Love stories are a lot of fun when they involve people you know. This month, ask your students to interview a couple that they know. They should interview one person at a time using the same four questions (provided below). After the interview, they can practice using the simple past tense to retell the love story to their classmates. Which couple had the best love story?
Tell your students to choose a couple that they know. Here are some ideas: (more…)
Sprout English’s featured lesson this week is a writing activity called The Party. Do you have parties at your school to celebrate special occasions like birthdays? Here are two fun ideas for celebrating birthdays in the classroom.
Print this Birthday Book template. You’ll need one cover page and as many filler pages as you have students.
A few days before a child’s birthday, send a blank birthday page home for the birthday boy or girl to fill out. Your student can fill in the blanks and draw or paste photos in the boxes. The first box is for a baby photo and the second box is for a picture of the student at his or her current age. (more…)
When it comes to learning about time and clocks, teachers can teach the basics in the classroom. However, the best way for kids to really practice is at home or when they’re on the go in the real world. Involve your kids whenever you’re consulting a clock and they will quickly learn to tell time naturally.
If English is your second language, make sure that you are saying times correctly. Review Tanya’s pronunciation tips, and practice the dialogues below.
Here are 10 ideas for practicing telling time at home. Each idea comes with a model dialogue with useful vocabulary and phrases for ESL parents. (more…)
In the Spotlight this week, we’re featuring a lesson on bullying from our Grammar School section. The subject of bullying is extremely important these days, especially now that kids have to deal with a new form of bullying: cyberbullying. After you try our featured lesson Being Brave: Gerunds and Infinitives and review these important rules about gerunds and infinitives, try the following activity.
First, make sure your students understand what bullying really is. Many kids don’t realize that their mean behavior toward others can be classified as bullying. For example, my son and his friend were chanting “Do it! Do it! Do it!” to a neighborhood boy recently when he didn’t want to jump out of a tree in our park. When I told them that ganging up on the boy and chanting was a form of bullying, they felt terrible, and promised to never use that chant again. They’ve learned all about bullying at school, and never imagined themselves as bullies.
While a bully is someone who hurts someone intentionally and repeatedly, bullying can happen quite innocently on the playground or when kids get together for a party or event. Kids may need to be reminded that bullying can be verbal as well as physical.
Ask your students to help you define the word bully. Here is a definition in easy English:
A bully is a person who acts in a mean way towards another person. The bully scares, threatens, or hurts the other person. Bullies aren’t always bigger or stronger than their victims. A bully may use his or her age, strength, social status, or intelligence to make another person feel weaker. A bully isn’t always a kid. Adults are sometimes bullies to each other or to kids. Bullies don’t always work alone.
Remind your kids that they should report bullies to teachers or parents. Here is a little checklist they can review.
Is he trying to hurt another person physically? (more…)
What are you going to do for New Year’s Eve? Are you going to go to a party? What are you going to wear? I’m going to hang out with my family and my best friend. We’re going to stay home in our pyjamas and play games (probably some Heads Up!). It’s going to be so relaxing and fun!
January is the perfect time of year to practice using “be going to.” Try this week’s Spotlight lesson and help your students learn how to express future plans in English. Then try this fun pair activity in class. (more…)
Are your little English learners crazy about the movie Frozen? If you teach children or have children, the hit song Do you want to build a snowman? is probably stuck in your head. We’re having some fun with Christmas puzzles and games this week on Sprout English. Here’s a fun way to turn your students’ obsession with Frozen into a vocabulary game!
1. Tell your students they are going to pretend to be elves. The elves are going to build some toys. (more…)
Have you ever watched America’s Funniest Videos with children? Little people laugh the hardest when other kids have funny accidents. After they laugh themselves silly, kids often want to make sure the people in the video are okay! Did he hurt himself?
Funny videos can be used for practicing vocabulary and usage related to Injuries, Sprout’s Spotlight theme this week. If you want to try teaching with this theme, follow these 3 steps: (more…)
I’ll never forget the day my son came home and told me all about how evil the letter ‘e’ can be. He taught me that the letter ‘e’ sometimes goes at the end of words and makes the vowels say their names. How rude! While I remember learning about Silent ‘e’ (worked for me), I’ve since learned that there are many other names for this trickster of a letter, including Evil E and Bossy E.
Are you using Sprout English’s Spotlight Phonics lesson in class this week? Have you reviewed Tanya’s pronunciation tips? Here are some fun songs and stories to share with your learners to get these rules to stick!
“Say it Vowel! Say your name!”
Young kids act out a funny play with letters and demonstrate how ‘e’ hops over other letters and makes the vowel in front say its name. Evil E is bit of a bully, isn’t he?
When I was a child, I had two important jobs before a family feast like Thanksgiving. The first job was to help make the stuffing. The second was to set the table. I’ve passed these holiday feast duties on to my own kids, and I hope they will do the same.
Setting the table before a feast can be a lot of fun if you’re bringing out “the good dishes.” We use my mom’s silverware, which is kept in a special case lined with red velvet. It’s the same silverware I set the table with as a child, so it’s even more meaningful when I see my own kids marveling over the butter knives.
Have you thought about teaching your students how to set the table in English? Thanksgiving is the perfect time to teach vocabulary related to the dinner table. Bring in a few real items from home, or ask a few of your students to bring in a piece from home, such as a spoon, a cup, or a dinner napkin. (more…)
For a bedtime story last night, my son chose a book that he had picked out at the library: The Natural History Museum Book of Animal Records by Mark Carwardine. We were proud to find out that we knew quite a few animal records already, such as the longest migration for a mammal (gray whale), or the most dangerous shark to humans (bull shark). We laughed ourselves silly in the Birds section, where we found records for the worst walker (hummingbird), the most bossy (kea), and even the strangest nesting material (mockingbirds in Ecuador snatch hair from passing tourists).
If your students are practicing superlatives with this week’s lesson plan, why not create your own Animal Records book? Include the most amazing facts you can find in the library or on the Internet. (more…)
