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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?
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Fun Activities for very young learners By Miriam D’Amico
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 brainstormingOrdering and sorting Matching Learning from exposure Problem solving Sharing personal experiences and storytelling Comparing: finding similarities and differences
Sharing personal experiences
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.
How to plan the activities: Stirrers and Settlers for the Primary Classroom • Teachers need to take many factors into consideration • when planning • a balanced primary lesson • and it is important to plan varied lessons. • Different kinds of activities to practice the different skills • need to be balanced against each other. • 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.
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
Songs and problem solving