Learning English is fun

Learning English is fun

Saturday 28 November 2015

The third lesson and my routines.

                                        LISTEN AND MAKE

 In this lesson we have learnt different kind of activities which we can use with students and where they have to listen the instructions or explanations and, later in groups or individually, they must reflect on those things and make them.

 We must explain the instructions as much as necessary, with the objective everyone understands what and how he/she has to do it, and when they are doing the exercises teachers must check if they are doing it right.

  For example Listen and colour activities, it is a easy sort of exercise in which it is necessary that the learners know well the vocabulary. In addition when they finish, we can put the drawings up on the wall.
Also we can choose one topic and describe pictures about it to children colour them.

  Furthermore, you can do the same, but in this time they must draw what you are saying, for example one tree, a house, ... These kinds of works are known as Listen and draw activities, and in them we work phrases about the positions too. After that you can pick up some of the children´s pictures and showing to the rest in order to talk about the differences between these and the original. Also it is possible using the drawing games to promote the cooperative work and to revise and practise vocabulary in English.

 There are Listen and make activities and we can use the festivals to put in practice this, because pupils love touching different materials and making handicrafts. So we can take advantage of these celebrations to decorate the classroom, to make cards and of course to teach and play with the colours; sizes: vocabulary about the festivals and the materials; the date in which they are celebrated; to improve the oral skills (listening and speaking); some verbs for example glue, fold, cut, draw; to know other cultures,...

  To end, it is really important speaking them slowly and repeating many times in order to learn and to assimilate in the right way the vocabulary and the verbs and to be understood by them.




  Moreover, i want to show the routines i will use to begin my English class to you.
 I think they are very useful in nursery and primary education because you can work a lot of thing. In nursery education, for example, at first i will work the weather and the seasons. Little by little i will explain and add the days of the week and the date, for instance telling young learners "if yesterday was Tuesday, today is...Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Okay, perfect! Today is Wednesday, repeat with me: Today is Wednesday. Okay." And we can do the same with the date. I think is necessary and perfectly suitable working these concepts in nursery education but you must help them.
 So these are my routines, I have laminated them because in another way with the daily use they can be damaged.


My routines






 See you in the next post.
 M.R.M.


Wednesday 4 November 2015

The second lesson and my own flashcards.

                                                     LISTEN AND DO

 Good afternoon to everybody!

 This time, I'm going to tell you about the second lesson. In it, we´ve learnt how use "Listening and do". So we can give instructions in English to children like sit down, move around or stand up. Maybe at first they don´t understand us so much, thus It´s really important helping of our body language with gestures, for example.

 On other hand we could work "Listening and identifying", where pupils had to recognize and point several objects, clothes, colours, classroom furniture, and so forth, which teacher has mentioned.

 This is so positive, because they practise listening, improve vocabulary and they associate sound with the meaning itself. In addition, you can encourage good behaviour and introduce grammatical notions teaching them the singular and plural or the gender, for example with simple sentences: I have one pencil, MarĂ­a has two pencils.

 Furthermore, in nursery education we can´t forget Total Physical Response through "Listening and doing". Children must follow instructions are given by the teacher, so they love it because it´s like a game and they´re enjoying with that. 

 It's easy to understand for the reason that movement and language go together. You can choose between many kind of activities and use them in different situations: To follow the leader, to make a break, to work routines, to arrange the class, to work vocabulary,...

 Besides, we can work the mime, with Listening and performing/ miming  activities, for example using a topic that children know really well. So we will give them some instructions, depending on the progress or the level they will be more complex or easier, and then they must mime those actions. We can choose many real situations like a typical morning routine, songs, stories, chants, ...

 Or the Listening and responding games, where pupils need to pay attention while teacher is explaining and telling them they must do. For example games like "Simon says" or to identify if a thing is wrong or right.

 To end, in our lessons it is pretty important we speak slowly to children and repeat a lot, so they get understand all much better. And the other hand we must bear in mind that we can use the mother tongue in specifics situations when we need to explain an activity or to comfort a child, for example.

 In addition, i want to show you the flashcards i use in classroom in order to work and improve the pronunciation. Children can use and touch them, so I have decided to laminate the flashcards in order to avoid they can break them. So in this way I will be able to use them for a long time.




Long vowels



Long vowels



Short vowels


Short vowels



Consonants



Consonants
                                                   




  

 See you!
 M.R.M.