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
Teachers http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/teachers
Learn English http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/
I liked the website you blogged about. It was easy for me to find and navigate. There were many different interesting games, songs, stories and activities as you wrote about. You were accurate in your instructions about how the user could find her way around website. I tried both reading, writing and listening games and it was no problem to understand the instructions given.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the fact that the website does not require membership; there were many games and activities that I had access to without being a member. A big plus to the Cambridge Dictionaries. It was easy to look up the meaning of bird of prey. This is a very good tool for students if they need to find the meaning of words.
I would however like to point out that students who are using this site would need to be able to read if they were going to be able to use this website on their own. So I am not sure grade 1 students who are just beginning to learn English would be able to navigate this website on their own. Many of the activities could be used by the teacher if she had a projector and the students would be able to follow from the screen.
I can see some of my grade 3 students using this website on their own but I can also see that many others would need a lot of my help.
I however loved this website and will definitely use it in the classroom. I would also recommend it to my colleagues and the parents of my students. Thanks for blogging about it.