Building literacy competences in early childhood

Ideas for children learning English

This is a nice video which gives us ideas to help children learn English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-wzo6EXR0

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Some tips about classroom management

Your voice and body language:

Another fundamental classroom management has to do with YOU and the messages you send through your voice and through your body language.

One of the first requirements of good teaching is good voice projection. You do not have to shout, but you need to be heard clearly by all the students in the room. When you talk, project your voice so that the person sitting farthest away from you can hear you clearly. As you speak articulate clearly.

Non-verbal messages are also very powerful. In language classes, especially, where students may not have all the skills they need to decipher verbal language, their attention is drawn to nonverbal communication.

Let you body posture exhibit an air of confidence.

Your face should reflect optimism, brightness, and warmth.

Use facial and hand gestures to improve meaning.

Make frequent eye contact with all the students in the class.

Do not plant your feet firmly in one place for the whole hour.

Move around the classroom.

Discipline:
Gain the respect of your students by treating them with equal fairness and respect.
State clearly and explicitly to your students what your expectations are regarding their behavior in class, attendance, and any extra-class obligation.
Try to solve disciplinary problems outside of class time.
If you cannot resolve a recurring disciplinary problem, then consult your institution’s administrator.

Establish rapport:
Rapport is creating a positive energy in the classroom. It is the relationship or connection you establish with your students, a relationship that is built on trust and respect and that leads to students’ feeling capable, competent, and creative. And you set such connection by:
-Showing interest in each student as a person.
-Giving feedback on each person’s progress.
-Openly soliciting student’s ideas and feelings.
-Valuing and respecting what students think and say.
-Laughing with them and not at them.
-Working with them as a team.
-Developing a genuine sense of joy when they learn.

Adapted from: Douglas, B. Teaching by principles, 2000

Using the L1 in the EFL classroom

Should you or shouldn’t you use the students’ first language (L1) in the classroom? This is one of the questions which most divides EFL/ESL teachers – whether they are for it or against it, there are few who don’t have a strong opinion about it.The main argument against the use of the L1 in language teaching is that students will become dependent on it, and not even try to understand meaning from context and explanation, or express what they want to say within their limited command of the target language (L2) – both of which are important skills which they will need to use when communicating in the real situation.But there are other, historical reasons why the use of the students’ mother tongue went out of favour. Initially it was part of a reaction against the Grammar-Translation method, which had dominated late 19th and early 20th century teaching, and which saw language learning as a means towards intellectual development rather than as being for utilitarian, communicative purposes. The Direct Method of the early 20th century reacted against this – it aimed at oral/aural competence and believed languages were best learnt in a way that emulated the “natural” language learning of the child – ie with no analysis or translation. The move away from L1 use was later reinforced by Audiolingualism (1940s-1960s) which saw language as a matter of habit formation. The L1 was seen as a collection of already established linguistic habits which would “interfere” with the establishment of the new set of linguistic habits that constituted the target language, and was thus to be avoided at all costs.This theoretical opposition to the use of the L1 was compounded by the development of the TEFL “industry” – there are now many situations in which the teacher simply doesn’t speak or even understand the students’ language – for instance, teachers who move from country to country every year or so, or who are teaching multi-lingual classes in their (the teachers’) own country.In the last thirty years or so, there have continued to be some methodologies which avoid the use of the L1 – Total Physical Response is one. But others, like Suggestopaedia and Counselling Language Learning, (1) have included it as an integral part of the methodology. Mainstream methodology, on the other hand, has had an ambivalent approach, coming down neither on one side nor the other but maintaining an “it depends” attitude.Depends on what? The risk of creating L1 dependence is obviously valid, but there are also strong arguments for using the L1 if the teacher is able to do so:
· It can prevent time being wasted on tortuous explanations and instructions, when it could be better spent on language practice. With beginners, it may even allow the teacher to use activities which would be impossible to explain otherwise.
· It can be used contrastively to point out problem areas of grammar, false cognates etc. Various coursebooks, like Headway, now encourage students to translate model sentences into their own language in order to compare and contrast the grammar.
· Students’ receptive competence (their understanding) may be higher than their productive competence (their ability to use the language). In some circumstances the course objectives may even focus primarily on receptive competence, not expecting productive competence to reach an equivalent level – for example reading skills courses for student doctors who have to understand medical textbooks and journals in English. One way of letting students demonstrate receptive competence is by allowing them to respond using the L1. I have already mentioned the use of bilingual conversations (2) in a previous article, but students can also demonstrate receptive competence by discussing their understanding of a text in their L1. I use this frequently with beginners classes. After reading or listening I ask them to tell me what they understood (based on the pre-set task) in the L1. Once I’m sure they’re on the right lines I ask them to repeat what they said in English. In this way they don’t have to think about the answers themselves, and about how to formulate them in English, at the same time.
· It can be used with beginners for pre-lesson small talk which allows the teacher to get to know the students as people, and for discussions to explain the course methodology etc. In addition, beginners will be less tense if they know they can at least ask for, and possibly receive, explanation in the L1.
· When students are trying to say something but having difficulty, they can say it in their own language and the teacher can reformulate it for them (3), possibly rephrasing and simplifying to show them how they could have expressed themselves within the language they already know.
· If the teacher does not speak the students language, it can be useful for them (the students) to have a bilingual dictionary in the classroom so that they can double check their comprehension of lexical explanations.
· Some students need to combine the two languages – for example those whose jobs involve translation and interpreting. Translation is a skill which needs to be taught. Sometimes then, the use of the L1 can be more productive than counter-productive. Whilst the aim should be to wean students off the L1 as soon as possible (I’ve talked previously about how this might be done when giving instructions (4)), it may still be extremely useful at certain stages.Notice that not all the uses of the L1 listed above may involve the teacher in actually speaking the language. Some, like reformulation, only need her to understand. This can provide a sort of “middle way”. The students are re-assured by the fact that they can ask questions etc in their own language, but they are still stimulated to try and understand the teacher who is speaking only English. It can also be a useful approach for those teachers who have recently moved to a country and are starting to learn the language, but don’t yet feel fully confident in using it (which should make them appreciate how their students feel!)
Taken from: http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com

Motivating young children to learn English

Young children are often eager, almost too eager. The problem arises when they are eager to do things other than what you’re trying to teach them. Here are six top tips to keep them interested in class and motivated to do what you want them to do:
Tip #1: Keep Yourself Motivated.Think back to when you were a child. If your teacher was not enthusiastic about what he or she had scheduled for class that day, how did you feel about it? It’s the same with young children today. If you, the teacher and often a role model for younger children, think this is a neat activity, then they will too!
Tip #2: Encourage.Young kids thrive on praise and positive attention from the adults in their lives. If you want them to like you and be motivated in your class, you often just need to give them a lot of positive attention.
Tip #3: Play GamesChildren learn through play. Oftentimes they don’t even realize they are learning if they are enjoying the game. Just think, children could sit there and fill out worksheet after worksheet or they could play an English game and learn the same concepts. Which would you rather do?
When I say English games I’m talking about games that are specifically designed to teach language and vocabulary. For example, you could turn using vehicle vocabulary into a relay game where children need to pick a card with a word and then run to a box of vehicles (or a stack of pictures of vehicles) and bring the correct one his or her classmates.
Here is another example: If you might normally give them a worksheet to write the correct verb next to the picture illustrating the action, have them instead practice their verbs by doing the action for the word you say or the word on a card that you hold up. Likewise, you could do the action and have them write down the word. You may access free samples of fun classroom games in the resource box below.
When you play games, you can use points and competition as a motivator, but not for kids under six who may find the competition too stressful. For them, just playing the game is motivating enough. You can also sometimes award extra credit, but use it sparingly so that it remains "extra" and a special reward. Also if you use it too much, children can have so much extra credit that it sways the actual grades too much.
Tip #4: Get Their Hands DirtyLiterally and figuratively. Children like to work with their hands and whatever you can do to get the items they are learning about in their hands is useful and fun for them. This can be anything from having a sensory table filled with sand and beach items when you want to teach them summer words to having them each bring in a piece of fruit when you are teaching fruit words. Anytime you can get young children up and doing instead of listening (often passively) you are getting their hands dirty in the learning process.
Tip #5: Get Them Moving. Movement is a vital component to motivating children. The best way to prevent children from zoning out is to get them up out of their seats at least once each class period. Even if you just require them to come up to you instead of you going to them for help, the movement can help get them out of the trance that they sometimes get from sitting in one spot too long. Grouping the children for study projects and activities helps as well. If you can, let them move the desks around or sit on the floor to change things up as well. Many games involve movement without the children needing to leave their seats, such as miming, moving certain body parts and passing things around as part of a game or race. Therefore even teachers with large classes and no space to move can use this technique, albeit to a more limited degree.
Tip #6: Vary the PaceAlternate calm games with lively ones to keep the children alert and motivated, but without letting the class get out of hand. Good discipline is essential to effective learning.
To read the full article on how to motivate children to want to learn English, please see the articles and tips section on teachingenglishgames.com in the resource box below.
Shelley Vernon has helped 1000s of teachers be an inspiration to their pupils and achieve results 2x as fast. Improve the effectiveness of your lessons by up to 80%. Receive free English language games now on teachingenglishgames.com The full article is on how to motivate children to learn is on http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/dirindex.htm

Written by Shelley Vernon

Taken from: http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/

Giving and checking instructions

Some of the activities that we use in the classroom are fairly complex in terms of the way they’re organized, and I doubt if there are many teachers who can honestly claim that they’ve never got a class totally confused by the way they’ve given instructions. How can you make sure that your instructions are as clear and comprehensible as possible? Here are some guidelines :
· Plan how you’re going to give the instructions before you go into the classroom, and make sure that you can explain them within the limits of the language which the students can understand. For example, the following instruction would be fine for an intermediate class, but would lose a group of beginners : You’re going to hear a description of a famous person and you have to guess who it is. For beginners, Listen to my description of a famous person. Who is it? would be far more comprehensible. Think too about the speed of your speech - slow down slightly if necessary - and insert pauses to allow students to take in each piece of information before you go on to the next.
· Make sure that your instructions are fully explicit – don’t take anything for granted. Because we are so familiar with the activity types, we often assume that certain things are obvious. How often have you explained an activity but forgotten to say explicitly Don't show your information to your partner - only to find students happily doing just that.
· Also think about how much you’re going to explain at a time. If you have a long, complicated, or two part activity, don’t explain everything at once. Explain the first stage, and check that students have understood before you go on to the explanation of the next part. In some cases it is not necessary for the students to have an overview of the whole activity before they start. In this case, explain the first part, do the first part and then go on to the explanation of the second part.
· Don’t start the explanation until you have the students full attention. Make sure they have stopped whatever they are doing, are turned towards you and are listening.
· Even in the first lesson, use English wherever possible. Get into pairs won’t be understood, but You two, you two and you two plus a gesture “pushing” the students together will be.
· If you speak the students’ language, for very complex activities it may be more efficient to use the L1 for explanations. However, this can be gradually phased out :a) at the beginning of the course, give the instructions in the L1, and then repeat them immediately, as simply as possible, in English.b) later on reverse the order : give the instructions in English first, and in the L1 second.c) as soon as possible, give the instructions in English only, but check comprehension by asking the students to repeat them back in their L1.
· Avoid using the imperative in your instructions. In most situations that the students will find themselves, it will not be an appropriate form to use. In the classroom it may be, but if they have constantly heard the teacher saying Repeat! there’s a good chance they’ll use it themselves :Native speaker : And so I was dropped right in it.Student : Repeat!Instead, use request forms - for example Can you repeat that? - which provide a good model for the students’ own use of the language. This is especially important if the imperative is more socially acceptable in the students’ own language (for example Italian) so that they are liable to transfer the use into English.
· Always check that students have understood your instructions before starting the activity. The question Do you understand? is as good as useless. Students may be too shy to admit that they don’t understand, or may think they understand when they actually don’t. Make sure they demonstrate their understanding. This can be done by :a) asking them check questions – for example, for a roleplay : OK, if you’re student A put your hands up … Right …who are you? And what’s your problem? And who is student B?b) asking them to repeat back to you the instructions. Don’t choose the strongest person in the group to do this. S/he is the one most likely to have understood and your check needs to be directed to the students who probably haven’t.c) asking two students to demonstrate the activity in front of the class, or for a written exercise by eliciting the answers to the first two examples.d) not giving instructions at all but asking students to look at the activity and tell you what they think they have to do. This can be useful for activity types which are already known the students.
· As soon as the students start the activity, go around quickly to each pair or group just to check they are on task. Don’t stop to help or monitor one group until you have checked them all. If only one group has not understood, then go back and help. If several groups are off track, then stop the activity and explain again, using the students who have understood to demonstrate to the others.

Taken from: http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2006/11/giving-and-checking-instructions.html

Using repetition drills

Immediately after the presentation of a new structure or vocabulary field, the students need a controlled practice stage in which they have the chance to focus exclusively on the new language and start to familiarize themselves with it. What the student says and how it is said is controlled by the activity and restricts the student to the target item. The lower the level, the more important this stage is. The students do not have to speak spontaneously, and therefore do not have to focus on what they want to say at the same time as considering how to say it. Their output is 100% predictable.

The simplest and most controlled of these types of activity is a repetition drill - the teacher simply says a sentence containing the target structure (or even just the lexical item being taught) and the students repeat it. This can be done :
· Silently : the students repeat the sentence or word to themselves in their minds to try and get a mental image of the item. This stage is often skipped, but I find it invaluable.
· Chorally : the whole class, or in a larger class, groups of students repeat the sentence/word together.
· Individually : the teacher calls on one student at a time to repeat the target item.
The staging Silent - Choral - Individual repetition is in increasing order of challenge for the student and should generally be done in that order. If students are having problems, however, it may sometimes be useful to backtrack to an earlier stage.
Here are some dos and don'ts for using repetition drills effectively :
Do...
· Think about whether you want the students to see the written form before the repetition or not. In general it will be helpful, but in some cases you may want to establish the pronunciation first - for example with the word cupboard. In this case, when you finally write up the word, check the pronunciation again and point out the silent p and the schwa sound (1). Otherwise students are liable to think they were wrong when they were repeating and start to pronounce the word in the way you were hoping to avoid.

· Give clear instructions as to whether the students should be listening or repeating, and give them several chances to listen before asking for repetition. It will generally also be useful to indicate stress and intonation features using gesture, board symbols etc.

· Speak naturally, so as to give a realistic model of pronunciation. Notice how the pronunciation of the words is different in connected speech than if they're pronounced individually - for example in the phrase go and see there will be a linking consonant /w/ between go and and; and the word and itself will be pronounced in its "weak" version : the /d/ will probably disappear (elision) and the vowel sound will again be a schwa. You need to decide how much you wish to focus on these elements in pronunciation work. If the students need to speak to native speakers of English it's essential that they recognise them. However, at lower levels asking students to produce the weak forms may be beyond them. Apart from anything else, they are features of fairly rapid, linked speech, and beginners are usually unable to speak that fast. Weak forms pronounced in isolation usually sound ridiculous.

· Give a further model before every repetition. Don't expect students to work from memory or they're more likely to repeat what they heard from the last student than what you originally said.

· During choral repetition, "conduct" the group to keep them together. Otherwise it's very difficult for them to produce the same rhythm and intonation, or for you to hear mistakes. If the group is together and one student is pronouncing something wrong, you'll hear it. If they're all at different points in the sentence, you won't.

· Use fairly short phrases - not more than about seven syllables at a time, and considerably shorter for beginners. This will probably mean breaking the sentence into parts. If you do this always backchain - start with the last part first and build towards the front. Otherwise you'll find it impossible to maintain the correct intonation. For example, if you're working on the sentence Mr Johnson's attending a conference in Paris this week, the sequence might be : this week - in Paris this week - a conference in Paris this week - attending a conference in Paris this week - Mr Johnson's attending a conference in Paris this week.
Don't ...
· Don't be tempted to skip this stage. At elementary level it's essential to give the students the chance to familiarise themselves with the language before they start really using it, and even at intermediate level it's useful for new structures, though you may start dropping it for remedial work.

· Don't let it go on for ages or let the pace drop. Repetition work should be short and snappy or it gets boring. Do silent and choral repetition and try to hear a couple of students repeating individually. If you had four model sentences, you might want to do, for each : 1 or 2 silent repetitions; 2 choral repetitions; and 3 individual repetitions, using different students each time. Five minutes repetition work would be ample even at the lowest level, and would probably get considerably shorter as you moved towards intermediate level. You can brighten the repetition work up by asking the students to repeat using different emotions - as if they're tired, angry, very happy, or surprised.

Taken from: http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com

Making ESL learning fun for preschool children

Preschoolers are cute and funny but they certainly have a minute attention span, and that can give pre-K teachers a headache if they do not have enough good ideas ready to hand. This article by Shelley Vernon will give you access to a wealth of great ideas, games and stories to make your preschool ESL classes more fun and effective.
The right ESL pre-k teaching tools can make learning easier and more fun. Take, for example, the research work of Dr. Howard Gardner who came up with the theory of multiple intelligences. This essentially rules out the idea that the best way for children to learn is by sitting at a table doing "desk work". Instead, Gardner pinpoints different "intelligences" which are essentially learning styles. Everyone has a specific intelligence (or a few specific intelligences) that defines how he or she learns best. This means that in order to reach all the children in a classroom, different learning methods must be made available to them. The multiple intelligences are :
· Linguistic intelligence: Learning and using spoken and written language
· Logical-mathematical intelligence: Logically analysing problems, detecting patterns, reasoning.
· Musical intelligence: Performing, composing, and appreciating musical patterns.
· Bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence: Using the whole body or parts of the body to solve problems.
· Spatial intelligence: Recognizing patterns of wide space and confined areas.
· Interpersonal intelligence: Effectively working with others.
· Intrapersonal intelligence: Understanding self and feelings.
By using games and other activities in your classroom, you'll be able to create a class period that explores various intelligences and reaches a variety of children instead of just the linguistic learners.

Additionally, it's important to remember that preschoolers simply learn best through play. Just think about how preschoolers learn to count. They may count how many cars they have lined up or how many blocks they've stacked.

Here is an example of how to transform a mundane activity into an exciting game that stimulates the children's imagination and encourages better retention of vocabulary. Imagine you are teaching colours. Tell your children they are pirates who have lost their treasure overboard and they must dive down and retrieve it. Spread coloured objects or cards around the floor. Demonstrate by taking in a big breath, hold your breath and dive down and pick up one of the coloured objects, then come up for air and ask the children to name the colour, or you name it, depending on whether you are doing a speaking or listening activity. Then tell the children which colours to dive down and collect. You could make it even more dramatic by dimming the lights when the children dive down and turning them up when they surface. The children can then sort the different coloured treasure by stowing it safely in treasure chests (boxes or bags - one for each colour).

Any paediatrician will tell you that the best way to encourage a large vocabulary in your children is to read to them everyday. For young children learning English you need super simple stories, and in an ideal world, stories that reinforce the language and vocabulary you are teaching in class. You can access a free ESL preschool story with games in the resource box below the article.

As well as using games and stories you'll need to take into consideration a few other things:
· Preschool children have small attention spans so change your activities every five minutes or so because if they go longer than that, they'll start getting restless and you'll spend more time trying to keep their attention than actually doing the activity.

· Teach a small amount of language in any given session. For this age group, try to introduce three words at a time and then add to the list as you see the children understand the meaning of the words you've already introduced.

· Engage the children on multiple levels. This includes using fine and large motor movement, singing, talking, listening and looking. For example, you could have a game where the children need to move around the room to stand next to a picture or object of the word they heard you say.

· Competition in the preschool classroom causes undo stress on the children. Avoid playing games or doing activities that have winners and losers. Either have the class work together to "win" as a group or do not distinguish between winning and losing. On the same note, be sure to be supportive and encouraging to all of the learners in your class.

· Preschool children can get very excitable so vary excitable games with quiet ones to balance out the energy level in the classroom.

· Preschoolers are very visual. Bring in real objects whenever possible. When it is not possible, find colourful and vivid pictures.

· Preschooler children usually are not yet reading and writing (at least not to large extent) in their own language, so don't expect them to do it in a second language. At this age, you can expect them to listen and understand first. After a while, they will begin speaking individual words and short phrases.

· Themes work well in the preschool classroom. Focus your vocabulary learning on groups of similar types of words such as foods, colours, numbers, animals, families and body parts. You can work in short phrases that are relevant to your theme.

· Be well prepared, plan more than you think you will use and move seamlessly from one game or activity to another. Use colouring or similar quiet activities when the children need some downtime.

· Repeat, review and revise. You need to frequently review the vocabulary that you've previously taught them or they will quickly forget it.

· If you have a particularly naughty or rough student in the class, keep him or her close to you. Ask him or her to be your special helper and be sure to give a lot of praise when you see him or her behaving appropriately.
Above all, just remember what you liked to do in school. If you were bored, you probably didn't get much out of the class and the same is true for preschool and pre-k children. For free games and an illustrated story written for ESL preschoolers, visit the link in the box below the article. Help them have fun and before they know it, they'll be learning!
Taken from: http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com

Basic classroom language

These are useful words and sentences to be used in the English classroom.

Good/that’s good
Very good
Well done
Yes, that’s right.
Congratulations
OK.
Like this
Point /point to
Sit
Stick
Listen to the CD
Listen to the song
Sing
Now, let’s sing it.
Listen and point
Repeat /repeat after me.
Say with me/ after me.
Say
Read
Draw
Color
Look at (page 12) (the pictures)
Write
Draw and color
In English
Now, you continue.
Now you do the same.
Work in pairs (groups of three, four..)
Now, make groups (of three…)
Now compare your work with a partner.
Compare the results with a partner.
Come here.
Go back to your seat.
A volunteer, please. Can I have a volunteer please?
Join/ connect the dots / match
Ready?
Finished?
OK. Let’s check.
Tell me.
Pick up your notebooks/ books.
What’s number….?
Answer the questions.
What can you see in this picture?
I don’t know.
Stand up.
Sit down.
Raise your hand, please.
Thank you
You’re welcome.
Here you are.



Useful classroom sentences

May I go to the bathroom, please?
How do you say _________in English?
How do you say ______ in Spanish?
How do you spell ___________?
Repeat please.
I didn’t hear what you said.
Can you say it again, please!
Slowly please.
Can you lend me your _____________, please?
Can I borrow your ______________?
I don’t understand.
Teacher, I have a question!
Is this Ok? Is this right?


This is a very useful website where you can find simple transactional phrases that students can use to manage their interaction. To help them learn and remember these phrases, you make a list of them on the board (or put them on a poster for the classroom).

http://www.cambridge.org/us/ESL/letstalk/support/language.htm