3 year olds!
 

Hello all,

I recently started teaching at a Kindergarten in South Korea, and my youngest class consists of 8 two- and three-year-olds.

I have them only for a half an hour a week, and each new class, I basically teach them a new nursery rhyme. The classes started out well, and they enjoy singing and dancing, but they lose interest fairly quickly.

To occupy time, I've been starting with a simple version of simon says (basically, I just tell them to stand up, sit down, jump, etc), and then I read them the story, and then moving into the singing, but I find that for the last 5-10 minutes of class, they have really lost all interest. I have other games that I've used with the older classes, but I can't really teach them to the youngest ones because of the language barrier.

Summary: I'm looking for an easy English game to teach to 3 year olds to use up abou 5-10 minutes of class time. Also, I need something really easy to teach, because I cannot speak Korean at all.

Re: 3 year olds!
 

A game little ones love is when you scatter target vocabulary flashcards on the floor and they have to find the one you ask for. In your case I'd make sure there were 8 sets of cards for the 8 students, as they're too small for it to be a competitive activity.

You call out for example "blue please" and they have to go and find the matching flashcard and bring it to you. This works well because it's an active game. You would need to space your cards out well on the floor to avoid any kids bumping into each other - they can help you put the cards out as well. When they get to a point where they should be able to say the words themselves you can use a cube with the pictures on it to illicit which card they should bring you. They have to tell you the word that appears on the cube before finding the flashcard.

Re: 3 year olds!
 

Hey, thanks for the reply!

Yes, I tried using flashcards, but I think the game I used was a bit too advanced. I'll give that one a go next time!

Still happy to hear about any other ideas that I could use!

Balio

Re: 3 year olds!
 

Another quick and easy flashcard game for little ones is "Four Walls". Take four flashcards with your target vocabulary and stick one to each wall of the classroom. Have the kids stand in the centre of the room and call out a lexical item. The students must run and touch or point to the correct wall. It can get quite active and the little ones love a chance to run around a bit. Works best with smallish groups.

Re: 3 year olds!
 

I have a couple of Circle games they could possibly enjoy.

The 1st one is called "Good morning Mister Johns!"
The kids make a circle and sit on the floor. You can walk around, singing a song (optional), then stop behind one pupil. He has to stand up. Shake his hand and say "Good morning Mister Johns!" and the kid will say the same to you (I personally teach in the afternoon, so my students say Good Afternoon). Then both have to walk in the opposite directions around the circle, when you meet again you will both repeat the greetings and shake your hands. Finally, keep walking in opposite directions but faster to occupy the empty seat left by your student. So he will stand and start walking around etc.


Another circle game, maybe a little more complicate but fun:
Miss Lucy's Teaching Fun: CIRCLE GAMES - The Shoe Behind You

I hope I helped you,
Lucy

Re: 3 year olds!
 

Duck, duck, goose is a good game that children love. They sit in a circle and one child walks around tapping each child on the head as he/she goes by. If you have been teaching them how to count they can use numbers while tapping, for ex: the child can say "one, one, one, two!". When he/she says "two" the child he/she has tapped while saying "two" is the one who must get up and try and catch the first child before he/she gets to the empty space and sits down.
You can use the alphabet (a,a,a,a,b!) or colours (red, red, red, blue!) etc...

If a child is caught, he/she must sit in the middle of the circle and miss just one turn. No more than that because little children tend to get really upset if they have been excluded.

Hope this helps!

Re: 3 year olds!
 

Hi, what I usually do with very young children is any kind of sorting activity. Basicaly, I use a lot of small plastic balls, usually 4 colours (red, green, blue, yellow) and then tell the kids: "Can you put all the green balls in the box?" Or I use large flashcards (A4) cut them in half and usually have them laminated, then I keep one half of each picture and spread the other halves on the floor. Then I show them one half of a flashcard, for example it's a half of a butterfly, and I get them find the other half.