Animal Magic with Young Learners (by Leahn Stanhope) by Leahn Stanhope · June 21, 2010 I was initially very flattered when Barbara asked me to write a guest post, then my happy feeling turned to mild panic. Finally I just decided to write so here we are. This post is dedicated to one of my favourite ‘props’ for the young learner classroom which are SMALL PLASTIC ANIMALS. I like using a range of props which I keep in brightly coloured bags and clothes hampers. What do I mean by ‘props’? In my bag I’ve got a plastic microphone, a squeaky dogs’ toy, an assortment of hats, dressing up clothes, a picture frame, an assortment of different size puppets, fluffy dice, a countdown timer, an assortment of old watches, a blindfold, fly swatters, and a lot of plastic animals. These are just some of the props that I use. Why do I find props useful? I find props useful because they: help create a positive atmosphere focus children’s attention provide stimulus for conversation provide a focus for students’ thoughts and feelings help students express themselves stimulate interest free up students imagination liven up the learning experience and make it more FUN activate different senses and brain functions Six Activities 1. Simple Information Gap Activity This activity is great for exchanging information about animals and practices reading and speaking skills. I’ve prepared small information cards for some animals that I want my students to learn about. I put the children in pairs. One child has an information card and the other has a question card. The child with the question card asks the child with the information card the questions on their list and the child with the information card answers. It’s a simple information gap activity which gives controlled practice in exchanging information. 2. Listening Comprehension Put the children in groups and give each group three plastic animals. The animals do not have to be the same for each group. The teacher writes the name of one of the animals on a piece of paper and puts it face down on her desk. She then begins describing the animal. The children listen and decide which animal it is. After the teacher has modelled the children can take over. 3. True or False – Reading Comprehension Prepare simple information cards with five random sentences about any animal. They eat meat. They live in the jungle. They’ve got two legs. They can’t swim. They’ve got whiskers. Put the children into pairs and give them an animal and a True of False card. The children read the sentences and decide if they are true or false for the animal they’ve been given. 4. Interviews 10 Questions Improvisation and Imagination I love this activity as if gives the children a chance to let their imaginations run wild, or not. Simply ask the children what animal they would like to be and give them a plastic animal. Then in pairs they take turns asking each other questions. I have a list of questions on the wall which helps them if they need support. I really like the freedom it gives them to invent and speak in a much less teacher controlled way. The other day in a class with 11 year olds, there was a monkey who was called Juanita, who lived in the sea, but couldn’t swim and didn’t like bananas but loved pizza. 5. Running listening dictation Split the class into small groups of three or four students. Give each child a number. When you say one, the children whose number is one, run to the front of the class and you whisper a sentence to them. They have to go back to their group and whisper the sentence to another student who has to write the sentence down. If they can’t remember they come back to the front and the teacher repeats the sentence. When all of the children have had a turn they have to read the sentences in their group and see if they can try and guess the identity of the animal. It’s got four legs. It lives in Africa. It’s got a tail. It’s black and white. 6. Sentence Dash Split the class into groups of three or four children. Give each group an animal. Tell them that you’ve stuck sentences up around the room. When the teacher blows the whistle the children have to stand up and run around the room collecting as many sentences as possible. When the whistle blows again they have to sit down and count the sentences they have. Then they have to read the sentences as a group and decide whether the sentences describe the animal they have. All of these activities could be done using flashcards but I use plastic animals because they’re more fun. I once read something about the value of small objects in creating the right atmosphere and mood and I really believe it’s the small things that make the difference. I have nothing against flashcards but plastic animals are magical. Note: This article by Leahn Stanhope originally appeared on Teaching Village, and is licensed under a Creative Commons, Attribution-Non Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 License. If you wish to share it you must re-publish it “as is”, and retain any credits, acknowledgements, and hyperlinks within it. Share this:FacebookLinkedInTwitterPinterestPrintMoreEmailTumblrRedditPocket Related