Fun Activities for very young learners

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Fun Activities for very young learners

• By Miriam
  DAmico

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What kind of activity is a task?
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Will the activity engage learners' interest? Is
there a primary focus on meaning? Is there a
goal? Is there an outcome? Is success judged
in terms of outcome? Is completion a priority?
Does the activity relate to real world
activities?
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The more confidently you can answer yes to each
of these questions, the more task-like the
activity.
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Activities like the following generally have the
potential to become effective tasks Listing
and/or brainstormingOrdering and sorting
Matching Learning from exposure Problem
solving Sharing personal experiences and
storytelling Comparing finding similarities
and differences
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Ordering and sorting
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Learning from exposure
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Matching
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Sharing personal experiences
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• Communicative activities have the following
  characteristics
• They are purposeful.
• They are beyond strictly practicing particular
  structures.
• They are interactive.
• The activities are often conducted with others
  and often involve some form of discussion.
• Authentic materials are used.
• The situations in which the learners have to use
  language should be as realistic as possible.
• The language models given should be authentic.
• They are based on the information gap principle.
  

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How to plan the activities Stirrers and Settlers
for the Primary Classroom

• Teachers need to take many factors into
  consideration
• when planning
• a balanced primary lesson
• and it is important to plan varied lessons.

• Different kinds of activities to practice the
  different skills
• need to be balanced against each other.

• Teachers need to be aware that children have
• a much shorter concentration span than adults
• and this will affect the number of different
  activities
• we plan for a single lesson.

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Settling studentsSettlers' are activities
which are designed to calm students down and
settle them into a routine. Basic classroom
management and routines are essential to
establish as a pre-requisite for learning. Make
sure children know what the routine is when they
arrive in class e.g. coats off, books out. Have
a clear signal to get the children's attention
and make sure children know what it is. Clap your
hands, say a signal word clearly and hold up your
hand, sing a song.
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Settling Activities

• Wordplay activities
• Whole-class listening activities or games
• Arts and Crafts activities
• Read and draw activities
• Use stories or storybooks

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Stirring Activities

• Mingles or surveys
• Use action/movement games
• Use songs, chants and raps
• Use drama/acting out
• Make the most of technology

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Songs and problem solving