[dearscotty]

I'm paying a visit to the Yochien to "teach" 3 classes for 30 minutes each. Although they differ in age I imagine I can do the same lesson for all 3 age groups.

Anyone have any ideas to keep the kids entertained? I've already done fruit basket so I'm out of ideas... eeeesh! Help!

Thanks!!

-Scott

[Eric]

What is the "Yochien"?

[dearscotty]

Kindergarten

[Eric]

Ah, similar to "YuChiWon" in Korean...

Anyway, one thing I have done with this age level is to get a big book. Big as in the book is over-sized with large pictures and easy to see from a short distance.

I will first read the story to them and animate any actions that will help them understand what's going on as well as point to the characters in the book.

Then I'll read it again but this time after I read the page, I will call on the students to come up and point to the "dog" or the "tree" or whatever they might be able to guess.

To extend that you could also get them to repeat the word in English but that might be a little much for the wee little ones.

Hope that helps,
Eric

[penandpaper]

I teach 4 and 5 year olds and have been basing my lessons round songs. I do lots of activities with the vocabulary (a bit of drilling, "Point/Run to the..." flashcards round the room, make a... out of play doh etc) Then sing the song, of course. Good songs: Old MacDonald, Wheels on the Bus, Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes. They LOVE the game JUMP - prepare flashcards of vocab you want to teach/practise and insert pictures of someone jumping every so often. Show the cards one by one, all students repeat vocab, when they come across a jumper they all jump up (sometimes I go round individually testing words and if someone makes a mistake they all jump 10 times (or however many you decide) saying the word. They LOVE it!)

[ladymin]

Hi, I'm teaching all ages, my youngsters being 2 years old, my oldest are ten.

I start the lesson with a Hello Song, then use a handpuppet to great each kid. With the puppet, we play "Simon says" (or any name your puppet has), so the kids can practize the verbs while they run, jump, dance etc.

I use Flashcards after that and teach 5 - 10 FCs in the lesson (or repeat old ones). I then do a lot of games with the Flashcards, like a Flyswat Game, where they have to swat the words I call out, or "What's Missing", or I print the FCs out smaller and play Memory with them.

Just take care with the 3 years old, they need to do some activity where they have to run or jump every ten or so minutes, they cannot sit still so long.