Some time ago, I wrote about the auditory discrimination of 2 vowel sounds that are difficult to distinguish by Spanish speakers: the e and the i. Several months and several phonics later, I am going to propose more discrimination exercises that can be worked on with your students to get them used to recognizing them.
Among the vowel phonemes we can focus on the discrimination between a and u, and in a second moment we will add the o. It is important to choose short words of 3 or 4 letters with only one vowel sound so that our students do not get confused. That means words such as cat, cut, cot, or pat, put and pot.
Other vowel sounds that we worked on this year were the i and the digraph ee, so that the children can see that the first one is a 'short i' and the second one is a 'long i'. If you accompany the words with the movement of both hands, moving them closer or further away depending on which sound the words have, you will help students to notice the difference even more. Some examples are: sheep (hands away) and ship (hands closer) or beet and bit, feet and fit, etc.
Finally, these last days we saw the digraph oo that can also be pronounced by lengthening or shortening the sound as in moon /ˈmuːn/ or in hook /ˈhʊk/. Again we use our hands to highlight which is the 'long u' and which is the 'short u', when we pronounce the words, to help the little ones to better grasp the difference. Other words with /uː/ (the 'long u') are broom, spoon, food, while some words with /ʊ/ (the 'short u') are cook, foot, book, etc.
Among the consonantal sounds, we have obviously worked on the b and v, which are two phonemes that overlap in the Spanish language, creating problems when it comes to writing, in both languages. Finally, the latest phonemes we saw were w and g which are also problematic, but, in this case, when it comes to pronouncing them: many children when they read the word wood aloud, would pronounce it good. You should insist on the positioning of their lips and, if nothing works, you can always give them the example of Huelva or huevo, so that they can grab it immediately.
But... How do we work them out? Easy, peasy. At the moment, since my pupils are third graders who don't have to write anything yet, I just concentrate on the auditory and visual features. I usually use cute paper cups to which I apply a white label. On the label I write the sounds in large letters, both upper and lower case, and I also draw one or two pictures of words that start or contain the same sound. As you can see in the picture, I use pompoms of different types: these are all glittery for it was Christmas time, but, of course, I have pompoms for workdays, too :o)
I use two different exercises: the first one consists of sitting 2 children (or 3 depending on the number of cups) in front of all the others (at a distance of 2 o 3 meters). These 2 or 3 hold the cups well visible so that their classmates, who must also be sitting, can place their pompoms, in the correct cup once a pompom has been distributed to each one, when they hear the word.
In the second activity I do not use pompoms, instead, I divide the class into two groups and sit them facing each other at a certain distance. I alternate words that contain the sound I want to work that session with others that do not have it, and the children, when they hear the right phoneme, have to swap places with the one in front of them. This is just an adaptation of the game 'Change places if...' and I have only been able to use it with the 5-year-olds, because it seems that the 4-year-olds are not willing to give up their seats under any circumstances 😀
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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! Back in the saddle, finally!
I was about to write a post about Social Science - The Capitals of Europe, but I've just found these search terms - in the headline - in the statistics of my Spanish blog, mihijohablaingles.com, so I decided that maybe it's worth giving you some guidelines to solve this little inconvenience: MY CHILD DOES NOT REPEAT.
The first step, as always, is to find out the reasons why your children refuse to repeat the words in English (or any other language you're trying to teach them). Generally speaking, it may depend on shyness, shame, insecurity, frustration caused by a negative event which may have occurred in relation to this type of request or you're just dealing with children who simply don't like to be corrected because they are very competitive and associate the word 'mistake' to 'failure'.
Solution? GAMES
Games where, in order to win, you have to repeat words, read them out loud, say short sentences, ask simple questions, etc. We repeat the word aloud (or only the first syllable when we perceive that they can complete the word on their own) and let our children / students say or repeat them. If we realize that their way of pronouncing it is not appropriate, we repeat it ourselves, again, pronouncing it correctly, without making them notice the mistake. Why? Simply because if the child likes the game, he will want to play it again (and again) and that will give us the opportunity to practice the same words several times, thus he'll be able to learn new vocabulary and its correct pronunciation without pressure. Easy peasy.
While children are playing games they are learning in an informal way and they always want to win, so, while they're playing, they forget their inhibitions, concentrate and try to do their best. Playing games is a powerful tool in the teaching - learning process.
Once they have acquired more self-confidence, being introduced to new contents to play with will be perceived as a natural process.
Which games should we propose to the youngest? In the beginning, we should use very simple games like a Memory or a Bingo and later a Go Fish in order to introduce grammatical structures we want them to learn.
I hope you'll find this post useful and that you'll enjoy playing games and practicing English together with your children.
More play ideas for children
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Today I'm going to tell you about one of my favorite board games: Rhyme Robber.It's produced by Orchard Toys, the British company I mentioned in a previous post, and it's a perfect filler for these last hot days of school.
The most remarkable ESL purpose of this game is to develop listening skills at a very young age through sound recognition and rhyming skills, which, as I already wrote here, are crucial in order to build effective communication skills as adults.
In the game box you'll find 4 rhyme robber boards showing a child with a robber's swag bag (1 for each player), 48 rhyme cards and a rhyme guide board, where all the pictures and their respective words are grouped by rhyming sounds and colors.
Each player is given two cards, which they hold in their hands without showing to anybody else, then 4 more cards are placed face up in the centre of the table, while the rest of the cards are left face down in a pile next to these.
The youngest player starts and if they are holding a card that rhymes with one of the four cards in the centre of the table, then they can take the matching card while saying, for example, 'rake rhymes with lake', and put both cards face up on top of their robber board in their character's swag bag. If the next player has in their hand a card that matches a card on another player's board, they can choose to take that one, instead of one from the centre of the table. In any case once a player puts down a card, they have to take another one from the pile so that they are always holding two cards. The game ends when all 48 cards have been stolen or no more cards can be stolen.
The game is especially effective with preschoolers and first graders straight out of the box: you'll only have to be there to read the names under the pictures out loud to help children recognize the rhyming sounds. Very small kids won't love the fact that other players can steal their cards so I'd suggest not insisting that they follow that rule, especially since we should focus on the development of listening skills more than anything else.
Once I noticed that older kids have stronger rhyming skills I suggested an extension of the game: through reading rhyming books I encouraged my students to look for new rhyming word families which they would then copy onto paper, cut out in circles, and added to the basic game in order to make it last longer.
My students' favorite books are ones written by Dr Seuss, the author of Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who! and many more, as well as others by Julia Donaldson such as The Gruffalo, What the Ladybird Heard, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale, A Squash and a Squeeze among others.
Click on the links to Orchard Toys, Seussville and Julia Donaldson websites to entertain your childish soul as much as it needs :)
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Christmas holidays will certainly have brought a large number of presents to our student's houses, so if you didn't talk about toys before Christmas, the right moment could definitely be now, when every child will be eager to tell everybody else what he found under his Christmas tree.
You can find high quality material about toys to download here:
In the file 'Little bugs story cards 1' you'll find the story of a clumsy elf who helps a young boy get a new robot. It's a story younger students can easily act out thanks to its repetitive patterns. In the file 'Little bugs flashcards 1' you'll find the flash cards which show all the toys mentioned in the story.
I printed a small card version of those flashcards so we could play several games with them.
One game I particularly like to play is 'The wind blows for…': Have your kids sit in a circle, let them choose a couple of cards and when you call out a toy saying, for example: "The wind blows for anyone who has got a scooter." those who are holding a card with a scooter on it have to swap chairs, as fast as they can. I don't usually remove any chairs because I want them to focus on learning and not on winning the game however, it might be an option to take into account if you're teaching primary students.
Another game the kids loved was this:
Call on one of the kids, let him or her choose a card, without showing it to anyone or saying what toy is shown on it (sometimes this is the hardest part, he,he,he!). The child then has to act out playing with that toy while the rest of the class tries to guess what toy he or she is playing with.
They loved it so much that they could happily have kept playing the same game for the whole hour!
As always I looked for some songs to help them quickly memorize the new vocabulary: this one is really simple and it's the perfect way to introduce the topic. The second song inspired me to come up with another guessing game: just take a small cardboard box and fill it with the cards. This is now your "toybox". Next, slowly take the cards out of it, one by one, while the children try to guess what toy you're taking out. Of course if you have the chance to use real toys instead, go for it!
The last one is a chant and you can make the most of it by using the expression 'have got' while playing "Go fish".
Interesting worksheets about toys can be downloaded here. I played bingo with my students and, of course, they won many sweet prizes.
Have a wonderful time heading back to school!
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Lucy
dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the
posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better
teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or
joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A
donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.
Hi there! Long time no see! Autumn has arrived in Madrid, the children are back in school and I've been busy, busy and beyond busy, planning new classes and much more.
A month has passed since my last post, written right after getting back, with my batteries fully charged, from the middle of nowhere in Norway (though it already seems an eternity ago), and it's definitely time to get back to blogging.
Today's topic is something I've had on my mind for a long time.
I've been living in Spain for 9 years and I've always been surprised by the fact that when you ask people for directions, most of them usually end up pointing left, when they mean right and vice-versa.
I also remember how difficult it was for me too, as a child, to distinguish left from right, especially during PE classes. I've been wearing a watch on my left wrist since then mainly to avoid confusion and I must admit that this trick still helps a lot.
So, before starting any lesson about left and right, I provide my students with one of those animal-shaped rubber bands you see everywhere to wear on their left wrists.
Then, I ask them to raise their left and right hands several times, pointing out that the left side of their bodies is the one with the bracelet. After that, I teach them this song, and we try to sing and dance while following the instructions. It might seem a bit of a mess, especially the first few times you rehearse it, but it's reeeeaally funny.
Another game you can definitely use to teach children not only left and right, but also some colors and parts of the body, (especially for younger kids) is Twister. The version you can buy in the shops is designed for a maximum of 4 kids, so I made myself a bigger one, using a white cotton sheet, some fabric paint and a simple circle stencil. The spinner is quite easy to make too; you'll only need a paper clip and a paper fastener.
This DIY option is better if you have more than 4 children in your class, if you want to use a different palette of colors or even different shapes (instead of circles), and it's also handy if your children are not so short, since you can choose what size to cut the sheet and how many lines to paint on. Not to mention the fact that it's significantly cheaper than buying the original version and that painting is a relaxing activity you can enjoy!
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Lucy
dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the
posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better
teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or
joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A
donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.
Most children's favorite topic always tends to be 'animals'. You can introduce them to the strangest and weirdest animal in the world and they will remember what it's called. That's why, of course, I gave squids, lobsters and jellyfish a try.
You can find many pictures and activities here, here and here.
For the handicraft time I picked the jellyfish from among these puppets and we made
1) a fish decorated with cupcakes paper liners
2) a seahorse with plastic eyes and decorated with anything you'd like
The children loved singing this song during their handicraft time and we also learned these ones:
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab by Debby
('Old Macdonald Had a Farm' tune)
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab
pinch and snap all day
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab
pinch and snap all day
With a pinch pinch here and a snap, snap there
here a pinch, there a snap
everywhere a pinch,pinch(snap, snap)
Mr. Lobster and Mrs. Crab pinch and snap all day.
Fish in the Sea by Jenny
('The Wheels on the Bus' tune)
The fish in the sea go swim, swim, swim
swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim
The fish in the sea go swim, swim, swim
all through the day.
The lobsters in the sea go pinch, pinch, pinch,
pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch,
The lobsters in the sea go pinch, pinch, pinch,
all through the day.
The octopus in the sea go wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
The octopus in the sea go wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
all through the Day
The crabs in the sea go click, click, click,
click, click, click, click, click, click,
The crabs in the sea go click, click, click,
all through the day.
We played 'The ball goes to…' and, of course 'Go fish'.
Very nice books to read aloud while studying sea animals are:
"Swimmy", by Leo Lionni
"The Rainbow Fish", by Marcus Pfister
"Mr Seahorse", by Eric Carl
Summer Camp 2014: AT THE BEACH and IN THE WOODS
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Lucy
dedicates a lot of time and love to thinking about and writing the
posts she shares with all of you. Because she believes that a better
teaching is the key for a better future. If you find any help, value or
joy in this blog, please consider becoming a supporting reader. A
donation, in any amount, will be gratefully accepted.
