Learning English Successfully

English Second Language Storybooks Spark a Student’s Imagination

Daisy & George Stocker — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:00:43 +0000

English Foreign Language classes can accelerate learning if they offer exciting stories for the children to enjoy. People of all ages need to be interested in what they are studying. If you think of your own experience you’ll remember times when you were expected to learn material that held no interest for you. This article suggests ways in which storybooks can be used to spark imagination and creative writing.

How Can We Keep the Kids Interested and Excited About Learning English?
Thinking about what kids like will give us some clues. We suggest a few:
animals – friends – family – machines – space – wizards

adventure stories – mysteries – stories – science fiction – pictures – puzzles

games – drawing – singing – sports – talking activities – making things

anticipating something – guessing the ending – rewards – success – praise – being accepted – belonging to a group

The storybooks a teacher uses may be a part of the curriculum or they may be supplementary. The essential point is: How many of the above items do they include? A single storybook won’t provide all of the items but a series of books can involve many of them and the teacher can be the catalyst for many more.

Example:
If we choose “animals” then dinosaurs would likely be a popular choice. The story provided below includes an exciting adventure and requires the students to anticipate events. Other popular activities such as talking, drawing, guessing the ending, writing and working together are included.

Give each student a copy of the first part of this story. Do not give them the end of the story until they have done the following.
Explain:
Bob, Daniella, Nicholas and Sid are the children in this story. They have traveled back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. An enormous creature is attacking them but they are with the wizard, “Tempus”. He is a time traveler and has a sword with magic powers.

Story Excerpt:

Terrible Creature

Tempus saves the children.

Nicholas sees the terrible creature appear from behind a rock.
“Look at that!” he yells.
“Quickly, stand behind me!” commands Tempus. “I’ll need all the strength of my sword to protect us from this creature.”

The great reptile approached as Tempus raised his sword to protect them all.

Bob, Daniella, Nicholas and Sid watch as Tempus swings his sword and great clouds of smoke and sparks surround the creature. As Tempus worked to chase the creature away they could hear the roar of the angry reptile and the swishing of the sword.

Possible Class Activities
- discuss what Tempus and the enormous creature might look like
- discuss their environment
- ask if they would want to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs
- discuss how they would feel
- have the children imagine the scene and draw it

Brainstorm What They Think Will Happen Next
Will the creature be too strong for Tempus?
Will the children need to return to real time in a hurry?
Will Tempus kill the creature or will he scare it away?

Student Work
Have the students write several sentences or a paragraph telling what they think will happen next.
Have them divide into groups according to what they think will happen. Then they are to tell the other groups why they made that decision.

Distribute the Possible End of the Story
After many minutes had passed, the angry creature ran down over the rocks and away through the water. Tempus turned back and smiled at them all.

“He’s scared,” he said. “He won’t come back.”
“Wow! That was a blast!” they all shouted.

Explain that everyone’s ending was right because they were all storytellers and could create their own ending.

See Also:

Prehistoric Visits: Jurassic Times

Teacher Productivity Power Tips

ESL Grammar Practice Questions – The Conditional Video

Daisy & George Stocker — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:51:36 +0000

They made a big pot of stone soup

This is the video format of the blog

“ESL Grammar Practice Questions – The Conditional”

This video gives many practical examples of the use of

Conditional Sentences, while telling an interesting old story.

To view the video CLICK BELOW:

video-conditional-soup

Building English Language Confidence in Children

Daisy & George Stocker — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:00:15 +0000

Let’s assume you’re teaching rhyming words to your ESL class. Some of the children are interested in your rhyming words lesson but others aren’t participating. Perhaps they are shy, frightened or unfamiliar with some of the sounds. It’s important to understand why many English Second Language children feel frightened and insecure, but it’s more important to find a way to help them. This article discusses why some might be having difficulty participating and suggests some types of activities that could help them.

Why Do ESL Children New to an English Speaking Culture Have Difficulty Participating?
These students often have trouble understanding the language used by other kids on the playground, so they tend to withdraw from group participation. Perhaps they are confused about the behavior of the other children because they don’t understand the way the others react to different situations.

Why Do Some Children Living in Their First Language Environment Withdraw or Act-out in an English Foreign Language Class?
These children may reject learning a language different from the one spoken in their community. One child commented: “I don’t want to talk funny”.
They have no knowledge of what their future needs might be. It is understandable for them to want to cling to the language and culture that they know.

Suggestions for Helping Children New to an English Speaking Culture
or Those Learning English in Their First Language Environment.

Giraffe

Drawing:
For shy or frightened children with very little English, give them a small drawing assignment where oral language isn’t required. They should remain sitting with the rest of the group you are teaching. This removes the pressure for them to understand and speak, but they are hearing the lesson, they are still a part of the group and perhaps they understand some of it. They will want to be like the other children and they will participate more and more if their small attempts are recognized and they receive lots of teacher encouragement.

Songs and Verses:
At the pre-teen level these can be repeated many times. Songs are easy to remember. Students who have difficulty participating can sing with the rest of the group. Young shy or frightened students will enjoy participating in action songs or verses. It is important, however, that for the ten, eleven and twelve year olds, the choice of songs is what the other students consider to be “cool”.

Friendly Alien Puppet

Boy Girl Puppets

These are another effective way of helping children to speak. At first they can take a puppet’s role by speaking in unison with another child. As they gain confidence they will be able to speak for the puppet by themselves. For the child, it’s the puppet that’s talking, so the fear of making a mistake is minimized.

Every classroom group is different. Try any or all of these suggestions and adapt them to your style of teaching. If they help even one student in your classroom to feel more confident, then any changes you have made have been worthwhile.

Simple Rod Puppets:

Hand Puppet Resources:

ESL Grammar Practice Questions – The Conditional

Daisy & George Stocker — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:12:26 +0000

Could you play a trumpet like this?

Conditional sentences can be tricky for the ESL student. People will understand you if you use the conditional incorrectly, but those who master it, speak with real polish.

The following is a guide to its usage, and some practice questions.

There are three words that are used for the conditional:

COULD – to be able WOULD – expresses intention SHOULD – duty

The conditional is used to ask politely for something:
I would like coffee, please.

It is used to express doubt, so is often preceded by an “if” clause: If I got home early I could help my mother.

It is used to express a duty to do something:
We shouldvisit my aunt in the hospital.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES: UNTRUE FACTS IN THE PRESENT TENSE

CLAUSE: A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb.

Clause 1 I would meet her at 7:00

Clause 2 if she weren’t at work.

If the sentence is untrue at the time, use the past tense in the “if” clause.

“were” is used for both singular and plural in conditional sentences.

If I were rich, I would buy a new car. If I were a dog, I would chase cats.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES: THE FUTURE TENSE

If the future tense “will” is used, put the “if clause” into the present tense.

EXAMPLES:

I will tell him if I see him.

He will understand if I tell him.

The following is a story of long ago. It is full of conditional sentences. See if you can fill in the correct tense in the blanks.

Long ago, three hungry travelers were looking for a place to spend the night.

1^st Traveler: “I think there’s a village up ahead.”

2^nd Traveler: “I’m starving! If I had a cow I (to eat) _________________ it.

1^st Traveler: “If wishes were horses, beggars (to ride) _______________.

2^nd Traveler: “If there is a village ahead, maybe we (to get) ______________ something to eat.

Soon the travelers came to a small village.

3^rd Traveler: “This looks like a nice place.”

2^nd Traveler: “If they have some food, I (to be happy) _________________.

They ask the villagers for some food.

1^st Traveler: “( to give) __________________ us something to eat?

1^st Woman: “I’m sorry, sir! These are hard times! We hardly have enough for ourselves.

2^nd Woman: “I’m sorry, we have had a hard winter.”

No one had food for the hungry travelers.

3^rd Traveler: “We’ll make stone soup.”

How could they make good soup with just a stone?

1^st Traveler: “Get a fire going and some water on to boil.”

2^nd Traveler: “I’ll find a nice stone to put in it.”

The travelers built a fire and boiled a big pot of water with a stone in it. When the villagers saw this, they came and asked what they were making.

“Stone soup. It’s delicious!” came the answer.

“How could they make a good soup with just a stone?” the villagers asked. “It needs something more!”

1^st Lady: ”I have a few old potatoes they (to have)__________________. We (give) _____________________ them something.”

2^nd Lady: “Here are a couple of carrots they (to have)____________________.

And so the villagers brought little bits of food. Some brought a couple of vegetables, others brought a piece of meat or chicken. Soon the pot was full.

Soon the pot was full.

That night the weary travelers had a wonderful meal. They ate all the food they (to hold) _______________________. There was so much soup, they shared it with many of the poor villagers. Everyone who wanted it had a big bowl of stone soup.

To check your answers click below>>

stone-soup-answers

Suggestions and Activities For Teaching Verb Tenses

Motivating Young Children During Difficult or Boring Subjects

Daisy & George Stocker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:44:52 +0000

Let’s assume that the children have had time to settle into the classroom environment and that you are ready for them to begin the first lesson. This is their best learning time. They have focused in on an English environment and have had a short time to adapt to the change from their last situation. This first lesson will include the most difficult material to be taught. It will likely include listening, and because listening and understanding are the most difficult, this is the best time to give your oral explanation. This articles provides suggestions for getting the children excited about your lesson.

Tips for Giving Oral Explanations to ESL Students Aged 5 to 8

- Have a picture that represents your subject matter.

- Draw on the board as you talk. Don’t worry about your artistic abilities. The children will love it if their drawings are better than yours. Funny things facilitate learning.

- Take advantage of their drawing ability and have them draw small parts of what you are explaining on the board. They will be listening! They’ll be laughing and involved, learning English will be exciting.

- Dramatize what you are saying with your own actions. Sometimes it seems that teachers need to be able to do everything!

- Follow your own dramatics by giving the children a chance to imitate them while you give them the language.

How Can You Capture Every Child’s Attention?

- The first lesson needs to present something of interest. It might be a song, verse, picture, or a map. Most children are fascinated by machines or electronic equipment.

- If you are using a textbook you have purchased, it might be effective to display some part of it using an overhead projector.

- Children relate to computers. When they sit down at a computer they give it their full attention, no matter what problems they may have.

- Perhaps you are wondering how to include boring subjects such as phonics. If your lesson includes identifying rhyming words, listening or phonics , then this is the time to teach it. Using any of the teaching aids mentioned above or any others you may have, move into the difficult content.

Let’s suppose you are teaching rhyming words .
Have the students listen to a funny / interesting verse.
For Example:
Explain that A1, A2, A3, and A4 are friendly aliens.They’re flying to Earth in their rocket. On the Internet children can see the rocket zooming in to land near their home. A1 is introducing his friends to all the kids on Earth. Have the children repeat A1′s introduction and identify the rhyming words.

Possible extentions:
- have the children draw what they think the aliens should look like
- brainstorm and list other related rhyming words
- talk about what they might see on a rocket
- talk about space
- make alien puppets

If you are teaching specific sounds or rhyming words, make up or use a program that offers meaningful examples of what you are teaching. Use examples that are fun so the children can enjoy repeating them. They will learn if they are enjoying the lesson.

See Also:

Hand Puppet Resources:

Simple Rod Puppets:

ESL Storybooks

Manor House Secrets Video – Part 4

Daisy & George Stocker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:30:44 +0000

In Part 4 of Manor House Secrets, Alphonse Dupuis finds many answers.

What was the Earl drinking that night?

To view the video click below>>

mystery-part-4

Developing Listening Comprehension in Children

Daisy & George Stocker — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:42:08 +0000

If English Second language children are interested and actively involved in what they are doing, they will learn to understand English. This article will present a type of activity that develops listening comprehension.

When children learn their first language they are often responding to their parent’s language in an active way. Their response frequently includes both physical action and verbal understanding. When we consider how much language children learn during those first years of their life, it alerts us to think about how we can duplicate the home situation in the classroom. We need to create a situation wherein they listen and make a physical response.

Criteria for Successfully Mimicking the Language Learning Environment in the Home

- control the difficulty of the language being presented.

An Exciting Story

- present the language in a meaningful and exciting way.

- provide a well organized classroom setting.

- present English in a setting that allows every ESL student to hear.

- motivate the children to listen through the use of pictures.

Action Game

- provide the children with an opportunity to respond physically.

As we consider how we can achieve listening plus a physical response, it’s important to remember that we are teaching listening and understanding. There are many aspects of this that we need to control if we are going to successfully create a learning situation that adapts to the classroom but mimics the first language learning situation of the home. Young children listen and understand before they speak. This activity does not deal with speaking.

Picture Bingo Fulfills the Above Criteria
It is an exciting game that requires the children to listen in order to successfully match the phrases that they hear to the pictures on the grid. It’s best if the pictures are related to a story that they have previously heard or read, as this makes the pictures more meaningful.

Picture Bingo

This game has many advantages:
- it relates the phrases and pictures to a subject they already know about.
- it allows for as much repetition as needed, as the children never get tired of playing.
- a student wins due to chance, and his or her understanding of the phrases.
- it provides enrichment vocabulary using the initial set of pictures.
- the colorful cards can be laminated and used many times.

Suggestions for Playing Picture Bingo

Give each student one Bingo card. If you have more students than cards, several children can have the same card but they shouldn’t be sitting together. The vocabulary will have been introduced in the lesson with the exception of a few words. The children are not expected to know the captions on the first or second time through the game. It is a learning process, so that after a few games they will be able to respond quickly. During the first games help the students and encourage them to help each other. Limit the amount of help as they become familiar with the material.

This simple game effectively integrates visual and auditory input. It is a wonderful motivator as the children never get tired of playing. It is suitable for children with a little vocabulary or for those who have had more experience with English. Children between the ages of six and twelve will find it exciting.

See Also:

ESL Storybooks

Teacher Productivity Power Tips

Hand Puppet Resources:

Simple Rod Puppets:

Motivating the Children’s First ESL Lesson of the Day

Daisy & George Stocker — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:36 +0000

You are ready for them to begin their first lesson of the day. This is their best learning time. They have focused in on an English environment and have had a short time to adapt to the change from their last situation. This first lesson will include the most difficult material to be taught.

It will likely include listening and because listening and understanding are the most difficult, this is the best time to give your oral explanation.

How can you capture every child’s attention?

The first lesson needs to present something of interest.

It might be a song, verse, picture, map, or a video.

Most children are fascinated by machines or electronic equipment.

If you are using a textbook you have purchased it might be effective to display some part of it using the overhead projector.

Children relate to computers. When they sit down at a computer they give it their full attention, no matter what problems they may have.

Perhaps you are wondering how to include boring subjects such as phonics. If your lesson includes a listening phonetic lesson then this is the time to teach it. Using any of the teaching aids mentioned above or any others you may have, move into the difficult content.

Let’s suppose you are teaching rhyming words.

Have the students listen to a funny / interesting verse as you present a related teaching aid.

For Example:

Click Dances

Buzz Dances

Explain that Buzz and Click are friends, singing a song as they dance.

We’re glad we’re here

It’s good we came.

We’ll travel far

And play many a game.

See Also:

Teacher Productivity Power Tips