Picture Writing
May 11, 2011 § 5 Comments
This is another activity I have used for working on the kids spelling and writing skills. We did the bear hunt, and after pre-teaching the vocabulary and acting out the story I wanted them to have a written record of the new words. So I had a template prepared with the house, the path, the river etc. To make the task clear for the children, I had actually finished one myself so that they had a visual aid. I wrote the words on the board for the children to copy. And this is what the final product of one of my students looks like:
For anybody who doesn’t know the bear hunt at all, here a link to Michael Rosen’s version (mine differs a bit, but there are a lot of similarities). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc0U2WAz4s
The Hedgehog Blog 
This is an awesome activity!! Probably won’t use it with my Prep School Students this year, but I think I’m moving to elementary next year, and I will have to keep this in mind! Thanks!
[…] 1. The Hedgehog Blog’s Picture Writing: This is a super awesome idea to use in a YL class! I think it is a wonderful activity, and I plan to keep it in my arsenal for next year when I may have elementary students. […]
Thank you for the comment and for inspiring me to think of an adaptation for pre-schoolers.
I usually teach adults but sometimes I get part time jobs for children to teach them English as a foreign language. They love playing games. I know Chinese a bit but I pretend that I don’t know any Chinese to force them try to communicate in English. It’s difficult to tell them the rules of the games.
I find you a very creative teacher and your method is very similar to mine. Could you please advise me a bit on my problem?
Thanks
Farhad
Dear Farhad,
Thanks for your comment.
To your problem, as some of the children I teach are absolute beginners I try to use as much English as possible but there are moments when I use L1 in the classroom. Look at it this way, if it takes you more time to explain the rules of a game/activity than the whole activity takes you should ask yourself 3 questions:
1. Is there a different activity that will have the same teaching point but is easier to explain? If the answer is yes, do the second activity and keep the other one for a later time when they will have learnt more English.
2. Can I demonstrate it so that they will understand what I want them to do? Demonstrating activities is one of the most important things as it actually visualizes what you are saying.
3. Can some of the students help through translating? I use this sometimes as there are a few children who grasp the meaning of what I’m saying very easily and they then explain the activity in L1. As I speak quite a bit Czech, I can actually check if the explanation is correct.
And then there are the moments when I know that the activity I have chosen is the best one to help them learning the language point I want to teach them, but the instructions are quite complex and difficult to understand. In this case I use a kind of mix, I explain first in English and demonstrate, especially difficult parts I translate into Czech but rephrase them back into English, and then I might even do a demonstration together with the children.
The point I want to make is: Use as much English as possible and as little L1 as possible.
I hope that helps a bit.