Please see our updated 2015 post here: http://blog.sproutenglish.com/christmas-word-puzzles-pronunciation-spelling-vocabulary/

With all the snow and ice at this time of year in many countries around the world, it’s a good time to discuss accidents and injuries! Our new Word Bank lesson has enough variety and repetition to ensure your young learners master this set of terms for common injuries.

Our Injuries vocabulary lesson includes a colorful picture dictionary, matchup, word choice, word search, word scramble, and spelling bee. This lesson will also teach students when an injury needs a reflexive pronoun (e.g., He cut himself). Discussion questions at the end allow your learners to practice the new vocabulary in context. (more…)

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…)

Updated for 2015. Please use this link to find out about this lesson: http://blog.sproutenglish.com/thanksgiving-vocabulary-lesson-3/

Please see our updated lesson description for 2015.

Halloween takes place on October 31. Will your students be dressing up for the occasion? Do they know how to respond to the standard question that people are asking kids at this time of year?

“What are you going to be for Halloween?”

Talking about Halloween costumes before the big day is useful for practicing “going to” to make simple future plans.

Listening Activity (more…)

If you live in a country that celebrates Halloween, you’ll soon be surrounded by little witches, zombies, and pirates! With the focus on costumes and candy, it’s a given that kids love Halloween. Teachers can make the most of this time of year by decorating their classrooms, putting on a costume parade, and having pumpkin-carving contests. There are many ways to make Halloween educational as well. Read on for many spooky ideas! (more…)

Please see our updated post from 2015: http://bit.ly/Halloween-Vocab-for-Kids

Time flies when you’re having fun! When you enjoy blogging about grammar, teaching, and the English language as much as I do, a year of weekly blog posts goes by just like that! Our goal at Sprout English has always been to provide quality educational materials to English teachers and students, and my personal wish is that teachers and students will continue to learn from and use our free blog materials. We love helping young learners grow their English skills!

I thought it would be helpful to organize all the articles I’ve written so far into a list that’s easily accessible. (Some articles are included twice if they belong to more than one category.) I hope you find this resource list useful! (more…)

Our theme of the week on Sprout English is The Face! If you teach absolute beginners or very young children, these are probably some of the first vocabulary words they learn in English. Do your older or more advanced students know how to make sentences with these words? Do they know some of the adjectives that go with face nouns? Our resource pack offers everything you need to introduce and expand on this vocabulary.

Word Bank Lesson Plan: The Face
Describing the Face: Adjectives and Sentence Patterns
Draw My Face: Listening Activity (below) (more…)