Useful techniques for teaching English in the kindergarten:
- Use the routines – e.g. hello / bye bye song, chants as a form of transition from one stage of the lesson into another.
- Use real objects or flashcards as often as possible to introduce, recycle and revise a language item.
- Use a lot of games involving movement.
Practising English with flashcards:
- Show two cards, say one word, the pupils say which hand you hold it in: right or left.
- Show a card and say a word, the pupils say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ depending on the picture you hold.
- The pupils repeat the word only if it’s the same as in the picture you hold.
- Guess the flashcard: either show it quickly and hide or show it bit by bit.
- Put the card into the correct category.
- Put the cards all over the class and ask the students to point towards a given card, first slowly then quickly.
- What is missing? Ask the pupils to close their eyes and take one card from a given set away, they have to guess which one has been taken.
- Put the cards in a row, say the words one by one, then turn over one by one but each time the pupils have to repeat the whole set even with the one which has been turned over.
Games used to practise vocabulary:
- Ask the pupils to repeat the words in a specific manner; quickly, slowly, quietly, etc.
- Pronounce the word without the sound and the pupils have to read from your lips and guess the word.
- Divide the pupils into groups, each group has a specific word, then ask: „Who is …?”, give the groups the commands they have to do, you can ask the rest of the class to repeat the command.
- Games with the ball: you can throw it or ask the pupils to pass it over while the music is playing and when it stops the pupil who holds it has to say or do something.
- Games with the puppet: say it in English because the puppet speaks only English, say hello, say your name and age to the puppet, show the puppet a given card, bring the card or point to it.
Ewa Ruszel
English Teacher 