Bilingual Kids

Well it has been awhile since I posted so here we go.

Last week I had an interesting trial with 5 kids who are basically bilingual. They went to an international school for many years so they know lots of English. I would say their reading level is as high as any child in an American school.

Although my trial lesson was too easy, I was lucky enough to get these kids into my school so I have been spending my time researching materials for these kids who will take a special 90 minutes lesson once a week.

In all my years of teaching in Japan this is the most difficult challenge I have ever faced but I intend to conquer it like any challenge with good planning following intense research. Mostly I have been looking at web sites that have the benchmarks for regular American children and I have found some amazing sites and have found lots of good ideas. I look forward to starting the class next month.

Has anyone ever had any experience teaching such children? This is one area my school excels because I can teach lessons that do not fit the cookie cutter style of Eikaiwas whose policy is, same age, same class, same book. My school is flexible and I take pride in that fact. Anyway, wish me luck!

More Kids' materials for my school

Well I am excited as I purchased some more book and things from www.nellies.jp. Purchases included some flip charts with vocabulary ranging from body parts, numbers. color, etc. All the basic stuff kids love and need. I also bought a magnetic calendar which can be arranged to be suitable for any month. It also includes spaces to put what day it is, the weather, season , etc. In addition, I bought some phonics wipe-off charts where the kids can play with as a whiteboard and I can erase( i.e. wipe off!) for later use. Finally I bought some alphabet tiles which can be put together like a jigsaw to spell whatever words that I want the kids to spell. I bought the lower case, word beginnings, and word endings sets. Some of the materials were a little bit pricey but in the end they will be well worth it. I even do some phonic work with adults as it helps with their pronunciation if they can learn the basic rules that native speakers take for granted.

I also bought another poster for the classroom and it will probably be my last as the walls of my classroom are just about full! I am always looking for great new materials for my classroom, especially for kids where a wide variety of materials keeps kids interested and motivated. I am hoping to get some more kid classes this year since I really enjoy them. Seeing students improve is great, and kids can improve so quickly!

西宮英会話 www.fesjapan.com