Creativity in the language classroom

what can we do with lots of kids who are unique and have

different worlds ?

Who are our kids and pupils ?

• Although different sources classify young learners taken into account different ages or grade levels, the following grouping reflects the EFL teaching environment and the learners of English in the primary education in Turkey.

Who are young learners ?

• They are children in the ages of 3 to 12. • We can classify them like this :• Very young learners ( 3-6 years old )• Young learners ( 7-9 years old )• Older/ late young learners (10-12 years old )

Characteristics of them :

• * Longer attention span but still children• *Taking learning seriously• *World knowledge• *More cooperation in groups and in pairs• *Developed social, motor and intellectual skills• *Learning strategies are used and developing• Adapted from: Ersöz, A. (2007). Teaching English to

young learners. Ankara: EDM Publishing

Language Focus/ Skills Used:

• Listening/Speaking/Reading/Writing

• Vocabulary Items (concrete & abstract)

• Grammar (inductive)

- They respond although they do not understand.

_ They learn from everything around them: theylearn indirectly rather than directly.

- They understand mostly when they see, hear,touch and interact rather than from explanations.

- Abstract concepts are difficult to deal with.

- They generally display a curiosity about the worldand an enthusiasm for learning a language

- They like talking about themselves and respondto learning that uses their lives as the main topic.

- They love discovering things, making or drawingthings, using their imagination, moving from oneplace to another, solving puzzles.

- They have a short attention span; they can easilyget bored after 5-10 minutes.

- Teachers should have a rich repertoire ofactivities to help young children receiveinformation from a variety of sources and plan arange of activities for a given time period.

- Teachers should work with students individually or in groups

- Teachers need to be aware of the students’interests to motivate them.

- The classroom should be colorful and bright with enough room for different activities.

Some classroom activities and games

I think teachers of English can do lots of activities suitable with the needs and interests

of their students.As we know that they are active, they learn indirectly rather than directly,

they love using their imagination andsolving puzzles.

We can classify classroom activities in many ways . Here are

some examples:A. Sentence games and ‘ drow

selzzup’1. How many sensible sentences

can you make with the words in the box ?

smoking green girl that small

brother have I is years

car a there are people

ten my here no old

2. Here are the names of eight fruits. What are they ?

GERONA PELPA REPA HECAPMONEL GERPA CATOPRI ANABAN

C

Choose a word from the word square and make a sentence with the word. You can get 1 point for a

correct sentence.e.g. Let’s play together !

I will miss you

Take must are between

Can’t at go Don’t

there to can Let’s

was on did will

3. Break the code : Here is a message from the Earth to

Moonbase21 but it is in code. Can you break the code ?

Het okrect liwl nadl ta eht acesp nottasi ta enni cl’ookc

ew olve ihst orjeptc !

4. Write a word beginning with the last letter of the word on the

board.‘ Roll ‘

Rolletteroadivenergeticataxintelligenturnativelephant………….. And try

to read the words one by one.

Roll letter road dive energetic cat taxi

intelligent turn native elephant …………..

5. Acrostic Words :Young

Amazing Sensitive Merciful

IntelligentNoble

6. WORDBANK

Use the categories below to help you organise new vocabulary.

WORDBANK

character clothes Countries and nationalities

Crime and justice Customs and traditions

Daily life

Days , months, seasons

education Environmental issues

Family and friends Food and drink Geographical features and locations

Health and physical feelings

House and home Language learning

Leisure interests The media Parts of the body

Personal information

Personal possessions

Physical appearanca

Politics and society religion shopping

Social situations Town features transport

travel work weather

7. Find someone who……..Likes dancing Doesn’t like

playing games

Enjoys writing e_mails

Likes doing shopping

İs good at learning English

İs bad at playing football

İsn’t interested in learning German

Enjoys doing nothing

Enjoys travelling

Hates telling lies

Prefers coffee to tea

İsn’t interested in drawing

Loves animals

İsn’t good at climbing

Hates getting up early

Likes The project ‘Roll the dice ‘

8. HANGMANCan you guess the word letter by

letter ?

_ _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _

9. FLYING WORDSEach time , close your eyes and

try to remember the missing word ?

Once upon a time there was a hardworking project team whose members were coming from different parts of the world. Their only

aim was to share all the things they gained in their lives. They were seven partners from Romania, Slovakia , Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Turkey. They possibly have never known each other without this project ‘Roll

The Dice’. Thanks to everybody!

In the end, please try to read the gapped text :

Once -------- a time there was a ----------- project team who were coming from ----------- parts of the world. Their only -------- was to share all the things they gained in their --------. They were

seven ----------- from Romania, Slovakia , Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Poland and -----------.They possibly

have never ----------- each other without this project ‘--------- The Dice’. Thanks to ------------!

10. Read the Sentence :Dontforgettosmileyoushouldbeche

erfulwhenyoumeetsomeone!Weareveryhappytomeethereinart

aTurkeyisveryproudofbeingapartoft

heprojectrollthedice

11.Kill the word :You can play this game with two or more

groups.Teacher prepares a slide show with music. Each word is written to a paper and one person

from each group stick them to different part of the classroom. The slide show starts and when the

teacher stops it , one picture appears on the screen and pupils tries to find the name of it on the wall.

The pupil who finds it first gets one point. At the end of the slide show, the group who gets the

highest score wins .

12.Introducing yourself to new class:

Gönül 24 2

Malatya Ankara Yankı

Irmak 49 reading blue

theatre Gogol Istrati camping

12. Decorate the sentence :In this activity pupils try to add a new word for

getting a longer sentence .I am a student.

I am a clever student.I am a clever and hardworking student.

I am a clever and hardworking student and I like my friends.

I am a clever and hardworking student and I like my friends but I hate my teachers.

I’m a clever and hardworking student and I like my friends but I hate my bossy teachers.

B. RHYMES, CHANTS, SONGS:How do rhymes,chants and poems structure learning ?

*repetition : this acts like a drill and cosolidates vocabulary

*rhythm: the beat emphasises the phrases,helps memory* rhyme: this promotes prediction skills,actively involves

pupils* relevant themes : the words often relate to familiar

experiences ,many of which can be extended by actions / mimes

eardear fear gear tearnear

JAZZ CHANT - Who did you see ?

- I saw John.- John who ?

-John Brown.- I didn’t hear you.-I said John Brown.

-I didn’t hear you- I said John Brown, John Brown!

- Ididn’t hear you!- I said John Brown, John Brown , John Brown!

………………………………..

-What did he say ?-Who ?

-John Brown.- John Brown ?

- yes. What did he say ?-He didn’t say anything.

- Nothing ?-Not a word.

- I don’t believe it. Big mouth John Brown didn’t say a word.- N- o- t - a – w- o- r -d

- I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. Big mouth John Brown didn’t say a word. Big mouth John Brown didn’t say a word.

C. JOKES AND BRAIN TEASERS:

These are funny ways of learning English.Here are some :

Patient : Doctor, I’m invisible.Doctor : Who said that ?

Man : My brother thinks he is a chicken.

Woman: Take him to a doctor, then.Man : I can’t. We need the eggs.

At A TRAVEL AGENCYCustomer : Excuse me . How long is the flight from

Barcelona to PALMA Mayorca ?Assistant : Just a minute , sir .

Customer : Good lord. That is fast.

Teacher : Paulo, give me a sentence beginning with ‘ I ‘Paulo : I is the ………………….

Teacher : No, Paulo . You must say ‘ I am ‘ not ‘ I is ‘Paulo : All right. I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

What is the only thing that everybody in the world is doing at the same time ?

What belongs to you but is used more often by others ?

WHY ?

If twenty birds were sitting in a tree and you shot one of them, how many would be left ?

What has a face and hands but can’t look,feel or smile ?

What question will you never answer ‘yes ‘ to ?

peteRpaulO

aLicza szeLesne

seyiT HOLA !

yEşim

DREAMyasmIn

mariCica mirEla

Aniko maRcel

TEAMelisA

Thank you our partners,our colleagues and

our friends.we love U

prepared bySeyit Cemal Erdem and Yeşim Göğün

Ankara, Turkey