A pre-A1 lesson

How does a teacher prepare his lessons? He studies, ponders, creates, analyzes, and applies. After it, sometimes he will smile and other times he will cry. – Sue A. Viana

On this post today I wanted to share a lesson prepared for a pre-A1 student. The theme of the lesson was introductions and greetings. The teaching target was pronunciation and spelling of names, forms of greetings, introducing oneself and the alphabet. I am not sharing all the lessons, just the first slides of some. It will let you know what a first pre-A1 (7-14 years old) class with me may be like.

These are photos of some animated slides. They originally have audio and video.

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The names I picked from Pre A1 starters test material shared by Cambridge assessment English

The video used here is the one about introductions and greetings from English Singsing and I use it for kids up to 10 years old.

That is it. Thank you for sharing this space with me. Readers are also writers. Let me know what you think and how you would make it better.

Sue

Teaching kids

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Teaching kids is a professional task that should be carefully and seriously prepared. Kids are fun but they are also very challenging in a sense that they are delicate and surprising. Here are 5 important things to consider when you teach kids.

Attention

Are you attentive enough to their signs? Kids communicate with their eyes and actions much more than we may think. So when you step into any place to teach no matter how many kids: pay attention! Pay attention to what they are doing, saying, or to what they are not doing or not saying. Just look at their eyes and let them notice that you care.

Affection

Kids learn better from people they like. They will love you if they feel you can treat them well; if you are loyal to your principals; if you are consistent with your actions; if your no means no and your yes means yes; if you play and laugh with them.

Variety

You can teach kids if you have a variety of ways to offer them opportunities to learn. kids need routine, it is a fact, but they hate repetitive uninteresting learning. They need to be exposed to the same thing in many different ways. If they are to learn how to say goodbye in English, do not pass the whole class trying the same song or the same game.

Time

Time is crucial to teach kids. This is very connected to the item above. Variation and time are best friends. Depending on their ages, kids will need more or less time in an activity. Of course, it also depends on their interest in the activity proposed, but most of the time 3 to 5 minutes in the same activity is enough for kids up to 6.

Family

Kids have families who love (or at least should love) them. This is why you have probably received those kids. Families care about their kids. They did not decide to put their kids to learn something with you just because they wanted free time. It is most probably because they want their kids to be happier, to have better opportunities to grow and become great adults; their kids are their most precious treasure. Connect with their families. Respect their culture and decisions and show them that you know what you are doing and that what you are doing is good for their kids.

Sue