K1 Kindy class. Suggestions/Advice please

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

So, I left my old school where I was always teaching K3/K2 classes.

At my new school I am teaching K1 (although they do mostly look pre K1). :wink:

Luckily I only have 10 kids in the class, but I am finding it very difficult to keep their attention for even a minute.

I will play games with them or sing songs, that incorporate the material the need to learn. It is obviously slow going.

Anyone have any suggestions?

As a special favor, lets not get into the pros/cons, legality etc of teaching kindy. :whistle:

Thanks.

2
  1. Bubbles

Flash cards or whatever on the floor. Groups of two. Shout out the word and they must rush to bring you the correct one. No winner here, but the group of two, and only them, get to chase some bubbles for 30 secs afterwards. The other lot have their attention kept, because they can’t WAIT for their turn. When everyone’s had a go, the whole class can chase bubbles for a minute.

  1. Balloons

a) White balloons. You’ll need decent, indelible markers for this. Everyone gets a balloon. Say “2 eyes” while pointing at your eyes and they’ve gotta draw them. Carry on until all the facial features are completed. You can mix it up and make it funny if you want by saying “3 eyes” or “2 mouths”. When the balloons are finished, write their names on the back and let them play for 5 minutes. Let them take the balloons home.

b) Coloured balloons. Red, green, blue, yellow, or whatever. Sit in a circle and sing a song while passing the balloons around. When the song stops, the kids with the balloons have to say “It’s red”, etc.

  1. Musical chairs

K1 may be a bit young for this, but it works for me. No losers, though. Whoever’s “out” has to answer a question or say their name or how old they are, etc. Then they’re back in.

4. Letters with bodies

Kids must make an upper-case letter with their bodies. Sometimes you’ll need two together, as with “A”. The others have to guess what the letters are. Only use a few letters at a time. Keep it simple, according to their level. “B”, for instance is quite difficult. So do “A”, “C” and “D”. Next time try some new ones.

Just a few. I have loads more.

3

@Jimi
Golden! You should be selling that shit.

  1. Create an app.
  2. Get rich.
  3. Retire.
  4. Don’t forget about me.
4

Write site words on the board, two teams with an eraser each have to run and wipe off the correct word (spoken by the teacher).

traffic light system with some sort of reward, playground or sweets or stickers if they make it to the green light, I strongly recommend a strong, strict but simple behaviour system from day 1. I teach a class of 18 K1 kids and before I started a discipline system it was just pure chaos, like a scene of out kindergarten cop.
With K1 you’re 80% a glorified babysitter, keep it as simple as possible

5

Thanks Jimi and Lostfool. :bravo: :bravo:

Actually thought up the balloon face as well. Tried it today. A few stuck the markers up their noses, the rest had more ink on their clothes than on the balloons. Pretty entertaining and the kids seemed to enjoy it. They paid more attention to me blowing up balloons than to anything else I have done. All good.
Will try the bubbles and hope they do not drink too much of it.

Initially I thought keeping it simple was the only way for kids this age. Then I saw the textbooks. WTF. I have a sneaky suspicion some are actually pre K.

The books seem more like K2 level, though, and they have quite a few.

Will work something out, as the kids are cool, and so is the school. I am just trying to work out expectations. :ponder: :ponder:

Just trying to work my way down from K3 level.

6

[quote=“jimipresley”]1. Bubbles

Flash cards or whatever on the floor. Groups of two. Shout out the word and they must rush to bring you the correct one. No winner here, but the group of two, and only them, get to chase some bubbles for 30 secs afterwards. The other lot have their attention kept, because they can’t WAIT for their turn. When everyone’s had a go, the whole class can chase bubbles for a minute.

  1. Balloons

a) White balloons. You’ll need decent, indelible markers for this. Everyone gets a balloon. Say “2 eyes” while pointing at your eyes and they’ve gotta draw them. Carry on until all the facial features are completed. You can mix it up and make it funny if you want by saying “3 eyes” or “2 mouths”. When the balloons are finished, write their names on the back and let them play for 5 minutes. Let them take the balloons home.

b) Coloured balloons. Red, green, blue, yellow, or whatever. Sit in a circle and sing a song while passing the balloons around. When the song stops, the kids with the balloons have to say “It’s red”, etc.

Write a book. I will take a copy or two…

  1. Musical chairs

K1 may be a bit young for this, but it works for me. No losers, though. Whoever’s “out” has to answer a question or say their name or how old they are, etc. Then they’re back in.

4. Letters with bodies

Kids must make an upper-case letter with their bodies. Sometimes you’ll need two together, as with “A”. The others have to guess what the letters are. Only use a few letters at a time. Keep it simple, according to their level. “B”, for instance is quite difficult. So do “A”, “C” and “D”. Next time try some new ones.

Just a few. I have loads more.[/quote]

7

The books are always too hard, they’re meant for native speakers. I’ve realised though that often the parents don’t care so long as their child can speak English. throw that in with the occasional masks and art work to take home and be all proud of and the parents will be happy. I gave up on my books at the place I work, the kids did it but didn’t understand and got them all wrong. I made more age relevant worksheets and they’ve all made pretty folders for them to take home at the end of the year just in time for my performace appraisal.