Question Intonation – Yes/No & Wh-Questions

Posted by on Dec 03, 2013 2 Comments

For many learners of another language, speaking is the scariest skill. After all, speaking is when you have to produce language in the least amount of time, and the listeners are there to form instant opinions of your ability—at least, that’s what it feels like to many! But never fear, practice makes perfect! As teachers, we can also help our students feel more confident about their speaking ability by teaching them pronunciation and intonation rules. What better place to start than with question intonation?

Most languages have only one type of question intonation: rising. English, on the other hand, has two types of question intonation: rising and falling. Fortunately, the question intonation patterns of English follow set rules—it depends if the question is a yes/no question (rising) or wh-question (falling).

The easiest way for students to pick up the intonation of a language is by modelling fluent speakers. Play the audio clips below for both types of questions, or read the questions out loud yourself, and have your students repeat the questions back.

I. YES/NO QUESTIONS:

In English, yes/no questions start with an auxiliary verb (do, be, have, or a modal such as can, should, will, etc.).

Intonation for Yes/No questions is rising. This means your voice will go up at the end of the question.

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Thanksgiving Activity – Count Your Blessings

Posted by on Nov 27, 2013 1 Comment

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” —W. T. Purkiser

Thanksgiving is a time to express gratitude for family, friends, food, warmth, clothing, and other wonderful things and memories. This week, teach your students the expression “count your blessings”. Then try this fun pre- or post-Thanksgiving activity to practice vocabulary and counting in English!

count your blessings: to concentrate on the good things in your life

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5 Activities for Teaching & Reviewing Vocabulary

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 0 Comments

What do your students think of when they hear the word “vocabulary”? Do they think of boring repetition and memorization? Do they think it’s the most difficult part of learning English? If so, it’s time to change their attitudes! Learning vocabulary can be fun when teachers present it in interesting ways. It’s also a lot easier to remember new words with frequent repetition, so try reviewing vocab using a variety of activities to keep students engaged. The activities suggested below are always a big hit with my students!

Teaching Vocabulary

1. Vocab on the Board:

Introduce new vocabulary with this competitive activity that is sure to grab and keep the attention of your young learners. This is a game you can play with the whole class. (more…)

Zero Prep Simple Past Warm-Up – Remembering Yesterday

Posted by on Nov 21, 2013 4 Comments

This week on Sprout English, students are practicing the simple past tense. Here is a warm-up you can try with your students after you’ve introduced the simple past. This activity requires zero preparation and is great for practicing irregular verbs. It is also useful for practicing question formation. All you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a small container. It might get loud!

Remembering Yesterday (more…)

25+ Apps and Tools to Create Colorful Learning Experiences for Children

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 9 Comments

“Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.”  ~ Al Hirschfeld

When I first began teaching children, I rarely used coloring activities, because some parents and teachers do not think it is a valuable way to learn a language. However, children love to color and draw. Throughout the years, I have found it to be a valuable teaching technique with many benefits. Children develop motor skills and learn about patterns, symmetry, etc. Coloring also helps children imagine and visualize a context for new vocabulary. Additionally, coloring helps teachers manage classroom behavior. Children need sit down and rest activities after a game or dancing and coloring activities are perfect to create a balance. Below are a few free tools and ideas to make sure your coloring activities provide meaningful language learning.  (more…)

Teaching the Simple Past

Posted by on Nov 19, 2013 5 Comments

The simple past is a verb tense that students are introduced to fairly early on. It usually follows the simple present and the present progressive. It’s pretty hard to have a conversation in English without using the past tense. From sentences like “What did you do last weekend?” to “Did you watch that show last night?”, the simple past is essential to speaking as well as reading, writing, and listening. Try presenting the simple past to your young learners using the tried-and-true method below, which includes explaining the form and use, listing the time markers, giving examples, and using interesting lessons and fun activities to practice this common verb tense. There’s also a handy list of common irregular verbs at the end! 

FORM:

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8 Fun and Interactive Ways to Review Idioms

Posted by on Nov 14, 2013 1 Comment

There’s no escaping idioms! Whether you love them or hate them, your students need to know them. Of course, it’s more important to teach idioms that are in common usage. If you come across outdated idioms in your teaching materials, be sure to tell your students to avoid using these expressions. Some students fall in love with idioms, and end up overusing them in their writing. Teach your students that idioms are great to know, but should be used sparingly. Too many idioms can drive people bonkers!

In Sprout’s Spotlight this week you’ll find a fun lesson plan about Astronauts. To keep on theme, here are 10 air and space-themed idioms that you can teach your students, followed by 8 fun and interactive ways to review idioms. (more…)

American Vs. British Spelling

Posted by on Nov 12, 2013 4 Comments

How many words are there in the English language? Global Language Monitor estimated that number was 1,013,913 on January 1, 2012. Most dictionaries list the number of current words at around 150,000. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary has entries for 171,476 words in current use.

English spelling: The number of words notwithstanding, spelling in English is a lot more difficult than in other languages. Many languages have a limited number of sounds; for instance, a, e, i, o, and u only have one pronunciation each in many languages. English, however, has 26 vowel sounds alone! Outside of vowel sounds, many English words have spelling that doesn’t match the pronunciation, with words such as knight, cough, phone, etc. Also, there aren’t many rules for English spelling, and the few rules we do have are often broken (consider the i before e, except after c rule: chief, but their).

American vs. British spelling: To top it all off, there are also spelling variations that differ by region of the world. The most prevalent difference is American spelling vs. the spelling of other English-speaking countries, which primarily follow British spelling practices. These differences can be frustrating for teachers and students (not to mention business owners, government workers, and many others.). At my old school in Canada, we used textbooks from both the US and the UK, so students were exposed to both American and British spelling on a regular basis. Figuring out how to present these spelling differences to students was a challenge. (more…)

Visualizing the Present Progressive Tense

Posted by on Nov 07, 2013 0 Comments

Are your students learning the present progressive tense for the first time? Have you explained the difference between the simple present and the present progressive? If yes, then they know that one use of the present progressive is to describe temporary actions that are happening right now.

After you’ve introduced a specific use of a verb tense, it really helps to get the grammar off the paper. Help your students learn a specific use of the present progressive tense by getting them to visualize it. Keep in mind that this is how native English babies learn the present progressive. They see something happening, and their parent or caregiver points and says, “What’s Daddy doing?” or “What’s Daddy eating?“. At first, the child might respond with the word “apple”. The parent probably praises the child, saying, “You’re right! Daddy is eating an apple.” Eventually, the child will respond in a full sentence using the present progressive.

Here are three activities for getting your students to visualize the present progressive tense:   (more…)

Introducing Sprout English – Video

Posted by on Nov 06, 2013 0 Comments

Even though Tara Benwell and I work far across the country from each other (she’s in Ontario and I’m in BC), we got to meet up recently when she came out to visit family and friends. We decided to make a video introducing Sprout English, a site full of resources for teaching English to young learners.

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