• Working with young learners
• Learning words
• Special times of year
• Fun activities

Working with young learners

			Using DVDs with primary learners Using authentic materials doesn’t either always imply a higher level of difficulty for your students. In this mini-guide you will find tips for exploiting DVDs as well as ideas for film scenes and cartoons which may be popular with your pupils.
			Lesson plans You may find that during your time as an assistant you are called upon to not only assist the teacher but to actually teach the English lesson yourself. If this is the case the best option is to be prepared. Once you have prepared your lesson you will feel much more confident walking into the classroom and you will soon be able to relax into your new role.
			All about me To ease very young learners into school you should begin with topics that they are familiar with. It is no surprise then that many primary English textbooks have ‘All about me’ as their first subject. Here you'll find tips on how to create a reassuring atmosphere by personalising topics in your lessons.
			Using the Internet with younger learners Using computers is a rich alternative to sitting behind desks and always using the same resources in class. Young learners will appreciate the change of learning environment and media.
			Maintaining concentration with YLs Following on from discussions on the forum, this primary tip is designed to help you with keeping children interested in your class. There are so many reasons why their minds could wander and you find that you are talking to yourself!
			Teaching listening and speaking Here you'll find ideas to help you make listening and speaking in class more fun and easier for your students.
			My favourite book Storybooks are an excellent way to approach topics and introduce vocabulary with young learners.
			Using songs Children all over the world love listening to songs and most of them love singing too! Using songs to introduce language and revise vocabulary is a great way to help children remember. Having a rhyme, music and actions helps to quickly pick up the vocabulary and retain it.
			The Senses Every child is unique and approaches learning differently. You should always vary your teaching techniques to avoid alienating the students who learn differently to the way you teach. Young learners tend to respond well to actually doing rather than just hearing your voice. Some need to touch in order to reinforce the language. Try a selection of activities and see how well your students respond.
			Zero materials Do you find yourself spending hours preparing your lessons? Would you like some tips on how to create a good lesson when you find yourself with ten minutes to prepare.
			Working in pairs and groups The tendency with primary learners is to treat the class as a whole group and underestimate their ability to work in pairs or in small groups. Even very young learners can become independent in their learning and guided early on they will be more likely to grow into autonomous and successful language learners.
			Homework This tip has some helpful hints for when and what kinds of homework to set your students.
			Managing very young learners Tips to help you control your class and make your lessons flow more easily.
			My English classroom This tip helps you to train your students to use and understand English  instructions in the classroom. It also has some handy tips on classroom management.
			First lessons Things you need to know about your students before you start teaching
			English speaking countries Studying a language in the classroom, particularly for younger learners, can often seem very far away from their 'real' lives. This lesson has some ideas for helping to make the language more relevant
			Evaluating progress This tip helps you test and evaluate the amount of progress your students are making

Learning words

			Fruit and vegetables This is a popular topic in any primary course, with lots of potential for cross-curricular work.
			Farm animals Children love units connected with animals and farm animals can provide lots of fun opportunities to practise sounds and phonics.
			At the beach Once it starts to get warm you can easily start to talk about holidays and possible destinations. The beach is always a popular one and young children can generally, depending on where you are, relate to the excitement and freedom associated with playing on the beach.
			Transportation This tip is a selection of vocabulary building activities based on the subject of transport. I have included several common types of transport as well as touching on some less common ones that might interest your learners such as hovercrafts and horses.
			Machines Children are often fascinated by machines; the way they work, inventing their own. We are not going to go into the scientific intricacies of machines here but instead use the topic of machines to provide a wide range of sub-topics that will enable the children to experiment with their imaginations.
			People who help us This is a topic which could be easily spread over several lessons by taking a different person i.e. fireman, per week as the focus. Below I have separated the tip into the various people who help us, suggesting activities that you could do about each of them. See if you can find storybooks to accompany at least a couple of the people.
			Prepositions of place Although this is a grammar point and you’d be advised to limit grammar input for primary learners, you can present the prepositions as units of vocabulary.
			The Alphabet This tip has some interesting activities for getting learners used to the alphabet.
			Word building This tip focuses on what young learners need to learn in order to be able to use new words. It also has some suggestions for ways of conveying the meaning of words.
			Zoo Animals This is a collection of activities related to animals in the zoo
			Sports and hobbies This activities focus on building up students knowledge of language based around sports and hobbies.
			Objects around the classroom A lesson aimed at developing students' classroom vocabulary
			Food I like / don't like This lesson is aimed at developing students' food vocabulary and their ability to express likes and dislikes
			Parts of the body This lesson is aimed at developing students understanding of vocabulary related to parts of the body
			What's the weather like? This lesson helps students to use words connected with the weather
			Using opposites This lesson helps students to develop their understanding and use of adjectives for describing people
			Clothes This lesson helps students to develop their clothes vocabulary
			Routines and habits This lesson helps students to use days, times and common actions which we do every day

Special times of year

			Winter Start projects with a winter theme - Christmas is just one aspect in this tip which provides a lot of links to downloadable activities.
			St Patrick's day St Patrick's day is now celebrated throughout the world, and there are several elements of this festival which children love to find out about.
			The seasons The Four Seasons’ is a great topic for the beginning of the year as it marks the start of a fresh cycle. In the primary tip archives you can find a tip to help you teach the weather. Here we take a wider look at how the year is split up into distinct parts.
			Easter Tips, activities and links based around the theme of Easter.
			Halloween This tip gives ideas and materials to use based around the theme of Halloween.
			Calendar based activities A lesson based around the calendar and helping students to use dates
			A Christmas lesson This lesson uses the theme of Christmas to develop students vocabulary. It includes a song and some fun colouring and drawing activities
			Chinese New Year This lesson is based around the story of the origin of the Chinese horoscope
			Valentine's day This lesson has a collection of activities on the theme of Valentine's day
			Last lesson This lesson is a way of revising what you have done through the year and rounding off before the holidays

Fun activities

			Natural History Museum 1 This primary tip was inspired by a trip to the museum in London, and has a wealth of ideas based around that ever popular topic for young learners - dinosaurs!
			Natural History Museum 2 Following on from the first tip about dinosaurs, this one is based on primates and other members of the animal kingdom. There are lots of ideas for games, projects and stories, with a comprehensive set of links.
			Friends This primary tip provides activities that you can use to create new bonds in your class and to reinforce ones already formed
			Moon and stars This is a topic which most children are fascinated with because it simultaneously teaches them about the real world around and allows them to explore their imagination. It can be as long or as short as you wish, depending on the age you teach and the time you have available.
			In the Town This is a popular topic with young learners as it is easy for them to relate to the situations and it provides many opportunities to practise using the language in a communicative and real context.
			Good manners In the UK we have a reputation for being polite and appreciating good manners. You can have fun with your children in many different role play scenarios, getting them to practise what to do and what not to do in England. I have split the good manners up and given general rules and an activity per section.
			Kings and Queens This is a topic which can be spread over a few lessons and one which covers several language areas including food, clothes, biographies, family trees and parties. It’s steeped in British culture as the Royal Family is an integral part of our identity and image abroad.
			Creepy crawlies You’ll find that insects are a great basis for teaching several language areas such as colours, numbers, food and body parts. Below I take insect by insect and give suggestions of activities you can develop around each one.
			Drawing and colouring Here we look at different ways to use colouring and drawing and to practise English at the same time.
			English clubs and corners If you are thinking of starting some kind of English club for your students, you'll find some good advice here.
			Colours: What is pink? This is a lesson plan based around a famous poem by Christina Rossetti
			Fairy tales This tip has suggestions and ideas aimed at exploiting fairy tales.
			Polar bear This tip is a complete lesson plan on the theme of polar bears.
			Toys Ideas and activities to get YLs talking about their toys. Ideal activities for after Christmas or other festivals.
			Drama 1 Lots of ideas for getting your young learners involved in drama and creating plays in English.
			Drama 2 This is a continuation of drama one, with more tips and ideas for use in the classroom.
			My School This material gets students to think about their school schedule and the things they do each week at school. This helps them to revise days of the week and times.
			Six blind men and the elephant This lesson is based around a short story which combines learning vocabulary with movement