May - toys and numbers

 1st and 2nd grades

I believe it is easier for very young kids to learn with concrete objects, anything that they could put their hands on. To help with pronunciation and to make it funnier and inspire them to listen to english songs, I also wanted to play this on the class about toys:


So I searched for the same toys in that song lyrics. Some of them I had, some I borrowed from a friend. The robot I did not find, so I printed a picture and put some plastic around it, to protect the paper. I started the class trying to create some mystery about what I had inside my bag. When I said “toys”, in every class at least one kid already knew the word and said loudly: “brinquedo!”


I showed one by one, asking everybody to repeat. I also asked the colors, and counted the ones with more than one. Some toys were too small, so I had to walk around the class, so everybody could see. Inevitably, all the time one kid stood up and came to my table to touch a toy. I had to say many times that first they were supposed to look and later everybody would play with them. This whole part took 25 minutes. I thought it would take less, but I had to repeat many times that I wanted everybody seated and that after we would play.


The second half of the class I let them play freely, and all the time I asked one of them “what is it?”. They did not remember any of the names, so I felt like I had to give that same class again. And I did, two weeks later. Most of the toys were the same, but some, not, because they broke some stuff, including a train that was not mine. So I decided to use more resistant toys, toys that were mine, and toys that were already broken. It was a noisy class, but I thought it would be natural to be loud, because of the theme and the dynamic I chose.


And I basically gave the same class, in my last class with them. Now I am changing careers, starting a new one at Norwegian Cruise Lines, as a cruise staff. I did not use the song, because I thought they would not concentrate. But it must be a good song, also because it says the question "What is it?". I had prepared a writing activity about the theme, but I did not have time to give:








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