Teaching young children can be so much fun and rewarding but for me the most important point is that the children have a great time and enjoy themselves so that they associate English lessons with fun and actually look forward to them and want to learn.
Previoulsy I have used the Teddy's train book and CD's but this year I stumbled upon Genki English and after having listened to a few of the Demo's, that I couldn't get out of my head after hearing, I decided to try that this year.
So far so good, I am happy with te download pack I got. It conatains apx 60 songs, which are all fairly easy to learn and have some funky tunes and beats (which the kids seem to love). The owners club (free with the download) allows access to numerous lesson plans and ideas for games, some worksheets (a bit the same) and a forum full of great advice.
I would definately suggest this site for anyone teaching nursery to grade 4.
The link is www.genkienglish.com and please send an email to Richard saying "Everything ESl" you.
Now go and explore that website!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Time flies...and so do pigeons!
Well, I can't believe that it is October already. So much for my plans to post weekly or daily to my blog.
I guess most of you have been in the same position, what with the start of the school year always being busy, sometimes even hectic!
A lot of my time was taken up with writing new a new syllabus for each year, fairly straight forward once you have identified the main aims of the lesson and target vocab, but I always try to find at least one game to add in that will aid learning.
We also had to identify and write down in the syllabus what work the clever /fast finishers would get and what the slower students would get. I don't really like to separate the class and instaed do much more oral work with the fast finishers but this year it all had to be written down, so thats what I did.
So far most of my classes seem to be enjoying the English lessons, but one of my biggest problems was with a class in the 4th year. They were simply not used to seeing the English letters and would constantly ask what letter is that. It would only be a minor difference in the shape but they just couldn't get it. But afetr 4 weeks they have got a lot better. I promuised to try and write a bit more like the Hungarian style if they promised to "think" what the letter could be if I reverted back my English style of hnadwriting...so far so good. I've slipped a few English letters in there and they seem to be doing ok with it!
I am also trying to get them to stop asking if they should miss a line when writing in thier exercise books. I am trying to encourage them to think for themselves and simply tell them this is their book and they should write in it nicely and so that it is easy to read again at home.
So I truly have some lovely classes this year and with the help of a classroom assiatnat even my biggest and loudest class seem to be learning!
No problems to speak of, but today one child wanted to show me something at the end of the lesson.....probably would have been bestto say I wasn't interested but alas I was so......he showed me a pigeon, a live one sitting inhis hands, which he then let go and it flew a circle around the room, before shitting on the cupboard and then returned to the student, who put it into the pocket of his bag! Not sure what to do n a situation like this a passing teacher heard the commotion and gave him eht choice to return hom with it now or to set it free.
Lucky it wasn't an elephant he brought to school.
I guess most of you have been in the same position, what with the start of the school year always being busy, sometimes even hectic!
A lot of my time was taken up with writing new a new syllabus for each year, fairly straight forward once you have identified the main aims of the lesson and target vocab, but I always try to find at least one game to add in that will aid learning.
We also had to identify and write down in the syllabus what work the clever /fast finishers would get and what the slower students would get. I don't really like to separate the class and instaed do much more oral work with the fast finishers but this year it all had to be written down, so thats what I did.
So far most of my classes seem to be enjoying the English lessons, but one of my biggest problems was with a class in the 4th year. They were simply not used to seeing the English letters and would constantly ask what letter is that. It would only be a minor difference in the shape but they just couldn't get it. But afetr 4 weeks they have got a lot better. I promuised to try and write a bit more like the Hungarian style if they promised to "think" what the letter could be if I reverted back my English style of hnadwriting...so far so good. I've slipped a few English letters in there and they seem to be doing ok with it!
I am also trying to get them to stop asking if they should miss a line when writing in thier exercise books. I am trying to encourage them to think for themselves and simply tell them this is their book and they should write in it nicely and so that it is easy to read again at home.
So I truly have some lovely classes this year and with the help of a classroom assiatnat even my biggest and loudest class seem to be learning!
No problems to speak of, but today one child wanted to show me something at the end of the lesson.....probably would have been bestto say I wasn't interested but alas I was so......he showed me a pigeon, a live one sitting inhis hands, which he then let go and it flew a circle around the room, before shitting on the cupboard and then returned to the student, who put it into the pocket of his bag! Not sure what to do n a situation like this a passing teacher heard the commotion and gave him eht choice to return hom with it now or to set it free.
Lucky it wasn't an elephant he brought to school.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Some frustrating news
This week I heard some very frustrating news.
My friends son learns English in a primary school, he is in the 7th grade (apx 14 years old). This week they asked if he could have some extra lesson swith me because he doesn't enjoy English in the school. His mum told me that he literally shakes with fear in the classroom in case he is picked on to speak. Apparently the teacher shouts at the students if they get it wrong.....I HATE THIS! NO, NO, NO AND NO!
Children should never ever be shouted at when trying to learn and making an effort. I really don't like this way of teaching and feel that it just inhibits the students. I always encourage the students and even if they get it wrong I always tell them nice job (unless of course they are doing it on purpose).
Am I wrong? What do you think? Personally I love to see a class full of students with hands in the air eager to answer the questions even if they get it wrong, because at least they are trying, rather than everyone sitting staring at he desk in the hope of not getting picked for fear of getting it wrong!
My friends son learns English in a primary school, he is in the 7th grade (apx 14 years old). This week they asked if he could have some extra lesson swith me because he doesn't enjoy English in the school. His mum told me that he literally shakes with fear in the classroom in case he is picked on to speak. Apparently the teacher shouts at the students if they get it wrong.....I HATE THIS! NO, NO, NO AND NO!
Children should never ever be shouted at when trying to learn and making an effort. I really don't like this way of teaching and feel that it just inhibits the students. I always encourage the students and even if they get it wrong I always tell them nice job (unless of course they are doing it on purpose).
Am I wrong? What do you think? Personally I love to see a class full of students with hands in the air eager to answer the questions even if they get it wrong, because at least they are trying, rather than everyone sitting staring at he desk in the hope of not getting picked for fear of getting it wrong!
The first week
Well technically it's the second week back but this week was when the children started. Before that we had to go in and decorate the classrooms with new posters etc to mak them more welcoming and of course we had a lot of paperwork to fill in for the start of the school year.
We were even lucky (or should I say unlucky) enough to attend a seminar that covered different aspects of education. The first was, ummm, can't rememeber so obvioulsy it wasn'tthaht great! The second was very nteresting reminding us about how children learn and how e can help them to be better learners. The third was ok, I was getting a bit tired by now what with Hungarian being my second language (and I'm still learning it) so after a while of constant listening I sometimes just switch off. However it was about how to rela when faced with stressful times in the classroom. Some said she was very good but all I understood was about drawing a star with your body and it just seemed to make me streesed cause she had the ost annoying voice and spoke way to fast!
I always try to remind myself that when faced with naughty children (that can be the possible cause of stressful situations) that they are indeed only children. They often don't know how bad they are and are usually just doing it for some sort of attention, therefore I don't give them any. If it's really unbearable I ask them to stand outside the door. After 5 minutes I go out and they get one more chance to come backin, If they are naughty again they go out again and stand in the teachers corridor.
It is worth remembering that as teachers we are not paid to worry about them after the lesson, that our free time, so try not to let them bother you.
Maybe easier said than done but it just takes practice.
Apart from that the first week seemed to go quite well, I have a few new faces (students that have had to repeat a year) and I also got a lesson a week with the very first grade....yay. I hope to have a lot of fun with that class.
We were even lucky (or should I say unlucky) enough to attend a seminar that covered different aspects of education. The first was, ummm, can't rememeber so obvioulsy it wasn'tthaht great! The second was very nteresting reminding us about how children learn and how e can help them to be better learners. The third was ok, I was getting a bit tired by now what with Hungarian being my second language (and I'm still learning it) so after a while of constant listening I sometimes just switch off. However it was about how to rela when faced with stressful times in the classroom. Some said she was very good but all I understood was about drawing a star with your body and it just seemed to make me streesed cause she had the ost annoying voice and spoke way to fast!
I always try to remind myself that when faced with naughty children (that can be the possible cause of stressful situations) that they are indeed only children. They often don't know how bad they are and are usually just doing it for some sort of attention, therefore I don't give them any. If it's really unbearable I ask them to stand outside the door. After 5 minutes I go out and they get one more chance to come backin, If they are naughty again they go out again and stand in the teachers corridor.
It is worth remembering that as teachers we are not paid to worry about them after the lesson, that our free time, so try not to let them bother you.
Maybe easier said than done but it just takes practice.
Apart from that the first week seemed to go quite well, I have a few new faces (students that have had to repeat a year) and I also got a lesson a week with the very first grade....yay. I hope to have a lot of fun with that class.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
New web site!
As was promised a while back I have now created a web site (link below) that will share all my teaching ideas, extra worksheets and lesson plans.
Mainly the resources are for School Bus One and the Project (OUP) series, but there will be some other bits and bobs too.
Help me keep this going by clicking the ads on the side of the blog / web pages.
http://sites.google.com/site/everythingforesl/Home
Now we have a forum, web site and a blog........ make the most of it and be sure to use them!
Mainly the resources are for School Bus One and the Project (OUP) series, but there will be some other bits and bobs too.
Help me keep this going by clicking the ads on the side of the blog / web pages.
http://sites.google.com/site/everythingforesl/Home
Now we have a forum, web site and a blog........ make the most of it and be sure to use them!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Mingoville
A few weeks ago I came across a new website called Mingoville. It is a free website for children to learn English, but saying that it would also be good for anyone starting to learn English (if they could put up with the bright colours) as it covers the basics and gives lots of vocabulary.
All you need to do is sign up for free.
Here is the link
http://app.de.mingoville.com/
All you need to do is sign up for free.
Here is the link
http://app.de.mingoville.com/
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