Teacher Discussion Forums

Check out Sally Olsen's postings for lots of ideas.

For those teaching children this is an excellent source for worksheets of all kinds:

http://www.learningpage.com

Hi Damon Very interesting what you say regarding the differences between the responses of the two age groups. I think it is also consistent with the generally marked transition that spans the two ages of the children you are teaching. If you've ever taught a class of 4 year olds for a full school ye...

Difficult to give any support without some information about your class. Answers to the following questions might help anyone who might want to help you: How many children are in the group? Are you in a room equipped for toddlers? Do you have any support? Are the parents present? Has the school prov...

I'm surprised I don't see more postings about the use of glove puppets as teaching aids. Admittedly my students are older (kindergarten) but I've used puppets in an English speaking nursery setting before and found the younger children to be just as interested. If you haven't used a glove puppet bef...

If you plan the first set of lessons in advance you will then know what you require. Try researching on line for lesson ideas. Here are some of the things me and my students use: feltip pens, brushes, powder paint, pencils, coloured pencils, A4 white paper, coloured paper, shiny paper, newspaper, ca...

I see you posted in May so your children (if it is the same one) will have developed a bit by now. This is not an easy situation and can be very frustrating because 2 year olds and 4 year olds are not usually interested in the same things, although toddlers will watch what 4 year olds do. If you hav...

One idea I have used which was great fun comes from the use of 'Music & Movement' in nursery.. It's a listening exercise and aimed at raising confidence levels in shy children. I first choose a piece of music and devise a dramatical presentation. Some of the children will act the movements out in ti...

Before using any games a teacher should determine exactly what the game actually teaches. Many games are 'fun' but teach little or nothing of the target language. The classroom should be primarily a risk free environment in which all students feel confident enough to involve themselves in whatever i...

Sounds interesting. I can imagine any child enjoying eating pancakes! However I've become rather more hardnosed over the years... By that I mean, do these lessons work? Do the children actually learn English? (or do they just remember - in Japanese, the brilliant fun they had in Mrs So-and-So's panc...

For my kindergarten class I have certain structured routines, like the 5 minute yoga session at the beginning of each day followed by 'alphasheets' (in the Cookbook on this site under 'Peter's Kindy ABCs'). I keep games to a minimum and for short periods to add rhythm to a lesson. Kindergarten child...

Hello

I've combed the net looking for contemporary research and studies of the Kindergarten EFL classroom and can't find any. I would therefore be very grateful if anyone out there can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

Hi Shannon It's an efl syllabus which will link with the rest of the primary English program. It is taught within an English Program comprised of regular subjects taught in Thai. The children get about 2 hours of English a day. I am particularly concerned to make sure that the language and concepts ...

(Thanks Lorikeet and Dave)

I'm writing a 40 week syllabus for kindergarten (ages 4-6 years) and would like to discuss ideas that teachers have found lead to a genuine, communicative aquisition of English across the 4 skills in children of this age as well as the kinds of challenges teachers face.