I was thinking stuff a long the lines, or making sure they know their own names, and other kids names. Alphabet…getting the rules down. This kind of thing.
Can anyone help me with anything else I should know.
Does anyone know any kind of things I should do for this.
For names and alphabet I was going to write out the letters and names and put them in an old shoe box, get them to find the person whos name is on the paper and all that razmatazz.
Do you have any indication of what level they are at already - i.e., have they studied some English, in which case they may know the alphabet, or are they complete beginners?
For this age, take it really slow. The parents probably want concrete evidence the child is learning something, so teaching the alphabet may be a priority, but nevertheless only teach a few letters at a time. For young classes at Kojen, we taught 2 letters per 2-hour class, for example.
For a first class of complete beginners, I would teach “hello”, “good-bye”, 1, 2, 3, and A, B (if the boss wanted the alphabet taught; if it is not a priority, I would just teach oral language at first).
For each subsequent class, add numbers until you get to 10, and 2 letters until all are done. Choose a few common questions that you want the kids to be able to handle, and gradually add them.
From the first day I would also include some practice of classroom management language. TPR is great for this. Teach them to recognize commands like “Take out your crayons.” “Line up.” “Stand up.” “Sit down.” etc. Do maybe two or three commands the first day, and add one or two on subsequent days.
Is this the first time that your school has run such a class? Surely they’ve done it before and have some kind of a structure in place (probably a rubbish one, but a structure nonetheless ). They can’t seriously have given you a new class of 4 year olds and said “Off you go, then.”. What the fuck are the parents paying for over here?
Rewards system-
My first day, I made each child a crown with their name on it. They got to color the crown and wore it while I took a picture. I made two copies of the pictures- one for me to take home and memorize names (makes class go much better if you know all their names on day 2) and with the second set I made little magnets. These magnets were on the white board and under them I had their “star box” where they would get a ‘star’ if they followed directions or did something right. five stars meant a sticker at the end of the day.
I started out using stars, but eventually started writing words- their name, for example, or any somewhat phonetic word. This helped familiarize them with letters and the concept of combining letters together to make a word (for example, I’d use the word ‘trees’ and if a kid had three letters, “tre” I’d say “Wow, look at Oscar, he has three letters, T, R, E, tre. And look at Alan, he has four letters, he’s got T, R, E, E, tree! Good job guys!”
Because the kids were so fixated on their ‘stars’ they learned to sound out words right quick, their parents, my managers and fellow teachers seemed duly impressed.
I could write a book on kindy, and I loved teaching it, but damn nothin beats teaching adults!
Hey!!
Where do you get 4 year olds??
I wanna teach 4 year olds!!
Sing songs. “Make new friends, but keep the old…” “The wheels on the bus…” “I love you, You love me…”
Ask if its someone’s birthday. When it is, sing Happy Birthday.
). They can’t seriously have given you a new class of 4 year olds and said “Off you go, then.”. What the fuck are the parents paying for over here?