During our Workshops on Teaching English to Young Learners in São Paulo, lots of teachers have been asking us about classroom management songs. As we know, songs are a very effective and fun tool for classroom management, but we not always have that brilliant idea to make our day.
Well, I've listed some inspiration sources for these days! :)
A last word: the best classroom songs are those we enjoy singing! We are more likely to remember using them, as well to share our preference and energy while singing in class! :)
Yesterday's workshop in the Teaching English to Young Learners was about Literacy and Reading skills. We talked a lot about using Fairy Tales and traditional stories as a source of literacy material which is usually already known to students in their mother tongue.
I've selected some great resources to help you plan your classes with these whimsical stories! Here we go!!
Our all-time favorite, Kizclub has a session entirely dedicated to Story Props! It means you can not only read stories such as The Fox and the Crow, The Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff, but also print story props for telling stories in class. Just fabulous!!
If you want to start with shorter texts, such as rhymes, you can also profit from the Nursery Rhymes session, in which you can find word families worksheets (for those who teach using Phonics), printable mini books and worksheets. It's a must-visit!
Do you need flashcards for storytelling and story sequencing? SparkleBox is the place to go! Loads of resources, not only regarding classic stories but also topic work. That section may give you some ideas on how to promote integrated work!!
Last, but not least, here comes Storyline Online, a site where you find stories read by movie stars! Yes! That movie star may read to your students! Wow! What a thrill!!
If you are teaching young learners, KizClub is a must-visit! The beautiful and well-organized sections are full of resources, from ready-to-read online stories to printable story props and worksheets. You can explore the site with your students or use it to prepare great classes! I hope you enjoy it!! Have fun!
Flashcards... finding them, making them and playing with them
Flashcards are one of the most useful resources a teacher can think of for teaching young learners. Besides providing a non-written basis for vocabulary focus and practice, they can be used for a loooot of fun games.
Carol Read, one of my favorite ESL authors, provides us with a lovely list of games we can play with flashcards!! Ready-steady-gooooo!!!
Are you wondering if you'll have the time to laminate all those wonderful cards you prepared for tomorrow's class? This great technique I learned from my great professor Lívia Donnini saves a lot of time and resources!
You'll need:
1) an A4 sized piece of hard paper (such as cardboard paper)
Place the hard paper in the pocket and the picture, and close it with adhesive tape. When you need to change the picture, just open it up and replace it! :D
It's a good idea to have at least 10-20 pockets ready for any topic you might need to work on!!
The picture above is an example we produced for a course in 2010!
We are always looking for interesting resources for teaching young learners, and songs are an all-time-favorite, right? But the plethora of available resources sometimes makes it hard (and time consuming) for teachers to dig the real gold. Since I've been through a lot of digging, I decided to do some sharing on cool song sites and youtube channels! I'm listing my top 3 favorites, along with their authors' descriptions:
1) Super Simple Songs:In 2005, the teachers of Knock Knock English school for children in Tokyo, Japan, were having trouble finding learning materials that were both simple and fun enough to engage their young learners. So, they started making their own. Several award-winning CDs later, Super Simple Learning materials are being used in classrooms and homes around the world to help children learn with confidence and a smile.
2) Dream English: Children's songs for singing, sharing and learning!
3) Genki-English:GenkiEnglish.com gives you the techniques and confidence to teach any language and get your kids finishing a lesson with a big smile saying "Yeah, that was fun! I want to do more!".
So, have you enjoyed them? Which was your favorite? Let me know your opinion!
(X-TRA: I've just found this great channel on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/muffinsongshttp://www.youtube.com/user/muffinsongs , it has great versions of traditional songs!)
Hello everybody! Today I brought you ten sites that are useful for teaching English to Young Learners (at least, I use them a lot! ). There are specific ESL sites for kids, as well as non language-focused sites. I hope you enjoy them! Let me know if they were useful for you, and which section is your favorite, ok? Have a great teaching!
This site has a plethora of resources, ranging from activities to very young learners, available at the CBeebies Section to resources for storytelling or even an online music editor for kids. Here teachers can find loads of useful classroom materials and kids can find lots of fun! J The CBeebies section is totally adapted to very young learners, including spoken menus for kids who cannot read. It’s awesome!
Our Favorite TV Series Cesame Street is the basis of this very rich, kid-friendly site. Here, there are ideas to stay in and go out, including videos teaching how to play games, activities to print, online games, and a special section in which the kid can personalize his or her section, choosing favorite games, videos and playlists.
Inspired on PBS’s educational programs, this site (also, completely kid-friendly, with spoken menus) offers instructive resources not only for kids (such as games, videos and crafts), but also for parents, including child development and kids’ health articles.
Site by Richard Graham, It is “this site is a collection of games, songs and ideas for use by teachers of languages to children. “ and, if you are curious about the word Genki, here comes the definition: “"Genki" is a really cool Japanese word that means "fun", "lively", "energetic", "full of life". There isn't really a word for it in English, but if you try these ideas in your classroom, you'll know what it means!” Make sure to take a look at the Articles section, filled with interesting ideas on games and activities.
A world of resources for teachers. This is the best way to describe this lively and interesting site! A MUST-SEE! (Really!) From flashcards to worksheet creators, it will spare you hours of research for material and class design!!
From games and crafts available to very young learners to a video on how mummies are made, there are resources for learners and teachers from all walks of life! J Great for CBI or CLIL materials development!
Fantastic site for kids, teachers and parents, with lots of hints, articles and recipes for a range of subjects, from special recipes for cooking with kids to a social network for parents to exchange experiences and ideas. Don’t forget to check the awesome Holidays section, with lots of cultural and practical resources for you and your classes!
As language teachers engaged in literacy and critical thinking practices, it is often challenging to find speaking activities for young learners which reflect our concerns and at the same time motivate students to use the target language.
Today, I received this inspiring video, which caused me to have a bunch of ideas...
So, I decided to share it!
How could we apply this kind of research to our classes? How could we incorporate this kind of discussion in our programs?
This video is part of Speak Up Program, which promotes research on students', parents' and school community members' opinions on education, in order to "raaise national awareness about the importance of including the viewpoints of students, parents, and teachers in the education dialogue."
In Brazil, there are several studies promoted by the Ministry of Education, available at INEP, which may be a source of ideas for us to widen our perspectives on our educational realities.
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