Welcome back to this autumn’s series and, before you go on reading this post, I would like to invite to have a look at the introduction and to the first part, the materials that were designed and came to be only because I found a new resource that I really (really) wanted to use in class.
The episode here is going to focus on the well-known activities that were too good not to be smuggled into the EFL lessons, with kids but also with adults.
Noughts and crosses
This is one of my personal favourites. Admittedly, it is used more frequently in the offline or in my 1-1 or small groups with the online groups and that is due to the way it was adapted, with the option of the points each box, revealed only at the end of the round. We also use noughts and crosses to tell stories and there is a post, too.
MadLibs
MadLibs is a great party game and if you are lucky you can find some ready made ones, appropriate for young learners (or just kids) or related to one specific topic to match the theme of the lesson or the unit. However, pretty much any text can become a MadLib (or a MadLib in reverse) since what you need is a) a text and b) some missing words which we guess and then the world really is your oyster. We use the approach with my exam preparation classes, especially with the tasks such as FCE Listening part 3 in which the exam paper is a ready-made MadLib and which you play to predict the potential answers. We use it also with my Flyers kids as a preparation for the story reading in Reading and Writing part 5. The same idea can be used with any sample writing although here the teacher has to remove some words first and then think of a category for them.
Pelmanism
First and foremost, this is probably my favourite tool to develop the early literacy skills in my primary and pre-primary kids, both online and offline. The main idea: find the two pictures that constitute a pair. With the pre-primary kids, we play to find the two identical card and to call out the word or to produce a full sentence or, similarly, in the flashcard – word card pairs.
The range is much wider and the tool much easier to prepare for the literate students as the pairs may constitute, from the easiest to the most complex: a picture and a picture, a picture and the first letter of the word, a picture and a word, a word in a simple structure and a word in a simple structure, a word in an affirmative structure and a word in a negative structure, a set of questions with various structures and a set of answers and, finally, halves of sentences. Seethe samplehere for ideas.
The activity can be used with the older and the more advanced students and it can be made a lot more generative by asking students, for example, to find the phrasal verb with the definition and the question in which it is used, which they later answer ie take up (start a hobby) and ‘Why do people take up different hobbies? Where do they find the inspiration to do that?’ or a phrasal verb and its definition with the question that they have to create themselves.
In the online classes, the cards on wordwall can be used (we add numbers using the zoom notes or we simply count the cards for the teacher to open) and recently this option has been added to the upgraded bamboozle. This game is also very easy to create on the Miro board or even in a simple powerpoint (in the design mode, without the presentation).
Go fish
This is the most ridiculous case because, up to this day, I really have no idea how to play it. I do remember reading about it, in one of the methodology books, but the instructions were a page long and I gave up after a few lines only. The only recollection that stayed was the following: you have a set of cards, you keep them secret and you have to ask for these cards. Today, we play it as ‘Can I have?’ or, with my younger kids as ‘The Sheep’.
Riddles
If we had a different set of categories, that would definitely be mine ‘something old’ that recently I have had a chance to rediscover with two amazing people and the most recent post on that topic ishere.
And there are many, many more and I am going to include the links here, just in case if you are looking for ideas: General Kutuzov, a lazy role-play and our fruit salad.
Now, off to writing the final part of the series: things that started from the most important people in the process: the kids. Soon in cinemas near you!
Dedicated to Monsieur Alexander (6 y.o.) and Mademoiselle Victoria (3 y.o.) with big thanks for reminding me how important riddles are even if you speak the languagevery well.
Why? Because you simply must!
Riddles are an opportunity to develop focus and listening skills: you are required to listen until the very end as all the elements of the riddle are important and they can help you figure out what the answer is.
Riddles help to develop cognitive skills while you are guessing as you are required to put together different pieces of information, to understand, to synthesise and to analyse.
Riddles help to develop cognitive skills even more when you are creating your own riddle as you are required to apply and to evaluate the information you providing to make the riddle challenging and achievable at the same time.
Riddles are something that we use and enjoy in our L1, from the early childhoodand it is only natural that we will try to bring them into our EFL lessons, with kids and with adults.
Riddles help develop creativity.
Riddles are fun and they create plenty of opportunities for bonding, in a pair or a group.
Riddles, in L1, help the kids develop the awareness about how the language works, how the hidden meanings, the homophones, the collocations and this can also be transferred, at least partially, into the EFL or the ESL
It is obvious that the context of the EFL and the ESL does not always allow for the riddles and their benefits to be used fully and completely even if only due to the limitations of the language level which, in case of some of the young learners, might be as low as A1. This does not mean that they cannot be used. On the contrary, they can be introduced from early on.
Riddles, regardless of the context, are an opportunity for the students to speak and to produce a mini-discourse.
In the EFL/ESL classes, it is relatively easy to choose the vocabulary range and the structures for the students, depending on the level and the topic. This range can be easily extended.
How to? Riddles in the EFL classroom
The simplest version of the game can be played with preschoolers and we usually start simply with guessing ‘the secret word’ which is the card that the teacher and then the students choose and hold close to their chest and the class are guessing. This version is used to introduce the very idea of the riddles. When the kids have become more familiar with the format, the level of challange can be raised and the production maximised by asking the kids to describe the card they are holding in the simplest of way i.e. with the colour, operating within the colours of the objects on the flashcards used (‘It is green‘ or ‘It is green and red‘). With time, more adjectives can be added (‘It is big’, ‘It is small’), the categories (‘It is a toy’, ‘It is a pet’) or even opinions (‘I like it’, ‘I don’t like it’). There is a post devoted to one of the ways of dealing with riddles with the youngest learners. You can find it here.
The primary (or the more advanced pre-primary) students can start adding simple categories in their discourse (‘It’s a toy’, ‘It’s an animal’, ‘It’s in the schoolbag’) and start describing the word using the relevant structures. For example, with food, we use the following four: ‘It is cold’, ‘It is hot’, ‘You eat it’, ‘You drink it’) and these are the structures that the students know and will need anyway and these particular four can be supported by a relevant gesture. The same goes for the animal riddles set: ‘It is big’, ‘It is small’, ‘It can run’, ‘It can fly’, ‘It can swim’. I also like to add ‘I like it’ and ‘I don’t like it’ even though it does not quite provide enough information for the children to guess the object as the class may simply not know what one of us thinks about it, it gives the student making a riddle an opportunity to express opinion and to make it all more personalised. With the youngest students the teacher can assist production in the beginning by asking questions such as ‘Is it hot or cold?’ or ‘Can it swim, fly or run?’. This set of structures can be developed and extended depending on the students’ age and level.
As regards the more advanced and older students, the riddles can be made more extensive and more resembling the riddles that the adults and kids play in English as their L1 or the riddles they play with their L1 with the use of simple homonimes or homophones, a wider range of vocabulary or structures or complexity for example by making a list of words not to use when to describe a certain word, describing it with associations (i.e. kids, fun, outside to describe the word ‘playground’), with metaphors (i.e. ‘It is the brain of the computer’ for ‘hard drive’ or ‘It is the opposite of a mountain’ for ‘a cave’) or, even, by a mixture of these (‘Tell me what it is and tell me what it’s not’)
As regards the material and the support for the teacher one of the following can be used: flashcards, mini-flashcards, a page from the book with words and words and images, a poster, a set of wordwall cards, a list of words.
I have enjoyed writing this one as it is a combination of all my professional passions: young learners, speaking, maximising production and writing. You can find it in the autumn issue of the Modern English Teacher, Vol 31 (5), pp. 61 – 63.
All the letters of the alphabet written in one or two columns, with some space to write, next to each letter
Procedures
The teacher divides the students into pairs or teams and gives out the paper with the letters of the alphabet or asks the kids to write these down.
Step 1: The teacher announces the topic i.e. Clothes and asks the kids write one word (or phrase) for each letter of the alphabet or, more realistically, for as many letters as they can. The teacher gives an example. Ideally, the teacher creates her/his own list in order to have a set of words to model the other stages of the activity.
The teacher sets the time limit (i.e. 5 minutes for the younger kids and 3 minutes for the older kids). It might be a good idea to use a song instead and after the song finishes, the activity does, too.
The kids work in teams and make a list of the words within the vocabulary set. After the time is up, the teacher stops the game.
Step 2: The kids exchange the lists and count the words or phrases which their friends have managed to write within the set time limit. The teacher writes the results for each team on the board.
Step 3: The teams read the words on the lists and choose: the most interesting word, the most unusual word, the funniest word, three words you also have, three words you don’t have, any word you don’t understand or remember etc. The teams work in pairs and find out why their partners put these words on the list. If possible, the kids exchange the lists with another team and repeat the procedure once or twice.
Why we like it
For the students it is a great opportunity to revise and recycle vocabulary. All the beginner levels aside, even when the main lesson aim is to introduce and to practise new vocabulary, chances are the kids have already learnt, heard, used or seen some of the words. After all, the vocabulary sets are repeated and extended from level to level, not to mention that most kids have more than one source of English in their lives: the state school, the language school, a private teacher, brothers, sisters, parents, videos on youtube, cartoons, stories, computer games online…This game is one of the easy ways of revising all this vocabulary to prepare for ‘something new’
For all the reasons mentioned above, it is an absolute necessity for the teacher to find out how much the kids already know as regards a certain area in order to do a very focused (if a very contained) needs’ analysis and to adjust the volume, the level and the intensity of the new material presentation later in the lesson
It is very easy and requires no preparation whatsoever.
It helps to improve the students’ self-confidence because it gives them an opportunity to see how much they know already.
It can be used with any set of vocabulary, either thematic (i.e. clothes, food, animals) or content-related (i.e. the words necessary to describe a picture, the words used in a certain text or a listening task, a video)
The final task can be easily adapted i.e. choose 5 words to describe yourself, choose 5 words to use in a story or in a dialogue, choose 5 and describe them for your partners to guess, use a dictionary to find the words or structures for the missing letters, compare the lists with your friends to find the words or the structures for the missing letters, use the words to describe a photograph, use the words to talk about your day today etc.
Me and one of my best friends, Roman B. No old dogs in this photo. Only the amazing ones (The photo: courtesy of Yulia. The doggo: courtesy of Jill)
Back to the future
It just happened: a dedicated YL teacher (and a teacher who spent the last ten years doing her best to stay away from teaching adults (minus the trainees!) all of a sudden found herself in the classroom with some serious corportate clinets and their Business English, General English, English for Finance and Banking, A2 – C1. Full time.
It has to be said out loud: that was not a direction that this teacher dreamed of or the developement that the teacher planned or solicited but, at the same time, there is absolutely no need to wring hands or shed tears over such a giggle of the Fate. After all, the teacher is an experienced one, with an oh-dear number of years in the classroom (and different types of classrooms, everywhere) so the teacher will be just fine. After all, teaching is teachings, the students are great, the fun is being had. All the details are here just to set the context.
The old dog aka the adult classroom through a YL teacher
This particular started with a most random thing. I don’t even remember what we were doing and with whom, but, suddenly, I caught myself thinking ‘Blin, even my kids can do THAT‘. There was no anger in it or desperation, only curiosity and bemusement. I started to analyse the details and bits and pieces of this THAT and the reasons for that. It started with a sigh but it got interesting very quickly.
Here is a new post and an attempt at looking at the adult EFL learners through the eyes spoilt by her young students.
One. Inhibitions
This is something that is almost non-existant in the YL classroom. Minus all these cases in which the kid have had a negative first experience with English, at school, with the tutors or parents or when they are naturally introvert and shy and they simply need more time to settle in the group and to feel comfortable enough to talk. Most commonly, the kids enter the room, eyes wide-open, ready to discover and to enjoy the world of the English language.
Then, there are adults, a completely different picture. Naturally, there are quite a few factors that can contribute such as a lower level, a long break in learning or using the language, some negative previous learning experience or studying in one group with colleagues from the same company or being a low-level speaker of English when you are already a top manager.
The result? Silence in the classroom.
I guess that is the silence that is the time they need to think about their answer, to choose the words, to gather the courage to let them out and, naturally, they get it. They do have the right to the freedom of silence. For me, the teacher, it is also an interesting exercise in patience. I realised that I have been spoilt with hands shooting up into the air and the opinions voiced almost instantly. Here, I am getting used to breathing more and waiting for the students to be ready.
I am beginning to think that building up the students’ confidence suddenly gets the priority among the lesson and the course aims as regards the adult learners of English. Everything else, the vocabulary, the structures and the skills development will follow. Hopefully.
Two. Teacher-oriented communication
On the one hand, the YL classes are definitely more teacher-centred than the adult classes. That is, to some extent, fully justified. Students, especially the younger ones, are in need of the teacher and the adult as the lesson leader. But only to some extent. I strongly believe that this should be one of the main aims of the course to create the conditions in which the students will be learning to interact with the teacher BUT also giving them a chance to learn to interact with each other. After all, whatever happens in the classroom is only a warm-up, only the preparation, only the training before the real life interaction. In which, most likely, the teacher is not going to take part. For that reason, the students should be given the tools and opportunities to talk to each other, to lead the activities, to take part in pair-work. There is no need to wait with it until they turn ten or fifteen. Some elements of that can be introduced even much earlier and pair-work is feasible in pre-school.
Somehow, it is not a given with the older students. Adults, either because they are more inhibited or because they see it as a sign of respect towards the teacher, they hold back, they wait, for the teacher to call their name out or for the teacher to at least signal that it is their turn to speak. I have realised that sometimes I have to specifically highlight that I am stepping out of the conversation, that the students, in pairs or as a whole group, have to take responsiblity for the interaction and that I will not be encouraging, keeping it up and, of course, leading it. We have been studying together for about three months now and I can already see some improvement in that area. Hooray to that!
Three. Communication strategies
Communication strategies is one of my true professional passions and that is why it was chosen for my first research within the MA programme. Inspired by Haenni Hoti, Heinzman and Mueller (2003) (or, rather ‘taken aback by the comments of’) that claimed that young learners use a very limited range of communication strategies, basically limiting those to translation and code-switching (aka using a combination of L1 and L2), based on the gut feeling from the classroom, I decided to check it out. And, to prove them wrong. Hopefully.
Although my research was a very small scale and low-key and by a beginner researcher, I found out enough evidence to get me even more interested in the topic. My little students proved to be already effective communicators who work hard and who have a good range of different techniques to get the message across such as all-purpose words, approximation, direct appeal for help, indirect appeal for help, self-repair, other-repair and mime. The range was much wider. Translation and code-switching were used, too, and they were the most frequent ones, however, they were not the only ones.
Then, there are the adults and guess what, these adults, ‘Come as you are’, before I get to work on them, they know only one communication strategy and that is ‘translation’. falling back into their L1, straightaway, whenever something is unclear, unknown and uncertain. I am not even sure why it is assumed that the learners (let alone the young ones) will use these strategies of their accord. I haven’t researched that properly, yet, but perhaps it has got nothing to do with the age of the student or, rather, not only with the age of the student, and more with the learning experience and the opportunities to be acquainted with and to develop these strategies.
The adult students (my adult students) struggled in that area and if they didn’t know, they would immediately switch to L1 and they would expect an answer. Working around that by delaying the translation, encouraging them to try something else or, also, providing both, the L2 only and the translation was quite a challenge and I know that some of them were surprised that I don’t just provide the required service aka translation, that I am trying something else. They had it written all over the face. I can’t say my job is done here, far from it but we are working on it. And it is a bit better now.
Four. Sharing ideas
Teacher beliefs are a slippery topic and most of the time we don’t even think about them. It was only last year (and somewhere by the end of it) when I realised why I am a teacher and what I want from my lessons.
Everything happened thanks to one Sasha who joined our group and who, despite the eight months spent with the rest of the team, in a very welcoming and friendly environment, despite the fact that she got on with everyone, Sasha still would keep quiet in class unless I asked her a question and unless I called out her name. I had never even thought about it and only then did I understand that I want to create such an atmosphere in the lesson in which my students feel free to talk because they have something to share with the rest of the group, not because they have to, not because the teacher made them, not because the teacher asked the question or because the teacher is testing them. They talk because they have something to say. And I want them to feel that they can. This is something that we have been working on from the very beginning.
It was one more thing that was ‘not so obvious’ for my adult students. They stalled. They do, still, sometimes. Again, it might be due to a whole range of factors, the natural shyness, the lack of confidence, the level of English, the relations in the workplace, if they come from the same company, or even the natural politeness. It is not a given that everyone will be speaking during the lesson time because speaking and developing the communicative skills is the reason why we come to class.
Five. All ideas are good ideas.
That is a sad fact: adulthood and reality kills creativity and imagination. Long gone are the days of fairy tales and fantasy travels with Frodo or magical battles with Harry. Well, in most cases. For that reason, if the question is about playing football and the student does not play football, the rest, dramatically, is silence…With kids silence never ever happens, and that is especially amazing, because, more often than not, we do things that have nothing or very little to do with the real life. All these menus for the monster cafe, all these school trips around the world, or to the moon or, our life as pirates…Silence is a rare event. Thank heavens.
This post is not to be read as a huge, one thousand word, complaint about my adult students. It is certainly not. I am doing a good job, I like them and we are making progress. I am just positively amazed that with my young learners, we have done SO MUCH (and to be honest, so much we have done by accident, unwillingly, joyfully, just for laughs) to enable the kids and to ensure that they are effective communicators.
I would like to think that my kids are not in danger of being scared to scared, inhibited, with a strong affective factor. This ship has sailed.
This line, so frequently used in my kids classes, started to appear in my adult classes.
See this is basically what happens when you send a YL teacher into the adult classroom. There is a lot of dedication, professionalism and lots of good lessons are happening. But the teacher has a one track mind and everything is somehow YL-related:-)
Bibliography
A. Haenni Hoti, S. Heinzmann and S. Mueller (2003), I can help you? Assessing speaking skills and interaction strategies of young learners, In: M. Nikolov (ed), The Age Factor and and Early Language Learning, De Grutyer.
This post is a result of a combination of factors: only a short while ago we started a new IH VYL course, I was talking to a NQT teacher and, last but not least, I have been stuck in quarantine, with a lot of time on my hands, all of a sudden. Writing calms me down and so I am writing.
If you are a novice VYL teacher, don’t forget to check out the first VYL lesson survival kit here. It might help, too! And there is this other one, about landing on Mars and having to teach there.
Now, in a rather random order…
Keep it simple
It is a good idea to stay focused and that means that ‘less is better’ or, in this case, ‘fewer is better’. There is no need for fancy activities, for some intricate craft, amazing toys, multi-item anything or a very complex game. There is no need for the coursebook, either. Everything will be new for you so there is no need to clutter your brain (or your table) and many (or all) things might be new for your students, too, depending on whether they are starting the course or whether you are taking over. In any case, simple resources will make it more maneagable for everyone.
Keep it varied
Simple does not mean monotnounous, though. The younger the children, the shorter their attention span and it is absolutely necessary to be ready to change the activities frequently, ideally when they are still enjoying them (rather than wait until the interest fizzles out and you will have to get them back on track). Luckily, there are quite a few things that can be done only with a set of flashcards, varying the activities slightly without changing the main resource. Although, of course, each lesson with pre-schoolers will need more than just one. If you are teaching colours, for example, you can do it through: flashcards, a song, a video, a wordwall game, realia (kids will be wearing colours on them and there are other colourful things in the room, such as crayons) and a story. This way you will keep things ‘the same but different’.
Keep it coherent
Make sure that you do not overwhelm the kids (and yourself!) by trying to go over too many topics in one lesson. If it is ‘colours’, it is ‘colours’ from the beginning until the end of the lesson. If it is ‘toys’, it is ‘toys’. It is only the first lesson, there will be lessons number 2, 3, 4 and 100.
Keepit interesting
This one will be a question only and a question with more than one correct answer. It has become a kind of a tradition that the first lessons in level 1 for pre-schoolers focus on the introduction of colours. The idea behind that is, I presume, the fact that colours are around us, they are a concept that the kids are already familiar with and that the words themselves are short and easy to learn. But here is a question, is it really the most interesting, child-friendly, fun, engaging, joyful topic that there is? Is it the best invitation to a new story and to a new world that learning English? Toys are colourful, too, they are toys and all the kids are more than familiar with them. Plus you can use the realia from the very first lesson. Pets are cuddly and sweet and all the kids have their favourite ones, even if sometimes less traditional ones, such as a hippo or a frog. The realia can also be found without much trouble and most pets make noises and that is another way of introducing variety in class. Both, toys and pets can be mimed and used in different ‘Guess what’ games in which the kids guess the word by looking at a small cut out of it (aka ‘through the keyhole’ or ‘the funky envelope’). The range of activities gets wider in a blink and the chances that children get interested and stay involved are much higher.
Keep it teacher-centred…
and do not feel guilty about it. Student-centred lessons are the ultimate aim and the dream but in the beginning of the course, it is the teacher and the adult who has to take the full responsibility and the full control of all the activities in the lesson. This is true for both the novice and the experienced VYL teachers as well because they all have to deal with little children who are in a new set-up, in a new situation. Be it either the first ever lesson of English, the first lesson ever in a new group with some new classmates or the first lesson with a new teacher.
Keep itorganised
Keep what organised? Everything! Absolutely everything. All the materials in the folders (or with paperclips, in boxes, files) in which they are going to be used. All of the resources in a box or in a basket, in order to be able to carry them around, if needs be. All of the things out of the kids’ reach, on the top of the board, on the top shelves, in the cupboards. All the pencils or crayons, by the colour, in separate plastic cups or boxes (but cups are cheap and easily available) and not on the table. The teacher is supposed to give them out only when they are needed.
What I found really useful in the beginning of my VYL career and something that I still do, for every lesson is a lesson plan on the wall. It is simple, big and colourful, with only the main stages and activities, in a place where I can see it and to refer to it from every corner of the classroom. You can see an example of it here.
Keepcalm
Even if you don’t feel very confident. Even if you are worried that you might not manage. Even if you are a tiny bit scared of being left alone with a bunch of kids. Even if the parents are looking at you inquisitively or if they are asking questions. Even if you have forgotten something at home or in the teacher’s room.
Smile, no matter what! Don’t lose your head! You are going to be great. Or almost great!
Dear reader! I hope you are here because you have been in search of ideas for a lesson on Art and English for primary school children. If so, you are in the right place! I would like to share with you a lesson that I taught a few months ago as a part of my Art Explorers programme. I would like to start with some blowing my own trumpet in an attempt to inspire you and to think ‘I want one ofthose!‘
our group of Art Explorers was a mixed-age, a mixed-level and a mixed-ability group, with some pre-A, some A1 and some A2 children and we were all united in art. Everyone was involved, everyone was producing as much as they could and everyone had fun.
the kids who took part were the members of five different groups at the school and it was the first time they had a chance to interact with each other, in English.
the children had a chance to revise and practise English, to find out about Andy Warhol, to talk about feelings, emotions and associations and to exercise their creativity in the craft task.
it worked very well as an introduction to our Art Explorers programme
it was relatively low-key as regards the preparation and craft materials as we used the simplest things available: a powerpoint, a handout, a few sets of vocabulary flashcards, a few sets of watercolours, paintbrushes and cups.
it lasted 60 minutes but it could easily be adapted to 45 or 90 minutes, depending on the needs of the group and the age of the students.
We said hello, introduced ourselves and we had a small ‘get to know each other’. Each pair of students got a pile of flashcards (food, toys, sports, colours, animals etc). The students were supposed to pick out one card and to ask each: Do you like…. There was a model question and answers on the board, together with ‘because’ which the older students were already familiar with in order to encourage more developed answers.
Stage 2: Colours and emotions
We revised the emotions and a set of the basic adjectives was displayed on the board as a point of reference. Afterwards, we revised the colours and I introduced the idea of associations. The key word here (‘associations’) is actually quite similar to its counterpart in the kids’ L1 but I decided to use even a simpler structure ‘Green is a happy colour because…’
The kids were put into pairs, for another speaking activity and they were comparing their own associations related to each of the colours. At this point we did not use the flashcards. Instead, eaach pair got a set of markers and they were asked to discuss all the colours in the set. Afterwards we compared our ideas.
Stage 3: The artist of the day
We moved to the TV room to meet the artist of the day. At this point I was using the powerpoint which you can find in the attachments.
First of all we looked at the photo of Andy and the kids said as much as they could, about his appearance and character. Only later did I introduce him properly, albeit briefly – as artist, from the US, a very creative person.
I showed the kids a few paintings and asked what they thought of them. They were using the simplest structures of ‘I like’ and ‘I don’t like’ and, in the case of the older and more advanced students, to provide a rationale for their views.
The Campbell soup was especially interesting. First of all, because we compared it to the local brand of ready made food that the kids could relate to and it was a huge surprise that such a usual item can become an artifact. Second of all, this particular painting was how we transitioned into the theme of the day: how the same item, represented in different colours can create different associations.
Stage: The colours and the emotions
We looked at the photograph of Marilyn Monroe and one of the most famous paintings by Andy Warhol and at the similar painting of Mickey Mouse. We worked as a group and we talked about the different emotions related to different versions of Marilyn and Mickey Mouse and how they made us feel. I wanted to keep it open class in order to give the students a chance to hear as many different versions and ideas as possible to show them that the same painting can generate a great variety of emotions.
Stage: Let’s create
I told the kids that we are going to try to express our emotions and that we are going to be like Andy Warhol. I added that to Andy, Marilyn and Mickey were important symbols because he was American and that we would use some other symbols. At this point, the kids were already shouting out the name ‘Chebourashka’:-)
We went back to the other classroom. Everyone got a handout (see below) and a pencil or a marker. First, we all decided what feelings and emotions we wanted to represent and we labelled all the sections of the handout.
Afterwards, I gave out the painting materials and we sat down to work. The kids were given time to paint and I was painting my own and monitoring and chatting to the kids and asking the follow-up questions.
Stage: Tell me about your Chebourashka
The kids worked in pairs and told their partner about their pictures and the emotions they represented and, whenver possible, provided rationale for that. In that particular lesson, we only had enough time to talk to one partner but, in theory, there is a lot more potential and it is more than recommended for the kids to swap pairs and to talk to as many peers as possible.
Stage: Goodbye
We finished the lesson with cleaning up, with a round of stickers and with a song.
Storytelling (a definition for the purpose of this post): story-everything in class: telling stories, reading stories, listening to stories, writing stories, making-up stories, watching stories…
All the reasons to use stories in class when you teach children…
Stories, storybooks, traditional stories are a part of the child’s world
Stories help children learn about the world and the concepts
They also provide models of behaviour
They introduce children to other cultures
Telling stories and listening to stories is a social event
They help to develop focus and concentration
They can be a starting point to developing learning strategies such as predicting or making hypothesis
They expose children to different illustrations and they help to develop visual literacy
They help develop imagination
They help to develop kids’ memory
Stories help children to know the sounds, rhymes and this way to develop early literacy skills
Working with stories helps children learn about the value of books
They help children learn about the real and the imaginary world
Stories help faciliate interaction between adults and children
Children who read and listen to stories find it easier to understand other people
Kids who read stories are likely to have higher confidence levels
Stories are a natural way of teaching children
Stories help children relax
Stories help children understand their own feelings
Reading and stories can develop critical thinking skills
Storytelling and story reading can be a source of fun and pleasure
All the reasons to use stories in class because you teach a foreign language…
They create the context for the language
They help to build and develop the vocabulary
They can be used to introduce the langauge
They can be used to practise the langauge
They can be used to revise the language
They help develop listening skills
They expose the children both to dialogue and to narrative
Listening to stories is the first step to producing the language
They help develop literacy skills
Stories are a wonderful opportunity for integrating skills ie reading with listening or speaking with writing.
The stories created specifically for the EFL / ESL context have the graded language and they are built closely around the vocabulary and structures that they are already familiar with
Traditional stories have the advantage of being familiar to the children already and this will make their reception in a foreign language much easier
Storybooks are a source of the beautiful and natural language that can be made accessible to children. Some of them might be known to children (for example Gruffalo or The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and this will make the L2 version more easily understood and easier to use
Visuals accompanying the stories can also be used as a resource to introduce and to practise the langauge
They are an intergral part of the Young Learners Exam so using stories in class from early on will be contributing to preparing students for them
They can help connect studying English at school and studying English at home
They can motivate the children to learn the language
Using stories in class can encourage children to read for pleasure
Storytelling can be used as a classroom management tool as they are natural settlers
Some of the concepts in stories can be used to manage children’s behaviour in the EFL/ESL classroom ie ‘Boris goes to school’ is a story about making friends
Telling stories or reading stories can be an introduction or a follow-up to song lessons or craft lessons
Many stories have a set of structures and that makes them easier for the EFL/ESL students to learn
A story is usually used in more than one lesson. This repetition is also beneficial for the students as they can get more and more involved in the retelling or the re-reading of the stories
Telling stories can be an introduction to role-plays and drama activities
Even the lower level students can be encouraged to create stories. They will use their ideas based on the vocabulary they have (Wright)
Storytelling activities appeal to children with different intelligences and learning styles (Read)
Stories can be used to supplement the coursebook
Or they can be used as the basis for a curriculum
Reading and listening to stories can help with pronunciation in L2, too.
Stories encourage the kids to contribute ideas and to express themselves
Have I forgotten anything? I must have. Although 50 is not a bad number to start with. More later…
Happy teaching!
Bibliography
I will give myself a permission to be slightly reckless about referencing everyone since it is not a very serious research article. While preparing this post, I have consulted:
Sandie Mourao and Gail Ellis (2020), Teaching English to Pre-primary children, Delta Teacher Development Series
Opal Dunn (2012), Introducing English to Young Children: Spoken Language, Collins
Well, well, well, this is officially my post #100 on the blog and I am in the mood for celebrating. That might take the form of sharing some random numbers (8,280 visits and 5,563 visitors over a year and a half (and mind you, I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER if it is ‘impressive’, ‘not so good at all’ or just ‘why even bring it up?!’) and pondering over the fact that these have been my 5 most popular posts:
Which means that there is some interest in teaching pre-schoolers, using visuals in class and that Pasha, the invisible student, has become a bit more real, overall.
Apart from that, however, I would also like to take this opportunity to share with you my top 10 wordwall activities that I use with my primary and pre-primary students.
Disclaimer: Wordwall is amazing, no doubt about that, but it is still only a resource, a material. Its main aim is to provide opportunities for the students to produce the language. For that reason, in all of the games (for the lack of a better word) described below there will be always a differentiation between the material (the actual tool created with wordwall formats) and the activity (how we use it in class).
Activity: Kids take turns to ask everyone the key question using the cue on the card. All the students in the group answer. The same pattern can be used with any question ie Do you like…? Can you…? Have you got…?
Works well with: primary (they can attempt working in pairs and taking turns to ask a question to their partner only) and pre-primary, individual and groups
Activity: Kids play in teams, ask for the box to be open, produce a sentence (or sentences about the picture), win the number of points. The game about seasons is a very simple one, for preschoolers, the one such as this one here, about animals, can generate a lot more language, also with preschoolers and, of course, a lot more with primary.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary (with pre-primary we play T vs the whole class), groups and individial (we play T vs the student).
Activity: Kids play in teams, team A asks the question ‘What’s this?’, team B tries to answer. Afterwards the teacher flips the card to check. Depending on the vocabulary kids then say whether they like it or not or try to describe, too.
Works well with: pre-primary, individual and groups, it might be a bit under-challenging for the primary students
Which one is correct? Spelling
Materials: Flashcards, double-sided, with visuals and correct and incorrect spelling of the word Places in the city or a quiz with a similar idea, for example this oneSuperminds 5, Read andchoose
Activities: Kids read both versions and choose the correct one. With the flashcards the teacher is flipping the cards back and forth, I use it mostly with my 1-1s. With groups the quiz version works better and it can turn into a proper quiz, with the kids writing the answers down.
Activities: Kids work in pairs, one student in each pair has to sit with their back to the TV/ interactive whiteboard, the other is looking at the board. T keeps dealing the cards. The student looking at the screen has to describe the word for their partner to guess. After a certain number of rounds they change. The cards usually have the words on them, too, so it works well with mixed ability groups.
Works well with: primary and teens. I have only tried it with groups.
Activity: We use the cards or the matching activity to sing the song, slowly, with pauses, to practise and to revise before the actual video / track. The set such as the one for the ‘As quiet as a mouse’ can be used to start creating own versions of the song as kids have only the animals and they can (if they are ready) to come up with their own adjectives.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual and groups.
Story / video comprehension check
Materials: Match to accompany Peppa Pig ‘Fruit Day’ or a quiz to accompany Peppa Pig ‘George is ill’
Activities: We normally learn the vocabulary, get ready for watching the video and then watch it. The games described here are used to check comprehension. The quiz is read by the teacher and the kids answer ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and correct the incorrect sentences (unless I use the same story with primary who can read it themselves). The matching activity is always accompanied by a structure. It can be a simple ‘Apples are for George’ or a more comples ‘George would like apples’.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual or groups.
Activities: The game itself is usually set for homework. We check it together, whole class. Afterwards the kids are divided into pairs and they test each other, for example Student A says: I am going to the supermarket’, student B has to recreate the second half of the sentence. To help the kids a bit, I put up some key words (ie places and main verbs) on the board. The kids change after a few rounds.
Activities: Kids work in pairs and the kids interview each other, reading the questions or prompts of the computer / TV / interactive whiteboard. Afterwards they swap.
Works well with: primary and teens, individual and groups
Activities: Kids look at the cards and listen to the teacher describing the pictures. If the sentence is correct, they say ‘Yes’, if there is a mistake, they reply with ‘No!’ and correct the mistake. Later on, there is a lot of potential for the kids to take turns to lead the game. The older students can work in pairs, too, while looking at the screen / the interactive whiteboard / the TV.
Works well with: primary and pre-primary, individual and groups.
If you are looking for inspiration or ready activity, you can find my profile (Azapart) there. I share all of my activities so there is plenty to choose from, especially if you work with Playway to English and Superminds.
Here you will also find Part 2 of this post and even more ideas for using Wordwall games in your YL classes.
Happy teaching!
P.S. A request!
It is very simple.
I would like to know a tiny little bit more about my readers. There are so many of you, popping in here, again and again, and the numbers of visitors and visits are going up and make my heart sweel with joy. But I realised I don’t know anything about my readers and I would love to know, a tiny little bit more.
I am a trainer and an assistant director of studies. I spend a relatively large part of my professional life sitting in the back of classrooms, observing. I love it.
Not that anyone asked (hahaha, here is one clumsy blogger, at your service. After all, one should start with ‘Many of you have been asking me…’ or ‘I’ve received many questions about…’ I DID NOT) but if I were to give one piece of advice to all the YL and VYL teachers (or maybe not only to them), it would be this: BREATHE.
If I were given a chance to use more words, I would say:
‘Breathe! Pause! Calm down! We care about the efficient use of the lesson time but nobody is in a hurry, nobody is rushing to catch a train. There is time. You will be doing a great service to yourself and to your kids. I promise. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat!’
What do I mean? Here are five ideas.
Instructions
Going slow is absolutely crucial while giving instructions.
Not always but frequently enough our primary and pre-primary students will be doing something in class for the first time in their lives, without any metaphors whatsoever. It is quite likely that we, the teachers are the first ones to introduce a boardgame to them, a role-play, a game with a dice, a pair-work activity, a mingle, the game of pelmanism or a project. Our students might behave like they have never done it before because, very often, they really haven’t. Or they haven’t done it in a foreign language to practise vocabulary or grammar. It really IS their first time! Our classroom IS full of Gagarins, Columbuses or Cabrals (or whoever is your favourite First-Timer Metaphor).
That is why the instructions we give have to be not only graded and accompanied by gestures and (ideally) by modelling but also paced. With the teacher taking baby steps, pausing (and breathing) for all the students to catch up. Before anyone is allowed to take the next step forward.
Taking this one breath in-between the sentences will really make a huge difference. Let’s breathe then!
A listening task, as in: anylistening task
Listening tasks for young learners are another example how pausing can make the world go round and in the right way, too. This tiny (and, really, the most insignificant) movement of the teacher’s finger pressing PAUSE on the CD player / the telephone / the computer can be the factor that decides about the activity becoming a success or a failure. Something that amazes me every single time I see it in action.
PAUSE and the kids have a chance to hear what they are supposed to hear, circle what they are supposed to circle and get ready for the next bit. PAUSE and the teacher has a real chance to monitor while in-task. PAUSE and if there have been any glitches, now is the time to fix things and to save the rest of the activity.
DON’T and they miss the first example because they are still not quite sure what they are doing. Then they miss the second example because the breaks between the pieces of the recording are too short and there are no numbers or beeps to help their focus. DON’T and, inevitably, they miss the third one, too, because they missed the previous two and everything becomes just a mesh of sounds. DON’T and you have no chance to monitor or to give feedback, Although, really, it is NOT a mini-test that the kids should pass. It is only an opportunity to develop their listening comprehension skills. It is ok to help, to support and to guide. Unless it is a real test.
So maybe it is a good idea, to pause and to breathe?
Questions and answers
Here is a question: Do you know how long is the average ‘wait time’ aka the time that elapses between the moment a teacher asks a question and the moment a student is expected to answer it?
Well, fasten your seatbelts because it is quite likely that what I am about to tell you will be a bit of a shock.
Apparently, we, teachers wait as long as long as 1.5 seconds at maximum and most of the time even less than that. One second and a half. Which means that we don’t really wait at all. Either student A knows that answer that we want to get and they provide it or they don’t (more likely) and we move on to student B or C until we find what we want or we just answer the question ourselves.
Extending that wait time can have a huge impact on students’ learning, engagement and, possibly, also on their confidence because they will be given a chance and time to rise and shine. And don’t worry. By extending here I mean ‘waiting three (3) seconds‘, not the whole eternity. 3 seconds aka one inhale – exhale set. Breathe!
Just look at the picture first
This particular issue is going to make an entry here for one and very specific reason: our coursebooks and all the materials for YL are full of great visual material which, sadly, is not given all the attention it deserves.
The first question that I often I ask my trainees during the post-observation feedback session while discussing visuals, photographs, cartoons and drawings is: Why not spend more time on talking about the picture? There are so many things that you can do with a picture! (If you are not sure what these are, have a look at the earlier posts, here and here).
Once we establish that these do indeed have a lot of potential that needs to be tapped into, the question arises of how to do it. And this is how we get back to breathing.
Whenever students are shown a new picture, one that they have never seen before, they need to be given time to take it in, with its narration and all the details. It is more important for the younger learners, since their cognitive skills are still developing but it can be beneficial for the learners of all age groups and levels. If you are in doubt, just have a look at how visuals are dealt with during the speaking part of different Cambridge exams, from Movers, through PET to CAE, although with the higher levels it is hidden under the lengthy instructions from the interlocutor during which the candidates are allowed to look at the photographs they are to describe.
Step 1: instructions, Step 2: one deep breath while the kids are getting ready. Thinking time is precious and it extends on all the activities, picture-related or not.
Classroom management
Last but not least, the main destroyer of the peaceful flow of a VYL and YL lesson makes an appearance, too – the unwanted behaviour, in all its shapes and sizes.
The option of ‘doing nothing’ is out of the question, it is the teacher’s job to react but perhaps it is worth considering whether the immediate reaction is the best solution. After all, there might be some situations in which everyone would benefit from the teacher taking a deep breath and using this second or two to calm down, to consider the options and to see the situation from the little people’s point of view? Maybe the situation was not that serious? Maybe it was just a silly joke? Maybe just an unfortunate mistake? Maybe the reaction does not need to involve the headmaster, the parents and the armoured infantry? At least in some cases. This tiny little pause might help establish that. The thinking time for the teacher. And then – back to action!
