Fun with homophones!

37 Tips for Teaching English

Tip #1 Greet them by singing: We all greet the students when we enter the class and expect them to reply back. Instead of a monotonous way, why don’t you use a song to greet them? This may be really fun especially for young learners. You can use the rhyme of a well-known children’s song and add your own lyrics or you can create a rap one with these lyrics. Here is very simple rap greeting I created:

Teacher: Hello Hello Hello everybody!

Students: Hello Hello Hello Mr. Jones!

You can also change the word ‘everybody’ with some other words such as 4B, my dear students, dearies, sweethearts etc. This will surprise your students.

Tip #2 Pick a game: Think about games which can be played in the class and write the titles of them on cards. Put the cards in a box. If you want, you can ask your students to write down the games they’d like to play but make sure that you check them to see if they are appropriate or not. Students can colour or decorate the box with stickers or pictures. Whenever you want to give a break, you or your students can pick a game from the box and play altogether.

Tip #3 “Teacher! You’ve got mail”: Sometimes, it is difficult for students (especially the shy ones) to communicate with the teacher. This is a great idea to make them share anything they want. Make a box with a hole (maybe a locked one) and ask your students to write you notes or letters and drop it in. When students send you their message, they can write “Teacher! You’ve got mail” on the board or leave a message on the table, so you can check. You can reply their notes or talk to them afterwards. Another thing you can do with the mail box is to encourage them to write messages on special days, to cheer up their friends or to inspire each other.

Tip #4 Get together at break: As teachers, we all need a break to relax, have a cup of tea / coffee or visit Mrs.Murphy:) but it is extremely fruitful to spend time with students at the break time. Stay in class, hang out in the corridor or go out to the garden to chat with your students. Not all the time of course. Once or twice a week. Play games, eat together, listen to music or just make compliments. This unthreatening atmosphere will make you get to know them better and create a special connection with your students.

Tip #5 Who’s the teacher today?: Students, especially younger ones like acting as teachers. They sometimes play games acting as teachers and students. I used to do that a lot when I was a kid. I even had a little chalkboard. Why don’t you ask your students to become the teacher for five minutes and continue the lesson? You can start with the volunteers and ask them what / when they want to teach. You can add their names on the class calendar, so they can plan and get prepared. When the time comes, let them go through an activity, carry out a discussion, lead a game and so on. I’m sure this will be great for the students to become more confident and it will also help to improve their empathy skills.

Tip #6 Bring lucky charms: You can invent lucky charms to motivate your students or reduce their stress. Bringing a ladybug toy / picture before an exam, drawing an Irish shamrock on the board during a competition or hanging a blue bead after they perform well can change the atmosphere for a while. It can make them laugh, increase their motivation and have fun, but you shouldn’t exaggerate. Avoid changing the class into a tent full of totems:)

Tip #7 Arrange a ‘Fun corner’: You can leave a part of the bulletin board for this. Ask students to bring jokes, cartoons, inspirational quotes and interesting news they like. They can put these on this corner and share. Make them change the stuff regularly. You can even create a rating game at the end of the term / year and choose the funniest, the mosy interesting or the weirdest.

Tip #8 Silence is normal: This may not happen very frequently, but when it happens it might make you feel weird as if you have to start speaking immediately. If your students just stare at you or keep silent, that does not mean that there is always something wrong. Students may need time to digest. They might be thinking about the topic / lesson you are busy with. They may be brainstorming or reflecting. Do not panic and give them time.

Tip #9 Let them enjoy a ‘crazy moment’: As you can understand from the title, this is a crazy activity. Try not to use this activity very often not to lose the magic of it. When you feel that your students are completely lost in thoughts, tired or reluctant, tell them that they have 10 seconds to do anything they like. They can stand up, walk around, scream, dance, sleep, look out of the window etc. Ring a bell when the time is over and ask to sit properly and silently. Don’t forget to warn them about the actions they will do. They shouldn’t hurt their friends, offend each others’ feelings or damage the school property. I recommend you to inform your neighbours next door (other classrooms or the administrators nearby), so they won’t get shocked when they hear the ‘crazy’ sounds:)

Tip #10 Make them reflect: Students make a special page /section on their notebook and decorate it if they like. After each unit / theme, tell them to think about the things covered in class and write what they can do. This will be very good to make them reflect on their own work and performance. Seeing their own progress will be motivating as well.

Tip #11 Give them awards for nothing: Awards always motivate students and they get crazily happy if they deserve one. Some students can really feel useless if they can’t get any and the whole thing can lose its effectiveness. You can sometimes award them not for the things related with the lesson but with the special skills or features they have. Award for a sweet smile, award for a tech wizard or award for a helpful fairy etc. Check here to see more ideas on this.

Tip #12 Make a ‘class’ wall: You can change the classroom wall into a Facebook wall. I hope you have enough space for this. If not, you can use the windows or the doors of the cupboards. Students can share their photos of special moments and add captions to them, write their feelings or opinions. You can add your own and motivate them to comment on each other. This can be turned into a spoken activity at the end of the day or used as a warm-up activity. If students like each others’ posts, they can draw little hearts on them.

Tip #13 Give no homework for today: Decide on a day and don’t give homework on that day. Share this with the other teachers as well and encourage them to do the same. Students will love this. Having a day without any homework will make your students release the pressure of the school and relax.

Tip #14 Keep calm and come back: Choose an area in the class and put a ‘keep calm’ sign / poster there. Tell the students that they can use this place to get better whenever they feel down or angry. You can put a chair or a pillow there. They can sit, close their eyes or put their headphones on to listen to some music. The time they use at this area should be limited. They should go back to their place after 2 or 3 minutes.You can use the same place to show that you are not happy with an attitude or a misbehaviour but avoid using it very often.

Tip #15 You’ve got a message: Tell the students to write their names on a piece of paper and leave them in a box or plastic bag. Then allow them to pick one. If they pick their own names, they should change. Ask them to write an inspirational message for their friends and give it to them. Students will learn how to cheer up each other and improve their friendship with the help of this activity.

Tip #16 Help your buddy: Put the students into pairs at the beginning of the year. Tell them they are ‘help’ buddies during the first month. They are supposed to help each other about lessons, the new school / system and so on. This might be really good for the newcomers.

Tip #17 ‘Joker’ for homework: Homework can be boring for some students although you do your best to make it fun and catchy. Tell your students that they can have a ‘joker’ after each 5 / 10 homework. Once they get a joker, they can use it for any homework they like and skip that one. This can have some weaknesses such as missing things on the related piece of homework or receiving complaints from parents, but it can also motivate students to do more homework.

Tip #18 Reading time: Ask them to bring the book they are reading on a specific day. Friday can be a good day as it is the last day of the week and most of them can be tired. If a student does not fancy books, this can be a good start. Tell your students it is the reading time and allow them a specific time. You can begin with 15 minutes and extend the time later. You can also play classical music during this time. By the way, don’t forget to bring your own book to join them.

Tip #19 Share what you read: Bring a book you already read or you are reading and put it on your table or another place in the class. You can allow the students to have a look at it and raise questions aterwards. Then, ask a volunteer to bring a book and do the same. You can continue this activity till everybody talks about a book.

Tip #20 ‘Special days’ congrats: Use the doors of the students’ lockers for this activity. Learn their birthdays at the beginning of the year and put messages on the door of their lockers on their birthdays. You can also congratulate them for other special stuff like winning a school match or getting a poetry award. They will feel that you care about them.

Tip #21 “Who is the ‘prefect’ this week?”: Choose a prefect from the students. If you want, you can choose more than one at each time. The prefects can be your assistants during the week and learn to take responsibilities and maybe gain more confidence. You can change the prefects every week till everyone becomes a prefect at least once.

Tip #22 Group names: Divide the students into groups according to their seating plans and ask them to find a name for their groups. It might be good to call out their group names while warning instead of using the names of the students. This way, they can warn each other to stop the misbehaviour, listen to others more carefully and participate. You can give and take points to encourage the students and choose the champion group of the day / week / month.

Tip #23 Dance dance dance: This can sound a bit crazy if you have never taught young learners, but believe me it even works with university prep students. Just play a popular song and dance with them. You can do it in the middle of the lesson when you see that they are lost or before you start a lesson or a specific activity. Tell them that they are free to do any dance moves for blah blah minutes. When the music stops, they should calm down and sit quietly to get ready for the lesson / activity. Remember that moving can increase the brain power.

Tip #24 Make them talk for one minute: Tell them they have to talk to their pairs for one minute without stopping. They may talk about anything that comes up to their minds or on a specific topic. After some time, you can extend the time and make them talk for a longer time. This is a very helpful activity for their fluency. You can find more details about this activity here.

Tip #25 Share something about your childhood: Students can sometimes be very curious about their teachers. So why not using this for the sake of your lessons:) Show them photos from your childhood and tell them ‘stories’. Be sure that they will listen more carefully than they listen to other stories, because it is all about you. They can ask you questions when you finish or guess the end of the story.

Tip #26 Do not fear to share your feelings: If you are having a difficult time or if you are overjoyed, do not fear to share this with your students (unless it is very private:p). You can just tell them or write it on the board like a Facebook status and if they want, they can ask you questions about the details.

Tip #27 Watch a video: Do not wait for the perfect time to use videos. A short youtube video can change the mood of the students. It can make them smile and motivate for a hard work coming up or inspire them before a writing activity. Bookmark the videos you can use in your class and use this library whenever you need.

Tip #28 “Do you know what I did last weekend?”: Tell the students to bring an object related with what they did at the weekend. Tell them to show it to others and take a guess about their weekend. They can ask questions to learn about the details. If you want to save time, you can make students work in pairs / groups.

Tip #29 Tell them to dream on: This is one of the silent moments you can all enjoy:) Choose an appropriate piece of music preferably instrumental ones. Tell them to close their eyes and just dream on. They are free to dream about anything they like and they don’t have to talk about it afterwards.

Tip #30 Remember: Music is a therapy: Music can reduce stress, encourage positive thinking and even implant creativity. Do not fear to use it during the lessons. The only thing you should be careful about is to choose the right piece of music for the right time. Considering the activities you are dealing with, decide if you need something stirring, calming or relaxing. Hereis a great link to choose a piece of music according to your mood. Some titles here may not be appropriate for the age of your students, so check before you use it in your class.

Tip #31 Why don’t you go out?: You don’t have to lock your students in the class all the time. Take your students out to the garden or use the other parts of the school. Make a good plan about the lesson you will follow there and be sure everything is under control. Inform your head of department or the vice principal beforehand not to cause any problems.

Tip #32 Invite guests: You can invite your colleagues (English teachers or teachers of other subjects), the head of department, vice principals or the principal to your class not to observe you but to encourage the students. When they are ready to perform pair work or group work activities, show & tell projects or just to play games, you can invite someone to your class. (Inviting more than one person can be threatening for them.) The aim here should be to praise the students. When they hear that a teacher or an administrator they care is appreciating their work, they will be really happy and motivated.

Tip #33 Give them coupons: Make coupons to be given as awards after any good work your students perform. Tell them to collect their coupons to reach other series of awards. You can learn more details about this activity I created here.

Tip #34 “What was the best thing today?”: Make students reflect on the lesson and their work at the end of the day / lesson. Then ask them to share it in pairs or groups. You can also tell them to share the same with their family when they go home. You can inform the families beforehand. This will help your students to focus on the positive things more and create a bridge between the school and home as well.

Tip #35 Change is good: You can change the decoration of the classroom by playing with the desks and chairs (if you can) or the seats of the students. You can make your students look after plants, add new parts on the bulletin board and so on. Change is good but it might drive some students crazy, too, so you should know your students well before you decide on a change. You can make it in steps and try to prepare them.

Tip #36 Enjoy the Colour’ful’ days: If wearing uniform is not mandatory at the school you are working at, this can bring ‘colour’ to your classroom. Decide on a colour and tell your students to wear something with that colour on a day you will announce. If they can’t, they can also bring some accessories. You can join them as well. You can read a text, sing a song or watch a video related with the colours. You can discuss about the effects of colours on people, colour therapy or play games related with colours.

Tip #37 “What’s your favourite photo shoot?”: Ask your students to take as many photos as they can at the weekend or on winter / summer holiday. After deciding on their favourite photo shoot, they can bring it to class (hard or soft copy) to share with their friends. Then, they can come to the front, show and tell. They can ask questions to each other. With the help of this activity, they will be sharing their experiences and have some fun.

Hope you will find these tips fun and useful for your students. Please feel free to add your own and share your ideas.

7 Qualities to Maximize the Impact of your Lessons Plans

There are obviously many, many things that teachers can do to maximize the chances of an individual lesson going well. This tip shares just a few elements that research (and personal experience) tend to say are important. It is not designed as a universal checklist for teachers to ensure that every lesson they do includes every characteristic listed. On occasion, some successful lessons might not include any of these qualities. Other times, some teachers might include most of them.

Strategic Introductions

A strategic introduction to a lesson includes several aspects:

• Novelty: Grab students’ attention by introducing information, a topic, or a lesson in a different way.
• Relevance: Provide explicit suggestions on how students will be able to transfer what they learn into other aspects of their lives.
• Written and Verbal Instructions: When students forget what to do, teachers can then just point to the instructions instead of repeating them.
• Modeling: Explicity model your thinking process, and show students examples of other students' work.
• Activate Prior Knowledge: Remind students of how what they are going to learn relates to what they have previously learned.
• Translating: Ask students to "translate" important concepts into their own words.

Movement

Creating opportunities for students to move—at least a bit—during lessons can be successful. Students could move to be with a partner for a quick "think-pair-share" activity, or go to a small group to work on a project for a longer time.

Choices

Choices can include being asked for their partner preferences, allowed to choose which reading strategies they would like to demonstrate, invited to choose where they would like to sit during small group sessions, or given two or more options of writing prompts.

Minimize Lecture & Maximize Cooperative Learning

Studies show that smaller groups work best, with three or four students being the maximum. I personally prefer sticking with pairs for most of a school year, and possibly moving to three near the last quarter after six months of student experience with the process.

Wait Time

The average time between a teacher posing a question and a student giving the answer is approximately one second. Multiple studies show that the quality and quantity or student responses increases when the wait time is increased to between three and seven seconds.

Fun

Games are good tools for review, and can function as a quick three-minute break or transition time.

Feedback

It has been found that if students are expecting to receive "rapid" feedback—a teacher's verbal or written response shortly after the work is completed—the quality of student work increases.

Using Pictorial Representations To Teach Rules Of Grammar, Punctuation, And Word Usage

Amused by the misplaced modifiers in your students’ writing? Frustrated that your students omit commas in direct address? Tired of explaining the difference between your and you’re to your students?

Try explaining these often-confused rules of grammar, punctuation, and word usage through pictorial representations. In this article I have shown how five tricky concepts can be explained pictorially. I have tried them and they work!

How to Teach Rules Of Grammar, Punctuation, And Word Usage Using Pictorial Representations

1. 1

   Misplaced Modifiers

   Misplaced Modifiers can cause considerable confusion to readers and can also be a great source of amusement to them. The error caused by misplaced modifier can be depicted pictorially through many humorous examples. One of them that I use is shown below.
   
   2. By way of explanation, I use these points:
      • Modifiers are like teenagers – they fall in love with whatever they are next to. Most misplaced modifier errors can be solved by placing the modifier next to the word or group of words that it seeks to modify.
      • In the first sentence, covered with hot melting cheese (the modifier) seeks to modify pizza and not the person eating it. Placing the modifier closer to the word pizza clarifies that the pizza, and not the person eating it, is covered with hot melting cheese.
   3. 2

      Comma In Direct Address

      Not using commas in direct address is a very common error. Students and adults alike commit this mistake. Show them the picture below and they will develop an appreciation of the importance of using commas correctly in direct address.
      
      
      
   
   
   1. By way of explanation, I use these points:
      • Placing the comma before grandpa clarifies that the boy is asking his grandpa to eat with him. Without the comma placed before grandpa, it would appear as if the boy wants to eat his grandpa.
      • Commas are used to set off names (or words used in place of names) when addressing people directly in a sentence. The rules for placing commas in direct address are simple.  If the name comes first, it is followed by a comma. Grandpa, I want to eat a truck-load of ice. Sam, I want to eat a truck-load of ice.  If the name comes at the end of the sentence, the comma precedes the name. I want to eat a truck-load of ice, grandpa. I want to eat a truck-load of ice, Sam.  If the name comes in the middle of the sentence, it is surrounded by commas. What I said, grandpa, is that I want to eat a truck-load of ice.What I said, Sam, is that I want to eat a truck-load of ice.
   2. 3

      Your vs. You’re

      I have gone through numerous lists of commonly confused words and in almost all of them your / you’re features in the top five. The error could stem in part due to an incorrect understanding of the use of apostrophes in forming contractions. The picture below should help them understand that the two words are different and should not be used interchangeably.
   
   
   
   1. By way of explanation, I use these points:
      • You’re is a contraction of you are.
      • Your shows possession. It means belongs to you.
      • If you are confused on whether to use your or you’re, check if you are fits into the sentence; if it does, use you’re, else use your.
   2. 4

      The Oxford / Serial Comma

      The Oxford comma is a highly-debated topic among grammarians. While some feel that it is not necessary, others argue that leaving it out can cause confusion. If you are from the latter school of thought, then you can use the below picture to explain the rationale of using the comma to your students.
   
   
   
   1. By way of explanation, I use these points:
      • The Oxford comma (also known as serial comma or Harvard comma) is a comma that is used before and/or in a list containing three or more items.
        • I like to eat nails, glass, and shoes.
        • I hate people who do not like to eat nails, glass, or shoes.
      • In some cases, the Oxford comma helps avoid ambiguity in a sentence. In the second sentence of the picture, leaving out the comma before and may lead the reader to infer that Bill Clinton and George Bush are the two daughters of the president!
   2. 5

      Faulty Comparisons

      Faulty comparisons occur very frequently in writing. Most people do not even realize that they are comparing two things incorrectly. The picture below shows the confusion and humor that can be caused by faulty comparisons.
   
   
   
   1. By way of explanation, I use these points:
      • Faulty comparisons occur when two things are compared inappropriately or in a way that could confuse readers / listeners.
      • Often, the comparison will sound as though it's acceptable, but will be missing a few necessary words. The shirt you are wearing looks like my brother. Here, the shirt is being compared to the brother and not to the brother’s shirt.  The shirt you are wearing looks like my brother’s.  The shirt you are wearing looks like my brother’s shirt. Both of the above sentences are correct. In the first sentence, although the word shirt isn’t present, adding the ’s after brother implies that we are comparing the shirt belonging to the brother.
   There are several benefits of using pictorial representations for teaching concepts of grammar, punctuation, and word usage.
   • Students appreciate the importance of the concept, as they can clearly see the confusion or humor caused by the error.
   • Pictorial representations create visual reinforcement and can be especially useful for those students who are visual learners. If not anything else, students will remember the picture associated with each grammar lesson.
   • The pictures can provide an element of fun to the learning process and take some of the boredom out of the grammar class.
   
   
   
   

Top Tips for Teaching Practice Part 1

Teaching practice can be a a huge source of anxiety for new teachers who are short on time. This collection of resources was created for new teachers and can help save time when preparing for teaching practice, as well as providing valuable guidance and reference material along the way. These materials contain valuable information for teachers at all stages of their careers, who may be looking for some extra inspiration on learning strategies, assessment and classroom management.

1. Starters

We all know how important having a good ‘starter’ is in lessons. It can serve as that all-important hook for the remainder of the lesson and really help to motivate pupils and stimulate their curiosity. The resources below can provide you with a whole range of interesting starter activities which you can either use directly or adapt to suit your own purposes.

• A great idea to start a fun class with an Icebreaker.
• I really like this jigsaw starter activity. Great for the start of the class as students slide into class!
• The starter powerpoint is excellent. I particularly like the links between the index and the slides.

More Icebreakers:

• Mental Warm-ups!
• Key Terms Bingo
• The Intelligence of Six

Hope they work for you! Good luck!

Paso a Paso con el PNIEB (Step by Step with PNIEB)

I found a resource book that it could help us PNIEB teachers to better understand what we have to do in the classroom and what expectations we are to meet.

It seems affordable and I think is worth checking it out at least. It’s called Paso a paso… PNIEB.  If you want to check it out, the webpage is libropnieb.com

Finally this month, I have been able to get hold of this book.

I haven’t finished it reading it. So far, it looks OK to get a better idea of what it is this PNIEB phenomenon. It has graphic organizers as printable appendix.

I have read it and it’s a great tool, but I won’t call it the BIBLE for the PNIEB teacher. The book helps you to grasp ideas, but it’s no miracle worker or a planning guide.

To have a better look, I am posting the index right here.

Information taken from the page: 
Teaching PNIEB… ideas and stuff

Great vocabulary games!

Here´s an excellent page to find new ways to practice, review and recycle vocabulary, get flashcards and overall teaching ideas.

Hello fellow PNIEB teacher, here are some easy steps to correctly plan your social practice, let´s begin:

1. Identify the product for your specific competency
2. Identify the achievements for your specific competency. 

3. Analyze how these achievements are related with the product and the specific competency. 

Tip: The achievement must always be present and will be reviewed at different moments. 

4. Analyze the suggested product stages for your specific competency in the syllabus

a. Identify the opening, development and closure stages.

5. Select and write on separate pieces of paper the stages that will be used in your team’s planning. From the suggested stages, some may be eliminated, or additional stages can be included.

You should have at least 3 main moments: 

Initial

Development

Closing 

6. Review the contents for the unit being planned and relate them to the different project stages.

7. Identify which contents are necessary for the initial, development and closing stages of the development of the product. 

Contents may be repeated

8. Answer the following four questions:

Is the relationship between the product and the specific competency clear?

Do the stages on your plan guarantee the elaboration of the product and the development of the specific competency?

Are the three types of content articulated in the different stages?

Will the achievements be reached with this plan?

9. Decide how long the development of the product will take. 

10. Assign times to each product stage

11. Choose one of the stages of the product development to be designed.

12. Brainstorm different activities (communicative situations) that could be carried out to work on this stage of the product. 

Write a list of possible activities.

13. Plan a Stage.

14. Consider the following elements and write them on a sheet of paper: 

Clarify the purpose of this stage.

Determine the logical sequence of activities and the time for it.

Identify assessment methods.

15. Determine the final activities in your classroom.


<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.taggify.net/va/view.ashx?key=3514d9b7ea094ff984ff544d524a63dd&country=&tzo=-7&chn=704&min_w=200&min_h=150&auto_tlt=EFEFEF&auto_txt=A2A2A2&auto_price=3399CC&auto_img_brd=D8D8D8&auto_bg=000000&auto_transp=85&auto_side=btm&cref=18,13,85,53,128,135,142,20,147&auto_ro=1&auto_show=1&no_roll=0&auto_types=inbar,indisp,cute&no_textify=0&txf_tlt=990000&txf_txt=000000&txf_price=336600&txf_bg=FFFFCC&txf_hl_txt=FFFF99&txf_hl_bg=CC0000&txf_max_i=10&txf_max_w=5" language="javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Teacher Christian P. Hndez.: Guidelines for new (and not so new) teachers Part ...

Teacher Christian P. Hndez.: Guidelines for new (and not so new) teachers Part ...: One of the most significant things you can do to affect student conduct is to establish effective daily events in your classroom. Doing s...





<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.taggify.net/va/view.ashx?key=3514d9b7ea094ff984ff544d524a63dd&country=&tzo=-7&chn=704&min_w=200&min_h=150&auto_tlt=EFEFEF&auto_txt=A2A2A2&auto_price=3399CC&auto_img_brd=D8D8D8&auto_bg=000000&auto_transp=85&auto_side=btm&cref=18,13,85,53,128,135,142,20,147&auto_ro=1&auto_show=1&no_roll=0&auto_types=inbar,indisp,cute&no_textify=0&txf_tlt=990000&txf_txt=000000&txf_price=336600&txf_bg=FFFFCC&txf_hl_txt=FFFF99&txf_hl_bg=CC0000&txf_max_i=10&txf_max_w=5" language="javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Six Tips for Brain-Based Learning | Edutopia

Excellent tips to take into consideration when preparing your classes!

Six Tips for Brain-Based Learning | Edutopia

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?176qqxirc1jrj77

Hello CELE Students, here you can find an excellent file with the 500 most common words in English, download and enjoy it! godspeed!

Flashcards, worksheets, wordcards and other excellent material!

In these websites you can find excellent material to use in your classes, from Preschool to Sixth grade! Enjoy!


http://flashcards.havefunteaching.com/
http://www.kidzpark.com/contents/flash_card_alphabets.asp
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/kplus_phonics.htm
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/activities.php?a=181
http://www.tlsbooks.com/
http://mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/worksheets.html
http://www.flashcardexchange.com/tag/ESL  (need to sign in)
http://www.flashcardexchange.com/tag/EFL  (need to sign in)
http://www.esl-kids.com/
http://www.eslflashcards.com/
http://www.kids-pages.com/flashcards.htm
http://www.mes-english.com/
http://www.english-4kids.com/flashcards.html
http://bogglesworldesl.com/cards.htm
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/
http://www.eslkidslab.com/index.html
http://www.esltower.com/index.html
http://learningenglish-esl.blogspot.com/
http://esl-library.com/flashcards.php
http://www.teachchildrenesl.com/flashcards.htm
http://www.esljunction.com/esl-efl-flashcards/esl-tefl-efl-flashcards.html
http://www.1-language.com/eslflashcards/index.htm

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.taggify.net/va/view.ashx?key=3514d9b7ea094ff984ff544d524a63dd&country=&tzo=-7&chn=704&min_w=200&min_h=150&auto_tlt=EFEFEF&auto_txt=A2A2A2&auto_price=3399CC&auto_img_brd=D8D8D8&auto_bg=000000&auto_transp=85&auto_side=btm&cref=18,13,85,53,128,135,142,20,147&auto_ro=1&auto_show=1&no_roll=0&auto_types=inbar,indisp,cute&no_textify=0&txf_tlt=990000&txf_txt=000000&txf_price=336600&txf_bg=FFFFCC&txf_hl_txt=FFFF99&txf_hl_bg=CC0000&txf_max_i=10&txf_max_w=5" language="javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Songs for Children

Delivered as promised, here you´ll find the songs that you´ll need!  Enjoy!
http://www.mediafire.com/?yxyeb39bvb62x

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.taggify.net/va/view.ashx?key=3514d9b7ea094ff984ff544d524a63dd&country=&tzo=-7&chn=704&min_w=200&min_h=150&auto_tlt=EFEFEF&auto_txt=A2A2A2&auto_price=3399CC&auto_img_brd=D8D8D8&auto_bg=000000&auto_transp=85&auto_side=btm&cref=18,13,85,53,128,135,142,20,147&auto_ro=1&auto_show=1&no_roll=0&auto_types=inbar,indisp,cute&no_textify=0&txf_tlt=990000&txf_txt=000000&txf_price=336600&txf_bg=FFFFCC&txf_hl_txt=FFFF99&txf_hl_bg=CC0000&txf_max_i=10&txf_max_w=5" language="javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Behavior Management

I want to share with you some behavior management strategies and techniques, put them to practice and hope they work for you!

Behavior management

For even the most experienced teacher using their favourite lesson, there are several factors they fear could mess up their well laid plans once they actually get in class. One is lack of knowledge about the class (especially new classes) which means they can’t predict very well what might happen. Another is that having mixed abilities in the class makes it impossible to predict when all the students will be able to use the language, possibly leading to boredom in some and frustration in others as you try to fit it all into the standard lesson time. This could be one reason for the third and possibly greatest fear - that bad behaviour by the students could mean there is no hope of getting through the lesson plan at all. This article aims to show you to some ways to predict, understand, reduce and react to bad behaviour in the class.

The signs of bad behaviour
As what is considered bad behaviour can vary a lot by age, culture, teacher, type of school etc., let’s first look at what you consider to be serious bad behaviour, not so serious and not bad at all. This will also help us decide what is appropriate to do when we decide how to deal with bad behaviour of those various levels.
Picture just one of the classes you teach every week and for that class mark the behaviour below with points from 5 (totally unacceptable, deserves serious punishment) down to 0 (not bad behaviour at all, maybe even a good thing).

List of ‘bad behaviour’                                                                            Points for seriousness (0 to 5)

• Laughing at inappropriate moments     
• Not standing up or sitting up straight     
• Adopting sullen, rebellious expressions     
• Practical jokes     
• Staring out of the window     
• Wearing inappropriate clothes or jewellery     
• Making noise with classroom objects, e.g. rocking chairs     
• Speaking L1 when they should be speaking English     
• Not following instructions     
• Speaking when they should be quiet     
• Making rude noises     
• Deliberately going slow     
• Refusing to do what the teacher asks     
• Doing the opposite of what the teacher asks     
• Culturally inappropriate or rude behaviour- e.g. picking their noses     
• Not listening     
• Cheating in games     
• Doodling in/ on their notebooks or textbooks     
• Not using polite language when they ask for things etc.     
• Not completing homework     
• Bad remarks, e.g. hurtful comments     
• Fighting     
• Cheating in tests     
• Bad words, e.g. swearing     
• Vandalism (or threats of) to school resources or other students’ possessions     
• Threats or violence to teacher or students     

The list above is in the order I would put the behaviour for a class of nine and ten year olds I have once a week in a private language school, but would be quite different for my home lessons, lessons in primary schools etc.
If you found the ranking task quite difficult, it was deliberately so - and is a true reflection on how difficult it can be to judge how bad something is in the class. First of all, are any of these ‘bad’ all the time? When you teach two year olds you soon realise that not joining in could be because of all sorts of reasons, and is rarely from a simple desire to make things difficult for people. Also, is the student who is defending him- or herself in a fight behaving badly? Are the students not following instructions because they simply don’t understand? Most of all, hurting someone deliberately is very different from doing so accidentally.

Dealing with bad behaviour
One solution to this inability to know for sure what is really bad is to make sure students (and their parents) know what you consider good and bad behaviour to be before the class even starts. Another is for the basic ‘punishments’ in your class to actually be things that you would do even if it wasn’t your fault or you didn’t mean to do it, e.g. say sorry, give a sweet from the teacher to the person who was hurt, same something nice, join the victim’s team etc. Of course, these might not make much difference to the child who is deliberately and maliciously misbehaving.Below is a list of some other ‘weapons’ that might be a bit more effective. Read through the list and mark each one for severity and effectiveness in your classes (1= not strict or effective, 5= very).

List of possible ‘punishments’                           Severity (1 to 5)         Effectiveness (1 to 5)

• Give them a disapproving look          
• Count down from 5, then punish if they don’t stop by that time          
• Take time off their time limit for the next round of the game          
• Take points off the team          
• Call out the name of the student misbehaving (most)          
• Divide students from their friends          
• Sit them elsewhere, e.g. boys next to girls or at the front          
• Disqualify their team from the game          
• Mime shooting the student/ wringing their neck etc. (comically)          
• Write down the student’s name (on the board or in a special book)          
• Leave them out of the next activity          
• Make them complete their homework while the others play a game          
• Give them written work while others are playing games          
• Give them something special to hold for speaking L1 etc. This is passed to next person when they are caught          
• Make them tidy up the classroom          
• Make them stand up when everyone else is sitting down          
• Make the student(s) stand in corner          
• Make them put faces on arms on desks and be quiet for 1 min          
• Stop the game half way through and start bookwork          
• Talk to them individually after the class          
• Put black marks on a special wall chart          
• Put a black mark on the student’s book          
• Make them stand up with hands on their head          
• Send them out of class for 5 minutes          
• Send them out for the rest of the class          
• Tell their home room teacher          
• Tell their parents          
• Put it on their report card/ permanent record          

The punishments are listed in ascending order of strictness for a class of seven year olds I taught twice a week in a private primary school in Bangkok, but judging effectiveness is perhaps easier. The biggest factor in making a punishment effective is how much it involves peer pressure - if you take points off their team, the team will soon make sure that it doesn’t happen again! Using team and other peer pressure doesn’t have to be just negative, as giving points can be at least as effective as taking them away. Here are some other ‘rewards’ you can use for behaviour management, to make a ‘carrot and stick’ approach when combined with the punishments above.

List of ‘rewards’
•    Give the teams not misbehaving extra points
•    Keep students in the same teams for several lessons and give a prize to the month’s winning team
•    Let students who finished the bookwork quickly join the next game as they finish
•    Put stickers on their written work for good work
•    Put stickers on a wall chart for good behaviour/ good work
•    Praise good work
•    Smile
•    Point out the best student or team
•    Give a round of applause
•    Use positive gestures - raised arms for victory, thumbs up etc.
•    Have class monitors and team captains
•    Have badges for the students with best pronunciation, spelling etc. each lesson
•    Have a favourite game to play as a reward for when the class is good
•    Give sweets or small toys
•    Write personal positive comments next to their written work

Again, it is difficult to decide which are the biggest and most effective rewards for each class, but it is important to have at least a vague mental ranking before you go into class. This is because of the most important of the top twelve behaviour management tips below - be consistent. More than anything else, if students start to think that you are showing favouritism or picking on one student or group of students, all your efforts at behaviour management are likely to come to nothing. Below are all the top twelve tips, in no particular order.


Top twelve behaviour management tips
1.    Be consistent
2.    Make sure students (and their parents) know what you consider good and bad behaviour to be
3.    Start from a blank slate
4.    Do yourself what you expect the students to do
5.    Teach good behaviour as a classroom topic
6.    Have a clear set of phrases and gestures for things you want them to do
7.    Play games where good behaviour results naturally in winning the game
8.    Be aware of energy and concentration levels
9.    Make sure the lesson is fun
10.    Bond
11.    Plan your classroom management
12.    Think about why they are misbehaving and change that

Make sure students (and their parents) know what you consider good and bad behaviour to be
There are many ways of achieving this, e.g. making a poster of class rules or a class contract, sending letters out to the parents etc.
Start from a blank slate
It needs to be possible for a student who has got into a pattern of bad behaviour to be able to start again from zero, e.g. only counting bad behaviour in the present class and trying to forget all preconceptions from previous classes, wiping points boards clean once a month etc.
Do yourself what you expect the students to do
If you don’t expect the students to shout, don’t shout to get their attention. If they aren’t allowed to use L1, don’t resort to it yourself however difficult something is to explain. If you expect them to say ‘please’, do the same yourself.
Teach good behaviour as a classroom topic
Lots of the language and topics of bad and good behaviour can be fun and useful in class, from story books about kids who wouldn’t go to bed to games where all the class mime bad behaviour with their fingers or finger puppets and the nominated ‘teacher’ has to tell them, ‘Don’t…’ to stop them all within a time limit.
Have a clear set of phrases and gestures for things you want them to do
For example, putting your finger on your lips for ‘be quiet’ and your hand behind your ear for ‘please speak’. If these are gestures that are used outside the students’ country, all the better. Again, bring this into class as a classroom activity/ game/ topic and be consistent with the gestures you use. Planning the gestures you will use before each class can also be useful.
Play games where good behaviour results naturally in winning the game
If you have a class that never listens, play a game where you whisper some of the words they need to react to. If they are too active, play a standing still game like ‘dead lions’ or ‘musical statues’. In both cases, they will also need a chance afterwards to use their natural noise and energy levels.
Be aware of their energy and concentration levels
However well you use the classroom management skills above, if your class can only usually concentrate for five minutes on one thing, there is little you can do to stretch that past tenminutes. If it’s not working, switch activities and maybe go back to it later. As you get to know a class well, you will be able to sense when they need an active physical activity to tire them out and when they need a quiet sitting down one to cool them down. Timing the bookwork so they are not restless but not too tired is also important.
Make sure the lesson is fun
Easier said than done, I know. Have a look at the Games section for some ideas.
Bond
If the students like, care about and are interested in you and the other students, and feel that you and the other students feel the same way, this is sure to stop them doing something that would disappoint the class. You can form a close connection to your students by learning and using their names and other personal information in class, e.g. their hobbies, birthdays and families. Friendly nicknames can also sometimes help. The students can bond with each other during activities where they work in teams and groups, both cooperatively and against other teams. Having activities where they give and ask for real personal information such as likes and dislikes is also useful, as is giving each student a chance to show off their particular skill in English class - be it music, drawing, football skills or using a yo-yo.
Plan your classroom management
All the things above could be brought into the lesson spontaneously, but are much easier to include if they are in your lesson plan. Having a lesson plan with flexible timings and ordering of activities helps. If classroom management is something you particularly want to work on, try having specific spaces on your lesson plan with this in mind. Examples include ‘classroom language’ that you want to include and/ or teach that day, a ‘seating plan’ to put particular people in particular places, ‘energy burner’ games, ‘cooling down’ activities and ‘reward games’.
Think about why they are misbehaving and change that
The one and only negative thing about having full command of the range of techniques above is that you might be managing the class so well that you are missing a much easier way of getting to the root of the matter. Often simply moving their chairs, turning on more lights and turning down the heating can make a huge difference. Below are some more reasons that should be possible to solve.

Reasons for bad behaviour

Physical and environmental
•    The classroom is too hot or dark (brighter and colder than a normal home helps concentration and learning)
•    Nothing in the classroom marks out where they should be, so they move around a lot.
•    They can’t move and feel restricted
•    People are too close to each other and feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable.
•    They can’t see the board, flashcards etc.
Expectations
•    The students don’t get what they expect in class
•    The students expect the class to be boring or a waste of time, and act accordingly without giving it a chance
Problems from outside the class
•    Diet, e.g. additives in drinks and sweets
•    The lesson before and after, e.g. sports that got them over excited or tired or a test
Personalities
•    Showing off to impress other students
•    It isn’t cool to be good at school
•    Personality clashes between teacher and student(s) or between students
•    They have personal or cultural reasons for reacting badly to one type of teacher, e.g. a female teacher
Understanding
•    What they should be doing isn’t clear
•    They can’t understand the rules of the game
•    They don’t understand why they are playing the game or learning that particular language
Level
•    The task/ language is too difficult/ easy
•    They feel like they have been put in the wrong level class and are resentful or nervous
Energy levels
•    They are over-excited
•    They have too much energy and need to burn it off
•    They are physically and/ or mentally tired
Motivation
•    They have personal or cultural reasons for not liking the English language
•    They are demotivated by losing games all the time
•    They are demotivated by past failure in language classes

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.taggify.net/va/view.ashx?key=3514d9b7ea094ff984ff544d524a63dd&country=&tzo=-7&chn=704&min_w=200&min_h=150&auto_tlt=EFEFEF&auto_txt=A2A2A2&auto_price=3399CC&auto_img_brd=D8D8D8&auto_bg=000000&auto_transp=85&auto_side=btm&cref=18,13,85,53,128,135,142,20,147&auto_ro=1&auto_show=1&no_roll=0&auto_types=inbar,indisp,cute&no_textify=0&txf_tlt=990000&txf_txt=000000&txf_price=336600&txf_bg=FFFFCC&txf_hl_txt=FFFF99&txf_hl_bg=CC0000&txf_max_i=10&txf_max_w=5" language="javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>