How To Teach English to Children Book

I’m happy to introduce you to my book on teaching English to young learners (ESL, EFL). Learn more below!

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10 Steps To Teach English To Young Learners

The goal of 10 Steps to Teach English to Young Learners is to get you ready to teach young children English quickly. This book focuses on teaching learners from ages 3-6 and the ideas can be used for older students as well.

The ideas are perfect for teaching English as a second or foreign language. The book covers lesson planning, classroom materials, using games and activities in the classroom, songs in the classroom, choosing topics to teach, and more. In 10 steps you will be ready to begin your teaching adventure. The book is filled with tips useful for the beginner and experienced teacher.

Book available for Kindle and Paperback.
Learn more on Amazon click here!

How to Teach Children to Say “My name is …” in English

Children learning English (ESL/EFL) love to introduce themselves in English. Asking the students, “What’s your name?” and having them answer is a daily task in my classes. Here are my top tips for teaching this:

Top 5 Tips for Teaching Children Self Introduction with Name

    1. Introduce yourself first: I always begin by saying, “My name is Matt.” Next, I will invite a student up and after learning their name help them say for example, “My name is Bell.” The students can slowly repeat each word after you.
    2. Use puppets to introduce the idea: I often use small hand puppets that I bought at a local store to model saying, “My name is…” I have a dog puppet, and a cat puppet. I introduce myself by saying, “My name is Matt” then I pull out the puppets. I make a silly dog voice and using the dog puppet say, “My name is Douggy Dog. Woof, woof!” Then I take out the cat puppet and say, “My name is Catey Cat. Meow!” The students start seeing that we are introducing ourselves.
    3. What’s Your Name? Song: After introducing the idea of saying our names, we sing the What’s Your Name? Song. You can get a free mp3 download of that song here. And check out the simple video here:
    4. Game Idea: Have the students stand in a circle. Use a ball, and have the students throw it to each other. The student that throws the ball has to ask “What’s your name?” The student who catches the ball answers, “My name is _____.” See if they can gradually speed up without making mistakes. If the students are younger, ages 2-5, you can have them pass the ball and say their name.
    5. Name and Numbers Quiz: When the students are comfortable saying, “My name is …” you can combine asking the student’s names and a number quiz. I do this in big classes with students ages 4-6. I invite a group of students to the front of the class. I ask, “What’s your name?” and they all answer. Next, I show them a number card usually from 1-10 and ask, “What number?” and they answer for example, “Five!” Then I ask those students to sit down again, and invite another group up until all of the students have had a turn. This is fun, simple, and gives young learners confidence in English!

      Tip:
       Simplify! If something is too difficult for your students, you can always simplify the activity. For example, in the game above if the students are not ready yet to ask “What’s your name?” have them pass the ball and say, “My name is…”

I hope this helps you get your students introducing themselves in English. Happy Teaching! – Matt

Happy New Year 2019! ESL and EFL New Year’s Class Ideas For Young Learners

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday, and that you are ready to get started with the New Year! This week I will be doing the New Year’s Chant song and review in all my classes. Check it out here:

You can download the chant to use the song in your classes. Click here to get a free download MP3 of the Happy New Year Chant!

Sample Lesson Plan for the New Year’s Class

  1. Happy New Year Chant (See Above)
  2. Practice Counting Numbers 1-20
  3. Let’s Count 1 to 10 Song – One of my most popular Numbers Songs
  4. Book Time: Read a picture book to your students. Choose your favorite, I also have some free download picture books here.
  5. Today’s Topic: Choose a review topic and teach the vocabulary. For example, animals, colors, or transportation.
  6. Vocabulary review game- Play a simple touch game to get your students active. Place the flashcards on the floor and ask each student to touch one. For example, “Bobby, touch the dog card.”
  7. ABC Practice Time- Practice the ABCs and sing the ABC Song.
  8. Goodbye Song- Sing the Goodbye Song.

These are some ideas to get you started with your classes. You can also do crafts, coloring, or use a textbook. The main idea is to give the students a lot of comprehensible input in English.

Let’s make it a great year and be the best teachers we can be!

New Halloween Walk Song and Video for Children’s English Class

Children learn English (ESL, EFL) through input, and adding actions to that input makes it even easier for the students to learn. The new Halloween Walk song combines Halloween vocabulary and fun actions to get your students learning effortlessly. More below the video:

How to Teach the Song

If you have time in your class, show the video one time to your students so that they become familiar with the song and actions. Next, teach them the lyrics, and do the actions. You can have your students repeat after you, but if they are not ready yet, just simply have them do the actions and listen. Here are the lyrics:

Let’s go for a Halloween walk. (x2)
I’m not scared, no, no. (x2)
Stop! What’s that sound? A black cat?
Shh! Be very, very quiet! Safe!
(repeat with pirate and witch)

After practicing the lyrics together with your students, play the video one more time and have your students sing and do the actions the best they can! Remember, if they are young learners do not pressure them to sing if they are not ready. All students learn at their own pace. You should, however, encourage them by saying, “Let’s try singing a little bit louder. Here we go!”

I hope you find this song useful and fun for your classes. Check out more Halloween songs at www.dreamenglish.com/halloween Happy Halloween!

Halloween Lesson Plan for Students Age 3-6 Years Old

Hi, Teachers! Here is a Halloween Lesson Plan. It is for beginners ages about 3-6, and a 30 minute class:

  1. Warm-up- Say hello then do action warm ups: clap your hands, clap, clap, clap. Shake your hands, shake, shake, etc.
  2. Count Numbers using flashcards from 1-20. First repeat after teacher, then see how high students can count.
  3. Song: Let’s Count 1 to 10 http://www.dreamenglish.com/numbers, or Halloween Counting song available at www.dreamenglish.com/halloween
  4. Book Time: My Favorite Pumpkin Free printable book available at www.kidsenglishbooks.com
  5. Song: My Favorite Pumpkin Song available at www.dreamenglish.com/halloween
  6. Vocabulary: Introduce Halloween vocabulary using flashcards, bat, ghost, witch, black, cat, pumpkin, etc.
  7. Circle Time: Have students hold hands and make a circle. Sit down, and pass a flashcard around the circle with every student getting the chance to say it. For example, bat, pumpkin.
  8. Activity time: Walk around the circle and pretend with the students to be the Halloween characters. Fly like a bat and witch, hop like a black cat. etc.
  9. Quiz Time: See how many Halloween characters the students can remember. Help the students if they can not remember. It is a beginners class. so do not push the students too hard to talk if they are not ready.
  10. Goodbye: Sing the Goodbye song available at www.dreamenglish.com/goodbye

I hope this gives you some ideas to have a great Halloween lesson! Make sure to have a lot of fun and keep the atmosphere relaxed and cheerful. Happy Halloween!

The Letter G Song, Teaching Letter Names to Young Leaners

Today’s letter is G! Students need a lot of review and repetition to learn letters. I created the Today’s Letter Songs to help young English learners (ESL, EFL) in this process. You can use these songs and videos to introduce a letter, or to review. Also, each Today’s Letter reviews the whole alphabet, making it even more useful for your classes. How to teach after the video!

 How to teach the Letter G Song
You can pre-teach the letter G by writing it on the board, or using a flashcard of the letter G. You can also pre-teach the vocabulary of the video using flashcards or drawings. In this video we have grapes, goat, go-kart. One way I teach the vocabulary is to play the video once, then play it again, pausing at each vocabulary word and having the students say it a few times.
After the Video Activities
Here are some of my ideas for extending the learning experience from the video in your classroom.
  1. Speaking Activities: Ask the students questions like, “ What is today’s letter? What words that start with the letter G were in the video? What other words that start with the letter G do you know? Do you have the letter G in your name? Do you have letter G as the first letter in your name?”
  2. Writing Activities: Ask the students if they can write the letter G on the board. In the video I use the capital letter, but feel free to teach the lower case at this point. Ask the students if they can draw anything that starts with the letter G, like grapes, a go-kart or a goat.
  3. Worksheet Activities: We have a Letter G touch and say phonics worksheet that you can print out and use in your classes. Find that here: http://www.dreamenglish.com/phonics-a-lesson You can also create your own handwriting worksheet or search the web for something great to use in your classes.

    So far we have uploaded A to G on YouTube with more to come in the following weeks. Have a look at the A to G videos here.
    These are a few ideas to get you started with the Letter G.  Happy teaching and singing the letter G! 

Halloween Song for Kids – Are You Scared? No, no!

The Are You Scared? song is a fun way to teach Halloween vocabulary, and the questions “Are you scared?” to your young English learners (ESL, EFL).  More about how to teach the song and where to get a free MP3 download below the video!

Listen to a Podcast on How To Teach The Are You Scared Song

Download the song for free at www.dreamenglish.com/halloweenareyouscared

Topic: Halloween

Vocabulary: bat, black cat, ninja, spider, superhero, witch, pirate, snake

Question: Are you scared? Answer: No

How to teach:  You can pre-teach the vocabulary by using your own flash cards, or download and print for free these great cards at MES-English.com https://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/halloween.php

Then, look at one of the cards, for example the witch, and ask your students, “Are you scared?” The teacher can make a scared face, then relax and say, “No.” For advanced students you can teach, “I’m not scared.” Go through a few of the flashcards like this until you think the students understand.

Next teach the lyrics to the song. Have the students repeat the words after you.
Song lyrics:

Are you scared?
No, No
Are you scared?
No, No
Are you scared?
No, No

All right! Here we go!
A bat, a black cat, a ninja , a spider
Are you scared?
No!
Catch!

(repeat with a superhero, a witch, a pirate, a snake)

Next, watch the video and have your students sing along. You can repeat the song a few times to make sure the students really understand it.

Vocabulary Practice Game: Try the Tower Game with the Halloween vocabulary. You can read about the Tower Game here. The teacher can  show a bat flashcard to a student and ask, “What is it?” the student will answer, “a bat.” Next, the teacher will ask, “ Are you scared?” after the student answers, give the student the flashcard to build the tower and move onto the next students.

I hope this helps you teach the song. Happy teaching!

 

Top 10 Dream English Songs for Teaching English to Children

When I started Dream English there were not many songs available that were great for teaching young learners English (ESL, EFL). Now there are hundreds! I thought it would be helpful to talk about the songs I use most teaching children ages 3-8 English.

Top 10 Dream English Songs for Teaching Children English

  1. Hello Song – A great song to start the class. Say hello, make a circle, and walk this way! Watch video here!
  2. What’s Your Name? – Asking students, “What’s your name?” is something that I do in every class! It’s simple interaction, and kids always enjoy saying their names. Watch video here!
  3. Let’s Count 1 to 10 – A favorite numbers and actions song. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, jump! Watch video here!
  4. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes – This traditional song is perfect for teaching body parts. The speed up part makes it super fun for students! Watch video here!
  5. ABC Rock Song – A bit of a twist on the ABC song with a fun A to Z chant in the middle. Watch video here!
  6. Colors Action Song – Let’s sing colors, and do actions with each color. A great movement and color song! Watch video here!
  7. Weather Song – The sun comes up, up, up! Another fun action song, teaches weather and some prepositions. Watch video here!
  8. Days of the Week Song – Monday, Tuesday, la, la, la! Be sure to do all of the actions in this pop song about the Days of the Week! Watch video here!
  9. What Can you do? Action Song – Jump, I can jump! Let’s do some fun actions while we sing along to this simple song! Watch video here!
  10. Shapes Song – A circle, a triangle, a square, a heart. I’ve always liked the simplicity of this song, and the actions that go along make it a great motor skills song. Watch video here!
  11. Wake Up Song / Daily Routines – One of the first, and still most popular Dream English songs. Let’s wake up, brush our teeth, and more in this fun daily routines song. Watch video here!
  12. Goodbye Song – Another early Dream English song, that is still a favorite. Let’s clap our hands, spin around, do more actions and say Goodbye to the class! Watch video here!

So that is the list of the songs I use most to teach English. Some of these I wrote years ago, and some more recent. Check out the videos for all of the songs , and you can find most of these songs on our Free Download Page, or on Spotify and iTunes. Happy Singing!

Circle time! A quick tip for your Children’s English class

Circle time! A quick tip for your English class: Make a circle with your students and pass a flashcard around the circle. As the students pass the card they say the word on the card.

For example, pass an apple flashcard and each student will say “apple”, then they pass the card to the next student.

For more advanced students, try phrases like “it’s an apple” or ” I like apples.” Give it a try! This is a great confidence builder for your students. I hope this is helpful! Thanks, Matt

New Wild Animal Finger Family Video with Matt Mini Lesson for Kids English Class

I had a lot of fun making the Wild Animals Finger Family Song Part 2.  We sing about kangaroos, monkeys, zebras, giraffes, and bears! More below the video:

How to use the video in class:

Listen to Dream English Teaching Tips Podcast about this video. Click here!

Start by pre-teaching the vocabulary in the video: kangaroo, monkey, zebra, giraffe, and bear. Also teach the phrases, “Where are you?” and ” I see a monkey.” You can show flashcards with the animals and have your students repeat after you. Then, watch the video and sing the song with your students!

Mini Lesson about Wild Animals

Depending on the level of your students, you can do a few things with the mini lesson. Watch one time, the mini lesson is right after the song in the video. For younger students, have them just watch and listen. For older students, after watching ask the following questions:

  1. What animal can jump? (answer: kangaroo)
  2. What animal can swing from tree to tree? (answer: monkey)
  3. What animal has black and white stripes? (answer: zebra)
  4. What animal has a long neck? (answer: giraffe)
  5. What animal is a bit scary and says roar? (answer: bear)

These are just some ideas to get you started. As always, be sure to come up with your great ideas! Leave a comment on Facebook or Dream English Kids YouTube and let us know what you think about the video! Happy Teaching!