Defining aims with clear lesson objectives

What is the goal of your lesson? When you design a lesson, it's really important to have a clear picture of the lesson objective. In other words, what do you want the children to be able to do at the end of the lesson? The clearer your objective, the easier it is to design a …

The multilingual child in the classroom: how much language *does* he have, anyway?

Palingui - making early language learning visible! Last March, I joined a few dozen colleagues from all over Europe for an online workshop, organized by the ECML. The topic was a project dubbed 'Palingui'. A strange name, in my view, but the title is clear: 'the language learning pathways of children - making learning visible'. …

Tarot cards: a grammar game

"Next week, you will.... clap your hands! And you will do this... because... you won the lottery! And you will be a millionaire!" "Tomorrow, you will... dance! And you will dance on a stage, with lights, and your favorite music, because you are part of the show So You Think You Can Dance!" "Tonight, you …

Creating puzzles for the escape room

One of my favorite puzzles to make for the escape room was the LOCO puzzle. The LOCO puzzle is a very interesting way to create escape room puzzles.  In the Netherlands, these self-checking educational games are to be had in many toy stores, but also second-hand, as this has been around for a few decades.  …

CLIL and language of instruction

https://youtu.be/dFuCrxRobh0?t=296 (Here is a video of the lesson I will be referring to the rest of this blog entry.  Please watch it, it's a great example of work compiled by Clil4U) How many of us have tried to teach a CLIL lesson, only to find out that our learners cannot complete the task we set …

Sequencing the escape room

Part of the challenge in building a proper escape classroom is sequencing the puzzles so that everyone is busy all of the time.  The classes I deal with vary between the 25 - 30+ students, so this was something I had to plan very carefully.  There aren't many escape rooms built to handle crowds of …

Creating containers for the escape room

Part of the fun of creating a mobile escape classroom - or any escape room, for that matter - is finding clever ways to hide the puzzles.  For months, I scoured the local thrift shops, looking for containers big enough to hide stuff in, small enough to keep in my limited storage space, and - …

Roads to Rome and language learning

All roads lead to Rome: Tabula Peutingeriana (section), borrowed from https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu There are a lot of different ways to teach a foreign or second language.  Foreign language instruction has been evolving throughout time, depending on pedagogical beliefs, scientific insights, and changing didactical needs. Some of us may be familiar with the Grammatical-Translation approach, Audio-Lingualism, or …

Running dictation: race to the top!

Children race through the classroom, read part of a poem, then run back to their group, breathlessly repeating what they just memorized. Another child sits at the table, writing everything down. Every once in a while, I shout "change roles!" and the writer gets up, races to the poem, while the runner takes a breather. …

The ART of conversation: CLIL and Art

Sometimes children don't want to talk.  They just want to draw.  Or paint.  Or play with clay.  Making art is a natural way for children to relax and express themselves without having to say a word.  I remember a child at school who cried every morning as him mom said goodbye.  He was unconsolable - …

CEFR descriptors for young learners

After a few months of teaching EFL, the children in my various classes were able to name the pictures I held up on my flashcards, point to the correct object, and happily sing along every time we learned a new song.  I remember that it was at about this point that I started wondering about …

The name of the game: language learning at its best!

"Okay, guys, whose turn is it?" "Roll the dice.  What colors did you get?" "Green and black!"  "Black is for the cat.... here comes the cat!  Here comes the cat!"  "Okay, so who are we going to help?  The bird, the mouse, or the chipmunk!"  ...just a few bits of dialogue, typical for a round …

Story table: elements and introduction

Many teachers around the world have discovered the joys of a story table in the class for their developing language learners.  As I explained in a previous blog, a story table is an excellent way to activate the narrative skills of the young learner.  For those of you just stepping into this new adventure, it …

Playing with language at the story table

On a large, round, short table, the children and I re-created the landscape for the book "Elmer in the Snow".  Using the toilet-paper roll technique for making individual elephant finger puppets, each child had already made his own version of an elephant for the story.  We used paper-maché to create the mountain, crafted jungle trees …

Science in the EFL classroom: an experiment worth trying!

Children love to explore!  Sometimes, their exploration seems random, like tinkering around.  Other times, children explore in a more organized, or scientific, fashion.  As teachers, we can combine children's love of exploration with language by teaching using the Content and Language Ingrated Learning approach, otherwise known as CLIL. In this video, you can see a …

Early Language Learning Resources

    Last September, I went to Graz as part of a two-day workshop about teaching foreign languages in primary education.  I'd written a blog about the plurilingual classroom, but hadn't gotten as far as the resources that this group had created.   The European Center for Modern Languages (ECML) is very ambitious: they want to …

Language awareness in the plurilingual classroom

Last September, I traveled to Graz, Austria, to attend a 2-day workshop entitled “Early Language Learning”, hosted by the European Center for Modern Languages.  Each participant at the workshop represented a different European country, and I had the honor of representing the Netherlands.  During the round of introductions, it soon became apparent that each country …

Language development in a broad perspective: the kindergarten class

One of the challenges unique to kindergarten teachers is making good use of the various corners of their classrooms: a house corner, a maths corner, an arts and crafts table, a painting corner, a writing center, a math and science center, a reading corner - the list can be quite long!  Each corner offers opportunities …

Setting up: models for lesson design

What is the proper way to set up a language lesson?  Do we just jump into the body of the lesson, or start with an introduction of the topic?  Do we start right away with a role play, or introduce new words and phrases first?  For many experienced teachers, these questions sound like an open …

A little humor goes a long way :)

At the end of my lessons, I often have a joke like this to share with the class.  When I forget, the students remind me to tell the joke of the day.  After all, a day without laughter is a day not lived, and though they complain, they enjoy the joke.  The puns are often …

A tale of how a bunny inspires my teaching

There are days when I don't know what to do with my teaching.  Uninspired, paging through teacher's manuals and clicking through Pinterest, looking for something that will feed the creative spirit.  That's where I was, when I saw my rabbit chewing greedily on my yellow roses.  Did you know rabbits like roses?  I did, but …