[CSUK87]

Hi,

I have just started teaching at a new school in Shanghai. I am not massively experienced in teaching ESL.

Basically the school as I said is brand new, will be opening in July - August this year. I am the first teacher the school have taken on and basically been tasked with sorting out everything, the school is nice with brand new electronic whiteboards ETC but when I first arrived they had none of the most basic stuff like flashcards, toys, paper, coloring pens and all the everyday stuff you need to teach young kids ESL aged 3 - 8 years old, I have made a list of stuff I need which they are more then happy to get whatever I say I need and apart from this they are all really nice, paying me well and giving me free accommodation.

They have asked me to design, create and do games for the children and perform at a live public square to lots of parents of potential students.

We have had a few of the schools owners bring there kids in along with there friends kids for some demo classes and at the weekend, which is great for practice and it is better than sitting around waiting for the school to open. But it is fairly difficult to keep coming up with new things to do with limited resources and other teachers to bounce ideas of, so I have been scrolling through all the ESL teaching websites and have got some great ideas off them, but would like to hear from some teachers out there who have maybe been in a similar situation and how they dealt with it or if any one has great games and activities that I could use on the open day in the public square?

Thanks!

Charles

[RobertZimmerman]

Try to make the class as interactive as you can try to put yourself in their place:

- sing alongs (ex: ABC song or old mcdonald)

- four corners (ex: put colors in each corner of the room and call a fruit like grape and the students run to the purple corner)

- ball games (get multi colored balls and ask the students to pick out a certain color or hide them in a certain place around the room/school)

- picture books

- animal sounds (ex: use a computer to play the animal sound and the students must name the animal or vis versa)

[aurays]

How about a small Treasure Hunt? Hide objects with clues on them all over the classroom. Give them a set of questions they must answer in order to find out where the final prize hides.

The clues could be riddles, part of songs, or any other little challenge that would keep them looking for the solution.