10 Educational Songs and Videos for Teaching Kids about Food

Posted by on Feb 06, 2014 3 Comments

This week’s Spotlight feature is from our Discovery Center, and it’s all about Food Allergies. Are you doing a unit on Food in your classroom this year? You’ll probably want to teach your students some songs to help them learn all of the basic vocabulary. I’m sure you’ll also read some stories and play some games. Here are some fun and educational videos you may want to use during your unit on Food.

1. Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream? (song)

Introduce how to express food preferences.
Do you like…? Yes I do. No I don’t.
(more…)

Count & Non-Count Nouns

Posted by on Feb 04, 2014 7 Comments

One of our subscribers recently asked me to blog about count and non-count nouns, and with our lesson of the week on food, I figured it was the perfect time to do so! Lower-level students need to learn about the differences in nouns fairly early on so that they can use plural forms and articles correctly. Non-count nouns aren’t so difficult for students if you present them in a certain way. Try the method below, and count on a good result!

1. WHAT ARE COUNT NOUNS?

In English, most nouns are count nouns (also known as countable nouns). They have this name because they can be counted. You can say one apple, two apples, three apples, etc. (more…)

Using Authentic Dialogues in the Classroom – An Interview with Sprout’s Editor

Posted by on Jan 30, 2014 0 Comments

This week’s Spotlight features a lesson plan from our Conversation Station. This section is full of dialogues for English language learners to read, listen to, and practice.

It is useful for learners to practice conversations using ready-made dialogues, and it’s also useful to use authentic dialogues once in while. You can invite speakers into your classroom, or find authentic dialogues on podcasts and videos. We had our own dialogue at Red River Press this week, and we thought students and teachers might find a few different uses for it. Be sure to download the useful document that we are talking about!

What follows is a conversation I had with Red River Press’s editor, Tanya Trusler. You can play this listening file for your class, and see if they can understand the gist.

Possible Follow-up Questions (more…)

Talking to Kids about Jobs

Posted by on Jan 23, 2014 4 Comments

“When students say they want to change the world, listen.” ~ Angela Maeirs

Are you doing a unit on Jobs this year in your classroom? Will you be asking your students to talk to you about what they want “to be” when they grow up? What can you as a teacher (or parent) do to support your students’ goals and dreams? Is it your job to encourage kids to have something to “fall back on”, or should you be doing everything in your power to support kids’ passions no matter how wild and wacky their ideas may be?

Here is a video (below) and an article that may help you rethink how you talk to kids about jobs and careers. And check out this TED Talk about fostering creative confidence. (more…)

Comparative Adjectives

Posted by on Jan 21, 2014 0 Comments

In English, adjectives are used for many reasons, such as describing nouns and telling others how we’re feeling. Comparative adjectives are used to compare two nouns. There are a lot of fun ways to practice these types of adjectives with young learners, but first, a grammar review may be in order!

Download Comparative Adjectives Chart PDF

(more…)

Practicing Superlatives During the Olympics

Posted by on Jan 16, 2014 5 Comments

Who’s the Best?

The Winter Olympics is coming up in Sochi, Russia (Feb 7–23). Are you prepared to be inspired? My own kids always end up competing more when the Olympics is on. They want to jump the highest, sing the loudest, skate the fastest, and stay up the latest. There are usually several different venues at our house. (Paper snowboarding, anyone?) Does this happen in your classroom? Don’t be surprised if the Olympics inspires your students to aim a little higher! (Who sharpened their pencil the longest?)

Reviewing Superlatives

With the Olympics only a few weeks away, it’s the perfect time of year to practice superlatives with your students. It is also a fantastic time to try this week’s Spotlight lesson plan, Achievements and Records. In this lesson, students practice using the simple past tense in conjunction with superlative adjectives. After you’ve tried this lesson plan (or if you’ve recently introduced superlative adjectives with Tanya’s handy chart), try this fun review activity, and consider holding a “superlative-inspired” Student Olympics at your school.

First, brainstorm all of the Winter Olympic sports. Here is the full list in case your students miss any: (more…)

Eye Idioms Poster

Posted by on Jan 15, 2014 0 Comments

“The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye
  The story of love is hello, goodbye.”
  —Jimi Hendrix

Did you know that January is Eye Care Awareness Month? It’s the perfect time to teach eye idioms to your young learners! Students love learning idioms because they’re often funny, and they are so prevalent in English, especially in movies and on TV. But idioms can be challenging to remember, so visuals like this poster are very helpful! Our new designer Robyn has created a free poster of Eye Idioms for you to use in your classroom. Download the full-size PDF version by clicking on the image or link below.

Download the large-size printable Eye Idioms PDF (more…)

Superlative Adjectives

Posted by on Jan 14, 2014 0 Comments

Adjectives describe people, places, and things in English. What happens when we want to compare a lot of nouns at once? We use superlative adjectives! If you tried or will try our lesson of the week, Achievements & Records, then you might want to review superlative adjectives with your students. These adjectives are very common when deciding who is the best at a certain activity!

Download Superlative Adjectives Chart PDF
 (more…)

Guess Whose Goals ~ Future Tense Game

Posted by on Jan 09, 2014 0 Comments

Spotlight Spin-Off

Have you tried Sprout English’s Spotlight lesson this week? In this week’s featured lesson, Andy sets three goals for the future. The new year is the perfect time for practicing the future tense. Play this future tense guessing game after trying this week’s lesson with your students.

1. Reread the story “Andy” from Sprout English’s Library.
2. Review the use and structure of “be going to” + base verb.
3. Have each student take out a pen and a scrap piece of paper.
4. Tell each student to write out three goals for 2014. They should follow the same format as Andy for expressing their future goals (be going to + base verb):

First, I’m going to learn Italian. After that, I’m going to make Italian friends! Finally, I’m going to find an Italian girlfriend!

(more…)