Days of the Week with Very Young Learners

 Hello there!

It was quite a challenge for me to find a way of teaching little kiddos days of the week. Almost none of them was familiar with the concept in their own language, so how was I to teach it in English?

We were doing Food topic and I was planning to read a Very Hungry Caterpillar, so the knowledge of days of the week as words that exist and that they were going to hear in the story was Not THAT important, but useful. 

I really liked the monsters PinkFong created for the song "Days of the Week", so I copied the characters, added those that were missing, assigned some movement to each of them and introduced days of the week to my very young learners in a funny and entertaining way. They learned all the movements/gestures along with the names and we started to read the story. Every time they heard "on Monday", or "on Friday", their eyes started to sparkle and they showed me the movement. All pleased and satisfies. Mission completed!

In the video below you can see a brief example of what it was like.

You can donwload Days of the Week MONSTERS 

for FREE

HERE.

Pumping Up Kid´s Box 1: Unit 12. Storytelling "Timmy goes shopping"

 

Hello there beautiful!

As promised, today I'm happy to share with you a storytelling activity that I'll be using in Unit 12,  Kid's Box 1. 

I borrowed the story from Sarah Philipps "Young Learners" resource book. The story is called "Timmy goes shopping"and it perfectly fits with the topic of Unit 12, offering some new vocabulary and introducing kids to the Past Simple forms in the indirect way. Moreover, during the storytelling activity we can revise numbers and counting =)

I created story characters as well as other elements with paper, securing them with plastic and glueing some velcro on to be able to use them with my Felt Board. That is a perfect way to transform storytelling into an interactive activity! 

Your are welcome to grab a copy of story elements to use along in your storytelling.

You can watch my introduction video to the STORYtelling 

Watch the story "Timmy goes shopping"

Thank you for watching!

Hope this video turned out to be useful!

Enjoy teaching!

Pumping up Kid's Box 1. Unit 12 "Party time". Craft activity

 

Watch the video

Hello there, beautiful people! 

Today I'm happy to share with you the coolest Food Monster. It is  a Creative Activity based on the active vocabulary from Unit 12 of Kid's Box1. I'm sure your kids are going to enjoy creating this funny creature, let their imagination fly o guide them through this creative process, it's up to you! 

And of course, as promised, you can download a template for this activity HERE.

Thank you and enjoy your teaching!

Pumping up Kid's Box 1. Unit 2 "My School". Craft activity

Watch the video

Hello there!

This year I'm working with Kid's Box 1, which I am adjusting to my students' interests and needs, creating some extra activities, which would boost creativity and fun into the classroom. 

Mostly I'd be providing a craft activity and a storytelling activity for each unit with all the materials free to download from my blog.

Hope you enjoy teaching as much as I do! Have fun!

Yours,

Ksenia aka Forgetful Teacher

P.S.: Although this video comes in Russian (this piece of video was cut out from my webinar), it is quite intuitive and one can understand the meaning from the images. Anyway, I promise that the next ones are going to be filmed in English. Thanx for understanding!

Download mini flashcards here

Мой Вебинар "Как влюбить дошкольников в английский язык"

В то время, как некоторые летом отдыхают, я не перестаю работать. А как еще? Когда твою голову распирают новые идеи, которые ты не успеваешь записывать, не то что осуществлять, что еще остается?). А если честно, то очень жаль, конечно, что накрылись все наши планы с путешествиями. 

Из-за коронавируса был отменен 

1)чемпионат по пинг-понгу в Альмерии, 

2)я не попала в Москву на свадьбу единственной сестры, (!!!) 

3)моя "эскапада" (поездка на 2-3 дня с целью абстрагироваться и отдохнуть) в отель с белыми простынями, бассейном и room service, естественно, тоже. Эх...

Зато я записала вебинар! Послушав его, вы сможете узнать, как я работаю, что мотивирует в первую очередь меня, как преподавателя, какие фишки я использую для того, чтобы превращать свои уроки в захватывающие приключения. Как сделать так, чтобы дети буквально бежали на ваши занятия, а усвоение материала проходило легко, эффективно и непринужденно. 

Вебинар будет полезен всем тем, кто хочет начать работать с маленькими детьми, ставя пред собой цель - влюбить в английский раз и навсегда, а также всем тем, кто хочет сделать апгрейд в своем стиле преподавания, выйдя на уровень "работать не просто эффективно, а в удовольствие", становясь самой популярной училкой ! Ведь влюбить в предмет в самом начале пути -это самый важный, фундаментальный "кирпичик" в начале любого нового путешествия!

I hope you enjoy it!

Смотреть вебинар

Lesson Plan

With small children it can be very helpful to have an established routine as it gives them a sense of security and they know what to expect. And all the new material or activities I present in a way of a surprise, something magical and super exciting. 

I have my lesson planned accroding to the one suggested by Vanessa Reilly and Sheila M.Ward in their book "Very Young Learners", Resource Books for Teachers and it works out quiete well with my kids:

1. A familiar song (we never sing the same song every lesson. I know that many teachers start teaching lesson with a "Hello" song. I don´t know what other kids are like, maybe they like it, but I´m pretty sure they are not as excited and motivated to sing it the 3rd or 4th time in a row). I choose one of the songs that we did during the term, that´s a perfect way to revise the topic taught before.

2. New language. (When I only started my teaching career, I thought that it wasn´t correct to give new material until the previous was polished to perfection, but, oh, my, how wrong I was!!!! Kids LOVE to be challenged! They love to learn new things, they literally enjoy it! So why should I deny that? ok, by NEW material I don´t refer to a different topic, something too diferent, no, if we´re studying food, for example, I´ll offer them something new from this very category. And believe me, kids are always looking forward to seeing/learning something new. This is the first motivational tip- keep them interested and challenged!

3. Craft activity connected with the new language. We LOVE this part of the lesson. And while kids are creating, I always tend to ask them a lot of questions holding onto the new and already taught language. Also it may be a good idea to play some little disctracting music or their favourite songs in the background.

4. A song, a rhyme or chant connected with the new language. For my practice this part is a must. I try to find something that attracts my pupils most: RAP songs (I don´t know why little kids love rap?), funny chanting with gestures for certain word and/or character.

"Religious practices have long recognized the mystic power of chanting. When words are linked to rhythm and music they seem to have more emotive and personal significance and so are remembered better" (Vanessa Reilly and Sheila M.Ward)

5. A familiar active game or activities with Total Physical Response (TPR). 
Depending on the topic and/or category that we´re studying right now, that can be a Simon Says Game, Duck-Goose Game, Detectives, etc.

6. As I´m also teaching reading, another part of the lesson is dedicated to the PHONICs.
I always start with a revision of PHONICS already taught:
-Feeding a Hungry Monster.
-Frying eggs.
-Finding all "As"...etc.

7. and then I give NEw phonics material
I usually give them 3 new phonics at a time.
I will write a separate post on phonics teaching later.

8. Sight words- practice, training,

9.A new Sight word introduction and practice

10. Storytelling: I always intend it to be interactive. Love using FELT board from time to time.

Why am I a forgetful teacher?

The idea of creating this blog occured to me because of my very bad memory. 

And because I LOVE teaching and always do my best to prepare my lessons in the most effective way for the kids to learn with easiness, joy and to have lots of fun while aquiring new knowledge. 

It is true that the ideal name for this blog would have been something like a..."Teacher´s diary"....., but all the possble options were unavailable, so let it be a FORGETFUL TEACHER. At the end, it is not the name that defines the blog, but its content. 

I´m going to share my lesson plans and ideas here, as well as I´m going to leave my own downloadble materials, which I design and use with my kiddos. 

Most of the educational materials that I create and use are made out of recycling. I LOVE to recycle.

And I also LOVE teaching ON A BUDGET!

And I am abosolutely open to new ideas and new prespectives. I never stop learning myself. That´s the point of teaching, I guess.

If someone would like to join me, I´ll be only happy to welcome you here.