Tag: efl

Hot Cold Song Opposites Lesson for Children’s English Class

The Hot Cold Song is a fun song to teach young English learners (ESL, EFL) about opposites. Watch the video and see below for how to teach.

How to Teach: 

I teach this song by first doing the actions of feeling hot, and feeling cold. You can watch how I do it in the video, or make up your own gestures.

Next, I show pictures of hot things like the sun, soup and say, “hot sun, hot soup” Then, I show pictures of cold things like ice cubes and snow and teach that they are cold. Flashcards work well for this.

Next, I teach the vocabulary of the song.

Hot Cold Song Lyrics:

Hot, hot, hot, hot (repeat)
cold, cold, cold (repeat)

The soup is hot.
hot, hot, hot
The sun is hot.
hot, hot, hot
hot soup
hot sun

The ice is cold.
cold, cold, cold
The snow is cold.
cold, cold, cold
cold ice
cold snow

hot, hot, hot,
hot, hot, hot

cold, cold, cold
cold, cold, cold

Is it hot or cold?

After the song quiz the students by holding up flashcards of hot and cold things and ask them, “Is it hot or cold?”

This song is a great class warm up!

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!

Christmas Lesson Plan For Young Learners English Class

I am having a great time teaching Christmas lessons to young learners (ESL, EFL). We have been counting Santas, jumping like reindeer and more. Here is my idea for a fun class. Recommended ages 3-7 Years old:

  1. Warm Up With Actions– Do the actions and have your students repeat and do after you: clap your hands, clap, clap, clap. Shake your hands, shake, shake, shake. Wash your hands, wash, wash wash. Come up with your own!
  2. Song Time-Warm Up Action Song. I like to warm-up with a song like Head, Shoulders, The Good Morning Song, or Open Shut Them.
  3. Practice Counting Numbers- Use flashcards or your fingers, or objects to count from 1-10. You can count higher if your students are ready!
  4. Song Time- Sing the Christmas Counting Song, check that out and get a free download and poster here. Fore more Christmas songs, check out our Jingle Bells Page here.
    five santas poster sample
  5. Christmas Vocabulary Practice- Introduce 6-8 words about Christmas. For example, Santa, reindeer, elf, Christmas tree, presents, toys. MES English has some great free printable flashcards for this vocabulary.
  6. Game-Practice the Christmas vocabulary with a simple game. Check out our game ideas here.
  7. Book Time- Read a simple picture book about Christmas. Find something in your local library or bookstore. There is a free downloadable Christmas Book here.
  8. ABC Practice-Show the students that Santa is spelled S-A-N-T-A. Then practice saying the letters A to Z and sing the ABC Song.
  9. Review Time-Quiz the Christmas words. Show a flashcard to your students and see if they can remember. If they are young, you will have to help them and give them little hints. It is ok if you have to say the word for them as they are just learning.
  10. Goodbye Song-Sing the Dream English Goodbye Song and wish your students a Merry Christmas!

Update: Listen to a Podcast about this blog:

These are my ideas to get you started. Feel free to add, expand and make this into the best lesson for your students. Keep it fun and relaxed! Merry Christmas! For more Christmas resources, click here.

Santa is Coming Christmas Action Song for Young Learners EFL ESL

Learning English through actions is a great and tested way to get the most out of your classes. The Santa is Coming Christmas song is full of useful actions and phrases for your young learner class. Lyrics and more below the video:

Lyrics:

Merry, Merry Christmas
Merry, Merry Christmas

Decorate the Christmas tree.
Put out milk.
Put out cookies.

Santa is coming, Santa is coming here

Put on your pajamas.
Brush your teeth.
Go to bed early.

Santa is coming, Santa is coming here

Wake up.
Go to the living room.
Find your present.
Open your present.

Santa is coming, Santa is coming here
Merry, Merry Christmas
Merry, Merry Christmas

The great thing about using actions is that children learn at different paces. Some students might get the actions right away, and others might get the words first. You do not have to pressure your students to sing the song. Encourage them, and teach the actions to start. You can also make up your own actions to fit your class.

I hope this song brings a lot of fun and learning to your Christmas classes!

Five Santa Christmas Counting Song for Children’s English Class

The Five Santas Counting Song is a fun and active way to practice counting from 1 to 5 with Christmas characters. How to teach, Lyrics, Poster, and Free Song MP3 below the video:

In the song we count five Santas, five reindeer and five elves. To make the song more fun, I added some actions for each character. Your students will have a lot of fun with this song. Recommend Ages 2-7.

Free Downloads:

  1. Click here to download a Free MP3 of this song to use in your classes. (please note the song is copyright and this is for classroom use only.
  2. Click here to download a free poster to teach the vocabulary of the song (as pictured below)

    five santas poster sample

How to Teach

  1. Start by introducing the characters in the song using the poster: Santa, Reindeer, Elf. Teach each character name with the action. Santa says, “ho, ho, ho”, the reindeer jump, and the elves dance.
  2. Practice counting the numbers 1 to 5 using your hands or the poster.
  3. Watch the video and sing along and do the actions.

Practice Quiz

You can use the poster above to ask the students questions like, “How many Santas?” For example, use another piece of paper to cover up two Santas. Next, ask the students to count the remaining Santas. The answer is 3 Santas! Repeat with other characters.

Vocabulary Practice Game

Try a simple gesture game. Do the actions of one of the characters, and ask the students to guess which character you are. For example, dance like an elf, and ask the students, “Who am I?” The student should answer elf. You can also let your students try to be the characters. They will love it!

I hope you have a lot of fun singing this song in your classes! Check out more Christmas songs from Dream English at www.dreamenglish.com/christmas Merry Christmas!

 

Shake It Out Song and Rain, Rain Go Away with Dream English and The Learning Station

Learning from others is a continuous journey as a teacher, I think. That is why I was thrilled to get the chance to make some videos with The Learning Station! The Learning Station are award winning leaders in the children’s education music industry.

Shake It Out is a song I wrote to get students up and moving. And teachers, too! It teaches body parts and actions. Be sure to sing and dance along. Don joins me in the dance, and I think we can all agree that he can shake it with the best of them!

Singing In The Rain is a fun and silly song, perfect for a rainy day! Don taught me this song, and it was so much fun to sing and dance to. Have a look at the video, and give it a try in your classes.

A big thank you to Don and Laurie for hosting Dream English and inviting us to make some videos together. And most importantly learn from some great people who are making amazing children’s educational content. Check out The Learning Station here!

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!