Interactive Reading Aloud for children.
I would like to share some reading aloud materials that can be found from the Net.There are actually interactive reading aloud books for children. The book will have the written form what is being said and at the same time moving pictures which will capture their attention. In a way, reading aloud does help the child’s literacy.
Click on this URL address and view it online!
Gordilocks and the Three Bears
Using this interactive reading aloud, the teacher can reinforce or emphasis on certain words taught with the beginning of a certain consonant and at the same time deriving meaning of what certain words mean. This in fact may instill the reading interest in the children from young.
By: Teacher Manpreet
Have you heard of Essay Punch writing software?? Check it out!
In this copmuter savvy era, there are numerous types of writing softwares which could be used by the students as an interactive writing tutorial. By using this kind of software, students will be able to more student-centered as they have to take responsibility of their own learning with the help and support of the sofware. As students advance to improve essay writing skills, they need in-depth support. They need to organize their thoughts and learn to clearly communicate their ideas in writing. However, it can be challenging for teachers to provide personal attention to each pupil as we all know there are about of average 40 to 45 students in a class.This is where the Essay Punch Software fits in.
Essay Punch takes students through the process of writing an essay. From pre-set writing promprs students learn to develop an idea and write their descriptive, informative and persuasive essays. This site provides online interactive exercises that guide users step by step through pre-writing, writing, organizing, editing, rewriting and publishing.
Hence, this software has been proven to be user-friendly. In order to hand-in essays to teachers, students will just hv to save it into Microsoft Word document and email it to the teacher. Immediate feedback could be given as everything is done through the Internet nowadays without having to meet each other face-to-face.
By Teacher Manpreet Kaur
5 interesting ideas on how to teach Grammar to ESL students.
I found this website which is pretty interesting: http://busyteacher.org/2873-5-new-fun-ways-to-teach-grammar-to-esl-students.html
Grammar shouldn’t be taught “by the book”. At least not in teaching English as a second language. That’s not what students are there for. They don’t want to know all of these rules; they’re not interested in them. They want to learn English. They want to speak, read, and write in English. So, how do we as ESL teachers teach them essential grammar and give them what we need, rather than boring them to death with “the rules”. So, here are 4 fun ideas to teach grammar:
1. Action!
Nothing shakes them up better than getting them out of their seats. When you see your students daydreaming, not paying attention, or simply bored, tell them to get up and form a circle. Now, this simple exercise works great to teach numerous grammar points, but here’s an example:
Say you want your students to practice the simple past of regular or irregular verbs. Grab a small ball or bean bag and say a verb out loud; toss the ball to a student who will have to say its past form. He or she tosses the ball back to you and you choose another student. Whenever a student makes a mistake, he or she has to leave the circle. The last student left standing gets a reward sticker or other prize. You can say a sentence in affirmative, and they have to supply a question, or vice versa; this activity can be adapted to any grammar point.
Taken from :
2. Celebrity Profiles
An awesome way to teach and practice any verb tense is through biographies. Try this activity to contrast the simple past and present perfect tenses. Find out which celebrities or sports stars your students admire. Then find a short biography or write one yourself summarizing a celebrity’s main achievements. Read the bio with your students and make sure they understand the differences. Point out examples that clearly illustrate this: “He starred in his first hit film in 1985. But he has worked in 20 hit films throughout his career.”
3. Celebrity Photos
Another way in which you can use your students’ interest in certain celebrities. Cut out celebrity pics from entertainment magazines (in fact, I recommend stocking up on a big pile of photos to use in a variety of activities). Use these pictures to teach comparatives and superlatives: “Katie Holmes is taller than Tom Cruise.”; “Shakira is more talented than Ricky Martin.”; and it works great with comparative adverbs: “Shakira dances better than Ricky, too.”
4. A or an?
This activity works great with beginners, including small children. Cut up a list of several words that either take “a” or “an” and mix them up. For very young learners, you may use pictures instead of words. Then divide students into pairs of groups, and have them put the words in two piles, depending on the article. Once they have their piles ready, ask them if they can figure out the rule by themselves.
By far the best ways to teach any type of grammar is through the use of either realia or real life settings and contexts. Why would a student be motivated to learn the conditional tenses if he has no idea why he’s learning them, in other words, he doesn’t understand when and where he’ll have use for them? When teachers use real life settings and objects students will know the grammar structures they learn will be useful for them.
Taken from :http://busyteacher.org/2873-5-new-fun-ways-to-teach-grammar-to-esl-students.html
Adapted by Manpreet Kaur
Have fun with reading!
I would just like to share my experience in teaching 6 year olds on how to read, especially on phonics (sound of the alphabets). I notice they learn better through some phonic songs which I found in youtube and it seems they enjoyed it. Apart from that, using flashcards to teach is also another effective method to teach them reading stage by stage. You can do it in various ways such as making it as a quiz after teahcing them the sounds. This is more like a competition among them and they love it.
Using flashcards: example from youtube:
In order to teach 6 year olds, teacher has to focus on consonants first, then to vowels and slowly to consonant blends. IN this way, the child will not get confused as it goes from easy to difficult.
By: Manpreet Kaur (Teacher Manpreet)
English No More Worries 