English learning as a game 英語勉強はゲームで習う！

I always used to play Connect 4 when I was little.

When I started work at an English school in Tokyo, I was surprised to find Connect 4, Jenga and other games in the teaching equipment boxes.
Our school's method was to use fun games to teach children English. If they see learning as a game,　then they are more willing to participate and actually learn more because they want to join in the fun.

It's simple really, all you do to get a go, be it add a counter on Connect 4, take away a block on Jenga or whatever, is answer a question correctly. So prepare some questions, or some flash cards for younger kids, and off you go.

We also used Snakes and Ladders, Bingo, Noughts and Crosses and draughts.

コネクト４はいつも子供のころの好きなゲームだった。

東京の英会話学校を始まった時に、先生達の教材箱の中に、コネクト４とかジェンガとかいろんなボード・ゲームが入っていた。ゲームしながら英語を覚えるのは、学校の教育メソッドだった。子供には、ゲームは楽しくて、参加したいから、英語が’勉強事’じゃなく、’楽しむ事’になる。

始まるのはかんたん。ただ質問かフラッシュ・カードを準備して。自分の番になると、質問を正しく答え、そしてゲームの参加できる。サイコロを投げるかブロックをとれるかコマを移動して進む。

すごろく、ビンゴ、まるばつ遊びとかチェッカーでも使えるよ。

Montessori tools: alphabet cards and the senses

Montessori classrooms have sandpaper letters which help children learn the alphabet. The individual letters are made from sandpaper and each pasted onto a square board. Not only can children see and arrange the letters freely, but they can learn the alphabet through touch.The added sensation  further enhances the learning experience, according to Maria Montessori.

Today I made not sandpaper letters but tinfoil ones stuck onto pink cardboard squares (recycled from packaging) I made my daughter's name in English and Japanese. She was quite enamored with them and lined them up on the dining table, then the coffee table. She is quite into seeing her name now. Friends have given her pictures for her birthday with her name written on it, and I've also been sewing her name into her clothes for starting at nursery.

Now could be the start of her sensitive period for letters...I'll keep an eye on how things go.

Today's English game: tic tac toe

We often play Tic Tac Toe in our English class. Using the flashcards you want to teach, lay out a square made of 3x3 cards. Turn the cards over so that students don't know what the card is. Make two teams and give each team it's own set of counters or tiddlywinks. Then students decide who goes first. The first student drops the counter onto the card he wants. If he misses, you can decide how many chances he can have to try again. He turns over the card. The opposing team can ask a question about the card and the student answers. The game continues like this until one team has got a row of 3 counters horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
If the game goes to a stalemate, then you can have the students challenge each other for a card playing rock, paper, scissors. It's lots of fun and gets students talking using questions and answers!!

Learning the alphabet 楽しいアルファベット

My daughter is only two and a half so I certainly don't want to force her to memorize letters at the moment.

Maria Montessori noted that children learn from a well prepared environment, so here's what I'm doing at home. My daughter loves to open the fridge. So on the fridge I've stuck an A4 sheet with the alphabet on and a corresponding picture for each letter. I also have a set of alphabet flash cards, and I select a couple of those to stick on the fridge and change them occasionally.

So everytime she goes to the fridge she sees the alphabet. We have a chat about what's up there, but I just keep it light.
We also have magnetic letters up there too. She makes great faces with them, and then a great mess with them on the floor.

Teaching the days, months and weather

We have a wonderful fabric calendar on our wall which we change every day. It has all the days, months, years and weather on little fabric squares stuck on with velcro. It's so colourful, it really cheers up the wall in our kitchen. And it's so much fun to set all the information for the day!! It's really easy for my daughter to use and many a morning she opens the curtains and announces, "It's a sunny day!!"

Fun and free kids' crafts

I've always used these craft webpages for any craft ideas in my English classes.

There are so many topics listed within them and all the printables are free.

Try them sometime!!

http://www.dltk-kids.com/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

Don't sing the ABC song!!

We all know it. A,B,C,D,E,F,G.....But have you really ever thought about how useful this song is? Of course it is naming the letters of the alphabet. We use them when spelling out words. However, when we try to read in English, the names of the letters are not important, but the sound. And the ABC song becomes quite confusing for children when it comes to teaching about the sounds of the alphabet: phonics.
Phonics is a tool for reading the letters of the alphabet. When a child sees the word 'cat', he can sound out each letter to read the word: 'cuh' 'ah' 'tuh'. Running the sounds together he can read cat. The names of the letters of the alphabet would have the child read 'cee' 'ay' 'tee' bringing little understanding to the written word itself.
At a school I used to teach at in Tokyo, the teachers never sang the traditional ABC song. Instead we sang a phonetic version of the alphabet to the tune of, 'This Old Man...' It goes, Ah, buh, cuh, duh, eh, fuh,...etc. Try it and see! It takes a while to get used to, but it is so much more helpful for kids learning English.

Here is a link to the phonetic sounds of the English alphabet.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/phonemic-chart