【Teaching Beginners #3】2月2日

Now, let’s see what kind of activities we have in our teaching pockets.

We need to consider certain restrictions of movement and use of voices in with-COVID classrooms. That said,  we have a lot of fun activities that are doable with children seated.

[Listen and Point] 

Place a large visual/poster or a set of A-4 size flash cards on the board. The Teacher (T) says a word and students (Ss) point to the picture or a given flash card. Some children would just be copying their friends, which is totally okay. When all the children point toward the board, T says the word again and praise Ss. Instead of saying a word, T can describe an object that’s depicted in the visual. This is not a test but a friendly way of introducing vocabulary.

[Listen and Do]

T gives a command and Ss do the action. Ss are not required to repeat the command but simply show that they understood the language by doing the action. This is a basic Total Physical Response activity.  

[Listen and Color]

Give a coloring sheet to each student. T gives instructions and Ss color the sheet accordingly. Let Ss color some parts as they wish by saying, “Color the T-shirt any color you like.”

[Right or Wrong (True of False)]

T says a simple sentence and Ss make a circle with their arms if the sentence is right (true), e.g. “I’m a teacher.” Ss make an X with their arms if the sentence is wrong (false), e.g. “I’m a dog.” 

[What’s Missing?]

Place six flash cards in one line on the board. Point to and name each flash card. Have Ss close their eyes. Take away one flash card and hide it behind your back. Have Ss open their eyes. Point to the space where the removed flash card was and ask, “What’s missing?” 

[Word Search]

Put target language in a table of grids and fill the vacant grids with random letters. Have Ss find words. This is a good training for young children to recognize a group of letters as a word. Start with a word search sheet of Hiragana so Ss knows what they are expected to perform.

[Matching Game]

Matching Game is usually done with two sets of identical picture cards on a table and Ss take turn turning over two cards. We can avoid close contact by making this a whole class activity. Place two sets of A-4 size flash cards in two rows. The top row is A and the bottom B. Number the six flash cards. Ss ask T to turn over a card by saying, e.g. “A-1, please.” In the sample below, A-1 and B-4 match. 

[Count and Write]

T ask Ss, “How many XXXXXs do you have?” Ss count and write the number on a piece of paper. 

[What Comes Next?]

Reviewing six vocabulary items is not very challenging. Create logical patterns and have Ss predict and figure out what comes next. Take a look at the sample below.