5 Green Frogs Jumping on the Log
An adapted version of “10 Green Bottles sitting on the Wall” for ESL pre-schoolers. This is a fun and simple song to introduce numbers 1-5 and provides lots of vocabulary practice (frog, green, log, jump, splash).
I bring along to class some frog masks for the children to wear and act out the song themselves. They have great fun jumping and splashing in a pretend pond.
Happy Teaching!
Teach Prepositions with Pippo the Puppet
When introducing prepositions (in, on, under, in front of, behind) a puppet can be a useful teacher assistant and engaging for children.
Activity Instructions
Bring to class some fruit props (orange, pear, banana, apple, kiwi, etc) children tend to become very excited about real fruit, but plastic fruit is fine and easier to store away for future exercises:-) Place the fruit on your desk or on the floor in a circle where all the children can see it. Use an empty box (puppet size) and give your puppet instructions to carry out.
Example:
“Hello Pippo, can you show the children a banana, please? Very good Pippo.” (Pippo picks out and holds up the banana for the children to see, get the children to repeat the word and use lots of applause of encouragement both for Pippo and the children)
“Where’s the pear, please Pippo?” (Pippo picks out and holds up the pear for the children to see, and again have the children to repeat the word)
When the children become familiar with the fruit have Pippo select an incorrect fruit and get the children to correct him. Then ask for a volunteer to help Pippo choose the correct fruit. Get the other children to applaud and encourage, if the child is unsure Pippo can always hint:-)
Now give Pippo preposition instructions :
“Pippo can you put the apple on the box/chair please?”
“Pippo can you put the apple in the box/chair please?”
“Pippo can you put the apple under the box/chair please?”
Again as the children become familiar with the prepositions , have Pippo make mistakes and encourage the children to correct him.
Have a competition between a child and Pippo as to who can be the quickest in putting the banana under the box/chair. The child always wins, of course!With older children this game works well with one child competing against another but be careful with younger children as they can end up in tears, especially if they don’t win. A tried and tested lesson that guarantees laughter and group participation even for the shyest of children:-)
Have Fun!
Lorraine Rastogi from Guadeloupe (french west indies) recently wrote to me sharing some of her creative ideas . Check out the wonderful puppet theatre she built herself!
“I built up a puppet theatre and created my own puppets . A puppet maker from Brittany has made some for me BOB an American rapper(black) from New York comes to Guadeloupe and meets Mrs SLow a turtle, Penny a criol girl ,an iguana BOOBOO and BARATA an ugly witch!!! and many other puppets.. and I build up some stories with the children in the tropical forest the volcano the sea etc….My future plan is to write stories add more characters and more puppets..but I need some practice with learning this art. Children love them and it is a great tool for teaching them English Along with this I use LET’s CHANT from Carolyn Graham…”
(available from www.amazon.com)
ESL Drama Games 