School Subjects for Elementary ESL

Here’s the link to the resource for Teaching English in the Primary School:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Subjects-People-and-Places-for-ESL-4548123

                     Watch the video with the complete resource:

School subject flashcards.

Start by introducing the School Subjects.Students should be able to name all the vocabulary learned in the unit.

I made a larger set using pictures for older kids.

Do your favorite school subject brainstorm words on the board as an example. Tell your students that your favorite subject is ART. Than start writing words that relate to that subject. Have students help you, add some drawings as well.

I also made a worksheet for students to do their art work.

Review the days of the week. Hand in the card in random to seven students that will come to the front. They have to arrange themselves in order.
Ask questions. Teacher: What day is it ?
                           Student: It’s Monday!
                           Teacher: Tuesday, come to the front. Show your card.
Teacher: Ursula, What is your favorite day of the week ?
Ursula: It’s Wednesday. (the students with the card shows it to the class).

Then have the students place the cards on the board in order as a heading. Hold each subject flashcard and ask questions.

Teacher: When do you have Geography?

Students: We have Geography on Thursday. (place the flashcards under Thursday) Continue with all the flashcards.

Teacher: When is the Math class?

Students: It’s on Monday.

Have students create their own timetable on their notebooks. They show and tell to the class.

 Students: The Spanish class is on Tuesday.

Have students express their likes and dislikes for the school subjects. Place all the subjects on the board and as they express their preference write their name.

Students: I like Geography. I don’t like Math.

Contrast easy and difficult.

Teacher: Do you like Science? Raise your hand if the answer is yes !

Students: YES!

Teacher: Science is easy for you.

Teacher: Do you like Science? Raise your hand if the answer is NO !

Students: NO!

Teacher: Science is difficult for you.

Game:  What is the subject ?

Write the list of the subjects that you are working on a piece of paper. Place the subjects can in a can. I suggest that you make puppets which are easier to pull out. Tell the students that they are going to pick a card or puppet from the can. Have the students line up as they hear the subject word.

Teacher: Biology! Math!

Check that they are lined up correctly as you collect all the subject cards or puppets.

And there will be more blog posts related to the school unit.

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Telling the time for ESL Learners

Here is the link to all the telling the time resources:    https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Telling-the-time-for-ESL-4532035

                                    Watch the video of the resource:

                                                       

 
Start by reviewing the numbers 1 to 60 perhaps. Check my blog post with many ideas for a nice practice.  https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2019/01/numbers-1-to-100-for-esl-learners-part-2.html

As for my experience I teach both the analog and the digital clock. I made both in flashcards. Leave a comment as in which one you teach the most. 

Make sure that students understand the hands of the clock.

Start with o’clock. Place a random flashcard on the board.

                       Teacher: It’s one o’clock.

                       Students:  It’s one o’clock.

Have the students try with the other flashcards.

Then, place the flashcards in random places around the classroom.  Say a time and have a student go find it.

Teacher: (Patricia). It’s twelve o’clock.

Make a reference to the digital clocks.

Have the students match the digital clocks to the analog clocks.

Continue with more time telling flashcards.

I made a bigger analog clock to place on the board and write the vocabulary next to each number or the digital numbers. Students will create their own clock and words with a smaller worksheet.

Write different times on the board and have the students come to the front and put the corresponding flashcard.

Hand in the worksheet for multiple listening practice. Insert the worksheet into a clear plastic sheet for next use.

Or cut them and place contact paper on each one to write the time.

               And another worksheet for writing practice.

Listening is another skill that show be reinforced for teaching the time.

On the art side of the lesson plan include creating a clock. It will be fun to do an analog clock. Have them decorate their clock as they wish using glitter, sequins and any other decoration. Students can glue the printable onto construction paper, cardboard or fun foam. After cutting the clock hands, they can attach them using a butterfly clip.

Have the students play in pairs using the clock they made.

Student A: It’s a quarter to three.

Student B: (demonstrates using his clock)

           Or do a label the clock. Either digital or analog.

A game. Hand in a small clock and a slip of paper to each student. Have them write the time on the slip of paper. Get all the slips of paper and small cards.  Divide the class into two groups, one with the clock cards and another with the slips of paper. At your signal, students stand up and walk around finding the correct pair.

Dictation using the flashcards. Grab all the flashcards that you want to review and without showing them, dictate to the students the time. They write them down on the down on their notebooks. Then place them on the board and have the students correct their work.

        Match the digital clock and the analog clock cards.

              A worksheet that is game board. Play with dice.

After all this, model a small role play and then have students practice in pairs.

Teacher: Excuse me, What time is it ?

Student A using his clock: It’s three o’clock.

Teacher: Thank you.

Student A: You’re welcome.

Take extra time for teaching: Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight. Use the flashcards and the digital cutout clocks. You might want to point out Good morning! And I defined some hours. Usually morning starts at sunrise and night starts at sunset but it varies depending on the country.

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TESOL 19 Convention - the next day

Another day at the Convention. I am so happy to be there, I have enjoyed every single moment. I encourage you all to attend next year. It will be in Denver, USA.

The book exhibit is one of the places that is always full of people. I bought a book at the TESOL bookstore. They have books online at www.tesol.org/bookstore

One of the session that I attended today was presented by Teachers from Alianza Cultural Uruguay. They took the 6 principles from TESOL and used it in their English as a Foreign Language Context for Training and Hiring Teachers in Uruguay. Training from them is available on line (silvia.laborde@alianza.edu.uy). I suggest you contact them if you are interested.Great approach and interesting idea. Teachers can adapt  the 6 principles to their own teaching setting. The 6 principles book can be bought at the TESOL online bookstore from the link above.

The other session was about Translanguaging in Early Childhoos and Elementary.  Here is the concept.

This new pedagody is a new fresh look at students in the USA classrooms.

I will blog more about this in the future. I was really surprised to know about it.
The convention continues tomorrow!

TESOL Convention 19

Yesterday the Tesol 19 Convention started! I am at the beautiful Downtown Atlanta.

 The opening note was in charge of David Harrison. It was wonderful. He has written a book: The last Speaker.

 Follow me at my Instagram for more pictures and comments of the note.
https://www.instagram.com/rosamelia_eslteacher/?hl=es-la

As for today I attended several meetings.The first one was the role that as ESL or EFL teachers have but we were not trained for and still manage to do. We serve as Teacher Leader in our school, we serve as Instructional Coach sometimes by providing professional support to our peers. We also serve as an administrator in our schools. Holistic changes have to be made. There are courses in the U.S.A to train on how to fill in all these roles.

I also went to the Poster session. Several were interesting for Preschool and Elementary EFL Teachers. I took a picture of them.
One was teaching using art.

Another one was presented by a Bolivian teacher.

Holidays as a Teaching Tool presented by a Mexican Teacher.

A very important one that we as teachers have be aware of that there are students suffering from anxiety and we do not even know.

The convention is focused on the 6 principles for teaching. Interesting enough to visit the website for more detailed information.https://www.tesol.org/the-6-principles/about

The last one was about adpating materials for the classroom. Many teachers use materials mainly textbooks that are imposed by the administration in their schools and maybe they are not the best for the specific students sitting in your classroom, so what should you do.Well, adapt! 

Tomorrow is another day full of sessions!

St. Patrick’s Day for Elementary ESL

Link to the St. patrick's Day resource: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-for-Elementary-ESL-4428537

I have always liked this Holiday. In the 90’s I was teaching after school ESL and this is an old picture of what we did with the children.

Now, let’s start with the resources that I have prepared.

Puppets. Make puppets with the clovers to review colors.

Teacher: What color is this?

Students: red!

Teacher: It’s a red clover.

Worksheets. Have the students complete their worksheets to review color words.
Then place the worksheet in a clear plastic sheet. Students can trace the words using whiteboard markers and then erase. Save for future worksheets.

I made these colored plates once. I just colored a paper plate in a different color to do sorting. I am recycling them to sort the clovers.

I love the scrabble letters that I made for a product months ago. I am putting them here, you can use them for every single lesson just for making words or for making a crossword.

Or use the color letters printables to make the color words.

Use the writing pad or notebook for writing the color words.

The bottle caps printable is free. I made it years ago and have used it a lot. Here is the link. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-Bottle-Caps-2155938

More worksheets. Students color and trace the words in the worksheet. Then, cut and paste on their notebooks and write a sentence. 

Or the students can color and cut each item and glue them alphabetically.

Listen and color worksheet.

Teacher: Color their hats green, black and yellow.

Teacher: Color his shirt orange and her blouse orange.

Teacher: Color their shoes black.

Review colors and numbers at the same time. Say the color of the numbers in random order.

Teacher: Number seven is orange.

Then, have the students write the color and number words next to each picture.

They can cut each number and dictate the order to put them.

Teacher: six, ten, nine, seven.

I found these cute gnomes images and I had to create something and thought that it could fit for prepositions. Students can color them and make a gnome village per group. I used toilet paper rolls, paper towels rolls and carton eggs. I glued the gnomes onto craft sticks and then made a slit onto the carton egg and placed the gnomes and the rest of the pieces.

I used them for prepositions. Students listen and place the gnomes and other items as they listen or they can give the instructions and the other groups follow.

Teacher: The gnome is next to house number 1.

The gnome is behind house number 3.

The gnome is in front of house number 4.

The clover is behind the yellow house.

A craft. I grabbed a black plastic plate that I had around the house, cut the middle of the plate to make a wreath. I glued all the pieces.

Let’s dress the leprechaun. Dictate the color for each clothes piece.

That give directions for gluing them.

Teacher: Color the hat green and the belt is black with yellow.

Glue the socks on the leprechaun. 

More clothes and body.  Color the pictures and label the parts of the body and the clothing pieces.

And flashcards! Yes, again… use for many games for those dreaded 5 minutes left.

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