Special guest Nick Fuhrman joins us from Georgia University, USA to talk about what makes a great teacher. His passion for teaching, his unique way of engaging and motivating students and even helping them overcome their fear of speaking in public by using an unusual teaching resource.

Dr Nick Fuhrman , also known as Ranger Nick, is a distinguished professor of environmental education at Georgia University, USA. He’s a tv personality and a motivational speaker and he’s also given a Tedx talk about “Things All Great Teachers Do” inspiring teachers worldwide with his humour and contagious enthusiasm.

He’s a role model and example that – regardless what subject you teach it’s HOW you teach that truly makes a difference.

Check out the golden nuggets on making the most of “teachable moments” and motivational rewards for young AND big kids

Do you often use “unusual” teaching tools to engage with young learners?

Be theatrical

Miranda

The post What makes a great teacher? – Interview With Nick Fuhrman appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

Teaching young language learners online is one of those things that you either love or you have to LEARN to love because you have no other choice right now.

But, it’s hard getting started and by far the biggest challenge is capturing young children’s attention and maintaining their focus (for longer than 10 seconds) through a cold, unfriendly pc screen!

Key factors that switch students off from learning effectively online are:

• Not feeling directly involved
• Unable to see and connect properly with the teacher
• Feeling unenergized
• Not being visually stimulated
• Bored being seated for long lengths of time

So,

1. How can online teaching be made easier and less stressful for teachers?
2. How do teachers get students plugged- in and LIT UP to learning?

In this video lesson I share :

5 Quick Ways to Teach Online – How To Capture Children’s Attention and Keep It!

I hope you find it helpful to your online teaching:)

Don’t forget to like, share, comment, and subscribe so you don’t miss future videos!

The post 5 Quick Ways to Teach Online – How To Capture Children’s Attention And Keep It appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

When a holiday is approaching, it’s a great opportunity to do something special with your ESL students. Lead a fun arts and crafts activity that corresponds with the holiday! A pop-up bunny puppet is very easy to do as Easter rolls around. When paired with a chant and some chocolate eggs, you’ve got all the ingredients for a fun English lesson. 

Aside from being fun and engaging, having quick and simple arts and crafts activities in the classroom/lab/holiday camp provide developmental benefits for your students. They are great for developing the students’ fine motor skills as well as language skills. The students will learn to comprehend instructions in English and also get to exercise some creativity, which is crucial.

For your materials you will need:

• Green construction paper
• Crepe paper in a few different colors
• A wooden stick or balloon stick
• A printed picture of an Easter Bunny on paper
• Chocolate eggs

I can show you step-by-step how to make this craft in my Youtube tutorial. Keep the chocolates hidden away for later, as they’ll make a fun surprise for the end. It’s also a good idea to practice doing the craft once so that you have a handle on it before you get up in front of the classroom.

Lead a fun arts and crafts activity for Easter!

When your students have finished making their puppets, you can have them say this chant with you to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. This is a good way to work in some language practice in addition to the crafting activity.

Easter, Easter’s nearly here,

Lots of fun this time of year,

Here’s my friend the Easter Bunny,

Bringing chocolate eggs to my tummy,

Easter, Easter’s nearly here,

Lots of fun this time of year.

Now that you have finished the craft, and students are getting ready to go home, whip out that stash of coveted chocolate eggs. Pop a few chocolates in their crafted cones as they go home for the day! It’ll be a good way to end the lesson and reward your students for a job well done.

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

The post <strong>How to Make an Easter Bunny Pop-up Puppet</strong> – Lead a fun arts and crafts activity for Easter! appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

Presents, treats, and festive decorations make the Christmas season a favorite time of year among many children. This calls for special arts and crafts projects that will get them excited for the holidays. There are many to choose from so you’ll need to pick the best one for your classroom. A fun and easy one is making a Christmas Cracker. 

Christmas Crackers are a tradition from the U.K. It originates from a story about a candymaker. In 1861, Tom Smith had trouble selling his candy and he tried to think of a way to get people to start buying them. Legend has it, he was inspired by the crackling sound of a log. He then developed a packaging that would crack when it’s opened and sweets would come tumbling out. He called them ‘Bangs of Expectation!’

Even today, when families are sitting together at home or at the dinner table, it’s customary to pull open a Christmas Cracker with someone else and use what’s inside. You put on the paper hat that’s inside, tell a corny joke, and play with the trinket or toy. It’s great fun and you can share this tradition with your ESL students.

If you want to see a step-by-step demonstration of how to make one, I have a  Youtube tutorial for you to follow along with.

The materials you will need are:

• Tissue paper
• Construction paper
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Clear tape
• Ribbon
• Candy
• Mini toys

After your ESL students have about finished making their Christmas Crackers, pass out those small toys and treats so that they can put them inside. They’ll be able to share them with their brothers or sisters at home.

If you have another tradition from your own culture you’d like to share, you could also be inspired by that to lead an activity or plan a craft for your students. Following instructions in English will help strengthen their listening skills and the crafting itself will engage them and foster creativity.

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more Christmas activities and chants , drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

The post How To Make A Christmas Cracker – Share the U.K. Christmas tradition with your ESL Students appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

Sometimes it’s hard to get the right amount of energy going in an ESL classroom. You want your students actively participating, but not bouncing off the walls. You want them to be focused and not falling asleep.

A good drama energizer game can help us get to that perfect middle ground while still practicing some ESL topics.

This is a simple, structured energizer that you can play in class or online. Make sure to have some flashcards on hand. These flashcards can have letters of the alphabet, numbers (preferably between 1-10), or basic shapes. You’ll use these to lead the game.

Here’s how to play:

Step 1 – Separate your class into two teams

Step 2 – Pick a student from each team to come up in front of the class.

Step 3 – Secretly show a letter on a card to each of them.

Step 4 – Have them draw the letter (or number/shape) in the air.

Step 5 – Pick on the first student who raises their hand to let them guess the letter.

The first student to correctly guess what the students drew in the air scores a point for their team. Pick another student from each team and do it over again for another round. And that’s the game!

To prevent the children from shouting over one another and losing the room, really emphasize that you’ll only pick on someone who has their hand raised nicely.

To adapt this game for online classes, you’ll take on the task of drawing shapes in the air yourself. It will be too difficult to try and do it like in the classroom. To keep it simple, have your students use a colorful handmade paddle to “raise their hand.” Much like one you use at an auction, it’ll be easy to see and it’ll keep the noise level down so students won’t shout out the answer.

To see a demonstration of this ESL Drama Energizer Game, click here!

Hope you enjoy playing this Drama energizer game with your ESL Students in class or online

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

The post Play This Drama Energizer Game with Your ESL Students in Class Or Online appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

For students learning English as a second language, storytelling is a fantastic way to cross the language barrier because it’s part of the human experience and is present in every culture. You can use this to your advantage as an ESL teacher by combining storytelling with dramatization to pull in your students and help them really enjoy learning English. You might even inspire them to create their own stories!

You can dramatize your storytelling using some simple drama techniques

Here are 3 simple ways to get started:

1. Start by speaking more slowly, with more emphasis on your words using your intonation. You can even repeat some keywords or actions as you read along to check your students’ comprehension.

2. Use different voices to engage your students. Try whispering part of the story to create suspense or singing part of the story to make your students laugh. Change your voice pitch, tone and ask the children simple questions as you read the story to keep them focused and participative.

3. Exaggerate your facial expressions and physical movements. Try wearing a simple costume (hat, cloak, spectacles etc.) and incorporate some fun props to set the scene of the story and create a magical atmosphere. Finally, try having  students act out and recreate the story themselves. By inspiring children to create their own fantasy worlds their language skills and confidence quickly improve.

When it comes to incorporating these techniques in your classroom, a good place to start is picking out a good storybook. As I demonstrate in my Youtube video, a simple story with good visuals is key. It gives you room to dramatize the story.

Will You Be My Friend? by Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar,  is an excellent storybook choice for several reasons. The story itself is simple with little text. Most importantly, the visuals of the story are engaging. The tail of an animal is shown at first and then the grand reveal is on the next page. This is an easy one to engage students with because you can have them guess what the next animal is and you can play up the characters with different voices.

Other great storybook ideas are:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle
2. Brown Bear – Eric Carle
3. Good News Bad News – Jeff Maki
4. Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell
5. The Colour Monster –  Anna Llenas
6. Pete The Cat –  Eric Litwin

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

The post Play It Up During Storytime! 3 Ways To Inspire your ESL Students With Drama! appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

Rule #1- Quick to Teach, Simple to Play

The most important thing to remember when choosing a game is to choose one that’s quick to teach and simple to play. If you end up explaining too many rules for too long your students will get bored, and you will have lost them before you even finished explaining the game. You can maintain their attention much better if what you have to explain only takes 30 seconds to a minute. 

Rule #2- Keep General Rules to a Maximum of Three

To avoid overloading your students with too many rules, keep it to a game that has 3-4 rules at the maximum. That is more than enough to get an activity started. If you find it’s still too easy, you can always add rules later, but for the beginning, three is a magic number for rules.

Rule #3- Explain Rules Using Simple Language

Use simple, short words that you are confident your students will understand. Long, complicated phrases might confuse them and it’ll get in the way of actually playing the game. You’ll spend too much time re-explaining rather than playing!

Rule #4- Be Theatrical!

There’s a reason this is the Kids English Theatre motto. It is vital in communicating with your students. Let actions, tone, strong inflections, and facial expressions accompany your words. It will help your students understand you better and help them pay attention. You’ll find that they will totally mirror your enthusiasm if you are the one coming in with high energy.

Rule #5- Test Drive the Game

This is a great tip if your game involves splitting up into team and scoring points. Once you’ve split up your students, run a test round to see that they understand the rules.  Then you can play the game for real!

Rule #6- Use Keywords in their Native Language

If there’s some confusion about the game, use some words in their native language to explain the game. Don’t stress out over having to use English for the instructions. You want to dive into the game as quickly as you can. Playing the game is much more important for their learning, so the faster you get to it, the better. 

Rule #7- Play Along With Your Students!

Your enthusiasm and involvement is crucial to having the students get involved as well. When they see you play along, they will magically just start doing it with you. If you’re having fun, they wil have fun as well.

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

The post 7 Ways To Quickly Explain Game Rules to ESL Students appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

You can recite a story, song, or poem with the puppet. You can even have them interact with the children by asking them questions about the lesson, encouraging involvement from even your shyest students. The benefit of using puppets to teach English is that they provide an opportunity to help your ESL students practice listening or reviewing target language. Your enthusiastic interaction with clear and emphatic pronunciation will be of great importance in this scenario.

Not sure where to start? Here’s one fun demonstration you can use with your young ESL students, courtesy of Miranda. In this video, Miranda uses a cute black and white mouse in a tin can to help her act out this poem.

1-2-3-4-5-6

Every day at 6 o’clock, a black and white mouse comes out his box,

He looks at you, he looks at me, he looks around for his tea,

And there on a plate, next to the clock, is something yellow, and smells like old socks,

But, munch, munch, munch, nibble, nibble, nibble, nibble (x3)

Now, the mouse is full to his middle,

1-2-3-4-5-6-7

Every day at 7 o’clock, the little mouse says, “Goodbye!” and goes back in his box.

With the mouse sound asleep, you can transition into the next English lesson. Quietly, though! You don’t want to wake the little mouse up.

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

The post Poems and Puppets To Put a Smile On Your ESL Students’ Face appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

Here’s how to play this drama game.

Ask your students to gather everyday household objects. They can be cooking utensils, office supplies, or clothing items. Stay away from glasses and plates that are breakable. While this is a very safe activity, we want to avoid any possible accidents from slippery fingers. Mum and Dad won’t be happy with that!

Once every student has the objects you’ve asked them to go find, demonstrate the activity. Pick one of the objects and enthusiastically act out like it’s something else. A coat hanger can become a guitar, a wooden spoon can become a conductor’s baton, two toilet roll holders can a become a pair of binoculars. Get creative!

Then, pick one student at a time, and have them mime what one of the objects could be. You’ll be surprised with how imaginative your students are. As they think of ideas, they might say things in their native language (perhaps you haven’t gotten to this kind of vocabulary yet). That’s okay because that makes for a great teachable moment. Help them with the translation or refer to ideas from past lessons.

This kind of drama game is great for teaching students English because it builds those connections between language and things they see on a day-to-day basis. Generally, using games to teach helps motivate students to learn English outside of class and it improves their focus to learn more in the moment. So, encourage them to have fun with it and you’ll bring your lesson to the next level!

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be theatrical!

The post Play an Object Transformation Game To Teach Students English Online appeared first on Kids English Theatre.

 All of these activities have some element of using active recall to help children learn. Active recall is the most efficient way to move information from short-term memory to long-term memory. It is the best way to make sure your ESL students learn their vocabulary in a way that really sticks.

Activity 1 – The Costume Change

This activity is a little like Spot The Difference, but on you, the teacher. Have some costume clothes ready, like a cape, some funky glasses, a bowtie, or a colourful shirt. Make sure that they are big enough to put over your regular clothes. Tell your students to take a good look at you and then have them close their eyes.You can have them put their heads down if you have some peekers. Remove one piece of clothing and then have them open their eyes again. Ask them to guess what you have taken off. Do this as many times as you can with the clothes you have. It’s a great way to test clothing vocabulary and work their active memory.

Activity 2 – The Mystery Box

This is also a great memorization game to test vocabulary. Get a good-sized box and gather a selection of props that can fit inside. These props can look like small toys, tools, stuffed animals, or household items. Lay out all these props in front of your students and ask them to memorize everything they see. Then hide the items by covering them with box. Call on one student at a time. The student that can name all six objects (or however many there are) is the winner!

Activity 3 – Peek-A-Boo Flashcard

This activity is very easy. You put up a screen or cardboard in front of you and then slowly raise an illustrated flashcard over the edge. Ever so slowly, so they don’t know what it is right away. The slow reveal of the picture will make your students have to guess what it is and then call out what they see. This is a great way to actively strengthen the connection between visuals and vocabulary. 

These three activities are very easy to do in a physical classroom or online. They all help ESL students learn new terms in a way that challenges them to actively recall terms rather than passively review them.

For more ideas on how to teach English through drama, download the free e-book, Teach Children English Through Drama.

Visit the Kids English Theatre Youtube Channel for more drama games, language exercises, puppetting demos, and other fun ideas to make your lessons fun and unforgettable. 

Be Theatrical!

Miranda

The post 3 Theatre Activities To Help ESL Students Learn Vocabulary appeared first on Kids English Theatre.