Circus Ringmaster and Platform Prepositions Activities | ESL

 This resource is also included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-3759017

Step right into the circus and make learning prepositions fun and meaningful! This Circus Prepositions resource uses the Ringmaster and colorful platforms to help students understand and practice key prepositions such as in, on, under, behind, next to, between, and in front of through engaging, hands-on activities.

It can be used as a stand-alone resource to teach or review prepositions or as a complement to your Circus Unit, helping students strengthen reading, speaking, and sentence-building skills in a fun and visual way.

Use the flashcards to introduce or review the prepositions with your students.

True or False Show. Show flashcard and say sentence: The ringmaster is under the platform.

Students show: 👍 Correct or 👎 Incorrect.

Circus Director Game. One student becomes the "Circus Director or Ringmaster". Print the hat template, add a strip of paper and create the hat for the student or yourself.

They say: "The ringmaster is under the platform."

Other student points to that flashcard, which should be placed on the board.

Match the Sentence to the Flashcard. In this activity, students read the sentence strips and place them under the correct circus flashcards on the board. Each sentence describes the position of the ringmaster in relation to the platform.

The sentence strips are included in this resource and are designed to match the flashcards.

Act It Out: The Ringmaster and the Stool. In this interactive activity, one student wears the ringmaster hat and uses any stool and glues the stool prop, that you have previously prepared using the printable in the resource. Another student gives directions, suing the flashcards as a guide, the position using a complete sentence, such as: “The ringmaster is on the stool.”

The student acting as the ringmaster listens and places himself in the correct position.

Listen and Draw Activity. The teacher secretly chooses a flashcard and describes it without showing the picture. For example: “The ringmaster is behind the platform.”

Students listen carefully and draw what they hear. Afterward, the teacher shows the flashcard so students can compare their drawings. This activity develops listening comprehension.

The small cards are included to provide more opportunities for practice.

Read and Match to the Picture. Students receive the printable small picture cards and the sentence strips. Students read and match.

Write the Sentence. Students pick a small card and write the sentence.

Why Small Cards Are Powerful for Literacy

They help students:

read independently
 manipulate language
build sentences
practice writing meaningfully
develop confidence

Cutouts are included so students can physically place the Ringmaster in different positions relative to the platform, helping them practice prepositions through hands-on learning.

Listen and Place the Ringmaster. Print and cut the  platform + ringmaster cutout. It comes in colored and b/w version.
Teacher says: "The ringmaster is under the platform."

Students place the ringmaster correctly.

Worksheets are included to help students practice prepositions through reading, writing, matching, drawing, and coloring activities.

Students roll the printable dice and color the matching picture on their worksheet. Each time the dice lands, students identify the preposition and find the correct image to color. This activity reinforces preposition vocabulary.

Students complete the worksheet by reading each sentence and writing the correct preposition to describe the position of the ringmaster.

Students read each sentence and trace the line to match it with the correct picture.

Have the learners write the correct preposition to describe the position of the ringmaster.

This worksheet is for drawing and coloring the platforms in the correct position around the ringmaster. Students carefully follow the instructions.

Games are included to help students practice prepositions in a fun, interactive, and engaging way.

Feed Me Circus Ring activity

Students take turns choosing a small circus card and feeding it into the Feed Me Circus Ring Box that you have ready. As they feed the card, students say a complete sentence

Matching Mat Activity

Students take turns rolling the preposition dice. They say the preposition they rolled, for example, “behind.” Then they find the correct Ringmaster picture card and place it on the matching word on the mat. Finally, they say a full sentence: “The Ringmaster is behind the platform.”This adds movement and speaking practice

Puzzle “Build and Read”
After completing the puzzle, students read the full sentence aloud to a partner. Then, they use a small card or flashcard to recreate the same position of the Ringmaster and say the sentence again. This reinforces reading, speaking, and comprehension of prepositions.

Spinner Activity

Students spin the spinner and look at the picture where the pointer lands. They say a complete sentence to describe the Ringmaster’s position using the correct preposition. This activity helps students practice speaking.

 Flap Book Activity Text:

Students create a flap book to practice circus prepositions. Under each flap, they write and complete a sentence to describe the Ringmaster’s position.

 

 Find creative ideas and engaging resources for teaching young learners, visit my blog for preschool teachers here: EFL Preschool Teachers Blog. You'll find practical activities, tips, and resources designed to make learning fun and effective for little ones!

Circus Popcorn Numbers 1 to 20

 This resource (Circus Popcorn Numbers 1–20 ESL Printable Pack – Circus-Themed Number Activities)  is also included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-3759017

This resource can fit easily into a circus-themed or number learning unit. It can be used with whole class, small groups, or individual centers, and it’s adaptable for various levels. Help elementary ESL/ELL learners practice numbers 1–20 with this fun circus-themed printable pack – flashcards, bingo, matching, and games included.

Do you follow the 3Ps in your lessons? The resource will follow the3Ps of teaching—Presentation, Practice, and Production— to form a clear structure for building strong language skills in ELLs.

The popcorn and circus themes flashcards (Presentation) are colorful and perfect for visual learners. The Circus-themed number flashcards come with (numeral + word + quantity images). 

Place the flashcards around the room. Have the students put the flashcards in order forwards and backwards on the board.

Play Flashcards bingo. Place all the cards on the board.

Have the students select five numbers to write on one of their bingo grids. Then, start calling the numbers and the first students to cross out all five numbers wins.

Place the small cards around the room. Have your feed me monster box ready. Students walk around grabbing just one small card at a time and feed the monster saying: It’s number thirteen!

Tally how many cards the students got to feed the monster.

Small-card matching: numeral ↔ number word ↔ quantity picture. As simple as cutting off the word each Circus small card and play match.

This hands-on worksheet (practice) includes: One grid with numerals from 10 to 20. A second grid with matching number words and popcorn quantities in mixed order.

Students will cut out the pieces from the second grid. Match and glue each number word + popcorn picture next to the correct numeral. Complete the puzzle.

 Read-and-color number worksheets (1–20) 

This worksheet invites students to write a number word (e.g., “fourteen) under the matching numeral (e.g., 14)

Identifying and distinguishing numerals in the worksheet and trace a line.

This worksheet requires students to think logically and fill in missing number words in a sequence.

Students will listen to a simple set of simple instructions and color accordingly.

Fun Games for Review & Engagement  

Classic Matching Mat Game (Production). Students match the popcorn images (showing quantities) to the circus number cards (numerals 1–20). It is a way to reinforce number recognition and one-to-one correspondence. Use as center activity, homework, or review activity.

Count the Popcorn Board Game!

Students roll a die and move that many spaces. They land on a circus number. They must say the number. Then, find a matching mat card to match.

Find more to this resource:    https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2018/04/circus-unit-for-elementary-ell.html

This resource is part of a bundle!It's avavilable at the store:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Unit-for-ESL-BUNDLE-5613242

Feel free to explore everything on my Linktree:

linktr.ee/HolisticEnglishResources

I’d love to hear how these resources work for you and your students!

There are so many alphabet clipart at Creative Fabrica. This is my affliate link:             https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/circus-alphabet-clipart-red-blue-yellow/ref/2670802/?sharedby=user-3080428

Learner Centered Teaching for Kindergarten EFL

"Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student". Wikipedia

                Students are the focus of our lesson plan.

Hands on activities for reviewing the unit is a lot more fun than just watching a video over and over again. I always have several games available for each unit to give students the chance to pick ones they want to play as the wrap of the lesson.

For example, for the Circus unit here are four games that students can play alone or with a partner. Just walk around and give guidance.

Students learn at their own pace, give them time to acquire the new language. Give multiple opportunities to learn with different materials with active participation.Plan different activities for the different levels that you might have in your class. For example, the worksheets can be done by themselves following simple instructions using their imagination and creativity.

Some students might want to do even more with the animal’s face and cut it up. There is space for students that are more advanced in the same classroom and would like to do more things. I am just providing an example.

Engage students into projects or crafts to enhance creativity. Students can color or design the clothes to put on each character. They get to choose the color of each clothing and how they want to dress them.

I am sure that you can think of more ideas and activities for teaching your students by keeping them as the focus of learning.

                   All the resources are here at my TPT store:

·         STORE: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Holistic-English-Resources-By-Rosa-Amelia

For more ideas check my other blog for Kindergarten English Language Learners. Click here:   https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Circus Unit for the Elementary ELL

 Get everything here:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Unit-for-Elementary-ELL-3759017

 Let´s start with the flashcards. 

Distribute a Circus flashcard to each student. Have the students name each Circus animal ,Circus character or food. Say the category. Student:  It´s the acrobat.  Person.

Student:  It´s the elephant.  Animal

                                                   

Have the students  sort the flashcards into people and animals on the board.

Have the students  sort the Circus Flashcards as in Person, place or things and introduce the concept of noun in English.

Students can do their own sorting using the printables. Print as many as you need for Person, place or thing. The templates can be used as cards. Have the students sort them into person, place or thing.

Circus Verbs Flashcards. I had these lovely clown clip art and thought of Flashcards to play some games.

Circus verbs Book. To review what the students learned with the flashcards. There are 28 pictures of the clown and the sentence, it can be used as a game, but the students can have fun matching and pasting the sentences to the pictures. Put them together and make a class book to take home by turns and read to the parents.

Worksheet . I did this one for preschoolers but I like to do labeling with the worksheets, it is a way to extend the activity a little bit more.

Also included the Circus Popcorn Numbers 1–20 pack that features colorful, circus-themed flashcards and interactive games to help kids recognize numerals, read number words, and build one-to-one correspondence with quantities. It works well for whole-class lessons, small-group centres, or independent practice — perfect for math / number units in elementary ESL classrooms.Check the blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/07/this-resource-is-also-included-here.html

I've gathered interactive games, worksheets, and creative ideas to teach English Language Learners!

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