How to start with absolute beginners

[Lliana]

Suppose you have a class of absolute beginners aged 8-9 and haven't got a coursebook. Can you suggest ways of starting out with them, things which actually worked out?
After the first couple of lessons, I usually find an alphabet book and start teaching a for apple, b for banana and so on and so forth. OK, perhaps not in such a boring manner... The children have to write their letters and the word, no matter if they can read it or not, just to practice writing. They usually look forward to writing anyway. We play games, make flashcards, listen to a song, sing along etc etc. After 3-4 weeks, if the good ministry decides to send the coursebooks on time, we get to the book.
Most (all?) teachers do the same thing and there's no reason I should feel unhappy about my approach. Only that it's not my approach. It's the most convenient thing to do; so since I started teaching in primary schools, I've always wondered: isn't there another way to begin?

[EFLwithlittleones]

The first thing I always start with is the student's name. Simple activities revolve around registration. So for instance, I first give my name by way of introduction and write it on the board. I then bring students to the front to sit on the floor beneath the board in front of me (you can get 30 or so nine year olds into about 5m square doing this) and then write all their names up in a list asking each student by name in turn (done quickly, no messin'). At the same time I will also write the name onto a white paper sticky label. When all the names are done I stick the labels at random on to the students. (Reassurance necessary at this point). Students then do a simple mingle activity going round trying to find their name and sticking it to themselves. Once this is done the children sit down and take the sticker off themselves and stick it on their desk. Students then stand up and form two or more lines one behind the other for a 'race to the board' game. Each team is given a pen and has to, in turn, right their name on the board in a list (you can either leave your original list on the board or rub it off beforehand).

Beyond this there are various extensions. For instance you could ask students to write their names on previously prepared 'register' tables which they use to play at teacher calling out registration names (put chairs in two rows and pretend it's a bus..). They could make artful creations with their names which are displayed and marked by students as a simple competition. Students could be selected to swap all the labels round the desks whilst the other follow the command 'close your eyes' and then sit down as fast as they can, etc. etc...


By the end of the first lesson students should be able to recognise their name when spoken (not always that obvious since you need to get your pronunciation right) they should be able to provide it in a spoken form when required and also be able to write it and read it.

Insch'Allah!

[Lliana]

Thanks a lot, EFL. A really interesting start. Any more ideas for the next lessons? Do you think we should start with this letter-word match until we finish the alphabet or could we start with topics (colours, numbers etc)? I don't know whether I can start with giving them words since they're not familiar with the alphabet (I'd be tempted to do it, though!) When they learn Greek, they always start with the letters and letter-sound matching but they're 6 yrs old when they do that.
I know there is a great deal of interesting things we could do even if we follow the "traditional" way of starting but my mind refuses to understand the meaning of "flexibility" nowadays. I think I'd better go through the Cookbook once more...

[EFLwithlittleones]

Your students are learning to use two alphabets? That’s great. I think teaching two scripts side by side presents a potentially rich opportunity for second language acquisition. In the meantime you could check my ‘Peter’s Kindy ABCs’ in the cookbook for a straightforward daily warmer. Try making A5 size letters and stick them in a row to a strip of coloured paper and pin it below the chalk rail. Bring the students to the front and get them to tell each other to find a letter. Give a child a pointer of some kind and a blind fold. Get the other students to select and call out a letter and the additional ‘warmer’, ‘colder’, or ‘nearer’ or ‘further’, or just a plain ‘no’, ‘yes’ depending on how far away their pointing is. Split students into teams and pin four or five letters up round the classroom. You or one of your students calls out a letter and one member of each team has to race to the correct letter and slap their hand on it and wait for the next letter to be called. Get students in groups to try and shape themselves into a letter on the floor. Another daily warmer I use for listening (and the rest) is a straightforward yoga routine of very simple stretching exercises; ‘Stretch up’, ‘and down’ ‘Touch your toes’, ‘Legs apart’ ‘Down to the left’, ‘Down to the right’ etc. gradually developed over the course of the year.

And as far as your imagination is concerned..? I never forget once whilst watching ‘Fashion TV’ on cable deciding to give my nine year olds a shoe making project. It was a huge success. They modelled their designs in Friday morning assembly complete with commentary.

Sallam Alaykum

[Lliana]

Thanks again!
Our L1 is Greek therefore we learn the Greek alphabet. I'll write sth but I don't know whether you can read it: "Με λένε Λιάνα και ζω στην Αθήνα." In case it didn't come out in funny shapes and you can actually see the letters, it says: My name is Liana and I live in Athens.
Well, never mind... The issue of the L1 + L2 has caused so much debate that I really don't know what to say. Some say, don't compare letters and show the children the 2 alphabets side by side because they will learn to compare and translate and will not acquire L2 the way they should. Others say, it's a good way to show that L2 didn't grow in a field, it's a language like the children's native language and by comparing/contrasting, children may find points of reference (whatever this might mean...) I usually follow the second way and even if I don't, the children inevitably make their comparisons + find differences/similarities in ... practically everything. I like the usual comment in beginners' classes: <sooo they have "a" too. And how do they read it? /a/ ? > Wouldn't it be wonderful to say "yes, just /a/ " and forget all about apple, ace, all etc?

[12880579]

Hey Lliana,
I hope the following sites can be of help. There's a wide variety of strategies in the following sets of lesson plans. I'm sure you will find something of use.
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAK1.htm

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LA23.htm

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LA45.htm

Get back to me if you need anything else.

[Senorita Daniels]

When I started learning Russian in high school, we started with the alphabet. The first day we discussed letters that are the same in both languages (KOMETA- the Russian word for comet), then letters that look alike but have different sounds (B,Y, X, P, H, C). After that, we worked on groups of other letters, until we knew all of them. This took about a week. During this time, we did learn some things orally, and tried to learn those basics by recognition. Maybe you could do something similar with Greek.