LP_Christmas for Very Young Learners

8/13/2019 LP_Christmas for Very Young Learners

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Lesson plan

Christmas for Very Young Learners

Topic

Christmas

Aims To practise Christmas vocabulary To develop students listening and speaking skills To develop students motor skills and have fun doing a craft activity

Age group3-6 year olds

Level

A1

Time

60 minutes

Materials

1. Flashcards: approximately 5 vocab items chosen from here:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/worksheets/christmas-flashcards (2 sets for theteacher, 2 sets per pair of students)

2. Activity sheet (see stage 5): one per student3. Song (see stage 6): ready to play on either YouTube or on computer/mp3 player/other device

(unless intending to sing)4. Craft: red and/or green A4 card (one per student), simple outline images of the xmas vocab on

white paper (a bit smaller than A5, one per student), inserts with a xmas message (smallerthan A5, one per student)

5. Stickers (optional): vocab items printed onto sticky labels (one label per student)6. Equipment: scissors, glue and colours

Introduction

In this lesson, children practise Christmas words with flashcard activities and games. They listen

to and sing a Christmas song, then they make a Christmas card.


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Lesson plan

Procedure

1. Entry routine Welcome the students into the room in the usual way and do your regular start-

of-class routine. 2. Introducevocabulary

Select approximately 5 flashcards (e.g. present, snowman, star, tree, reindeer)from the set here:http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/worksheets/christmas-flashcards

Introduce the words: students sit in front of you on the floor at the front of theclass. Lay the chosen flashcards face down on the floor or board as appropriate.

Ask students if they know what holiday is coming. Invite students to choose acard to turn over (you could number them with digits to recycle numbervocabulary) and say Ah! This is a ! for each picture. For each picture, askmore questions, such as What colour is it? Is it big or small? How many arethere? Have you got a ! at home?

3. Practisevocabulary

Hold a flashcard in each hand and say the word for either the left or right card.Students point to the one you say. Say it again and the students repeat. Say theother word and students repeat. Hold one of the flashcards up high and studentssay the word. Repeat for the other flashcard.

Now repeatedly alternate holding the flashcards up to elicit the word from thestudents, slowly at first and then get faster - to the point where its too fast forthem to keep up! Do this again with the other flashcards until all words havebeen practised.

4. Play a game Play with the words: Lay the flashcards out on the floor or board face downagain. Ask the students to guess what each card is. Take a peek and give clues,e.g. No, its not a snowman. Its green.

Now play picture-picture pelmanism. Demonstrate on the floor or board. Mix uptwo sets of the pictures and lay them in a grid face down. Talk as you go throughthe demo, e.g. This one is a present. Is this one a present too? Oh no, its asnowman! Your turn! You could run the demo as a whole class game ofpelmanism, e.g. divide the class into two teams or ask students individually tosuggest the next card.

Once students have the idea from the demo, they can play in pairs or threes.Give out the student sets. Circulate and encourage the students to say the wordsas they turn over the cards, and to use functional language for games, e.g. Yourturn!

5. Activity sheet Prepare a simple page with each xmas picture reproduced a different number oftimes (e.g. 5 trees, 3 snowmen, etc). Here are some examples you might like touse:http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/worksheets/christmas/christmas-counting-practice.pdf http://www.theme-party-palace.com/support-files/christmas-counting-worksheet.pdf


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Lesson plan

Students count the number of each picture and either write the digit or draw aline to match to the correct digit, depending on ability. Next to the digit, you maywish to put the vocab word in either trace font (for students to trace) or bubblewriting (for students to colour) - again, depending on ability. Fast finishers cancolour the pictures.

Do whole class feedback on the answers - students can jump and repeat thewords the correct number of times, e.g. if there are 3 snowmen, they can jumpand shout snowman 3 times.

6. Song We Wish You a Merry Christmas is a simple, traditional Christmas song. Decidein advance whether you want to teach more than just the first verse or not. Manyversions are available on YouTube, some with extra verses and some without.Here are two examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_YhGJYx4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXbUIaIVTcc

Play the song, or sing it yourself! Ask students if they like the song or have heardit before.

Sing each line and ask the students to repeat. Then assign one line to a pair orgroup of students, and each pair sings their line to make the whole song. Repeat,varying which pair/group gets different lines.

Now sing the whole song, slowly, and encourage all the students to sing alongwith you. Finally, you can try singing along to the music.

7. Craft:Christmas card

Prepare very simple outline images of the xmas vocabulary on white paper (a bitsmaller than A5) and A4 card in red or green. Under the picture you may wish toput the vocab word in either trace font (for students to trace) or bubble writing (forstudents to colour) depending on ability. Also print inserts on paper (smaller than

A5) to stick inside the card, with the message We wish you a merry Christmas!(again, you may wish to use trace font or bubble writing) and space for studentsto put their names underneath. If students are unable to write their names, theycould even sign with a thumb or hand print, if you wanted to involve kid-safewashable inks or paints in the lesson.

Assemble a card as a demonstration: Fold a red or green piece of A4 card in

half. Cut out and stick the picture of your choice on the front. Colour it in. Stickthe message inside and write your name. Talk and ask questions as you gothrough the demo. OK, so I choose green for my card. Now, I need to choose apicture. Hmm, I think Ill choose a tree! What do I need now, everyone? Thatsright, scissors and glue!

Circulate and encourage the students to use functional language (Can I have...,I need..., Whats next, etc) throughout the activity. Remember to praise studentstoo as they produce the card.

Fast finishers can further decorate the card, or be classroom helpers and collectthe equipment or put the paper cut-offs in the recycling box. Encourage them to

use functional language with their classmates (Can I have your scissors? Doyou need this glue? etc).


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Lesson plan

During this activity you could play the song in the background, either on a loop,or along with other Christmas songs. If the students want to sing along while

making their card, great!

8. End of lessongame or song

Play Simon says: Play using the structure Be a ! e.g. be a tree, be a reindeer.If appropriate, the students can take turns at being Simon.

Or, sing the song again. If the students are confident with the song, you could trysinging in rounds: each small group of students sings the song, but with eachgroup starting a line later than the previous group.

9. Exit routine Do your regular end-of-class routine. If you are able to, you could print the xmasvocab onto a sheet of sticky labels, one picture per label. As students leave, askthem what their favourite word was and give them a label with that picture.

Alternatively, show them one of the flashcards and high-five them when theyproduce the word.

10. Extraresources

You might also like to look at further Christmas resources on LearnEnglish Kidshere: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/christmas

Merry Christmas!

Contributed by

Rachael Ro

Documents

LP_Christmas for Very Young Learners