Posts Tagged ‘storytelling with language learners’
Play It Up During Storytime! 3 Ways To Inspire your ESL Students With Drama!
Play It Up During Storytime! 3 Ways To Inspire your ESL Students With Drama! 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…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Teacher Unforgettable?
We have just completed this September’s 5-Day Intensive training course in Florence with some amazing teachers from around the globe, all with different backgrounds and teaching experiences. It was great fun!🤩 I’m always super excited about meeting new groups and I usually start the first day of each teacher training course with a simple question:…
Read MoreStorytelling with young language learners
I used to really dislike storytelling with my young language learners. Why? Because it was such hard work! I would find it exhausting maintaining children’s attention for longer than a “page” and it crushed me when I saw eyes rolling 🙄or heard little voices exclaim “when is it finished?” or worse still “this is BORING!!”.😴 I…
Read MoreWhy do English lessons flop?
Have you ever prepared an activity for your children based on what you’ve read somewhere or seen someone do? But when you introduce it, it completely FLOPS?😢 Why is that? A lot comes down to how we communicate. I often see teachers with impressive qualifications, knowledge and experience but with something fundamental missing: Effective communication…
Read MoreHow to teach children English through role-play
One of the most challenging aspects of teaching children English is getting them to speak spontaneously and without embarrassment. But how do we that? ROLE-PLAYING offers children multiple opportunities to “try-out” fun roles and situations like at the restaurant, at the doctors, at the market –in a safe and supportive setting before they try them…
Read MoreESL Drama Games and Stories
Are you looking for new activity ideas and storybooks to introduce to your children? One of my children’s favourite storybooks is The Color Monster: A Story about Emotions by Anna Lienas. Do you know it? It’s a beautifully illustrated pop-up storybook and the simple language makes it ideal for introducing or reviewing colours and emotions with…
Read MorePerforming with young language learners
Just before Christmas my 5-6 year old language learners presented their own “mini Christmas show” to families and friends. 10-minutes of sparkling Christmas songs and chants that ended with all the children showering paper snowflakes on our young protagonist, dressed up as a Christmas tree! I always get so excited seeing children performing and putting into…
Read MoreHow do you build a child’s confidence in English?
There is no doubt that it is simpler to teach and boost confidence in children who are naturally extrovert and who readily jump in and try new things with zest and enthusiasm. But what about shy or introverted children? How can we encourage them to become confident communicators, presenters, leaders? It’s a challenge we teachers face…
Read MoreAlways be prepared for the unexpected when teaching children ESL
When I first started teaching children English and Drama I completely underestimated just HOW MUCH planning and didactic materials were needed to teach a 60-minute lesson. I remember holding one of my very first lessons teaching a group of 6-year olds and feeling super-confident that I had more than enough material to last the lesson…
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