• Practice hand movements

Find a comfortable hold for your puppet. I use second and third fingers in the head – thumb in one arm and fourth and fifth finger in the other arm. Some teachers like to practise in front of a mirror so they can see what the children will see.

• Make a list of the most useful moves for your lessons.

Children love when Bear does something so think of actions he could do – then practise the movements! In this very young learner class he is putting his special stamp on the children’s notebooks!

• Keep it simple!

Bear is a responsive puppet so when using him for the first time you need to plan when and how to get him involved. As you plan your lesson look for opportunities to include him. You could begin by simply asking Bear to do an action such as Where’s the red notebook Bear? Can you see (child’s name)? Later you can extend Bear’s function as a language assistant with question and answer routines.

• Use Bear to model good practice.

Very young learners have to get used to classroom routines. Use Bear to model behaviour such as hands-up, good listening, tidying up etc. They especially love when Bear is listening – he does this by just turning his head to look at an individual child when he or she speaks!

• Enjoy the positive atmosphere

Bear is always kind and friendly and he supports and praises children’s efforts. So as soon as he appears he brings a positive attitude with him!  A teacher explained in a recent message that it “was amazing how the children immediately understood that he was their friend, and they tried to speak more English with him and to explain more things to him.”

•  Use props

Years ago I added a simple jacket and then glasses – after that Bear acquired anything that suited our lesson topic!   The props can be whatever the children have at school or at home and any teaching material e.g. vocabulary cards, wordles, photos etc. And of course Bear always wants to go outside when the weather allows!

A big thank you  to Regina, Begoña and Lucía for permission to include their class photos.

Happy Christmas to all !

Recently some children I visited were asking lots of questions about why languages that use the same letters as English don’t all sound the same. Great question !!

In classes with lots of different mother tongues there are instant examples of what different languages sound like and children can hear how the sounds represented by the writing vary from language to language.

In monolingual classes I’ve found the language of the month page at Newbury Park Primary School website an excellent starting point for listening to the sounds of different languages. The site is a wonderful learning resource which promotes respect and understanding of other cultures and languages with lots of activities.

And of course children love making their own collections from one language or several. In this photo you can see how this class added their  ”welcome” wordle to their existing  wordle wall.

Watching children play over the summer break reminded me forcefully of its powerful place in their learning. In many countries it is assumed that by this I mean some kind of fun and entertainment whereas recently I’ve been appreciating once more how during play children use all their experiences to construct their understanding of reality. This takes on a new dimension in mixed age groups when you see younger ones watching, interpreting and constructing meaning through this sharing with the older ones.

ready for the "play"

Not for the first time I thought of Mildren Parten’s classic study of how play develops in young children – as valid today as it was in the 1920’s. For a good résumé and so much more that is really valuable – check out PsyBlog

Of course looking at how play developed during summer days set me thinking again of ways to bring this “free” cooperative play into the language classroom.  Right now Bear’s preparing materials for younger children he’s going to meet soon … more to follow!

Last week Bear was with me and a group of teachers who work with under sevens. No raspberries but a lot of talk about getting and maintaining attention in a classroom of 20 or 30 young children.  Can be a daunting task!   We all agreed on the basics

• attention levels vary depending on natural development and interest
• good sitting and good listening routines work well

Rhymes and songs that end with children ready to listen really help. Among the favourites was any variation on the simple four-line format

Show me one, show me two,

Show me a wave, look at you!

Ready to learn, ready to see

Ready to listen, now look at me!

Bear of course helps maintain attention and encourages recall when children can

• see clearly what Bear shows them.
• interact with him – moving freely to hold and examine what he gives them.
• play games that involve pointing or naming things that Bear has.

But he also holds children’s attention through individual contact and noticing. Bear always looks around the room at each child. He knows the children in the classes he visits regularly and being an observant little Bear he notices changes.  He’s as interested in the children as they are in him- and they really enjoy his attention!

A great live stream from the nest in our President’s residence - Áras an Uachtaráin can be seen at Nestcam2011.  Apart from being a marvellous view of the little swallow minding the four precious eggs, it also includes lots of information for children and teachers – and the eggs are due to hatch  in the next few days !

]]> http://www.maryslattery.org/2011/06/travel-thoughts/feed/ 0 http://www.maryslattery.org/2011/03/the-importance-of-observing/ http://www.maryslattery.org/2011/03/the-importance-of-observing/#comments Sat, 12 Mar 2011 09:45:38 +0000 Mary http://www.maryslattery.org/?p=541 When we observe someone teaching a language to young learners we see action and consequence in process.  We notice so much – how many in the class, how they are grouped, how the teacher uses the target language, how the children respond, the visuals on display and how activities are used.

Of course we normally have a definitive purpose in this task – a student teacher learning about classroom processes, a colleague assisting the regular teacher, a trainer observing a trainee. There’s often a checklist to be gone through.  But whatever the reason for the observation it allows us to imagine how we ourselves would teach.

Last week as I observed some lessons I was reminded of how valuable it can be for all teachers to have opportunities to watch themselves. Recording our lessons from time to time – by placing a camera on a desk or asking a colleague to help – gives us great opportunities to reflect on our practices. We can see so much about children’s interest and desire to be involved with the lesson – and what kind of action really helps maintain and encourage this attention.

There’s a lot to be learnt from the back of the class!

Neither Bear nor I made any resolutions – just as well perhaps!

However we are going to try to add some more info to this blog – on a more regular basis!  But not just right now because we are travelling – we will arrive at our next destination in a few days.  Bear is very excited – he’s been there before and loved everything about  the place – especially the people – so below there’s  a photo clue with a promise to write again after we arrive!

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