Year 1: Fat cat on a Mat & I Spy an Alphabet in Art

 

How can we start to teach English to children?

With easy books of course!

The best way to introduce childrenin the English languague (phonics, phnology, vocabulary, sentences...) in through the  BOOk. 

Books help us as teachers to focus in the main parts of the structure of phrases, texts and introduce children in a easy and fun way, step by step

I'm going to use the next book "Fat Cat on a mat" to begin with.

Here there are some activities to work with young learners using kidspiration or the smartboard:

The first one is to see if children remember and have understand the story and it's sequence:

The second one is to work thw correct use of the capital letters using the story:

The third one is to work the sounds with very young learners. So, children have to think about what is the first letter and sound of the words: Snake-Bear-Pig  and order the pictures in the boxes depending of the sound which begin with

I SPY an Alphabet in Art

In this book we can work oral communication, because children have to find different objects or animals that start with the letter that the book says.
We will work all the alphabet with it, and now for example I have a lesson to work the letter "O"

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH “O”

Firstly, I going to show the picture to the children, then altogether we are going to talk about it, describe it, saying what we can see on it, feel it, using the phrase I Spy…

-Now, I going to show you a picture, okay? I need everyone be in silent now and focus in the picture for one minute long. Here it goes.

T: Time is out! Everybody saw the picture, right? So, do you remember the game I spy with my little eye something beginning with…? We were playing the last day, okay, now, who knows tell me, what things there are in the picture? I spy with my little eye something beginning with…T!

C: A table!

T: Yes!, I spy with my little eye something beginning with W!

C: A woman

T: A woman, that’s right, very good. And the woman is stand up or is sitting down?

C: Is sitting on the chair

T: Ahá, she is sitting, and she looks like happy or sad? Focus in her face and in the body…

C: She is happy

C: She is strange

T: Oh, Strange! Peter think the woman is strange, why do you thing she is strange Peter?

C: Mmmm the clothes…

T: Because her clothes? Well, you’re right. Everybody looks at the woman’s clothes, what is she wearing exactly? Looks like a strange trousers and a big coat… Why is she wearing those types of clothes? Maybe she is ill…

C: Because it’s Saturday

C: She is sleeping

T: Oh, yes, maybe it’s weekend and she is relax in her house, and she don’t have to go to work, so..She is in pajama yet! And what is she doing? There is a table in front of her with a lot of things, I spy with my little eye something beginning with B.

C: A book

T: Yes, there is a book, so she is reading, isn´t she? And for that she is happy and her face looks relaxed, and because is weekend maybe. Now, there are more things in the picture, who wants to tell me more things?

C: Plants, Fruits! Balls!

T: Plants, a lot of them, it’s really nice to see, I love plants! And fruits…and balls? Who see balls in the picture? Clara, are you seeing balls? Where? Show me…

Ooh on the table! and Who said fruits? Where are the fruits?

On the table too!! So, look with attention the table, there are yellow and orange things, circle things on the table…mmm Can be balls maybe, but balls are completely round, but in the picture are different sides…Furthermore fruit is not completely round, like in the picture.. What type of fruit can be? Oscar, can you say the letter of a fruit that you think? I spy with my little eye something beginning with…

C: "L"

T: Oh, “L”? mmm, maybe you think about lemons? Because the yellow?

C: Yes!

T: Great, maybe can be lemons, who wants tell us another fruit? I spy with my little eye something beginning with…

C: O

T: Oh, with “O” that’s interesting, anyone can help me to guess it?

C: Orange!

T: Perfect!, maybe by the colours and sides can be oranges! I have pictures in here of the oranges, are they similar to the picture?  It´s quite similar, isn’t it?

T: So, in the picture there is a woman, wearing a pajama because it’s Saturday or Sunday, She is calm and reading a book on the table and there are plants around her and there are oranges as well. Very good…! And now, thinking about the picture and the oranges, Have you ever make orange-juice at home? with your parents maybe?

C: Yes! Yes!

T: It’s really nice and healthy boys and girls! Maybe the woman in the picture is going to make orange juice after reading the book…  Oranges, oranges… look; it is the same word to describe a colour and a type of fruit! 

T: And, Which is the first letter in ORANGE? “O”, yes how we pronoun it? “Ou” Excellent, which is the second letter? “R”  and how we pronoun it? “Arr” and the next one? “A” and how we pronoun it? “Aaa”.

And the others? “Nnn”…. “Yiiii”… “Iiiii”.  And if we blend all the sounds and say it altogether “Ou….rrr….aaa….nnn…yiii…iiii”.  “Orange”

La palabra “orange” es difícil para los niños de pronunciar, ya que las letras “G” y “E” suenan en esta palabra como “CH Así su representación fonética sería /ˈɒrɪndʒ/

T: Now, Anyone knows more words beginning with the letter “O”? For example: “oven” where we cook meals…

C: October, olives

T: The month October, great, more words! And Olives! mmm so tasty, What about animals? Think in animals!

C:  Owl, Octopus, Orangutan

T: Very good! And the Octopus lives in the Ocean! Clever boys and girls! What about old? It’s an adjective, people can be young like a baby or old like an ancient… another word…Oh yes! Look this box, now is closed, but if you want to take something that is inside, you…

C: Open the box

T: Exactly, you open the box! So “Open” is another word beginning with O.  And if I take this pen and I put it in the box, the pen is inside the box, isn’t it? But if I take it from the box, the pen is…?

C: Out

T: Perfect, the pen is outside the box!. And what else? For example with the lights! When we need light in the class, the lights are “On” and when we don’t need the light, they are “Off” Wow! Now, everybody prepared yourself because we are listening to a song:

T: We have spoken a lot today, now we are going to let our tongue rest for a while. Let’s do an exercise with the letter “O”

I made a little story to work with the children the letter O using words that they know and we can practice the word level with “O-words”  (otter, on, off, one, ocean… ) later.

Teacher: Now, We are going to read a story and there are some of the words learning before in the story. Let’s see:

T: Perfect, we know Otto’s story now and there are quite words beginning with the letter “O”, isn’t it? We can play and practice the pronunciation of these words with the next sheets:

T: That was perfect everybody!, There is another exercise to do, there is a enormous sea in here, and there are four letters “O” alone. All of you have to put each letter “O” in the correct word, not all the words need it,

Clic to see all the activities
Clic to see all the activities