Simple English Classroom Phrases for Young Learners - Part 1

 Hello, everyone! 👋

Today we'll focus on teaching English to children in Year 1 and Year 2 which doesn’t require using complicated language. Simple, everyday phrases are a wonderful way to help young learners feel confident and start using English naturally in the classroom.

In this post, you’ll find some easy English phrases that you can start using right away, plus a fun little game to encourage your pupils to speak!

🏆 Let’s get them talking!

One of my favourite ways to encourage children to use English is to turn it into a team game!

At the beginning of the lesson, divide the class into two or more teams. Then introduce the English phrases of the day.

👉 With Year 1, I recommend introducing no more than two phrases at a time. Since children are not yet confident readers, introduce the phrases orally, using gestures, repetition and lots of modelling.

👉 With Year 2, you can introduce up to three phrases and write them on the board. Keep them there throughout the lesson so children can look at them whenever they need some help.

Now comes the fun part!

Every time a child uses one of the target phrases naturally, their team gets one point. ⭐ The important thing is that children are encouraged to use the phrases for a real reason, rather than simply repeating them after the teacher.

For example, if today's phrases are:

Can I have a pencil, please?
Can you help me, please?

When a child needs a pencil and remembers to ask in English:

🎉 One point for the team!

This creates a fun reason to speak English and, before long, children start listening carefully for opportunities to use the phrases.

But which phrases are useful and easy to learn at the same time?

👋 1. Greetings

Starting every lesson with simple greetings can quickly become a fun and reassuring routine.

A great way to introduce this language, especially with younger children, is through a song! 

Here are 3 different ones you can choose from according to your class' mood of the day ;)

🎵 Hello! | Kids Greeting Song and Feelings Song – Super Simple Songs

Watch the song on YouTube

🎵 The Greeting Song – Maple Leaf Learning

Watch the song on YouTube

🎵 Hello Song for Kids | Greeting Song for Kids – The Singing Walrus

Watch the song on YouTube

Use them at the beginning of the lesson, sing them together (modelling) and encourage children to join in with gestures and actions. After the song, you can start using some of the same expressions in your classroom:

• Hello!
• Good morning!
• Hi, everyone!
• How are you today?
• Are you ready?
• Let’s start!
• Goodbye!
• See you next time!

👉Listen how to pronounce them here 

For Year 1, I would focus on just one or two expressions at a time and let children learn them through listening, repetition and movement.

For Year 2, you can choose two or three expressions and write them on the board so children can use them independently during the lesson.

✨ Tip: Make the song part of your regular classroom routine. After a few lessons, you may find that children automatically know that when the song starts, it’s time to switch to English!

And remember: the more fun it is, the more they will want to join in! 🎶

🙋 2. Simple Requests

Young learners can also learn a few useful phrases to ask for something, ask for help or communicate their needs in English.

Here are some great ones to start with:

• Can I go to the toilet, please?
• Can I have a pencil, please?
• Can you help me, please?
• Can you say it again, please?
• I don’t understand.
• Can I have a turn, please?
• I’m finished!

👉Listen how to pronounce them here

Don’t introduce all of them at once., but choose two or three phrases, depending on the age of your pupils, and use them regularly. The more children hear and use these expressions, the more naturally they will become part of their classroom English.

🌟 Keep it simple!

With young learners, repetition is your best friend. Choose a couple of phrases, practise them through real classroom situations and give your pupils a reason to use them. And remember:

Little phrases, big progress! 🌈

Happy teaching, and… let’s get them talking! 💛

🌟 ¡Learning English doesn’t simply mean filling in the blanks! 🇬🇧✨

Many English as a Second Language (ESL) activities rely solely on “fill-in-the-blank” exercises ✏️… but the real goal should be to help children speak, understand, and use English naturally. 🗣️💬

🎨 Learning by doing makes it much easier, more fun, and more motivating!

And you’ll be surprised at how quickly children can start achieving real results. 🌈🚀

📚 If you’re looking for creative and engaging activities to make English learning more dynamic, check out my online store! 🛍️💕

👉 ESL Children's Worksheets

✨ Learn, play, speak, and grow! ❤️

📍Do you struggle with a challenging class, where many of your students get distracted and their academic performance doesn’t reflect all the effort you put into preparing and teaching your lessons? 

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process? 

👉Something similar happened to me during my elementary teaching internship, and in my latest book, Pygmalion in the Classroom: A Real Experience—based on my senior thesis and my internship at a primary school in Madrid—I’ll tell you how we managed to turn things around and achieve resounding success! 

Don’t miss it! 

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

NEW COUNTRY... NEW ADVENTURES!

ChatGPT doesn't know where Macerata is (LOL)

Hello, everyone!

Wow!!!! it really has been a long time, hasn't it?

If you're still here after all these years, thank you! And if you've just discovered Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun, welcome aboard! Either way, I'm sooooo happy to be writing here again.

But... where have I been?

Well, life happened. Or, to be more precise... teaching happened!

For the past five years, I've been teaching in a couple of international schools. They were amazing experiences that helped me grow professionally, meet wonderful people, and challenge myself every single day. But let's be honest... international schools can be incredibly demanding. They require a huge amount of energy, creativity, flexibility... and time! By the end of the day, the last thing I could think about was sitting down to write a blog post.

Now, a new chapter has begun.

After spending four wonderful years on the beautiful Lake Como, I've moved on to a completely different adventure: teaching in an Italian state primary school.

And, as you can imagine, I've been observing... a lot.

New colleagues, new routines, new challenges, new opportunities... and plenty of ideas! I've filled pages with notes, reflections, little classroom victories, and, of course, a few funny stories along the way.

So yes... new blog posts are definitely coming!

This is actually a fascinating time to be teaching English in Italian primary schools. The new national guidelines are encouraging a much more communicative approach, giving greater importance to listening and speaking from the very first years of school. Music to my ears! 

We'll explore together how these changes can become meaningful classroom practice, with practical activities, games, storytelling, movement, songs... and all the fun that learning English should include.

And finally, there's one more piece of exciting news.

After years of writing every single post in multiple languages (yes... that took forever!), I'm officially retiring from my job as my own translator!

Artificial Intelligence has completely changed the game. Most of you can now translate blog posts instantly on your phones, tablets, or computers. That means I can spend less time translating and much more time doing what I enjoy the most: creating new ideas, sharing classroom experiences, and designing fun resources for teachers and children around the world.

So today we say a grateful goodbye to mihijohablainglés.com and open the door to this brand-new adventure.

I'm excited and, honestly, I can't wait to share everything that's coming next.

Thank you for being here.

Let's make English teaching fun... again!

Love,

Miss Lucy

📍Do you struggle with a challenging class, where many of your students get distracted and their academic performance doesn’t reflect all the effort you put into preparing and teaching your lessons? 

📍Does this situation frustrate you, and would you like your students to learn more while enjoying the process? 

👉Something similar happened to me during my elementary teaching internship, and in my latest book, Pygmalion in the Classroom: A Real Experience—based on my senior thesis and my internship at a primary school in Madrid—I’ll tell you how we managed to turn things around and achieve resounding success! 

Don’t miss it! 

Available in digital and print formats on Amazon in every country, and on the major e-book platforms.

Teaching English Through Games 3: ORCHARD TOYS

One of the best aspects of my job is the opportunity to use toys and educational games as tools for teaching English.

I really enjoy playing with my young students, noticing their concentration and the effort they put into doing their best and actively participating in the game.

But, what's even better is how easily they learn from play experiences. After a couple of times they've already acquired vocabulary and grammar structures without even noticing it!

One of my favorite educational games producer is Orchard Toys, a company based in Norfolk, UK.

Their games and puzzles are highly educational and at the same time really nice, creative and fun.

I personally had the opportunity of using 'The Shopping List': a memory game where each player has to fill his own shopping trolley with all of the items on his shopping list.

The items are drawn on little square cards, that have to be placed face down on the table. The first player turns over a card and if the item is on his shopping list then he can put it in his trolley. If not, the card must be placed face down again on the same place and the turn passes to the next player.

So, while you're trying to fill your trolley you can also review or introduce new vocabulary, some place prepositions like in and on, besides having your  students 100% concentrated.

Orchard Toys really sells many products that, as they say, make learning fun. 

I warmly recommend them!

             

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:

ESL Children's Worksheets

Teaching English through games 2: GO FISH!

Apart from 'Guess Who?' I also use this simple card game called 'Go Fish' that can be played by a small group of children (from 3 up to 10 players).

You need a deck of matching cards (like the ones we use for a memory game). So for example I have a deck of cards representing animals in which there are 2 elephants, 2 mice, 2 penguins etc.

Deal 5 or 6 cards to each player, depending on how much time you want to spend playing, and leave the rest of the deck, faced down, in the middle of the table.

The aim of the game is to get pairs of cards. 

One kid, Antonio, starts asking to his classmate, Luis: "Luis, Have you got a TURTLE?"

If Luis has indeed a turtle (yes, I have), then he will give it to Antonio, who gets a point for the pair of TURTLES.

If Luis hasn't got any card showing a TURTLE (No, I haven't), then he will tell Antonio to 'Go Fish'

In this case Antonio picks a card and the game passes to the next player.

The next guy will ask another about an animal he needs to match cards, and so on, until someone ends up with no cards left in his hands. 

Afterwards the children have to count their cards. 

The winner is the one who collects the higher number pairs.

The best part of this game is the attention that your students will pay to the other players, even if it's not their turn to play, because they need to discover and remember who has got which card.

VARIATIONS

1 - You can use any set of matching cards you want. It depends on what vocabulary you need to reinforce or teach.

2 - I usually have two winners: the first, who ends up with no cards left, and the one with the higher number of couples. That way I can keep playing longer.

3 - Arranging your students into teams allows them to use the pronoun WE: Yes, we have or No, we haven't.

WHY SHOULD YOU US GO FISH TO TEACH ENGLISH?

1 - Because you'll be able to study and review any vocabulary you want.

2 - Because students can practice the interrogative form of the structure 'have got' and its affirmative and negative short answers.

3 - Because it is a fun way to teach English!!!

Teaching English through games 1: GUESS WHO? 

Teaching English through picture books: ERIC CARLE


    

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: ESL Children's Worksheets