Young Learners, level 2: Greek heroes to help you learn.

14th November 2022

Divide the class into small teams. Each team is given paper, crayons, markers and a board.

The teams are names after Greek heroes:

Heracles

Theseus

Perseus

The heroes need to fight evil monsters.

Heracles must beat Cerberus, an angry dog with three heads.

Theseus must beat the Minotaur, an animal half man, half bull. The Minotaur is very, very strong.

Perseus must beat Medusa, a woman with dangerous snakes in her hair. Anyone who looks at Medusa will turn to stone.

The task is not easy, it is a task for heroes. The heroes must answer questions, write, draw and conjugate verbs.

The first team to get 10 points will win. Let’s get started.

1) Write down an animal that is black and white

2) Write down 2 animals that can fly

3) Write 3 animals that can swim

4) A _________ can _____ a house

5) A _________ can ____ fruit and vegetables

6) A ________ can ____ people who are not well.

7) A football player scoring / scores goals.

8) A teacher teach / teaches students.

9) I play / plays guitar.

10) Chose one person to draw. On the board, draw your monster (Cerberus, Minotaur or Medusa). You have three minutes each.

11) Complete the sentences with adjectives.

A dog is very ____ and _____ .

A crocodile is very ______ and ______ .

A panda is very ______ and ________ .

12) Write 2 things you do in the morning

13) Write 2 things you do in the afternoon

14) Write 2 things you do in the evening

15) Draw a clock on your board

Show me five o’clock

Show me seven o’clock

Show me twelve o’clock

16) Write 2 words that begin with bl, cl, pl.

17) Conjugate these verbs

Heracles:

I am scared of lions / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

Theseus:

I am very strong / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

Perseus:

I am not scared of snakes / you / he / she / it / Mr John / we / they

18) Answer ‘Sure, that sounds fun,’ ‘Good idea,’ or ‘Not really.’

Do you want to fight a lion ?

Do you want to do homework all day ?

Do you want to play tennis ?

19) Team Heracles suggest something to Team Theseus and get a response. Team Theseus ask Team Perseus, and Team Perseus ask Team Heracles.

EXAMPLE: Do you want to drink water ?

20) Some or any.

There is ____ milk.

There isn’t ____ chicken.

There are _____ grapes.

Are there ______ eggs ?

Is there ____ juice ?

_____ there _____ water ?

21) You have 10 seconds. Write food that is healthy. Write food that is unhealthy. Write some drinks.

22) Write 2 fun places for children in Sai Gon

23) Write a sentence using

exciting / dangerous / happy

24) Sing the finish work song (“Dear teacher, I am finished.”)

25) How can you kill a skeleton. Watch the hero Jason.

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Young learners, levels 1 & 2: what to do in Sai Gon

8th November 2022

An activity for lower-level students, to help develop listening skills as well as creative thinking. Students should be encouraged to speak in sentences as opposed to shouting out single-word answers.

Putting students into teams, creating a competitive atmosphere is very beneficial. Therefore split the class into groups of four or so students. Each group is given a marker and board, paper and crayons.

The video is about activities for children to do in Sai Gon (the actual video starts around 0:30, and the subtitles are not always correct):

Tell the class to watch very carefully; they will be asked questions about the video.

After the first viewing, ask some basic questions, such as what activities did they see, have they been or done any of these, did the children have fun etc.

Then play the video again and ask more detailed questions

Question 1: What was the first activity ?

2: Name 5 animals you saw 3: What can you do there ?

4: What was activity 2 ? 5: how high is the wall ? 6: do you think this is dangerous ? 7: how much does it cost ?

8: what was activity 3 ? 9: what can you hear ? 10: is the show in English or Vietnamese ?

11: what was activity 4 ? 12: what day is it closed ? 13: what is the cost for adults and children

Part 2: what activity do you like best. Tell me why. Try to use these adjectives:

fun / exciting / healthy / dangerous / happy

Part 3: draw a day out in Sai Gon and write about your day. You may have 1 activity or many.

Example:

I go to Dam Sen Water Park with my family.

It is fun and we are happy.

We can swim and play in the water. The Water Park is exciting.

It is a great day.

Part 4: Grammar

I am very happy // You … very happy // He … // She … // It … // Ms Huong // We … // They …

Answers 1: Artinus 3-D Museum 2: cheetah, lizard, gorilla, butterfly, unicorn, frog, dinosaur, birds, bears, fish, octopus, lion 3: take photos 4: X-rock climbing 5: 20 metres 6: yes, it can be dangerous 7: $6 an hour 8: water-puppet show 9: you can hear singing and traditional music 10: in Vietnamese 11: Dam Sen Water Park 12: Tuesdays 13: $6 adult, $3 child

Young Learners, Level 3: using new adjectives.

14th October 2022

The last two lessons focused on adjectives and their opposites, including:

big~ small // high ~ low // sharp ~ blunt //

easy ~ difficult // rough ~ smooth //

quiet ~ noisy // fat ~ thin // safe ~ scary

Complete the sentences with the correct adjective.

I can’t cut my hair, my scissors are __________

My puppy is so _______ however, my hedgehog is very _____________ .

The maths test was so _______ however the science test was so ________________ .

Be careful, Ms Thuy ! The man is very ______ .

Laurel and Hardy are so funny. One is very _____ however, one is very ______ .

Yoyoko is only _________________ however she is very ______________ !

Harold is climbing very _____

Oh, no ! Crocodiles have very ______ teeth.

Now … your turn

Get out your list of adjectives. Write THREE sentences with new adjectives.

To help, look at these photos:

Young Learners, level 1: let’s write a story

13th October 2022

Today you are going to write a short story about your favourite animal.

First, what animals do you like ?

A is for …. // B is for … // C is for … // D is for … //

E is for … // H is for … // L is for … ? // M is for … //

R is for … // S is for … // T is for … // W is for … ?

Then listen to this short story about a rabbit called Peter. The story is by Beatrix Potter.

You will learn some new words. Try to use them in YOUR story.

New verbs and adverbs: (use present tense or Verb 1)

underneath / squeeze / chase / catch / hide /

New adjectives:

naughty / lost / safe / friendly / happy / scared /

Now … your turn

Make four squares on your paper like this.

Think of a story. Start like this:

[Square 1] I will tell you the story of …

[Square 2] First … was naughty.

(what does your animal do ?)

[Square 3] Then … chase or squeeze …

[Square 4] Finally Mummy tells …

Draw and colour your story

EXAMPLE

I will tell you the story of Max the dog.

First Max was naughty. He sees a friendly cat.

Then he chase the cat in the garden. The cat is scared.

Finally Mummy tells Max to be nice. Max hides and the cat looks and catches Max.

Young Learners, Level 3: Sentence building using the Past Tense

24th August 2022

Last week, we learnt some adjectives and used them in a short piece of writing.

Can you remember the adjectives ?

The adjectives:

old / young / beautiful / handsome / ugly / happy / angry / sad / healthy / unhealthy / amazing / clever / cute / dangerous / exciting / great / intelligent / interesting / lazy / talented

This week, we are going to write another short story, but this time using Past Tense (Verb 2).

To start, here is a list of verbs in the Present Tense (Verb 1). What is the Past Tense ?

buy // drink // eat // go // listen // make // play // read // say // see // take // watch

bought / drank / ate / went / listened / made / played / read / said / saw / took / watched

What did you do last week ?

Use Past Tense (Verb 2) and the new adjectives. I want three sentences with at least three verbs and three adjectives.

EXAMPLE:

On Saturday I watched an interesting video on YouTube. A young girl played drums very well. She was so talented. On Sunday, I read an exciting book and listened to some old music.

Now … your turn.

What did you do, what did you see, what did you eat and drink ? Did you … ?

Kindergarten: Student as teacher

14th August 2022

Objectives:

Develop speaking skills

Encourage students to speak in sentences

Use of contractions i.e. I’m, it’s etc

Show English syntax by example rather than by formal teaching e.g. adjective before the noun

Have the students interact with each other in English

Make basic phrases part of the student’s natural speaking

The students have been making short sentences, looking at flashcards, such as, “It’s a yellow book.” To make sure the students are able to switch colours and adjectives, and not just think that all books are yellow, here’s a little exercise.

Have one of the students be Teacher, and then ask, “What is it ?”

Teacher can also ask individual students; that way, we can monitor progress, and see where help is needed.

Rotate Teacher so all students are given a chance.

Now … What is it ?

It’s a blue book. It’s a big, blue book.

Young Learners, level 2: be clever and wonderful

23rd July 2022

Lesson aims:

Encourage students to answer in sentences

Introduce the ‘a’ or ‘an’ article

Correct use of adjectives and sentence structure

Today we learnt six adjectives:

clever / cute / dangerous / scary / wild / wonderful

Part 1: What are these animals ?

What is it ? It a ________ or It’s an _________

We use ‘an’ if the word begins with a / e / i / o / u

Example: What is it ? It’s a dog.

What is it ?

Part 2: Use the new adjectives

What is it ? It’s a wild lion

What is it ? It’s a ______ ________

Young learners, level 6: Adjectives and grammar review

5th July 2022

First, let’s build a word bank of incredible, useful and unusual adjectives:

amazing / beautiful / Chinese / colourful / cute / dangerous / difficult / energetic / English / famous / fantastic / generous / greedy / great / hard-working / healthy / intelligent / interesting / Japanese / kind / lazy / loud / messy / naughty / nervous / outgoing / popular / quick / quiet / rich / rude / selfish / talkative / top cat / unhealthy / unusual / valuable / wealthy /

Game 1 – say are these adjectives positive (good) or negative (bad) or neutral (neither good nor bad)

Game 2 – make sentences using present continuous and two adjectives

EXAMPLE: She is reading a heavy, interesting book.

I ___ play ___________________ , ______________________ music.

You ___ watch a _______________ , ________________ film.

He ___ talk to a ____________ , _____________ film star.

She _____ study every day because she ___ __________ and ___________.

Ms H ____ smile because she is so _________ and ___________ .

The fat cat ___ not share her food because she is ______ and _________ .

We ___ learn ________ grammar but it is _____________ .

President __ wear a _________ dress. She ____ very _________ .

The boy ___ leave school because he was __________ and _____ to the teacher.

The teacher ___ laugh because the ________ , _________ student was sent home !

Adjectives for Young Learners. Level 1

24th June 2022

This short blog introduces young learners to adjectives, and how they can start to build longer sentences.

First, let’s start an adjective word bank:

big // small

cute // dangerous

strong // clever

yummy // healthy

plus colours

Game 1:

Who can tell me a colour beginning with the letter y ?

Letter b ? Letter o ? g ? r ? p ? Letter w ?

Game 2:

Tell me an animal begins with the letter d Letter g Letter e Letter s Letter l Letter c Letter w Letter z

Game 3:

What is it ? Tell me about these animals. Use 2 adjectives.

EXAMPLE

It’s a cute white sheep

Now … your turn

Finally – tell me about the food

Screen Test Compilation: Video clips for classroom games

23rd June 2022

Contents:

1 Summer Holiday

2 World’s tallest buildings

3 Egyptian Gods

Here’s a compilation of video clips that can be used in class for listening skills, observation, collecting information, and for fun.

‘Screen Test’ was a children’s TV show on the BBC from 1970 – 1984. A group of children were shown short clips of films, then asked questions about what they had seen.

First up is a clip I’ve used several times, ‘Summer Holiday’ starring Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows.

1 Summer Holiday

What colour was the first car behind the bus ?

red // white // blue ?

2. What was the number of the bus ?

9 // 19 // 28 ?

3. What was the road sign at the beginning of the clip ?

London // Berlin // Paris ?

4. How many children wore a hat ?

1 // 2 // no children ?

5. How many men were riding bicycles ?

3 // 4 // 6 ?

6. What did Cliff, the driver, eat ?

a sandwich // a biscuit or cookie // nothing ?

BONUS POINTS – Can anyone sing the song – just two lines

“We’re all going on a summer holiday // we’re all going for a week or two.”

2 World’s tallest buildings

Questions

1) How tall was the Philadelphia City Hall ?

2) Where was the Singer Building ?

3) What year was the Bank of Manhattan Trust finished ?

4) How tall is the Chrysler Builder ?

5) The Empire State Building has two different heights – why ?

6) In what year did Chicago have the tallest building ?

7) What was the first tallest building in Asia ?

8) How tall is the Dubai Creek Tower planned to be ?

Answers: 1) 167m / 548 ft 2) New York City (NYC) 3) 1930 4) 319m / 1046 ft 5) first is height of building, second is height to the tip. 6) 1973 7) Petronas Tower in Malaysia 8) 1321m / 4351 ft

3 Ancient Egyptian Gods

Questions

1) What was the name of the Sun God ?

2) Which God was a writer ?

3) Anubis had the head of which animal ?

4) Would you see Nut in the day or night, and why ?

5) What was the name of the lioness ?

6) What animal was Bastet ?

Answers 1) Ra 2) Thoth 3) a jackal 4) night because she was the star goddess 5) Sekmet 6) a cat