New Teaching Tips Podcast Episode: Lesson Plan Archive # 1

In this new series I will talk you through a lesson that I taught to young learners. Today’s lesson is a preschool lesson students age 5-6, 30 minutes once a week class. Listen here or on Apple Podcasts search: Dream English Teaching Tips Podcast.

Below are the links to the materials I talked about in the lesson:

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes Song

https://www.dreamenglish.com/kidsongbodyparts

I Like Apples Book

http://kidsenglishbooks.com/ilikeapples

I Like Apples Song

https://www.dreamenglish.com/fruit

Goodbye Song

https://www.dreamenglish.com/goodbye

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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!

 

5 Tips for Teaching Halloween to Young English Learners

halloween-banner-small

Halloween is a super fun time of year. We can all play dress up, and be the superhero we always wanted to be! When teaching children English (ESL, EFL) Halloween is a fun time to break out of the regular routine and do something a bit different. Below are five ideas for great Halloween Classes:

5 Teaching Halloween Tips:

  1. Songs and Chants- There are not a lot of traditional Halloween songs that are great for kids, so I have made several songs for teaching Halloween. Sing about Favorite Pumpkins, Ghosts and Witches, and Chant about the Halloween characters. Check out all of our Free Download Halloween Songs here!
  2. Games – You can use Halloween themed flashcards and do any of the fun classroom games I recommend on this page.  I like to play a “Trick or Treat” game with the kids. Have the kids line up and knock on a pretend door. They have to say, “Trick or treat” then I ask “What are you for Halloween?” The students can either choose a character, or hold a character card to answer. Next we play Rock, Scissors, Paper, and if the students win I give them a pretend Halloween candy made out of paper. We go through the line a few times to make sure every students gets a paper candy. At the end, we count how many paper candies each student has. Simple and fun!
  3. Worksheets and coloring – We have several worksheets on the Dream English Halloween Page. One of my favorites, is the draw your own pumpkin worksheet. This lets the kids be creative, and have a lot of fun. Be sure to show several examples of Halloween pumpkins to get their ideas flowing.
    Screen Shot 2018-09-25 at 1.41.03 PM
  4. Halloween Books – There are many great Halloween children’s books available at your local bookstore. Make sure you choose books that are age appropriate, and not too scary. We have this fun and simple My Favorite Pumpkin book that you can download for free. Print it, and have a blast reading it to your students. After the book, sing the Favorite Pumpkin song with your students!
  5. Halloween Parties- Halloween is a fun time to host a party! You can have a classroom day be a Halloween party, or schedule a separate time to have an informal, non classroom setting party. Play Halloween games, read books, do some trick or treating activities, sing some songs. The idea is to get your students out of their normal classroom environment using English.

I hope this helps give you some ideas of what to do this year in your ESL and EFL classes for Halloween! Check out the Dream English Halloween page for more ideas, songs, and worksheets. Happy Halloween!