One reason I love the job is the wide variety of ways that English could be taught as a second language. So I decided to share with you some of the fun ways I've found.
pass the cushion
If you teach preschoolers, you might have trouble getting all the children assembled and ready to listen. For this purpose, you can invest in a small cushion.
Pass the cushion to the first child who is sitting still and quiet. Whisper something like, "Karen is nice and quiet."
Look for another child who is nice and quiet. Then say, "Karen, pass the pillow to Sidney." Continue the pattern until the entire class is ready to listen.
This activity will save you from having to yell,
sign language
I believe that sign language is a worthwhile activity for anyone studying or teaching a language. We learn by doing, and sign language involves doing.
You can start learning and using sign language through a pattern exercise. If you are meeting the members of a new class, or if a new student is meeting the other members of a class, you can say:
When I have five minutes left at the end of the hour, I sometimes take out my second person question scrapbook. On each page is an illustration and a question, such as "Are you a boy or a girl?" "What's your favorite color?" or "Are you happy or sad?"
After the child answers, I ask the whole class to say "Bob is a boy," "Amy likes pink," or "Billy is sad." I call this the Gilbert & Sullivan technique.
There are some good sign language Websites. There are several good sign language dictionaries available at the Amazon Website. My favorite is The Comprehensive Signed English Dictionary.
alphabet tiles
When there was a local construction project, I salvaged some small tiles which were being thrown away. I painted letters on them and arranged them alphabetically in a plastic container.
My only expenses, then, were the can of paint, the brush, and the plastic container. This was about two years ago, and my investment has come back hundreds of times over.
With younger kids, you could lay down the tiles spelling C-A-T, take one letter out, and ask, "Who can put the C back in?"
With older kids, you could take the letter tiles for C, A, and T, scramble them, and ask, "Who can spell cat?"
Braille
Braille typewriting equipment is expensive. Moreover, Braille type is too small to show to a group. However, children find Braille type interesting, and it serves a good purpose as a reinforcer for what is learned in the class. The best apparatus for teaching Braille to an entire class is: The dot positions are numbered 1, 2, 3 in the left column and 4, 5, 6 in the right column. For each letter, you can show which positions have dots and which positions do not. The children enjoy shouting the numbers of the positions in which a dot appears and whispering the numbers of the positions in which a dot does not appear.
After each demonstration, take the dots off and ask for a volunteer to put the dots back on in their correct places.
You can find a Braille alphabet
here or
here.
passing out picture cards for speaking practice
This is a good way to put the students' esprit de corps to good use.
Susan gets a picture of a person cooking, Charlie gets a picture of a person running, and Gary gets a picture of a person driving. The class then practices saying, "Susan is cooking." "Charlie is running." "Gary is driving."
Then take up the cards and test the class' memory. Show the cards and ask "Who is cooking? Who is running? Who is driving?"
Then ask the same questions without showing the cards. This time, the students will have to understand what each verb means.
Then ask "What is Susan doing? What is Charlie doing? What is Gary doing?"
The same activity can be modified for concrete nouns ("Susan has a cat."), localities ("Charlie is in the library."), emotions ("Gary is sad."), or for many other purposes.
paper-folding
In both Korea and Japan, paper-folding instruction books are easy to find in any public library. I have made a collection of the easiest paper-folding figures.
Instead of buying paper for the purpose, I save up letter-sized paper which is printed on only one side. Then I stack up the pages, measure off the largest possible square, and cut off the excess by running a knife along the ruler.
In the last school where I worked, the preschoolers heard me use the word "diagonally" so often that they referred to paper-folding as "agonally."
This activity should be done near the end of the class period. Otherwise, the students will be folding and refolding while you are competing for their attention.
One word of caution: if you're in Korea, the word is chongichopgi, not origami.
jigsaw puzzles
Here in Korea, many small and inexpensive jigsaw puzzles are available at bookstores and office supply stores. A modest investment will bring you a large enough collection to pass out to the class.
Hold up each puzzle and ask, "What is this?" Then give the puzzle to a child who answers the question correctly. For Asian students, it may be challenging to correctly distinguish between singular and plural. ("It's a cat" as opposed to "Those are cats.")
Believe it or not, middle school students like these jigsaw puzzles too.
Click to go to the
"Quiet!"
His name is B-R-U-C-E.
B-R-U-C-E is next to S-A-R-A-H.
S-A-R-A-H is next to J-U-D-Y.
You can accomplish this using only the signs for "his/her," "name," "is," "next to," and the letters for fingerspelling.
1. a small flannelboard consisting of two columns of three squares each
2. a set of 6 felt dots
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