In today’s episode I talk you through a simple lesson plan that I used with my preschool English language students. It was a thrity minute class, with about 20 students. We had a lot of fun. You can expand on these ideas if you have a longer class. Here is the lesson plan in brief:
1. Warm Ups- clap your hands, etc. 2. Weather Song 3. Count from 1 to 10,000 4. Let’s Count 1 to 10 Song. 5. I Like Apples Book 6. I Like Apples Song 7. Pick Up Color Apples Game 7. ABC Letters and Vocabulary Practice 8. ABC Song 9. Goodbye Song. You can find all of these songs for free download at DreamEnglish.com (Free Download Page) the Book is a free printable download from KidsEnglishBooks.com Happy Teaching!
Hi, Friends! Halloween is just around the corner! Teaching cultural events can be a nice change of pace in English class for the young learner. Halloween is a lot of fun because of the fantastic characters, like ghosts, pirates, princesses, and more. Plus it involves a little candy. 😀 🍭
Visit the Dream English Halloween page to downloads some free songs, worksheets, and even printable picture books for your classes. New Halloween videos coming soon to the Dream English Kids YouTube channel. Happy Halloween! Thanks! Matt
Halloween Page: http://www.dreamenglish.com/halloween
In this song I had a lot of fun combing a few question phrases, wild animals, and a bit of action! See below for teaching tips and vocabulary used in the song:
Target Vocabulary:
Questions: Do you have a favorite animal? Can you see the lion? Where is the lion?
Vocabulary: zebra, lion, elephant, crocodile, monkey, and tiger.
Phrases: I like zebras. It’s a lion.
The idea of this song and video is to teach the animal names in a natural way. It is a bit different than drilling the same question and answer over and over. I hope that this type of song will help students be able to have a conversation in a natural way.
Teaching Tips: Watch the video with the students. Depending on the students age or level, you do not have to pressure them to sing along. They can watch and learn. After watching the video, you can use flash cards to make sure they learned the animal names.
Next, try asking a few questions like in the video. For example, “Do you have a favorite animal?”
Animal Matching Game: Use small game cards to play the animals matching game. Put the cards face down, and the students have to pick up the cards and find a match. MES-English.com has great game cards for this. Kids love this kind of game. As the students turn over the card, make sure they see either the animal name, or a phrase like “It’s a lion.”
I hope you find these ideas helpful. Be creative, have fun and your students will too! Happy Teaching!
Hi, Friends! New Podcast! I had a great conversation with Greg from Fun Kids English. We talked about teaching young learners, lesson plans, and favorite songs for the classroom. Please have a listen. Also available on the iTunes Podcast App. Free to listen. Enjoy! Thank you! Matt
” I want a banana! ” asking for things in English is so important. If you listen to young native speakers, they are often asking for things. In this fun video we are learning the basics of how to ask for something in English. Watch, and give it a try in your classes!
Target Phrases: What do you want to eat? I want a banana. Target vocabulary: sandwich, salad, hot dog, hamburger, banana, taco, broccoli cake, onion ice cream
Give the song a try in your classes, and then practice with different food vocabulary. You can even make a shopping game. Happy teaching!
With so many songs, videos, flashcards, games, where does one begin teaching English to young learners? It can be overwhelming! My answer: get back to basics. In this post, and more going forward, I will cover some basic and simple ideas for teaching English. Remember, teaching English is easy! Present the material in a fun and interesting way, and children will do the rest with their magnificent minds. More below the video:
Basic # 1: Teaching Numbers
We might think that most young learners already know numbers. I meet a lot of new students who have a basic idea of how to say numbers in English, but maybe have never done so in front of people. Numbers are a fun and simple way to boost young learners confidence in the English classroom.
Practice, practice, practice
Numbers are not only great on their own, but they contain many sounds of the English language. I start many classes by simply counting 1 to 10 using flashcards. If the students are older we might count to 100, or 1,000 or higher! It depends on the level, and kids get a kick out of saying really high numbers. You can make flashcards, write numbers on a white board, or even count objects. Be creative!
Numbers Songs
I have recorded a few numbers songs over the years, but the still number one favorite is Let’s Count 1 to 10. Simple, and always fun with the actions. Here is a list of the Numbers Songs I use most in my classes. Click on the link to go to the page or video with the song.
You can do many things with numbers. Ask students, “how old are you?” and they answer, ” I am five”, etc. You can use numbers in a shopping game and use the vocabulary, “How much is it?” “It’s 25 dollars.”
Games
You can play a shopping game, restaurant game, or many other fun games with numbers. Below are links to my favorite number games to use in class:
Toss a ball to students and count. (not a game, but a fun activity)
Numbers Wrap up
As a teacher I like to keep things as simple as possible. To teach numbers, practice sayingnumbers with your students, sing a numbers song, then play a numbers game. Simple and effective. Keep it light and fun, and your students will be counting to a billion in no time! Happy Teaching!
I am always looking for new ways to make the young English learners (ESL, EFL) classes fun. Kids love to play Hide and Seek. It is such a fun and simple game. Children hide, and one friend tries to find them. You can play it anywhere, at home, in a park, or even in a classroom. Teaching tips below the video:
Target Vocabulary:
Where are you? Where is Bell? Where is Tunes? Where is Matt? There she is. There he is.
Very useful vocabulary for the young learner. We often ask where someone is. We also often say, “There he/she is.”
Game idea:
After showing this video you can play the real hide and seek game if you have space in your classroom, or outdoors. You can also play using some flashcards, and paper cut outs of characters.
Materials: 3-5 flashcards of your choice. It could be park vocabulary (tree, slide, bush, etc.) or transportation (car, truck, airplane).
Paper cut out of a character, or even animal.
How to play: Place the flashcards on the floor and say, “Let’s play hide and seek.” Identify the flashcards, teaching the students the vocabulary on the card. For example, “tree, bush, slide.” Show the paper cut out and say, “Now Tune is going to hide.” Ask the students to close their eyes and count to 5, 10, or how long you need. Place the character under one of the cards, and ask the students to open their eyes. Next say, “Where is Tunes?” Depending on the level of the students they can just say the flashcard vocabulary like “Tree” or they could say “under the tree,” or even “behind the tree.” It is up to you to decide what vocabulary suits your students level best.
I hope this give you some ideas. Be creative, have fun, and your students will learn a lot!
Hi, Friends! A few months ago I began the Dream English Teaching Tips Podcast. I’m hoping this podcast will help teachers to have even better classes. Maybe you missed some of the podcasts over the summer, so here is a quick summary of the episodes. The podcast is also available on iTunes. All free, so please have a listen! Click on the link to go to the podcast on the PodBean.com site.
In this episode I talk about a favorite subject of mine, teaching English with songs! I talk about how I teach songs in the classes to young learners. I also talk about different kinds of songs like action songs, finger play songs, and more!
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.
I hope to do a bunch of Lesson Plans Podcasts to help everyone with planning their lessons. The first episode in this series is Colors! Colors are a basic part of English for your young learners class, and can be lots of fun. In this episode I talk about introducing colors, color songs, and color games.
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.
I hope you get some useful ideas from these podcast episodes. Happy Teaching! – Matt