British Council webpage: Learn English Kids...super songs and stories!

This brush your teeth rap is a huge hit in our house!!
There are loads of songs, animated stories and games to play on this wonderful site!!

http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/brush-bus

Help your kids with school work: Sparklebox 家で英語を教える

イギリスの小学校の先生がこのウエブ・ページをよく使っています。
フォニクス、数字、理科などいろいろプリント・アウトでいるの。
使ってみて！
今娘が宇宙について勉強しているなので、Sparkleboxで宇宙を検索して、宇宙のポスター、宇宙飛行士のマスク、宇宙人の粘土マットとか印刷した。娘かなり気に入った。

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

Absolutely super website used by primary school teachers for ideas in Maths, English, Science...everything!!
Reinforce what your kids study at school by helping them at home too.
All kinds of resources can be printed out and they all look so good.

Right now my daughter's doing space at school, so we've printed out a space banner, astronauts for a rocket and space-themed playdough mats, just to name a few!!

Really, really check it out.

http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/

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.

楽しい子供の絵本とCD Wee Sing and Learn series

今日の英語のクラスにWee Sing and Learn Coloursを読みました。このシリーズは本当に綺麗で、シンプルでわかりやすい。
Wee Sing and Learn ABCも特に好き。フォニックスを教えたいの人にお勧めです。この本を使って、娘と一緒にも読んでいます。
Halloween とChristmasにも便利な本とＣＤセットもあります。人気の歌たくさんはいています。

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!!

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!!"