Young Learners, level 6: It’s festival time

3rd September 2022

Many countries have festivals that can be:

colourful / dangerous / exciting / fun / noisy / peaceful / traditional / unusual

Question 1:

What festivals do you have in your country ?

What do people do ? What are the customs ?

Is there special or traditional food ?

Complete this piece:

In Vietnam, the biggest festival is Tet Holiday. At Tet the custom is for parents to give …

Vietnamese eat special food such as …

People wear beautiful, colourful … and watch …

Festivals around the world

Tell me about these festivals. Use the new adjectives to describe them. Would you like to go ? Why or why not ?

Do you think these people are crazy or brave or just having fun ?

First, to Europe, and this famous festival in Spain:

Staying in Europe, we go to the UK:

Now we are off to Africa, to the country of Niger:

Now let’s cross the Atlantic and head to Mexico:

Time to head back to Asia, stopping at Thailand:

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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 … ?

Young learners, level 3: Let’s tell a story.

18th August 2022

Let’s tell a story !

First we need a subject, a person or animal, or both:

Now, what are they doing ? Maybe they are:

walking // playing // working // talking // watching // reading // doing homework // making a video // looking for something

What other verbs do you know ?

Now we need some adjectives. What adjectives do you know ?

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

Now, let’s make a story. I will choose the teacher.

One day a handsome teacher was making a video for YouTube. The teacher has short, straight, black hair, and a black beard. He looks very friendly and happy. He is speaking about sharks. Sharks are very dangerous, big and angry. The video is very exciting and interesting.

Now … your turn. Tell me an interesting story. You may draw and colour as well

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 !

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

Teenage IELTS Challenge

21st June 2022

The Three Johns, a Rock band from the UK

Can a young teen class have better English than an IELTS class ? That is the challenge. Without pushing the students too far, and with realistic expectations, let’s introduce some low-frequency words (L-FW), phrases and idioms.

Furthermore, students will also be expected to speak in longer sentences, using connectives as well as a wide range of adjectives.

The subject of our current unit is very dear to my heart: music. Let’s rock !

First match the new words with the meaning

ubiquitous // over the moon // genre // extremely

kind of or type // to feel very, very happy // everywhere // an adverb that means very, very

Roll up your sleeves and practice: Fill in the gaps using the new words AND your own ideas.

Today, music is ______________ . We can hear music on our _______ and when we go to _______________.

Yoyoka, a Japanese drummer, is ____________ talented. She must ________ many hours, every day to be so skillful.

If I pass my English test with A+, I will be ___________________ . My parents will be so happy, they will _______________.

My favourite _______ of music is ____________ because it makes me feel ___________ and ____________ .

Genres (types) of music:

Jazz / rap / pop / rock / classical / electronic

Look at the photos. What genre are they ?

Why do you think so ?

Grammar exercise. Rewrite the following blog post in the Past Tense (verb 2)

EXAMPLE: Yesterday I go to school and I have a speaking test. I do very well and my parents are over the moon.

Yesterday I went to school and I had a speaking test. I did very well and my parents were over the moon.

Now … your turn

Last week I see a concert on TV. The group is Blackpink and they play for 30 minutes. They sing many songs and dance extremely well. It is so exciting I am over the moon. The next day I buy their music and decide to be a pop star too !

Watch this concert and write your own blog using Past Tense (verb 2) as well as adjectives and new words. Let me help you with the start:

This morning I watched a video from T-ara. The band … (what song did they play ? Did they all sing ? What else did they do ?

Did you like the music ? Why or why not ?

Were they alone on stage ? What did they wear ?

How did the audience feel ? Do you wish you were there ?

Young Teens: Three British Legends

13th May 2022

You have read about three famous people from British history.

Question 1: Who are they ?

Here is a short video about Robin Hood.

Watch it twice, the second time write down any words you don’t know. I want at least five words.

Question 2: Returning to our three famous people, who was real, who was based on a real ruler and who is maybe only a legend?

Question 3: Match the pictures with the legends. EXAMPLE:

Sir Lancelot is part of the King Arthur legend.

Now … Your turn

Picture 1 is Friar Tuck

Picture 2 is Black Bess

Picture 3 is the sword Excalibur

Picture 4 is Maid Marion

Picture 5 is the Green Man Pub in London

Picture 6 is Sherwood Forest, Nottingham

Picture 7 is Camelot Castle

Creative Time – which character do you like most ? Which one would YOU like to be ? Alternately, tell me about someone from YOUR country’s history.

Write a short story, and feel free to draw and colour. You may make a comic book, if you like. If you can’t draw, no problem, just write.

Vocabulary bank:

brave / cheerful / cruel / dangerous / disrespectful / greedy / honest / intelligent / legendary / loyal / punish / ruler / ubiquitous /

extremely / amazingly / unbelievably

I wish I could be … // In my dream, I would be …

Answers

1 – King Arthur / Robin Hood / Dick Turpin

2 – King Arthur was based on a ruler but probably a Duke, not a King. Dick Turpin was real, while we are still not sure if Robin Hood was real.

3 – Robin Hood / Dick Turpin / King Arthur / Robin Hood / Dick Turpin / Robin Hood

Young Learners: Ancient Egyptian Gods

12th May 2022

An activity that combines listening & reading, collecting information, and allows for creative thinking, not to mention introducing students to different cultures and legends.

Today we are going to learn about some of the ancient Egyptian gods. First, where is Egypt ? In which continent is Egypt ?

Egypt is in the north – east of Africa.

What ancient buildings can you see in Egypt ?

The Pyramids, the largest one was built about 2,500 BC (about 4,500 years ago), and at 481 feet (146.6 metres) was the tallest building for 3,800 years (NOTE 1).

The creature in front is called the Sphinx. What kind of animal is the Sphinx ?

The Sphinx has the face of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird (maybe a falcon or eagle).

Ancient Egypt was thousands of years ago, from 3150 BC (BCE) to 332 BC (BCE). Animals were very important.

What animals can you see in this picture ?

We are going to focus on four Gods:

Thoth // Bastet // Ra // Anubis

Vocabulary

Pyramids

Sphinx

Tomb

Hieroglyphs

Let’s return to our two gods

Thoth and Bastet

Watch this video, and write down information about the gods.

What animals do they look like ?

What can they do ?

What animal was Bastet ?

Bastet was a cat, and cats were very important in Ancient Egypt. Can you think why ? What do cats like to chase and eat ? Check your answers:

Now … be creative. Invent a God from your country. First, think what animals you have, then what they can do. Don’t forget to tell me why.

Use crayons, colour pencils. If you can’t draw, it’s OK; just write me a magnificent story. Don’t forget to use the amazing adjectives you have been taught.

Would you like some music to help you while you work ?

Note 1: The first buildings to be taller were cathedrals, in England. St Paul’s was in London, then the cathedral in Lincoln became the tallest building in the world.

Note 2: The British Council ‘LearnEnglishKids’ page has some excellent resources and free print-outs.