first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Hi everybody,
I have an opportunity to teach almost three year olds once a week, and I have neither teaching experience nor training. It is the english speaking kindergarten and they just want some official classes of the language. I would appreciate some suggestions about the lesson plan for one class (about 30 minutes). I plan to introduce lots of music. I would go through themes like animals, body parts, numbers, clothes...What I don't know is exactly how to do it. Should I dedicate whole class to one theme? Should I finish with one theme over several classes and than go to the next one or should I mix them? Are they too young for storytelling? I know I am to change activities every 5 to 10 minutes but could anybody tell me an example of how one class could look like PLEASE!

Thank you!

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Normally kids cannot concentrate for too long so the best thing is vary your activities and above all make them fun. Using music which involves some body movements will help. A simple example is "If you are happy and you know it CLAP YOUR HANDS." By singing and miming the actions you put in the song you will make such activities fun and educational.
Do not teach too much vocab each lesson. Make your lessons very focused. For ex. I am going to teach them 4 animal names and the sentence pattern "I like cats."
I have been working on a site that may help you. Check out a Free Unit with resources to try.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Kisito thanks for your reply I will chack out the site.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Hi Sanja,

We spoke to each other on another forum about this problem.

Incidentally, I think that sticking to one theme for 30 minutes is more than enough, lends some coherence to your lesson and doesn't confuse them. I also think you can link themes and vocabulary up to stories. So, no, they are not too young for storytelling - they are the perfect age for it and it's a great way to present vocabulary and make it meaningful for them.

You can choose a classic song like Old MacDonald and teach vocab for animals, the farm, the farmer and farmhouse, for example. You can use animal noises as a base for a lot of games and teach the song before finally getting your hands on a simple book telling the Old MacDonald story to read with the children after a few lessons.

Note that I said "read with them" and not just "read to them" because if they have learnt that a cow goes "moo" in English, they can make the sounds when you are reading.

You can get at least four or five lessons, if not more, out of Old MacDonald or Little Red Riding Hood.

Contact me through my blog at Teaching English Lesson Plans for a quick chat about a lesson plan if you need more help for a specific lesson. I'll be glad to help.:)

Louanne

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Louanne thank you again!
On the other forum we talked about my first class, these were mostly 5 year olds, I am doing a coursebook with them. This is another job I am about to embark upon, with AlMOST 3 year olds, and I just thought it was a better idea not to do the coursebook with them. So I have to plan lessons all by myself.
Thank you again for your support and I will be free to contact you if in need as suggested.

Sanja

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Sanja,

I just wanted to say again that I think stories are the best way to go with little kids in the 3-5 age range. There is also a great site called Teaching English Games by Shelley Vernon that has some lovely and very helpful resources for the 3-5 age range.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Yeas, I have received a free story already. The problem is that in my country I don't have the opportunity of paying through internet.:eek:
Do you know any site offering free downloads of stories?

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

I don't know of any. Maybe you could find some on internet, you'd have to look. Otherwise, you can always use stories like I said above, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Old MacDonald etc...that you can find in any library.

However, I must stress that Shelley's work is very complete and not very expensive. She also has different prices for different countries. If you can't buy through internet from where you are, is there maybe someone you know who can buy it for you and then send it on?

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

We don't have much books in english in libraries :(, especially for children. I have someone from abroad though, who can buy me things I just have to wait for quite a while.
Thanks for your answer anyway.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

It doesn't matter if the books are not in English because the children won't be reading them! They'll be looking at the pictures while you read to them.

You know the stories, so make it up as you go along, but keep it simple. Or write up some lines for yourself for each picture so that you remember what you are "reading" and make sure that you use the vocabulary you have pre-taught them so that they understand.

Old MacDonald, for example, can go something like this:

The farmer Old MacDonald has a farm
This is Old MacDonald's tractor
On his farm he has a chicken
Look, there is his chicken
(once you've read the story a few times and children know their vocabulary you can say "pig" when it's a chicken and they'll correct you)
On his farm he has a pig
Look, there is the pig
(once children know the sounds a pig makes in English, you can say "what does a pig do?" at this point and they'll make the sounds)
On his farm he has a sheep
Look, there is a sheep
(if the children know their numbers and there are more than one animal in the picture you can count the animals with them)

And so on and so on...

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Oh thank you Louanne , you are a real help!!!

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Hello,

I have a class of 18 3-4 year olds and don't know what to do with them. I tried "If youre happy and you know it..." today but they didnt show much interest. Everybody mentions a variety of actiuvities but I cannot think of even one activity that would be interesting to them
(except for the activity with a dice and flashcards which I found on this site, that one worked really well!)

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Hi Beatrix,

It sounds like you're going to have to take charge of what activities your class are going to do and not ask them what they want to do. Have you written up a syllabus for what you want to cover with them for the course? I have written an article on writing a syllabus for an ESL classroom. It may give you some ideas on where to start.;)

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Sanjajerem and Beatrix,

I know the sometimes frustrating feeling of trying to teach pre-school aged children and getting nothing back from them. Some don't like dancing, some are crazy about dancing. They can barely speak their native language, and then we get to come in and make English noises at them.

For games, I try to stick to the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Touch games, Karuta (Japanese card slap game, I say *monkey*, kids slap that card), what's missing?, matching games, simple gestures, etc. I do it as a group activity and try not to have winners or losers. Safety in numbers. The dice game sounds like a good example. A deck of playing cards can be used in so many ways.

For songs, I use what could be called chants. There is a list of vocabulary or a simple sentence repeated over and over again in rhythm. I like Seven Steps, Head-Shoulder-Knees-and Toes, and the Rainbow Song (Red and yellow and pink and green...). You can take any vocabulary, put it to a rhythm, and make it into a song.

For topics, I like all to teach colors, numbers, shapes, animals, food, and body parts.

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Well thank you, it is helpful.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

yes, it is very helpful.thanks :)
can you you please tell in detail about some game with a deck of playing cards that you mentioned

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Beatrix,

I use trump cards to teach numbers, colors (sort of), and body parts.

Numbers: Using 1-10 cards, count together with the kids and deal one card for each number. When the number said matches the number dealt, kids can slap the pile (for older kids, I take away a card away every time they slap incorrectly).

Colors: I deal one card to each kid (or one for the whole group). They have to say Red or Black and guess the next card. You can continue until they guess one wrong, or deal one card each round. You can also do this with numbers and have them guess High or Low.

Body Parts: My friends call this "Funny Faces." Kids get a piece of paper (or you can draw a face on the blackboard) and pick two cards, one from the trump deck and the other with a body part on it. Black=big, red=small. Prompt them to say the vocab then draw it.

These are pretty straightforward and easy to demonstrate. You can probably think of a few others, but with kids under 5, it's better to hold onto the cards rather than let them hold them. My rule is "Keep them on the desk in front of you."

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Could you please tell me of a game with animal sounds appropriate for this age group. By the way I will have only 3 children.I searched the net for a while but with no success. I found one but it requires too much preparation.

Thank you

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

LouannePiccolo already posted one good idea.

I'm quite fond of Old McDonald, prepping the song by teaching the animals with picture cards and asking "A cow says?" Kids answer "MOO!" or the Chinese equivalent. I suggest teaching dog, cat, horse, cow, pig. They should recognize those animals but might not know their names or the sounds they make.

It might be a good idea to find out what the Chinese is for a few of them, and that way you know the kids understand the concept. They're not so different from the Japanese ones that I know. (wang=bark, miao=meow, si si=neigh neigh, mou mou=moo, heng heng=oink)

Once the kids know the voices, introduce the song. Make their only task saying the animal sounds and doing gestures. This can be changed to animal names. My kids only sing E-I-E-I-O and do the gestures :(.

I think anything more complex than this will be lost on 3 year olds.

Re: first time teaching almost 3 year olds
 

Thank you, I was not sure what the three year olds can do.