Can't believe it's December! Time flies... November was full of discoveries which I'd like to share with you in this short post. Here are some gems you might find useful:
Are there any websites/activities you'd like to share?
Showing posts with label teacher development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teacher development. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 December 2018
Thursday, 4 January 2018
English For Very Young Learners
While a lot of people are working on their New Year's resolutions, I'm still reflecting on 2017. It was a year full of changes and challenges for me, in both my private and professional life. In addition to moving to a new country and starting learning a new language, I found myself job hunting again. Looking for a new job is always a stressful experience that makes me anxious, but I was lucky enough to be offered a few teaching positions. As well as teaching English to teens and adults, I was given the opportunity to work as an English teacher in a bilingual nursery&kindergarten. I've always been very comfortable working with the former group of learners...the latter one,however, was definitely a bit out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I decided to take on the challenge and teach English to toddlers and young children...and it's been bliss!
In this post I'll share some of my observations about teaching English to very young learners. I'll also share some of the resources I find very useful when working with children.
Even though I gained some experience in working in childcare in my early twenties and then I taught primary school students for 6 years, I didn't really know what I was getting into when I was about to start working in the nursery. I wasn't sure If I was going to enjoy working with little children...and, to be honest with you, I wasn't even convinced that teaching English to toddlers and kindergarteners was a great idea...However, the last few months have been surprisingly joyful and productive!
One of the most important conclusions I have drawn so far is that in order to be able to be effective in teaching very young learners, one needs to like little children and be able to connect with them. In her TED talk called "Every kid needs a champion", Rita Pierson talks about the importance of forming relationships with students and points out that kids don't learn from people they don't like. I couldn't agree more. Enjoying being around kids is a must when working with very young learners. Everything else will fall into place ;)
While doing my research on working with children, I was given plenty of helpful advice from fellow educators. Everybody I spoke to stressed the importance of singing, storytelling, playing and having fun together. I must confess: I'm not a singing type...I don't feel very comfortable singing. Nevertheless, I've been playing a lot of nursery rhymes from my tablet and my kids have been thoroughly enjoying it, dancing, humming and trying to repeat some words. Even I have warmed up to some songs and I find myself singing along ;)
The links below will take you to my favourite websites with songs and videos suitable for toddlers and kindergarteners:
Super Simple Songs
Jbrary
DreamEnglish
Singing isn't my strongest suit, but I have been definitely enjoying reading and storytelling with my children. I strongly recommend "that's not my..." series (Usborne children's books) and lift-the-flap "busy..." books (published by Ladybird)...or any lift-the-flap books as kids always love those!
You can also try playing the shows from SuperSimple Online if your little ones are able to concentrate long enough (FYI www.supersimpleonline.com is full of great resources for those who work with very YL).
Singing and reading together have been very fruitful, but doing arts and crafts has been both educational and entertaining to kids and me alike. I have been thoroughly enjoying involving my children in various crafty projects and they have learnt a lot of English and other skills by doing things. Colouring, painting, finger-painting, drawing, cutting out, gluing, modelling plasticine, making posters and handprints have all proved to be a great way of learning new vocabulary.
The websites below are full of ideas and resources for fun arts and crafts for kids:
Activity Village
Ichild
Mes-English
pinterest
Art and Craft ideas (facebook page)
Apart from buying a few books and some arts and crafts supplies, it's worth investing in a few puppets. Kids love colourful puppets and you'll surely grip their attention with them.
If you're still not convinced puppets are a good idea read 6 reasons why puppets will change your classroom forever.
Here are other websites and articles I consider very helpful in working with little ones:
Genki English
Jolly Learning
The Dad Lab
English for little kids
Twinkl Early Years
How can young children learn languages
Active English
Besides the aforementioned, I make sure I talk to my kids all the time. I talk them through everything we do trying to use simple terms and vocabulary. I try to repeat the same words and create routines so that they associate actions with words. And even though they don't always answer and they don't always seem to understand what I say, I don't lose heart because I know they are taking everything in and sooner or later they will comprehend and use the target language.
Just before Christmas a small girl, who had never spoken English before, shouted "See you, Alex!" when I was leaving the room :D They do learn, even when we think that they don't!
Please, share your experiences teaching English to very YL :)
In this post I'll share some of my observations about teaching English to very young learners. I'll also share some of the resources I find very useful when working with children.
Even though I gained some experience in working in childcare in my early twenties and then I taught primary school students for 6 years, I didn't really know what I was getting into when I was about to start working in the nursery. I wasn't sure If I was going to enjoy working with little children...and, to be honest with you, I wasn't even convinced that teaching English to toddlers and kindergarteners was a great idea...However, the last few months have been surprisingly joyful and productive!
One of the most important conclusions I have drawn so far is that in order to be able to be effective in teaching very young learners, one needs to like little children and be able to connect with them. In her TED talk called "Every kid needs a champion", Rita Pierson talks about the importance of forming relationships with students and points out that kids don't learn from people they don't like. I couldn't agree more. Enjoying being around kids is a must when working with very young learners. Everything else will fall into place ;)
While doing my research on working with children, I was given plenty of helpful advice from fellow educators. Everybody I spoke to stressed the importance of singing, storytelling, playing and having fun together. I must confess: I'm not a singing type...I don't feel very comfortable singing. Nevertheless, I've been playing a lot of nursery rhymes from my tablet and my kids have been thoroughly enjoying it, dancing, humming and trying to repeat some words. Even I have warmed up to some songs and I find myself singing along ;)
The links below will take you to my favourite websites with songs and videos suitable for toddlers and kindergarteners:
Super Simple Songs
Jbrary
DreamEnglish
Singing isn't my strongest suit, but I have been definitely enjoying reading and storytelling with my children. I strongly recommend "that's not my..." series (Usborne children's books) and lift-the-flap "busy..." books (published by Ladybird)...or any lift-the-flap books as kids always love those!
You can also try playing the shows from SuperSimple Online if your little ones are able to concentrate long enough (FYI www.supersimpleonline.com is full of great resources for those who work with very YL).
Singing and reading together have been very fruitful, but doing arts and crafts has been both educational and entertaining to kids and me alike. I have been thoroughly enjoying involving my children in various crafty projects and they have learnt a lot of English and other skills by doing things. Colouring, painting, finger-painting, drawing, cutting out, gluing, modelling plasticine, making posters and handprints have all proved to be a great way of learning new vocabulary.
The websites below are full of ideas and resources for fun arts and crafts for kids:
Activity Village
Ichild
Mes-English
Art and Craft ideas (facebook page)
If you're interested in what I do with my children, feel free to visit my instagram account :)
If you're still not convinced puppets are a good idea read 6 reasons why puppets will change your classroom forever.
Here are other websites and articles I consider very helpful in working with little ones:
Genki English
Jolly Learning
The Dad Lab
English for little kids
Twinkl Early Years
How can young children learn languages
Active English
Besides the aforementioned, I make sure I talk to my kids all the time. I talk them through everything we do trying to use simple terms and vocabulary. I try to repeat the same words and create routines so that they associate actions with words. And even though they don't always answer and they don't always seem to understand what I say, I don't lose heart because I know they are taking everything in and sooner or later they will comprehend and use the target language.
Just before Christmas a small girl, who had never spoken English before, shouted "See you, Alex!" when I was leaving the room :D They do learn, even when we think that they don't!
Please, share your experiences teaching English to very YL :)
Monday, 18 September 2017
TED talks for teens
This blog is very young but you might have noticed that I have a thing for TED talks. I love watching them in my free time and I enjoy exploiting them in teaching. Although I find it easy to find videos for adult learners, it's always tricky to choose something more suitable for my teenage students.
Thanks to my boss, a few weeks ago I had a pleasure to join a National Geographic Learning Webminar on TED Talks for Teens.
In his webminar, Daniel Barber discussed five reasons why we should use TED talks in teaching. He also suggested how teachers can use TED talks in a lesson as well as shared some tips on selecting TED talks in the classroom, with particular focus on teens.
Click here if you're interested in watching a recording of Daniel Barber's webminar and finding out for yourself what EFL teachers can do with TED talks.
You can enjoy more similar webminars if you go to National Geographic Learning Webminars.
Here are some TED talks my teenage students have enjoyed:
"I have 99 problems...palsy is just one" by Maysoon Zayid
"Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking" by Megan Washington
"Every kid needs a champion" by Rita Pierson
"A virtual choir 2000 voices strong" by Eric Whitacre
"Why videos go viral" by Kevin Allocca
"Try something new for 30 days" by Matt Cutts
"The power of introverts" by Susan Cain
There are more interesting ideas on how to use TED talks in ELT and some recommendations of student-friendly videos here
If you, like me, love using TED talk videos in the classroom you might find these links very useful:
downloadable worksheets and lesson ideas based on TED talks
talks by brilliant kids and teenagers
TED talks to watch with kids (playlist)
Please feel free to share your favourite TED talks!
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