HAVE FUN AND KEEP LOOKING FORWARD TO!
BLESSINGS
links for vocabulary
lunes, 17 de noviembre de 2014
songs and other activities
Songs tend to repetitive and have a strong rhythm. They are easily learnt by primary children and quickly become favourites because of their familiarity. They are fun and motivating for children. They allow language to be reinforced in a natural context, both with structures and vocabulary.
All songs build confidence in young learners and even shy children will enjoy singing or acting out a song as part of a group or whole class. This also develops a sense of class identity. Children are often proud of what they have learnt and will like having the opportunity to ‘show off' what they have learnt to friends or family.
Many songs can help develop memory and concentration, as well as physical co-ordination, for example when doing the actions for a song. For the teacher, songs can be a wonderful starting point for a topic and can fit in well with topics, skills, language and cross-curricular work.
Here are some tips for using and exploiting songs in the classroom.
1. For reinforcing grammar points
Some songs lend themselves naturally to teaching or reinforcing grammar points. They may be integrated into lessons with a particular grammar focus and provide much-needed variety, while contributing to the overall aim of a lesson. Particularly at lower levels when children are still learning basic key grammar patterns, songs can play a role as input.
All songs build confidence in young learners and even shy children will enjoy singing or acting out a song as part of a group or whole class. This also develops a sense of class identity. Children are often proud of what they have learnt and will like having the opportunity to ‘show off' what they have learnt to friends or family.
Many songs can help develop memory and concentration, as well as physical co-ordination, for example when doing the actions for a song. For the teacher, songs can be a wonderful starting point for a topic and can fit in well with topics, skills, language and cross-curricular work.
Here are some tips for using and exploiting songs in the classroom.
1. For reinforcing grammar points
Some songs lend themselves naturally to teaching or reinforcing grammar points. They may be integrated into lessons with a particular grammar focus and provide much-needed variety, while contributing to the overall aim of a lesson. Particularly at lower levels when children are still learning basic key grammar patterns, songs can play a role as input.
On LearnEnglish Kids there are several songs which can be used in this way. For example the song ‘Quiet, please!' is useful to practise the structure ‘Can I have...?' and to practise other phrases typically used in the classroom. You can listen to the song on the website, or print the lyrics to sing:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/quiet-please
The song ‘Over the mountains' provides practice of the present continuous in the context of travelling. The chorus refrains e.g. ‘I'm driving in a car' are repeated several times and children can produce their own sentences afterwards: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/over-the-mountains
2. Teaching vocabulary of a particular lexical set
Research into child language acquisition has shown that lexical items may need to be repeated many times before they are internalised by the child. Songs provide an excellent means of repeating and reinforcing vocabulary and are suitable for children of all abilities. For example, a song like ‘Pizza and chips' follows a very simple repetitive format and teaches days of the week. This song could be used with very young learners for reinforcing days of the week and as a basis for further work:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/pizza-and-chips
The song ‘Over the mountains' provides practice of the present continuous in the context of travelling. The chorus refrains e.g. ‘I'm driving in a car' are repeated several times and children can produce their own sentences afterwards: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/over-the-mountains
2. Teaching vocabulary of a particular lexical set
Research into child language acquisition has shown that lexical items may need to be repeated many times before they are internalised by the child. Songs provide an excellent means of repeating and reinforcing vocabulary and are suitable for children of all abilities. For example, a song like ‘Pizza and chips' follows a very simple repetitive format and teaches days of the week. This song could be used with very young learners for reinforcing days of the week and as a basis for further work:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/pizza-and-chips
Songs are easy to fit in with a topic-based or thematic approach. The topic of animals forms part of most young learner syllabi and there are several songs which could be used for this topic, such as the traditional song ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’ (http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/old-macdonald-had-farm), which also has lots of related games to help support learning:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/old-macdonald
‘People work’ is also a catchy song for teaching jobs vocabulary and has a fun element in that the names of the people rhyme with their jobs: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/people-work
3. Developing listening skills
Longer songs with a wider variety of structures and vocabulary are more suitable for the development of overall listening skills. For example, the song ‘The ballad of Lisa the lemur’ is a story based on the topic of therainforest, and endangered animals and the environment in general. Although quite long, the tune is folksy and catchy and you'll find an activity worksheet to download and print, as well as some games and a quiz about lemurs:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-ballad-lisa-the-lemur
3. Developing listening skills
Longer songs with a wider variety of structures and vocabulary are more suitable for the development of overall listening skills. For example, the song ‘The ballad of Lisa the lemur’ is a story based on the topic of therainforest, and endangered animals and the environment in general. Although quite long, the tune is folksy and catchy and you'll find an activity worksheet to download and print, as well as some games and a quiz about lemurs:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-ballad-lisa-the-lemur
Some songs are linked with stories which your students may already be familiar with, for example the traditional story of Goldilocks and the three bears. The song ‘The Goldilocks song’ is a song based on the story:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-goldilocks-song
4. Singing
Many of the songs on LearnEnglish Kids are suitable for singing in class or for an individual child to sing along to. Community singing in class brings the benefit of total participation from all students, especially if accompanied by actions or mimes. The total physical response (TPR) approach is particularly suited to younger learners.
Many of the songs on LearnEnglish Kids are suitable for singing in class or for an individual child to sing along to. Community singing in class brings the benefit of total participation from all students, especially if accompanied by actions or mimes. The total physical response (TPR) approach is particularly suited to younger learners.
Children enjoy singing along and it can really improve motivation. Singing can also improve the pronunciation and intonation patterns of the students, especially younger children. At primary level, vocabulary teaching tends to concentrate on single word items, and songs allow learners to learn ‘chunks’ or meaningful phrases of language rather than single words, as well as to learn about how sounds connect and run together. For example, children can become of aware of using contractions and weak forms.Traditional songs are particularly useful for developing pronunciation and acclimatising young learners to the sounds of the language.
Simple songs are very repetitive and good for singing along. For very young learners the ‘The alphabet song’ is a good starting point for singing and reinforcing the alphabet:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-alphabet-song
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-alphabet-song
Before they listen:
It is a good idea to warm up for a song by providing some input. You could do this by using visuals of the main vocabulary items, or using realia. For ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’ for example you can practise animal vocabulary with flashcards or small toy animals. For ‘The Goldilocks song’ you could provide some household items, e.g. 3 bowls and cutlery.
It is a good idea to warm up for a song by providing some input. You could do this by using visuals of the main vocabulary items, or using realia. For ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’ for example you can practise animal vocabulary with flashcards or small toy animals. For ‘The Goldilocks song’ you could provide some household items, e.g. 3 bowls and cutlery.
- Children could predict or guess words from a song, for example predict the animals in ‘We're going to the zoo’: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/were-going-the-zoo
- They could try to guess the missing words in a gapped song.
- They could try to put the jumbled lines of a song in order.
- They can circle or tick pictures of what is included in the song – see the worksheet for ‘A bear named Sue’ for an example: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/bear-named-sue
- They could be asked to order or sequence pictures or words as they listen.
- They could complete the gaps.
- They could sort out jumbled lyrics.
- They could be asked to match half-lines.
- The teacher could give true/false statements.
While listening
When you introduce the song allow the students to watch and listen to the song a couple of times to become familiar with the tune. Explain the meaning of unfamiliar words to the children using the visuals in the flash animations. Ask children to point to any visuals or items of realia as they listen. Children usually start to sing along naturally without much prompting from the teacher. Performing actions to accompany the song is a good way to encourage this. The song ‘If you're happy and you know it’ (http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/if-youre-happy-and-you-know-it) is a fun action song to get children used to joining in this way. For most other songs, actions can be invented for almost any word or line – ask students to help you invent actions for songs!
When you introduce the song allow the students to watch and listen to the song a couple of times to become familiar with the tune. Explain the meaning of unfamiliar words to the children using the visuals in the flash animations. Ask children to point to any visuals or items of realia as they listen. Children usually start to sing along naturally without much prompting from the teacher. Performing actions to accompany the song is a good way to encourage this. The song ‘If you're happy and you know it’ (http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/if-youre-happy-and-you-know-it) is a fun action song to get children used to joining in this way. For most other songs, actions can be invented for almost any word or line – ask students to help you invent actions for songs!
After listening
Many of the songs on the website have a topic or theme and therefore act as a natural stimulus for subsequent reading and writing activities, for example changing the words or adding verses. Many of the songs have worksheets which support children with this, such as ‘What can it be?’:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/what-can-it-be Or, for ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’, the lyrics could be adapted to ‘Old MacDonald had a zoo’.
Many of the songs on the website have a topic or theme and therefore act as a natural stimulus for subsequent reading and writing activities, for example changing the words or adding verses. Many of the songs have worksheets which support children with this, such as ‘What can it be?’:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/what-can-it-be Or, for ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’, the lyrics could be adapted to ‘Old MacDonald had a zoo’.
Many of the songs also lend themselves to creative arts and crafts activities. For example, with ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’ you could make a classroom wall display of farmyard animals. Or for ‘The scary skeleton’ children can make a skeleton using the accompanying worksheet: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-scary-skeleton
Some songs provide opportunities for drama and acting out narratives, for example ‘The Goldilocks song’. You can download masks to use for acting out both the song and the story:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/the-goldilocks-song
But best of all,they can listen and sing again!
But best of all,they can listen and sing again!
Why is Play Important? Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Creative Development
GAMES
Social and Emotional Development
During play, children also increase their social competence and emotional maturity. Smilansky and Shefatya (1990) contend that school success largely depends on children’s ability to interact positively with their peers and adults. Play is vital to children’s social development. It enables children to do the following:
- Practice both verbal and nonverbal communication skills by negotiating roles, trying to gain access to ongoing play, and appreciating the feelings of others (Spodek & Saracho, 1998).
- Respond to their peers’ feelings while waiting for their turn and sharing materials and experiences (Sapon-Shevin, Dobbelgere, Carrigan, Goodman, & Mastin, 1998; Wheeler, 2004).
- Experiment with roles of the people in their home, school, and community by coming into contact with the needs and wishes of others (Creasey, Jarvis, & Berk, 1998; Wheeler, 2004).
- Experience others’ points of view by working through conflicts about space, materials, or rules positively (Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990; Spodek & Saracho, 1998).
Play supports emotional development by providing a way to express and cope with feelings. Pretend play helps children express feelings in the following four ways (Piaget, 1962):
- Simplifying events by creating an imaginary character, plot, or setting to match their emotional state. A child afraid of the dark, for example, might eliminate darkness or night from the play episode.
- Compensating for situations by adding forbidden acts to pretend play. A child may, for example, eat cookies and ice cream for breakfast in play, whereas in reality this would not be permitted.
- Controlling emotional expression by repeatedly reenacting unpleasant or frightening experiences. For example, a child might pretend to have an accident after seeing a real traffic accident on the highway.
- Avoiding adverse consequences by pretending that another character, real or imaginary, commits inappropriate acts and suffers the consequences. Children whose television viewing is monitored at home, for instance, can pretend to allow the doll to watch indiscriminately and then reprimand the “bad child” for unacceptable TV viewing habits.
In addition to expressing feelings, children also learn to cope with their feelings as they act out being angry, sad, or worried in a situation they control (Erikson, 1963). Pretend play allows them to think out loud about experiences charged with both pleasant and unpleasant feelings. A good example is Alexander, a 4-year-old whose dog was recently hit by a car. In his dramatic play in the pet hospital, his teacher heard him say to another child, “I’m sad because the car hurt my dog.” Here he was trying to cope with unpleasant feelings from a frightening situation. Play enabled Alexander to express his feelings so that he could cope with his worry about his dog (Landreth & Homeyer, 1998). So, too, do older children learn valuable emotional skills, such as increasingly realistic self-perceptions, the ability to manage their emotions, and self-control that improves over time through games and inventions. As older children engage in spontaneous and structured play activities, they come to see themselves as good in some areas and less good in others. These opportunities to monitor and discriminate among feelings and emotions contribute to children’s beliefs about their own capacity.
Class materials are a very important for teachers to take into account at the moment of teaching to kids. The constitute the core for students to develop their comprehension, writing, reading and grammar skills. Teacher teaching kids definitely have to be creative when having their kids working on class activities.
GET WORKSHEETS BY VISITING THESE WEBSITES
WORKSHEETS
domingo, 16 de noviembre de 2014
Writing Exercise
Unscramble these words to make good sentences. Don't forget to
put a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end of
each sentence.
Fill the gaps with the word in the box
1. name her is Susan
2. goes to she FIS
3. from Canada comes she
4. brother in grade the her is seventh
5. old is 11 she years
6. father in works a bank her
7. playing she tennis likes
8. language French is first her
9. black green hair eyes and has she
10. by comes to bus school she
Unscramble these words to make good questions. Begin each question with a
capital letter and end each one with a question mark.
1. your is what name
2. you from come do where
3. old how you are
4. birthday when your is
5. you school how to do come
6. your work does father where
7. to what you do play like
8. grade are in you which
Fill the gaps with the word in the box
Reading exercises
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