Let's get physical - the alphabet coming to life

Alphabet 03 (Photo credit: Leo Reynolds)

As we all know, the alphabet is an integral part for anybody learning English. I mean how else will they learn to read and write otherwise. Of course communication is just as, if not more in my opinion, important and should never be neglected as it seems to be in many Japanese school classrooms. Now it's no short and easy task teaching your students to become proficient readers, else I would probably be out of a job! But building a strong foundation and getting to grips with the alphabet at an early age will hugely benefit your students' ability to recognise and read letter combinations and eventually words and sentences in the future.

"T"

There are a plethora of activities, exercises and tools for learning the alphabet and it can at times be difficult in choosing what's best for your students. As I teacher I endeavour to have as much variety during lessons as possible so that the classroom is an exciting and fun learning environment. Recently I have added another activity to my arsenal of tools to teach the alphabet; using our whole bodies to recreate letters of the alphabet. I know that this may not be the most original activity but I regret not trying it sooner once I realized how enthralled my

"U"

students became with the activity.

Some teachers like to do this activity by marking out letters on the floor using tape as guidelines, but unfortunately we don't have the luxury of spacious classroom at "new Luna". However this is not necessarily a bad thing is it allows more scope for ingenuity and creativity amongst the students.

"V"

I have found that some students tend to take a much more active role than others, essentially becoming group leader and making sure the others stay in place and are not rolling around on the floor in a fit of giggles. Takasumi is the biggest culprit of either lapsing into fits of laughter or doing his best whale impression and proving immovable, whilst on the other Rin and Ruka are struggling to put him into place! This activity allows the students to learn the importance of teamwork as well giving them a chance to get out of their seats and get physical.

Twister in the classroom? - Not just for parties!

A blast from the past

Most of you will be very familiar with the game Twister, but have you ever considered it as a fun and interactive teaching tool? My students (and I'm sure yours do too!)  love to play games, just a mention of the word "game" during lessons perks everyone's interest.

Twister is a great activity for in many ways, first of all it gets the students out of their seats and moving around. Always great for shaking off those undesired yawns. The game also focuses on recognising colours, alongside interpreting and following simple instructions whilst also making sure not fall over with limbs flailing everywhere.

Head on red, bums to the sky!

You can adapt this classic game by using your own instructions, catered to the needs and curriculum of each class, in place of the rather boring and limiting Twister spinner. You can use the different body parts you have studied in textbooks or come across in songs, even get the students to stand or sit on the colours instead. I have to admit it's, quite the sight when you call out "Head on red!". Lots of falling over and plenty of laughter.

Confusion in the ranks

Another idea I have been meaning to try out is writing the alphabet over the coloured circles, or maybe even attach vocabulary flashcards. I still haven't quite worked out a creative and reliable way of keeping the flashcards in place during gameplay. I don't think trusty old blu-tak is going to be able to stand up to the challenge and come to my rescue this time. It's always inevitable that in the heat of the game that the flashcards will go flying everywhere when students are rushing to be the first player to reach the coloured circle. So any ideas or recommendations for attaching flashcards to the Twister board, without damaging the board for future use, will be greatly appreciated.

So why not expand your horizons and give Twister a try, not only as a fun game to play when you're bored but a teaching tool to aid your students' learning.

All smiles :)

"Play dead"

Colourful alphabet soup

I think I have said this before, but I love my big blackboard (even though it's green), especially because it's magnetic and we can do cool stuff like this - fridge magnet letter soup!

To be sure, my very little learners are nowhere near letter recognition yet - we've only just started our learning journey together! No, I wanted us to get our hands on stuff, move around, share, negotiate and organise.

So that is exactly what we did. A grand time to work with mummy as well, whilst at the same time becoming a little bit independent - venturing out of arm's length. The to & fro of this discovery exercise building confidence and earning praise many times over. Some letter names were used, and some numbers too, but our prime target was colours...and I think you'll agree we ended up with a very colourful board :)

Maybe next time we will do some shape matching, or match up a few big & small letters...we'll see.