Fun Thoughts and Creative Ideas for Teaching Children English
New Show on YouTube: Learn Some Words! 😀
Perfect for the ESL/EFL Children’s English Classroom!
Learn Some Words Episode 1: Animals. This special new series from Dream English Kids teaches six words each episode with songs, repeat-after-me, and a quiz. Join Matt, Tunes, Bell and our friend the Pencil in this exciting learning adventure!
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/eHSTJuUpVQs
Counting is really important for young English learners (ESL, EFL). Numbers are useful in every day life (shopping, cooking) and numbers also contain many important phonetic sounds of the English language. More below video:
It takes a bit over 23 minutes to count to 1000 by 1s in this video. That is a long time to sit through a video! However, you can use parts of this video to practice. For example, try counting from 1-100 one day, and the next 101-200.
Put it on in the background before class, and let your students listen to the numbers. These are just a few ideas. I hope you find this video useful for your classes and students! Happy Teaching!
I’m excited to share my new Numbers 1 to 10 Action Song and video!
The song teaches the numbers 1-10 and teaches actions to practice while counting. Count to 10 with fingers, jumping, standing on one foot, then blast off like a rocket!
Stream or Download the Numbers Action Song:
Spotify
iTunes
Happy Singing!
Matt has done school concerts in Japan, Thailand, USA, France, Italy, Spain, and Morocco for over 1000 students. Get the best experience with a Matt Live Show!
Price
In Person Concerts fee is airfare + hotel + concert fee depending on school size. For more information, and to see if Matt is available to come to your school please send an email with the subject “In Person Visit Inquiry” to
matt @ dreamenglish.com no spaces.
Matt has visited classrooms in Japan, Thailand, USA, France, Italy, Spain, and Morocco. Now he can visit your classroom virtually with Zoom!
Virtual Classroom Visits
Matt can Zoom in to your classroom for a 25 minute visit, sing-along and chat with your students. Choose your class favorite Dream English songs, or Matt can help you choose a program. Matt can ask and answer questions from students.
Price
$100.00 USD for classroom visit up to 30 students. Matt can only do a visit if it works with his time zone. For more information please send an email with the subject “Class visit Inquiry” and your country and time zone to
matt @ dreamenglish.com no spaces
Matt has done teacher workshops in Japan, Thailand, and Spain. Now Matt is doing live workshops online!
Topics for Workshop
Topics can include lesson planning, teaching English with songs, or Q & A about teaching with Matt (No personal questions please). Have another idea for a workshop? Email us and let us know! (email address below)
Prices
Minimum 10 participants at $10.00 USD each or $100.00 USD for session. For more information please send an email with the subject “Teacher Workshop Inquiry” to matt @ dreamenglish.com no spaces between like this:
Feel free to email with any questions about an online workshop!
I’m trying to do some new things and decided to hold an online teacher workshop and Q & A Session with Zoom. The workshop will be on May 7th at 11:00 AM Paris, France Time Zone.
Participants will learn my method for teaching with songs, and we will sing some Dream English songs together. Space is limited to 10 teachers.
For more info, fee details, and to register go here: https://www.dreamenglish.com/onlinemeeting
Happy Teaching! Matt
Food is a very important topic in Children’s English Classes (ESL, EFL). The new Favorite Food Song teaches 10 food names. More below the video:
How to Teach
Pre-teach the vocabulary in the lyrics using flashcards, or pictures. Then, watch the video and sing the song with your students.
Lyrics
What’s your favorite food? (repeat)
I like hamburgers
I like hot dogs
I like pizza
I like eggs
What’s your favorite food? (repeat)
I like rice
I like salad
I like sandwiches
I like spaghetti
I like soup
I like cake
What’s your favorite food? (repeat)
After the song, you can practice the vocabulary by asking the students, “What is your favorite food?”
Flashcard Game
Put the food flashcards on the floor or table. The students ask the teacher, “What is your favorite food?” The teachers answers, “I like pizza” for example. The students who touches the pizza flashcard first wins the round. Ask each students their favorite food so that they all can have a turn answering.
I hope this is helpful! Be creative, and make a great class using your own ideas and I hope this song can be a part of what you do. Happy Singing!
I use sight words, along with phonics, to teach my students how to read in English (ESL, EFL) . Sight Words are commonly used words that young learners are encouraged to memorize by sight. More below the video!
Sight Words Song Series
I started using sight words a few years ago when I wanted to give my students a boost in their reading skills. Phonics are great, but it can take a long time to get students to begin reading. Encouraging students to memorize words that occur often in text help them read faster, and gain confidence in reading.
I chose the words for my song series from the “Top 150 Sight Words” list, with some modifications based on my experience teaching English to young learners. The basic idea is like the lyrics to the song, “Listen. Read. Remember.”
How to teach
Show the students the video, and then on the second or third try ask them to read the words with me. You can also write the words on the board and pre-teach them before watching the video. The list of the words for this video is: the, I, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it.
Game Idea
You can play a simple touch game with the words. Write each word on a separate sheet of paper. Put all of the words on a table and have a group of 2-4 students sit around the table. Call out one of the words, for example “the.” The student who touches the word first wins the round.
These are just some ideas to get you started with sight words. Stay tuned for the remaining videos of the series on the Dream English Kids Youtube Channel!
The A to Z Letter Songs Album is now on Spotify and iTunes! 26 Songs, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each song introduces one letter and three words that begin with that letter. For example, “A, apple, ant, alligator.” Great for the ESL and EFL classroom!
Song Videos on YouTube
Above you will find the YouTube Playlist with the 19 Today’s Letter Song videos that are now on YouTube. We are currently through letter S. The remaining videos will be uploaded in coming months.
How to Teach
Teachers can use the videos to teach the vocabulary in the song, or simply an alphabet chart and some pictures on the board for the vocabulary. First, teach the vocabulary slowly, and then try to have the students sing along with the song. Be sure to do the actions in the songs, clap, shake, and dance!
Activities
After singing the song, have the students sit down and write the letter on a piece of paper. Next, ask the students to draw something that starts with the letter. For example, if you are starting with letter A, ask the students to write letter A and then draw an apple. For younger students, you may need to help and draw an apple first on the board so that they can follow along.
These are just some ideas, be creative and come up with your own!
Happy teaching!