What can we do about English? Is there any way we can help our child? “I do not know much English but, I would like to help my children maintaining the language learnt in the school...”
These, and other worries, are typical among parents when Summer is coming and they have to face a “long leisure time” with not much homework to do.
As Saint George is also the Saint Patron of England we benefit of this in the ESL class by talking about castles, legends, knights, kings and princesses, reading books or just listening for fun and enjoyment.
Talking about the future and the jobs students plan to do, it is always very rewarding. Children like to imagine how things will be like in their lives and, what’s more, you as a teacher can learn a lot about the personality of your pupils.
In my year 4 Primary ESL class we were involved during three sessions in practicing some research, reading, talking and writing to do a final display on the window corridor about future jobs
This is the way we did in our class, and it was a complete success.
Students will practice their writing skills by writing about what they want to be when they grow up.
Students will learn about their profession of choice by researching it.
Students will read, choose and write positive comments for their mates and their future jobs
Students will practice small motor skills by making a flower for a big display of what they want to be when they grow up.
Materials Needed:
The corridor wall or a window for the display
Coloured Papers Pencils
Crayons/Markers
Glue (or other ways to attach finished products to the window)
Posters, books or Internet finding on various professions
100 ways to praise a child poster
You can start by leading a group discussion on different jobs…have the students discuss things like what jobs their parents have and what they think they want to be when they grow up.
Show the students the blank space where the project will be displayed. Explain that they are going to fill it up with their writings and pictures (or flowers with a positive comment in each petal).
Invite them to write a paragraph on what they want to be when they grow up. For struggling students, you can make the writing assignment shorter; for advanced ones, you can have them write more. They may go to the school library to get a book on that profession or have a research in Internet in order to know some basic characteristics on it. Then, ask students to draw a picture of themselves in their chosen profession.
You can either post on the display their drawing and writing, or the flowers with nice and praising sentences (this was the way we did!).
To do it more challenging:
Put all of the writings together in a class book about jobs.
Invite other classes to come take a look at our jobs display.
Please share any new ideas or resources on this topic!
Carnival is a festival of immense cultural and historical significance: “There are many advantages in holding a nursery or school carnival ...
You must strongly think on the idea to do some cooking projects in English. They are a great resource of vocabulary and grammar in a rich context, full of motivation, fun and hands on activities.
Pretend play (or symbolic play) is a vital experience of childhood that allows transform and create other worlds, other lives to live,play at being other, learn to think and to feel as others and, ultimately, know that there are ways of thinking and feeling different from their own.
"As children develop the ability to represent experience symbolically, pretend play becomes a prominent activity. In this complex type of play, children carry out action plans, take on roles, and transform objects as they express their ideas and feelings about the social world" (Garvey, 1984)
This is a list of playscripts. Very useful if you like practising theatre with your pupils. You've got the title of the play in blue, which is a link to the script. Then, in black, you will find information about about the number of characters, the author and if it works any moral value.
How difficult is to teach conversation in the ESL classroom! How difficult is to stir spontaneous speaking!
Repetition kills motivation!
If you are using a textbook you will realize that the material found in ESL textbooks are dry and lack the variety and authenticity of real-world conversations. Teachers need something that can stimulate students and get them motivated to speak English in the classroom.
A good way is using video clips as a conversational prompt. They provide students with authentic situations in which the English language is used and can help them speaking in the classroom.
First problem: To find one that is appropriate. Just ask you few questions:
Is the content suitable for the students?
Does the content appeal to the students?
Is the length of the clip too long?
Clips shorter than two minutes may not provide enough substance from which students can create a narrative. On the other hand, clips more than five minutes in length may be too challenging for upper primary students.
Second problem: Where to find suitable video clips? You can search popular video sites such as YouTube.com, Vimeo.com or Google videos for the video clips. In these sites, video clips are abundant and are easily accessible in the classroom (type "animated short films" or "animated commercials"... you will get some good stuff to use in the ESL class).
I recently used this video from the YouTube Pixar channel in Year 5, just after reading the Heinemann book "Castles. King Arthur Treasure"
Third problem: What to do with it? It is a good idea to create a worksheet that has sections in which students can write down ideas, single words, new vocabulary, actions (verbs), and things they don’t know or they do not understand, that will later be used in speech. At the bottom of the worksheet, just add a few lines so that students can write a short narrative, both in L1 or L2, depending on the level.
My students usually work in small groups. I distribute a specific worksheet and introduce briefly the video to them. Take care to not give away what is happening in the video, otherwise they will not have much to write and later narrate. Simply inform the students of what are they going to do, the name of the video and some clues to watch it.
The first time I play the video, I ask children to do nothing: just watch and listen. The second time I ask them to write down, on the worksheet, what they see in the clip.
This video is from the student gallery of Ringling College of Art and Design.
Once the video clip has been played I ask some questions regarding the clip:
What did you see in the video clip (objects, places,)?
What was happening (actions, verbs…)?
What emotions, do you think, the actors felt (feelings, adjectives…)?
Why did the characters do this or that?
…
Now, here it comes the most amazing part of the activity: students are asked to write a small narrative that will accompany the actions in the video.
Students can write the narrative in the third or the first person: just they are different ways of expressing what is happening in the video.
Play the video again without sound. Give ten minutes to groups to come up with a narrative for the video clip. While students are writing, walk around and assist as necessary. When the groups have completed their narratives, choose alternative groups to narrate the video clip while it is being played.
Make sure each student from the group has a chance to read a few lines of the narrative.
You can conclude the session by asking their opinion, comment or just giving an adjective for the video.
With a little extra work you can add the narrative to the video by using Overstream or another subtitle adding app.
These, and other worries, are typical among parents when Summer is coming and they have to face a “long leisure time” with not much homework to do.
As Saint George is also the Saint Patron of England we benefit of this in the ESL class by talking about castles, legends, knights, kings and princesses, reading books or just listening for fun and enjoyment.
You can start by leading a group discussion on different jobs…have the students discuss things like what jobs their parents have and what they think they want to be when they grow up.
Pretend play (or symbolic play) is a vital experience of childhood that allows transform and create other worlds, other lives to live,play at being other, learn to think and to feel as others and, ultimately, know that there are ways of thinking and feeling different from their own.
Play the video again without sound. Give ten minutes to groups to come up with a narrative for the video clip. While students are writing, walk around and assist as necessary. When the groups have completed their narratives, choose alternative groups to narrate the video clip while it is being played. 