fun activities for very young learners by miriam d’amico
TRANSCRIPT
Fun Activities for very young learners
By Miriam D’Amico
What kind of activity is a task?
Will the activity engage learners' interest?
Is there a primary focus on meaning?
Is there a goal?
Is there an outcome?
Is success judged in terms of outcome?
Is completion a priority?
Does the activity relate to real world activities?
‘The more confidently you can answer yes to each of these questions, the more task-like the activity.
Activities like the following generally have the potential to become effective tasks:
Listing and/or brainstorming
Ordering and sorting
Matching
Learning from exposure
Problem solving
Sharing personal experiences and storytelling
Comparing: finding similarities and differences
Ordering and sorting
Ordering and sorting
Learning from
exposure
Learning from
exposure
Matching
Matching
Sharing personalexperiences
Sharing personalexperiences
Communicative activities have the following characteristics:
•They are purposeful. • They are beyond strictly practicing particular structures.
•They are interactive. • The activities are often conducted with others and often
involve some form of discussion. • Authentic materials are used.
• The situations in which the learners have to use language should be as realistic as possible.
• The language models given should be authentic. • They are based on the information gap principle.
•Teachers need to be aware that children have a much shorter concentration span than adults
and this will affect the number of different activities we plan for a single lesson.
•Different kinds of activities to practice the different skillsneed to be balanced against each other.
•Teachers need to take many factors into consideration when planning
a balanced primary lesson and it is important to plan varied lessons.
How to plan the activities:Stirrers and Settlers for the Primary Classroom
Settling students‘Settlers' are activities which are designed to calm students
down and settle them into a routine.
Basic classroom management and routines are essential to establish as a pre-requisite for learning.
Make sure children know what the routine is when they arrive in class e.g. coats off, books out.
Have a clear signal to get the children's attention and make sure children know what it is. Clap your hands, say a signal
word clearly and hold up your hand, sing a song.
Settling Activities
• Wordplay activities
• Whole-class listening activities or games
• Arts and Crafts activities
• Read and draw activities
• Use stories or storybooks
Stirring Activities
• Mingles or surveys
• Use action/movement games
• Use songs, chants and raps
• Use drama/acting out
• Make the most of technology
Songsand problem solving