1000 apologies for sharing at the 11th hour!
I've developed some materials for teaching my own kids (aged 5-7) and their friends. Although English is their first language, having grown up in two countries with 2-3 languages and now in a mixed ESL/EFL context (Malaysia), they are not as proficient as their peers in the UK.
I've adapted some authentic materials from a BBC CBeeBies Magazine on Chuggington that they like. It's far from polished as I whipped it up today but hope it's of interest.
Here's the link which should allow comments:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nnftGvWR2FMLsfp5MtbJZXe1nJb_kWXs/view?usp=sharing
(Please note that this cannot be distributed as I would be in breach of copyright.)
Many thanks in advance!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nnftGvWR2FMLsfp5MtbJZXe1nJb_kWXs/view?usp=sharing
Lovely material!! I'd need to adapt the material if using it with my students. We don't teach grammar so explicitly in our school. I love the idea of finding the differences, kids also love it!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your materials Phil and no worries about them being late – I’d much prefer to have the materials spread out across a week or more. It gives me time to play catch up. Thanks too for introducing me to Chuggington! This is all new to me as my children are adults now.
ReplyDeleteI love the Chugger challenge! Love it. I can honestly say I’ve never taught a class that hasn’t enjoyed ‘spot the difference’ – all ages, all levels! It’s motivating and makes the task/challenge meaningful because it gves the children (in this case) a reason to speak (assuming they speak).
So the visuals are a delight – it’s a shame about these pesky copyright laws isn’t it? I have an idea though – for future materials. A task that’s coming up later on i son using student generated materials. You could get your children and tehir freinds to do some nice pictures … just a thought. I love children’s art work.
The tasks follow a good sequence – and it’s great how you’ve managed ot incorporate audios. With more time, I’d suggest writing amore script-like audi script – but it’s perfectly understandable. I also like the colour-coding for the language.
Task 4 – Great there are examples.
This is a really nice ‘unit’ and I’m sure teachers would be happy to use it in their classrooms.
We can talk about comic sans later!
Imagine English School Imagine English School Thank you for your positive feedback and I hope you can adapt or create suitable materials of your own.
ReplyDeleteSpot the Difference can be used with all levels and the challenge can be increased by giving one student one picture and their partner the other picture with each of them not allowed to look at both. Done this way, it's great for practicing communication strategies, seeking clarification and giving details (for example, with relative clauses or prepositional phrases) and leads nicely into role-plays at a social gathering or party with many people:
A: Who's that girl over there?
B: Which one?
A: The one with long, purple dress.
B: Oh, talking to Nick?
A: Yeah ...
B: Oh. Have met Chris?
A: No. Who is?
B: He's a buddy of mine from tennis.
A: Oh. Is he here?
B: Yeah, he's over there, talking to your sister.
A: Ah ... he's your friend?
B: Yeah. He's the one I told you about - they one who coaches little kids on Saturday.
A: The one who's turning pro next year?
B: Yup. That's the one!
When I was in Japan, my classes generally focused on communication and I didn't teach grammar explicitly, except for exam courses or there was a specific need or request. Grammar/Vocabulary was generally addressed 'at the point of need' with consideration for learner 'readiness' and the utility of the language, i.e. how frequent/useful would it be and did students need to learn it receptively (for recognition in listening/reading) or productively for speaking and writing as well.
Katherine Bilsborough Wow - thank you for the comprehensive, quality feedback!
ReplyDeleteChuggington is good. I preferred it to (the older) Thomas the Tank Engine stuff as I felt there was a better spread of characters, greater emphasis on team work and fewer instances of characters being mean, for example.
With my kids, I can hardly stop them from speaking! English is their first language (at the moment) but not as strong as their peers in England as they go to school in a mixed EFL/ESL environment in Malaysia.
Great idea about using kids art. My kids go to art class every week and they do art and crafts at school. Besides sending stuff periodically to grandparents, we are sometimes at a loss with what to do with it all, but now we have other options!
Thank you for the other tips re: writing an audio script ... Incidentally, I largely based them on the actual conversations I had with my kids so it's 90-95% authentic.
With the colour-coding, I'm in two minds on reflection. I like it visually but wonder if we do to much as teachers/writers - perhaps we should be getting the kids to do the analysis and colour coding. For now, it's fine with the examples to help them notice, but the next step should perhaps be for them to find the patterns. What do you and others think?
Katherine Bilsborough Comic Sans! Hehehe.
ReplyDeletePhil Brown Thanks for your answer!!!!! I loved reading all the details!!!! I didn´t mention it before but I also like that you mixed sentences with different language in the Fill in the blanks. The activity in which students have to say true or false is engaging. Again, thanks for sharing!!! Lovely material!
ReplyDelete