Wednesday, March 11, 2015

SONGS AND POSTERS - DIY poster

In the third grade we learn about verbs, the modal verb can and we love to sing:)
That's why I chose this song from an old cassette I found at home, I'm sorry I can't say where the song is from. You can follow this link to the song:

This is how the lesson goes.
1. I write the lyrics of a the song a big flip chart paper. The lines of the song are in a mixed order and the last word of the line in the song is presented with a picture. Students guess the word, then come to the board and write the word and practice the sentences together with the teacher.





2. I distribute a handout with the lyrics of the song. The students write the missing words. Listen to the song and put the lines in the correct order. Then each student comes to the board to write the number next to each line and check whether the lines of the song are arranged in the correct order or not. 









3. Finally we listen to the song, sing and act out the words :)









USING TOYS TO REVISE VOCABULARY - NUMBERS

Some time ago I was looking for some toy for my best friend's son when I came across this lovely bingo toy. Being the teacher I am I immediately thought about my students and how I can use this in class. Of course there are many ways to play bingo, and you don't often need any special equipment but this toy made the revision of numbers all the more interesting.








Friday, January 30, 2015

Giving directions - using a poster

You can find numerous ways on how to use posters. For example for this lesson our aim was to practice giving directions and following directions. Students worked in pairs. One student gave the directions and the other moved on the map / poster. Then they switched roles.
They used the key vocabulary and phrases:
Go straight
go down the street
turn left
turn right
go past
it's on your left
it's on your right
next to
between
in front of
behind















Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Using an interactive poster (DIY) - vocabulary revision


Today was our first English class after a three -week winter break. It's always good to jog the students' memory of what has been learnt recently before moving to something new.
In that regard I decided to use an interactive poster I made myself. It's nothing special really I just used a flip chart paper and draw a house. I draw the rooms with a certain piece of furniture that would be used as a hint to guess the name of the room.

I teach in a mixed class. That means that second grade students and third grade students have English at the same time even though a different syllabus is used for each. So this was a good way to involve all the students.
Here's how we used the poster and just a glimpse at all the other activities we did in class.

1. Put the poster on the board. Prepare pieces of paper with the names of the rooms of the house. Ask each student to take a piece of paper, come to the board and put the word in the correct room. Then ask students to say the word and practice pronunciation.




2. Prepare some pictures of furniture and write the name of the furniture on pieces of paper. Divide students into two groups. Ask the students from the first group to choose a card with a picture on it and stand on different places around the classroom. Ask the second group of students to choose from the cards with the words and then tell them to find their pair. They should match the word with the picture. ( This is a good activity when you teach young learners because it includes movement and this is what they enjoy the most :) )




3. To revise family members vocabulary plus the rooms in the house I asked the students to do a similar activity as the one above. Some of the students got pictures with rooms in the house and some of the students got pictures with family members. They followed my instructions and went " in the room" I told them. Example : Mother is in the living room. / Brother is in the kitchen. Once they were in the correct room their task was to repeat the sentence I told them before and talk about the family members and their location.




4. For the last activity I told the students to take one picture with furniture on it and put it in the correct room. Afterwards the students choose the words and put them on the correct picture.
Example: There is a table in the kitchen. / There is a carpet in the living room.




In the end we got a very colourful poster and a bit untidy house :)
And most importantly we had fun while revising vocabulary.


Remember : Both learning and teaching English can be fun! :)