Learn English Kids Fredrik Hinic Module 1b

Learn English Kids

Hi I am sure many of you have already heard of the british council learn english, It is a webbsite filled with all kinds of activities for learners to learn english. I want to write about the version for younger pupils. On this webbsite children have the opportunity to learn and study english in a fun way on their own. One of the best parts of the website is that it is designed for children in a cartoon like way so the fact that the webbsite is fun is  very good motivation. The young learners can also learn along side their parents on this webbsite.

this is the link ------> https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/home

On the site the learners choose what they want to learn by clicking on a category, every category has its own purpose like reading and writing, listening and watching, speaking and spelling, or if they want to learn more grammar they click on the grammar icon. They could also just simply make their own monster, body part by body part or play a game. For example in the "Kids games" category there is game called Nessie in which the learner is supposed to fill the gap of a sentence about the lochness monster with the right word. They fill the gaps until there is no more sentences left.

Another fun category is the listen and watch section. There are different exercises that helps the kids to improve their skills, for example the Brushbus where they can listen to the song and because of the lyrics, they can also sing along and practice their productive skills as well.

And if they for example want to study grammar they can either play grammar games, watch a video about grammar or simply test themselves with a test.

This webbsite could come in really handy in a teachers work, the teacher could for example instruct the kids to make a monster and then they could work in groups and describe each others monsters as an exercice. This would be both fun and rewarding when it comes to improving their skills, the make your own monster exercice is found under Make.

A very good thing about this website is that you can use it on many computers and you can use it from home if the child would get incapable of attending school.

Links to the site: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/make-your-own/make-your-monster

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/word-games/fill-the-gap/nessie

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/brush-bus

Learn English Kids

Some of you may already know of the British Council Learn English website. This is a website filled with information and games for English learners of various levels. However, there is also a junior version called Learn English Kids. This site is devoted to the younger learners at levels pre A1, A1 and A2. It offers free online songs, games, stories and activities.

 

Young learners using the website can learn English by exploring the site on their own or alongside their parents. By playing games like Memory or creating their own monsters limb by limb, the users can learn new words. They can play grammar games and read jokes and write comments. Learners can also listen to songs and sing along with the help of music videos with lyrics.

 

 

Users find their way around the website by choosing if they want to focus on reading and writing, speaking and spelling, grammar or perhaps just playing games. If they click on 'grammar', they will be able to choose if they want to watch videos on grammar, play grammar games or test themselves with a grammar test. It is also possible to search for features on the site based on subject, age or level using the 'parent mode'. 

 

The Learn English Kids website can be a fun tool in school. A teacher can instruct the students to visit the site and practise their spelling, grammar or  knowledge of animals, for instance. It is also possible to create your own story on the site. This feature is found under 'make' - 'make your own'. The user is taken through several steps and chooses genre, settings, key objects, characters and names and then the website creates a complete story. Students could be given a task to create a story, which could then be read aloud in front of class. This might make for some really interesting stories and a few laughs. Another task could be to ask the students to perform a role-play based on the story.
 

The website can be used whether the school has got computers for all of the children or just a single computer in the classroom. Students can work in pairs or singles and tasks can be performed during an entire lesson or just 20 minutes.

 

The Learn English Kids website does not require membership, but teachers, parents and children aged 12 or younger are welcome to become members. Some features require that the user has an account. Some features require downloading, otherwise most things are done on the site. Parents are welcome to search for advice and tips on the site and parents who are members can also download learning resources.

 

All and all, the Learn English Kids website is filled with activities for young learners, whether at home or at school. Go check it out to see if you could use it in your class!

 

 

Here are some links to the site:

 

Learn Englis Kids https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/home

 

Parents https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/parents

Teachers http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/teachers

 

Learn English http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

Kahoot!

 Kahoot! is a website where you can find and create question-games “Kahoots” with multiple choices. You can choose between different kinds of quizzes, discussions or surveys.

It is easy to use Kahoot!

First, you start by creating a free account on https://getkahoot.com.

Second, create a “Kahoot” with questions of your choice. There are also a lot of public games that you can choose from.

Third, log in at https://kahoot.it/#/ on your device. Type in the game PIN you are given. Choose a nickname and play the game alone or together in a group. The question is displayed on a shared screen and all players have to answer on their own devices. The result will show after each question.

It is easy to navigate on the website to find information, teaching ideas and guidelines of how to use Kahoot as a pedagogical tool.

There are some supplies needed.

Most important, Internet connections to all the devices are necessary. The group plays around a screen that everyone can see. A computer screen might be suitable for small groups and a projector or smart board for larger groups. All the players need a device to connect to Internet. That can be smartphones, tablet computers or laptops.

Teachers can use Kahoot! in different ways.

Kahoot! can be used to introduce a new topic in a fun way. Everyone will have the same chance if the questions are created in a pedagogic way, for example if they are build on logical thinking and “see behind the picture” exercises.

Another way is as a review tool. The teacher will then see the result right away and can give more attention to areas that are difficult. The review can also be in the form of a competition between the students. Or, let the students compete against themselves by doing the same game more than once to review the topic. Kahoot can also be used to make a contest against another class, anywhere in the world.

There are three options on the website, between quiz, discussion or survey. A discussion can be started by asking the students to anonymous take a stand in a sensitive topic. Or finally, use Kahoot! to make a survey in the class.

Before you as a teacher starts to use it, I believe it is important to consider if it is going to function as a competition tool between the students. Does everyone gain from this or will the weaker students be exposed in a bad way? Some ways to avoid this might be to do questions that are more about what they see in picture or opinions. You can also let the students choose what name the want and be anonymous in that way.

An example how to use Kahoot in the class:

Let the students do some teamwork on a subject. Where the students:

1.     Research the subject.

2.     Prepare a presentation in front of the class.

3.     Create a Kahoot where the answers can be found in the presentation.

4.     Let their fellow classmates do the Kahoot after the presentaion.

Super Simple Learning

I would like to recommend the website Super Simple Learning that offers an extensive material for English teaching in pre-school uptil grade four. When you register as a member, on the website www.supersimplelearning.com, you get access to a lot of learning material - for free. Flash-cards, games, worksheets and coloring pages are some of the materials the website offers you as a teacher. You will also have access to a duty free electronic course, based on eight lessons, in how to teach young pupils English by songs. A subtitle under the tab Free resources is Teaching tips where you find various kind of ideas in how to teach English. All you need to use the material of the website is Internet and a computer or an Ipad. I strongly recommend working with this website on a Smart Board. That makes it possible to have full class lessons with your pupils where you for example can play video clips and tap and draw directly on the board.

Under the tab Songs you find a variety of songs with lyrics and sounds that treat common words and categories, for example; animals, food, body parts, emotions, clothing and counting. There are also songs for special holidays such as Christmas and Halloween. These songs are great for teaching the pupils English words about our feasts and traditions. On the front page of the website you are given the opportunity to browse songs by topic.

The website also offers several different cartooned alphabet exercises. There the pupils can see a letter and an object that begins with it. They can also hear the phonetic pronunciation. The words presented in these exercises are common every-day-life words that are familiar for most children and very easy to make gestures to. You are also given the opportunity to download worksheets (level 1-4) that are associated to the cartooned exercises. I think that the fact that the exercises allow students to use multiple senses contributes a learning that is remembered in both body and mind.

The author team of the Super Simple Learning website also links to their blog. There you find categories that the team blogs about. They give you great examples about how to use their learning material and they also have giveaway competitions where you can win some of their toll material, for example a book and an audio-cd. Besides that, Super Simple Learning has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. They also have a channel at Youtube that, at the end of the year 2015, had more than three billion views.

Super Simple Learning is an award-winning website that I strongly recommend for all English teachers educating younger pupils. The learning material fulfills much of the core content in Lgr11´s syllabus of English in primary school. I hope you will find Super Simple Learning as good and inspiring as I do!

// Sofi Andersson

På Riktigt!

Hi!

Finding reliable teaching resources starts to become a dilemma. There are so many programs and apps to choose from, but finding the one that suits your needs and class is more difficult than ever. It seems that the only way to find something educational and reliable is to either trust the judgement of those who recommend a resource or simple just try it out yourself.

For me, an app or program has to give me the ability to collaborate and communicate with my students, yet at the same time provides me with updated materials. Just recently I was recommended a program named På Riktigt (https://upplev.pariktigt.com/login). It is an interactive program where you can collaborate, communicate and hold lectures together with your students. As a teacher you need to have an account in order to be able to invite the students to the program.

Here's how it works:

    You create an account as a teacher using your provided school e-mail address. Once your e-mail has been verified, you receive a specific code that you later use during the creation of your personal account. When your account is finished and verified, you're then able to browse through the different ''lärcirkel'' (activity circle) for all subjects. Once you've decided on a subject and chosen an activity, you then invite in your class. The activities vary in hours, depending on what subject you want to teach or focus on. 

This is one of the examples of the many activity circles that På Riktigt offers. Students start at the starting point and with pop-up instructions, videos, information, games and tasks and projects, they work their way through the map. They can either work separately on their own individual Ipads or computers, in groups or together as a class. Teachers can choose as many subjects or activity circles for the class to do. While the circle is active, teachers can track every students individual work.

         When the student is finished with all the different tasks, the teacher receives a notification beside the students' name. The projects and tasks can be corrected and graded, which the student then receives through a private message. Students can always go back and correct their works. The circle does not allow a student to jump over a task or activity, so no cheating or laziness! If a circle is not completed, the teacher will receive a notification, thus providing the appropriate help for both the student and teacher on which task/activity the student is struggling with.

       Another useful feature that this program contains, is the syllabus for every major subject. For every circle you choose, it provides the specific curriculum. I believe it is a very useful feature because it not only helps the teacher focus on the subject, but helps provide a grading basis that can  later be used for assessments. It is also practical for the students to be reminded of the curriculum and can assess themselves. 

         The only downside to this program is that it is fairly new and there aren't so many activity circles to cover every major subjects' area. The circles are created by either other teachers or the actual creators of the program. So if you yourself think that you can provide an activity circle that can benefit others, you can create and share it with the other members and students. For the time being, there is still a descent amount of circles to go around. I myself have not yet create my own circle, but it is something I am looking forward to doing.

       Even as a beginner within this program, I find it very easy to use and puzzle my way around. We have only yet tried it amongst ourselves (teachers), so we are looking forward to sharing it with our students! Feedbacks will be collected and sent to the creators of the program. I know that the program is educational, but the fact that it is very easy to use, even for someone who has no interest for apps and programs, it is just the icing on the cake! I don't usually recommend apps and programs, but this is an exception! Try it and leave a feedback! Good luck... På riktigt!

Bingel

I would like to tell you about a web based platform created by Sanoma utbildning, based on their teaching materials. Basically it is an interactive island made up by different subdivisions linked to different textbooks from Sanoma. You can use it as a complement to the books and your students can practice tasks you have experienced earlier together, but in a new way.

To get access to Bingel your school needs to be a registered costumer with Sanoma but you don´t need to have or use all of their books. To try a demo version of Bingel you can get a temporary login here. I haven´t tried this myself since my school has an account, so I don´t know how much you are able to do with it. The program is quite extensive and it takes some figuring out, but once you´ve gotten to know it, it is fairly easy to use. One tricky bit is that your school needs an administrator who controls who has access to what, both students and teachers, but once everything is in place this isn´t an issue.

I have used Bingel mainly in school year 5, in mathematics, as a complement to the book MatteBorgen, but you can also use it with their other mathematics books or with Zick Zack (Swedish), Champ (English) and What´s up (English). Bingel is assembled in the same way as the books, with exercises following the books´ chapters.

There are three things I like especially with Bingel. First; the possibility for me to create tasks for specific students and/or the entire class with an easy overview of who has completed the task and how they did.

Second; the fact that I can use the material based on a textbook designed for school year 4 or 6 (or any other for that matter) with my year 5. This gives me better opportunity to challenge each student individually within the platform.

Third; there is a built-in reward system which awards the students points for each task they complete, more if they get it right. These points can then be used to buy outfits and accessories for their avatar, which I have found is a great motivator for the students!

Another plus is that you can easily access your students’ results, give them new tasks and reward them for a good job well done with stickers, medals or- most appreciated; additional points. The design and layout is very nice looking, which I think is rather important.

Bingel is still under construction and not all parts of it are in place yet, so be ready for that if you give it a go. In using Bingel my students have discovered some faults and mishaps in the program, but I talked with them about it before we started using Bingel and they think it´s fun to discover these mistakes and even more fun to notify Sanoma that they have found them.

I hope some of you will try out Bingel because I think it´s a great resource!

A restaurant menu, and much more

I would like to inform you about an online resource from the British Council at http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/. This web-page is filled with different materials to use to practice pupils’ language-proficiency in reading, listening, speaking and writing, as well as grammar and vocabulary.

To give you an example about how to use this in a lesson I will tell you about a lesson-plan of mine. Under the menu "skills" and then "reading practice" you can find a restaurant menu and exercises associated to it (http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading-skills-practice/restaurant-menu). I used this as one part in a recent lesson plan in seventh grade, ongoing for several weeks.

To start with, I divided my pupils in groups of three. After that I handed out native English speaking counties for them to find information about. One county to each group. We gathered most of this information from Språklänksportalen´s site about English speaking countries. You can find it at (http://www.spraklankportalen.se/SITE/HOME---Spraaklaenkportalen/Tematiskt-arbete/Temaomraaden/Engelsktalande-laender.aspx). If you haven´t come in contact with Språklänksportalen before I can tell you that this also is a very useful website.

They should find information about size, citizens, short history, government, currency, important landmarks and points of interest and etcetera. Next, they made a power-point to present their county to the rest of the class.

After that they had presented their country, I presented and talked about the restaurant menu which is presented above. I think the questions on the website, belonging to the menu, suits to be done either individually or together as a group. I let my pupils do them in the groups they already were divided in.

Following assignment became to write their own menu, similar to the example, according to native food which may be found in their countries. We searched on google to find menus from native restaurants to see what specialties they might serve. Later they designed their own menus in Microsoft word.

In the textbook that we use there is a dialogue about two people who want to order at a restaurant. We read this and after, also in groups, they wrote their own dialogues based on their menus. To end this set of lessons the groups read their dialogues as plays in front of the rest of the class.

This is one example on how to use this very useful website.

Good lunch to you all, :-).

Jonas Schenström