This Year Isn’t What We Signed Up For

2 months ago Jordan DeWilde

1 Comment

Educators have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions since schools first began to close in March. As more information came out about COVID-19, school districts began to develop their own plans for remote learning. At the time, many of us believed this would be temporary. We were told we would be shut down for a couple of weeks. The return date was delayed again and again. Eventually, many of us accepted that this pandemic would keep us home through the end of the school year.

We have been feeling this way for a while now. This isn’t what we signed up for.
A New Beginning
Romanticizing Our Past
Worrying About What’s Ahead
Toxic Positivity
Let’s Be Real
What small victories have you experienced this year?
What do you miss most from pre-COVID teaching?Jordan DeWilde
Contributor

Looking back, that finality of our circumstances was comforting. There was an end in sight. We weren’t happy about it, but soon it would all be over. We had bittersweet feelings as the school year ended without any closure or celebration. The summer months gave us some relief, but rumors about the coming school year were relentless. Just hearing the potential plans was stressful for many. How were we to keep our students safe? Who were we to look to for answers? Again, information varied and changed frequently.

The typical back-to-school season lost its hopeful shine and was replaced with crippling anxiety. The job we all knew and loved was barely recognizable as we returned to work in the fall. Many of us put on a brave face and tried to be optimistic. We adapted. We pivoted. We put our best foot forward. Yet, no amount of planning or positive thought would sustain us.

There was no universally shared experience for art teachers to reference, with every school district making their own plans and policies. Some of us remain teaching remotely; some are fully teaching in-person, while others teach in a hybrid model. Even within those three classifications, there are a wide variety of restrictions, schedules, and challenges. No one knows what they’re doing. We’re all just trying the best we can without a manual.

Singer Joni Mitchell says, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t knowwhat you got ’til it’s gone.” Human nature tells us to compare this new reality to what was once familiar. Before the pandemic, teaching had its challenges and frustrations, but those seem to pale in comparison now. We are constantly judging ourselves, our curriculum, and our student engagement with how we used to teach before.

Months ago, we may have been concerned with over-crowded classrooms, disruptive students, or an imperfect schedule. Today, as we sit in front of a computer screen, teaching to quiet, faceless boxes, many of us would give anything to return to the way things were. Of course, we are finding new ways to engage with students. We do our best to get them talking and interacting with one another. It’s different, and it’s hard not to compare our experience to what we’ve always known as teachers and students.

We may need to consider truly practicing mindfulness and being present in today. We have to let go of our previous curriculum. Those conditions simply do not exist anymore and probably won’t for quite some time. You may find it best to act as a new teacher approaching a new job. Essentially, that’s what all of us are continuing to do this year. We may find it easier to start from scratch than modify what we have done before. We can’t force a square peg in a round hole, even if we try to sand the corners off.

While last spring was certainly a challenge, we had an end in sight. Whether it was a proposed return date or the end of the school year, we believed it wouldn’t last forever. This year is a different story. For many of us, there is no end in sight. There’s a growing concern that these changes at work are not going away in the foreseeable future. As colleagues and officials warn that we may continue working in restricted environments well into the next school year, our hearts sink.

We so badly want to believe that this nightmare will soon be over, and we can wake up to our beloved classrooms full of student smiles. That end in sight, that glimmer of hope, was motivating before. “This is only temporary,” and, “When we come back…” are phrases we hear less frequently and with less certainty.

Again, being present in the moment may be the only solution to lift us out of this dread. Rather than finding motivation from a return to normalcy, we can celebrate smaller victories in our new classrooms. When a student asks if they can share something they drew with the class over Zoom, make a big deal out of it! Hold onto those moments when you see or hear students succeeding. Let these interactions recharge you when you’re feeling discouraged. The job has changed, but you are still positively impacting students!

Earlier this year, Julie Mason wrote a viral article titled, “Are TeachersOk? No, and Toxic Positivity Isn’t Helping,” In the article, she defined toxic positivity as when we focus on the positive, but in doing so, ignore our negative feelings. These bottled up feelings grow to become bigger problems the longer that they go unchecked.

Teachers are generally positive people to begin with. We chose a career to help young people discover a creative way to express themselves and to help them improve those skills. We love our jobs! No job comes without challenges, though. No job is free of disappointments, frustrations, and heartaches.

For some reason, teachers are expected to remain positive through it all. Not only is there an expectation to be positive, but also to work longer hours, take on additional duties, and live and breathe the life of a teacher 24/7. Our careers do not define us. We genuinely love teaching art, but we also love our families. We enjoy caring for our pets, taking time to ourselves, and a variety of hobbies and interests that have nothing to do with school. We need to remember to take care of our whole selves now more than ever.

When you decided to pursue a degree in education, this was not what you had in mind. When you started your career in teaching, this is not what you had your heart set on. As you progressed in your career and gained experience, this is not what you wanted to do.

None of us could have imagined the conditions we would face this year. This isn’t what we signed up for. This isn’t the job we loved.

We have to look closely to find those moments, those sparks of magic that only come from being an art teacher. They’re still there! They just look and feel different.

Final Thoughts

Remember that it’s okay to be discouraged, to feel less than positive about your current circumstances. You don’t have to be perfect. You only need to show up and be your best for your students. You will continue to give them the best art education experience you can within the limits of your control. Don’t tell yourself you have to do it all. Do the job to the best of your ability. Find small victories in your teaching and interactions with students. This is not what you signed up for, but it’s still the best job in the world for you.

How are you taking care of your emotional health?

 

Jordan DeWilde currently teaches high school art in Oregon, Illinois. He strives to develop lessons with positive representations of diverse artists and issues. His mission is to encourage students’ individual creativity through an inclusive curriculum.

MORE FROM JORDAN 

Source: https://theartofeducation.edu/2020/11/17/why-this-year-isnt-what-we-signed-up-for/

How to Drill: Drilling Activities for Your English Classroom

 By: Tara Arntsen
http://busyteacher.org/3812-how-to-drill-drilling-activities-for-your-english.html

After introducing new vocabulary words, grammar points, or sentence structures, you have to drill them with your class.

There are many ways to drill new material. Using a variety of drilling methods in your classes will help make this portion of the lesson more interesting and keep students focused.

How To Proceed

1. Choral Repetition
Choral repetition is a commonly used method of drilling. Students simply have to repeat words or phrases after you. This is a good method because it means that students are given excellent model pronunciation immediately before they are asked to respond. Going through vocabulary this way many times in a single lesson will be boring for your students and they will be less inclined to perform well. Break up the monotony by changing the speed or volume you use and have students change their responses accordingly. Using this method, students are not called on individually to pronounce words therefore you will need to check individual pronunciation and comprehension separately. Integrating these checks into your drill activities will keep students alert because they will never know when you may call on them.

2. Drilling with Flashcards
Drilling using flashcards can be useful as well. In the introduction, show students both the image and word sides of each flashcard. When you start drilling words for the first time, show students the word side of the flashcard so they can practice reading and pronouncing it. Later on, rather than show students the word you want them to pronounce, show them the image. This will help check their comprehension of the material. With flashcards, you can also challenge your students when they become more familiar with certain vocabulary by flipping through the cards at a faster rate.

3. Comprehension
Asking for volunteers or calling on students to give you a synonym, antonym, or translation of a new vocabulary word will check individual comprehension. It is always nice to ask for volunteers as opposed to calling on students individually but generally a volunteer will be more confident in his answer so this will not properly show whether or not the class understands the material. When you find it necessary to single out particular students who are not participating in drill activities, calling on them for answers is an easy method of focusing their attention on the lesson. Doing comprehension checks is also a good way to break up the drill activities a bit.

4. Drilling in Pairs
As material becomes more familiar, you may want to conduct short pair activities where a student’s comprehension is tested by his partner. To do this with a vocabulary list for instance, have student A read the translation of each word in random order while the student B says the word in English. Student A can then place a checkmark next to all the words student B got correct and then the students can switch roles. With this method students can check each other and have visual proof of how well they performed afterwards which they can refer to when practicing material on their own or preparing for exams. Conducting an activity such as this on a regular basis will help students review vocabulary often and should not take more than five minutes even with fifteen to twenty vocabulary words. It may still be necessary to practice using choral repetition before performing pair activities so that students are reminded of the proper pronunciation of the vocabulary.

5. Games
Breaking your classroom up into sections where each section says one portion of a new structure is another way of drilling material. In small classes you can conduct some drilling activities in a circle. The more variation there is to an activity, the more students have to pay attention but it is best to start off with the simplest, easiest variation of a game and build on it as opposed to trying to explain a complex activity from the very beginning. Challenging students but not overwhelming them is important in maintaining their attention and participation.

Drilling is generally not the most fun part of teaching or learning English but it is an essential step when learning new material. Varying your approach can make it more enjoyable and encourage students to participate more fully.

5 Must-Have Habits for Every New Teacher

The Uncomfortable Truth and 5 Must-Have Habits for Every New Teacher
 By: Graham Dixon

The last few days before your first ever class were probably a pretty anxious time.

I’m sure there was excitement, too, and hopefully the sense that this was a very worthwhile challenge. I’ve coached many new teachers through this often awkward period in their professionals lives, and over the years, four vital skills areas have stood out. I’d like to call them: Student-Centeredness, Awareness, Professionalism and Techniques.

Learning to teach well takes time, of course, but most of all it takes practice.
Learning to teach well takes time, of course, but most of all it takes practice. In my sessions with the trainees, I wanted to use their practice lessons to review some fundamentals, and put theories to the test in a genuine classroom context. By rooting my advice in the basic philosophy of teaching, I could continuously draw the students’ attention to the central planks of our professional mindset:

5 Good Habits for New Teachers

1
Student-Centeredness: A Guiding Philosophy
There’s an awful lot to learn during a CELTA course, or a PGCE course at a British university, and even more if you’re an undergraduate student of education. But if my trainees can leave with this guiding principle installed, I tend to believe that they’ll find out the rest on their own. I never stop referring to student-centeredness; it crops up in discussions and feedback, and aspects of it are used to decorate my classroom walls on posters or drawings, just to remind everyone to keep the student at the center of everything.

Too many teachers regard their students as an obstacle of some sort, and I believe it’s important to bring humanism, compassion and empathy to the teaching and learning processes.
Student-Centered learning is proving both superior to its forebears, and a far more enjoyable teaching and learning experience. To really drive this idea home, I remind trainees to see their students as individuals who are tackling an objective, rather than as merely the recipients of today’s lesson. Too many teachers regard their students as an obstacle of some sort, and I believe it’s important to bring humanism, compassion and empathy to the teaching and learning processes.

This one notion permeates all of our training sessions. It is exactly why I insist that my trainees ask their students lots of questions, and genuinely check the understanding of new material. It is why I urge the use of more enlightened, thoughtful discipline measures, and condemn the use of homework as a punishment. It is also why I insist that my trainees are thoroughly rehearsed and prepared.

2
Awareness of Your Students
After practice teaching sessions, I discuss the lesson with my trainee while watching a video of the class. This is always a slightly uncomfortable experience for a new teacher, but it’s so useful that I wouldn’t do without it. One way of using the video is to pause the recording every few minutes and ask, “What’s happening in your classroom?”

We use these moments to remind trainees that they need to be aware of what’s happening on every desk, and in every conversation.
A quick survey is revealing. It might be that not everyone is paying attention when they should; perhaps some are doodling or otherwise looking bored. Others are engaged, but they’re rather monopolizing the teacher’s time, while on the other side of the classroom, another group has wandered off topic.

We use these moments of 20/20 hindsight to remind trainees that they need to be aware of what’s happening on every desk, and in every conversation, for as much of the class as possible. It’s a skill which develops steadily as teachers gain experience, but those initial reminders, however uncomfortable, work wonders. Reflecting on one’s own teaching in this way helps develop a ‘radar’ for the classroom environment, and eventually it becomes second nature.

3
Awareness of Yourself
This is where things can get really uncomfortable. No one likes to be criticized, and so in this particular area, I’m always careful to phrase my feedback as positively as possible (‘Feel free to move away from your desk for a while’) rather than as a prohibition (‘Don’t just sit there while your students are doing whatever they want, ten meters away).

Watching their own teaching, my trainees almost invariably find that they speak too quickly, too much, or at a level which is too advanced for their students. This is entirely natural, but the process of correcting these traits needs to begin immediately. Have your students consider the ‘Interaction Patterns’ of the class and adjust their class structure so that most of their presentation is completed near the beginning, when the students’ attention span and energy levels are at their most conducive.

Also, I have my students practice multiple ways of explaining the class content, whatever it might be. This is best exemplified by a modified version of the game ‘Taboo’, where the player must elicit a word from the audience without using a set of other words – often those most related to the target word. I use this game a lot, because it teaches my trainees to avoid using new words to teach new words, and practices a little lateral thinking when it comes to expressing the day’s content.

4
Professionalism
For some teachers, going to work each day is little more than a means of paying the rent. I understand this view entirely, and began in much the same way, but after twenty years as a classroom teacher, my professional attitude has developed significantly. I view the teaching profession as on a par with medicine, law and the military as a (potentially) multi-decade career choice which grows from ‘vocation’ to ‘profession’, and eventually to a ‘lifestyle’. Some teachers end up truly living and breathing their work, undertaking a ceaseless search for new methods or techniques, and talking about little else all day (probably to the growing irritation of their partners). They’re the backbone of global teaching, and deserve our thanks and praise.

But for new teachers, none of these developments will make a lot of sense. I’ve had trainees tell me, “I just want to have fun in the classroom, help the students out, get my paycheck and go home.” What right do we have, I remember thinking, to expect lifelong devotion from a trainee in the third week of their training course? This isn’t the Jedi order, after all; it’s just CELTA.

Of course. But little techniques and reminders will yield huge dividends:

Thorough, conscientious lesson planning
An open attitude to feedback and professional development
Careful paperwork, records and attendance
Good humor, a willingness to laugh at oneself (including when the teacher has made a mistake), and a ready smile
A genuine interest in language: how it works, why it changes, and how to express and explain it concisely.
My trainees know all about these precepts, and I bring one or more of them into every feedback session and training session.

Good preparedness is part of a contract I believe all teachers enter into. Their students have agreed to study; we must then respond to their endeavor and willingness by preparing very thoroughly for the class. The sense that both teachers and students are working hard for each other is a priceless and hard-won aspect of the most successful classroom environments.

And so, after ten days of being constantly asked, “Show me your plan,” my students tend to relent and agree to carefully plan every lesson they teach. The positive effects are hard to overstate.

5
Techniques That Work
It’s best if our trainees finish the course with a small but useful armory of tried-and-tested teaching techniques. From this initial basis, they can branch out, research, experiment, observe others, and build up their own repository of methods, materials, plans and examples. The basic package, for me, includes:

A reflective, honest method of self-evaluation; a readiness to record themselves (preferably both audio and video)
A willingness to ask for help, and to be observed
The habit of counting how many questions they ask, and a resolution to ask more in each class
Systems for ensuring student equality, randomizing question patterns, giving suitable praise and monitoring activities.
We can’t hope to equip our trainees with everything they’ll need in professional life, but we can instill a guiding philosophy of honesty, preparedness and openness.

Our trainees will make plenty of mistakes in their first years – we did too – and each should be regarded as a learning opportunity, and certainty not as a reason to give up and leave the challenge of teaching to someone else. A good plan, well-prepared materials and explanations, and a sense of humor will see ours students through most of the initial challenges. After that, they’ll be in a position to build their own professional competence, and to begin to excel in the classroom.

Top 10 Lesson Time Fillers Ideas

When you are ready for the bell but the bell is not quite ready for you, try one of the following time fillers to keep your class busy until it is time to dismiss.
Try These Top 10 Time Fillers With Your Class!

 

1. Twenty Questions

    Do you remember car trips as a child playing twenty questions in the back seat? You think of a person or object and your siblings have twenty opportunities to ask yes/no questions to determine what object you are thinking of. This is an easy and short activity for you to do with your ESL class when you have a few minutes to spare. The first time you play, your students will need specific direction as to the types of questions to ask. You should help them understand how to ask strategic questions to identify the object. The more practice you give your students with this activity, the better they will get at it, and before long they will be begging you to play!
 

2. Pictionary

    No matter what you are currently studying in class, you most likely have a list of vocabulary your students need to learn. When that is the case, a few minutes at the end of class is a great opportunity for either of these two vocabulary revision activities. Have your current vocabulary list written on index cards that you can use at a moment’s notice. Then, when you have a few minutes, have one student come up to the board and select one of the vocabulary words. Set a timer for between one and three minutes, depending on how difficult you want to make the activity, and allow him to draw pictures to try to get the class to guess the word. His classmates can call out their guesses while he draws. He is not allowed to use any letters, numbers or symbols as he draws. If his classmates correctly guess the word, you can either give another person a turn or have him select a second word. As you study more vocabulary throughout the year, add those words to your collection. By the end of the year, you will have all your vocabulary words collected ready for a review.
 

3. Charades

    The second vocabulary revision activity is similar. You can play a few rounds of charades with your students in a similar manner to the Pictionary activity. Use the same vocabulary cards, but this time have your student or students act out the vocabulary word rather than draw it. Either you can have one person act out the word for the entire class or have two people act out the word for one half of the class. As is traditional with charades, the actor cannot say anything. The first group to guess the word wins a point. If you like, keep a running score for the two teams for a month at a time and then award prizes at the end of the month. Then you can switch up your teams and seating arrangement for the next month’s competition.
 

 4. Write a Communal story

    With a few extra minutes, you can also have your class work together to write a communal story. Start with one sentence on the board. Have your students take turns coming up to the board and adding one sentence to the story. Each person will be able to use his or her creativity to further the story, and the whole class can make sure the grammar is correct with each addition. The more often you do this, the more creative your students will become in their additions. It will be fun for your class to see just how crazy they can get and still keep a logical plot.
 

 5, Why/Because

    This silly little game has the potential for some laughs with your students. Give each person two index cards or two small scraps of paper. On one card, each person should write a question that begins with the word ‘why’. Then on the second piece of paper, each person should answer his or her question starting with the word ‘because’. Then collect all the why’s in one pile and all the because’s in another. Mix up each pile and then read one why card with one because card. The combinations can be very funny, and then after reading all the random match ups you can have your students match the correct answers with the correct questions.
 

6. Would You Rather

    This activity is a good one for getting to know your students better. Keep a list of questions for your students starting with “Would you rather…” For example, you may ask, “Would you rather be a leader or a follower? Would you rather eat ice cream or cake? Would you rather have a cat or a dog?” You can be straightforward with your questions or be creative and out of the box. Ask your class a question and have your students move to one side of the room if they answer one way, the other side of the room if they answer the other way. Then ask random students on each side to explain why they chose the answer that they did. You can do as many or as few questions as you have time for. You may learn some interesting facts about your students and their preferences with this activity.
 

7. Telephone

    This old-fashioned game can get new life in the ESL classroom. Have your students arrange themselves in a circle around the room. Come up with a long sentence yourself or have one of your students do it (check to make sure it is grammatical) and whisper it in the ear of the first student in the circle. The listening student then has one opportunity to whisper it in the ear of the next student. The process continues around the circle until it reaches the last person. That person then says the sentence aloud to the class. You should then tell the class what the original sentence was. Your class will be surprised at how much the sentence changed as it travelled around the circle. If you like, challenge your students to be as careful as they can when speaking and listening and see if the sentence can make it around the circle with minimal change.
 

8. White Board Slam

    This activity will increase your students’ vocabulary as well as fill time at the end of class. Start by writing a word on the board that contains four letters. You can start with anything. Then, challenge your students to come up and change only one letter of the word to make a new word. If someone has an answer, have him come up and make the change. Then have another student come up and change the word again. See how many different combinations your students can come up with by changing one letter at a time with no word repeats. Also, give them the opportunity to ask for a definition of any of the words that they may not know throughout the activity.
 
9. Open Question Session

    Sometimes just a simple opportunity to ask questions can benefit your class. If you have a few minutes,open the floor for your students to ask you questions. They can be about material you have covered in class, situations they have encountered that may be unfamiliar culturally, new vocabulary words, or any of many other possibilities. Likely, the question that one student asks will lead to another from a second student. Everyone will benefit from hearing the answers, and some students may even be able to answer questions of their fellow students. If so, let them share from their knowledge and experience. If no one has the answer but you, share it with your class and be glad that the question opened the chance to share.

10. Read Aloud Comprehension

    If you have a newspaper or magazine with short articles handy, you can also use this to fill a few minutes in your class. Read aloud a short passage and ask your students to relate back what they heard or answer comprehension questions. You can never give your students too many opportunities to practice their listening skills, so the next time you have a few minutes, read a paragraph or two from the paper and ask your student what the article is about, what they know about the situation from what they heard, what they think the rest of the article is about, and what else they would like to know from the rest of the article.

Having some unplanned time at the end of class is not necessarily a bad thing for your students.

Make the most of the minutes by using one of these engaging and entertaining time filling techniques. You will be surprised at how quickly the time passes.

How to Use A Ball In Your ESL Classroom

ESL students have to make the effort to complete tasks, do homework and study. But when it comes to providing fun, challenging activities that will motivate them to learn, the ball is in your court.

And while we’re on the subject…here are some great activities for your ESL class that will only require a ball.

How to Use A Ball In Your ESL Classroom

1. Spelling Ball

This game is as simple as ABC. Have your students stand in a big circle. Say a word and toss the ball to one of your students. Student says the first letter of the word and tosses the ball to a classmate, who has to say the second letter, and then tosses the ball to another. Students who make a mistake must sit down and play starts again with the teacher. The last student standing is the winner!

2. Shoot for Points

Set up a trash can, bin, or any container that will serve as your “basket”. Students line up. Choose a topic or grammar point, for example Past Simple. Ask each student a question: Where did you go last weekend? If student uses the verb in simple past correctly, they may shoot for points: 10 points if they score; 5 if they miss, but answered the question correctly.

3. Choose Your Victim

This is a great way to make a Q &A session more “active”. Students stand in a circle. Give them a grammar point to practice through questions, for example, tell them to ask questions with “ever” so they practice Present Perfect. First student asks a question with “ever” (Have you ever been to London?) and tosses the ball to a classmate who must answer correctly to stay in the game and earn the right to ask a question. Those who make a mistake must leave the circle.

4. Freeze!

This game is ideal for little ones! Practice vocabulary with flashcards. First, teach students the meaning of “Freeze!” as stop. Students sit in a wide circle with a set of flashcards in the center. Students pass the ball around the circle. Tell them they can’t hold the ball for more than a second. Cover your eyes while they do this and say, “Freeze!” The student who has the ball must stop and take a flashcard from the pile. Depending on your students’ ages and level, ask them to either say the word or use it in a sentence.

5. It’s a bomb!

This is a great way for students to introduce themselves and learn their classmates’ names in a first lesson. Also a fun way to practice or review possessive pronouns! Have students sit in a circle. Give one of them the ball, and say, “It’s a bomb! The timer is ticking (use an egg timer!)” Tell them they have to say their name, pass the ball, and say their classmate’s name: My name is Juan. Your name is Maria. The student who has the “bomb” when the timer goes off, leaves the circle. Have students re-arrange themselves in the circle so they’re sitting next to different students, and start again.*

6. Description Dodgeball

Use a very light, soft ball for this game, as students will be trying to hit each other! Have students line up on one side of the classroom (if you can play this in the schoolyard, better!) One student stands in the front next to you holding the ball. Describe one of the students in your class: This student is the tallest in the class. The student you are describing has to run to avoid being hit by the student with the ball. If the student is hit, he/she becomes the next thrower. You may also have students wear tags with names of cities, animals, or places for you to describe.

7. Basketball Dare

Practice giving commands. Set up a “basket” far enough away for it to be a challenge, but not impossible for students to score. Students line up and shoot for the basket. If students score, they get to give you a command you must follow: “Walk like a monkey”, “Say something in Chinese”, “Stand on one foot for 30 seconds”, etc… Make sure you establish some ground rules, for example, students can’t give you commands that involve shouting, leaving the classroom, etc…

So, sometimes low tech is better, right? With this article, we’ve proven to you that even the most financially lacking classrooms or schools can still provide fun, creative activities for their ESL students.

8 Items You Should Have with you in your classroom

If you teach ESL, odds are you have some pretty standard items in your classroom.

Very few teachers will attempt educating young minds without text books, a white board or chalk board, pencils, paper, and your other classroom standards. But what you may not have are some less than typical who-thought-of-using-this-for-educational-purposes items. If you don’t, you may not realize how useful these items can be in teaching English to young learners. How many of these items in the ESL teacher’s ultimate bag of tricks do you have handy?

8 Items You Should Have In Your Ultimate Bag of Tricks:

1. Music CDs

You might have recorded dialogues ready for class and even have them cued up to the right track. But do you have music CDs in your classroom? Young learners love to learn along with music. There are so many ways you can use a CD in your classroom. Not only can you teach interesting and unusual vocabulary through song lyrics, you can also get your students up and moving, following directions in the song (e.g. if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands, shake your sillies out, etc.) And since one of the seven learning styles is musical, playing theses CDs in class will engage some learners in the best way they can learn. Once your students are familiar with the melody of some favorite songs, try changing the lyrics to teach grammar points or tie in with whatever subject you are studying in class these days.

2. Puppets

My local library has a large collection of hand puppets. You might wonder what puppets have to do with books and learning, but they are a great asset for the ESL teacher. One of the most straightforward ways to use puppets is to model dialogues for your students. But just having puppets on hand during free learning periods will encourage your students to talk with one another through these colorful characters. You don’t have to purchase expensive puppets, either. Try making some in class as an art project which will also give your students listening practice following the directions you give.

3. Balls

Beach balls, sponge balls, ping-pong balls, wadded up pieces of paper…you are missing out if you don’t have a collections of balls in your classroom. Balls can be used so many ways in your ESL classroom, I won’t go into them all here. But check  ideas on using these go to fun machines in your ESL class.

4. Stuffed Animals

Sometimes we all need a little bit of comfort, and stuffed animals might be just what the doctor ordered for some of your young ESL students. But don’t limit stuffed animals to boo-boo therapy. Try teaching prepositions with one or two stuffed animals and another classroom object such as a pencil. You can use stuffed animals when teaching descriptive words or comparative and superlative adjectives. And of course, your young learners will love using stuffed animals for dialogue practice and conversation practice just as they do the puppets you have on hand.

5. Dice

I love dice! It’s not because I’m a gambler. Nothing is father from the truth. But dice are great for games in the ESL class. Use them to practice numbers, but don’t stop there. Make book exercises more fun by having students roll the dice to see what question they should answer. Keep some white board dice handy and write vocabulary words that students will roll and give synonyms or antonyms for. Or put small pictures on your dice and have students make up stories including the elements you drew on the dice. For other great ideas on how to use dice, check out this article.

6. Art Supplies

Kids love to be creative, so make sure you keep a supply of colored pencils, markers, paints, paper, glue, scissors, and any other art materials you can find. Art is great for expressing feelings and thoughts. Drawing pictures can let you know what students understand even when they can’t express themselves in words. And students love to illustrate stories or draw pictures and label vocabulary items in their pictures. Art projects are great for talking about color, texture, and shape, and going through how to do a specific project is always good for seeing how well students can follow directions.

7.Stickers

Ok, I’ll admit stickers are pretty common in young classrooms, but are you using them for more than just decorating a well completed paper? Try using stickers for comparative statements or to talk about how something looks. Let students put a few stickers on a page and then draw picture around them, then use that picture as inspiration for a story. Put stickers on students’ backs and have them mingle and ask each other yes/no questions till they figure out what sticker is on their back for a fun and simple speaking activity. Use stickers to make flashcards and memory games. Best of all, stickers are super inexpensive, and you can keep a steady supply for both rewards and creative activities.

8. Small Prizes

I’ll never forget the cardboard treasure chest my dentist had when I was growing up. After every checkup, each patient got to choose a prize from the treasure chest. Inside were stickers, beads, pencil sharpeners, and all sorts of simple little prizes. You will do well to have something similar in your classroom to motivate your students. Kids love to get stuff, even if that stuff costs next to nothing. You can reward students for good performance, for class participation, for raising good questions in class, or for any of a number of other positive behaviors. Have team competitions and reward the winners with a prize from your box.

If you have all of these items in your classroom, I know your students will love the fun and creativity you bring to class.