Activity 6

The Magic element

The aim of this activity is to work on: Verb “ to be” + name, size, color, age; has got, hasn´t got, abilities, likes and dislikes.

1-    Ask your students to think of a magic element they would like to have.

2-   Ask one of them to start drawing it on the board but not complete, just part of it.  His/Her mates will have to guess what the element is by asking yes, no questions. Eg:  Is it a flower? Is it a moon? The one who is drawing will answer: No, it isn´t....

3-   While his/her mates are asking questions he/she will continue drawing. The one who guesses will be the next to draw his/her magic element.

4-   Before having a new element, the one who drew his /her magic element will have to talk about it, telling his name, size, color,age, abilities, non- abilities, likes and dislikes. And he/she will draw the abilities, non- abilities, likes, dislikes surrounding the magic element.

For example: My magic element is a kite.  Katy, the kite,  It´s big.  It´s blue and orange, It has got two eyes.  It can fly, It can sing, It can dance. It can´t swim. It likes hamburgers but it doesn´t like hot dogs.

     5-  Ask them to create their magic elements in their notebooks and describe them (They might copy  and paste an image or draw their magic element  by using Paint, then they can type a description)

Activity 5

The magic spell!!!

 The aim of this activity is to recycle commands and vocabulary items (parts of the body, different pieces of furniture, places,  animals, action verbs, etc.)

Start giving your students different commands such as:

*Touch your nose, touch your head, touch your tummy, touch your eyes,etc

*Touch the table, touch the chair, touch the floor, touch the wall, etc

*Walk like a dog, walk like an elephant, swim like a fish, walk like a penguin,   jump like a monkey, etc

*Sit down, stand up, hop, clap, smile, run, eat quickly, sleep, eat slowly, etc.

 Then tell them to imagine they are God fairies who are making up magic spells.

(The objective now is to integrate what they have been listening to and produce it spontaneously).

You can give them some examples.

  “Touch my nose                “Touch my tummy              
   Clap                                     Smile

   Touch my shoulder            Touch my head
   Sit down                                   Hop
   Rabbit, rabbit                     Walk, walk
  You are a rabbit!!!!”             Walk like a dog”

After that you can ask for volunteers to create their own magic spell.  You can review any vocabulary category you have been teaching them such as:  food, pets, actions, colors, parts of a house, shapes, numbers, etc.

Every class try to ask a different student to provide his/her magic spell.
They can type their magic spells (Libre office. Paint) or create a PPT)

                                 

Activity 4

                                   Riddles

. First of all, I read to my students some riddles from a book called Little riddles.  It has pictures showing the situation and then the answer.  For example: When can three big women go out under one little umbrella and not get wet?  When it´s not raining.

Kids loved this activity.. Some of them were very happy because they got the right answer some others got angry because they weren´t able to guess but that made them want another chance.  After having guessed some riddles, I showed them some pictures of famous characters and asked them to choose three of their favorite characters.  I gave them five colored small sheets of paper and stapled them.  Then I asked them to create their own riddles.  I provided a guide for them to fill out.  For example:  

Her / His name starts with……………..

She /He is…………………………..(description)

She /He is……………………………(color)

She /He can………………………….

She /He likes……………………….

She /He usually…………………….

On each sheet of paper they wrote down this information and on the other side of this sheet they stuck the picture of the character they had chosen.  They created a mini- book of riddles. They came up with the following riddles: (I wrote down the answers but as I have already told you, in their books they had the pictures stuck on the other side of the riddles)

His name starts with B    Her name starts with M          
He is tall and thin            She is a mouse                          
He is a good friend          She can dance
He can fly                        She likes cooking
He likes spaceships         She has a boyfriend
Buzz Light year                     Minnie
 Rodrigo (6 years old)      Camila (7 years old)   
                                                                    
                                              

His name starts with W and P       His name starts with D

He is a bear                                    He is a genius
He is orange                                   He is short
He can play with his friends          He can make experiments
He likes honey                               He likes labs
Winnie the Pooh                                Dexter
Rocío (8 years old).                       Federico (7 years old)

As homework I asked them to create other riddles about characters, food, objects, etc.

 They can create their own riddles by using pictures and include different descriptions. (Libre Office, PPT, Paint)

Activity 3

Mr Lemon has a birthday party!!

The aim of this activity is to recycle colors,clothes, introductions, age, abilities, likes, dislikes, set expressions (here you are, thank you, you are welcome)

1-    Give each kid some cards and tell them they are going to design clothes.  You will give them the instructions. You will tell them that you need three jackets, a blue one, a red one and an orange one.  Then  four pair of trousers, brown, grey, purple and yellow. After that a  sweater – light blue, black, etc.  As soon as they finish drawing, collect the cards and stick them on the board.

2-    Introduce Mr Lemon ( Mr Lemon is a lemon shaped puppet- You can use modellying clay in order to make his eyes, nose and mouth)     

3-    Mr Lemon looks sad .  Talk as if you were Mr Lemon.  Greet the kids, ask them for information about their names, age, abilities, likes, dislikes, and then start telling about your problem.

4-    “I´m very, very, very.................(Kids will provide the answer “sad”). Yes, I´m very sad because today I have a birthday party and I don´t know what to wear.  Can you help me, please?

5-    Encourage kids to choose one of the different flashcards they had designed before and ask Mr Lemon if he likes it.

6-    Example

Student:  Do you like blue jackets?

Mr Lemon:  No, I don´t .  I like red jackets. (Kids will be working on Listening  Comprehension, fluency, accuracy, vocabulary revision, readiness)

Student:  Here you are.

Mr Lemon: Thank you

Student:  You are welcome.

Then, other students will go on offering different clothes items.

Finally, Mr Lemon is happy (so you can change his mouth and put it upwards).  He will thank the kids and leave.

    

7-    The main character could be Mrs Apple, Miss Carrot, Betty, the banana,

Cally, the cat,  Don, the dog, etc. and the situation can be changed.  It depends on what you want to consolidate.

 Students could create mind maps by using their netbooks and then write a story. They could also send an invitation to Mr Lemon by e-mail  inviting him to the party

Activity 2

                                                  Let´s buy a robot!!!!!

The aim of this activity is to work on:greetings,introductions, spelling,age, place of origin, feelings, imperative, abilities, non- abilities.

 Robots have always been a source of inspiration and they have been used to teach orders and express abilities and non- abilities many times. Here we have an integrated activity.

       1-      Ask students to pretend to be robots.  Tell them that they will have to imagine they are  standing inside the window shop of a shop.

       2-      Choose one student to play the role of shop assistant and another one to play the role of customer.
       3-      Tell each of them what they are supposed to do.
       4-       For example:  The customer wants to buy a robot that can do different things at home such as: clean the house, open the window, close the door, sing, dance, play the guitar, sweep, cook, make the beds, iron, answer the phone, etc.

The shop assistant will call each robot and give them instructions.
Each robot will have to greet, introduce himself, spell his name, talk about his age, place of origin and when he is given an instruction he will have to perform the activity and say what he can or can´t do.
For instance:
            Shop assistant:  Good morning, Can I help you?

Customer:  Yes, please.  I´d like to buy a robot.

           Shop assistant:  O.k.  Robot 1.  Come here, please.  Talk!
           Robot: Hello, My name is Roberto. R-o-b-e-r-t-o.  I´m six years old. I´m from Argentina. 

Customer:  Can he sweep?

           Shop assistant:  Roberto: sweep, please
           Robot:  I can sweep.  I can sweep very well
           Shop assistant:  Can he cook?
          Shop assistant:  Roberto:Please, cook, cook quickly
          Robot:  I can cook quickly  (Encourage kids to speak like robots.  They love doing that an
they enjoy a lot!).

Then, the activity goes on with the rest of the robots.  Finally, the customer chooses one robot and buys it.  So they will be practising different functions such as:  How much is it? Here you are, thank you, you are welcome.

5-      As homework, you can ask students to draw a robot and all the activities he can or 
can´t  do. On the following class, they will be talking about their robots.  In this way, they would be working on third person singular but consolidating the same vocabulary and structures they had already worked on their previous class.

 6- This activity can be adapted in order to recycle 1-likes and dislikes, imperative (orders).    
  The shop assistant giving an order and the robot expressing likes and dislikes: 
 Shop assistant: Clean the house, please

  Robot:  I don´t like cleaning houses. I like sleeping.

2- Present continuous (actions now)

The owner of the robot is checking what the robot is doing.  For example:
Owner:  Where are you?  Are you cleaning the windows?
Robot:  No, I´m not.  I´m cleaning the doors.

In this case you could give both the owner and the robot flashcards showing the activity.
They can create their own robots and add information about them.  They can use Paint, Libre Office or Power Point Presentation. 

Here you can find a similar activity
 http://forusforyouforme.blogspot.com.ar/2011/10/hello-good-bye.html  (Label- Theater Time-Going shopping)

   Activity 1

 GOING SHOPPING   

MR BEAR BOUGHT A PEAR

A PEAR?

YES!!! ….A YELLOW PEAR

MR PIG BOUGHT A FIG

A FIG?

YES!!! …A GREEN FIG

BIG OR SMALL?

A BIG GREEN FIG!

MR CAT BOUGHT A HAT

A HAT OR A MAT?

A HAT!!! A RED AND BLUE HAT!!!

MRS WHALE BOUGHT A SCALE

A BIG OR SMALL SCALE?

A HUGE SCALE!!!

 Give your students some cards showing pictures of clothes, fruit, food, etc.  Ask them to imagine they are doing some shopping.  Ask them to work in pairs and role play a mini- dialog.  You can review vocabulary such as clothes, food, furniture, etc.  After that  tell them the story about Mr Bear, Mr Pig, Mr Cat and Mrs Whale.  The purpose of telling them  this   story is to work on pronunciation and fluency basically.  Anyway, they will also be working on vocabulary, accuracy of expression and listening comprehension!

After telling them the story, give them a copy and ask them to underline those words that are pronounced in a similar way. Then ask them to draw a bear and a pear, a pig and a fig, a cat and a hat and a whale and a scale.  On the following class, ask them to choose a character and talk about what they have bought..  Hello, I´m Mr Bear and I bought a pear, a yellow pear!  Hello, My name is Mr Pig and I bought……etc.

You can adapt this activity and ask your students to use Libre Office and copy and paste the picture of a bear and a pear, a pig and a fig, etc and create their own mini-dialogues. They will have their e-mini-book.

Teaching young learners

I would like to point out that nowadays teachers face a real challenge when teaching kids because everything has changed! Society has changed, Values have changed! Rules have changed! And technology has changed! So we have to be up to that challenge and live up to it. This is linked to some makings I believe teachers who teach young learners should have:
1- a kid´s heart and a grown up´s mind
2-Set up limits, know his/her stuff and also know his/her students´world
3-Be patient and strong
4-Be nice and demanding
5-Be understanding and flexible
6-Be ready to play and enjoy
7-Be ready to have fun
8-Listen to what students say and make it part of his/her teaching
9- Be on the alert
10-Believe in a world of fantasy
11-Be sensible and teach memorable and meaningful items.
12-Common sense should be his/her motto and this is related to the use of material, mainly books.
Books are one of the best resources, we, teachers, can count on but I do believe we should expand on the book and we should not stick to it as if it were a must to teach every single item of the book. Books are wonderful and a must but we should squeeze those books as much as we can. We should integrate the items presented in those books and we should adapt this material taking into account our young learners´likes, dislikes, reality, etc. Sometimes I have the feeling that some students sound as isolated units of a book. We should teach them how to speak at a stretch or how to listen to English but bearing in mind other factors.
This kind of task demands a lot of work because we have to be on the alert and be able to adapt and change at the moment what we had already planned:
We should create our own syllabus. To sum up, we should use books as a tool and not as a means to an end… Sometimes we follow the book to the t and I feel that communication is not being accomplished. It´s just an exercise. I believe in building up communication through those isolated items that are presented in different units of a book.
Ice breakers, stories, a video, a song can also be important parts in a class in addition to a book. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_97GF1Okmig
(Lazy town mine) Ideal song to teach possessive pronouns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr8vUTm64h0
(Lady bugs Sesame street) Ideal song to teach numbers.

Finally, with any of these videos we can integrate lots of grammar ítems. In the following video there is a follow up included.

Main teaching point: Present continuous and expressions.

1- Watch the video and listen to the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3x4HvXTyGQ

2- How does this guy feel? Think of five adjectives to describe him
3- If he were twittering what would he say he is doing right now?
4- Who is he waiting for?
5- Does he like yellow lemon trees? What about you?

Teaching is a wonderful miracle!