Vacation at last!
It has been a year full of experiences and has enriched us with a lot of knowledge, especially about the processes behind each learning.
We have talked about the fundamental role that emotions play in the teaching-learning process in this post.
We have given very practical indications on how to make the most of every subject taught in English in bilingual schools in this second post.
We have presented very valuable tools to improve our children's level of English with a view to the official Cambridge exams, but also to enjoy reading adapted classics and more contemporary stories: the 'readers'.
And finally we have concentrated on the processes of acquiring English literacy through the Jolly Phonics method: we have told you how I organized the classes, underlining the importance of the use of fine and gross motor activities, which should always accompany any learning, along with playful activities, since they have the great advantage of capturing 100% of the attention of the youngest; and finally we talked about pre-reading, first with short word blending exercises and then enriching the experience with stories and games.
I hope it was useful and that you enjoyed the process as much as I did.
See you in September!
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'Simon says' is an action game teachers can use to review vocabulary and action verbs; it can be played anywhere and it only requires at least 3 people. The teacher is usually designated Simon, but you can always pick one of the children if you'd like to work on their speaking skill; the other children are the players.
Standing in front of the players, Simon tells them what they must do. However there's a trick: the players must follow the instructions only if they begin with the words "Simon says". For example, if "Simon says hop" then the players must jump, but if Simon simply says "hop", skipping the words"Simon says", then players must not hop. Those who do hop are out.
I've thought we can make the most of this game with young learners who are learning English using Synthetic Phonics and are already acquainted with 'blending'. Actually the adaptation is absolutely easy peasy: we only have to substitude "Simon says hop" with "Simon says h-o-p".
Some examples: Simon says...
J-u-m-p
H-o-p
S-k-i-p
R-u-n
T-u-r-n around
S-t-o-p
S-i-t
S-t-a-n-d
S-t-a-m-p your f-ee-t
C-l-a-p your h-a-n-d-s
Touch your l-e-g/a-r-m/f-ee-t/...
P-l-ay the piano/the guitar/football/tennis/...
P-oi-n-t to the door/the window/...
S-i-ng a s-o-ng
P-i-ck a flower/ an apple /...
Ea-t a lolly/spaghetti/...
Drive a c-ar/ a b-u-s / a j-e-t/ a b-oa-t/...
R-oa-r like a lion
Qu-a-ck like a d-u-ck
etc.
The
only advice I'd give you is to choose your words taking into account the phonemes and the
vocabulary we've already worked with our students, either using flashcards
or chants, and as always... have fun!
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Hello everyone!
Today a super short post about the class I gave last week with my Jolly Phonics group of preschoolers because it turned out very well (the children were attentive and actively participating) and I want to share it with you.
Well, it turns out that before Easter we started working on the 4th group of synthetic phonics; we saw the digraphs /ai/ and /ou/ before the holidays, and this week was playing the third, /ie/, whose chant is about a sailor and his captain:
"The captain said, "/ie/-/ie/!"
"The captain said, "/ie/-/ie/!"
"Stand up straight!
Don't be late!"
"The captain said, "/ie/-/ie/!"
So, I thought that, in order to review a little what we did before the holidays and introduce the new phoneme, it would be a good idea to use a story from the OUP collection 'I Want To Be... Storybooks' and precisely the 'I Want to Be a SAILOR' book for the following reasons:
Fiest of all, because it has several short words, some of which we already worked with the children using the flashcards of the method, very useful words to practice blending.
Secondly, because, specifically, it contains the words s-ai-l, s-ai-l-or and b-oa-t which helped me to refresh the digraphs already seen.
And finally, because when the story ends, the kids are so involved in the story that it seems very natural for them to act like a sailor, imitating the military greeting when they hear the chant of the sound /ie/.
In addition the book has stickers that represent the characters, one for each page, and this helps our young students to maintain a good level of attention in order to follow the story, since they ask for the one they want to paste and they have to wait for the character to appear on the page, and on the other hand to review or learn specific vocabulary.
Also, if you want to go a little deeper into the subject of aquatic animals, the book has a few pages to work reading comprehension, some mini flashcards and a very cool action-song.
In short, we liked the story a lot and it provides a lot of different levels of interaction.
More about reading and writing in English, here.
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