Job Discussion Forums

[Aussieguy]

Hi everyone

I am in bit of a bind. I have just started teaching a private class of five kindergarten kids, and i have no idea what i am doing. I started with the alphabet, which they are pretty familiar with, but i am not sure where i should go from here. Are there any good songs for teaching, "My name is, your name is". Are there any games you can recommend.

I have a great deal of experience with primary school so i would be willing to reciprocate with some lessons i have put together.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Aussieguy

[gerard]

The "teacher forum" section might be better. On Daves I mean. Thank God I dont teach kids that age so I dont know. Maybe the "friends and neighbors" game???

[Minhang Oz]

Not a job I'd take on, but check out Chinasyndromes thread on the Newbie forum about websites for new teachers. It's about halfway down the page.

PS Mods, this one should be a sticky [CS's post, that is]

[Roger]

You must plan your lessons for at least two months ahead, so that you can build on a steadily stronger foundation!
The ABC is a very good beginning. I did that too, asking them to copy my balloon letters rfrom the board and fill in the space with colour! Then they learnt "A, mammy A, baby-A, as in ant, B as in bear, C as in circle (later as in 'cat'), etc).
However, age is of paramount importance: younger than 4 years, they can't hold a pen!
You must think of motor control (how can they control their bodies!).
With letters, they learnt certain words; as indicated above, animals, body parts and so on are the first things these little minds can grasp. Animals can be described: A bear has FOUR legs/paws. A bear can run but not fly...
You can also DRAW these animals - the kids love drawing, and it stimulates their imagination (something most CHinese are terribly short of!).

Another good way of teaching is to point to your own body: Head, ear, nose, cheek, hair, etc., make the kids do the same and say "Touch my..." "Pinch my nose" "pull my hear".
Those who do not react immediately, you give a gentle nudge, they laugh and cooperate!
You can teach them to do pushups and pullups - extend it to PE! I even did orienteering, running races etc!

And, thirdly, have some instructive VCD played to them. I suggest ENGLISH WONDERLAND, which comes in a series of 5, complete with tapescripts in books.

ALl these things I did successfully for a whole year with the same class! I planned my lessons: One day PE, one day drawing, one day VCD. If you teach the same class 5 times a week, you can do one of the above two times (I suggest the PE or drawing, but not the VCD!), and plan on consolidating the whole package in the 5th lesson!

The ABC typically takes half a year (1 pair of letters, that is the capital and the lower-case versions of one letter). The kids will probably forget which exact way the letters are written - i.e. the write a q for a p or a d for a b, but you should not worry about this; at least they get a sense of shapes, and letters are convenient props for their memories. In the end, they should be able to write their own names!
And, I taught them whole sentences, never translating, and I introduced some grammar structures such as the proper syntax for the question sentences, the negative statements, the present continuous tense, the simple past tense ("yesterday WAS Monday", versus "today IS Tuesday").
It's a pleasure, really, and so much more natural than in a college where students have all their minds set by a Chinese teacher and a Chinese translation approach!
Don't despair - enjoy your class and your pupils! I did for two years!