I've completed one week, with two classes of an hour, with my class of 4 year olds so far. I kicked off both classes with a 'song' I made up because there wasn't one like it in the book we use, which is called "Little Elephant". My extremely simple song repeats the phrase "Hello, hello! What's your name?" three times, before I ask one of them "What's your name?". Then we all wave at them and shout "Hello!" in a very happy, noisy and friendly manner.
In the second class they were easily able to recognise the fact that I was asking for their name, though in the first one it took some repetition, gesticulation and encouragement before any of them responded. In the second class they also responded quite confidently by saying their name. As expected though, none of them has yet attempted to use the "My name is…" part which I model for them when giving my own name. After they say their name I say "Ah, your name is X!" and say "Let's say hello to X", so they are getting a lot of repetitive language input.
In the first class, after this intro routine, I continued by introducing some colours. I used flashcards and we did a whispering/ shouting drill, so (most of them) repeated the words I was saying at different volumes - they loved the shouting and the whispering part brings back the calm. Some of their attempts bore little relation to my example, but never mind! I attempted an activity which had the flashcards on the floor and them touching the cards as I said the words, but only one or two of them could really manage it. Then I invented what I'm going to call the 'Helicopter Pointing' activity on the spot (it's amazing what comes to you in the classroom!). We sat on the rug in the centre of the classroom after I had stuck the colour flashcards to the wall. Then I demonstrated how they should point their index finger out and spin their arm round while making a "woo, woo, woo" siren type of noise. Then I say a colour and they have to point to the correct card! Great fun, I tell ya! Some of them could manage this ok (copying my pointing rather than recognising which card was which), but most of them either sat and watched or just did the spinning bit. This is all fine, of course, because I'll repeat the activity in the future and eventually they'll all become more familiar with it and the language.
The rest of the class was based around an idea given to me by one of the other teachers - it's always nice to get a first class activity from someone who knows the level well. They drew round their hands (as best they could, copying my demonstration), coloured the fingers and palm with different colours, cut the hand out (sort of! I wasn't expecting them to manage the fingers, so I modelled it as a big circle really) and then I stuck the hand to a straw with a piece of tape. Then they could wave their hands and say hello and goodbye. This task was actually too difficult for most of them, but it gave me a very good idea of their abilities in terms of colouring, cutting and following demonstrations and instructions. All but one of them (who destroyed her own hand as well as my example that I'd given her!) ended up with a coloured thing that to a greater or lesser extent resembled a hand and so they could wave to their parents when they were picked up from the classroom and say hello, while saying goodbye to me and each other.
In terms of behaviour, there have been moments when some of them either pay little or no attention, wander off by themselves or sit and sing to themselves in their own little world. One of them likes to shake his head from side to side while occasionally making a humming noise! As far as I can gather, this is all par for the course and my expectations for an organised classroom should be tempered to allow for this individualistic behaviour. The philosophy we have at our school with these youngsters is that we are giving them exposure to English by giving them an opportunity to hear the language and get used to its sounds and rhythms. It is very informal and the number one priority is for them to ENJOY the experience of being in a classroom where a different language is spoken. There is no point in me having high expectations and a formal lesson plan is unlikely to ever be completed perfectly with this age group and that's what I like, I love the flexibility. When they were getting restless I just got them up and had them jumping, running, walking (while I chanted "jump, jump, jump", for example) then standing completely still when I said "Stop!" TPR - you can't beat it!
By the end of the year they will all have learnt something, I hope, possibly with a significant difference between the weakest to the strongest, I'm not sure yet. By the end of the year, if they have enjoyed the lessons and become comfortable with an English speaking teacher, then I think that is a good enough start to their language learning experience.
Thanks to Simon, T and Nat for help and ideas! : )
