Job Discussion Forums

[drumbeat]

I am a qualified high school teacher but am now finishing off the year teaching kindergarten. The materials are not so hot here- and basically the methods is what I lack- how to do it....?
They are 3 and 4 year olds in my first classes.- so hard for me to keep them interested- but of course so cute. thank God only 30 min. classes- but I only have 2 1/2 weeks left but want to finish with a bang.
The older 6 year olds are easier but the little ones are a challenge. but all of the classes- I need some better ideas- I go in and sometimes read a book- sing songs, but it is getting old and the books are not so good. Then teach them the odd sentences and some cue cards. Mainly singing and some spelling. But wondering what works best for teaching ESL to chinese children- under 7 years old , escpecially the very young ones.

thanks if you can help.

[Hendahu]

Singing songs come to mind, but I am sure you are doing that already. Do you have access to a computer and projector screen in your room? Agendaweb.org has some great games on it for kids and my first graders love it. Interactive and fun. Perhaps having each child perform a song on their own. My kids love the change to get in front of the class and show off. Sorry I cannot be more help.

[Voldermort]

hmm, 2.5 weeks, finish with a bang? Here's what I would do, direct a play. You would need help from the Chinese teachers but I'm sure everybody would love it.

[Roger]

Your job-hopping would meri9t a separate thread but I will just give my input on kindergarten.

First of all, you must realise that at their age they are not capable of "studying". This is why their lessons are down to 20 or 30 minutes. Their attention span is naturally shorter, and they need a lot more stimulation to keep going.

I taught in the same kindy for two years and quickly realised that I must have a lesson plan for the entire season; I set myself to this task and ended up designing a whole course, and it was plain sailing from beginning to end although the parents of my sweethearts needed to accommodate my whims - and they did (which is rare in China!).

In my classes teaching how to conceptionalise the world was the key to teaching English; the kids must not be confused by using their basic mother tongue to understand the English target language.
You would be well advised to familiarise yourself with some child psychology, kindergarten philosophy or some specific kindergarten methodology. You basically need to understand that a small child needs a far more holistic teaching approach than an older student, and what I came across was a number of intersting pedagogical approaches by kindergarten experts (who are not teachers per se, which is why hiring high school English teachers for kindergartens can be problematic).

But to give you a few hints:
- Try to use concrete objects so your kids can identify things sensorily and learn their names and some language that goes with how to use those objects;
- begin by demonstrating how you use your body parts and have the kids do the same by speaking after you; this can gradually move on to actual PE lessons - really, really fun!

- You can introduce VCDs using comics that prompt little children to emulate the characters on the screen both in action and, more importantly, in words. ( used a series of ENGLISH WONDERLAND VCDs that had cartoon characters that enunciated a clear English the kids could pick up easily. The VCDs were monolingual.

That's just for starters. I hope you succeed!

[Gorm]

I haven't decided on a school yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll be teaching kindergarten up to middle school. I don't know why, but I'm nervous about it. I'm more comfortable teaching my own age group.
Anyway, the curriculum is already provided AFAIK but I'm a reserved type and don't really know much about kids. Maybe it will be all right or maybe I'll have to make a run for it.

Hopefully the co-teacher will be of help...

[sheeba]

I'm also teaching in a kindergarten part time . Does anyone have any lesson plan examples ?

I have read some previous threads on the subject but did not gain too much info on acual activities and how to present and practice them . I think some of you started to argue about something which kind of ruined the thread .

How can I teach 'I like '? How can I teach him ,her,he ,she effectively . These would be just a few starting points for me and I guess the OP.
Whenever I try to introduce something the Chinese teacher interupts and telss the class in Chinese . Is this good?

On a funny note my kids have learnt the word 'poo poo' I had an amusing lesson with comments such as ' I like green poo poo ' I like grey poo poo ' I like black poo poo ' and so on ! I couldn't help but laugh ! 'I don't like poo poo 'I said but I don't think they got that . I'm finding the kids much more satisfying to teach but I need more energy and get tired after seven twenty minute classes . I wouldn't mind changing to teach full time in the kindy but I have the DELTA approaching so I guess I could do this in the future . Is 20 hours plus with the kids really tiring ?

[thepreferrednomenclature]

yeah, so i had this big plan to write a whole bunch of my tried and true kindy lesson plans on a blog website and then share them with people. it didn;t work out mainly because blogspot is blocked in china and i found it tedious to add new material through an intermediary. if you only need a few good ideas, thats all i managed to write up. reading back over it, it sounds pretentious at times, sorry about that, but i'm too lazy to go back and edit now.

still, the few ideas i wrote down do work.
go to: http://anonymouse.org first.
then type in: http://chinakindergarten.blogspot.com

kindy can be really fun once you figure out what you're doing. roger has good advice about how to teach English names for body parts and using realia. my big thing is imagination games. bottom line is: adults have learned to attach meaning to the written word, but children need something else to associate new words with: another kind of sensory stimuli. images and actions do work best for quick results.

music is okay because children can associate oft repeated sounds of English words with an oft repeated tune. definately provide clear context for the words in the songs or you won't achieve much comprehension or real language learning. songs in which the children can come to understand nearly every word are best.

[Super Frank]

I have loads of young learners and kindy classes and to be honest it is the hardest work I have done in years. You do need to have a good plan for what you are doing. I play a lot of flash card games, have students whacking the appropriate picture, car, apple etc. They seem to pick up vocab quickly but sentences are not forthcoming. I spend a lot of time being punched in the nads aswell which is my own fault as I don't have the heart to shout at them. We have fun, and then you realise that they know some of the stuff you have been teaching them. I had a parent observation class, I asked the kids to count to 10 and they went up to 20, I could have cried, it was far more than I had hoped for. I do a lot of drilling and repetitive shouting, which though not fashionable, gets the language across. I run around doing all sorts of animal impressions, try to sing songs, Hokey Cokey is great for body parts and finishing a lesson on a high. dot to dot puzzles are great when you need a break for 15 mins. Most importantly though I get each class member to do the drill seperately and do not worry about what the others do in the meantime as some will watch whilst others will blow bubbles, as long as you are speaking clearly they will pick up something.

[thepreferrednomenclature]

sheeba,

it will be easy to teach 'i like' when you can put the words in an emotional context. use a chant, show the children pictures for each noun, and act out the feelings as you chant.

i like ice cream,
i like cake,
i like cookies,
i do not like snakes!

it doesn't even have to rhyme as long as its the same predictable formula.

i like monkeys,
i like fish,
i like rabbits,
i don't like sharks!

the more varied noun vocabulary you can introduce using pictures and this chant, the more deep the context will feel for the children in differentiating between 'i like' and 'i don't like.' opposites of this nature are natural to teach together and offer an easily understandable dichotomy to present to the children.

for k1 children, the youngest preschool class, after you chant a few times put the pictures on the board. ask the children, "which one do i not like?" and act out the emotion. have them pick the picture that you said you didn't like and bring it to you or even better draw an imaginary garbage can and have them "throw it in the garbage." or say, "I like cake, can you show me the cake?" you could have a stuffed animal for them to give the picture of the cake to. "can you give mr. bear the cake? mr. bear (or he) likes cake!"

and then say "but, mr. bear doesn't like sharks, can you put the shark in the garbage?" show them what to do each time until they don't need your reminder and will begin to focus on the auditory clues in your sentences.

beginning children of any age may not be able to reproduce the language yet, but they will be able to differentiate between a handful of dissimilar noun words or a clear dichotomy of opposities after a brief introduction. review a few days later and you are building some serious auditory vocabulary already. that is from where deep, acquired language learning begins.

ps. don't spend time focusing on difficult subject/object pronoun differences. teach to the path of least resistance and you and the children will make much faster and satisfying progress.

[drumbeat]

to all those who helped - thanks
Try http://atozteacherstuff.com
Roger, did we not meet in Kunming that time?
I wonder how to get those vcd's you talk about.
If you are curious about my job hopping I would like to explain but maybe not on this thread or website. I was at the same job for 1 1/2 years teaching PE and Bio. for high school for a foreign international school. It became stressful as a result of a lack of facilities and some other issues that basically led to me getting sick and depressed. I decided to finish off the year making about half the pay but happier. still here though.
So thanks again

[vikdk]