We did it again! Creativity was at its fullest in our workshop for kids in Prissé and you'll certainly agree with me.
I don't know if it was inspired by the long-awaited fine weather and the spring-time nature with all those bright colours
or the kid's all-time favourite topic of animals or both!
I guess only a combination of all those elements together with high-spirited young minds
could result in such cool creations. And with a little of the teacher's help, as well :)
We are lucky to have our workshops at Foyer Rural right in the centre of the wine-growing village of Prissé which offers plenty of opportunities
for indoor and outdoor fun activities with English - there's a lovely little park just one step away from our classroom!
So, as you can imagine, we don't miss out on any opportunity to explore it inside out and English is often a walk in the park ;)
Spring animals in 4 steps
Step 1:
LEARN SOME SPRING NATURE WORDS.
Letting the learners draw them on the board and making their mates guess what the drawing represents keeps everybody engaged and helps them memorize all the words very quickly.
Step 3
CREATE THE SPRING ANIMALS.
Use the items collected in Step 2 and English to compose the spring animals.
* We learnt about the animals and their body parts during the previous sequence.
Step 2:
GO TREASURE HUNTING OUTSIDE;
Studens get in teams and collect the items from Step 1. Before doing so, they must understand and agree on the rules for this activity (stay in teams, respect the set limits in space and time...)
Step 4:
DISPLAY AND PRESENT THE ANIMALS.
Each member of the team presents one spring animal. They can also give them some fancy names such as Needle Lion or Bark fish.
Teaching English to children can be successful only through the content that is interesting for them. However, the winning combo for me is INTEREST + INTERACTION, both elements being present in all my workshops for young (and not so young) learners. It's not always easy to implement the interaction element into a lesson for children due to their lack of vocabulary - so MEANINGFUL activities play an important role here. The best way to bring meaning is to have students make a common effort in order to achieve a team project, such as our treasure hunt game or craft activities. And here comes the last but not least item in successful teaching of English to kids which is VARIETY. So get outside, inside, sitting, standing, moving, drawing, talking, guessing, listening, creating, playing etc. for best results.
Photos & video © Mira Vernay