Teaching Toddlers Compiled and edited by Karen Stanley, Sep. 2004 Copyright, all rights reserved, each part by its respective author (Permission to place this document on the TEFLChina website has been granted by all the posters who have been included below.) Compiled from messages on the TEFLChina@yahoogroups.com email list posted September 6, 2004 (message 7383) through September 9, 2004 (message 7396). * A listmember asked for information on how to organize and conduct 40 minute classes of children between the ages of 3 and 6. * -------------------------------------------- Nancy Webert wrote: Joe Pilon wrote: > So just reading the book with them and drilling them on the > vocabulary/spelling barely covered the time provided in the first two > of the 8 classes this month...so, by the next class, I am going to > have to have some games and activities related to the material from > the book or it is going to be a real drag for them. I am 46 years old > and generally considered a pretty serious guy... but I am more than > willing to try and be fun.... I don't profess to be anything of an expert in Primary teaching....have only had a two week experience at a Chinese Winter Camp. University + level is what DH and I do best. But I did use a "fun" technique for idioms. Are there some really simple idioms you could attach to the story of the month? Have the kids start a book with sheets of plain paper. On one side they (or you) write the idiom and draw a picture that represents what they think it means. (ie "Butterflies in my stomach") On the opposite side have them write the idiom again and this time a picture depicting something closer to the meaning...ie a nervous person. Perhap this is too difficult for those ages...as I said before this is not my area of expertise but the above worked for me for slightly older children. Nancy presently teaching in Finland -------------------------------------------- John Pullen wrote: I really don't believe you are being asked to teach 3 year old children to read!!! Aside from that, why not try some preschool songs with words and actions combined. Try 3 Blind Mice, ABC song, 3 Little Indians, BINGO, London Bridges, etc. Also teach words that start with a certain letter, short vowel three letter words, rhyming words, etc. john -------------------------------------------- Nancy Webert wrote: [Someone wrote]: > I really like this idea. Do you remember what other idioms worked > well for this activity? > Ryan Fortunately I found the website I took them from. 1. That's the way the cookie crumbles. 2. He spilled the beans. 3. She's the apple of his eye. 4. The students in Class 4-420 are going bananas. 5. He's feeling blue today. 6. You're walking on thin ice mister! 7. Uh, oh. We're in hot water now. 8. You'd better hold your tongue and button your lip. 9. Mrs. Seigel has eyes in the back of her head. 10. Something's fishy here. Nancy, presently in Finland -------------------------------------------- Carole Dailey wrote: [Someone wrote]: > I really like this idea. Do you remember what other idioms worked > well for this activity? Why not do a search on idioms at Dave's ESL Cafe, and as Nancy suggested one that has to do with the stomach (butterflies in my stomach), you could do a series of these using idioms related to the body parts, as you're teaching those. So, your overall theme would be body parts, and then work an idiom into each one. However, I'm not really sure about the ability of this age group to understand the concept of idioms. I've not taught this age group, either, but as a parent/grandparent, I'm wondering about this. Of course, you'd have to also teach the vocabulary of the idiom (ex., butterfly). Maybe with a lot of playacting, they'd get the meaning. Otherwise, using idioms with them would be a lost cause. I don't think exclusively using idioms with young kiddos is a good idea. I think just using themes such as numbers, colors, body parts, clothing, weather and seasons, transportation, etc., would be good, and within each of these you can incorporate many activities. This should give you plenty of material to work with. -------------------------------------------- Dave Kees wrote: The focus should be on communication. What might toddlers need to communicate about in English? We had a Chinese teacher come to teach my children and I wouldn't allow him to teach body parts. Kids don't need to talk about their bodies unless they have to explain a pain or injury to their parents. But they do need language to make friends, talk about their family, their toys, the food they like and don't like. If children or adults are taught language they have little need for it is much more likely they will forget that language before they actually have a use for it. Selecting language to teach is like packing a suitcase. The decisions involved in what to take are as important as the ones in what not to take. -------------------------------------------- Leslie Sirag wrote: We used plastic toys (available locally) with our kindergarteners (ages 4, sometimes 3, to 5+). We had animals, bugs, etc. We'd toss several on the table & ask one child to give us a bug, or something red, or a lion -- well, you get the picture. We also used lots of action songs--The King of France, Little Peter Rabbit, A Hunting We Will Go (played as a circle game), the Hokey Pokey, etc. Our kids were using some single-word texts--"dog" with a picture, etc. with their Chinese teachers. We tried to use songs & games to reinforce what they were teaching. We also did a few phonics worksheets--That Fat Cat (we made these up) The kdgs could identify pics of That Fat Cat on a mat, in a hat, etc. Then we added That Fat Cat had a Dad. & used mad, sad, bad, etc. All illustrated on ea sheet. We were also asked to teach some Christmas songs--steered away from religious, but used the fa la las in Deck the Halls (illustrated words, though I don't think they got most of them) to teach the use of commas--even the kdgs got that after we sang it & inserted commas a few times. -------------------------------------------- John Pullen wrote: Teaching word recognition of words that children like or can personalize for themselves is also worthwhile. Write down the words that are important on flash cards or note cards for them to each keep in a small box or bag. Not everyone will have the same words. True, be cognizant of what words are being introduced, however staying away from body parts seems a personal opinion and I wouldn't have educational concerns presenting the ones most commonly learned very early by small children in their own language. For 3 year olds it would seem more important to focus on the listening with oral speach and word play especially attached to communcation rather than sight word recognition, phonics or reading skills such as punctuation. Lots of fun and movement with meanings easily attached to things and actions. Not that these can't be shown or illustrated with books and written materials. -------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- (end)