Interactive Learning for Kindergarten English Language Learners

 Interactive Learning for Kindergarten English Language Learners

"it’s actually a pedagogical technique with a fairly simple definition. The interactive approach to any given lesson plan encourages students to interact with each other and with the subject matter."                  According to:  https://www.theclassroom.com/

How interactive are your lessons with the young learners? I know it requires a lot of planning, lots of games and activities for all the stages of your lesson plan.

Students love to play games, it takes away the pressure, they interact with their peers in a fun classroom that they love to return to. As for games for the kindergarten ELL, I love bingo, domino, puzzles, card games, board games. Here is 

Some countries don't have easy access to books in English, and if they are available, they expensive or they don't relate to the unit. I always create a book for each unit. The books can be sent home to read with their parents. The books can be created in groups, like this one.

Focus on student participation when writing your lesson plan. It's better to have lots of activities for pair work or group work and games for every step in the way you deliver your lesson. Check my blog for Kindergarten teachers to check on ideas for teaching with flashcards, small cards, cutouts, worksheets and more.

                                    Link to the blog:             https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

There is a chat button and use it to ask for anything you need.

All the resources are here at my TPT store:

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

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/

Communicative language teaching for Kindergarten

 "Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA) , is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study." Definition by Wikipedia.

There is a lot of information on this approach for teaching adults but almost none for teaching early childhood as a second language (ESL) or a foreign language (EFL). That leaves us to adapt the approach to the young learners that we have in class. Our mail goal or objective is that our students will be able to communicate in English according to their age.

That' s why we have to create many resources to teach the students and have them available for the students to interact in English such as games. All children love games, I create a variety of games that are great for the age range, such as game boards, domino, file folder games and more. The intention is that they play on their own and speak English as they do.

I also have two games that are puzzle-solving oriented: puzzles and half card games. Those are great for pair work.

Role-playing is easy if you have the materials to prompt the language. Masks and puppets are wonderful for the littles ones as they become shy to speak English in front of the class. These resources are good to have in hand to model dialogues.

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Calculated Risk for ESL Teachers

                 What is a  calculated risk? It's a noun defined as:  

1 : a hazard or chance of failure whose degree of probability has been reckoned or estimated before some undertaking is entered upon

2: an undertaking or the actual or possible product of an undertaking whose chance of failure has been previously estimated

              https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

For us teachers,a calculated risk is giving ourselves and our students a chance to try something different that is defined in the text book.

Find new activities to try. There is a lot of activities to search for on Pinterest, for example. I always find inspiration to create the resources. Instagram is also a great place to see what other teachers are doing, I am happy to find new ways to use the resources. In a personal level, I loved creating the booklet with my students. Now, I include a booklet in all the units, it's fun and creative. It's nice to have a personal collection of books to read over and over again in class or to send home. 

Innovate in your classroom. I know, sometimes it's hard to find innovation for our class. You might say, I have tried everything, but there's always more to give it a try. I love to bring in a new resource to the young learner's class. The feed me box are so cute and I am sure that your students will light up when they see it. It's easy to assemble and carry around with you. This one is made out of a cereal box.

Change practices. A little twist in our lesson planning works wonder with the little ones. I love to include crafts. Yes, it's messy but organization is key. Make the craft yourself and bring it in already done and you will notice the steps to make it easy to recreate with your students in an easy way. 

Try a new method. A new way to do things in class with your preschoolers,to move on to the next activity faster is important.Those extra 5 or 10 minutes are horrible if you don't have anything in hand. That's where games will help you. I have lots of printable  games for you to keep in a bag just for those extra minutes, students can play by themselves and speaking English. I have dominos, game boards, file folder games, Bingos, half card games, puzzles and more.

All my resources are here:

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

 Follow my FACEBOOK fan page:

https://www.facebook.com/ESLPreschoolTeachers/

https://www.pinterest.com/ei98srl

https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rosamelia_eslteacher

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosa-amelia-oropeza-81657829/

Facebook groups: 

ESL/EFL Preschool Teachers : https://www.facebook.com/groups/26091497243

ESL/EFL Elementary Teachers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/193945227294353

 

Tailor to your English Language Classroom

 As we write the lesson plan for our specific learners we have to tailor the materials to the students that we have in front of us, to their specific needs, to their abilities and to where they are in their English abilities.

David Nunan "It has been realized that there never was and probably never will be a method for all, and the focus in recent years has been on the development of classroom tasks and activities which are consonant witn what we know about second language acquisition and which are also in keeping the dynamics of the classroom itself"

As a materials writer I keep in mind that each school year your students are completely different from the ones you had last year. I add different resources for different abilities for the Preschool and kindergarten students so you can choose the ones that you need. You can also adapt the materials to your specific group.

I suggest games, the more games that you have the better. Here are the ones available for the transportation unit. Print and have them available for each class. Games usually meet students to the stage they are at their language abilities. Adapt your games to your specific group, challenging them.

The text books for English Language Learners sometimes are short in Practice materials. I used to copy lots of extra worksheets and even made them to suit my students needs, even more for the younger students. I like to include review of previous units, such as numbers, shapes, colors and more.

I got hooked on printable books when I was teaching English to kindergarten in my hometwon, there weren't many English books available and the ones around we so expensive, so I used to include printables as much as I could and send them home to read with their parents. Here is one of the printable book from my resources.

Crafts for each unit. A good way to add fun to any group and to keep their interest. Some groups are so bored and a craft just changes the pace of the lesson.

The Holidays are always there to integrate culture to language. I have seen that the most celebrated Holiday in the English class around the world is Halloween. I love to do Halloween along with specific units.

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End of the School Year Photo Booth for Teachers

 The end of the school is coming for many teachers around the world and a teacher break might be around for others. 

I made this set of photo booth props for the Teacher Appreciation Week Party, get together or reunion. It's fun to take pictures in any gathering and to celebrate that the mission of school year is over.

It's easy to assemble, just glue or tape a barbecue wood stick behind each cutout. That's me ! I had a picture taken for my Instagram and Social Media. 

I was in charge of the photo both which added a fun activity to the Teacher Appreciation Dinner. I also made the photo frame by adding Aguayo fabric to a piece of styrofoam. The theme was Bolivian Culture for the American Teachers that we were appreciating.

 I put all the props in a vase for the teachers to pick any one up and start taking pictures.

The best props are here for FREE! 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-the-School-Year-Photo-Booth-for-Teachers-8048685

Hope they are helpful for your gathering and I would love to see your pictures. Please tag me or send me an email: ei98srl@gmail.com

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Total Physical Response for Elementary ELL

 A lot has been said about Total Physical Response. Teachers usually do it at the beginning of the school year with their students. It has so many benefits for you and the learner.

I have done it with my classes and even more with the Kindergarten students. It's a way for no translation to the native language. I used to make flashcards with magazine cutouts, yes! no printer around those days. I moved on to make flashcards using clip art, the ones available for FREE. Nowadays, I have included the Commands Flashcards on all the resources from the Kindergarten Series 1 to 30.

So, if you are teaching the Farm Unit, review, reinforce or introduce the classroom commands using the Flashcards.

Teacher: Stand up like the pig!

             Sit down like the sheep! 

         There's also the goat, the cow, the horse and the hen.
             Here is the blog post for more on the flashcards:   https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/2022/04/farm-unit-flashcards-for-kindergarten.html

If you have new students, the Greetings unit for Kindergarten English Language Learners have the very basics Classroom Commands that you can place around your classroom. LINK: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/2020/08/greetings-theme-for-kindergarten.html

Show your students a command flashcard and have the class mime the action. These are great for those first weeks of the school year. LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Colors-Unit-for-Kindergarten-Holistic-English-Series-2-5956256

There are units that we can use TPR using the flashcards to review the new vocabulary. Here is an example:  Place several Town unit flashcards around the classroom. Show the students the command flashcard and have them go to that place doing the action.

Teacher: Run to the post office!

LINK: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/2021/11/town-unit-flashcards-for-kindergarten.html

You can bring the Commands Flashcards for the Playground unit to the playground. Use them to have the students mime each action that they do in the playground.
        Teacher: run! (students mime running in the class)     

LINK: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/2021/10/park-playground-unit-flashcards-for.html                                           

           

A lot of more examples at my other blog for Kindergarten English Language Learners that can be used for older students with success. Take a look: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

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