Advice Box

Selecting Materials

Age-specific and tips for selecting teaching materials

When choosing a text, consider not only the level of English, grammar and price, but also the following points.

For infant classes WELCOME to LW PINK/ YELLOW/ BLUE is recommended.

  1. The pictures and designs are easy on the eyes and fun. Colours/shapes are easy to identify.
  2. Good quality audio materials. Recorded in children’s voices.
  3. Rhythmical, with plenty of songs and chants. Those with actions that can be performed using those songs and chants (young children love to move their bodies).
  4. Something that is not too much (something that can be easily repeated over and over again is easy to remember).
  5. Here, Now, something familiar that is here and now, with many expressions that can be imitated at home or in the classroom.
  6. Games that are easy and fun to play so that young children do not get bored due to their short concentration span. A good range of supplementary materials to make it easy to adjust time.

For grades 1-4, Learning World Book 1, 2, 3/ READY is recommended.

  1. Those with pictures and designs that keep children engaged (and motivate them to learn in a way that is appropriate to their age characteristics).
  2. Those that are suitable from the child’s perspective, such as topics that are familiar to them or that they want to talk about.
  3. Important material that is not just a one-off and can be spiralled for retention without making it seem like a review.
  4. Not too much (emphasis on the sense of achievement of doing it all, to prevent the children from becoming bored).
  5. Practical activities with information gaps.

 

For grades 5 and 6, Learning World Book 4 and 5 are recommended.

  1. The material is appropriate for the intellectual level of the older students.
  2. The children are able to express their own opinions and think about what they would do.
  3. Activities that give them the pleasure of solving slightly difficult problems allow students to visualize what they have learned and to feel a sense of achievement in their English language skills.
  4. Contains material that broadens their horizons and encourages an understanding of things that are different from their own.

※BRIDGE and TOMORROW are designed for students with 4 or 5 years of English language experience and above.
Beginners in grades 3-4 go from READY to (LW2) to LW3.

FAQ.
・How much home study do I have to do to get results from one lesson a week?
âž¡Busy children do not like to be forced to do this or that. Parents’ help is essential to turn what adults see as ‘the right thing to do’ into something children want to do themselves, but the most important thing is to continue listening from early childhood. Only in an environment where they hear enough English will they learn to speak, read and write. Students who listen well also understand grammar more quickly, and the four skills are closely interrelated. Clearly, making it a habit to listen to English every day can make the difference between success and failure in learning English.
・I can’t give homework now, but should I have time to do English outside of lessons?
âž¡You will not make progress in English just by spending time in lessons. English is a language and a spoken language, so if you don’t make an effort to use it in your daily life, it will end up being one of those studies that you are forced to learn. Make homework a habit, listen to English on a regular basis, imitate what you hear and say it out loud. To do this, it is important to have encouragement from the teacher, family encouragement and a willingness to listen together.
・I don’t think English can be learnt in conventional knowledge-transfer type lessons, but what should be the goal of teaching?
âž¡If we do not want lessons to end up being ‘English input for fun’, but rather to ‘use English for self-realisation in one’s own area of expertise’, it is important to implement a good balance of the three elements that should be included in children’s English education: ‘phonetic education’, ‘speech education’ and ‘international (comprehension) education’. (See ‘English Education Methods for Children from Practitioners – Commentary’, Chapter 1, p.18 and Chapter 3, p.66 Curriculum).
・How can I incorporate more activities for children with some English learning history into my lessons?
âž¡To help you choose activities according to the children’s age, stage of development and the vocabulary, expressions and grammar you want to establish, the Practical Edition of ‘Children’s English Teaching Methods from a Practitioner’, written by Learning World author Mikiko Nakamoto, is useful. Please refer to the book for a list of songs, chants and activities to be done in groups A, B, C and D, according to the number of lessons and age of the children.
・I don’t have much time to make goods to use in class.
âž¡Children are sensitive to ‘just made for the sake of it’, and a poorly made item can discourage them. It is important that props are carefully made. Original goods used in activities, songs and chants are valuable teaching aids and it is useful to prepare them in bulk when you have time. Our colour teaching tools and activity sheet collections are also recommended. Also, please make use of the appendix at the end of the BIG BOOK in the Kids’ English Picture Book Series Vols 5, 6, 9 and 10.
・The toddler class is left in the hands of a native teacher, how should I get involved?
âž¡Private English lessons that stay with the children for a number of years require clear goals to be set out for parents. If you set a curriculum with specific goals and follow it with lessons with native English speaking teachers, you will be able to see the students’ reactions, achievements and areas for improvement. Our ’30 Lesson Plans for Young Learners’ is a book of 30 lesson plans for a year for young children (kindergarten to grade 2), so you can use this book for young children’s classes.
・I am not confident about my lesson plans. what is a good resource to refer to?
âž¡It contains the main points of each lesson so you can check if you have them covered and also double check your basic lesson structure. If you are still not confident, ’30 Lesson Plans for Young Learners’ is recommended if you are teaching WELCOME to Learning World YELLOW BOOK ( pre-school to elementary grade level 1st -2nd level). There are 30 ready-to-teach lesson plans based on a year curriculum that includes two plays (based on stories from PICTURE BOOKS) with scripts that are The best part is that you can teach it right out of the book!
・Is it better to teach the same topic over and over?
âž¡Sometimes we find songs or activities that are similar to the ones that we have already taught or used in class. We then avoid them intentionally being We then avoid them intentionally being afraid that students might find it boring and reject them. What’s important is using different approaches and resources when presenting the same topic so that Incorporate resources other than your usual textbook and teaching materials (story books, activities, songs and Incorporate resources other than your usual textbook and teaching materials (story books, activities, songs and chants from other books, etc.) and keep your students motivated.

 

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