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Post by King Quailbee on Jun 17, 2016 10:44:19 GMT 9
So as some of you may know, I visit a pre-preschool gathering place three times a month. Known as Smile Room, it is where mothers and their children (age 0-3) can meet up, play with all the free toys, and have the children interact with each other. For about 15 minutes, I usually have a theme around some word. We sing a song together, maybe dance, interact with dolls, and/or read a picture book in Japanese (with English words thrown in).
Recently, a big gaggle of new mothers came in and I was faced with 5 new babies. Like all of them were babies. They could not stand or speak. Usually it's fine because the mothers make the children move in cute ways and any English teaching is really for the mother's benefit.
As I was readying to go, I was stopped by a mother with a 6-month old. She spoke in pretty fluent English with me and I eventually found out she was the English teacher that was doing the Saturday English kid classes (who had to leave because pregnancy). So we had a normal conversation in English (she has lived in UK for 6 years) and she was wondering about what are some ways of introducing English to her little plop of a pudge baby.
Of course, I forgot to mention that lots of little kids learn about language through TV kids programs (but I will do that).
But she was wondering specifically about any 手遊び, songs, and whatnot for her baby.
I drew a blank at the time (since I was preparing to leave), but I told her I would figure something out (especially since her English is good enough to speak naturally).
So, CIRs who have worked with babies/mother pairings OR actually have a baby/kids - what kind of playtime with language do you do? Repetition is key, I know, but any creative ideas, baby games you do, etc.? (Shimanchu 2024 お願いします)
Here is a website I have recently come across with ideas: www.englishclub.com/babies/faq.htm
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Post by miscreative on Jun 17, 2016 15:56:51 GMT 9
the post is brought to you by someone who does not have kids but has studied linguistics and has done some reading on raising bilingual kids in japan (since that is very possibly something i might do) exposure, repetition, immersion. as much as possible just like they suggest with first language acquisition (correct me if i am wrong) talking to your kid as much as possible is good. carry this over to the second language and i know/have heard of native english speakers who use japanese (or a mix) with their kids and as such the kids never bother to use english cuz parent knows japanese. (as such some people "lie" to their kid and pretend they dont know japanese so they kid has to do the communicating) reading books is also suggesting for FLA so doing it with english is also a good idea (and if you do it right they will grow up loving books! double win. which you can use to have them read more in english... and upward spiral!) making english fun and natural and not study/work is also a theme. just like with reading, watching tv/movies, playing games, making hulemdos with english speaking kids/families, finding/hanging out with mama groups that use english (international mothers' group?), sending them to english speaking day care?, bringing the kid to english circle or 英会話 and have them participate as much as possible? (or creating ママ友英会話 if those sorts of things dont exist) doing things where the focus is not on english but you make them use english (at least listen and understand) to have fun. AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE as for songs and 手遊び, looking up songs for preschoolers in english (or anything like language development games/songs/tricks in english) would be a good place to start. also, kids love things that are rhythmic so finding songs/stories that have a beat/rhythm is fun too did that make sense or was it a rambly mess? |
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Post by Shimanchu 2024 on Jun 20, 2016 9:12:34 GMT 9
Place holder post for when I get home today and reply after talking with ワイフ
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Post by miscreative on Jun 20, 2016 9:46:56 GMT 9
hue apparently i get to do a 0歳 babies and ママs 英会話 too at some point...
I'll be back....
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2016 10:43:32 GMT 9
Hey everyone,
New to the forums, but would love any "English-for-babies" advice you might have!
I've been requested to give eikaiwa classes at a local 保育園 twice a month and man is it a challenge.
Rocked up to my first session armed with a solid plan that went to しt once I realised this particular 保育園 only caters for kids up to age 2, and none of them are currently at speaking stage yet. The ENCHO wants 45minute sessions with plenty of games and absolutely no Japanese. I have next to no experience with babies but this seems kind of unrealistic to me.
I've planned plenty of TEASOBI, songs and picture books, but do any of you know any games that would work for this age group?
よろしく～
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Post by no yark shark on Sept 8, 2016 10:54:05 GMT 9
Hey everyone, New to the forums, but would love any "English-for-babies" advice you might have! I've been requested to give eikaiwa classes at a local 保育園 twice a month and man is it a challenge. Rocked up to my first session armed with a solid plan that went to しt once I realised this particular 保育園 only caters for kids up to age 2, and none of them are currently at speaking stage yet. The ENCHO wants 45minute sessions with plenty of games and absolutely no Japanese. I have next to no experience with babies but this seems kind of unrealistic to me. I've planned plenty of TEASOBI, songs and picture books, but do any of you know any games that would work for this age group? よろしく～ omg that's ridiculous. I do a lot of hoikusho visits but they go up to age 3 or 4, so I mostly work with the older kids. Also my visits are usually a tiny amount of "teaching" that consists of songs, picture books, or simply showing kids pictures of animals and telling them the English words and having them repeat, followed by half an hour of free play outside. One game I have done was one where they had a bunch of different colored hula hoops and the kids had to go stand inside a hula hoop of the corresponding color. Another time we taught them "walk," "run," and "stop" and had them mimic the actions when I called out the words. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2016 11:02:24 GMT 9
Hey everyone, New to the forums, but would love any "English-for-babies" advice you might have! I've been requested to give eikaiwa classes at a local 保育園 twice a month and man is it a challenge. Rocked up to my first session armed with a solid plan that went to しt once I realised this particular 保育園 only caters for kids up to age 2, and none of them are currently at speaking stage yet. The ENCHO wants 45minute sessions with plenty of games and absolutely no Japanese. I have next to no experience with babies but this seems kind of unrealistic to me. I've planned plenty of TEASOBI, songs and picture books, but do any of you know any games that would work for this age group? よろしく～ omg that's ridiculous. I do a lot of hoikusho visits but they go up to age 3 or 4, so I mostly work with the older kids. Also my visits are usually a tiny amount of "teaching" that consists of songs, picture books, or simply showing kids pictures of animals and telling them the English words and having them repeat, followed by half an hour of free play outside. One game I have done was one where they had a bunch of different colored hula hoops and the kids had to go stand inside a hula hoop of the corresponding color. Another time we taught them "walk," "run," and "stop" and had them mimic the actions when I called out the words. ages 3 - 4 is what I expected! I tried a similar colour game last time and one kid actually got into it, but the others just sat down and played with their feet because BABIES. The mimicing actions thing could work though, I'll give it a go! |
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Post by no yark shark on Sept 8, 2016 11:06:11 GMT 9
yeah someone needs to tell that ENCHO that they can't even speak Japanese yet, much less pay attention to something for 45 minutes....
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2016 11:14:46 GMT 9
I bought a puppet so hopefully that will be more entertaining that the strange foreigner trying to sing the rainbow song
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Post by King Quailbee on Sept 8, 2016 11:18:19 GMT 9
yeah someone needs to tell that ENCHO that they can't even speak Japanese yet, much less pay attention to something for 45 minutes.... Oh good god.
With my babies class, the lesson lasts AT most 15-20 minutes. O~O And even then some of the kids attention span is basically ZERO from the beginning.
(I'm also gonna steal your hula-hoop idea for a future preschool visit)
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Post by no yark shark on Sept 8, 2016 11:20:20 GMT 9
yeah someone needs to tell that ENCHO that they can't even speak Japanese yet, much less pay attention to something for 45 minutes.... Oh good god.
With my babies class, the lesson lasts AT most 15-20 minutes. O~O And even then some of the kids attention span is basically ZERO from the beginning.
(I'm also gonna steal your hula-hoop idea for a future preschool visit)
it was the idea of one of the teachers at the school and it worked really well! I even added in white partway through without telling the kids what it was in Japanese and a lot of them figured it out on their own. |
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Post by hikaru on Sept 12, 2016 9:38:23 GMT 9
@emh that is abolutely ridiculous. 3 year olds are even too young to keep an attention span for 45 minutes. You'd think an ENCHO would be able to understand that.
In 保育園, every year makes a BIG difference. I don't plan any lessons until I know which age group I'm talking to. I know that the 3/4 year olds won't be able to grasp certain vocab, and that 4/5 year olds will struggle with a certain song while 5/6 will have virtually no problems, etc etc. But babies...
I have not done much with babies yet but I do have one coming up this week that I'm uncertain about, but we met with the teachers of that class specifically to discuss it because BABIES.
How on earth is this person an ENCHO.
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Post by CaptainSeery on Sept 12, 2016 14:52:44 GMT 9
Whaaaaat that is ridiculous!
Is this the first time the school has requested people? If not, try to get them to give some info about what people have done before.
I mean... babies. I would just expect to show up and have play with babies the way you would babies in your home country. You can't really teach them much of anything at that point, not in that time span.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 13:05:06 GMT 9
Had another session this morning and it wasn't so bad - took some CDs and sang a few songs, read a book. I'd say about half the kids were up and wandering around at any one time, but a couple were trying to do the actions so I'm calling that a success! I still think alotting 45 minutes is insane so i spent the last ten minutes or so just playing with them - ENCHO can deal. Good luck with your class hikaru! |
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Post by King Quailbee on Sept 29, 2016 13:41:20 GMT 9
thekiboomers.com/I used their FREEZE Dance video with babies and little kids and they had a lot of fun. Overall, their songs are easy to understand and you can use their stuff for a variety of different lessons.
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Post by Shimanchu 2024 on Oct 20, 2016 11:29:52 GMT 9
Yikes, sorry it took forever to get back here.
We like to watch pretty much anything from the Super Simple Songs series on youtube (they have tons of songs).
They take a lot of traditional childrens songs and simplify the words.
Example "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" ---> "If you're happy happy happy clap your hands"
The videos also have actions/gestures, cute cartoons and catchy music
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Post by むちゃRABU❤ on Oct 21, 2016 13:26:07 GMT 9
Yikes, sorry it took forever to get back here. We like to watch pretty much anything from the Super Simple Songs series on youtube (they have tons of songs). They take a lot of traditional childrens songs and simplify the words. Example "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" ---> "If you're happy happy happy clap your hands" The videos also have actions/gestures, cute cartoons and catchy music I use super simple songs for my elementary schoolers. They love it but I wonder if it's too simple hmm. |
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Post by Shimanchu 2024 on Oct 21, 2016 13:27:15 GMT 9
Yeah, might be. Probably better for babies
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Post by no yark shark on Jan 25, 2017 14:41:03 GMT 9
reviving this thread to see if anyone has ideas. So one of my preschools has suddenly started putting a lot more effort into actually teaching the kids English. We've been doing colors for a few months now, practicing saying them (lots of the kids actually remember them too) and then playing the hula hoop game mentioned above.
anyways the teachers were thinking about trying a different thing for my visit next week, and suggested maybe I make picture cards with weather on them (so far I've done animals and colors), but I'm trying to think of an activity to go with it too. any ideas? or games on other topics that would be good for 2-3 year olds and would force them to use a little English?
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