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[mandu]

I NEED HELP PLEASE

at my kindergarten we have to do an English corner every saturday afternoon
the age of the children are from 2years old up to 12 yrs old.

any ideas from anyone would be great.

the english corner is for 2 hours we have 4 chinese english teachers and 1 foreign teacher.

thankyou very much

[Roger]

Let me tell you categorically, your "kindergarten" is acting the part of a concentration camp!

This is insane and not feasible!

I taught at kindergartens and had a hell of a good time! But "English COrner"??? Never!

A kindergarten lesson should not exceed 30 minutes!

2 hours of a "English COrner"... that simply is unpedagogical!

ell your employer!

Study some kindergarten teaching manuals, and you will see immediately!

The only thing you can profitably do with kids their age is: playing. Doing physical exercises, competitions, musical chairs, etc.

[cimarch]

Recommendations? Suicide...

[mandu]

thank you
i do understand what you are saying,i work for aq kindergarten company in shenzhen,theyown about 10 kindergartens.the big boss woman has told all the kindys they have to do this english corner.

i know that it will not work very well.because of the age as i have worked in kindergartens since comming to china.but hey this is china.

my idea was to set up diferent corners for eg a play dough corner,a blocks corner,a singing corner,a games corner etc.and have the parents and children choose what they want to do with no pressure at all.

[kev7161]

2 year olds? I call this babysitting.

[J9]

Hey,

I can't believe what your school are asking you to do! 2 hours of kids English Corner and on a Saturday.

I had to do kiddies EC last year with 2 groups, 5-10 year olds and then 11-14 year olds. The older kids weren't too bad as they were all of a similar level, but the little ones were a nightmare. There levels were so varied some could speak quite well and could even form simple sentences, while others couldn't speak a word, and I was supposed to teach/entertain them for an hour and a half, not an easy task. After a few weeks of complaining by all non-stop it was shortened to 45 mins. That made all the difference.

Are the powers that be reasonable at your school? Why not try asking for the EC to be split into 2 groups, as it is clear to all that a 2 year old and a 12 year old will have diddly squat in common. And I'm sure the parents would be a lot happier if it is explained that although there child is getting less time, it will be 1 hour of quality, useful time and not just 2 hours of you ignoring the older ones while trying to stop the little ones from eating the play-dough.

If this is not an option. Then your idea sounds good, lots of little mini corners. For my kids EC's I used lots of paint, play-dough, story books with lots of pictures, songs that the kids could 'act' out, read and colour activities, and loads of games such as eye-spy, banana boat run-to game, musical chairs, memory game etc I'm sure you know them all.
For the older ones pretty similar, lots of read and draw, 'mini projects' such as creating a poster to show there favourite foods, new school rules etc, anything that you could just instruct them then leave them to get on with it.
2 games which worked really well with older +8ish kids were God and target bingo, both lots of fun and a great way to practice vocab. If you need more info on them let me know.

Hope it all works out well for you.

J9

[Kurochan]

Wow! That'll be really hard! It sounds like you've got some good ideas, though.

Remember to center work on the stuff kids are really into -- animals, going to the park, flowers (my second graders were REALLY into this), and sports for the older kids.

There's a website where you can make your own crossword puzzles and wordsearch puzzles -- I wish I could remember the URL! You can make and print up some puzzles that will suit different levels.

Can you show a VCD or anything for part of the time?

Then there's Simon says, and also other active children's songs -- like Old Mac Donald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, and this one my friend learned in Australia about the parts of the body: Tony Chestnut Loves Me (toe, knee, chest, nut --here meaning head, not what it means in the US!).

Man, that'll be tough, though. I don't envy you at all.

[Chris_Crossley]

[Roger]

I suppose this is a privately-owned "elite" KG that charges hefty tuition fees, and gullible Chinese parents enrol their kids imagining they get taken the best care of.
But unfortunately such KGs are totally unprofessional. They have no ideas about how the different developmental stages affect a child's learning ability. They drum data into those poor kids right from the start, very much like at primary schools.
And parents don't want to be bothered by teacher feedback; they PAY, and want to see RESULTS.
If I had it my way I would require one of the parents of each child to come to regular parent and teacher meetings! I would want them to even offer a helping hand in a Saturday morning class!

Now, as for a more hopeful contribution from me to the OP: I used to view a VCD specially made for KGs. It was called "ENGLISH WONDERLAND" and had beautiful lyrics and simple phrases without any Chinese translation. The VCD had cartoons, and the kids spontaneously mouthed the words or sentences of the dialogues.
This series is probably still available from bookstores or from the publisher in Pekng. I have a complete set at home, and I can recommend it to anyone.
A lesson should contain no more than 2 sequels, and one VCD has up to around 20 sequels; thus a VCD (five pieces in the entire series) is good for around ten lessons. One lesson would take about 20 minutes, preparations and re-working included (I rehearsed the same dialogues with the kids divided into two or three camps every time).
Good luck!

[mandu]

hey thanks for the ideas
Iam childcare trained,but not english teacher trained
but i have been teaching in kindergartens since i 1st came to china in 2000,i dont have much exper with older children.I love teaching the 2-6yr olds.

I really do understand what you are saying and i agree with you as well.

after reading your ideas i have come up with this,we have a singing corner,a play dough corner and a blocks corner,for the older children a games corner with card games and board games,and a topics corner.the chinese english teachers will each have a corner to look after while i will be floating from corner to corner.some of the parents that speak english well will also be helping out.

although i do work for a big company the kindy i work for is good.and i enjoy working here.