lunes, 26 de marzo de 2012
Free MP3 Downloads of Kids Music
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| Free Children's Songs and Chant MP3 Downloads! "Matt's songs are awesome! They are a big hit with the kids from the get go." Craig M., Fukuoka Japan New Song Added March 12, 2012! Happy Mother's Day Song! Click here for the song page! Some New Free Songs!
More New songs I have five more free song downloads to get your school year off to a great start. Thank you for your continued support of DreamEnglish.com! - Matt
Dream English on Facebook Lesson Plans and Games: Not sure how to plan your class? All of the song pages have lesson plans and ideas, and I am starting to write down some full length lesson plan ideas and put them online. Check those out here. Need a game? Check out my top 10 Kids Games here!
New Just for Fun Songs- Collect them all! New ABC Rock Song Video! This song is available in the Special Download Pack, learn more here. Online English Course For Kids! I have just started a new section on the Dream English website. It is an online Beginners English Course for Children. The course is designed to introduce basic vocabulary and phrases. The video above is part of the "Warm Up" section. There are online videos, and offline practice suggestions. Check it out, and let me know what you think. More to come soon!
Getting Started with Dream English: Get the songs, flashcards, activities, and lesson ideas to start a basic children's English course for free from Dream English, click here!  Want to donate to Dream English? Please click below to donate $5.00 (US). This money helps me run this site which benefits many thousands of children around the world! Or, please visit my shop, and buy a Dream English Album instead of donating. Thank you for your support!New Website with free Traditional Song MP3s: London Bridge, Twinkle, Twinkle and more, click here.
For free downloadable listening exercises and worksheets for kids, please check out my new site in collaboration with MES English, 123 Listening.
Click here to visit Top 100 Teacher Sites | Free Songs: What's Your Name? Wake Up More Free Songs: Hello Song Dream English Fun vocabulary practice Chants: Traditional Songs from my other site freeabcsongs.com Bingo How are you? Part 1 |
| Home Page Free Songs Free Chants Shop Blog Reviews About Contact Tell A Friend |
Free MP3 Downloads of Kids Music
| |
|
| Free Children's Songs and Chant MP3 Downloads! "Matt's songs are awesome! They are a big hit with the kids from the get go." Craig M., Fukuoka Japan New Song Added March 12, 2012! Happy Mother's Day Song! Click here for the song page! Some New Free Songs!
More New songs I have five more free song downloads to get your school year off to a great start. Thank you for your continued support of DreamEnglish.com! - Matt
Dream English on Facebook Lesson Plans and Games: Not sure how to plan your class? All of the song pages have lesson plans and ideas, and I am starting to write down some full length lesson plan ideas and put them online. Check those out here. Need a game? Check out my top 10 Kids Games here!
New Just for Fun Songs- Collect them all! New ABC Rock Song Video! This song is available in the Special Download Pack, learn more here. Online English Course For Kids! I have just started a new section on the Dream English website. It is an online Beginners English Course for Children. The course is designed to introduce basic vocabulary and phrases. The video above is part of the "Warm Up" section. There are online videos, and offline practice suggestions. Check it out, and let me know what you think. More to come soon!
Getting Started with Dream English: Get the songs, flashcards, activities, and lesson ideas to start a basic children's English course for free from Dream English, click here! Want to donate to Dream English? Please click below to donate $5.00 (US). This money helps me run this site which benefits many thousands of children around the world! Or, please visit my shop, and buy a Dream English Album instead of donating. Thank you for your support!New Website with free Traditional Song MP3s: London Bridge, Twinkle, Twinkle and more, click here.
For free downloadable listening exercises and worksheets for kids, please check out my new site in collaboration with MES English, 123 Listening.
Click here to visit Top 100 Teacher Sites | Free Songs: What's Your Name? Wake Up More Free Songs: Hello Song Dream English Fun vocabulary practice Chants: Traditional Songs from my other site freeabcsongs.com Bingo How are you? Part 1 |
| Home Page Free Songs Free Chants Shop Blog Reviews About Contact Tell A Friend |
Teaching ESL students
Teaching ESL Students
Using Phonemic Awareness with ESL Students
By Robin Schwarz
Spoken language is noise which the experienced listener sorts into meaningful chunks. A child spends many years perfecting this sorting. In a similar way, a learner of a new language must sort out the unfamiliar sounds into pieces that make sense: phrases or sentences, words, syllables and even phonemes (the smallest sound segments). Reading experts have known for years that difficulty with the sorting process, or phonological skills, is directly connected to the reading and spelling problems of many students. More recently, researchers studying native English-speaking students who were having trouble learning a foreign language found that these students have problems similar to those of poor readers and spellers in that they do not perceive and manipulate the sound system and its corresponding written code effectively. In other words, the at-risk foreign language learners also have weak phonological skills. Moreover, the researchers found that when the struggling foreign language students were explicitly taught the phonology of the foreign language, they were able to learn the target language fairly successfully, and also improve their phonological skills.
This was good news for me, as I was searching for a way to help at-risk students in the college-level intensive English program where I teach. Every semester, several of our students, who are certainly capable in many respects, are unable to make progress in their English classes. Typically, they display poor spelling and grammar skills, despite having what I term "lots of language." In other words, they are not lacking in vocabulary or a general idea of how to express themselves; they cannot, however, control their grammar or get beyond that plateau of “fair” communication, a fatal flaw in writing classes. Usually, their reading skills are adequate for intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) work, but not for more demanding reading.
When I first decided to find a way to help these students, I began searching the ESL literature for ideas. Because some of our students who had these problems were known to have learning disabilities (LD), having been diagnosed elsewhere before coming to our school, I combed the LD literature. Not much turned up in either field to give me any idea of why the students were having a hard time learning English until I delved into the literature. I decided to try teaching my students English phonology in a much more explicit way than is usually the case in ESL. I also decided to try using some other adaptations in teaching that reportedly had been effective for LD students learning foreign languages in classes adapted to their needs.
Because the foreign language learners who were having difficulties had poor phonemic awareness as well as poor phonological skills, my first priority was clear, direct teaching of the sound system of English.
Another lesson learned from the foreign language research was that the sounds should be taught one at a time in a clear sequence. I chose to start by teaching the short vowels in alphabetical order to match some other ESL materials I had, and I selected appropriate drills or activities.
The process requires lots and lots of repetition. Students with difficulty in the language area require much more time to process information and much more review and practice than average learners.
We continued on to long vowels, and the process became faster because the students had begun to discriminate sounds more accurately and knew what to expect in the activities and practices.
At first, the students, who were of college age or older and many of whom were graduate students, were skeptical of these lessons. When they began to see the results, however, they became enthusiastic and made sure to request handouts missed when they were absent. Those who knew they had made progress, but had not yet mastered the skills, asked if there were some way to have more lessons in a lab or some other classes.
Although there is not much research on teaching phonology to ESL students who are at risk, my students’ experiences clearly demonstrated the benefits of this instruction. Of course, their spelling improved dramatically, and few needed more sustained review and practice to maintain their gains. A more pervasive benefit was that they could perceive individual words in spoken sentences far more accurately than before. This resulted in significantly more accurate dictations and, so the students reported, a noticeably improved ability to follow conversations and proceedings in other classes. In addition to my observations of the students’ increased confidence in many domains, their other teachers reported similar improvements.
Another important benefit of the phonology instruction, though less directly documented outside of our class, was that the students' decoding skills increased significantly. They amazed themselves by reading multisyllabic words with ease. Finally, overall, the students were able to do much better in classes than students with similar problems in our program who had not had such reading intervention.
It is my hope that research will bear out these benefits. In the meantime, our university is benefiting from these instruction methods by retaining students who otherwise might have dropped out of classes and by strengthening the foreign language acquisition skills of at-risk native English-speaking students.
Reprinted with permission from the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center, Washington D.C. Robin Schwarz is co-author of ESL Instruction for Learning Disabled Adults.
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Easy to Read Online Articles
Welcome to English-Online
The Internet has tons of information but the articles printed there are not always easy to read.
This website is specially designed for learners of English.The articles are carefully chosen and rewritten, so that they can be more easily understood. Each article has a vocabulary list at the end. Presently there are a few hundred topics and special news articles in various categories.
Go to our shop for PDF downloads and exercises on many of the topics: http://shop.english-online.at.
domingo, 25 de marzo de 2012
ESL Kids Songs Games & Activities
ABC
Alphabet Line-up: Give each S an alphabet flashcard. Play the ABC song and have the Ss skip around in a circle singing along to the song. Stop the tape at random points and the Ss have to line up in the correct alphabetical order according to their cards.
Alphabet Wave: Divide the a-z flashcards among all your students. Put Ss in a line and play the ABC song. As it plays each student must hold up their corresponding alphabet flashcard.
Christmas Song: This is a Christmas song which is perfect for young children. Sing the following words to the tune of the French song "Frere Jacques":
Father Christmas
Father Christmas
He got stuck
He got stuck
Coming down the chimney
Coming down the chimney
What bad luck
What bad luck
(Submitted by Katharine Meunier)
DEF
Easters Songs (1): To 10 little elephants / Indians: "1 red, 1 blue, 1 green Easter egg; 1 orange, 1 yellow, 1 pink Easter egg; 1 white, 1 brown, 1 black Easter egg; 9 Easter eggs for me!" (Submitted by Annette).
Easter Songs (2): To the tune of buns in the bakers shop: "9 Easter eggs in the chocolate shop, I like chocolate lots and lots, Along came (child's name) with (local currency) one day, She/he bought an Easter egg (or you could incorporate the color of the egg they prefer) and took it right away". I cut out and laminated large egg shapes and blue tacked them to the board. The children could then come and choose the color they wanted. (Submitted by Annette).
GHI
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes: Have the Ss do all the actions to the song on the tape (touching the parts of their body along with the song). After that have a speed round at a fairly quick pace. Have a final round at high speed. All kids love to do it fast.
Hokey Pokey: A fun song for body vocab. Arrange the Ss in a circle and sing while doing all the actions.
If You're Happy And You Know It: Before you play the song practice yelling out commands:
Clap your hands (clap, clap, clap)
Repeat again.
Stomp your feet (stomp, stomp, stomp)
Repeat again.
Shout horray. (HORRAY!!!)
Repeat again.
Note: do each command once at a quicker pace and then they should be ready for the CD! (Submitted by Tania Bibbo).
JKL
MNO
Musical Flashcards: Ss walk around some flashcards in a circle as some music is playing. When the music stops T shouts out a flashcard and the Ss must race to step on that card. The first S to step on it keeps the card (1 point) and the game continues.
Number Group Game: Play some music and have your Ss walk/skip around the classroom. Stop the music suddenly and call out a number (up to the number of Ss in your class). The Ss must quickly get together in a group of that number. Any Ss who didn't make it sit out until the next round.
PQR
Rainbow Song: There are a few things you can do with this song. Variation 1. Lay out colored paper in front of your students in the order in the song, and get them to touch each color as the song is played. Variation 2. Lay out colored paper in a random order and get the Ss to arrange them in the order of the song. Variation 3. Have the Ss lay out their coloring pencils in the order of the song. "Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too".
Ring A Ring A Roses: Over exaggerating the sneezes and the fall to the floor makes this song all the more fun. "Ring a ring a roses, pocket full of posies, Atishu Atishu, we all fall down".
STU
VWX
What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?: Ss stand against the back wall of the classroom and the T stands at the front with his/her back to the Ss. The Ss chorus "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?" and T replies "It's (e.g. 5 o'clock)". The Ss then take (5) paces towards the T. At one point T replies "It's dinner time!" and chases the Ss back to the back wall. Any Ss tagged by the teacher have to sit out in the next round.
Where is Pinky?: Good practice for "Where is...?" Students hide hands behind their back. Teacher sings: "Where is pinky?, Where is pinky?" (show left hand, moving only the pinky finger), "Here I am" (show right hand, moving only the pinky finger, two pinkies greet each other) "Here I am", "How are you today, sir?", "Very fine I thank you", "Run away" (hide left hand), "Run away" (hide right hand). Continue with all fingers and thumb. Students sing along and love it! (Submitted by Anna Gates).
YZ
Alphabet Line-up: Give each S an alphabet flashcard. Play the ABC song and have the Ss skip around in a circle singing along to the song. Stop the tape at random points and the Ss have to line up in the correct alphabetical order according to their cards.
Alphabet Wave: Divide the a-z flashcards among all your students. Put Ss in a line and play the ABC song. As it plays each student must hold up their corresponding alphabet flashcard.
Christmas Song: This is a Christmas song which is perfect for young children. Sing the following words to the tune of the French song "Frere Jacques":
Father Christmas
Father Christmas
He got stuck
He got stuck
Coming down the chimney
Coming down the chimney
What bad luck
What bad luck
(Submitted by Katharine Meunier)
DEF
Easters Songs (1): To 10 little elephants / Indians: "1 red, 1 blue, 1 green Easter egg; 1 orange, 1 yellow, 1 pink Easter egg; 1 white, 1 brown, 1 black Easter egg; 9 Easter eggs for me!" (Submitted by Annette).
Easter Songs (2): To the tune of buns in the bakers shop: "9 Easter eggs in the chocolate shop, I like chocolate lots and lots, Along came (child's name) with (local currency) one day, She/he bought an Easter egg (or you could incorporate the color of the egg they prefer) and took it right away". I cut out and laminated large egg shapes and blue tacked them to the board. The children could then come and choose the color they wanted. (Submitted by Annette).
GHI
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes: Have the Ss do all the actions to the song on the tape (touching the parts of their body along with the song). After that have a speed round at a fairly quick pace. Have a final round at high speed. All kids love to do it fast.
Hokey Pokey: A fun song for body vocab. Arrange the Ss in a circle and sing while doing all the actions.
If You're Happy And You Know It: Before you play the song practice yelling out commands:
Clap your hands (clap, clap, clap)
Repeat again.
Stomp your feet (stomp, stomp, stomp)
Repeat again.
Shout horray. (HORRAY!!!)
Repeat again.
Note: do each command once at a quicker pace and then they should be ready for the CD! (Submitted by Tania Bibbo).
JKL
MNO
Musical Flashcards: Ss walk around some flashcards in a circle as some music is playing. When the music stops T shouts out a flashcard and the Ss must race to step on that card. The first S to step on it keeps the card (1 point) and the game continues.
Number Group Game: Play some music and have your Ss walk/skip around the classroom. Stop the music suddenly and call out a number (up to the number of Ss in your class). The Ss must quickly get together in a group of that number. Any Ss who didn't make it sit out until the next round.
PQR
Rainbow Song: There are a few things you can do with this song. Variation 1. Lay out colored paper in front of your students in the order in the song, and get them to touch each color as the song is played. Variation 2. Lay out colored paper in a random order and get the Ss to arrange them in the order of the song. Variation 3. Have the Ss lay out their coloring pencils in the order of the song. "Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue. I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too".
Ring A Ring A Roses: Over exaggerating the sneezes and the fall to the floor makes this song all the more fun. "Ring a ring a roses, pocket full of posies, Atishu Atishu, we all fall down".
STU
VWX
What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf?: Ss stand against the back wall of the classroom and the T stands at the front with his/her back to the Ss. The Ss chorus "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?" and T replies "It's (e.g. 5 o'clock)". The Ss then take (5) paces towards the T. At one point T replies "It's dinner time!" and chases the Ss back to the back wall. Any Ss tagged by the teacher have to sit out in the next round.
Where is Pinky?: Good practice for "Where is...?" Students hide hands behind their back. Teacher sings: "Where is pinky?, Where is pinky?" (show left hand, moving only the pinky finger), "Here I am" (show right hand, moving only the pinky finger, two pinkies greet each other) "Here I am", "How are you today, sir?", "Very fine I thank you", "Run away" (hide left hand), "Run away" (hide right hand). Continue with all fingers and thumb. Students sing along and love it! (Submitted by Anna Gates).
YZ
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