New Podcast: Basic Ideas in Teaching Toddlers English (2-3 Year Olds)

Today on the podcast we will listen to a conversation I had with Mark from MES English about our basic philosophy in teaching very young learners English. We talk about how to relax in class, what to expect from the students, and how watching Sesame Street can help you with class ideas. You can listen to the whole conversation at ESLTeacherTalk.com.

Click here to listen on PodBean. Also available on iTunes!

Teaching Tips Podcast
Teaching Tips Podcast

 

Animal Guessing Game for Young English Learners Class

Hi, Friends! I want to share a fun and simple game with you that I use often in my classes. If you follow the Dream English Kids YouTube channel, you may have noticed that I am making videos on the theme of Zoo animals. This has been a lot of fun, and I hope useful in your classes.

whatanimalisit

The Animal Guessing Game uses animal vocabulary, animal sounds, and a bit of fun acting. This is how you play: Introduce some animals using flashcards. For example, a lion, tiger, elephant, and zebra. After introducing the vocabulary, show each card and act like the animal with sounds and actions. Asks the students to follow along.

Next, ask the students to guess which animal you are imitating. After you have done this a few times, let the students take turns. When one student is acting like an animal, ask the other students to guess the animal. Make sure every students gets a chance to act like an animal!

I hope you find this fun and useful. Happy Teaching!

The Tower Game: A Fun Simple Game for Young Learners

Games are a great way to use vocabulary with students in a fun way. Children naturally love playing games, and it can be fun for the teacher, too! I used to think you need to have new games all of the time. Now I realize that a few great games can be played over and over in class. Simply switch out the vocabulary when you are teaching a new topic.

towergame-exapmple

The Tower Game is one of my favorite games to use in small and big classes. I recommend this one from ages four and up. Here is how to play:

This is a really simple game that you can use with any flash card set. You do need a set of paper cups to play this. After teaching a set of flash card vocabulary, simply use the flash cards and cups to build a tower with the students.

You will need to use laminated flash cards for this to work. Place a cup on the table and ask the student’s a question, “What’s this?” When they answer correctly, they can place the flash card on the cup. Put another cup on top of that flash card, and repeat with the next student until you run out of flash cards, or the tower falls over.

You can use a lot of good phrases here like, “be careful” and “Oh, no!”.

What’s your favorite game to play with students? Check out my Dream English Tips Podcast to learn about some more games!

New Podcast: Top 5 Classroom Games for Young Learners

Hi! In this episode I talk about my Top 5 Classroom Games for teaching English to young learners. You only need a few good games that you can use over and over again with differnet vocabulary. Have a listen for some of my students favorites. Visit the Kids Games Page for more fun game ideas!

Click to Listen on PodBean.

Click to Listen on iTunes.

 

 

Teaching Kids English Tips Podcast

Teaching Tips Podcast
Teaching Tips Podcast

Hi! I’m excited to introduce the Teaching Kids English Tips Podcast. Podcasts are a great learning tool, and I love listening to podcasts on my way to work, driving or out for a walk. So, I decided to start my own, and give some fun and helpful teaching tips. I have 2 episodes up already: Warm Ups in Class, and Teaching English using Songs Have a listen here!

New Animal Names Song and Matt Show # 1 Learn English Kids

Hi! I’m super excited about the new Animal Names call and response song. This song works really well with young learners of English. It is simple, and also a lot of fun! I’m also excited to introduce the new Matt Show! Have a look and more below the video:

Animal Names Song

The idea of this song is simple. Let’s say some animal names, and repeat. This song can be a lot of fun with young students in small, and large class sizes. I would recommend this song from 3 years and up. It can be a bit of a challenge to say, “L, L, L, L, L, L, Lion!”

The Matt Show

The idea of the Matt show is simple, to reinforce the vocabulary and concepts in the song at the beginning of each video. After all, in a class we wouldn’t just sing a song, and then that is the end of the class. We would play games, and practice the vocabulary in different ways.

Different Ways to Learn

In the first episode of the Matt Show we have the following segments:

  1. Spelling Game: Let’s learn how to spell Lion. If you make a mistake, watch out for the dinosaur!
  2. Ask Tunes: Let’s ask Tunes a question. In this episode I ask Tunes, “What’s your favorite animal?”
  3. Quiz Time: What animals do you see?
  4. What did we learn today? A review of the things we learned in the song and video.

I hope you and your students find the new song and show ideas fun and helpful. Remember, teaching English is easy, if you make sure to be clear with what you are presenting, kids will just get it! Happy Teaching!