Halloween (31st of October)!!!

If you are stuck for lesson ideas for the first week back after the autumn holiday, why not do a 'ghouly' Halloween lesson?
I have justed added a lesson plan for groups 7 and 8 where they have to concoct a magic potion, including some gruesome and disgusting ingredients such as toad warts, phoenix feathers and maybe the tail of a rat!

Groups 1 and 2 can make a silly pumpkin with maybe three noses and only one eye! Groups 4 & 5 might like to design their own Halloween costume and for groups 5 and 6 there are some board games and a variation to 'Battle Ships' called 'Battle Brooms'.

Also check out the following links:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/fun-games/haunted-house
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-magic-spell
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/word-games/paint-it/magic-spell

http://www.dreamenglish.com/halloween
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/integrated-skills/themed-resources/halloween-resources/

First set of materials have been uploaded to the AT Scholen portal!

Finally I have been able to upload the first few letters of the alphabet onto the new Sharepoint portal. You will find the materials by navigating to the 'Early English Topics!' via 'Organisatie', then 'ATI', then scroll to the bottom and you will find 'Early English Topics!'.

I would very much appreciate your comments and input on this new site. Do you find it easy to find the materials you need and is it easy to navigate around the site?
I am sure that 'teething problems' (kinderziektes) can still be sorted out at this point.

I am hoping to have all documents uploaded to the portal by the end of November!

Kinderboekenweek 2013 - Sports

In the absence of our Early English site I have placed some of the Sports materials on this blog for the upcoming Kinderboekenweek. I will see if I have more materials to post as the ones I have put on are mainly activities for the higher groups. 

Sports; Can and Can't    for 6 & 7
Conversation cards for discussing sports    for 7 & 8
Sports; Do, play and Go   for 6-8
Sports; Do, play and Go, powerpoint    for 6-8
Sport picto's   for 5-8
Q & A about sports   for 7 & 8
Sports; he/she/we   for 6-8
Likes and dislikes; labels   for 6-8
Likes and dislikes; figures  for 6-8
Worksheet;Sentences for making a mini-book or just worksheet  6-8
Sports; 'Can' - Zig-zag book    for 4-5

Encryption added to Early English Curriculum and Framework

In order to download the Early English Curriculum and Framework you are required to enter a password as they have been encrypted with a special code.

You can obtain the password by sending an email to i.gill@atscholen.nl.

Early English website off line (thanks hackers!)

The Early English website is currently unavailable thanks to a cyber attack in the last week before the summer holidays. This means that none of the resources and materials are available at the moment. The people from systeembeheer are working on it so as soon as we are back in business I will let you know via this blog.

I am in the process of adding at least the curriculum units for all groups to this blog (see the top tabs).

Fingers crossed!

Welcome back!

I hope everyone is ready for a new and exciting school year! 
I always think that summer is over once the schools have started again, but as we had an early summer break luckily there is quite a bit of summer left (weather permitting of course). This also means that a lot of the English lessons can still take place outside. With class sizes getting bigger and bigger and room to manoeuvre for interactive activities is becoming problematic, the great outdoors (with that I mean the playground) is the perfect place for 'getting to know you' games and other running around games.

So, why not take your class outside for their first English lesson?

Summer is Coming! - Playground Games and Activities

Playground GamesPhysical Activit

Mother's Day

And so we roll on from Easter towards Mother's Day, with some Koninginnedag (last year!) in between.

It's a shame that Mother's Day this year is in the May holiday and that we didn't manage to plan an English activity/lesson. Saying that, some of you might have organised something yourself, like the Titus Brandsmaschool in Hilversum. There, in group 1, Ans has written a short rhyme for the children to recite on Mother's Day. She has asked all the fathers to keep practising during the holidays so it will be perfect on the day! (get a tissue ready, mums!)

Although Ans was a bit worried that she had bitten off more than she could chew, she stuck with it and suddenly the children made a click with the rhyme.
This morning I went in to see the progress for myself and was lucky to have the chance to film one of the children. I just had to share this with you all.

Easter materials have been added to the Early English site

I have added a number of Easter materials and resources to the website ranging from group 1 to group 8.

I also bought two really cute Easter bunnies from Blokker yesterday. You can squeeze the tummy and it will sing the first two lines of 'Peter Cottontail'! If you want a chick instead, it also sings the same song. And that for a mere 3,99 euros! I am normally not too keen on singing stuffed toys, but as it's only for one or two lessons I think I will survive. Enjoy!

Is Twitter the next step for Early English?

I would like to know if people are interested in using Twitter as a form of CPD (professional development). To find out what this means and what it could mean for you, please read the article that was published in the Guardian (click here to go to the article).
I am very much interested in your opinion!

Games, Games, Games

 It was like Christmas at the office yesterday! 7 big boxes from Amazon had arrived with games for the schools. And I am still expecting more boxes!

Obviously I had a little peek in some of the games and they look like real fun. I hope the children are going to enjoy playing them (and speak a lot of English in the process).

We also had a delivery of 'IPC' books for the Paulusschool. They also look fantastic. It's a mix of Fiction and Non-Fiction around topics such as 'Homes', 'Seaside', 'Rainforest', 'Famous people from the past', etc.

Exam practice

For those teachers who would like to start preparing themselves for the Cambridge exam, click here to go to the Cambridge English website.
This is a help centre for preparing students for all the Cambridge Exams, and includes free sample papers for you to download. 

Sentence of the Week

Miss Kristin has worked very hard writing a programme for 'Sentence of the Week'. By adding one new short phrase each week, children will build up a bank of question and answers sentences they can use in different kind of situations. Don't forget to keep revisiting those sentences!

English Sentences of the Week by Ingrid Gill

 

My Word Mosaics!

This morning I found this great website: www.imagechef.com. I know what I'm like and I am very good at forgetting where I find these great resources, so I decided to have a go at creating one myself and placing it on the Blog straight away.
It is really easy and great fun to do. Children in the higher groups can easily make their own mosaic and if they need some more help, they can use a dictionary.

Months of the year and Celebrations Dominoes

Especially for group 5 but of course also for other groups, I have created a domino game combining months of the year and celebrations around the world. If you log on to the Early English website you can find other resources around this topic as well as a three-week mini-project with lesson plans.

Months Dominoes by

Annual Celebrational Calendar by

TEYL = Teaching English to Young Learners (and very young learners).

Best Practices for Teaching English to Young Learners by Joan Shin from Venezuela TESOL

Triptico - a great FREE digiboard resource

Sometimes it is nice to create your own games because they fit in with a project or a topic you are teaching at the moment. Triptico allows you to make your own games, sorting activities, word games, spinners, class surveys, and many more.
The activities you create can be customised to any age group so they can be used in all primary groups.

All you need to do is download the app on your pc, laptop or tablet (for free). Once you have done that you can choose what type of activity you want to create. Everything you make can also be saved and used again.

Welcome to the Early English Blog!

In this day and age it is virtually impossible NOT to have a Blog. I just felt I had to join the club of Bloggers, so here it is. I am also not entirely sure what the purpose is going to be of this Blog, but I'm sure together we'll find good use for it. If you have any suggestions of how best to use this Blog, please feel free to contact me! You know where to find me ;)