Classroom Activities 6: Teaching Phonics to ESL Preschoolers

Teaching Phonics to ESL Pre-schoolers

And Beginning Phonics

When are children ready to begin phonics? They are ready to begin phonics when they have a decent attention span, awareness of written language, and a good working recognition of many capital (and some lowercase) letters. Perhaps best is to work on letter recognition of lowercase letters before beginning. My students from age 5-6 are able to do this (in the ESL classroom) but children may be able to start this as early as age 3 or 4 depending on attention span, exposure, and memory.

Start with a solid structure, this also helps keep track of what letters and blends you have introduced. I use the Sounds Fun series. Level 1 teaches recognition of letters and individual sounds. Students at my school already have this basic recognition before we start phonics, so I start them right from level 2. Before we begin phonics we sing alphabet songs and a phonics sound song, and students have experienced tracing most to all letters of the alphabet on activity sheets. 

A unit looks like this. This is Unit 5, and some target words students should be able to put together. But preschoolers may find this activity dull in the group setting, so I created this game for each unit. One unit takes us about 4 lessons, which is about a month to a month and a half at the school I work at.

I keep the letters in a little marked envelope like this. then I know clearly the target sound, and in this unit we especially want to work on recognition of small I. 

                          I create copies of the target letters of the unit, enough for each student to have 1 of each target letter and sound for the unit. Better than writing by hand is arranging fun arrangements of letters they already know, and finding out the sound! Most students take to this version of spelling very easily and feel great achievement when they arrive at words they have already learned: this unit contains the word p i g. Previous units with the short a sound, students were very happy to create the word c a t. Even if they are not perfect spellers or readers, this exercise is great to reinforce awareness of written words and phonemes.

This is what the letters look like, prepared for a class of maximum 4 students. Perfect small group activity. Great in eikaiwa, or home schooling young children.

Classroom Activities 5: No Face His and Her All Ages

Classroom Activities 5

No Face Multi-Language Practice Exercise

And what's great about this activity is that it can be applied to a wide range of language! 


You Will Need: 
-paper, a drawn face

 This could be printed off the internet. Boy/Girl Human/Nonhuman Princess/Pauper... your imagination is the limit! 
-facial features for the face for target words eyes, ears, nose, mouth, 
-tape
-a wall or surface to mount the faces on
-a blindfold if one student or yourself will use it, or multiple blindfolds if you plan on allowing other students to participate for hygiene purposes

  Anyway, this face will also need features. So if you have any way to make a blank canvas... my classroom set has the facial features removable down to the hair! That's right, everything can be put on if you design your activity just so. And the principles of this activity can be applied to any vocabulary set, but the activity I'm featuring here focuses on face parts and his/her he/she and boy/girl. This would even work like the pirates I have previously featured. 

How to do the activity:
 -Think pin the tail on the donkey, with tape and face parts and students must use English
 -Use this activity as review, students must have a good working knowledge of the words, give them a brief refresher before beginning.
 -Students should know boy and girl, and for older students you can also introduce his/her with this activity
 -For the first round through you can blindfold yourself if you trust your class, and if you're good blindfolded and know your classroom spatially you can further clarify the meaning of his and her if your class has never been exposed to the words before
   Students are to say "his/her nose" as they hand the face parts to you one by one
   If they know right and left, you can allow them to say that as well
-For really advanced students, maybe they can learn "turn it" or "it's upside down" etc... a lot of practical spatial words come out when students are doing this activity
 -When all the pieces have been attached, announce "finished", have students tell you "finished" or "that's all" and unblindfold yourself or the student, and admire your work! 

Most students of mine have gotten a big kick out of this exercise! 

The blank face canvases. The hair is also removable. Not the prettiest but at least it gets the kids giggling.

This was my later evening class. I lost my touch.

My first time, the students gave me pretty good guidance. 

Underneath the star this little boy is smiling! 

This one too, the thumbs down is actually a good thing little boys love to be disgusted! 

Buggy About Spring 2013

Buggy About Spring 2013

Here is our seasonal bulletin! Happy that kotatsu season is almost over! 

This project took about 4 hours with help, but mostly because we were laminating new goodies received from the foreign buyer's club.

This is my door decoration. I remembered tissue paper decorating and, in the washroom one day, realized that the pink toilet paper we use would make a great tree on my door. I could only do half because they are sliding doors and three dimensional would not work for it. 

Detail on the bug. We put our faces on the big ones.

What the full door looks like.

We had so much fun at our school decorating party.  I'm thankful another of our school's teacher, their friend, and my husband were there to help out. It was a nice night. 

Classroom Activities 2: Prepositions Treasure Hunts

Classroom Activity 1

Prepositions Treasure Hunts
Corresponds to English Land Level 3, Chapter 4
OR
Good for: beginning prepositions (Elementary School Age) 

You will need:

- Paper, Scissors, laminator (if you want to make a long lasting treasure hunt set)

-An item representing treasure, or real treasure to give to the students if they gather all the cards for their assigned treasure hunting quest

What To Do: 

-Number the Cards 

The Treasure Hunt can be as long or as short as you'd like, each card describes the location of the next item, and should be unique to your environment or classroom

(ex. #6 is under the clock) 

-Hide them before the class, retaining the first card as a hint

-For Larger Classes: Prepare color coded treasure hunts for small group hunting: groups are only allowed to take the cards for their color           

                                                                and should do it in order

For more practice: 

Do this as a warm-up activity or an extension of the lesson. I feel it really engages them and gets elementary age students thinking about the structure of preposition sentences, as they often mutter the locations under their breath as they search. Students can take turns reading the cards or a reader can be assigned. However, I have seen even shy students take to this activity. 

This could be used for any foreign language.

Classroom Activities 1: Missing Parts Characters

This is my classroom. That is basically all of it. The table can be pushed back a few feet if it's standing. Like three feet maximum. Or, the table is collapsible and allows for more space for little kids class or active class. But it's still a small room and keeping those kiddos engaged week after week becomes a priority, and yet, no easy task at all.

I recall my predecessor telling me that the best part of the job is that no work comes home. That is not true. Even if I am not working I am always thinking of students: the good, the bad, the engaged, and the disengaged. Oh, genius-kid would love this. Or, I wonder if I can involve this problem student if I did such-and-such in class. My classes are small enough that I have all their names memorized, and even then, all my students have nicknames in my mind.

At any rate, this post is the first in, hopefully, a series that can help out other teachers of activities I have created for my classroom to help spice up classroom work for students who come see me week after week, some who have now been with me for upwards of a year and a half. 

Today's Activity: Classroom Activity 1

Missing Parts Characters

What you will need: 

-clipart of characters, a simple google image search will do you just fine

  some topics which may be of interest: pirates, zombies, princesses, One Piece, Pokemon, blow up the image during printing

  (You are not selling this, you are merely using it to engage student, let your imagination go wild or your target vocabulary drive this search, if you are studying clothes choose an image with interesting and complicated clothes and accessories. If you are teaching body parts, choose something a little more exposed.  When students are engaged and curious about other items they might see, such as the pirate's sword or the zombie's brain, I find they become motivated to ask the vocabulary and retain it pretty well. )

-cardstock cards

-optional: laminator, laminator sheets

-scissors

-printer

This is the set I made for "Pirates", it reviews clothes, "bird", and face parts.

What I did: 

-print out enough copies for your class plus one to show as the model image as the students try to piece the character together: I have maximum three students so I chose to go with three, plus one 

-cut out the student characters, and then cut out various parts which clearly show target vocabulary, laminate the bodies and the cut out parts, the cut out parts are now game pieces which students will race to find under the card stock cards (you will need 8-10 cards, to have 8-10 items in play at a time) 

-cut up cardstock for a size which generally fits over the body parts you cut out

The Game: 

How to have fun with this in class

-elicit or teach new vocabulary with the full body image before beginning the activity and review I have/I don't have, or He/She/It has, doesn't have 

-pass each student, or each group of students, their altered copy of the goal image. Encourage them to shout out "He/She/It doesn't have... (x)!" or "He/She/It has (x)!" 

-tell students to close their eyes, and hide the various cut out parts, 8-10, depending on how many cards you cut out

-students only get one chance to look under a card, and must decide "He has/He doesn't have", each player or team gets a chance. When the game starts to reach its end some of the cards will be "empty"

-The first team to gather all it's missing parts wins! Routinely check in with students by eliciting what they still DON'T have so that they will know the vocabulary word to draw their card! 

Some of my kids were scared of this one.

                                        One of my Pirates, close up

                                         

 One of my classes requested a "Stinky Baby" character

Zombie edition

Don't stress finding the perfect size image, they can easily be blown up and the kids will have fun with the game, not how perfect the image is
. The better you know your kids, the better you can make a game that will engage them!  Just go wild. 

Happy Teaching! 

Corresponds to: English Land Level 2 Chapter 5
English Land Level 3 Chapter 3

Napoleon Dynamite TV Show Address Song- Funny!

Napoleon Dynamite Address Song (From the television show which was aired on FOX but unfortunately didn't continue for long) It always had me in stitches! Love it!

AND I find myself wanting to sing it in my English classes...

Halloween Class Ideas

It's holiday time at my school in Japan!

I've been invited and given the freedom to get as involved as I want at my school next week!

I'm inviting the children to come dressed in costumes. Some may show in costume, some may not. I may keep some ears and impromptu costumes. Good thing I have small classes! Four kids is the maximum size!

Here are some good FREE websites for Halloween Activity ideas:

ABCteach.com

http://abcteach.com/directory/seasonalholidays/halloween/

Disney Family Fun.com

http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-printables/halloween-printable-games-activities/

Halloween Games (ESL Kids-stuff)

http://www.eslkidstuff.com/HalloweenGames.htm

The Back Seat (Story for Discussion)

The Back Seat

One night a woman went out for drinks with her girlfriends. She left the bar fairly late at night, got in her car and onto the deserted highway. She noticed a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her she glanced and saw the turn signal on-- the car was going to pass-- when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and brights flashed.

Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment and then the brights came back on and the car behind her surged forward. The frightened woman struggled to keep her eyes on the road and fought the urge to look at the car behind her. Finally, her exit approached but the car continued to follow, flashing the brights periodically.

Through every stoplight and turn, it followed her until she pulled into her driveway. She figured her only hope was to make a mad dash into the house and call the police. As she flew from the car, so did the driver of the car behind her-- and he screamed, "Lock the door and call the police! Call 911!"

When the police arrived the horrible truth was finally revealed to the woman. The man in the car had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the sihouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down.

What's the moral of the story?

Image source doobybrain.com

Story source: unknown, but I think maybe it came from Dave's ESL or similar website.

ESL With Young Learners

That's pretty much what I do with the little ones. I try to change up the names and also incorporate storytime. Really high level students can already basically read and we practice activities that mimic spelling. They're capable of so much, it's just a matter of finding out what level the little ones are at, I feel. It's still really new to me but I think I'm doing basically the same as the guy in the video. :D

Other Helpful Sites About ESL for Young Learners:

Everything ESL.net

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/pre_school_information_99051.php

ESL Songs and Ideas for Young Learners

Good for ideas but the sitemaster is promoting her book and CD

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslsongs.htm#CD1

Rong-Chang.com, ESL, EFL For Children

http://www.rong-chang.com/kids.htm

ESL: Why Games, Stories, and Movement Activities Work

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_ESL_Preschool_Ideas_and_Tips_for_Successful_Classes.htm

The Hook (Story for Discussion)

The Hook

(Source unknown, but probably an ESL resource website)

A teenage boy drove his date to a dark and deserted Lovers' Lane for a make-out session. After turning on the radio for mood music, he leaned over and began kissing the girl.

A short while later, the music suddenly stopped and an announcers voice came on, warning in an urgent tone that a convicted murderer had just escaped from the state insane asylum,--which happened to be located not far from Lovers' Lane--and that anyone who noticed a strange man lurking about with a hook in place of his right hand should immediately report his whereabouts to the police.

The girl became frightened and asked to be taken home. The boy, feeling bold, locked all the doors instead and, assuring his date they would be safe, attempted to kiss her again. She became frantic and pushed him away, insisting that they leave. Relenting, the boy peevishly jerked the car into gear and spun its wheels as he pulled out of the parking space.

When they arrived at the girl's house she got out of the car, and, reaching to close the door, began to scream uncontrollably. The boy ran to her side to see what was wrong and there, dangling from the door handle, was a bloody hook.

What is the moral of the story?

___________________

I'm not sure what to think of this story, I found this going through the ESL resources at the school I'm teaching at. Hm. Probably from Dave's ESL cafe or something... I'd love to give the original author credit though.

Japan Living: Caring for Tatami

Caring for your Washitsu

A tatami-floored washitsu with a tokonoma (the recessed area with traditional item display) visible in the background.

Source: http://litlotrs.blogspot.com/2007/01/mans-home-is-his-shiro.html

If your accommodation in Japan has a Japanese style room, then it is worth it to know how to properly care for these reed and rice straw mats, for your health and for the health of those who will be living in the same residence once you have left.

Caring for Japanese Tatami, published on the Iwate JET website:

http://iwatejet.com/node/177

The site offers some helpful tips about ow to keep your tatami room clean and healthy so you can enjoy the relaxing scent of this traditional Japanese flooring.

Most important (Summary) :

-Futons should be folded and removed from the mats during the day, and if possible, dried outside, since futons themselves can mold just as easily as tatami (and beaten from time to time)

-They can be vacuumed, wiped with a damp cloth. This should be done following the grain of the matting to prevent damage. This should be done regularly since dirt and dust aren't good for the tatami or for you

Learning Japanese: Resources

Chances are if you are teaching English in Japan, you may be wanting to learn a little bit of Japanese yourself. Since my husband is coming with me to Japan, and he has no prior knowledge of Japanese. So, I am guiding him to some resources which may be helpful to others as well.

1) If you are complete beginner, please send me an e-mail and I can send you the PDF file of exercises and basic Japanese phrases and grammar constructions that I created for a beginning Japanese class.

2) If you have a basic Japanese language background that has covered a variety of topics: self introductions, giving directions, body parts and symptoms, home visitng, etc. etc... I thoroughly recommend the text that the department of Japanese uses at my university.

It is called Aozora. It's intermediate-advanced listening/speaking communication but if you are in Japan you probably have enough exposure to take something from it.

You can access the listening files for FREE at http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/AozoraSound

The listening files alone are a great resource, but the text includes complete transcripts of the dialogue and organizes the vocabulary. I found it to be a great text. In fact, our classes largely just followed the flow of the text with extra activities and assignments thrown in.

3) Yahoo Jisho usually fulfills all my needs for dictionaries, if you do not have your own swanky pocket dictionary: electronic or otherwise. And if you have an iPhone you have access to endless Apps. Language learning does not have to be expensive.

SAT Vocabulary List

SAT Vocabulary: Great for Native and Foreign Speakers alike!

Ones that I have seen on repeated practice and official SAT tests are bolded.

aberration

abeyance

abjure

ablution

abrogate

abstruce

accost

acquiesce

acumen

aesthetic

aggrandize

amatory

archaism

auxiliary

avant-garde

bellicose

conflate

consonance

cerebral

decorous, decorum

deleterious

delineate

denude

derogate

dissonance

edifice

grandiose

gregarious

ignominious

inscrutable

latent

laudatory

malapropism

miserly

mitigate

munificent

palpable

partisan

pernicious

quackery

retroactive

sophomoric

supercilious

synergystic

tactile

vapid

verbiose

venerate

Fun ESL Teacher Blogs

I enjoy these blogs, and don't want to lose track of them (not all of them are conveniently "follow-able" via blogspot, hence I provide the links here so that I can keep track of them and others may browse them. I was sure I posted these somewhere, but couldn't find them when I went looking for them today.

*http://kylemullen.wordpress.com/

Fellow Uni-Friend's blog about adventures 40 minutes outside of Tokyo in Chiba-prefecture as a JET ALT

*http://www.kaleyinjapan.com/

Just starting out as an ALT with a dispatch company, Fall 2011

*http://justawordinthegrandstory.wordpress.com/

this one includes lesson plan ideas and stories from countries less commonly visited by EFL teachers

*http://www.keepingpaceinjapan.com/

I always always always have a good time at that blog. The teacher was working at AEON, has done a stint in Korea, and has gone back to Japan and is currently a volunteer in Tohoku helping with the tsunami clean-up. I feel it's well written and provides a good balance of positive writing with challenges teachers face in a foreign culture, particularly in Japan.

*http://lovinlife1902.blogspot.com/

I found this one through a newsletter published by the TEFL online course that I'm taking, TEFLBridge Online. It's about someone enjoying Korea, who will be starting as a University Teacher. I'm excited to follow it.

*http://kimberlykorea.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-korean-english-students-have.html

Idaho to Russia to Korea. This blog looks like it should chronicle a great mix of experiences.

*http://abbysline.com/

About teaching in Chile! How cool! Love the picture of the alpaca~~

http://dianeclark.typepad.com/popcorn_and_sushi/

http://www.expatwomen.com/expatblog/index.php?c=111

That's all for now! I'm finding new blogs I like all the time so stay tuned.

Pernicious Prepositions

I worked with some students on phrasal verbs (which more often than not, are combinations of verbs with prepositions) for an entire summer once, and I am seeing the importance more and more as I see how students struggle with the topic. I am offering this list of prepositional verbs and verbs that use prepositions along with other verbs I have noticed in helping a student prepare for the SAT. Even American students are tested on knowing these verb conjugations. Knowing them really increases how natural a speaker sounds.

The beginning of the list was taken from: Evergreen, a Guide to Writing With Readings, International Edition 9th e by Susan Fawcett

The list may be helpful when covering prepositional verbs in high school classes and above.

According to

Acquainted with

Addicted to

Afraid of

Agree on (a plan)

Agree to (something or a proposal)

Afraid of

Angry about or at (a thing)

Angry with (a person)

Apply for (a position)

Apply to (doing something) (One should apply oneself to their studies)

Approve of

Argue about (an issue)

Argue with ( a person)

Capable of

Complain about (a situation)

Complain to (a person)

Comply with

Consist of

Contrast with

Correspond with (write) I corresponded with a young lady in Kushiro, Hokkaido

Deal with

Depend on

Different from

Differ from (something)

Discovered by

Differ with

Displeased with

Donate to

Fond of

Grateful for

Grateful to

Identical to

Inferior to

In search of

Interested in

Interfere with

Number of (nouns) I saw a number of new vendors at the Saturday market.

Object to

Protect against

Reason with

Rely on

Reply to

Responsible for

Sensitive to

Shocked at, shocked by

Similar to

Speak with (someone)

Specialize-in

Succeed in (a noun) I succeed in (I am successful in) my language classes.

Succeed in (Verb-ing) He succeeded in petitioning his case before the committee.

Superior to

Take advantage of

Worry about

____________

From SAT (continue to build this list)

Appointed with

Boon for

Conscript to My uncle was conscripted to the army during the Vietnam War

Conferred on

Demonstration of

Deprived of

Obstruction to vs. Obstruction of

Impediment to

Redeemed for

Relegated to

Bridge TEFL Certification

A little self development never hurt anybody, especially when it comes to getting a certificate that one completed a 100+ or 120 hour TEFL certification program. Even if it is online. For those serious about teaching English as a Second Language abroad, especially those who already have a lot of foundational experience in the field (it probably is not as effective as someone who is just getting into teaching or who has never worked teaching English to speakers of other languages) it's a pretty valid program to take you to the next level or at the very least hook you up with some teaching coaching as well as resources for a reasonable price.

I came to know bridgeTEFL because it is an accredited program and I was considering my options in Korea since the job I thought was sure was going to come through in Japan is being a little silent in our communications compared to when I first started correspondence with them before our interview. I think it will be ok because the interview was very positive and they sounded like as soon as I had my graduation materials they wanted to hear from me, not to mention they have some spring placements unfilled. So if you have a B.A. already and want to start work right now, contact me.

Anyway, in Korea if you have this certification you can make an extra $100 dollars a month, and the program is 450 dollars right now. That means it pays for itself in four and a half months. Not too shabby if your teaching program gives you perks for developing your skills.

Bridge TEFL

***http://www.bridgetefl.com/

Teaching English in Gyeonggi-do, Korea (Seoul Area)

Application is for a company that places teachers all throughout Korea

****http://gepik-tek.weebly.com/qualifications.html

My Youtube Channel

So... I'm trying to make a body of work for both students and potential employers. It's quite small now, but starting this youtube channel is a part of that. I also might post videos of my pets and other things I like just for fun and to show a little bit of what my life in America is like.

The Big EFL Resource Link Repository

Here are my selections. They are defined as FREE or FEE as indicated.

This is a work in progress as long as this blog is continued.

FREE

Daves ESL Cafe (this site has been recommended by the current company I work for, and many other places)

http://www.eslcafe.com/

http://www.onestopenglish.com/

http://www.englishclub.com/

Total ESL.com: Kind of disorganized, but there are some job listings and resources there.

http://totalesl.com

How to teach English in Japan

http://www.how-to-teach-english-in-japan.com/seiha-english-academy.html

ESL Resources for Children and Young Learners:

Other Helpful Sites About ESL for Young Learners:

Everything ESL.net

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/pre_school_information_99051.php

ESL Songs and Ideas for Young Learners

Good for ideas but the sitemaster is promoting her book and CD

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslsongs.htm#CD1

Rong-Chang.com, ESL, EFL For Children

http://www.rong-chang.com/kids.htm

ESL: Why Games, Stories, and Movement Activities Work

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_ESL_Preschool_Ideas_and_Tips_for_Successful_Classes.htm