Of course! You can hear kids blabbing in the hallway. To their mums, dads, nannies, friends, school’s security guards, all these never-ending stories of kindergarten adventures, scraps with siblings, birthday parties, visits from gran, new toys, rain in the playground, teeth lost, dead grasshoppers found…
They do it in Russian, of course, but that just proves that they are capable of discourse and that we, teachers, cannot really use the excuse of their age to justify all the one- word exchanges in the classroom.
Of course, they are already fluent users of Russian so they will be able to produce lots more, naturally but this post is not about catching up with the L1 but about what is feasible for the pre-primary students, pre-A1 level with the total of 90 or 120 minutes of exposure to the English language. More than just single word utterances.
I present to you… (drum roll): A discourse clock.
The tool itself is neither very complex or especially revolutionary. It is a just a neater and a more VYL-friendly toy which was created to support the kids in producing the language.
How to?
We play a game of riddles
Teacher demonstrates: moving the hands around the clock and producing sentences about a secret animal, from 12 o’clock to 12 o’clock. Kids guess the animal.
Kids take turns to make sentences about their secret animal for the group to guess.
Why we like it?
Moving the hands around makes this taks a little bit more kinaesthetic and it helps to structure the whole discourse by sequencing it and by highlighting all the topics to mention. The clock hands never stop half-way through. They have to make a full circle and they can only make a full circle when the language is produced.
The icons offer the visual support for the students and they represent all the language that they should know. But, apart from working as ‘visual reminders’, they can also be used by kids to ask for teacher’s help, by pointing at the word they need to use, without having to resort to their L1.
It is ridiculously easy to adapt to different topics and levels of challenge. The most basic animal clock can only include ‘big/small’ and ‘colours’ and more areas can be added to it as the kids progress through the unit or the course.
It works in the classroom and online.
Eventually, the clock becomes unnecessary and the kids are ready to produce longer stretches of discourse without it.
If you are interested in the topic of language production in pre-schooler, make sure you check out the posts on pairwork in pre-school, using songs, activities based on developing cognitive skills and Colourful Semantics in EFL.
Go to Make Beliefs Comix website (https://www.makebeliefscomix.com)
Click Create Your Comix and just create. There is a range of characters, balloons, prompts, objects, masks and backgrounds…
Save, print, send to your email and share with your students to read at home.
Use it in class in the following lesson. The easiest, no preparation tasks might be simple questions (ie What did the unicorn do? Where did the unicorn go? What was your favourite place? Where would you like to go?) but there is a lot more that can be done.
We loved it because…
We can focus on practicing what we are learning at the moment and the teacher include all the tricky phrases and the words that no one likes and no one remembers.
We can make it as easy or as difficult and as long or as short as we want.
We can print it, save it on the desktop or send it via email.
We can include our names, our class puppets, jokes and stories and because it is about us, we want to read it.
We finally like to read!
P.S. I tried to make it in class, with my individual students, too but it was too time-consuming. Perhaps there is some potential for students creating their comix on their own, at home but that is something to do in the future.
P.P.S. Make Beliefs Comix has a lot more to offer. Make sure you check out the other bits, too.
Kids in the online classroom: how to survive the transition.
Dear
teacher!
The
world sucks at the moment, oh yes, it does. Let’s just face it.
If,
like me, you have always considered yourself a dinosaur teacher, who adores
paper, flashcards, realia, toys, little cards, magic wands, running around,
crayons, craft and storytelling and if, like me, you have done your best to
stay away from technology in your classroom (well, apart from youtube,
perhaps), you are not in the best of moods now.
However,
here is some good news. First and foremost, you are a teacher and, I bet you,
you are a great teacher. A resourceful teacher, a creative teacher, a dedicated
teacher. A teacher who works hard to develop and get better and better and
better. A teacher who is greeted with smiles and cheers by the students.
Dear
teacher, you are going to be just fine and you are going to rock your lessons
even in the virtual world. This is just the beginning of this journey and as we
proceed, from week to week and from lesson to lesson, we are going to be
getting better and everything that is not perfect (yet) should be considered
hiccups and hiccups only. Not the end of the world.
I
am not a great expert at teaching online. Not yet. Never wanted to be, either.
But I will turn this horrible year into an opportunity to take the bull by the
horns and to raise and shine.
Then, eventually, I will be back in my real classroom because this is where I belong. The sooner the better. In the meantime, however, I am just going to share with you some of the things that can be done in our online young learners lessons. Today: flashcards.
Scenario A: you have your own flashcards (from the bookshop, handmade, printed and/or printed and coloured-in from one of the websites).
Yes,
yes, we are going to be developing technologically and we will be doing anyway
but does it mean that we have to give up on the real flashcards? No, absolutely
not. You can still use them while online.
Guessing game: it will have to be you versus the student or the
whole class. When you are leading the game, hold the flashcards, as usual, and
describe or mime the word. When it is the students’ turn, chose the flashcard
without looking and bring it closer to the camera for the students to describe
for you. For a more dramatic effect you can also close your eyes😊
Guessing game B: revise all the cards, repeat the more challenging
words, too. Put the cards in a box or on the table, without looking at it.
Encourage the kids to guess what it is, try guessing yourself, too. After a few
seconds, say ‘Let’s check’ and uncover the card. Congratulate the students who
guessed it.
Slow reveal: You can still use the funky envelope but your camera
is your best friend here. What’s hidden – stays hidden but what slowly emerges
from the left of right or top or bottom…is a lot of fun.
Left and right: works in the classroom, works online. Get a flashcard
in your left hand, get another one in your right hand. When the hand is up, the
students have to say the word.
Topsy-turvy: works in the classroom, works online. Put two
flashcards back to back, turn them over in your hands a few times. When the
students see the card, they say the word.
I can’t read: get a set of flashcards and a set of word cards (even easier to home-make these). Show the kids the flashcard and put a word card on it. Ask the kids to read the words and tell you if these match. To make it even more challenging and more fun you can create double-sided word cards (a regular word and a scrambled-up word). Put up the flashcard, add the scrambled-up word, ask the kids to read it, write it unscrambled in their notebooks and check immediately.
Scenario B: Your students can print their own flashcards at home
That
is the optimal solution because then you can basically play any of the games
that you have used so far in the classroom.
My bus is green: everyone colours their own cards and the variety can
be used in different games a) to compare the buses b) to play a guessing game (My secret bus is
green) c) to play a memory game after a
few lessons, with the teacher taking notes secretly and then creating a
worksheet or just making sentences ‘This bus is green’ ‘It is Max’s bus’
My favourite colours: ask the kids to choose one, two or three favourite colours, foods or words. First teacher, then students in turns, show one of their cards and say ‘I like pizza’. The other students who have chosen the same card, respond ‘Me, too’. Then, the students take turns to make their own sentences. It can also be played with three least favourite words.
Scenario C: The kids don’t have a printer at home
Draw your own: In a typical unit we usually get 8 – 10 words.
Setting it all as homework will be a lot of drawing but after the first lesson,
the kids can choose three favourite words to draw and during the homework check
they will say what they have prepared and describe the words. During the second
lesson, they can be asked to create three more words and then three more. This
way you will not only guarantee a fun and varied homework and homework check
but after the three lessons, each child will have a set of beautiful,
personalized cards to play with in class and at home (which at this point in
the game is the same place😊
Wordcards:
same procedure but much easier to prepare but still, all the games can be
played nonetheless. If your students are pre-primary and cannot write yet, you
can make letter cards, instead of wordcards and in all the games you can focus
on the first letter/sound.
Scenario D: The teacher wants to go high-tech
That solution is actually quite tempting and there are a few ways of going about that.
Make your own animated powerpoint, words appearing and disappearing
Use quizlet.com. Whatever you create for your classes you can later share with kids and have them practise lots and lots at home
Use the videos available on youtube to introduce and practice vocabulary, for example English Singsing, Fun Kids English, WOW English TV, Dream English Kids, Maple Leaf Learning
Use Starters/Movers/Flyers Picture Wordlists. These are beautiful and can be downloaded for free.
Use the whiteboard and all its options on zoom.us (this will be a separate post, when I either master that option or ask my Teach Tech Guru to write a post).
PS Do take it easy and don’t try to become an online expert overnight. Start with whatever is less complicated, for you and for your students and then raise the level of challenge when everyone is ready for it.
Remember that variety is our favourite word anyway so mix and match! And have fun!
P.S. Everything is going to be alright. Eventually. Tudo vai dar certo. Wszystko będzie dobrze. Все будет хорошо.
Without any lengthy
introduction, here are some things that you might want to get ready to help you
create magic and to make sure that your EFL Kingdom is as amazing online as it
is in the real world.
You will need…
….a way of managing the group, starting and finishing an activity
It is not quite about a
rewards chart. First of all, not everyone is a fan of these (but that is a
topic for another conversation). Second of all, you might not even need it with
some groups. My kids have, for example, have grown out of it. They know what is
expected of them and I can proudly say that this kind of external motivation is
no longer necessary in their case. And, in case you still need it, Class Dojo
will come to the rescue here.
….a way of rewarding your students.
What I was thinking
about, however, was a way of showing my appreciation for their efforts, hard
work and creativity. I can still smile, I can still clap my hands, I can show
thumbs up or give a virtual high five.
But, to make it more fun, you can also use a sound machine, with different sound effects and if you don’t have one, you can download your favourite sounds, free of charge, from one of the sound libraries, for example, zapsplat.com and use the sound of the cheering crowd to praise them or the sound of a crocodile growling to express your lack of approval in a fun way.
Some of the off-line tricks will still work here, 123 eyes on me or clapping your hands (to get their attention). As a virtual teacher you will also have the power of muting your students’ microphones to ensure that no one else is speaking but you (or, rather, that they can hear nothing else but you) but it still would be good to reinforce that with some visuals, too.
For that reason, I have prepared some road signs that we are going to use in our virtual class. They are pretty much universal around the world; the kids know them very well and you may have used them in the real classroom already. It’s best to start with a few basic ones, for example: Stop and Go, adding more with more specific symbols.
…a class puppet
If you have used one in
the real classroom, it will be good to invite it into the virtual world, too,
even if the kids will not be able to hug it or to play with it. Even if you
won’t be able to throw it and catch it in the Q&A session, like we do with
our Flying Cow. It is good to have it because it will help you preserve the
continuity and, especially in case of the younger children, it can be very
useful with getting their attention or giving instructions (‘Let’s listen to
Teddy’)
Saying hello and
goodbye to your puppet will also give the lesson a nice frame. Not to mention
that this can also be a perfect opportunity to involve the kids. They are at
home, so bringing their favourite toy to class is not going to be a problem
and, once they get used to it, they can start taking turns in leading the
hellos / goodbyes with their puppets.
So if you haven’t been using a puppet yet, get one asap!
…a set of flashcards.
In the classroom it ss super easy. The set simple comes with the coursebook and you can just use it, adding a few extras that the coursebooks authors have not thought of.
You can share the cards with your students’ parents, to print, colour and cut up and this way, each student will have a set during the lesson. Learn Kids from British Council has the basic sets if you don’t want to make your own set.
However, that option
might not be valid for all the parents as they simply might not have the
printer at home.
Another option is to make your own set with Quizlet and the advantages are that first you will be able to use it in class to present and practise the language but you can also share it with your students and they can play with it, later.
If you use Super Simple Songs with your students, don’t forget to check out their flashcards, too. They have a set of beautiful cards for every song! You can download and print them, of course, but you can also use the pdf version during the lesson in your virtual classroom. https://supersimple.com/content-type/flashcards/
Last but not least, if you can, have a set of real flashcards, too. They can come in very handy, too!
…some ideas to get the kids out of their seats.
Whether they are at
school already or only at kindergarten, our students are children and will need
a mixture of settlers and stirrers that will help them remain focused and
involved throughout the lesson.
You can play:
Abracadabra! In the classroom we do it with a magic wand but the good thing is that any (yes, any) pencil can easily become a magic wand! Abracadabra, 1..2..3..You are…a cat, a happy cat, a hungry monster, sleeping, flying… You don’t even need to get up for that!
Go to the Gym. Ask the kids to stand up, move the chair away and pretend that you are working out at the gym. Raise your arms… Wave your arms… Touch your knees… Touch your toes… Turn around…
Show me something green! Ask the kids to stand up and bring something green, yellow, pink, yellow and pink and show it to everyone else. You can ask ‘What colour is it?’ for all the kids to chorally answer ‘It’s green’
Touch your nose. A very easy game, if the students know body parts. It can be later extended by adding other verbs such as move, shake, clap, dance and freeze. In the real classroom we play it with the dice where 1 means clap, 2 means touch and so on. The kids can roll the dice and make a command for everyone to follow ie touch your nose, eyes, legs, clap your hands, feet etc.
Online, it is best to start with one verb and keep adding more, for the students to grow comfortable with them and not to overload them. Or the teacher can provide the verbs for each student. In the era of coronavirus it might also be better to replace touch with point, too.
Jump three times. This one is a more active game and it might be better to introduce it later when the kids get used familiar to the routine and the online reality.
Ask the kids to stand up and ask them to jump three times. Ask the students for suggestions: jump three times, five times, ten times…You can also introduce other verbs like skip, hop, sit down, walk on your toes etc.
