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Let’s face it: school today just isn’t the same as it was when you were younger. The profession of teaching has changed dramatically in the past few decades. Teachers now educate in schools with grade configurations that vary considerably, teach an enormous range of subjects, and teach students with different needs. Here is a very short guide that will show you roughly what happens in each grade cluster.

Popular grade configurations are elementary schools that include pre-kindergarten or kindergarten through fifth-grade levels, middle schools that include sixth- through eighth-grade levels, and high schools that include ninth- through twelfth-grade levels. Another, less popular, configuration beyond the elementary level is the junior high school, which includes sixth- through ninth-grade levels, and the senior high school, which includes tenth through twelfth-grade levels.

A quick side note: becoming a teacher is a lot more competitive these days. Teachers today have higher standardized achievement test scores and higher grade-point averages than their counterparts several years ago. According to a study by the developers of the Praxis test, teacher grade-point averages (GPAs) increased from 27% of teachers with a 3.5 GPA or higher during 1994 to 1997 to 40% having at least 3.5 GPA during 2002 to 2005. Additionally, candidates’ verbal SAT scores rose 13 points and mathematics scores rose 17 points in the same period.

Now you can think about who you might best work with.

Are you interested in working with very young children and new learners? Consider being a pre-K teacher.

If you attended pre-K as a child, you might recall learning through playing with other classmates and through participating in interactive classroom activities. Pre-K teachers are very different from elementary and secondary school teachers. They typically develop children’s language and vocabulary skills through storytelling and rhyming games; their social skills through cooperation and teamwork games; and their scientific and mathematical concepts through counting games and simple mathematics problems. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the ages included in pre-K education range from birth to age eight. Pre-K teachers play a critical role in the development of children. Early childhood learning and experiences shape students’ views of themselves and the world and influence their later success in school, work, and their personal lives.

For students who are just a little older who are being introduced to a more formal style of learning, there are the elementary school teachers. Elementary school teachers are usually responsible for a group of children, roughly 20 to 25. They teach several subjects and are responsible for one grade level. In some schools, several elementary school teachers work together to teach a group of students. Other schools also have teachers who teach a special subject, such as music, art, mathematics, or science, to a number of classes. Some schools have teachers who instruct students from several grade levels. Elementary school teachers are responsible for a wide variety of activities, including rule-setting for maintaining order in the classroom, adapting teaching methods and instructional materials to meet individual students’ needs, and assigning and grading class work and homework.

Pre-K teachers are charged with providing students with the educational building blocks they’ll need to succeed in elementary school and throughout their lives. Elementary teachers teach all subject areas and usually teach one grade level.

Once a teacher reaches the middle school level, he or she needs to become a subject specialist. This is because unlike elementary school teachers, middle school teachers generally teach one specialized subject, such as social studies, English/language arts, mathematics, or science, to several groups of students each day. However, some middle schools have teachers who teach all major subjects to one classroom of students.

To students in grades five through eight, middle school teachers represent key authority figures and role models. Middle school children are at a developmental stage where they are developing interests in specific subject areas; learning a variety of social lessons; and dealing with a wide range of physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges. Middle school teachers are not simply educators—they are also coaches and facilitators for these children. This is a very sensitive time for students, and what they learn from their teachers during these years can greatly influence their experiences and successes as adults.

In most schools, middle school teachers appear in several classes, spending less time with each student than their elementary school counterparts. They may have larger classes in public schools, or smaller classes in private schools. They may also be involved in extracurricular activities such as coaching a sport or sponsoring a club. These activities traditionally go beyond regular teaching responsibilities and sometimes come with an additional stipend.

To help prepare students for the workforce, college, and the challenges of adulthood, look no further than the high school teacher. High school teachers are highly trained specialists in one, two, or several subjects. They teach their specialty areas to high school students between the ages of 13 and 18. For example, a high school mathematics teacher might teach several classes of algebra and geometry, and a class or two of trigonometry and calculus. A science teacher might teach several classes of general biology, one class of advanced-placement (AP) biology, and an elective in zoology. They prepare lessons, exams, assignments, and reading lists in their subject matter in imaginative, innovative ways, in an attempt to generate interest among their students.

In addition to teaching classes, high school teachers also plan and take students on field trips, coach after-school sport teams, or are involved in other extracurricular activities. High school teachers work very long hours in an effort to enrich their students’ lives, both in the classroom and in the real world. They are leaders and motivators who also grade exams, correct homework, and meet with parents.

I hope this very short, simple guide has helped you get that much closer to choosing which grade level you are interested in teaching.

SOURCE:

Aspiring Teachers: What Age Range Should You Teach?

What does a truly immersive lesson look like? Sarah Findlater shares her proven tips on engrossing your class in a topic

Every now and then I throw caution to the wind and teach a lesson where everything is a little bit different, unexpected. An immersive learning experience, if you like. These are the lessons where fun and learning intertwine and the students forget they are in a lesson at all. Most of the learning is done by accident. Sneaky, I know. The turn-everything-on-its-head lessons are my favourite and each time I teach one I wonder why I don’t teach every lesson that way.

What does suspending belief in the classroom involve? It can encompass many things. It could be just tweaking how I speak to a class or introduce a topic – hamming it up. It may be using visual, audio or props to create an atmosphere or spark discussion. I have even been known to dress up as various characters; from an air hostess to a detective, a vet to a Greek god, and stay in role for part or all of the lesson. It is about getting them hooked on the learning at a deeper level. Completely immersing them in the story, scene, concept or topic. Allowing them to escape from the real world, here and now in the classroom, and experience an alternate world in the past, another country or different life. There are many roads one can take to this destination.

Don’t just stick with the that formula that works with your class

It is great if you have found a way to get them learning and focused but don’t be scared to mix it up. Students are treated to five shows a day and more often than not they are fairly similar. This is not a bad thing but boy does it stick with them when a teacher chucks it all up in the air and pulls out a well-planned, risky lesson. Perhaps they don’t write the lesson objective down. Maybe the classroom isn’t set up in the way they are used to and the seating plan is obsolete. Possibly there is a waft of unfamiliar sounds, foreign objects or strange colours or images as they approach and enter the room. Keep the focus on what you want them to learn, but mix the lesson up. Swirl up the elements that are usually so well ordered. It is freeing for the students and you may be surprised at the result.

A different approach needs proper planning

If you are doing something different it is essential that you have a well-planned lesson and have set up what you need in advance. Think through the lesson a few times. I tend to ask myself some questions when I am planning and setting up the lesson. What will I need at each point of the lesson? Where will I be in the classroom and will the items I need be easily accessible without causing a distracting fuss? If you are in role or are asking the students to be in role in some way, the last thing you want to do is distract them from this by faffing around on different sides of the classroom because you have not set it up correctly before hand. What will the experience of the student be? This last question is the most important. I will often sit in one of the students seats and imagine what they would see, hear, feel and so on. If you want any lesson to go well this is important, but even more so when you are mixing it up and need them to possibly suspend their belief for that session.

Stay in ‘role’ to keep them involved

The core of this is what the best of us teacher folk try to do all the time – you staying in your positive ‘teacher’ role, convincing them to get involved in the learning. It is no mean feat keeping them focused by your enthusiasm and involvement in the lesson, even on days that you don’t feel like it. Showing them your excitement at the lesson, even in the face of an occasional groan or roll of the eyes, is essential if you want them all on board. They will come on board if you are convincing enough, so don’t get sidetracked and downhearted – persevere. Make it so fun that the naysayers will not be able to resist. Involve them in the setup of the lesson, if you can foresee any issues with certain characters. If you are one of the brave (and slightly mad) ones and are actually taking on a role of another character then it is essential that you think about how you will instruct them whilst staying in role. Setting up tasks that go with your role and the situation where you can exert your teacher presence without coming out of role is a good idea. For example, a spy may set top secret missions for the class with guidelines for completion included. If you have to deal with a behavioural issue think of an inventive way of remaining in role but still dealing with it. A police officer may threaten a student with being sent away to jail for the remainder of the lesson, for instance.

Use music visuals and objects

The use of audio is a powerful mood setter. It can change the whole feel of a boring old classroom. Students are transported to another space, the usual classroom noise is no longer there. I have used powerful classical music to depict a battle when teaching war poetry, a medley of James Bond theme tunes when writing spy fiction and opera to inspire creative free writing. I have seen others use Gregorian monks chanting to set the scene for a religious history lesson, power ballads of the 1990s to explore the emotions behind love poetry and tribal African music when discussing appreciation of other culture. Music touches the coldest of hearts and I have seen it bring tears to students eyes if used in the right way.

Visuals are another great tool to immerse the students into a topic quickly. Deep analysis in groups of an image related to the lesson and sharing of findings can lead to immediate deep learning and empathy. Shocking, confusing or unusual images spark discussion and open students up to a topic on another level. Using audio and visuals within the lesson for effect just adds another level of immersion keeping the students connected with the learning.

Objects from outside the classroom are a great way to spark curiosity. To your students, an object will have many different, often surprising, connotations. There are many ways to use objects to help student suspend belief and jump into a story or topic. I have used a great poetry lesson about objects found in a shipwrecked sailor pocket, bringing in a few objects to spark discussion. Setting up a mock crime scene where students have to investigate what has happened always goes down a treat. And, in history I have seen a soldier’s helmet or a gas mask used, to create interest and spark discussion. These objects bring the lesson into reality, often someone elses reality very quickly.

This type of immersive learning where students can escape into the world of the topic is a really important part of their school experience. It is because of this that we must ensure that while keeping it fun we must keep it real. What learning do you want to take place? Work back from this point. Sometimes the time restraints and the pressure of the job squeeze the fun from our lessons and I believe it is important that we fight against this. We need to make it one of our priorities to create these exciting learning experiences that will stay with the students, and us, forever.

SOURCE:

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/aug/07/teaching-immersive-engaging-lessons

“How do you say, ‘Que tengas un buen fin de semana’ in English?” How many times have your students asked you to translate something from or into their native language?

How often do you have students who translate things in their heads before answering you? By contrast, how often do you have students who provide a natural-sounding reply, spontaneously and automatically, without even blinking an eye? Chances are most of your students still translate in their heads – at least some of the time. Our goal as teachers is to guide students towards increasingly thinking in English and drop the crutch of translation. But we all know this is precisely one of the hardest things to achieve. So how do we do that? How can we effectively get our ESL students to think in English?

Why it’s so important for ESL students to stop translating and start thinking in English

• Consider their main goal. They want to learn to speak English, not become translators. There’s no point in them speaking their native language in their heads while they’re trying to learn another.
• It’s counterproductive. The constant comparison of one language to another hinders naturally flowing speech. Experienced interpreters are real pros at this, but your students are not.
• Some things are simply too hard to translate. This creates a situation where the student is desperately trying to remember how to say the one word they have in their minds in English, while they should be trying to recall a recent lesson instead.
• Now, that we’ve established the importance of getting students to think in English for the duration of the class, let’s see ways to help them achieve this ever-elusive state.

How to Get YOUR Students to Stop Translating and Start Thinking in English

1. Use an English-English Dictionary

If you teach ESL by only speaking English in class, then you often supply definitions or explanations of words in English. Ask students to use Eng-Eng dictionaries, and it will contribute to your efforts.

2. Mime Feelings and Actions

When you teach feelings like “sad”, “happy”, “scared”, etc…it’s a lot simpler to translate them. But it’s so much more fun to act them out – for you and your class! The same goes for actions like opening closing things, walking, running, etc.

3. Teach Language in Context

A student a writes a word on the board, points to it and asks what it means. Most of the time we have no idea where they got it, which leads us to ask questions about the context. After all, there are plenty of words that have different meanings in different contexts. This is precisely why language must be taught in context. For example, would you teach the Past Simple by presenting a list of verbs and their past forms? What if there are verbs they don’t understand? Your best course of action is to introduce the context first. Tell students what you do every day, and then tell them what you did yesterday. This eliminates any need for translation.

4. Introduce Set Phrases as Set Phrases

Has a student ever asked you to translate the meaning of “You’re welcome”? In most languages a literal translation is ridiculous, but providing a similar phrase in the students’ native language is not necessary, either. When students ask for translation simply say a set phrase is a set phrase. Make sure they understand it’s a reply to “Thank you”. They will probably figure out the equivalent in their language, but with some expressions an equivalent is hard to come by – think of proverbs or idiomatic expressions. The goal is for them to understand the meaning of the phrase and when it’s used.

5. Use Visual Aids

Like miming, visual aids such as flashcards, illustrations, posters and even video are great ways to avoid translation.

6. Use Opposites or Synonyms

Use words they already know in lead in questions: Are you happy to see your friend? You’re glad to see him. Check out these other great ways to teach vocabulary. No translation needed at all!

7. Teach Language in Groups

The need for translation will be eliminated if you teach words in groups that make sense, for example, “eat” and “drink” with a list of food items.

8. Pretend You Don’t Understand

If students try to say things in their own language, simply say you don’t understand. Try to lead them to say what they want to say in English. This is by far my favorite strategy. If a student speaks to me in Spanish, I love to say, “Yo no hablar español” with a thick English accent (besides being absolutely fluent in Spanish, I’m also a good actress). Because it’s funny, it predisposes students better than a reprimand!

There is still much debate as to whether an ESL class should be English only or include some elements of the native language.

I have personally had excellent results speaking only English in my classrooms. There have been very few occasions in which I had to explain something to a student in Spanish, but those were very special cases or students with some type of learning difficulty. When I teach Japanese students, I can’t use their native language at all. I can’t speak a single word in Japanese, but that doesn’t impact the lesson negatively, in fact, it is very helpful, as students are not tempted to use their native tongue.

SOURCE:

https://busyteacher.org/12331-how-to-get-students-stop-translating-start.html

There seems to be a widely held belief that English, in common with the British who speak it, is a very formal language. In my experience, English does not seem any more or less formal than other languages.

All cultures seem to have concepts of formality, what can be confusing is that these concepts differ from culture to culture.

• What is appropriacy and how is it shown in English?
• Why is appropriacy important?
• What problems do learners have with appropriacy?
• How can we help learners develop a sensitivity to appropriacy?
• Conclusion

What is appropriacy and how is it shown in English?

Perhaps the first thing to clarify is that I prefer the word appropriacy to register. This is because the term register is used to describe lexis that is exclusive to a particular area of use, often professional, such as  medicine. I will, therefore, to avoid confusion, refer to whether language is appropriate. I also prefer this term since so much depends upon context and whether language is appropriate to that context. So what makes language appropriate for a context?

Basically appropriacy depends upon what you say and how you say it. In other words upon your choice of words and the way you then produce those words, which in spoken language is largely dependent on pronunciation and paralinguistics (body language).

What you say and how you say it will in turn be governed by the situation and who you are talking to. Bygate (1987) used the term ‘reciprocity conditions’ to describe how these features affect language production. An example might be the use of the exclamation «Shut up!». Most of us might tell a friend to «Shut up!» in a friendly informal way when chatting in a pub. We could mean «I don’t believe you.» and would probably be laughing and use high pitched falling intonation. If we were not smiling and used rising intonation the message would be very different and inappropriate. We would be less likely to use the same words in a friendly way to the same person at a formal dinner because the other people present might misinterpret our meaning and think we were being rude. We would not tell a stranger or someone we are not on very familiar terms with to «Shut up!» under any normal circumstances (we would of course if we positively wanted to be rude or perhaps if we thought their talking was rude).

This consideration for the listener is reflected in the three maxims Robin Lakoff (1973) put forward:

• Don’t impose
• Give options
• Make your receiver feel good

Why is appropriacy important?

Brown and Yule (1983) suggested that much language use aims at ‘interaction’, by which they mean using language to create, preserve and develop social relationships. If the speaker is not appropriate this aim will not be achieved. Rudeness, deliberate or not, causes social relationships to break down.

What problems do learners have with appropriacy?

What makes this so difficult for a learner of English is that so much of the necessary sensitivity to appropriacy is culturally specific and acquired in childhood. It is also always changing – some examples of what is considered appropriate language now (for example the use of «Shut up!» explored above) would have been thought completely inappropriate as little as 40 years ago, perhaps even more recently.

In addition, due to the subconscious manner in which this awareness of appropriacy is acquired, native speakers may not make allowances for its absence when non-native speakers speak or write. A good example is the case of intonation where a speaker may be misinterpreted as being rude or bored completely unfairly because their intonation is too flat.

Another cause of problems here can be employing what is acceptable in your L1 when speaking another language. In Spain it is uncommon to say «por favor» (please) when ordering a drink in a bar; so long as you smile, it is unnecessary. This is not the casein the UK. Similarly in Czech I could ask «Nemate chleb?» in a shop but if I directly translated this into «Don’t you have bread?» in Britain, I could be in trouble.

Finally to make things more complex there is the difference between appropriacy in spoken and written language. This distinction exists in most languages as far as I am aware but nevertheless adds further complications. The arrival of texting and email has blurred this distinction to some extent but at the same time has increased the amount of awareness necessary.

How can we help learners develop a sensitivity to appropriacy?

In this final section I will suggest a few ideas for helping students become more sensitive to appropriacy in English, both as producers of and receivers of language.

General strategies

• Teach functions

Most of the distinctions between what is and isn’t appropriate can be most easily demonstrated through teaching functional ‘social’ language (e.g. making requests). When teaching functions be sure to focus on the context in which you would use particular functions and with whom you would use them.

• Teach neutral exponents first

Most learners will be safe and able to function if they can use neutral language appropriately, so I teach this first. For example, «Can you tell me the time, please?» is more generally applicable than «Would you mind telling me the time, please?» or «What’s the time?».

• Practise transformation

Practise transforming language from formal to neutral to informal etc. My students find this fun and interesting and it is a good way of raising awareness of different possibilities within the same context.

Strategies to raise sensitivity to recognition

• Listening for inference

I often ask students to listen and decide «What is the relationship between the speakers?» or «Where are they speaking?» etc. as a first listening task as it makes them aware of the importance of these considerations.

• Exploiting tapescripts

As a post-listening activity, I ask learners to search through tapescripts looking for language that shows the appropriacy of the text.

• Video

I use video with the sound off to raise awareness of paralinguistics clues.

Strategies to help with appropriate production

• Drilling

Pronunciation is central to appropriacy and so I try to drill good models with differing intonation and stress.

• Practising in a variety of contexts

Very little language is context specific (we don’t only use the 2nd conditional to talk about winning the lottery – when we use it at all) so I give my learners practice using structures / functions / lexis in lots of different situations.

• Including degrees of appropriacy in spoken practice

In spoken practice activities I sometimes add on an aspect of different degrees of appropriacy. For example, I give students roles such as ‘teacher’ or ‘older stranger’ or ‘best friend’, which means they will have to use different language depending on who they are talking to.

• Writing dialogues

For a variety of reasons I often ask students to write spoken language. One task I use is to ask groups to write the same dialogue (e.g. asking for directions) but assign a different degree of appropriacy to each group. The groups then perform their dialogues for the class and the listeners have to guess how appropriate they are being.

SOURCE:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/register-degrees-formality

Publicado por: AVANCE | tuavance.com

¿Alguna vez han dejado actividades que tienen que realizar para “mañana”, siguiente semana, el próximo mes o el próximo año? ¿Cual fue la razón? ¿El hecho de hacerlo puede afectar o tener alguna incidencia en el éxito o fracaso de nuestros propósitos u objetivos? La respuesta es sí, ya que aplazar el hacer o realizar algo puede repercutir desde nuestra salud, al sentirnos más presionados a cumplir con una tarea causándonos más estrés por realizarla en menos tiempo, hasta nuestro trabajo, causando una productividad más baja y el no alcanzar las metas y/u objetivos propuestos.

¿Pero que es realmente procrastinar? Es un hábito de postergar o retrasar, sin ninguna justificación válida, actividades, compromisos, trabajo, estudios que tarde o temprano si tienen que ser realizadas. ¿Por qué hacemos eso? De acuerdo a muchos estudios e investigaciones realizadas respecto al tema, como por ejemplo de un grupo de investigación de la famosa Universidad de Harvard en Estados Unidos que publicó en 2016 un interesante informe sobre la procrastinación, sus repercusiones en el éxito estudiantil y profesional (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287477), lo hacemos porque simplemente hay “una lucha entre el cerebro emocional y el cerebro racional y cuando la voluntad de nuestra razón cede a los caprichos del instinto”, porque “la razón de procrastinar está en nuestro subconsciente ya que evitamos hacer algo que pueda tener alguna sensación negativa, por desidia, falta de motivación, entre otros”.  

Pero como todo hay una solución para poder evitar o eliminar definitivamente este hábito. Algunas de las estrategias o tips que se pueden aplicar son:

• Crear estrategias de trabajo, programando las actividades de tal manera que nos lleven a cumplir de manera organizada y continua nuestros objetivos.
• La motivación es extremadamente importante, ya sea impulsada por nosotros mismos o por otras personas alrededor de nosotros, como amigos, familiares, siempre de forma positiva.
• Visualiza los detalles y como alcanzar tu meta.
• Evita todo lo que pueda distraerte y enfócate.
• Un buen consejo es transforma tus actividades o tareas en un juego.
• Otórgate premios como motivación y elógiate.
• Utiliza y distribuye de la mejor forma tu energía, con una buena alimentación, haz ejercicio, duerme bien.
• Date una pausa, al realizar tareas de menos importancia y mas agradables, antes de terminar la tarea principal.
• Transforma y utiliza tu pasión como tu vocación.
• Ten compromiso.

No dejes lo que puedes hacer hoy para mañana. Siempre cumple tus metas, alcanza tus objetivos y nuevas puertas se abrirán con nuevas oportunidades y retos.

– “La mejor manera posible de prepararte para el mañana es concentrarte con toda tu inteligencia, con todo tu entusiasmo, haciendo el trabajo de hoy magníficamente. Esa es la única manera posible de prepararte para el futuro”-   (Dale Carnegie)

–       “La procrastinación es como una tarjeta de crédito: es muy divertida hasta que te llega el estado de cuenta” – (Christopher Parker)

AVANCE | tuavance.com

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and their meanings. Because vocabulary knowledge is critical to reading comprehension, it is essential that those working with young readers implement effective vocabulary teaching strategies so that their students can develop an extensive word bank.

Instruction of vocabulary means more than just looking up words and their definitions, it requires indirect exposure to words as well as intentional word strategies. Here are a few motivational activities to help increase your students’ writing, speaking, listening, and reading vocabularies.

Teaching Strategies: Inventive Vocabulary

One of the most effective ways to teach young students new vocabulary words is to teach them unfamiliar words. For this activity, make a list of words that you know are unknown to your students. Then, every day, choose one word from the list and write that word in a sentence on the front board, remembering to underline the unknown word. Instruct students to read the sentence on the board and try to think of what the underlined word means.

Next, instruct students to draw a picture to show what they think the word means. Encourage each child to show off their illustrations and explain what they think the underlined word means. Once everyone has had a turn, together as a class look up the real definition in the dictionary. Here are a few example sentences to get you started.

The Discovery Box

This daily activity will be sure to increase your students’ vocabulary in no time. For each student, create a blank book. You can easily do this by stapling 26 blank pages of paper between two pieces of colorful cardstock. Instruct students to label each page in their booklet in alphabetical order. Each night (or a few times a week), have students search at home for a new or interesting word. Instruct students to cut this word out (it can be from a cereal box, the newspaper, an old magazine) and glue it to an index card. Then, the following day, students bring in their cards and place it into the “Discovery Box.” At some point in the day, randomly call upon a student to choose one card from the box and write the word and its definition on the front board for his/her classmates to write into their booklets. Continue this process throughout the school year.

Word Awareness

Increase your students’ word awareness by having them create a word collage. Supply students with a variety of different materials to get their words from, like magazines, newspapers, old workbooks or textbooks, etc. Challenge them to find 20 new and interesting words that really stand out to them. These words should be of different colors, sizes, and shapes. Once they find their 20 words, instruct them to glue the words (anyway that they please) onto a white piece of cardstock or construction paper. Once the collages are completed, have students show them off to their classmates and tell them their favorite word on the collage. Then, display their fantastic work outside of your classroom for all to see!

Words and Literature

A great way to enrich your students’ vocabularies is to have fun with words through literature. Ruth Heller is a wonderful author who has written a collection of children’s books that are great for extending language, books such as “A Cache of Jewels and Other Collectible Nouns,” “Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives,” and “Fantastic! Wow! and Unreal!: A Book About Interjections and Conjunctions.” These are just three of her many books that are filled with language opportunities to enrich your students’ vocabularies. Another great book collection is the Ameila Bedelia series by Peggy Parish. Ameila’s outrageous literal interpretations of words will have your students in squeals of delight.

Effective vocabulary learning means you must provide students with multiple exposures to words and their meanings. If you can get students to be interested in playing with words now then, you have won half the battle of creating students who love words throughout their lifetime.

SOURCE:

http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-vocabulary-expansion

As an English teacher at an outstanding primary, Anna Warren is often asked for inspiration. Here she shares her favourite approaches for creative English lessons

As a creative school, with a track record in fantastic English results, we are often asked what our specific approach is: how do we teach through the arts yet manage to maintain such high expectations from all our pupils? I’d like to share some of these approaches with you:

Immersion activities

How can children access stories, poems and other texts if their minds and imaginations not fully engaged? We have found that immersing children in a range of creative activities before reading the text means that they are fully prepared, and excited, about the reading journey ahead of them. Through painting, music composition, a film project, in role drama or sculpture, the kids have had a chance to share vocabulary, ideas and concepts which gives their reading fresh meaning and purpose.

Clear purpose

What’s the point of reading and writing anything if you don’t know why you’re doing it? We aim to provide children with a clear purpose to all reading, and especially writing tasks. Whether it’s an invitation to the headteacher to attend a class assembly, an email to an author or an article for a school newspaper, our children know why the quality of their writing matters: because there will be a real audience for their published work.

Professional publishing

One effective way of valuing children’s work as well as providing a real incentive, is to plan for a range of ways to publish their writing. Recent examples include a whole school bookmaking project. Following a whole school Inset on bookbinding techniques, every class published their own shared book; one example being an anthology of short spooky stories composed by year 6. Their stories were mounted on handmade paper, accompanied with each child’s art work (lino cut style prints on metallic paper) with a dramatic paper cut out front cover. The effort the children put into their work was immense, and the results were stunning as a result. The anthology has been enjoyed by parents and other pupils and the children’s pride in their work is clear to see.

Meaningful planning

Where possible, learning in English is linked with subjects within the creative curriculum we follow: the international primary curriculum (IPC). Well in advance of teaching, teachers collaborate and share their ideas for planning through a mind mapping process. Meaningful, creative activities are planned for, ensuring that all staff members know exactly what the children will be learning and why.

Focused on strategies

The teaching of reading is not easy. As children’s fluency in reading increases, it’s hard to know what reading skills need to be taught, and when. We ensure that specific reading strategies are modelled explicitly to the class; this provides children with a holistic bank of skills to draw upon. This could include scanning a text, making an inference, predicting or creating a mental image. Our teachers use ‘think aloud’ statements to model to the children how these skills are used, and how they can help them become better readers. These strategies are then shared as a class, and then assessed in follow up guided reading activities.

Inspirational learning environment

Take a trip to our school and you’ll find classroom environments that inspire adults and children alike. Not only is the children’s work displayed creatively, but there is a range of learning prompts to inspire and support all pupils. We want to encourage our children to discover new texts, genres and authors, so our reading areas are inviting, well resourced and highly organised. Pupils can choose from an exciting array of reading material: newspapers, classic texts, reference books as well as the children’s own published stories are just some examples of what book corners might offer.

Drama to engage and inspire

The use of drama is such a powerful tool. Taking the lead from our drama specialist, all teaching staff use a range of techniques to promote the exploration of characters, situations and historical events. This process expands the pupils’ imaginations, and provides them with the ideas they need to give their writing that extra spark and flair.

Rigorous teaching of spelling and phonics

In the infants, phonics is streamed, so all children can benefit from tailored teaching, making maximum progress as a result. All phonics and spelling activities are fun, multi sensory and as physical possible, the aim being to meet all learning styles in the class. In the juniors, we try to make homework lists as personalised to the child as possible to ensure that the spelling patterns stick in a meaningful way.

Grammar concepts taught creatively

Grammar cannot be taught as a stand alone activity. What’s the point of that? Children begin to understand grammar concepts, and start to apply them in their own writing, when they start to read with a writer’s mind. Punctuation rules and techniques are drawn from shared texts; texts which the children have already been immersed in and have a good understanding of. Exploring these, and embedding them creatively is how the learning takes place.

Peer and self assessment

What child doesn’t love marking somebody else’s work? With a clear marking key, success criteria and purpose in mind, children set about assessing either their own, or a partner’s piece of writing. Modelled through the teacher’s own formative marking, pupils know what the expectations are. They are well trained in searching for successful examples of the learning intention, articulating their responses to the work, checking the writing matches any targets and giving constructive feedback. Seeing the children learn from each other in this way is hugely positive; you know you’ve done your job well.

SOURCE:

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/feb/14/teaching-english-creatively-outstanding-results

Whether you teach elementary ESL or work with adults, spelling will be a part of your curriculum.

When you are looking for a fun way to use or review these spelling words in class, try one of the following games with your students.

Try These 10 Fun Spelling Games with Your ESL Class

Scrabble Slam

With no preparation and a small financial investment, Scrabble Slam is a fun way for your students to practice spelling words in English. The game consists of a simple set of playing cards with one letter printed on the front and back of each card. Starting with any four letter word, students add one letter at a time on top of one of the original four letters to create a new word. Modify the rules slightly and take turns going around the table to see if each person can create a new word with each of his turns.

Free Form Scrabble

If your students are working with a specific spelling or vocabulary list, challenge them to fit all of their spelling words on a Scrabble game board. Each word must connect with one of the other words, and students only have the letter tiles which came in the game. Students may find it easier as well as more fun if they create their spelling word grid with a partner.

Unscrambled Eggs

Another activity you can do with a given set of vocabulary words requires two sets of plastic eggs. For each egg, put the letters to spell a vocabulary word (use letter tiles, plastic letters or whatever you have on hand) and shake to mix. Make one egg for each spelling word for each team. Two teams then race relay style, each person opening one egg and putting the letters in the right order to make a vocabulary word. The first team to unscramble all their eggs is the winner.

Spelling Pong

For a fun, rainy day activity, set up a grid of cups on a table in your classroom. Each cup should have a letter written on the bottom of it. Students then take turns bouncing a ping-pong ball into the cups. Whatever cup the ball lands in, the player has that letter to use as he tries to spell a word. Students take turns until each person is able to spell a word from the letters he has collected. Either race to see who can spell a word first, or challenge students to make as many words as possible from the letters they earn. Make sure your students spell words with at least three or four letters as you play.

Spelling Bee

A Spelling Bee is a classic spelling game which will help your students spell and review words from their vocabulary lists. Divide your class into two teams and have each team stand along an opposite wall of the classroom. Give one word at a time to each student, alternating teams. If the student spells the word correctly, she goes to the end of the line until her turn comes up again. If she spells the word incorrectly, she sits down. The last team standing wins. This game is a great way to review vocabulary or spelling words before a comprehensive test.

Find the Vowels

Make a set of go fish cards using spelling words. For each spelling word, write the word on one card minus the vowels in the word (for example “H—D”). On another card, write the vowels which complete that word (for example, -EA-“). Students play the card game go fish style by matching the spelling word with the vowels it needs to complete the word. You can add cards to the set as you add spelling words throughout the year.

Invisible Man

For a team spelling game, draw two stick figures on the board. Each figure should have the same number of parts. The goal is to make your team’s stick man invisible before the other team does. Give each team a word to spell. If they spell it correctly, erase one piece of the stick figure. If they do not spell the word correctly, leave the stick figure unchanged. Then repeat with two new words. The first team to make his man invisible wins!

Magnetic Letters

Using a magnetic board and a few sets of magnetic letters (available in most stores), see which player can create the most words in a set amount of time, around five minutes, from his set of letters. After the five minutes is up, check the words and explain any unfamiliar vocabulary. The person with the highest number of words wins the game.

Word Search

A word search is a fun way for students to review spelling words. Give each person a sheet of graph paper and have him write the spelling words in the grid before filling in the remaining boxes. Have students exchange their word searches and see who can find all the vocabulary words first.

Spell Hopscotch

For an outside spelling game, have students draw a hopscotch board on the playground.

Give each person a word to spell as she jumps through the boxes. If she spells the word wrong, she must repeat that word on her next turn. The first person to get through the entire board wins.

SOURCE:

https://busyteacher.org/11555-10-fun-spelling-games-for-your-esl-class.html