Favorite YL Activities
3 simple activities. 3 best videos for teaching young learners.
I began my teaching career as a grade 4 ESL teacher and now I’m ending my career teaching young learners. It’s a nice circle! Here is a picture one student left me! It’s a strong example of interlanguage at work.
When I’m with “kids”, I just feel a very true, spontaneous, beautiful swell of energy. I’m touching something elemental, in the presence of their potential, their creativity, their happiness (mostly) and responsiveness to learning. It’s both a joy and a responsibility.
English language learning activities for children don’t need to be hugely prepared, complex lesson plans. They can be super simple and still done purposefully and with sound language learning objectives and outcomes. The activities need to be “right” for young learners. Non-abstract, concrete, student-centered, nimble but with structure and routine.
Download the full infographic »> See our other posts on this topic. Here and here.
Here are a few of the activities I’ve been doing with my young learner classes. They are super simple and they are a lot of fun! Of course too, highly recommend mini-whiteboards with this age group!
3 Favorite Young Learner Language Activities
Show & Tell. Still a classic and go to for YL classes. Students bring in an item they value and talk about it. Answer questions about it. It could be a toy, a piece of clothing, an award, a picture - almost anything. I’ve even brought in my dog to model the activity with students (of course, ask permission and with due diligence).
I Can See. Children love to draw! This simple activity activates vocabulary and explores the “draw of drawing”. First, model the activity with the board. Draw some clouds and label them with “cloud” and then ask students “What do you see?” Students might say birds, trees, mountains etc … draw them and keep labeling, drawing and asking. Next, give students a mini-whiteboard or a blank piece of paper and then do the same - together. Keep asking different students what they see and keep adding it to the pictures. Finally, show-off the pictures, maybe even color them!
The Memory Game. Another vocabulary game. Start with a simple sentence, write it on the board, “I went shopping and I bought ….”. Finish the sentence then ask the next student what they bought. They should repeat the sentence you said and then add what they bought. Example. “I went shopping and I bought some apples and a pencil case.” Continue with the next student - can students say the full sentence, remembering everything that was bought?
3 Favorite Young Learner Videos
Videos are great to use in class with kids. Students enjoy them and learn a lot of language as they do so. Here are my favorite videos to use in class with children.
The Elephant Song. All about animals, adorable. A father and daughter talk about animals they love but the father keeps making mistakes and the daughter keeps correcting him. After students know the song well - get them to make their own verses! “Wolves, I love wolves. I love how they purr and purr and say meow!” “No. No. No. That’s cats!”
2.My Mom. My Dad. Two story books that hit home on all levels. Students enjoy reading them and then writing their own books about their moms and dads.
3. Sean - The Eyebrow Story. Read the story and as you go, pause the video. Ask students to predict what will happen next. Continue on. It’s a wonderful story that they’ll never forget!
Enjoy teaching young learners - it’s never a dull moment and you are doing the most important job of all!
