ANORAK - Revista en inglés para niños / English children's mag

Talking about motivation and how to inspire kids to get more involved on learning English, today I'd like to introduce you to ANORAK magazine.

This nearly bimonthly publication (five issues a year), colorful and modern illustrated  magazine defines itself as 'the happy mag for kids' and, actually, it is. But not only happy, it is like home: cosy, enlightning and cheery. 

Every issue is full of stories, presented under different graphic techniques, rhymes, games, quizzes and activities for children aged from 6 to 12. Each one is dedicated to a single subject: I got the one about animals, but inventions, toys, vikings etc. are waiting for you to enjoy them all.

And not only that! Your child can be part of its Little Editors' team. 

Yes! You read it right! 

Children are allowed to send drawings, rhymes, stories and comics to Anorak. Wouldn't be motivating for your students to cooperate with a real English Magazine?

I bet, it would. 

Designed to be 100% ecological (it' s printed on recycled paper using vegetable ink) and collected, you can purchase it in several countries all around the world 

Here in Spain it is mostly sold in Barcelona, but also in Madrid, Valencia and Gijon.

Don't miss it! Your children will love it!

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

Phonetics 2 - Sh Sounds - ODD ONE OUT

In the first post dedicated to PHONETICS we talked about the difficulties that Spanish people find on pronouncing words that start with a S followed by a consonant.

Today I would like to point out another challenging English sound: /ʃ/

Normally, adult Spaniards, but also children not used to English sounds, pronounce it /s/.

This means that, here in Spain, you can hear the word SHIP /ʃɪp/ pronounced /sɪp/  more often than you'd expect.

So here you have an ODD ONE OUT phonetic game that will , first of all, train your students' hearing to distinguish  /ʃ/ sounds from /s/ sounds.

Secondly you will let them pronounce these sounds.

If they pronounce them wrong feel free to correct their pronunciation. They won't get hurt, on the contrary, they might find it quite curious and fun, because they have to move their facial muscles in an unusual way. 

I usually make the /ʃ/ sound longer than necessary and, after a while, I add the rest of the word: SHHHHHHEEP. 

Here's asheet you can use in class. Of course you can think about many more words to use for extending the activity. 

Have fun!

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

LET'S GO SHOPPING! by Stephane Husar and Loïc Méhée

This 4th and last (hopefully just for now) book of Cat and Mouse will be useful for teaching some names of items of clothing: hat, t-shirt, shirt, trousers, dress, sunglasses, shorts, skirt, socks and shoes.

Children get really amused by these two characters and they find their way of getting dressed hilarious… buy the the book and you'll discover why.

Based on the same dialogue structure as the previous ones, this illustrated album use the verbs 'like' and 'love', adjectives like 'cool, nice etc.' and also the structure 'Let's'.

The last page shows a little dictionary English-Spanish where you'll find the translation of every single word and expression used in the book.

Oh! And don't forget to use the CD! It has got listen and repeat activities in it!

Besides, here you can get some ideas about many classroom activities and games related to 'clothes':

CLOTHES DOMINOES

CLOTHES AND MORE: part 1

CLOTHES AND MORE: part 2

CLOTHES AND MORE: part 3

Teaching English Through Games: GUESS WHO?

Over these years of teaching children I got the clear idea that every single structure of grammar or word of vocabulary learnt using textbooks must be put into practice.

Why?

Because the use of the language during situations that require an extra effort to express themselves to reach a goal will make those structures and words stay in their brains forever.

How?

If your students don't have any possibility of having 'real English experiences' in their lives, what you can do is to provide them with games.

Yes, GAMES!

Playing any games in English is an excellent strategy to get them involved into the real use of English and you'll reach two important goals at the same time:

on the one hand you can get their full attention and participation with practically no effort, and on the other hand you'll have them practicing what they have previously learnt in a more natural and relaxed way.

One of my favorite games is 'GUESS WHO?'. 

It's really useful to work on questions using the verb to be, the construction have got and the present continuous in the 3rd person, besides vocabulary about physical appearance and articles of clothing.

"Is your person a man or a woman?"

"Is he/she fat/old/young/middle aged?"

"Is he bald?"

"Has he/she got blond/fair/dark/red/white/long/curly/ straight hair?"

"Has he got a moustache?"

"Is he/she wearing a hat/ eyeglasses?

I also recently found another "Guess Who?" , a kind of a copy, which is even a little more complex and complete than the original one because it shows pictures of whole children, not only their faces, wearing a larger variety of clothes and playing some games. 

So my students can practice more vocabulary about colours and clothes, and use the present continuous with the verbs wear and play.

100% engaging! I promise!

It would be so amazing to find even more versions of this game!


       

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

DOES HE/SHE/IT LIKE...? Students Start To Use 'DOES'

I'm teaching a lot of grammar these days! Related with food, of course! 

So this is a new activity I've designed for my students to learn how to use the verb 'like' in the 3rd person.

Here in Spain it is quite common that very young children might know the meaning of the verb 'like' and could use it to ask someone if he/she likes something.

But the introduction of the 3rd person in a question, with a verb different from to be or have got,  is a little bit more complicate for them, and they start to study it at the age of 7.

This is a simple 'interview' activity. Each table can be cut in two halves. One half presents the name of the boy/girl/pet and ticks on the food items that he/she/it likes or doesn't like. The second half hasn't got any tick because the student who takes it will interview the other one with the first half, to know where each tick must be placed.

This way they will use these grammar structures:

Does he/she/it like…?

Yes, he/she/it does.

No he/she/it doesn't.

The words for food items you'll find in the tables (and the names of boys and girls) are the essential vocabulary that your students must know to take any of the LEVEL A1 exams. 

The second part contains interviews about sports, games and other verbs, to use the -ing form.

But in the meantime you  can buy this first part on my brand new e-shop:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com/

MORE GRAMMAR: To Be and Have Got

MORE EXERCISES ABOUT FOOD: Food Sentences

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DOES HE/SHE/IT LIKE...? Los niños empiezan a usar el auxiliar 'Does'

En estos días estoy enseñando mucha gramática relacionada con comida. Así que esta que os presento hoy es una actividad que he diseñado para mis estudiantes, para que aprendan a usar el verbo 'to like' en la tercera persona singular.

Es una actividad que se basa en 'entrevistas'. Cada ficha se compone de 2 partes: en una hay indicado con un 'tick'lo que al niño/niña/mascota le guste o no le guste. En la segunda mitad la faltan esos datos, que serán recopilados a por parte del niño entrevistador a través de preguntas y respuestas que utilizan las siguientes estructuras gramaticales:

Does he/she/it like...?
Yes, he/she/it does.
No, he/she/it doesn't

Os recuerdo que los nombres de comida utilizados en esta actividad son presentes en la lista de vocabulario que los niños necesitan conocer para poder decir de tener un nivel A1 de inglés.

La segunda parte presenta fichas con verbos en la forma -ing.

MÁS GRAMÁTICA: To Be and Have Got

MÁS EJERCICIOS SOBRE COMIDA: Food Sentences

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

To Be and Have Got: Worksheets for Children

I've already presented an exercise in a previous post called

I finally found the time to complete the activity by adding the interrogative and negative forms of the verb.

But not only that! Here you can see 3 more pages about HAVE GOT and its affirmative, interrogative and negative forms. 

Like the very first one these worksheets they are based on three easy steps.

First: (Visual memory + craft activity) cut out the verb and shuffle it.

Second: (Visual identification + craft activity) paste the pieces of the 'puzzle' in the right order.

Third: (Writing + challenging activity) write the verb faster than your classmates.  

Have a great time!

WORKSHEETS TO BE and HAVE GOT

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TO BE and HAVE GOT: Hojas de ejercicios para niños

Ya os presenté una ficha sobre el verbo 'To be' en un post anterior:  TO BE OR… TO BE 

Por fin encontré el tiempo de completar la actividad con otra dos páginas en las que se presentan ejercicios para aprender respectivamente su forma negativa e interrogativa.

Además he añadido 3 páginas más relativas a la construcción verbal 'Have got' y sus formas negativa e interrogativa.

Cada hoja de trabajo se basa en tres puntos claves:
- El 1er ejercicio activa la memoria visual y la capacidad manual del niño.
- El 2do recurre a la identificación visual y, otra vez, a la capacidad manual del niño.
- El 3ro es una actividad escrita asociada a un reto, para que resulte más interesante.

HOJAS DE TRABAJO TO BE and HAVE GOT

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com

Word Chain - Activity to help children learn vocabulary

This game is challenging enough to perform with any  group of children of any age. And it's useful if you want to review some vocabulary you've previously introduced.

First of all, we must choose a topic. This morning I was reviewing the parts of the body with a little girl. I started saying: "I have got a head, pointing to my head".

Then she had to repeated what I said and add another body part: "I have got a head and two hands". 

When it came my turn again I repeated "I have got a head, two hands" and I added "10 fingers". Then she said: "I have got a head, two hands, ten fingers and…" etc.

The game can last several minutes if the level of attention is good.

If someone forgets the sequence you can put him out of the game or start again with a new chain.

You can combine different verbs and topics 
"I like chicken" , "I like chicken and..."
"I can play tennis", " I can play tennis and..."
"I'm tall", " I'm tall and..."
etc.

When I played this game with 4-5 year-old children I placed flash cards on the floor to help them remember words.

Enjoy it!

More games: 

THE WORD EATING SNAKE  
I LIKE IT! A GAME   
JUMPING IN AND OUT OF SHAPES

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WORD CHAIN - Una actividad oral para ayudar a los niños a aprender vocabulario

Este es un juego que reta mucho a los niños y consecuentemente consigue centrar su atención durante mucho tiempo.

Como primera cosa hay que elegir un 'topic'.
Si estáis revisando las partes del cuerpo se puede empezar diciendo:"I have got a head" señalando vuestra cabeza.

El estudiante seguirá diciendo: "I have got a head and 2 hands".
El siguiente dirá: "I have got a head, 2 hands and ten fingers".
Otro repetirá todo lo dicho añadiendo una ulterior parte del cuerpo y a seguir hasta que alguien falle.

Evidentemente las posibles combinaciones son varias:

"I like chicken" , "I like chicken and..."

"I can play tennis", " I can play tennis and..."

"I'm tall", " I'm tall and..."

etc.

Si queréis jugar con niños de 4-5 años, mejor ayudarles con 'flash cards', puestas en el suelo o la mesa en el orden en que se nombran.

Más juegos: 

THE WORD EATING SNAKE  

I LIKE IT! A GAME   

JUMPING IN AND OUT OF SHAPES

I design series of activities based on a communicative method that will help children to practice the grammar they're learning at school.

Many ESL activities, I see, are nothing more than 'fill in the blank' exercises that only teach kids how to fill in blanks and miss the whole point of learning to speak and understand a new language.

It's much easier and more fun to learn by doing, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll see valuable results. 

You can get my activities on my online store:

http://childreneslworksheets.bigcartel.com