Job Discussion Forums

FemaleNomad · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 58 Location: Poland

Hi everyone --
It's my first year teaching. I have a BA in English and also got my CELTA this past summer. I started teaching children 3-5 in September. The school provided me with an outline/syllabus of what I should teach and I had to make up lesson plans/activities. Well, turns out that the syllabus was for Sept- Dec and now I need to make it up for the rest of the year. Where do I begin? How do I know what I SHOULD teach??? Where can I find resournces online? I've been to bookstores here -- mainly Empik -- to see if I can find ESL/TEFL books for teaching children aged 3-5 but have found next to nothing. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Thank you so much!!

kaw · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:15 pm Post subject:

Certainly doesn't sound like fun and am quite suprised that an employer would expect you to do this considering your lack of experience.

I've never taught this age range (7ish has been my minimum so can't offer much in the way of ideas based on experience but........
If you can find a course book designed for pre-school native speaker kids you could get some ideas and adapt where needed.
I have found that with younger kids - colouring in is always a good activity - and of course - helps them with their motor skills. CBBC ( the UK's BBC website for little kids used to have some nice stuff on.
Handwriting books are also good - letter formation and all that.

Hopefully somebody out there can come up with something a lot more useful.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject: Sites

Dear FemaleNomad,
I used the Internet as a resource a lot when I was teaching Head Start. (3 to 5 years olds - mostly Spanish speakers.) There�s a lot of pretty good stuff out there, though it may take some hunting down and sifting through. But I�ve never been a big believer in �reinventing the wheel.�

http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/lessons/1.htm

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/LPview?grade=1

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAK1.htm

http://atozteacherstuff.com/Lesson_Plans/lessonplans-first-sec...

http://www.earlychildhoodlinks.com/teachers/lessonplanselement...

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8854/lp.html

http://iitc.tamu.edu/lesson_plans.html

http://teachers.net/lessons/

http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/education/

http://tenkely.org/Home.html

Hope these are of some help.

Regards,
John

FemaleNomad · Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 58 Location: Poland

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the help. I'll be going through those websites this evening.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: TheApple

Dear FemaleNomad,
Here's another one

http://www.theapple.com/training

TheApple for Teachers is also a very nice place to exchange ideas and experiences. I'm a member there.
By the way, where exactly are you teaching now? Is it Poland? (I looked up Empik bookstores on Google.)
Regards,
John

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

I would also suggest talking with the teacher who proceeds you so that you know what skills they will need to have when they advance in grade.

Are there no staff members that can help? No books or curriculum that the school specifies that you use?

Creating a syllabus is certainly no easy task when there are no guidelines! I think it�s really important to think about what skills the kids will need as they advance, and make sure to include those.

Provincial or state educational guidelines from various countries might also help to give you an idea on what is often taught at that age...or close to it. I would often check out the Ontario site when I was teaching and given no help...I mean "space to be creative". Wink

Best of luck!

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Dixie