Kids' World

Teaching Children - Have a Long-Term Perspective

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Using Games and Activities
Perhaps the most popular feature of any TM is the Games and Activities section. For children's classes, we need to do several activities per class to keep the students focused. Two activities that are very popular with my students are the Picasso Game and the Bye-Bye Game, both from SuperKids.

To play the Picasso game, decide what language point you want to practice or review. It could be vocabulary, daily expressions, verbs, phonics words or a grammar point. Divide the class into two teams. For large groups, divide the class into 3-4 groups. Divide the board into sections. One section per team. Have one student from each team stand at the board. Give each student a marker to draw. Show each student the same picture of the item you will have them draw.

I use either the SuperKids flash cards or point to the picture in the student's book. Say Go and each student draws the item on the board. No numbers or letters are allowed. The first team to shout out the answer gets a point. The next student from each team comes to the board and the game continues for as long as you like. When using phrases or sentences, make sure the students answer completely and not just in one or two words. This game can really help students learn to use complete sentence patterns.

The purpose of the Bye-Bye Game is to help students remember the main point/s of the lesson. We do many things in one class and sometimes students do not know what the focus of the lesson is. This game helps to answer the question, What did you learn today? At the end of class, have students line up by the door. Using the flashcards or the student's book as a cue, have the students produce the target language of the lesson.

For grammar points that involve a question and answer, have students work in pairs. If students produce the language accurately, they may leave. If students cannot produce the language, they have to go to the end of the line. An added benefit of the Bye-Bye Game is that it helps students to focus during class. Just tell them that today we will play the Bye-Bye Game and suddenly all eyes are upon you.

Once the lesson plan format is established you can then use it to teach whatever language items you want. Language items include vocabulary, functional dialogs, TPR(verbs, commands), grammar, phonics/reading and writing. One way to teach phonics is to teach letters that have the same mouth position. For example, b/p, f/v, and s/z. This is also a good time to teach letter recognition.

The topic "International Awareness" seems to be a popular topic among many teachers today. One idea for teaching culture is to use a calendar. Choose from among the holidays. For example, halloween, Christmas and mother's day and father's day. Holidays from various countries will help children develop a more international perspective.

And Finally…
When teaching children, prepare yourself as much as possible. A good teacher's manual, a gradual, realistic syllabus, a lesson plan format, and a set of language items you want to teach should provide you with the resources for successful classes. Add a lot of fun, communicative games and activities and enjoy the success of being a teacher. In the EFL situation, maintain a long-term perspective. What our students learn now they will be able to use many years from now. Just ask Tiger Woods.

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Greg Cossu has been teaching in Japan for over twenty years, the last fifteen years of which have been teaching children. He currently teaches at his own school in Takarazuka where he teaches both children, JHS, SHS, and adults. He is the co-author of the popular series for elementary school students, SuperKids, published by Longman ELT.

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