Teaching Phonics to PreSchool ESL Students

There are many thoughts on how to teach reading, I'm not going to go into all the different ideas and theories on how to teach reading. While they all work in some capacity I can guarantee that teaching reading by first teaching phonics is the best way! Give me a 3 year old with no knowledge of English and by the end of the year I'll have them reading simple phonics books.

Okay, teach phonics first you say, but how? Once again there are many different ideas, but they're all wrong! Many will tell you to first teach the sounds b,p,t,d. I can understand why, they're the easiest sounds, but that means they need the least amount of practice.

I heavily encourage you to first teach the five vowels. They're difficult to say and difficult to differentiate between some of the sounds. Then as you teach consonants you can pair them with a vowel and make simple two letter sounds. Allowing you to continue practicing the vowels the entire time and practicing combining sounds. About halfway through and I start to combine a beginning consonant with a vowel and a ending consonant to make "words".

This system is so good that by the time you finish the alphabet your students will be able to start reading simple phonics books.

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Top 35 Preschool Blogs and Websites

 

A big thanks to feedspot for not only liking the blog, but also including it in their list of top 35 preschool blogs. If you want to check out the rest of their list you can find the link below.

https://blog.feedspot.com/preschool_blogs/

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“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not".

 

Teaching as a profession has a lot of people that think they can do it or how you can improve. I'm going to leave the internet experts alone today and focus on the subset of managers and educators that write, but don't teach.

In a previous school I had a manger who was very well read on educational theories. He always had new ideas he wanted us to try and because he spent a lot of time reading he believed that this would make himself quite capable of teaching a classroom of students. It took one teacher needing a day off and him subbing the class for it to come painfully obvious that though he knew a lot of theories he couldn't implement them.

As teachers we are constantly judged by our managers / principals on our teaching. How can we improve. The honest truth is unless they are in the classroom they know less than you. How many times have you had a manger tell you some technique to improve your class and you have been thinking "how about you come show me". You know that if they were to step into your class and try to teach it would quickly fall apart.

We should all accept constructive criticism and suggestions on areas to improve. Techniques to try and new teaching philosophies to look into, but unless your manager is ready to step in and show their actual teaching abilities in a live classroom for a few days their advice is just that advice.

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How to Respond to a Pre-School Student saying "I love you"

A big question for any new Pre-School is how to respond to a child saying they love you? Eventually after a while of teaching your class your students will grow so close to you that they may start to tell you they love you. For children it's natural to tell the people they feel comfortable and safe with they love them. They may see you as much as they see their parents and for some children maybe more. A good teacher will make them feel cared about, safe, comfortable to try new things all the things their parents do so naturally the child starts to feel a lot of positive emotions towards you and that see that as love.

I don't blame any teacher for feeling uncomfortable and not knowing quite how to respond. It can be awkward for anybody. It may be best to decide what you plan to say before the situation arises. You don't want to be spluttering out a response with child eyes upon you.

I've read of a range of responses from saying thank you, to calling them a sweetie for saying that, to responding I love you too.

You need to decide yourself what you feel most comfortable with and say it with a positive tone. I now answer I love you too, I still feel a little uncomfortable, but I figure a few things. We don't know what the students home life is like. We don't know how often someone tells them they are loved. If they feel comfortable and loved by you maybe it's just best to reciprocate the feeling back and let them know they are loved.

Plus a Duke University study suggests that children who had an affectionate mother often grow up to be less anxious than those who had mothers who were less affectionate, possibly implying that affection, including from a “teacher” could be beneficial for a child’s development.

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Exercise time?

 

Should your school / class have an exercise time? Is it an important part of the school day or week? My first school had exercise time every morning. It was sold to the teachers as important to get the students moving to help them wake up for the school day. However, it was also held outside in the heat of summer. Afterwards students and teachers would be hot and sweaty and need to spend the next 20 minutes cooling off. Any suggestion that we should have exercise time inside with the A.C was laughed at as a silly idea.

My next school didn't have exercise time and I can say for a fact there was no difference between the students energy levels. So a morning exercise time to wake up the students isn't needed. However, in my own class while I don't have an exercise time I have 5 minutes where we sing and dance. Exercise time has no learning benefits. Singing and dancing to English songs does. And provides the same amount of exercise as doing a bunch of star jumps and running on the spot provides. But to emphasize I don't do this to wake students up. It's part of the routine. It lets children know that class has started and to start with a fun activity.

There is a difference. A big difference between exercise time and P.E. Schools should absolutely include P.E time. While exercise time is getting bodies moving with little education value P.E time is getting bodies moving with educational value. Every week, we have P.E time. This is when I work on their big movements and co-ordination. It allows them to learn and practice ball skills, body movement skills, following rules. A well planned P.E class spoken in English can be just as valuable as a traditional class.

If your school is doing an exercise time. Drop it and put in an English song and dance time and have a special P.E lesson to help the students. Don't waste your precious teaching time with pointless busy work on the false presumption that kids need to wake up.

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Apples and Oranges

 This blog aims to help preschool ESL teachers.

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Paley's Story Telling

 

Paley's Story Telling Curriculum is one of the first teaching philosophies I really read a lot about. In the same vain as learn while playing philosophies Paley presents the idea that all children learn innately through story telling. Using it to help make understanding of the world around them and to express their own idea of how things work.

Paley would allow students to volunteer to tell her a story. She would write it down in front of them confirming she was writing it down correctly. Afterwards all the children would sit down on the mat and the story teller could pick which students would help act out the story. Paley would read the story and the children would bring it to life.

In an ESL preschool classroom we can use her philosophies to help us in a few ways. One to help our students see the correlation between the spoken and written word. As the child tells us his/her story we write it in front of them. They can see the words being written on the page. Two, it allows students to speak English freely. The teacher isn't telling them what to say. They decide what they want to say. Three, the teacher can use it as a time to reinforce previously learnt vocabulary and sentence patterns and check understanding.

I use it effectively with my level 2 and 3 students. Every Friday during show and tell time I pick two to three children who's turn it is to tell me a story. Sometimes I may review the week's vocabulary words and ask that they're used in the story. Other times I may give a beginning. This is useful or you may find you get the same stories every week.

In Paley's version she would let the students tell the story themselves only checking for understanding. As my students are still learning English I like to ask questions to bring out more of the story. If the child tells me "a rabbit goes to the park" and then takes a while to continue I may ask what does the rabbit do or see? Pushing the student to continue the story. All students know that when they say "the end". I'll end the story there. They are the story tellers and I want them to feel comfortable and happy to try not pressured to tell me the next lord of the rings.

You'll find some students love being actors while others may be more shy. We should encourage, but not push students to act. A shy student may be happier if they get to act in their own story. All stories end with a big clap and positive reinforcement for the actors and the story teller.

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Positive Reinforcement

 

Positive reinforcement is so critical in a teaching environment. Most ESL teachers would already have some type of reward system and so already provide positive reinforcement. A big follow up question is what does that reward system give the student? Just points/smiley faces/stars for the sake of having the most. Competition is always a motivating factor for children, so it can work, but don't be surprised to find eventually the students no longer care.

Giving out some sort of tangible reward is great. But the reward needs to be something the students want. While students want candy. It's not always the best reward and many parents won't be too happy about their child getting candy everyday. Stickers and stamps are good alternatives. Though for stamps you may want to consider telling students to use a stamp book as once again some parents won't be happy with their kids having stamps all over their hands.

But positive reinforcement is more than just our reward systems. It's providing a constant stream of applause to the students small successful steps in the classroom. Everything is worthy of being praised. A student that would never sit down when asked and now does. Deserve as much praise as the student that picks up a book and starts reading. It's not the level of accomplishment it's that they achieved it.

Lastly, remember these students are young. They are right now forming their inner voice. All teachers should aim to help develop a positive inner voice that will help give them a positive mindset for the future.

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Online Teaching Further Examined

 

Previously, I wrote that one of the most important aspects of online teaching is entertaining the students. After 4 weeks of teaching online I want to highlight that the element of fun in your online teaching is CRITICAL to your class. If you want to keep students in your class or even recruit new students it has to be enjoyable. If a parent has to be sitting beside the student the whole time. Telling them to pay attention and repeat after the teacher. That student is doing to drop out or not sign up. The child doesn't enjoy the class and you've given an already stressed parent another job. To be your co-teacher.

I know many teachers are continuing using textbooks. Asking children to read and write. Nice and easy for the teacher, and for the student's it just like their ordinary class, but it's not! They're at home. They have a million things to distract them as well as the fact they are on their computer. They can be watching youtube at the same time as being in class. 

The biggest mistake you can make as a teacher is thinking that in-person teaching and online teaching should have the same delivery method and use the same lesson plans. They are different and need to be treated differently.

Here are my tips to make your online classes enjoyable, but also to enhance learning.

1. Include movement as much as possible. If you're counting. Jump and count. If you're singing ABC's march as you say them. Find any excuse to get students up and burning energy.
2. Play to learn. It's a philosophy I have recently been using a lot more in my classes. Learning doesn't need to be holding up flashcards and repeating back. Roleplay the vocabulary word. Play a game that corresponds to it. Some online platforms you can put a background behind you. Make a shop behind you and sell the vocabulary words to the students. Make it playful.
3. Games and activities. There is so much already out there on google for online games you can incorporate into your class. Use them

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Online Teaching ESL Kindergarten

 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”  - Charles Darwin

Covid has changed the world and how some of us have to teach. We can  no longer stand in front of our students and teach them. We need to teach through a computer. This new method of delivery requires a new way of teaching. Those teachers that just teach their online lesson as they would their stand up lesson are not going to be as effective as those that adapt to this new world.

One of the first things you should do is decide what your aim is? Or what should your aim be? Is it to impart a lesson? Is it to give the parents a break? To entertain the children? To give them social stimulation? To burn off energy? All or some of these?

For myself, all of them is correct. I want them to continue their English language learning, but having them just sit and watch me on the screen is going to quickly get boring. Hence making the lesson entertaining is critical. While also remembering this children may not get a chance to go outside and run around so I have to make sure the lesson is energetic to help burn off some energy and allow them some time to talk to their classmates to provide the social stimulation they require. English is best learnt when students get a chance to talk to each other and though it's harder as a teacher we should be facilitating that opportunity. Lastly, as much as teachers don't want to admit sometimes we are baby sitters and for online learning I admit one of my goals is very much to give tired parents a break.

If you want to be the best online teacher I highly recommend role playing, games, physical activities and having students communicate to each other. You're students will look forward to your classes and so will the parents.

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