Using LearnEnglish Kids - British Council


	Imagine crazy houses and cars for clowns!

more tips

The Circus

Teachers can find tips for using the story 'Circus Escape' on LearnEnglish Kids on the BBC/British Council website 'Teaching English'.

Drawing and colouring

Find lots of ideas for using drawing and colouring activities in the primary classroom on the Language Assistant website.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Here are some websites that have useful information or activities about the circus.

Make a tumbling acrobat from the Museum of Childhood.

Visit Enchanted Learning with lots of printable activities on the topic of animals and the circus.

Cyril the Seal Read a story about a circus seal. Children can learn about healthy eating and try out some circus themed recipes (from Gloucestershire County Council).

	using learnenglish kids with your child


	The Circus

The circus is a colourful and exciting topic for many children. They may have seen a live circus or watched circus acts on television.

You'll find resources about the circus on LearnEnglish Kids on this page: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-circus.htm

With these materials children will be able to:

			practise words about the circus and the people who work there
			paint a picture of a clown's face, and practise words such as nose, mouth etc
			read and listen to a story about an elephant that escapes from the circus
			sing along to a song about what happens when the circus comes to town

Activities are marked with a symbol on the topics webpage (http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-circus.htm) to indicate the best age group and level. Look at these when you choose which activities to use with your child.

Younger children will enjoy circus colouring activities and singing along with a song about what happens when the circus comes to town.

Below you'll find an idea for an activity you can try with your child using some of these materials. On the left you'll see a list of links to resources about this topic on teaching websites and other external websites that you may find useful. Please note that the British Council is not responsible for the content of external websites.

SOMETHING YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR CHILD

Draw a Crazy Clown House. This is an activity that helps children practise the language for shapes and colours,and homes and furniture. Children are encouraged to use their imagination, think about how other people live, and talk about where things are.

Who is it for? The activity is suitable for children aged 5-10, who have a basic knowledge of English.

			You need a colour picture of an ordinary house. Make a simple drawing of a house, or use a picture from a magazine. Alternatively use your own home as a model. You will also need some coloured pencils and some paper for your child to draw on.
			Work with your child to describe the house you've chosen, encourage them to use as many words as they can for colour and shape. You may want to supply some new words yourself, or you can look new words up together in a dictionary.
			Ask you child to imagine what kind of house they think the clown would live in, encourage them to be as imaginative as possible. The child draws the clown's house. Talk about the house as your child draws. This will help them remember the words they use and provide a colourful end product.
			Use the circus flashcards and ask your child what kind of houses they think the other people who work at the circus would live in (for example, .the trapeze artist might live in a house with a very high ceiling).
			Instead of a house you could ask your child to imagine a clown's car ('it's got square wheels and an umbrella roof').They will enjoy adding lots of crazy gadgets to the car.