Crazy Animals - TeachingEnglish
Crazy AnimalsAnd Other Activities for TeachingEnglish to Young LearnersEdited by Fiona Copland and Sue Garton with Monika Daviswww.teachingenglish.org.uk
ISBN 978-0-86355-693-7 British Council 2012 Brand and Design / B36910 Spring GardensLondon SW1A 2BN, UKwww.britishcouncil.org
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroductionContentsIntroduction03Activity 26: Numbers and words58Activities08Activity 27: Outburst60Activity 1: Act out08Activity 28: Put on your hats!62Activity 2: Acting songs10Activity 29: Scrambled rhymes64Activity 3: Alphabet and sound recognition12Activity 30: Something about me66Activity 4: At the zoo14Activity 31: Sound stories68Activity 5: Birthdays16Activity 32: Storybook predictions70Activity 6: Brown bear, brown bear18Activity 33: Swap the dot72Activity 7: Calendars20Activity 34: Take the yellow one!74Activity 8: Change places, please22Activity 35: Taste the fruit!76Activity 9: Crazy animals24Activity 36: The house seller78Activity 10: Creative chairs26Activity 37: The noun tree80Activity 11: Plants and seeds28Activity 38: The snake game82Activity 12: Fairy tale chains30Activity 39: Throwing a ball84Activity 13: Fly the airplane, pilot!32Activity 40: Toothpick game86Activity 14: Global presentations34Activity 41: Tourist role play88Activity 15: Hammer battles36Activity 42: Traffic lights90Activity 16: Handkerchief tag38Activity 43: Vocabulary chart92Activity 17: Hidden words40Activity 44: Vocabulary challenge94Activity 18: I have it in my name42Activity 45: Walking the words96Activity 19: Information translation44Activity 46: We are different98Activity 20: Label me!46Activity 21: Story-telling –Little Red Riding HoodActivity 47: Where is the poisoned apple?10048Activity 48: Wordle prediction102Activity 22: Chain game50Activity 49: Words competition104Activity 23: Memory game52Activity 50: Writing basket for early finishers 106Activity 24: Messy closet54Index grid108Activity 25: My season’s book56Contributors110 British Council 20121
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroduction2 British Council 2012
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroductionIntroductionThere are many books of activities forteaching English in the primary classroom,but this book is different. It is differentbecause all the activities have been triedand tested by the very people who aregoing to use them, teachers like you. Theseteachers work in the most diverse contextsand conditions, sometimes with large classes,sometimes with very small groups, sometimeswith every type of resource you could wishfor, sometimes with only a board to supporttheir teaching. However, they share a desireto help their students to learn English in anenjoyable way. We imagine you too share thisdesire and that is why you have picked thisbook. We hope you find the activities useful,engaging and fun too, and enjoy using themin your class.original activity in order either to provide veryclear guidance, or to make it more appropriatefor teachers everywhere. We are extremelygrateful to all those who sent in activities,whether they are included here or not, andto teachers who gave us their opinion onthem, such as teachers of young learnersat the JALT 2011 conference in Tokyo.The ActivitiesHow the book was bornFor each activity, we give the ages of thechildren it is suitable for and the time it takes.Both of these should be taken as guides only.Very often, the English level of the children ismore important than their age to the success ofthe activity. In addition, the timing of the activitydepends on the size of the class or how quickthe children are to respond. You will always bethe best judge of whether an activity is suitablefor your class and how long it is likely to take.The book is the direct result of a year-longproject called ‘Investigating Global Practicesin Teaching English to Young Learners’ ctices-teaching-english-young-learners).A number of primary school teachers whoresponded to the survey in this study told usabout the kinds of activities they used in classto motivate their learners. We felt that theseideas deserved to be shared with primaryteachers all over the world, and so the ideafor this book was born.Each activity has a section called Alternativesin which we give different ideas for using theactivity. These are either related activities thatwere sent in by other teachers, or our own ideas.There is also a section called No Resources?,which suggests ways of doing the activity evenif you do not have access to the resourcesneeded, such as computers, flashcards or evensufficient coloured paper for all the children.We have also included a Preparation sectionso you will know how long it will take you toprepare for each activity.We contacted over 1,000 teachers who had lefttheir e-mail addresses on the survey site andasked them to send us their favourite activitiesfor teaching English to young learners. Fromthe many we received, we selected the 50 thatwe felt were the most original and creative, butalso the most practical for the greatest numberof teachers. In most cases, we have edited theWe know that many teachers work with largeclasses and so we have indicated if the activitiesare suitable for this context. We take a largeclass to be 30 children. Even where activitiesare indicated as not being suitable for largeclasses, it is worth looking at the Alternativessection as often we suggest an approach forusing the same activity with large classes. British Council 20123
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroductionFinding activitiesThe activities are simply presented inalphabetical order. We have also developeda table which you can use to find activitiesquickly. The table gives the list of activities andthen some useful information about them, forexample, if they are suitable for large classes or ifresources are required (other than a board, boardpen/chalk, paper and pencils/pens, which webelieve are readily available in most classrooms).However, these are only guidelines and youmight find that an activity we recommend forvery young learners (4–6/7) is suitable in yourcontext for junior learners (7–11) or even olderlearners (12 ). Timings, as we say above, are veryapproximate. In the table we indicate if they aregenerally short (5–20 minutes), medium length(20–40 minutes) or long (over 40 minutes).Again, please use your own judgement todecide how long activities will take.Some considerations when usingthe activitiesLanguage in the young learner classroomFor many children, their only source ofexposure to English will be you, the teacher.For this reason, it is advisable to take allpossible opportunities to speak English in theclassroom. However, this does not mean thatyour English has to be perfect or that you haveto speak English all the time. Indeed, switchingbetween different languages is common inmany everyday contexts for many people, andthe classroom is no different in this regard. Inthis book, we have suggested where using thechildren’s first language might be effective, butthis does not mean you should avoid it at othertimes. You are the best judge of how to supportyour children’s learning in the classroom.4There are lots of different ways that you canuse English, however. You can use English toorganise the activities in this book, to controlthe class while they do them and to talk to thechildren on a one-to-one basis. Many of theactivities in the book have steps that involvethe children in quiet tasks, such as cuttingand pasting, drawing, colouring and so on,that do not explicitly practise new structuresor vocabulary. While children are engaged inthese, you can chat to them more informally.It is not necessary to use complex language;simple, encouraging comments are effectiveand might include things like, ‘Cut the shapescarefully. You can use all the colours you want.How are you getting on? Have you nearlyfinished? What colour are you going to usenext?’ and so on. Slattery and Willis (2001) isan excellent source of English expressions touse in the primary classroom.But what about the children’s language use?We cannot expect children to use English allthe time. It is not only unnatural; it can alsodamage children’s confidence. Of course,children can be encouraged to use English inwhole class activities and also while workingwith their peers in pairs and groups. However,if children use their first language in theseactivities, it should not be seen as a problem,particularly if the input is in English or somepart of the output requires children to useEnglish. At some stage of the activity, childrenwill be involved with English, and this is whatis important for young learners.Teachers play a critical role in creating anenvironment in which children feel happy tryingout their English skills. As well as encouragingchildren and praising their efforts, teachers needto have confidence in their own English speakingskills, whatever their level. If children see theirteachers speaking English with enjoyment andenthusiasm, not worrying about making mistakesor knowing every word, then they have a verypositive model for using English themselves. Wehope the activities in this book play their part inproviding the kind of fun and engaging activitiesthat can motivate children to use English in class. British Council 2012
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroductionWhole class work, group work, pair workThere are activities in this book for the wholeclass and for individual, group and pair work.Whole class activities involve all the learnersand are important for developing a positiveclassroom approach to learning English,good relationships between learners and theopportunity for students to learn from both theteacher and from each other. Many of the wholeclass activities involve students becomingphysically involved in the learning experience,by holding up cards, for example, or by workingin teams. The teachers who suggested thesewhole class activities certainly do not viewwhole class work as a passive experience!Many of the activities in this book involvechildren working in groups or pairs. Someteachers are reluctant to try these approaches,especially if their classes are large. Theseteachers argue that they cannot monitor whatall the children are doing, that the children willspeak their first language, or that the class willget out of control. Therefore, teachers oftenturn activities that are meant to be done ingroups or pairs into whole class activities.There are a number of reasons why we wouldencourage you to use pair and group workwhere the activity states this mode oforganisation, even if you have never tried itbefore. First, if activities are done as a wholeclass, the children may not be directly involvedin participating and can become bored anddistracted. This is especially true in largeclasses. On the other hand, if children areworking in pairs and groups, they will all havethe opportunity to use English and to beengaged in the activity. Second, pair and groupwork can also help children to develop otherskills such as listening to others, co-operatingand reaching a consensus. These skills areuseful to children no matter how good theirEnglish is! Third, pair and group work canprovide a change of pace in a lesson andso revitalise the class atmosphere. British Council 2012Children can be kept on task in pair and groupwork in a number of ways. For example, onechild can be nominated a group monitor, orgroup ‘captain’ and it is this child’s responsibilityto ensure that the task is completed.Alternatively, you can have a points or rewardssystem (see below) and award points to groupsthat stay on task and complete the activity.Working in groups and pairs inevitablyincreases the noise level of a class, even wherethe children are closely monitored. If you workin a context where noise is not tolerated, or isassociated with lack of discipline or work, youcan try to explain to the head teacher, andteachers who are affected by the noise, whatyou are doing and why (or show him/her/themthis introduction). You can also warn teachersin advance when the children will be doingpair or group work to demonstrate that youunderstand the inconvenience but also toshow that these activities are planned into yourteaching and part of your pedagogic practices.Rewarding childrenSome of the activities in this book suggestgiving rewards to children who ‘win’. Someteachers take sweets or other prizes into theclassroom to give to children who completean activity first (see below for a discussion ofcompetition), behave particularly well, do anactivity successfully and so on. However, youneed to consider whether it is appropriate oracceptable in your context to use rewards. Evenif it is, you need to consider the effect of rewardson the children. If the same children constantlyget the rewards (or do not get them), it can bede-motivating and could have negative effectson the classroom dynamics. Rewarding as manychildren as possible is one way of dealing withthis: children can be rewarded for effort as wellas success, for example.5
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroductionA system that we have observed in primaryclasses involves dividing the class into smallgroups (4–6 children per group), and usinga reward point system. The groups can bechanged regularly, once a month for example,and different strategies can be used to formthe groups, with the teachers either choosingthe groups or making a random selection, orchildren choosing their own groups. Childrenthen earn points for their group, rather thanrewards for themselves. Points are given forperforming well in activities, for good behaviourin class, for completing homework, answeringquestions in class, and classroom management,such as finding material quickly. This rewardsystem encourages collective class responsibility.CompetitionSome of the activities encourage bothindividual and group competition, with a‘winner’ at the end. While a certain amountof competition can be healthy, the samepotential difficulties exist as with using rewards.Competition can push some children to performbetter, but it can be de-motivating for others.We suggest a limited use of competition inactivities and a preference for collectiveresponsibility whereby a child wins for theirgroup, rather than for themselves.6Concluding CommentsWe have had great fun putting this booktogether and learnt a lot of new approachesand ideas for teaching English to younglearners. We hope that in using the book youwill also have fun and learn, and that yourchildren will too!We would love to hear from you about yourexperiences in using these activities and anychanges you make to meet your children’sneeds or that of the context in which you work.Send your thoughts and ideas to lss activities@aston.ac.ukReferencesEnglish for Primary Teachers (Resource Booksfor Teachers) by Mary Slattery and Jane Willis(24 May 2001) Oxford OUP British Council 2012
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookIntroduction British Council 20127
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookActivitiesActivity 1: Act outEliana Fernandez Malla – Dominican RepublicAge: All ages15–30 minutes Large classes? NoMixed level? YesMaterials: Cards illustrating action verbs (e.g. dance, eat, walk, etc.), sand clock or timer.Organisation: Pair work, group work, whole class.Aim: To revise and practise the present continuous tense.Description: This is a simple but fun way for children to practise a grammar point througha guessing game with mime.Preparation: Make flashcards with a picture of a different action on each one. Actions couldinclude, run, jump, cry, laugh, run, sleep, cough, stretch, brush, clap, smile, walk, sit, stand, write,read, listen, speak, wash, wriggle, sneeze, blink, wink, turn.Procedure1. Show the picture cards one at a time to the whole class. Elicit the verbs illustrated andpractise the pronunciation of each one. Ask the children to mime the action.2. Divide the class into groups of two or three. Each group decides who will mime and whowill guess. Decide which group will go first and say that each group will have two minutesto guess as many actions as they can.3. Bring the first group to the front of the class. Ask the child who will mime to stand so all thechildren in the class can see. Give the child the first card. They mime the action on the card.The group has to guess what the mime is by calling out, for example, ‘you are running/you’rerunning’. If they guess correctly, they take the card and the teacher gives the child a newcard. If they don’t know, they say ‘next one’, the card goes back to the bottom of the pileand the child continues to the next card.4. After two minutes, the group counts the number of cards it has collected and records thenumber on the board. The cards are given back to the teacher, and the second groupcomes to the front to guess.5. The winning group is the one with most points recorded on the board.NotesYou could make correct pronunciation a condition of getting the point, or you could awardan extra point for it.8 British Council 2012
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookActivitiesAlternatives Each group takes it in turns to send one person to the front to mime one verb at a time. Each group has its own set of cards and works at the same time, with members taking it inturns to pick up a card and act it out. If you have a large class, one member of each groupcan observe another group. They get points for their group if they notice any errors, forexample if the group gives itself a point it should not have. Depending on the level of the children, you could also award extra points if they can tell youthe past form of the verb, and/or the past participle. The game would work with other tenses too, but you should try and make the context asnatural as possible.For example:a. to practise the past continuous, the children can call out their guesses after the childat the front has finished miming – ‘you were walking’.b. To practise the past simple, the child at front can mime a series of actions while the groupwrites them down. After the two minutes, the group calls out the sequence: ‘you walked,then you sat down, then you read a book’. Rather than miming the action, the children can draw the action on the board. The children inthe group guess in the usual way. To make it more challenging, write the verb on the flashcardsrather than drawing a picture. Children then have to read and show they understand what theverb means by drawing it.No resources?If you do not have the resources to make cards with illustrations, you can simply write the verbon a piece of paper. British Council 20129
TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity BookActivitiesActivity 2: Acting songsNatalia Paliashvili – GeorgiaAge: 4 –715 minutesLarge classes? YesMixed level? YesMaterials: Song words and recordings of the songs, equipment to play the song, flashcards,pictures and objects to illustrate the words from the song.Organisation: Whole class.Aim: To develop stress and rhythm through song.Description: This activity involves children learning the words and doing actions to songs.Traditional songs are ideal as they are melodic, repetitive and easy to memorise. Look forsongs such as London’s Burning, Old Macdonald had a Farm, London Bridge is Falling Down,Oranges and Lemons, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star etc. See, for example, . The activity below is for London Bridge is Falling Down.Preparation: You will need to download the song and the words you wish to use.Procedure1. Pre-teach the main words ‘bridge, fall down/build up, lady, sticks, stones’. Use a mixtureof actions, mime, objects and pictures to make the words memorable.2. Play or sing the song to the children two or three times while they just listen. Use actions,mimes and gestures to illustrate the song as you sing it. Encourage t
very young learners (4–6/7) is suitable in your context for junior learners (7–11) or even older learners (12 ). Timings, as we say above, are very approximate. In the table we indicate if they are generally short (5–20 minutes), medium length (20–40 minutes) or long (over 40 minutes). Again, please use your own judgement to decide how long activities will take. Some considerations .
Crazy Patchwork Classic Victorian crazy quilting gets a modern update with machine embroidery! These instructions demonstrate how to stitch crazy patchwork using an in-the-hoop crazy quilt block design. The applique crazy patchwork heart doesn't have a square cutting line like the quilt blocks, but the c
4 EVS Block 1- Animals are different (Land and water animals, fast and slow animals, body parts of fish, caring for young ones). Block 2- Amazing animals (Wild and domestic animals, farm and pet animals, food animals eat young ones of animals). Block 4- Beautiful Birds (Features of birds, w
IT’S ALL ANIMALS, L1: Animals That Work For Us 12-12-19 are domestic animals. This means they are not wild. They are tame. They live around people. Horses and cows are domestic animals. So are dogs. Other animals work for people without training. Those animals do what’s natural (NA chuh rul) for them. That means they
book is about. It says that all animals need food. It then tells us that wild animals live near the food they eat. It says that zoo animals are given their food by the zoo keepers. Point out the pattern used throughout the book: wild animals on the left page and zoo animals on the right. 2 All animals need food. In the wild, animals find food .
: Still Crazy After All These Years? It is my job to defend the “negative” position. My burden is not to establish that . Lochner . was correctly decided, but merely that it was not “crazy.” I intend to meet that burden and exceed it. I intend to show how . Lochner v. New York . was not at all crazy; in fact, it was a reasonable and .
1. Transitions to Piper in prison (when crazy eyes & Piper meets) 2. Other side of Crazy Eyes Possible song choices: Crazy by Cee Lo Green (scene 1) Valentine by Jessi Ware Scene 1: Crazy Eyes throws pie at Alex (Season 1 ep 3; Lesbian Request Denied)
CHAPTER III CRUELTY TO ANIMALS GENERALLY 11. Treating animals cruelly. 12. Penalty for practising phooka or doom dev. 13. Destruction of suffering animals. CHAPTER IV EXPERIMENTATION ON ANIMALS 14. Experiments on animals. 15. Committee for control and supervision of experiments on animals. 15A. Sub-committees. 16. Staff of the Committee. 17.
3. To talk about animals. 4. To understand a story about animals. 5. To describe animals with simple sentences. 6. To distinguish between domestic and wild animals. 7. Listen, sing and act an actions song about animals. The animals song 8. To recognize and act some verbs related to the way animals move. 9.
