Showing Respect

To introduce this topic, one of the options is to know all the people that help us in our everyday lives, we could have a poster to help them become familiar with the importance of the persons who help us:

They could explain some experience with one of the persons in the poster to let the others understand each job

Sharing and participating

The class routines could help in this case too, to teach them that they must share and tidy up for example, it would be a good learning if they do it every day, they can have turns, two or three students each day have to tidy up, and remember the importance of sharing, the classroom material it’s for all the students.

Activity to share: 

-          Have a poster like this one, and when it’s time to share ask the students to share something with their partner. It’s an easy and fast activity and we can change the word “share” for another one anytime.

Behavior patterns

          

Behavior patterns are very important in a good education, one activity we could make with the student to learn to say “thank you”, “sorry” and “please” is the next one:

-          Individually each child will cut three hearts in a color paper, and write in it the words please, thank you and sorry, one in each heart.

-          Then we will paste a straw and if we want some more decoration, it will look like this:

                                   

-          When the words are ready there are different games we could do, as for example, the teacher reads some sentences and the students have to show the correct word in each case:

o   I open the door and I let you pass first (thank you)

o   You hurry up and I’m in the middle of your way (sorry)

o   You ask me to let you borrow my pencil (please)

§  And so on….

-          It also could be worked in pairs or in small groups.

Feelings

To work with the feeling it would be great to have a poster – display with the different emotions than children can identify easily depending on their age.

They could make their own feelings drawing them or we can give them the poster done, and work with it every day.

One option is to ask some of the children how they feel today, and that way they will became familiar with each feeling along the year.

There are a lot of activities we could do working with the faces and the names of the feelings, they can work in pairs or in group to also work with communication patterns.

Greetings and goodbyes

As I said before, children should know how to behave when they arrive to class and when they leave. Here are some easy songs to learn with them to say hello and goodbye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Q7Y3t4m3g (good morning – year 1 and 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ziku4FLka4 (good morning – year 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFVjU-dsIM8 (good morning – year 5 and 6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teMU8dHLqSI (hello song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xcws7UWWDEs (goodbye song)

Class Routines

     

                                   Class Routines

Having a poster with all the class routines it’s an interesting way to make them remember everything they should do during the lesson and at the end:

-       -   Listen

-       -   Raise your hand

-       -  Be quite when teacher is talking

-      -  Tidy up

-      -  Don’t be noisy

-      -   Share with others

-      -   Help our friends

There are also another ways to have with children class routines, like singing a “good morning” song every morning, or before going out the classroom have them in a line, put their coats and bags in the right place of the room, etc. If we always do the same, they will learn it as an everyday routine.

Personal Hygiene

-          Understand and respect dining-room rules like: “wash your hands before you eat, “brush your teeth after eating”

We can sing songs with children to make them understand the importance of the personal hygiene, and it will also improve their vocabulary in English:

This song also has movements that will help them understand the meaning and will keep them awake and paying attention:

When do I wash my hands?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTCK7CjpIk

Wash your hands, face, teeth, and hair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibwO6v-e2Xw

How to start a lesson

The most important thing is speak in English from the beginning of the class, that way children will get used to it and they can realize what are you saying, learn by hearing every day similar “welcomes” or “good mornings”, and repeating some of our words or sentences, and their answers.

There are many options to start a lesson, but the first thing in all of them is to welcome our children and introduce what are we will do.

One option it could be like this:

Teacher: “Good morning everyone! How are you today?”

Children: “Good morning teacher! Fine. How are you?”

Teacher: “I’m fine, thanks. What’s the weather like today?”

Children: “sunny / rainy / cloudy….”

Teacher: “And today is……”

Children: “Monday!”

Teacher: “All right! But what time is it? Am I late?”

Children: “No, you are not, its nine o’clock!”

Teacher: “Okay! Very good! Now let’s check the roll…..”

The teacher can do the questions in different order every day to make sure they understand and it’s not just by memory. The questions can be ask to all of them or to each one every day.

This may be a very usual way, but by my point of view I think it’s good to have a routine to start, and maybe change it every week/month by adding new questions, or songs, as they improve their level.