The creative classroom Syllabus and lesson planning ‘Designing a syllabus A sillabus for pre-school children willbe quite different from one forolderleamers. First of ll, most children ofthis age cannot yet read and write, oF ‘make the kind of abstract deductions that even a child of seven can ‘make. The children will still be gaining basic sil such a holding a ‘rayon or pencil, colouring in, relating the eal thing toa pictorial representation oft, being abe to recognize shapes, sorting and classifying, recognizing similarities and differences, using scissor, flue, and other implements. Any syllabus will have to take al these things into consideration, ‘Whereas older children could be expected to follow a clear rogression and to acquire some basic grammar rules, small children will learn better by mimicking and using language in Context. Itis quite normal fr naive-speaker children to say things like “I did went’ atthe age of four oF five, and sin the eary stages it isbeter not to worry too much about grammatical correctness Bat ‘to et the children to enjoy using the language. Thisis best achieved by topic-ed work. Inmany countries there is no prescriptive syllabus for preschool {eaching, This has the advantage of giving teachers the freedom to Combining a book and a video “Here area few suggestions as to how a book and a video can ‘complement each other ~ Tell the story using the book frst and then back t up by using the Video. ~ Prepare children for the video by showing the pictures in the book and teaching some key words, Then show the video. ~ Show the video. Then tell the story from the book and askifthere ‘are any differences between the book version and the video Version. ‘Show the video again and point out the differences, ‘Songs, chants, rhymes, and music Songs, chants, and rhymes help children’s language development, ‘and also their physical development when used in conjunction with dance and mime, ‘The language in traditional songs stich and colourful and extends the children’s vocabulary beyond the limited range of their own day-to-day experiences. The use of rhyme encourages children to explore the sounds of words, andthe use ofimagery enriches theit ‘perception ofthe world and their ability to express what they fee. Religious practices have long recognized the mystic power of chanting. ‘When words are inked to chythm and music they seem to have more ‘emotive and personal significance and so are remembered better. (One ofthe linguistic advantages of songs, chants, and chymes sth the learners will happily repeat the same structure, even the same Words, over and over again without getting bored. Songs, chants, and rhymes are particularly useful ina stress-timed language such as English because the rhythm forces us to put the stres inthe right places and to observe the strong and weak forms. Atthe same time ‘Pronunciation is improved as the students are concentrating on, Sound rather than meaning. Young children are excellent mimics, although you cannot expect perfect pronunciation, especially if they cannot yet pronounce all the sounds oftheir mother tongue. They. are particularly ood at copying intonation. Relatives and friends are always delighted when children can sing or ‘recite in another language and itis useful to havea repertoire realy for end-of-term concerts and other festivities, Teachers often worry sabour where to find songs, chants, and ehymes, and some Suggestions appear under topic areas in this book. However, thee is ‘no great secret to turing ordinary language into chants. Ifyou listen to children playing inthe yard, i will not be long before you ‘hear something like this ‘Na, na, na, nina, I'm better than you-ou', ‘chanted in asing-song voice. An old favourite in the U.K. used to bbe: ‘I'm the king of the castle and you're the dirty rascal.” Children find i quite natural to turn almost anything into a chant. You can fit ‘the words to any topic you are doing. For example’We're going 1 the beach (zoo\park’moon, ete) We're going tothe beach Hooray, Hooray We're going to the beach. ‘You could even encourage the children to make up a litle tune to these words if they want fo and to make up new chants of thei own, Another alternative i to take a well-known tune and put your own, Words toit, Here san example using the traditional French tune “Frere Jacques. ike chocolate, Hike chocolate How about you? How about you? Do you like chocolate? Do you like chocolate? Yes, Ido. Yes, Tdo, ‘You could invite the children to suggest other goodies forthe song, {or example, ‘Tlie ice-cream ‘There are several ways in which songs can be taught. You can get {he children to recite the words after you and then add the meledy later, oryou can sing the song and get the children to sing the ‘melody to ‘la-la-l’, Ifthe song has a word whichis frequently epeated or a sound like ‘crash, the children will soon star joining ‘non those words Ikisbetter not to try todo too much in one session. The frst couple ‘oftimes, vou can play the song and sing it once or twice and {encourage the children to join in, There wil always be some children who do not sing and itis not advisable to insist oni, IFthe song is catchy enough and simple enough, they will uually want to singit ‘Mos of the songs in this book have actions and you may find that some of the children wil start doing the actions before they are ‘ready to sing the song. Some will forget o sing while they re doing. ‘the actions and some will find it dificult to co-ordinate both the singing and the actions. The younger they are the more dfficuly they will hve, Do not worry ifthe children do not join in at fist asthey are listening and doing the actions. They willjon in when they fecleight, ‘Most of the traditional songs inthis book are available on the Jingle ‘Bel and Super Songs cassetes published by Oxford Universiy Press, which also contain other songs useful for young children, Artand craft activities ‘Artand craft activities are an important part of the pre-school curriculum and need to bea common feature in lasses. Children need both fee and guided art and craft activities and itis important toprovide both. (Craft activites are a very valuable way of giving the children ‘comprehensible language input as they have to listen to instructions in order to complete an activity. Instructions should be sven in the target language and supported by alot of ‘demonstration. Iris important not to forge fee painting. Children ‘eed and enjoy this typeof activity. It develops the children's independence and allows them the freedom to choose what they draw. Although thee is no specific language being taught, the teacher can go round asking children questions in English about their painting, for example, [Who's his? What is he doing? Whar colour are you going 0 pant the 3 ‘When doing raft activities iti always a good idea to make things yourself fist so that you have an example to show the children, Teis also advisable to prepare more materials than You need incase a child makes a mistake and has o start again. ‘Younced enough scissors for each child. At this age they should. only be allowed to use the special ones with rounded ends. Ifthe children are very young and not very good with scissors, you can Derforate the outline ofthe picture by going reund it with sewing- ‘machine needle. The machine wll take about five copies ata time so ‘tshould not be to time-consuming to prepare them. With this, ‘method its easy forthe children to break the perforations using ‘theirfinger-nals. The least messy glue is the sor that comes in, sticks, urif glue isnot easily availabe ors too expensive, you can ‘make apaste by boiling up flour and water. Brushes need to be of medium thickness and paints need tobe the sore that wash off easily. Children lke felt-tipped pens but they do ‘ot have the versatility of paints. They have a shor life-span and as children are inclined to press quite hard, they tend to come through the paper. They are also very dificult to get out of clothes. Wax crayons are good for this age group, especially for the smaller ones; however, as children get older and we try to encourage them to be ‘more careful and colour within the lines, crayons become too clumsy, Coloured pencils are better for older children who want to bbemore accurate. Other materials which are useful are grease-proof ‘‘THE CREATIVE cLAssRooM, ‘paper and carbon peper for tracing, and aluminium fi (see Making visuals’ on page 31). Old egg boxes, both the pkce and ‘{aiGboard sor, can be useful as can old margarine andiesren cy at You are prepared to recycle these items, you wil probably be swamped with materials, When they come to pick them up. Is always a good {Shildren take work home after dsplaying it for a short time, forthe Penefit of parents who cannot come and ee the pictures Irie cise ‘ea to have an art show for parents and family at the end tenn cy coincide with schoo! plays or parents’ evenings, Organized games Ng Zaung children donot require the sophistication ina game that fides children would look for and many simple activities coat [is games to the children and be used over and overagain: We rove pigiuded some appropriate games under the different opic ween but many simple game-like activities can be used to prance dlflerentlanguage items Hesambortant ro remember afew points when talking about games. Eintty small children always expect to win and itakts then cerns Sage them that they di not cary out the intruction, Secon, shildren of this age are not well co-ordinated and they fn iBcultto throw a ball to use a skipping-rope and wo cata ball S0 youneed to avoid games which require this degree ofprecies [Ic has long been recognized that pretend play is important ina shild's development, but recently research has shown ieee ‘e DESCRIPTION MATERIALS INcLass COMMENTS ‘THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM ” intervention ofan adult inthis play can extend the interaction and enrich the language used. It follows that teachers could make use of ‘this natural phenomenon to encourage the use ofa second language For example, you could tell firy-tale story and then encourage children to act out and extend the story and thus develop the fantasy play and vocabulary (see ‘Story-teling and drama’, page 1). The princess in the castle Au 10-15 minutes Language: fairy-tale vocabulary ‘Other: to develop imagination, dram, co-operative effort, ‘The teacher shows the children how a simple story can develop. ‘Amop or brush, some large cardboard boxes 1 Use some large cardboard boxes to make a ‘castle’, Make a wall ‘with them across one comer of the room. Stand behind them and say: Help! Help! I'ma princess. I'm a prisoner inthis castle, Then let some ofthe children pretend to be the princess. 2. Make yourseiflook fierce and prowl up and down infront ofthe boxes. Say: I'ma monster. The princes ie my primer. Let some of the children pretend tobe the monster. Getbehind the wal of ‘boxes again and say: Help! Help Who cam ape me? Encourage the children tobe the princess calling fr hep, 3 Now the mop can become a horse forthe prince, Tum the mop ‘upside down, put your legs astride it, and say: This it my horse. Her name's (Gina), Pretend to ride round the room, Let the children ‘ake tums at ding round the room and invent theit own names forthe horse (but don’t let them doit for too long). Then put your legs astride the mop and say: I'm the prince. I'm coming 0 Save you, Encourage the ‘princess’ to stand behind you astride the ‘mop and you both gallop across the classroom. 44 Repeat the scene from the beginning and let one ofthe children be the prince. ‘You may find that litle girs do not mind being princes, but little boys often do not ike taking female pars. Ifyou want 1o encourage ‘more positive attitudes, you can have the princess rescue the princeVARIATIONS eucEn encourage the children to make up ther own variations on the story. Either in the same lesson (iftime permis ern oft ag already have a good imagination, tis much momen use props’ such as cups, plates, spoons, kniver and frre Fiaving a restaurants and a telephone for phone calls: Ostee useful ‘objets are cars, ships, planes, toy animals; and some dele Building materials lr ofthis age enjoy constructing things: houses, rowers et, Fra Bt can be useful to have building materials for this porsoee oputing bricks and Lego are popular but old boxes ind oc Containers can also be sed. You can encourage the chides ‘aks things and talkabout what they are making. These rele Sarnace Be used to help develop concepts of number, sits disenee, balance logical connections, patterns, sequences, ciacice ang ‘materials, and the language associated with these conce, Improvising throes bX from the supermarket with afew extra things we usually ‘Arent away can make an excellent pirate ship, ambulance poling ‘motor eyele, trick, puppet theatre, television, or shop ena cpt see ees tester mn PSF ‘isiaer |THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM Amop can become a hobby-horse, _* (Chairs can be arranged as a car ora plane.‘A sheet pinned to notice-board and weighed down with objects ‘can become a tent. I this isnot possible then a sheet draped over the teacher's desk sjust as effective Materials {tis rue that when teaching children we need an endless supply of. ‘materials but this need not be expensive. The best thing ist enlist, the help offends, colleagues, the parents ofthe children, and any local shops that are willing to co-operate. Many printers and paper. and cardboard companies have off, 3 Geteach child to choose afferent picture to draw on apiece of card. 4 The children ‘eed’ the monster before going home, sticking the cards in hers mouth ‘FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS: 1.6 AGE TIME ams. DESCRIPTION MATERIALS. PREPARATION INcLasS. Lesson? '5 Remove the cards. Show the children the pictures and try to elicit the words. Ifthey remember a word, the monster digests itand the picture cards attached to her/his stomach. Ifno one can remember the word the card stays in ‘Willy's’ mouth, Lesson 3 {6 Go through the same process with the words in Willy’s' stomach. [Ifthe children answer correctly, pinup the ‘digested’ words around the classroom. ‘You can practise classifying words by grouping them on the classroom walls, (See 2.8, ‘Classifving’) ‘you only ee the children for a shor time each session, then they ‘ould feed pictures you have prepared instead of drawing ther own, Class mural Au 30 minutes Language: say their names (Other: to practise pencil control ‘The children draw their own faces to make a mua Paper, pencils, rubbers, and colours, ‘Take a group photograph of the children, 1 Give each child a worksheet or piece of paper. 2 Ask them to draw their faces inthe ‘picture frame’. Tell them to ‘draw the faces big (emphasizing the size with your hand) as some children draw them the same size asin the photo, 3 Write each child's name on her/his paper unless she/he already ‘knows how to do it. Those who are already starting to read and rite may lke to copy their own name 4 Stick the photo you tockin the middle ofa notice-board, '5 Once the children have finished, ask them to go and find themselves in the photo. 6 Stick their‘portrsits’ around the phdrograph and make a pointer with some sewing thread and pins linking thei portrait with their photograph (see diagram).FOLLOW-UP In subsequent classes you could add tothe mural with other information fr example, photos or pictures of their families, their bestfriend, their kes disikes, ther favourite food, toys, ete VARIATION ‘Asan alternative you could take individual photos aswell as the ‘roup photo and use those instead ofthe children’s pictures,