Dream English Teaching Tips Blog
Fun Thoughts and Creative Ideas for Teaching Children English
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!
I love using songs to teach English. Students love it, too. It makes the class fun, dynamic, and uplifting. I recorded an Episode of the Dream English Teaching Kids Tips Podcast on Teaching Songs. Have a listen here. It is also now available on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
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:
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!
Food, Glorious, Food! A line from the great musical Oliver. Teaching young ESL and EFL learners about Food is a fun topic. We all have our favorite food, for me it is pizza, not to mention favorite fruit, and ice cream flavors. In the new Food Family Finger video, we learn the names of five popular food items, and how to ask for them in English. More below the video:
Top 10 Teaching Food Vocabulary Ideas
I hope these ideas help you get off to a great start teaching about Food to young learners of English. I am sure you have many ideas of your own that are great as well. Happy teaching!
Students can learn the rooms of the house pretty easily. With that in mind, I made a Rooms of the House Song with some actions, like cooking, and reading. This combination of themes makes for a lot of fun in the classroom! How to teach and more below the video:
UPDATE: Download a FREE MP3 of this song, click here!
How To Teach:
Before showing a video I like to introduce the vocabulary with flashcards. MES English has some great Rooms of the House flashcards that contain all of the vocabulary in this song. Get them here at MES-English.com
You could also have some fun with your students and draw the rooms on a white board. Ask the students to draw objects that they might see in the room.
Next, pre-teach the actions: cooking, reading, playing guitar, eating, brushing teeth. Your students might already be familiar with a lot of this vocabulary. Then, watch the video, and have the students try to do the actions and sing-along. Here are the lyrics just in case you want to pre-teach those as well:
Rooms of the House Song Lyrics:
I’m cooking some food in the kitchen.
I’m reading a book in the living room.
I’m playing my guitar in the bedroom.
Please be quiet! I’m trying to sleep.
Ok! After my guitar solo!
I’m eating dinner in the dining room.
I’m brushing my teeth in the bathroom.
I’m playing my guitar in the bedroom.
Please be quiet! I’m trying to sleep.
Ok! After my guitar solo!
Game idea: Ask your students to take turns acting out the gestures of cooking, or reading, and have the students take turns guessing. For an extra challenge, ask your students to choose a room flashcard where they are doing the action, and have the students answer like this, ” You are reading a book in the living room.”
I hope this helps you with some ideas to get started with your own awesome Rooms of the House lesson! Happy Teaching!
I love mixing different topics in one song. It is a great way to increase students vocabulary, and help young learners remember new words in a fun way! The Family Finger song with instruments is my latest attempt at making a fun mix. Teaching tips, full song lyrics and more below the video:
How To Teach:
Before I teach a song, I always introduce and review the vocabulary. For this song the main vocabulary is Daddy, Mommy, Brother, Sister, Baby, Guitar, Piano, Recorder, Drums. You can teach the vocabulary by showing flashcards, or pictures from a book or textbook. Make sure the students understand the meaning of the words.
Next, I like to teach the actions of the song. For example, ” I am playing the piano.” Say the words, and do the actions. Here are the full lyrics of the song:
Daddy finger, Daddy finger where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the guitar
Mommy finger, Mommy finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the piano.
Brother finger, Brother finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the electric guitar.
Sister finger, Sister finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the recorder
Baby finger, Baby finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
I’m playing the drums
Next, watch the video, ask your students to sing along and do the actions!
After the video:
I like to ask my students a few questions after watching the video. Here are some sample questions you could ask:
Be creative and come up with new game and lesson ideas on your own using the Family Finger Song. You can do it! You are a great teacher! Happy teaching!
It is really important to have fun in the classroom when teaching children English. One way to do this is with emotions. Quickly changing emotions from happy to sad, or not scared to scared can be a fun way of teaching. More below the video….
Walk In The Woods Song
The target language in this video includes animals (owl, fox, bear), nature (woods) and the use of “not” (I’m not scared.) You can pre-teach this vocabulary, or just go ahead and watch the video and have the children follow along. If they are already familiar with the target language, the students should be able to follow along quickly!
Get Moving!
I recommend having your students stand to watch this video. Get them moving and following along with the actions. This will get them more involved, and they will remember the words not only by singing, but with their bodies. Remember: Movement is very important!
Lyrics
Here are the lyrics of the song:
Let’s go for a walk in the woods
Let’s go for a walk in the woods
I’m not scared, no, no
I’m not scared, no, no
Stop! What’s that sound?
An owl? Shhh! Be very, very quiet
(repeat with fox and bear)
So that is the walking in the woods song, give it a try in your classes! For extra excitement, can you think of a game idea for the song? You could have students act out the different characters in the song and sing along. Happy Singing!
Many of you may know the popular children’s song Family Finger. I have made some new versions using different vocabulary. I like this song, because it teaches other vocabulary such as, “Where are you?” I also use these songs to teach actions like dig, mix, and more. More below the video:
How To Use This Song in your Classes
This song can be used as a warm-up song or in the middle of your classes as a song break time. You can begin by teaching the Construction Vehicle names, then the actions. Then watch the video and have your students do the actions and sing along. Here are the full lyrics:
Excavator finger, excavator finger where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s dig like an excavator
Bulldozer finger, bulldozer finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s push like a bulldozer
Road roller finger, road roller finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s roll like a road roller
Dump truck finger, Dump truck finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s drive the dump truck.
Concrete mixer finger, concrete mixer finger, where are you?
Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
Let’s mix like a concrete mixer.
So give it a try and get moving in your class! Here we go!
It is time to get excited to take our students English to the next level! If you have been following Dream English for awhile, you know we have covered many topics, and vocabulary items in our lesson plan songs. Now, it is time get exciting and mix it up! More below the video:
Themed Songs
I am beginning to write songs based around themes and ideas, like in the above video, ” Walking in the Snow.” This song covers many things with verbs (walking), emotions and feelings (scared), question phrases (what are those footprints in the snow?), plus some animal names. Let’s have a look at the full lyrics:
I’m walking in the snow
I’m walking in the snow
I’m a little bit scared because
I don’t know
What are those footprints in the snow?
I hear something, Ahhh!
It’s a cute little kitty
(repeat above with cute little puppy, cute little bird, and polar bear)
As you can see, there is a lot to be learned in this song. I also hope that it is a lot of fun for your students! So let’s get singing, and adventurous with our use of vocabulary. Here we go!
In my new video and song, one of the lyrics is “I’m not scared.” This is a great phrase for kids to learn for their confidence, but it can also be easily changed to “I’m not hungry,” or “I’m not sad.” Very useful phrases in English! Have a look at the video, and read more below.
Teaching “I am” Phrases
So, how do we get students to use “not” effectively? First, we have to teach phrases with “I am.” For example, “I’m hungry, I’m happy, I’m sleepy.” If your students are not familiar with these phrases, check out the Feelings Song Here.
Once your students are comfortable with the “I am” phrases, you could teach them the “I’m not scared” vocabulary from the above video. Then, show them the video. One effective way to show the difference is to say, “I’m scared” and act scared. Then, say “I’m not scared, ” and act like that. Again, have a look at the video for how I act when I sing, “I’m not scared.”
Put it Together
Now that your students know the “I am” and the “I’m not….” ask them questions like, “Are you hungry?” The student should either answer, “I’m hungry,” or “I’m not hungry.” Go through the other feelings in the same way: happy, sad, sleepy, scared. You may have to do some modeling as a teacher to make sure your students understand the meaning.
Great job! You made it to the end of this blog post. Have a great day teaching!