Teaching Made Simple was the theme of this year's Pearson Longman Kids Tour. It's a good philosophy for us teachers to always remember when we are planning our lessons and teaching our classes. And it seems we are in very good company. Many of the brightest minds in history told us the same thing. Albert Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible." Leonardo da Vinci said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
If you are a user of SuperKids, you already know that one of the keys to keeping things simple is to use a textbook that was written with you, the teacher, in mind. All you have to do is read the suggested lesson plan and choose the activities that are best for your class. But, as a teacher myself, I know that no matter how hard I work or how carefully I plan, sometimes I find myself having to teach a class I haven't had time to prepare for. Does that ever happen to you?
Well, when I was growing up, I often heard, "Keep It Simple Stupid." It's something people say to themselves to remind us not to get too complicated. So I have collected a set of activities that make it easier for me to always have a good lesson. These are my Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) Activities. None of these are new, but maybe I can suggest little ways to "tweak" each one so that it will fit the material you are teaching and keep your students interested.
To make many of these activities truly KISS activities, you will need to download and make the colored SuperKids student cards from the Pearson Longman Kids E-Link website, using paper stock for making name cards. Please contact me at Aleda.jp@pearson.com if you need help in doing that.
Download Aleda's SuperKids Student Cards!
KISS vocabulary activity – Say It Bingo
Vocabulary is the most important area for children. They need to "overlearn" the English words so that the words come into the children's minds and out of their mouths almost as easily as Japanese. To do this, children need practice in both listening to and speaking the words. My KISS game for vocabulary practice is Say It Bingo. What makes it a KISS activity is using those small picture cards rather than specially made Bingo cards.
Each child has nine cards. They are mixed up then laid out in a 3x3 grid. Everyone's Bingo layout ends up different. As the pictures are called, children just turn over their cards. When someone gets a Bingo, I ask, "What's your Bingo?" Children have to name one, two, or all three of the cards that made up their Bingo.
Variations
1. Children write the words on the back of the cards. Then they read the words on the cards instead of turning them over to look at the picture.
2. A simple Bingo game is 3 in a row. A little longer game is Double Bingo – children don't win until they have 2 bingos. Any two will do.
3. At Christmas we played C Bingo – you had to make a C to win. Other letters like H, L, T and X also work.
4. Sometimes we play "You Say It Bingo." Children take turns saying one of the pictures (either the word or the word in a sentence pattern) and everyone turns it over.
KISS dialog activity – Change
Children need practice saying the functional dialogs with natural intonation and gestures. This activity uses the cards again – this time as substitution items in the dialog.
Children stand in two concentric circles, one inside the other, the same number of children in each circle. They make a pair with the person across from them in the other circle. I give one card to each child in the outer circle. Say "Go." Each pair does the dialog, using the item on the card, and then they hand the card to their partner. As soon as most are finished, say "Change." Everyone in the outside circle moves one person to the left. They the dialog with their new partner, then hand off the card.
KISS verb practice activity – Teacher Says
In learning to understand the verbs, children get used to a more natural way of hearing commands. The game is played like Simon Says. But, if the simple command is given, children don't do it. They only do the command if it is given politely. For example, if they hear "Stand up," they don't do it, but if they hear "Could you stand up, please," they follow the command.
Many other ways of given polite commands can also be used, e.g., "Could you ... ", "Would you ...", "Do you think you could ...", "Why don't you ...?" or even "Let's ..."
After children get used to the activity, they can be asked them to respond orally, as well as do the action. Like: Yes, I can / No, sorry or Sure / I can't. Sorry or even No problem / No way!
KISS review activity – Random Numbers
Review activities help to solidify understanding by using the words and phrases in a new context. Many review activities have a set of numbered exercises. Instead of just going through the exercises in order, use a die. Partners take turns rolling the die and doing that number. If you don't have dice, don't despair. Have the partners each use one hand. They say "Ready. Set. Go." On "Go" they put out 0, 1, 2, or 3 fingers. (This is for a review activity that has 6 choices. Use more fingers for longer exercises.) They total the fingers, and that's the number they are to do.
So, we've looked at four Keep It Simple Stupid activities that my students really enjoy and that make my life as a teacher much simpler. I hope they make your life simpler, too. Let me know if you'd like to hear about other KISS activities for your classes.
And remember: Teaching can be simple!
Aleda Krause is the founding coordinator of the JALT
Teaching Children Special Interest Group and co-author of SuperKids, SuperTots, and the Longman Children's Picture Dictionary. She has been teaching children for more than 20 years, since her daughter was old enough to have friends who wanted to learn English, also teaches university courses for future teachers of children, and has done teacher training workshops all over the world.
