper plates, tissues and hands washed).
  • Create and cherish the group’s traditions, the official ones like the tests and the follow-up reports, the serious ones like ‘the pizza day’ or the silly and the seemingly insignificant ones, like the first activity of the lesson and the last activity of the lesson, keeping the notebooks, a lesson with parents once in a while, a long-term craft project…It might be easier with the younger kids because we are more used to the idea of a routine framework that we follow from lesson to lesson but it is something that is worth keeping an eye on, developing and celebrating with primary and teenagers.
  • Be fair. It is quite likely that a teacher will have her/his favourite and her / his less favourite students. That’s life but it can never show. Everyone is treated in the same way, with the same level of kindness, with the same amount of individual attention and praise.
  • Be the model of behaviour, not only the model of English because the students pick up on that, without us realising that it is happening. I had my own moment of revelation when I started asking the kids to take turns in being the teacher in the homework check. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t do my homework’, said one of the students. ‘It’s ok. We can do it together now. Exercise 2, number 3? Can you try?’, said the student-teacher on the day. ‘Wow!’, I thought, ‘Where did they get that….Oh.’
  • Let them take over, in some areas at least, from time to time. That will be beneficial for the language production (We want more!:-) but it will also help them become responsible for the lesson as they participate in the decision making process and for the classroom, too. A few years ago I had a pleasure of taking part in a wonderful session by Katherine Bilsborough ‘More Democracy in the Classroom’ which highlighted ten areas in which students can be given the opportunity to have a say and since then I have been incorportating them in my lessons, with all age groups. One day, I will get down to writing a post on that, too.
  • Befriend the parents because they are a very important element of the YL group. ‘Befriend’ here translates as: keep them on the loop, inform, explain, give feedback, ask for feedback, share the aims…
  • Ask for the kids’ opinion, not only about the content of the lesson but also about the lesson, the coursebook, the activities, the test…This will be the valuable feedback that will help you improve the experience for everyone but you will also show the students that their views matter.
  • Breathe! Rome was not built in a day and creating a community will also take time. But it is definitely worth it!
After week 1 of the summer camp

Happy teaching!