Job Discussion Forums

[Dean T]

hi Guys and Gals,
new to all this with no formal teaching experience at all.
My question is : > What kind of activities to put in a lesson plan designed for 8 year olds ?

I thought of : starting with a a warm up like a name game to the start of each lesson, then moving onto something like flash cards followed by some sort of written activity then a practical to re cap the days lesson.......as far as activities am i on the right track? i mean for the word activities we are talking the games we might play are we ? and what woudl they be.......any suggestions ?

[David W]

With the cards perhaps play some sort of gesture game, divide the kids into teams, one kid from each team has to act out the word the others try to guess. First team to guess wins a point. Variation is the kids draw a picture. Make sure you pre-teach the vocab (cards) before. Make the kids answer in the form of a question "Is it a .......?".
I wouldn't bother with the writing part, just focus on listening and speaking. I'm sure other posters will have other ideas.

[Celeste]

I would recommend that you look at a website called Genki English. This should answer a lot of your questions. www.genkienglish.com

[Stephen]

Dear Dean

Below is a collection of activities that could be adapted into a lesson plan and maybe of help. These activities are from when I was teaching 9 & 10 year olds in Thailand, average class size 25-30 students. I was the first native speaker that had taught them and their English level was very low.

TO ALL READERS: Please note that these are just some suggestions for one level, I am by no means an expert in teaching children. In fact I haven't taught young learners for so long that I have probably become deskilled (to whatever degree I had any skill in the first place.) However, any constructive feedback is of course welcome, if there's anything that doesn't make sense and you would like explained, please ask politely, but do not ask for any more material this took to long to write.

Background

The activities given are organised by function according to the PPP system, not as a comprehensive lesson plan. However, it should be noted that because the level of the students was so low they were not ready for anything that could be considered Production; hence, no Production activities are included. Timings are not given as this is stuff I taught about 4 years ago, but each activity should take between 5 and 20 minutes.
All classes were conducted with students in groups of 4 or 5, normally seated around one table.

Target Vocabulary
Body Parts

Target Grammar Structures
It is ___________.
Is it ___________?
He/She has [colour] (body part).

Presentation

A. Introducing the words orally
1 Have one student stand at the front of the class (choose one of the ones with better English).
2. You say "head", then touch your head; have the student copy you and say the word. [ You may need to coax them, perhaps even take their hand and place it on their head, or to get them to speak repeat the word and cup your hand over your ear.]
3. Do the same with "nose".
4. Then have all the students stand up. Each student then drill them on the body parts you wish to teach (10-15 items is good).
5. After a few times repeat start saying the words without pointing to the parts of the body.
(Some students will make mistakes, but then they will correct themselves by copying their classmates. Obviously, if the whole class gets things wrong then you should repeat the word and point to the correct body part.)

Presentation Activities

A. Introducing the vocabulary for body parts orally
1. Choose one of the better students make them come to the front.
2. Point to your head and say "head".
3. Have the student copy you, coax them, if necessary take their hand and point it to their head. If they don't speak (and they probably won't) then repeat the word and cup your hand over your ear.
4. Then do the same with "nose".
5. Then have all the students stand and do this as a whole class activity.
6. After you've done this a few times for each word (I recommend 10 to 12 words,) then start saying them without pointing to them. Some of the students will make mistakes, but they will see what their classmates do and then self correct. (If the whole class gets it wrong then repeat the word again and point to the correct part of your body.)

B. Introducing the written words for the different body parts.
-it is assumed that you have already introduced the spoken words following the method outlined in part A of the presentation.
The students should be standing for this exercise.
1. Write the word "head" on the board say it and point to your own; then have the students copy you.
2. Repeat the process in 1 for another word, eg. "nose"
3. When you have introduced all of the words in written form on the board, then point to the word followed by the body part. For example, point to the word head, then point to your head. (By now the students should automatically point to their own heads.)
4. Point to the words on the board in random order. (If students make mistakes allow them time to self-correct by observing their classmates, if this doesn't work then point to the correct part of your body and the word until they self-correct.)

PRACTICE ACTIVITIES

A Matching pictures to words
Pairwork or Groupwork
Materials
A set of cards showing a different one of the body parts being taught, and a set of cards showing the word for each body parts being taught. (1 set per group/pair)
(A good picture dictionary will have suitable picture which can be photocopied, and the words can just be written on a piece of paper, photocopied and then cut up.)
Instructions
Each pair/group has to match the picture of the body part, with the word for the body part.
Set up by demonstration.
When they have finished show them which ones they got wrong, don't correct them (unless they are the last to finish) let them correct their own mistakes (this also helps stop a group finishing early and having nothing to do.)

B. Matching Pairs
Pairwork or Groupwork
Materials
As the previous activity.
Instructions
You may need to set this up by demonstration.
1. Shuffle the cards well.
2. Randomly layout the cards face down.
3. The first student turns over any two cards and describes what is shown
eg. It is a nose.
It is an ear.
4. This process is repeated until a student finds a matching pair when a student my keep them, but only if they say the sentences correctly.

C. Is it a ___________?
Pairwork or Groupwork
Materials
The cards from activity A.
A4 sized flash cards of words and/or pictures for body parts (you shouldn't need all of them.)
1. Write "Is it a/an _____________?" on the board.
2. Take the first picture/word (holding it so the students can't see it) and have a student ask you the question, eg."Is it a head?"
You may need to prompt the student; point to the sentence on the board; if that doesn't work say "Is it a" then point to your head then cup your hand over your ear so the student asks "Is it a head?"
3. Then answer "Yes,it is/No, it isn't". If the answers Yes then give the student the picture
4. Repeat this a few times until the class get the general idea.
5. The small cards showing pictures and words are placed in a small (well shuffled) pile.
6. Students do this activity working in small groups or pairs. ie. The first student takes a picture then the second student asks "Is it a _______?" When someone gets the right answer the second student takes the next picture, etc. etc.

D. Sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes"
Whole Class Activity
Materials
None
Instructions (this just a suggestion)
1. Get all students standing
2. Sing the song slowly having the students repeat the movements and words.
3. Have them sing it by themselves (with motions.)
4. You sing it and they do the motions.
5. They sing it in time with your motions.

E. Dictate and Colour/label
Pairwork (or could be done as a group- two teams of two)
This assumes that students know colours.
Materials
A copy of a picture of man/woman/alien uncoloured for half the students
A copy of the same picture preferably coloured (but if that isn't possible just use the words) for half the students.
Instructions
1. Draw a picture of an alien on the board.
2. Write he model sentence "He/She has a _______ _____" on the board.
3. Tell the class he has a red head.
4. Have one of the students colour/label his head red.
5. Repeat 3 and 4 for some other body parts.
5. Give half the students a picture of the alien with colours and give their partners a copy wih out colours.
Nb. It is probably a good idea to make it very clear to the students that they can't look at their partner's pictures.
6 Have the students with the pictures with colours on dictate what colour the different parts of the alien is to their partner; their partner then labels/colours their picture.

F.Students Label a picture.
Materials
A picture of a man/woman/alien per student with arrows going to the body parts which have been taught.
Procedure
Students label their drawings

Unfortunately, I really don't have time or the desire to continue, but hopes this helps.
Best Wishes
Stephen

DISCLAIMER: I have not checked my spelling and punctuation in detail and am sure there are mistakes; however, unless you can demonstrate a better knowledge of teaching than me please do not hesitate to keep them to yourself. It is my personal opinion that anyone who would feel the desire to draw my attention to any typing errors in a methodological discussion is just trying to hide their inadequacies as a teacher.