Preparatory Grade Curriculum /Resources Guide for English

Overview
The Preparatory Grade Curriculum Resources Guide for English is a list of EFL resources available to teachers
who may be teaching young children. The purpose of the guide is to compile as many resources, ideas,
suggestions and projects of interest to young children as possible, so that teachers dont have to spend their own
time doing this. Following is a brief summary of the philosophy important to this guide. The list is not
inclusive.
Piaget: Piaget, the Swiss developmental psychologist, carefully studied the cognitive development of children
and noted four stages of development, none of which can be skipped. Sensorimotor---birth to 2.
Preoperational---2-7. Concrete Operations---7-11. Formal Operations---11-16. When asked to summarize his
lifelong study of how children learn, he said: Children learn through play, by contacting and interacting with
their external world.
Maria Montessori: Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator, revolutionized the education of children.
She de-centered the role of the teacher and made the teacher the keeper of the environment while the children
got on with their activities. She summarized her findings this way: Scientific observation has established that
education is not what the teacher gives. Education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the
individual and is acquired, not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the
teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared
environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference.
Reggio Emilia: The Reggio Emilia approach, named for the town in Italy where it began, is recognized
worldwide for its innovative approach to pre-school and primary school education. Its philosophy is based
upon the following principles: 1) Children must have some control over the direction of their learning. 2)
Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing and hearing. 3)
Children have a relationship with other children and physical items in their world which they must be allowed
to explore. 4) Children must have a variety of ways and opportunities to express themselves. This approach
also places high priority on parental involvement and welcomes parents as co-educators.
Howard Gardner: Howard Gardner, developmental psychologist and professor of Cognition and Education at
Harvard University, postulated the theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983. Dr. Gardner maintains that there is
no one, broad thing called intelligence of which some students have more or less of. Rather, there are eight
intelligences: Logical-mathematical, Linguistic, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal,
Intrapersonal and Naturalistic. Traditionally, schools test only two, Logical-mathematical and Linguistic (math
and reading) and often use these results to determine how successful a student is in school. Dr. Gardner
suggests that students learn in different ways and encourages teachers to view their students in terms of a mix of
all of these intelligences, a cognitive profile, rather than just how well they do in math and reading. This
viewpoint is important because it encourages teachers to get to know their students, to allow classrooms that are
more student-centered, student-directed and student-friendly.
Erik Erickson: Erik Erickson, German-born American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, studied
the stages of human development from birth to death. "You see children playing," he said, "and it is close to
seeing an artist paint, for in play children say things without uttering a word. You can see how they solve
problems, also what's wrong. Young children have enormous creativity and whatever is in them rises to the
surface in free play."
Second Language Acquisition in Children
How, then, do children best learn a second language within this philosophical framework once they are familiar
with their mother tongue?
In general, there are two ways that children learn a second language, simultaneously or sequentially.
Simultaneous learners include children under the age of three who are exposed to more than one language at the
same time. Sequential learners include learners who are familiar with their mother tongue and are then
introduced or required to learn another language. Sequential learning can be introduced at any age and is
influenced by the childs temperament, motivation, linguistic aptitude and fossilization of their first language
(interference from their native language). However, sequential learners will go through the same basic stages:
Silent Period---The student is unable to speak in the second language. Cognitive development is
occurring, but is not notable or testable by the teacher. The student relies heavily on non-verbal cues to
communicate with others. Understanding precedes speaking.
Early Production---The student begins to speak in a few words or phrases. These are often words or
phrases that are memorized, but the student is not able to expand on their meaning. Me thirsty, means, I am
thirsty. May I please get a drink of water? Mistakes should be tolerated. A running dialogue on the part of
the teacher is important, as the teacher expands (models) the longer meaning of the sentence. Oh, you want to
get a drink of water. Yes, you may get a drink of water.
ProductionGradually, the student is able to speak more. The sentences become more complex and
the student becomes more comfortable using the second language. This is a complex process, not completely
understood by psychologists, but the process can be hastened with proper EFL methodology.
Tips for Teaching Preparatory Grade EFL
1. Games, play, stories, movement and song form the core of Preparatory Grade EFL methodology, not rote
learning.
2. English sessions should be fun and interesting, concentrating on concepts the children already understand in
their mother tongue. In this way, the child is not learning two things at once, a new concept and a new
language, but is simply learning the English word for a concept they already understand (colors, names of
animals, classroom vocabulary, body parts and simple commands, for example).
3. Children are more likely to engage in learning when presented with physical activity. An example of
activity-based learning, sometimes called Total Physical Response, would be to ask children to make the shape
of a letter with their body.
4. Children need a reason to speak English. You may want to introduce puppets or animals, for example, who
only speak English. Or you may want to create a corner of your room where only English is spoken, like a
small grocery store, or small town, or a conductor on a toy train who only speaks English.
5. Children are excitable. Vary your activities from active to calm. English story time offers a quiet break in
the classroom routine for students to hear English pronunciation and to respond to print. Books with repeated
phrases or rhyming patterns that the can be memorized are especially important. (Brown Bear, Brown Bear by
Bill Martin).
6. Children have short attention spans. Change activities often and have everything you need for each activity.
Plan for more than you think you will need. Have at least five other activities ready to use if the children get
restless.
More Tips
1. Allow yourself to act silly. You may want to dress up like the characters in the book youre reading,
make silly voices and faces, and sing and dance with your children.
2. Dress for a mess. At the end of class you may have paint, colors or chalk on your clothes.
3. Play pretend games.
4. Have lively music that is easy to understand. Sing along with your children.
5. Puppets are popular, especially when the children get to know the puppets and you incorporate them in
every lesson.
6. Trust children with technology. Play online board games such as BINGO.
7. Make Story Time fun.
8. Use colorful flashcards.
9. Color with a purpose. (Draw a circle and color it yellow.)
10. Incorporate drama activities such as mime and play acting.
11. Felt boards allow children to piece together what happened in a story or to learn new vocabulary.
12. Use Finger Plays like Itsy Bitsy Spider.
13. Explore the room, the school, or the outdoors with scavenger hunts.
14. Play Show and Tell.
15. Use real world objects from other cultures (Play BINGO using pennies from the United States.)
16. Teach vocabulary in themes: colors, body parts, counting, for example, and use cognates whenever
possible Elephant/Elefant.
17. Have a happy room full of toys, pictures, music and things that small children will enjoy.
18. Connect with other teachers online and share ideas and tips for successful teaching.
19. Establish clear classroom routines. Children at this age may not be familiar with classroom conventions.
20. Some children may be clumsy with pencils, scissors, coloring, copying and so forth as they are still
developing fine motor skills.
21. Young children cannot analyze language. They often learn language by chunks or groups of words with
a specific meaning. Please stand up.
22. Young children are learning to be less egocentric and may need time to develop turn-taking, sharing
skills and cooperative skills.
And Finally:
23. Be a reflective teacher. Ask yourself: What worked today? What didnt? Is what Im doing right
now working? Why or why not?
Sample Lesson Plans
Sample #1:
1. Start each class the same: Greet the students in English. Wait for a reply. Do a few simple songs or
familiar routines before starting something new.
2. Go to flash cards next to review vocabulary and introduce new vocabulary.
3. Bring a teddy bear or stuffed animal and pretend he or she only talks English. Talk to the teddy bear in
English modeling the dialogue.
4. End with a story.
Sample #2:
1. 9:00-9:15---song
2. 9:15-9:25---storybook
3. 9:25-9:35---coloring
4. 9:35-9:45---puppets/teddy bear dialogue
5. 9:45-10:00---etc.
Sample #3:
1. Warm Up---2 minutes (Smile. Say hello. Have children do simple actionsclap hands, wash face,
brush teeth, jump and down. Do the actions with them.)
2. Hello Song---3 minutes (Sing the Hello Song and make a circle.)
3. Circle Time---7 minutes (Pass a ball around. Each student says Hello as they pass the ball around.
This can be expanded to, How are you? or Whats your name?
4. Song---5 minutes (Whats Your Name song or a favorite song of the children.)
5. Numbers---5 minutes (Practice numbers 1-10 in a variety of ways.)
6. Story Time---10 minutes (Read a book)
7. New Vocabulary---10 minutes (Introduce animals or colors or more classroom vocabulary)
8. Action Time---15 minutes (A movement activity of some kind.)
9. Goodbye Song---3 minutes.
Helpful Websites
(These websites have free games, songs, worksheets, flashcards, activities, lesson ideas, links to other sites, and
advice on how to teach small children. For our purposes, ESL and EFL and interchangeable.)
1. Teach Children ESL.com---free games, songs, lesson ideas and worksheets
2. The Teachers Guide Song Page---200 songs arranged in alphabetical order.
3. ESL-Kids.com---a huge website with activities arranged by age, pre-school-8
th
grade. One of the most
comprehensive and best-maintained websites.
4. ESL Kids Lab---worksheets, games and video lessons.
5. ESL Galaxy---lessons and teaching materials.
6. ESL Handouts---ideas, pictures and worksheets.
7. Your Complete ESL Headquarters---hundreds of free worksheets, flashcards, BINGO, board games,
activities, books, games and pictures.
8. Learning Chocolate---vocabulary games for children to learn English online.
9. Mrs. Perkinss Dolch Words---The Dolch word list is made up of the 220 most common sight words in
childrens reading books.
10. MES-English.com---free flashcards, worksheets, handouts, game cards and project ideas.
11. Sites for Teachers---rates educational websites by popularity with teachers.
12. Early Childhood Links---contains a section for teachers with free art recipes, coloring pages, crafts, lesson
plans, resources, songs, theme units and worksheets.
13. English For Children---a huge site with links to a vast amount of EFL material.
14. Short Stories for Kids---animated cartoons.
15. Story Place---a preschool library and elementary library with new activities and themes added each month.
16. Picture Books---free online picture books.
17. Online English Learning For Children---a selection of free learning videos.
18. Kids Online English---a YouTube site from Pumpin.com for kids to learn English online.
19. Names of Fruits---a YouTube site for learning fruit (color and pronunciation).
20. Numbers---a YouTube site for learning to count from 1-10.
21. Original EFL Learning---YouTube videos for children giving them non-classroom exposure to English.
22. English for Children---one hundred easy, short stories for children just beginning to learn English.
23. ESL Kids Lab---games, videos, vocabulary expansion and project ideas.
24. Discovery Education---Discovery Channels website with learning activities K-12.
25. EFL Playhouse---resources for young learners.
26. Free Stuff for Teachers---a large collection of material given freely to teachers.
27. Kids Songsa large collection of free children songs.
28. Kids Music---sing-a-long songs to piano music.
29. PBS Kids---games, stories, music and coloring.
30. International Childrens Digital Library---childrens literature available online.
31. Room 108---a huge primary education site for kids with over 1900 pages of learning material.
32. mes-games.com---a large selection of games for children.
33. Lanternfish---worksheets, flashcards, games and ideas for children.
34. mes-english.com---lots of free material for teachers.
35. supersimplesong.com---childrens music.
36. Simply ESL.com---lesson plans and activities for all ages.
37. ESL Flashcards---free flashcards ready to download.
38. squidoo.com---focuses on speaking activities, ideas to encourage students to speak in English.
39. ESL Galaxy---a large website full of ideas and materials.
40. ESL Teachers Board---a huge website with games, lesson plans, free material and links to others teachers.
41. The EFL Playhouse---a large site specifically for young EFL learners with printable games, puzzles,
worksheets, songs and the Dolch site words.
42. English-Guide.org---large website for students of all ages.
43. WondrousWorksheets.com---free worksheets for children.
44. LearningChocolate---vocabulary learning games for children.
45. jumpstart.com---a website just for teaching 6 year olds.
46. Dream English.com---large site with activities, songs and lesson plans.
47. KidsEnglishBooks.com---free downloads of childrens books.
48. Freeabcsongs.com---site with free songs.
49. One Stop English---lots of information for teaching children ages 4-6.
50. ESLprintables.com---free downloads, ideas and games.
51. English 4 Kids---free courses divided into different course levels that reflect the developmental stage of
most children.
52. Many Things---a list of activities that can be done with 5 and 6 year olds. Also has tips and strategies for
new teachers, links to EFL activities, lessons, games and other material.
53. Westlake EES---lesson plans, vocabulary word lists, games, puzzles and quizzes for small children.
54. ESL Storybooks---curriculum for 5 and 6 year olds.
55. Lesson Plans Online---a large website with educational songs, games, stories and lesson plans for small
children. Links to many other sites.
56. Kindersites---ESL lesson plans specifically developed to motivate and encourage young children to speak
English.
57. ESL Playground---games, activities and lesson plans for teaching young children.
58. DLTK-Kids---printable cards, crafts, activities, worksheets, coloring projects and recipes suitable for young
children.
59. Kinder Helper---fun stories, games, cards, puzzles, role-playing activities, printable worksheets, songs,
plays and cut-outs for small children. Includes teaching tips and strategies.
60. Learn4Good---childrens books and educational materials for small children learning English.
61. SaskED---guidelines for instruction, methods, strategies and activities for teaching English to small
children.
62. Kindergarten Activities---links to books and activities for teaching EFL to 5 and 6 year olds.
63. Kindergarten Readiness Place---a forum for teachers working with small children.
64. ESL Kid Stuff---a large website with games, songs and activities for young children.
65. ESL Kid---a guide for teaching ESL to young children.
66. eslkidslab.com

67. TEFL.net ESL Lesson Plans

68. The Internet TESL Journal

69. onestopenglish.com

How to Make a Pop-Up Book:
http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/howto.html

How to Make an Accordian Book:
http://jennysartspace.com/bookart/accordian.html

Free Coloring Pages:
http://www.colormegood.com
Other Sites with Free Books:
http://www.readings-z.com/

http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/index.html

http://www.maggieskindercorner.com/printables.html

http://www.kidscount1234.com/littlebooks.html

http://www.teacherscholastic.com/lessonplans/

http://www.momsview.com/freeprintablesstorybooks.html

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/themes.colors

Origami Information:

Origami workshop Daria and Andreass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnKKyQhkMBw
My personal gallery Andreass
http://forum.origami-romania.ro/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=214
Darias personal gallery
http://forum.origami-romania.ro/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=347
E-mail/Messenger IDs:
Andreass96@yahoo.com
daria.dobre@yahoo.com
Helpful Lists

Colors: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, black, brown, purple, white.
Numbers: 1-10.
Shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle and line.
Relationships: big-little, up-down, left-right, in-out, first-last, open-closed, in front of-behind, over-under, top-
bottom, between.
Classroom Vocabulary: pencil, colors, paper, computer, desk, book, floor, wall, window, door, chair, scissors,
teacher, student.
Weather: sunny, cold, hot, raining, snowing.
Seasons: spring, summer, fall, winter.
Family Members: mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather.
Polite Expressions: Please. Thank you. Youre welcome. Excuse me.
Greetings: Good morning. Hello. How are you? Im fine. Im tired, sick, okay, happy, sad, etc.
Instructional Phrases: Sit down. Stand up. Lets sing, color, read, etc. Make a circle. Open your
book. Repeat after me. Listen. Are you ready?
Body Parts: Play Simon Says. Touch your head, feet, hands, arms, toes, etc.
Animals: cat, dog, cow, horse, tiger, monkey, bear, snake, chicken, elephant, etc. Use cognates whenever
possible.
Occupations: teacher, doctor, nurse, dentist, farmer, taxi driver, etc. Use cognates whenever possible.
Food: apple, orange, banana, rice, carrot, ice cream, yogurt, milk, water, etc. Use cognates whenever possible.
Clothing: hat, pants, dress, shirt, shoes. Use cognates whenever possible.

Written, J uly, 2012, by J ohn Mundahl, United States Peace Corps Volunteer to Romania.