YouTube channels for learning English

YouTube с его множеством детских каналов на английском как раз и является одним из ресурсов, который помогает найти действительно качественный контент, который занятия по учебнику дополняет. Для дошкольников и младших школьников видео — очень эффективный инструмент обучения, благодаря таким возрастным особенностям, как непроизвольное запоминание и наглядно-образное мышление (подробнее  здесь).

Итак, лучшие (на мой взгляд) детские YouTube каналы на английском языке:

1. Super Simple songs — мой любимый детский канал. Много песен и потрясающе милые герои. На их сайте к каждой песне есть материалы для бесплатного скачивания: флэшкарточки, раскраски, задания. Отдельного внимания заслуживают их Super Simple ABCs — алфавитные песни и phonics songs (песенки с буквами и их звуками), которые будут полезны в обучении чтению.

2. Dream English Kids больше подойдет для дошкольников. На канале много так называемых action songs — песенок, в которых дети могут танцевать, повторяя движения за героями видео (в данном случае это обаятельный Мэтт, дети его очень любят). Action songs задействуют TPR — метод полного физического реагирования, когда фраза или слово сопровождается определенным жестом, что существенно улучшает запоминание.

3. English Singsing — еще довольно молодой но уже популярный канал. Там представлены песни, рифмовки и короткие диалоги на самые простые фразы, которые часто встречаются в речи. Их еще называют паттерны (т.е. речевые образцы). Каждое видео состоит из двух частей — первая часть со звуком, вторая — в виде караоке, ведь многократное проговаривание — эффективный способ запоминания для малышей. Также есть популярные английские nursery rhymes (детские стишки) и простенькие истории, основанные на популярных детских сказках.

4. На EFL Kids Videos много песен и учебных видео для запоминания лексики и, опять же, паттернов. Песни подойдут для любого возраста, а учебные видео — скорее для младших школьников. А еще у них отличная серия в помощь учащимся читать: Think Read Write (думай, читай, пиши) — первая часть представляет звуки, а вторая — чтение буквосочетаний.

5. Maple Leaf Learning — тоже очень качественный канал с видео на лексику (vocabulary flashcards), короткими диалогам (simple skits) и очень запоминающимися песнями. Например, очень советую песню про предлоги — однажды прослушав, забыть ее уже невозможно. И предлоги тоже.

6.The Kiboomers — это большая коллекция песен с красивой анимацией. Много тематических песен к традиционным праздникам англоговорящих стран — день Святого Патрика, День Матери, Пасха, Рождество.

И еще несколько каналов с action songs, для детей, которые любят потанцевать:

7. Debbie Doo Kids TV — канал талантливой австралийской певицы, которая сама пишет детские песни и записывает с ними танцевальные видео. Веселые такие физкультминутки получаются.

8. TheLearningStation — группа с огромным количеством наград, которая уже больше 29 лет (!) записывает детские песни, а последние 9 лет — еще и видео к ним с зажигательными танцами.

9. WOW ENGLISH TV — довольно новый, но уже полный очень веселых учебных видео и песен канал со Стивом и его вороной Мэгги.

http://proenglish-blog.ru/doshkolniki/top-youtube-kanalov-na-angliyskom-jazike-dlya-detey.html?fbclid=IwAR2BOBIB6OysU2qb_l6H82pYsmBT_quqXJURXWAEPFgeF0Yc7MAvdHOLBac

Drama activities

Why use drama activities to develop language skills?

Drama activities allow teachers to put language in a meaningful context. For example, if you are teaching narrative tenses, you can set a scene where the learner is a character who must tell a story to another character. 

Here are a few of my tried-and-tested drama activities. They're adaptable, to meet your learners' needs.

Activity 1: Start the lesson with the ABCs

ABCs is a warm-up game that beginners, fluent speakers and everyone in between can enjoy.

It is a great first-lesson activity to practise introductions and learn names through movement. You can also introduce the activity at any point in your lesson. 

Aim: build rapport and community while developing speaking skills for introductions

Time: three-to-ten minutes

Interaction: whole class

Preparation: none

Script and procedure:  

Ask the learners to stand in a circle. Then explain the rules.

The teacher will choose one person to begin by saying the letter A. Then anyone can say B, another person C, until someone arrives at Z. 

Explain that the goal is to go from A to Z without speaking over each other. If two or more people say the letter B at the same time, the class must start again at A.

Each time the class re-starts the game, each person will silently make eye-contact with someone in the room, approach them, introduce ourselves, and take their place in the circle. Model this with one learner while you're explaining the activity. 

Instruction-checking questions:

• Who starts the game? (The teacher starts the game.)
• What is our goal? (To go from A to Z without speaking over each other.)
• What happens if we speak over each other? (Start again at A.)
• Do we keep our same place in the circle at the start of each game? (No.)
• How do we change places? (Make eye-contact and introduce ourselves.)

Extension ideas:

Change the ABCs to a language category that you want to practise. For example, countries; Angola, Brazil, Czechia. Or, jobs; accountant, barber, chef. 

If it's the first day of term and you want to learn names, ask each learner to say their name before or after they’ve said a letter. For example, Jameela, A; Stephen, B; Brahim, C. 

If you do not have the space in your classroom to form a circle, have learners stand at the start of the activity and then sit after their turn. 

Activity 2: Do you love your neighbour?

You can change the name of this activity to 'Do you know your neighbour' if you feel it’s more appropriate for your class environment.

This activity is rooted in improvisational theatre; a style of theatre that is mostly unscripted. In this game, there is a start to the script, but B’s response must be on-the-spot and the other actors must respond accordingly.

It works well in the language classroom because it requires everyone to listen. Teachers can also use the game to assess which learners struggle with listening comprehension, or have limited vocabulary.  

In its original form, learners sit in a circle and run to change places. I've modified it so that it remains kinesthetic, but is easier to use in a classroom with desks and chairs. You can play this game with learners from CEF (Common European Framework) language levels A1 to C1. You can also extend the language to be more complex, depending on your learners' needs. 

Aim: Practise question and answer forms of the auxiliary verbs do and don’t

Time: five-to-ten minutes

Interactions: whole class

Preparation: write this drama script on the board:

A: Do you love your neighbours?

B: Yes, I do love my neighbours.

                        Or

B: No, I don’t love my neighbours, but I do love everyone who...____________ (e.g. watches Game of Thrones, reads Vogue Italia, plays tennis)

Script and procedure:

Ask the learners to stay seated, but to push their chairs away from their desks so that they can easily stand.

Then, explain that you are going to practise question and answer forms of do and don’t.

Person A will ask someone in the class, ‘Do you love your neighbours?’ That person, B, has two possible responses; 'Yes, I do love my neighbours' or, 'No I don’t love my neighbours.'

If person B says, 'Yes, I do love my neighbours', the two people sitting closest to B must stand. The person who was last to stand loses and becomes A, the person who asks someone else in the class if they love their neighbour.

If B responds by saying, 'No, I don’t love my neighbours', they must say who they love. For example:

No, I don’t love my neighbours, but I do love everyone who reads Vogue Italia.

Everyone in the class who reads Vogue Italia must stand. The last person to stand loses and becomes A. Then A asks someone in the room if they love their neighbours.

Instruction-checking questions:

• What is the question that person A must ask? (Do you love your neighbours?)
• What is B’s positive response? (Yes, I do love my neighbours.)
• What is B’s negative response? (No, I don't love my neighbours, but I do love everyone who…)
• When should you stand up? (When a person next to you says they love their neighbour, or you match the description of the people they love.)

Extention ideas:

Take the class outside, or to a space without tables. Using language in a new location allows the brain to make connection with another environment  where English can be used. 

Change the script to meet your language aims:

A: Do you love people who love apples?

B: Yes, I do. (Everyone who loves apples stands up).

Or

B: No, I don’t, but I do love people who love grapes. (Everyone who loves grapes stands up).

Adapt the script for more advanced learners to practise the present perfect (continuous).

A: Have you ever eaten couscous?

B: Yes, I have eaten couscous. (People closest to B must stand. Slowest person loses and becomes A).

Or

B No, I haven’t, but I have eaten sushi. (Everyone who has eaten sushi stands. Slowest person loses and becomes A).

Or

B: No, I haven’t, but I have been skydiving.

Or

A: Do you have to wear a suit to work?

B: Yes, I do have to wear a suite to work. (People closest to B must stand. Slowest person loses and becomes A).

Or

B: No, I don’t, but I do love everyone who has to generate reports for their boss.

Activity 3: Yes, And…

Drama is all about saying YES! Yes, to the environment, yes, to the given circumstances, yes, to the conflict, yes, yes, yes.

It sounds easy, but drama teachers spend most of their time teaching actors how to accept offers from each other, which makes their performance more believable.

Think about an actor who played an unlikable character – Charlize Theron as Elle in Monster, or Lena Hedley as Cersei in Game of Thrones. It is vital for the actor to say yes to the ugly and beautiful truth about their character, so that we can believe that the character is real.

This activity helps actors to do that. I've adapted it for the English Language classroom, to help CEF (Common European Framework) A2 to C2 learners to brainstorm in English, use target grammar systems and vocabulary, and communicate authentically.

Aim: use modal verbs to make a plan

Time: five minutes

Interactions: pairs

Preparation: write 'Yes, and…' on the board

Script and procedure:

Ask learners to work in pairs or groups of three. A begins with their intent for the day, e.g.

Today we will bake a cake!

B must respond by saying: 

Yes, and... plus an add on, e.g. Yes, and we will need eggs!

A must respond by saying;

Yes, and… plus an add on, e.g. Yes, and we might want gluten-free flour!

The learners continue until the teacher says that the round is over. Two minutes is a good length for round one. Then, the learners switch roles. B states their intent for the day, and A must accept the situation.

Extension ideas:

Take this opportunity to have learners practise their note-taking skills by making a list of what they need or what they need to do.

Change the language focus to going to when they report future plans or intentions to other groups: 

Today we are going to bake a cake! Yes, and we’re going to buy gluten free flour!

Change the language focus to narrative tenses to practise story telling:

Last year we went to Istanbul! Yes, and we ate baklava! 

Make it a whole-class activity. Each person adds on to the list or story.

https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/low-preparation-improvisational-theatre-english-language-classroom?fbclid=IwAR27XwWGGImYmBgr3GnvrED4H0ian_68NhHkhJamCV5p1v58fRrThWrxz2g

Teaching large classes

Tips and suggestions for teaching large classes

Often when teachers are faced with large classes they begin to worry about how they will teach. It’s tempting to simply let the classes become teacher fronted and turn into lectures. If the entire course is like this it’s a bit of a shame, as opportunities for students to practise and use the language are quite limited. In this respect, large classes are viewed as problematic and in a negative light. However, this does not need to be the case. Yes, large classes, especially those of 100+, are a challenge but there are many positive aspects to such classes. For us, one of the biggest plusses is the dynamic nature of such classes. With so many students there are lots of opportunities to get people to work together, compare, discuss and benefit from the variety of voices.

Of course, there are practical implications both in terms of arranging activities and issues with things such as photocopying. So, here are a few tips on how to deal with large classes including using reading texts. We go from the easiest to the more challenging.

Choral drilling

With a large group, choral drilling can work quite well. In its most basic form, choral drilling involves you giving an oral model of a word or phrase and the whole class repeating it.

Choral drilling can be quite a lot of fun, and it can make some bits of language more memorable. Just ask Li Yang, the founder of Crazy English – a method of learning English in China. He has classes of over twenty thousand (20,000 that’s right!) and uses choral drilling as part of his method – getting his students to shout phrases out loud.

Use choral drilling to practise new words or phrases, especially phrases that will be useful in a future communicative activity. You can also do choral drilling for dialogues (first you say and they repeat, then you say one bit and they say the other, then they do it in two large groups) before asking students to practice it in pairs together. See the sections on drills and dialogues in the Teaching with Minimal Resources section for more ideas and material.

Note: if you feel uncomfortable always giving the model sentence then use a listening exercise from a CD or tape if you have one.

Think, pair, share

This is a technique we learned from large university lectures in North America. Put up on the board or project the words: THINK-PAIR-SHARE. Briefly explain the meaning:

• Think individually about your answer to the question.
• Pair with the person next to you.
• Share your thoughts, in English.

Then ask your first question and point to the word THINK. Ask them to think quietly about their answer. Then point to PAIR and let them turn to a partner. Then point to SHARE and gesture for them to share their answers – in English.

Use this technique for short pairwork speaking activities (search the Speaking Skills lessons section for material containing discussion questions) or for comprehension tasks based on texts (use the Topical News lessons section).

Dictogloss

A wonderful technique that really lends itself well to large classes, especially when there is limited movement because of layout issues. Pick a short text (perhaps a paragraph from one of the Topical News lessons section). Ask your students to close their notebooks and put down their pens. Explain that you will read a text and you want them to listen carefully.

Read the text and then ask students to write down everything they can remember. Put students in pairs or small groups and ask them to share ideas and try and reconstruct the text. If you want you can read it out again, but make sure students aren’t writing while you are dictating. You could also write up a series of questions on the board (these could be the comprehension questions) and tell students that the answers to the questions will help them reconstruct the text.

Using an anecdote

Choose one of the anecdotes from the Teacher Anecdotes section and tell your students you are going to read out a short story that happened to someone. You might want to take the opportunity to turn this into a prediction activity. You could read out a few lines and then ask students to talk in pairs or small groups and predict what happened next. Then continue the story and watch a few of your students to see who got it right – you’ll easily be able to tell from their reaction.

You could also turn it into a vocabulary prediction activity. Read a part of the story and then stop. Ask students to write down the next word. Again, get them to compare with a partner before continuing with the story. Both of these ideas give students an extra reason to listen and will help them focus. Of course, as a follow-up you could ask students to work in small groups and share their own anecdotes around a certain topic.

Group leaders

With a class of 148 students, groupwork is going to be very difficult. However, we have seen groupwork used in large classes. One thing that helps is asking groups to assign a leader. So, in a class of 100 you might have twenty groups of 5 students. The group leaders can:

• report back on a speaking activity
• collect written work and hand it back to the teacher (or exchange with another group and do peer correction)
• be responsible for checking answers to an exercise (you prepare copies of the answers and give a copy to each group leader once they have finished doing the exercise)

If you and your students get into using groups, you may want to experiment with the following favourite techniques.

Jigsaw texts

Another technique is to take a longer text and make 30 copies. You could use the material in the Reading Skills section. Cut the text into five sections (A-E). Put your students into groups of five and give each student within a group one section of the text. Each student reads their text and then summarises the content for the other students.

Follow-up activities can include deciding on the correct order of the five sections and the standard comprehension question that would normally be done for the whole text. Of course, both these activities require the students within a group to work together and help each other.

Running Dictation

This activity is a favourite of many teachers but requires a little extra thought with large classes. After all, you can’t really have 74 students running backwards and forwards! However, if you divide your class into groups of five or six, one student can be the messenger and must read a text that is posted on the wall of the classroom. They then run between the text and the other four or five students in their group. These students listen to the ‘runner’ and write the text. Each time the ‘runner’ goes back to the text to read the next piece the ‘scribes’ can compare what they have written and help each other. This means in a class of 148 there are thirty runners. This activity works best where the texts are no longer than a paragraph.

For more activities that you can use/adapt for large classes, see the section on Teaching English with minimal resources. Good luck with it. 

http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/teaching-tips/ask-the-experts/methodology-questions/methodology-teaching-large-classes/154297.article

Learn the ABC

Вивчаємо англійську абетку: завдання для дітей

Проект «Розвиток дитини» пропонує батькам, які зацікавлені у всебічному розвитку здібностей власної дитини та якісній підготовці до школи, а також вихователям дитячих садків і вчителям іноземних мов нові можливості для вивчення англійського алфавіту дітьми у ранньому віці.

Запропоновані комплекти та окремі завдання допоможуть зацікавити дітей вивченням іноземної мови. Виконання таких завдань сприятиме формуванню у дітей позитивного ставлення до занять англійською мовою, вихованню впевненості у собі та своїх освітніх можливостях, що є важливою запорукою всебічного розвитку дитини у майбутньому.

Літери англійської абетки. Цей комплект завдань допоможе дитині вивчити великі й рядкові друковані літери англійської абетки, потренувавши при цьому довільну увагу, дрібну моторику та зорово-моторну координацію, а також задіявши зорову та м’язову пам’ять.

Вчимося розрізняти літери англійського алфавіту. Цей комплект завдань покликаний допомогти дитині вивчити літери англійського алфавіту, навчившись вправно розрізняти кожну з них серед багатьох інших.

Відтворюємо англійські літери. Ці завдання допоможуть дитині у цікавій і ненав’язливій формі навчитись розрізняти літери англійської абетки та запам’ятати їх правопис.

Написання літер англійського алфавіту. Ці завдання для дітей — перший крок до написання букв англійського алфавіту та здобуття навичок красивого почерку.

Літерний лабіринт. Чи знає ваша дитина всі літери англійської абетки? Це завданнязакріплюватиме знання дитиною англійського алфавіту, а також розвиватиме логічне мислення.

Розмалюй правильні літери. Це завдання-розмальовка допоможе дитині навчитись розрізняти кожну літеру англійської абетки та добре запам’ятати її правильне написання.

Знайди літери. Це завдання створює для дитини найкращі умови для вивчення й запам’ятовування великих літер англійської абетки, адже його виконання сприяє залученню таких важливих функцій уваги, як концентрація, переключення та розподіл, залучення зорової та м’язової пам’яті.

Знайди до літери пару. Чи добре ваша дитина розрізняє великі та малі літери англійського алфавіту? Чи зможе вона знайти пару до певної літери? Це завдання є чудовою можливістю познайомити дитину з великими та малими літерами англійського алфавіту або закріпити отриманні нею знання про великі та малі літери в ігровій формі.

Розмальовка «Англійська абетка». Це завдання у захоплюючій формі познайомить вашу дитину із буквами англійського алфавіту, а також сприятиме розвитку навичок дрібної моторики. У завданні дитині необхідно розмалювати зображення, що ілюструє букву.

Зберіть англійську абетку (6 пропусків). Чи знає ваша дитина англійську абетку та порядок літер в ній? Ця проста вправа допоможе їй у цікавій формі закріпити свої знання.

Зберіть англійську абетку (12 пропусків). Наскільки досконало ваша дитина знає англійську абетку та порядок літер в ній? Це більш складне завдання допоможе повторити алфавіт та закріпити свої знання на практиці.

Кожне завдання можна роздрукувати на звичайному або кольоровому принтері та використовувати необмежену кількість разів. Завантаження завдань для дітей доступне для користувачів сайту після швидкої реєстрації.

http://osvita.ua/school/58811/?fbclid=IwAR19-Vu7boSTcxnO5vMCW469JQvJf8AnBj9aKude_qzM7g77q_iEU_hlPfI

5-Word Challenge game

5-Word Challenge game

Either use your list of words, or

hand out a sheet of paper to each student. Ask them to write down

a noun

Rotate the sheets.

a verb

Rotate the sheets.

an adjective

Rotate the sheets.

a noun

Rotate the sheets.

any word at their choice

Rotate the sheets.

Once each student has got their words, tell them that they must write a single sentence that uses all the five words.

https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/one-sentence-games/?fbclid=IwAR38bnE313m03JQzQmfxYtr9Q49_Q5hbNQffUnAFcKFXQsqQ0bW6_39bhLU

The Curious Cat game

Students recite alphabet silently, the Curious Cat says ‘STOP’ and points randomly at a player. The player tells which letter he/she stopped at. Or use the Random Letter Generator.

The Curious Cat asks students different questions – Who? Why? Where? When?, etc. – to which the players should give short answers starting with the letter they picked (this can be a phrase or a single word). For example, the letter ‘C’:

‘Who?’ – Captain Cook. – ‘Where?’ – Congo. ‘With whom?’ – Caitleen. ‘Where from?’ Cairo. ‘When?’ – Christmas night.

Every time a player cannot give an answer, the Cat gets one point. The game stops after the Cat gets three points.

You can also use it to practise answering and asking questions (grammar focus). Get the Cat to ask full questions:

Who?’ – Captain Cook. – ‘Where did Captain Cook go?’ – He went to Congo. ‘With whom did he go to Congo?’ – With Caitleen/He went there with Caitleen. ‘Where was Caitleen from?’ – She was from Cairo. ‘When did Captain Cook and Caitleen go to Congo?’ – They went to Congo on Christmas night.

Ask your students to make up one sentence answering the questions, “Who, does what, to whom, when, where, how, and why?” in one long sentence.

E.g. Captain Cook and Caitleen were sure nothing Congo wrong on Christmas night.

https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/one-sentence-games/?fbclid=IwAR38bnE313m03JQzQmfxYtr9Q49_Q5hbNQffUnAFcKFXQsqQ0bW6_39bhLU

Expanding a sentence game

Similar to the Telescopic Text experiment, the aim of the game is to expand a phrase or a simple sentence into as long a sentence as possible by adding extra words. You can play the game with the whole group or split students into small teams. Write a single word or a phrase on the board. Then invite students to add one or two extra words to make it into a longer sentence. Each word brings one point. The winner is the one who has scored more points.

Go

Go to the shop

Go to the shop to buy a mug

Go to the shop to buy a coffee mug

Go to the shop to buy a ceramic coffee mug

I need to go to the shop to buy a lovely ceramic coffee mug

I need to go to the shop to buy a lovely ceramic coffee mug for my mom

Today, I need to go to the shop to buy a lovely ceramic coffee mug for my mom…………………………………………………………………………………

You can use this game to make any gap-fill exercise more learning rich. Get students to suggest more words or phrases that could be added to the item (before/after).

E.g. They ______ (to plan) a trip.

They planned a trip to England.

They planned a 2-day trip to England.

They planned a 2-day trip to England so they could see ………………….

https://eltcation.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/one-sentence-games/?fbclid=IwAR38bnE313m03JQzQmfxYtr9Q49_Q5hbNQffUnAFcKFXQsqQ0bW6_39bhLU

Kyiv region master class

24 січня 2019 року на базі ОЗНЗ Кагарлицька ЗОШ І-ІІІ ступенів #3 відбулася друга сесія обласного майстер-класу для учителів англійської мови під керівництвом Тетяни Ткач, Людмили Дяченко, Ольги Поночовної з теми "Особливості викладання англійської мови в початковій школі".
Використовуючи сучасні методи та прийоми, вище названі тренери надали учасникам майстер - класу практичні поради та активності з використання флешкарток, класифікації ігор, новим та результативним методом викладання англійської мови в початковій школі - LEGO. Всі активності спрямовані на реалізацію концепції "Нової Української Школи".
Проведена робота тренерів додала багато нових ідей та прийомів до педагогічної скарбнички кожного учасника майстер-класу.